Fear of the Past

The rise and fall of a powerful family through 900 years of Sicilian History and the unbearable burden it places on the last descendant... A coming of age story and a family saga, FEAR OF THE PAST raises the central issue of nature vs. nurture. Can we escape our genetical inheritance or are we condemned to repeat the mistakes of the past? Tony, a young American video game creator, suffers from burnout and goes searching for his family roots in Sicily. Walking in an abandoned palazzo, he falls in a Time Trap where he meets the ghosts of his forebears - all historical characters who helped shape Sicily's History, including the Duchess of Floridia, a famous 18th century beauty who married the King of Naples. In Part 1, FORGET THE PAST, Tony discovers he has more in common with an English adventurer who settled in Sicily in the 18th century than with his own father. He shares with him a star-crossed love for the beautiful Duchess and worries he may be destined for failure in his own life, just as the Englishman was in his. In Part 2, RECLAIM THE PRESENT, Tony has an unexpected and terrible accident that pulls him back to Sicily in the year 1908 when the family fortunes collapsed. Can he change his family's destiny or is he trapped in the role of a helpless witness? In Part 3, REMEMBER THE FUTURE, Tony tries to shed the past and make his life his own. With the help of a lovely Sicilian woman who looks like the Duchess but is very much a 21st century woman, independent and career-oriented, he creates an innovative social media network, the "Chat Club". Can he protect his creation and save the woman he loves from the Sicilian mafia and violent Russian hackers?