Literary Las Vegas: Antonio Grimaldi
Las Vegas resident Antonio Grimaldi lived in Latin America for eight years, five of which were spent in Panama as an economics professor at the National University.
During his time there, he traveled extensively, explored the Andean Plateau, the Orinoco River and the Amazon Basin and collected traditional folk tales shared by his students.
One tale of a legendary Mayan chief who had fought the Aztecs storming his village caught Grimaldi’s attention. On further research he expanded the story into the novel, "Teoxi, Mayan Prince I: The End of Tikal."
The book follows the life of Teoxi, the last absolute monarch of Tikal, and his family’s urging that he someday assume the Mayan throne.
For more information on the book, visit teoxi-mayanprince.com.
Excerpt from "Teoxi, Mayan Prince I: The End of Tikal"
I am Teoxihaulpan, son of Uaxactun — the last absolute monarch of Tikal and the Highest Priest of the Sun God. I am sitting on the shores of Lake Peten-Itza, absorbed in the remembrance of my past life.
Very often at sunset, when the Sun God wounds the green waters of this lake with his arrows and reflects them on this poor hut, an overwhelming force drags me to this place. Here, away from my daily business, the memories of the past work their way into my mind tormenting my existence.
I long so much to lay a tombstone on my life and spend my last days surrounded only by the love of my family, the only wealth I still have. But I can’t. I’ve known the splendor and happiness of a fortunate origin, later destroyed by the will of the Sun God who denied me and my family his infinite benevolence. The conclusions I then reached, never leave me in peace.
This is the story of my love, a forbidden love. I was rejected by all that surrounded me, hindered by my family and by the law of which the priests who interpreted the Gods’ will were the faithful guardians, and battered by a series of incredible events that shattered my life as well as the existence of my nation.