TRUE RAIDERS is the untold true story of Monty Parker, a rogue British nobleman who, after being dared by Ava Astor, the so-called “most beautiful woman in the world,” headed a secret 1909 expedition to find the fabled Ark of the Covenant just outside of Jerusalem.
Using recently uncovered records from the original expedition and several newly translated sources, TRUE RAIDERS is the first comprehensive telling of this group’s hair-raising and uncanny adventure as it unfolds in the strange space between fact and faith, truth and fiction, science and conspiracy.
"Such a fun read." ―Associated Press
"Ricca tops all his previous work with this page turner."
―San Francisco Book Review
IN TRADE PAPERBACK
12/13/22
St. Martin's GRIFFIN
"When I first learned that Raiders of the Lost Ark, my favorite movie, might have been based on an actual archaeological expedition, I felt like my face was melting off."
READ AN EXCERPT AT
A “Best New Comic of 2022 for Adults″ by the New York Public Library
A "Great Graphic Novel for 2023" nominee by YALSA
The New Graphic Novel Adaptation
Written by Brad Ricca
Illustrated by Courtney Sieh
Based on the work of Nellie Bly
Now Available from Simon & Schuster / Gallery 13
Read an interview with the creators HERE with art samples.
"My favorite sort of woman . . . a heroine for the ages."
—Paula McLain, bestselling author of
WHEN THE STARS GO DARK
"Olive the Lionheart has it all."
—Brad Meltzer, bestselling author of
THE LINCOLN CONSPIRACY
"Powerful, nearly hallucinatory."
—Kirkus Reviews
"Fans of women’s history and adventure stories will cheer." —Publisher's Weekly
"Grit and courage to spare . . . one for the books."
—Booklist
A Christian Science Monitor Best Book for August
A Finalist for the Ohioana Book Award in Nonfiction.
Now in Paperback
from St. Martin's Griffin
OTHER BOOKS BY BRAD RICCA
MRS. SHERLOCK HOLMES
Edgar Award Finalist
Best Fact Crime
“An express train of a story."
-Starred review, Kirkus Reviews
"Heroic...her inspiring story demands a hearing.”
―New York Times
“Rambunctiously excellent…his storytelling skills give Humiston’s incredible life the book it deserves.”
―The Christian Science Monitor
SUPER BOYS
Winner, Ohioana Book Award for Nonfiction
“A wonderful book, as exciting as Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.”
―Starred review, Booklist
“As definitive a work as may be possible.”
―The Washington Post
“Compulsively readable.” ―Publishers Weekly
AMERICAN MASTODON
Winner, St. Lawrence
Book Award
"An entertaining, bold, and wholly original collection of poems" - The Rumpus
"A voice and style I’m enthralled to see.”
-Luke Kennard, Notes on the Sonnets
"A bustling, boisterous, mischievous book, the kind of book you should keep on you always, everywhere.”
-Heather Phillipson,
Faber Poets 3
PODCASTS
Originally appeared 9.27.19 on the podcast CRIMINAL with Phoebe Judge and guest Brad Ricca. Visit thisiscriminal.com for more episodes. Art by Julienne Alexander.
From iHeart Radio, the strange
tale of the theft of actor Nicolas
Cage's copy of Action Comics #1.
Narrated by Dana Schwartz.
From NPR and RadioWest,
the Real Raiders of the Lost Ark.
"He has flashed his white teeth over the city for what seems like an eternity."
"I’m standing in front of a house outside Cleveland, half-waiting for a spaceship to arrive."
Read the Introduction on
Order the Book HERE
BIO
I was born in Cleveland and still live around here with Caroline and our three boys in a 100-year-old house. I teach sometimes at Case Western Reserve University, where I earned a Ph.D. in English. I've written True Raiders (St. Martin's, 2021), Olive the Lionheart (St. Martin's, 2020), Mrs. Sherlock Holmes (St. Martin’s, 2017), Super Boys (St. Martin’s, 2013), and American Mastodon (Black Lawrence Press, 2011). I wrote a graphic novel adaptation of Nellie Bly's Ten Days in a Mad-House with artist Courtney Sieh (Simon & Schuster/Gallery 13, 2022). I made a movie, Last Son, that won a 2010 Silver Ace Award at the Las Vegas Film Festival. I've also written for The Washington Post, The Beat, Belt, Book Riot, Narratively, History Extra, and the official Star Wars website. I've been in documentaries on the History Channel, AMC, and have been a guest on Criminal, All Things Considered, BBC radio, and Innovation Hub, among others. I have a fear of mummies.
True Raiders is my newest book and is the result of a lifetime of trying to understand the effect that Raiders of the Lost Ark had on me (hint: it was substantial) and how and why we can believe in things that are somehow always beyond our reach, especially if they involve hidden, secret meanings. I also wanted it to be a big, fat love letter to all those great '80s properties like In Search Of, Amazing Stories, and the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail, that all used the truth (or a portion of it) to tell a bigger story. And of course, Raiders itself, which is the one movie that has never let go of me. What does it mean to seek something that no one has seen in thousands of years, if at all? Is it an exercise in fact or faith? Truth or imagination? Or (more timely) reality or conspiracy? Since this story is all about connections, I vowed to follow it wherever the rabbit hole led, all the way from secret tunnels beneath Jerusalem to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean; from King Tut's tomb and Faraday cages on Long Island to the dark streets of terrible Whitechapel, all to find the most sought-after treasure in history -- even if it might be fictional. And to think about if that matters.
The story of the Parker expedition is one told by different people who either believe what they say is true or want us to think it is. There is truth in this story, past all the mystery, but you have to seek it. Just like they did.
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