A Novel about Powerlifting and the Ukraine
WARNING:'The Iron Factory ' has strong adult themes and extremely strong language
so it is NOT Suitable for children. ADULTS ONLY, please.
WARNING:'The Iron Factory ' has strong adult themes and extremely strong language
so it is NOT Suitable for children. ADULTS ONLY, please.
by Ron Fernando
WARNING:The Iron Factory does have strong adult themes and extremely strong language,
and it is NOT Suitable for children. This book is for ADULTS ONLY
WARNING:The Iron Factory does have strong adult themes and extremely strong language,
and it is NOT Suitable for children. This book is for ADULTS ONLY
My name is Ron Fernando and I am the author of the Iron Factory. It is set in a small town in the Ukraine, once part of the Soviet Union but involves large variety of characters -both fictional and non fictional from around the world. It is a story of intrigue, suspense and romance-with Powerlifting as the common denominator and centerpiece. To my knowledge is the first novel of its kind available as a digital download.
So- the big question-Why did I write this novel ? And Why about Powerlifting in the Ukraine? To begin with, I have been involved in the Sport of Powerlifting for the past 30+ years as an International Level Lifter,-competing all over the USA and in faraway places like Australia, New Zealand and India . I was honored to be the head USA Team Coach and Manager for 2 World Championship Events, and Personal Coach to several top name lifters. In addition I was former Training Editor of Powerlifting USA Magazine. I always enjoyed writing as a hobby and was fortunate that Mike Lambert, Publisher of Powerlifting USA allowed me to write about almost anything that came to mind regarding the sport, its personalities and events.During the entire decade of the 80's and part of the 90's I was a prolific author and derived great pleasure from this. However,time, family and business responsibilities curtailed my writing for the magazine for many years after. Once in a while, when time would permit, I would do another article and once again, Mike was kind enough to publish it, no questions asked..Fast forward to 2006 when my oldest daughter and I attended the Arnold Classic /WPO World Superfinals for the first time. Aside from the awesome lifting and the chance to hang out with old friends from all over the world, the one thing that struck me was how many people remembered my writings from so many years past. They all asked me the same thing-
" Why don't you write something about the sport- maybe a novel even..."
I guess... they were hoping someone....anyone would write a fictional novel with our sport as a centerpiece, after all there have been countless fictional novels about Professional Football, Baseball, Running ,Wrestling and Basketball. Hollywood has seemingly exhausted the movie scripts on Boxing, and there have been scores of novels and movies made about Roller Blading, Ice Hockey , Professional Poker and even Go Kart Racing, to name just a few. Powerlifting, sadly has been overlooked by virtually every facet of the media . The last time I remember seeing Powerlifting on a major network was exactly 31 years ago on NBC SportsWorld when they covered the World Powerlifting Championships form Perth, Australia. There was a time I even thought Powerlifting had an opportunity to gain acceptance into the Olympics. Well, we all know what is going on now, but we also know what a fantastic sport we have and the world as a whole needs to know the incredible passion it inspires and the lifelong friendships it creates. The Iron Factory Book is my small way of opening the door to our sport to those who may know nothing about it. In doing so, I hope, like a pebble rolling downhill, that it will eventually result in gaining the sport, and its participants the financial and the emotional accolades that they are so deserving of. The actual plot of the book came to me one night out of the blue- I simply had no intention of writing something las extensive as this as all of my prior writing experience was very short articles. But there was that night....
One rainy Chicago night after the Arnold- , I had a sudden inspiration and wrote part of an initial chapter of the 'Iron Factory'-no particular reason whatsoever. I posted it online for laughs and was simply stunned by the response. Well, the book ( actually an extremely long short story) is finally done and now available as a digitally downloaded product through this website. You will notice that I dedicate this book to the late great Roger Estep, former World Record Holder in the 90 kilo or 198 lb class, and a gentleman that I had the honor to train with and be friends with for many years. Roger died of a virulent form of Brain Cancer a couple of years ago. He was a class act and faced this end like a true champion, with courage and dignity. Right before his untimely passing, he actually encouraged me to write this novel, because, as he put it so eloquently...
"The World needs to learn about our Sport..."
