Yogol’s Gold – A Novel in Rhyme
… Or what I did after several literary agent rejections…
After receiving a few literary agent rejections concerning my recent novel, Yogol’s Gold, which I am currently trying to get traditionally published, I decided to try something a little different, as much to raise my own dejected spirits, as anything else.
Below, is the entire hundred-thousand plus word novel, condensed into a rhyme, just four-hundred and forty words long. I hope that you enjoy it!
Yogol’s Gold, a tale of old,
But who knows how it will unfold?
The book starts out with two young friends,
Who hate each other when it ends.
A war in Europe, long since past,
Is where we first do meet our cast.
Brave young Yogol, fearless Smetnee,
Heroes of the military.
A cache of gold, which Yogol found,
Is placed to rest in earthy ground.
But Smetnee wants it for himself,
And leaves poor Yogol on the shelf.
We meet Yogol, some years later,
Working as a humble baker.
He spots Smetnee with an heiress,
Due to marry under duress.
A crafty plan, which Yogol hatches,
Yields Smetnee’s wealth, which Yogol catches.
With fireworks and a wedding cake,
A huge distraction Yogol makes.
The safe is blown, the gold is gone,
And Yogol flees, his heart in song.
Smetnee faces the Duke’s ire,
For him a life of hell and fire.
Lindhaven in thirty-eight,
Sees Yogol with a better fate.
Now a wealthy plutocrat,
The coming war will change all that.
Attacked by Smetnee, now a Red,
Sees Yogol beaten, almost dead.
Fleeing in the wintry night,
He meets Penske, who sees him right.
Smetnee now can have it all,
But his ambitions hit a wall.
The Leader’s death, his own at stake,
Which desperate path will Smetnee take?
Defection seems the simplest way,
But Yogol makes old Smetnee pay.
A daring heist on his foe’s soil,
And all of Smetnee’s plans are foiled.
The Yanks they take him in the end,
But to their will, Smetnee must bend.
Slaving daily with a frown,
While Yogol wears an oilman’s crown.
The years they pass, when Smetnee stumbles,
On Yogol’s name in newsprint’s mumbles.
A courtroom drama then ensues,
Which poor old Yogol’s bound to lose.
In sixty-five, a second chance,
On keyboard glyphs, his fingers dance.
For Yogol is now helping NASA,
But on his mind, a different matter.
With eyes on space, we hold our breath,
As Yogol does computer theft.
The Secret Service is not pleased,
And from his job, Smetnee is squeezed.
The year of punk in USA,
Sees Smetnee slowly fade away.
But Yogol, now a billionaire,
Shows the world he still can care.
Forgiving Smetnee for his crimes,
Yogol offers better times.
But Smetnee’s heart, it cannot take,
The kindly offer Yogol makes.
Standing there when Smetnee dies,
Brings fear and pain to Yogol’s eyes.
His heart it stops against his will,
For Smetnee’s death has made him ill.
Yogol lives to eighty-three,
Far more years than you or me.
His life was rich but often cold,
And that’s the tale of Yogol’s Gold.
*****
So, there you have it. Yogol’s Gold, in four-hundred and forty words. Hopefully, I’ve piqued your interest and at the very least, put a smile on your face!
For those of you that are interested in finding out more, the story is a revenge thriller, spanning seventy years of the last century. It follows two friends, Yogol and Smetnee on an adventure that takes them across Eastern and Northern Europe and then onto the United States. It was inspired, in part, by Ridley Scott’s excellent 1977 debut, The Duellists, starring Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel, which I first saw over twenty years ago, and which has stayed with me ever since. However, rather than involving pistols at dawn, Yogol’s Gold instead focuses on a series of heists, with the gold of the title moving from one protagonist to the other in more and more elaborate ways, culminating in the world’s first internet robbery.
If you like a good action and adventure novel, which parodies major events of the twentieth century and fancy giving me your honest opinion on the version that I’ve sent out to literary agents, then why not drop me a line at info@rob-gregory.com
Finally, I’d love to hear whether or not you think that I should include the poem as part of my agent query package? Maybe, with your help, I’ll not get so many literary agent rejections in the future and find myself one step closer to traditional publication?
Thank you!
While you’re here, why not check out my other blogs, as well as my books?