John Oehler

I began life as an exploration geologist. My work took me to about fifty countries and introduced me to cultures, people, and settings that provide inspiration for my novels. Besides challenging situations, I love science, history, the arts, and animals, all of which figure in my stories.

Since retiring from full-time geology in 2000, I have completed three novels. All have won awards.

APHRODESIA, published in October 2012, is a mystery/suspense story centered on fragrances and focused on one particular perfume that turns out to be a powerful aphrodisiac, so powerful it drives some people to kill their lovers in a fit of insatiable lust. APHRODESIA has received excellent reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and Amazon customers. Here is a link to the Amazon page for both paperback and Kindle versions: http://www.amazon.com/Aphrodesia-Nove...

PAPYRUS, an adventure/thriller set to be published in 2013, tells the story of an African woman who, while working on her PhD thesis in the Cairo Museum, discovers hidden writing on a papyrus written by Queen Tiye to her youngest son, Tutankhamun. The secret text shatters conventional wisdom and launches her on a quest to find Tiye’s tomb. PAPYRUS reached the semi-finals of the 2009 Amazon Breakthrough Novel competition.

TEPUI, an adventure/thriller scheduled for publication in late 2013, follows a burn-scarred botanist who, guided by a 16th-Century Spanish manuscript, treks into the remote highlands of Venezuela in search of a plant thought to have died out with the dinosaurs. What he finds should have been left unfound. TEPUI won 1st Place at the 2004 Pacific Northwest Writers conference.

I am fortunate to be a member of two fine critique groups. And I’m happy to share what I have learned with other writers.