The Mark of Man

By Petros Arguriou

““Boy, you are sad...” my father murmured in sudden realization. “Boy, you are sad,” he repeated in excitement. “Boy, you are sad!” he exclaimed jumping up and down in joy. “Wife, our youngest is sad,” he proudly announced, “he is going to bring us wealth.”
But I was only going to bring them shame.”
A boy is born, a mute in a strange tribe of roaming beggars. He can’t speak, he can’t even beg. Scorned and ignored, he is summarily rejected, an outcast in a band of outcasts.
After a weird incident that ends with the fiery death of the tribe’s ancient witch, he is suspected by the superstitious beggars to be in reality the shell of a powerful demon, a fear that immediately earns him a travesty of recognition and a name. As an effort to deceive the evil inside him, they call him Tsura, the Light of Dawn.
When his father takes him to the city, a chain of events that will shake both worlds starts unfolding. While others of his tribe return from the city with rich trophies, Tsura purposelessly wanders its streets. When he meets Mr. Winter, he feels like his life is going to change. He watches him for weeks, begging for some attention. An exchange of glances is all it takes, instant recognition!
Then a shot.
Tsura is caught in a political plot of gigantic proportions that will turn him into a convenient scapegoat for an entire nation’s ills. Only one man, a young lawyer, will stand in the way.
“The Mark of Man” is the story of a boy violently rejected, used and abused; a child who, in his innocence, rose to become a catalyst for events that would lead to the destruction of a society and the redemption of another.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Petros Arguriou
• Release date: Jun 20, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311744166

Petros Arguriou

Petros Arguriou was born in Thessaloniki, on some August day of 1973. He studied medicine at the University of Athens until he chose to quit, fed up with the authoritarianism and dominance of mechanistic doctrines. At the age of 20, he signed his first book contract and since then he has written 16 books of which 8 have been printed. His numerous articles have been published by a number of Greek and international magazines. He has been hosted by several radio shows around the world as well as by RT, one of the biggest TV networks in the world.Petros is known for his unique writing style, the thorough and enlightening exploration of his topics. He has been hailed by notables like historian Howard Zinn and author Celia Farber. His writings have influenced alternative Greek columnists, politicians and even song writers. He is one of the few analysts who revealed the backstage and successfully predicted the course of the pandemic flu scares, the XMRV-chronic fatigue scandal and the EU crisis.Having competently dealt with a surprising wide array of heterogeneous topics , Petros represents a modern and modest version of the “Renaissance Man”.His first works, written during the 1990s, were clearly of anthropocentric context with their main characters prevailing over the circumstances of their lives. Yet, with the coming of the new Millennium, Petros would create a series of dystopian novels foretelling the decadent and totalitarian spirit of the new epoch. A decade later his writings explore the vital question of whether the very core of humanitarianism can survive in inhuman times.“Mark of Man” is his first novella solely written in English.Other Books (in English)Pulp Med (with Beldeu Singh). John Hunt Publishing, 2011

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The Mark of Man

By Petros Arguriou

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Smashwords Edition

Author: Petros Arguriou

Edited by: George C. Karyofillis

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Petros Arguriou – Author’s Bio

Petros Arguriou was born in Thessaloniki, on some August day of 1973. He studied medicine at the University of Athens until he chose to quit, fed up with the authoritarianism and dominance of mechanistic doctrines. At the age of 20, he signed his first book contract and since then he has written 16 books of which 8 have been printed. His numerous articles have been published by a number of Greek and international magazines. He has been hosted by several radio shows around the world as well as by RT, one of the biggest TV networks in the world.

Petros is known for his unique writing style, the thorough and enlightening exploration of his topics. He has been hailed by notables like historian Howard Zinn and author Celia Farber. His writings have influenced alternative Greek columnists, politicians and even song writers. He is one of the few analysts who revealed the backstage and successfully predicted the course of the pandemic flu scares, the XMRV-chronic fatigue scandal and the EU crisis.

Having competently dealt with a surprising wide array of heterogeneous topics, Petros represents a modern and modest version of the Renaissance Man.

His first works, written during the 1990s, were clearly of anthropocentric context with their main characters prevailing over the circumstances of their lives. Yet, with the coming of the new Millennium, Petros would create a series of dystopian novels foretelling the decadent and totalitarian spirit of the new epoch. A decade later his writings explore the vital question of whether humanitarianism can survive in inhuman times.

Mark of Man is his first novella solely written in English.

Other Books (in English)

Pulp Med (with Beldeu Singh). John Hunt Publishing, 2011

Dedicated to my mother Varvara, Dimitris Christoulas, Paulos Fyssas

and all other victims of the Greek Crisis.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A few words from the author

Editor’s note

Born, Bred and Rejected

Inside the Witch’s Tent

The Prince of Beggars

The City

The Philosopher Politician

Rodrigo’s Grief

Priorities

A Patriot

Whores, Scholars and Beggars

Mutilated Pride

Of Guns and Words

Instant Recognition

Convictions

Torturing Doubts

Entering Innocence

The Massacre

Catharsis

End Note

A few words from the author.

The Mark of Man was originally conceived and written during the summer of 2010, in the resort house of my family in Greece. The sea and the sky joining in a loving embrace, the stars shining bright, everything looked perfect. Yet, beyond the horizon, I felt the perfect storm forming. It would be a time of hate and deadlocks, of suicides and murders, of absolute power and absolute corruption, submission and arrogance. Madness was taking over.

So I turned to my eternal mistress, literature, and entrusted her with my visions of the future. An idea was born, I nurtured it into a very promising child, even a rebellious adolescent, but I had to find the proper editor to help it enter adulthood.

After three years of fruitless anticipation, George Karyofyllis came to the rescue volunteering to edit The Mark of Man. A creative and hopefully influential bond was forged. Mr. Karyofyllis’ patience and insistence to elaborate for days on end about every little detail of this journey proved invaluably helpful.

But, in the interim, time had already taken its toll on the Greek society.

Many of the horrors described in the book manifested in full. Devastating policies destroyed the middle class, denied it of its dignity, people started losing the will to live. Suicide rates increased dramatically. My own mother became yet another number in these statistics of death. Many lost their fathers and still others will never again see their lovers, their sons or daughters. A grandfather, a man who had lived through wars and the misery they caused, would be shot by his own sense of self-respect in broad daylight in the central square that is named after our Constitution, the tabernacle of Democracy.

Some chose to fight back. But they were not allowed to. Mass protests were dispersed with brutal force, a campaign of terror suppressed all reason. And impotent anger became the breeding ground for extremist groups to gain momentum. A young bard around my age would be murdered as a police squad stood idly by and just a month later, two youths would be assassinated in plain sight for political reasons.

And it is far from over. A contagion of open hate and prejudice is expected.

However, the Mark of Man is not about the here and now, nor about the past or the future. It might look like a book of fiction at first, fictional people in a fictional background, yet the characters are trapped in the very real vicious circle of human bigotry, the diachrony of mankind’s drama. The Mark of Man offers its characters redemption, its readers a way to look into their souls and find the strength to break free.

Editor’s Note

When Petros came to me with the first draft of this story, he did so with a solemn look