Martin Kerkhof

Chaka Martin Kerkhof

Dr. Ean Stromberg, Professor of Archeology, has spent his lifetime studying the Mayan civilization to understand why this Central American empire mysteriously vanished. Theories abounded but none rang true. The mystery obsessed him -- why, one thousand years ago, were their wondrous cities abandoned, seemingly obliterated overnight? This civilization flourished for centuries untold, producing temples and monuments to rival ancient Egypt. Now only a plethora of jungle-covered ruins remain to remember the tens of millions of proud Mayans and their sophisticated culture swallowed by the shadowy past. The mystery taunted Stromberg's scientific mind, it was almost eerie. On the verge of retirement, he finds a faded photograph of a wall painting in an ancient Mayan tomb. In its disturbing images of agony and death, he sees the semblance of a map. Dropping everything, he sets off on a shoestring expedition. The map leads him to El Mirador, a two thousand year old Mayan city buried in the Guatemalan jungle. Here the answer he finds unwittingly unleashes a horrifying scourge on our cities and streets. As the ghostly past reaches across time, we see the ancient Mayan shamans as they suffer their vengeful god, Chaka, incarnating from the underworld to consume them. The author was born and raised in Southern California where he still resides with his family. After receiving a degree in philosophy from Long Beach State University, he entered the transportation industry in which he is still active in a senior management capacity.