In fact ,part of the profits of this book are going to be donated to the American Cancer Society in his name and honor. Roger would have enjoyed reading "The Iron Factory" not because of the awesome lifting sequences, but because it is simply a great story, one that was a real labor of love for me to do. It has a little something for everyone- intrigue, suspense- adult themes, and some of best lifting sequences that "never happened ." I managed to even weave in some references to some of the old time lifters of the 50's - the ones that paved the way for others through their dedication and perseverance in the face of some incredibly tough obstacles. And yes, it is about the Ukraine, a country peopled by tough, courageous folks who still manage to enjoy life despite any small privations that we as Americans would be horrified over. (Try walking to the store 45 minutes each way for some groceries-in 20 below weather. Makes you appreciate your old used car with a heater-even more!)
I decided to set the novel in the Ukraine because of their long heritage in the Strength Sports, and because of the high personal regard I hold their people and country. I have a lot of friends in and from the Ukraine, and having been there several times, I have seen and experienced first hand the level of toughness and courage the average person has to show just to survive there, on a day-to-day basis and have witnessed the amazing performances by some of the great lifters from the Ukraine- Alex Kutcher, Vadim Dohvanyuk, Evgen Yarymbash, Olexander Martynyuk ,Viktor and Sergiy Nalekin, to name a few. The fictional Character 'Sergiy Arkhipov 'may be just around the corner in real life , so far as we know. Of course - I took a lot of "artistic" license with the book, and yes, any similarity to people living or dead is purely a coincidence- so that my legal team is sufficiently satisfied- but nonetheless, much of the information was gleaned from actual first hand experience. I hope each and everyone who reads this book comes away with an appreciation of the sport and an appreciation of the toughness and resilience of the valiant people of the Ukraine. And remember-, if you are under the age of 17, please get your parents permission to download this book and to use their credit cards!
To Powerlifting
and to the Memory of Roger Estep
Ron Fernando
Aurora, Illinois 2008
So- the big question-Why did I write this novel ? And Why about Powerlifting in the Ukraine? To begin with, I have been involved in the Sport of Powerlifting for the past 30+ years as an International Level Lifter,-competing all over the USA and in faraway places like Australia, New Zealand and India . I was honored to be the head USA Team Coach and Manager for 2 World Championship Events, and Personal Coach to several top name lifters. In addition I was former Training Editor of Powerlifting USA Magazine. I always enjoyed writing as a hobby and was fortunate that Mike Lambert, Publisher of Powerlifting USA allowed me to write about almost anything that came to mind regarding the sport, its personalities and events.During the entire decade of the 80's and part of the 90's I was a prolific author and derived great pleasure from this. However,time, family and business responsibilities curtailed my writing for the magazine for many years after. Once in a while, when time would permit, I would do another article and once again, Mike was kind enough to publish it, no questions asked..Fast forward to 2006 when my oldest daughter and I attended the Arnold Classic /WPO World Superfinals for the first time. Aside from the awesome lifting and the chance to hang out with old friends from all over the world, the one thing that struck me was how many people remembered my writings from so many years past. They all asked me the same thing-
" Why don't you write something about the sport- maybe a novel even..."
I guess... they were hoping someone....anyone would write a fictional novel with our sport as a centerpiece, after all there have been countless fictional novels about Professional Football, Baseball, Running ,Wrestling and Basketball. Hollywood has seemingly exhausted the movie scripts on Boxing, and there have been scores of novels and movies made about Roller Blading, Ice Hockey , Professional Poker and even Go Kart Racing, to name just a few. Powerlifting, sadly has been overlooked by virtually every facet of the media . The last time I remember seeing Powerlifting on a major network was exactly 31 years ago on NBC SportsWorld when they covered the World Powerlifting Championships form Perth, Australia. There was a time I even thought Powerlifting had an opportunity to gain acceptance into the Olympics. Well, we all know what is going on now, but we also know what a fantastic sport we have and the world as a whole needs to know the incredible passion it inspires and the lifelong friendships it creates. The Iron Factory Book is my small way of opening the door to our sport to those who may know nothing about it. In doing so, I hope, like a pebble rolling downhill, that it will eventually result in gaining the sport, and its participants the financial and the emotional accolades that they are so deserving of. The actual plot of the book came to me one night out of the blue- I simply had no intention of writing something las extensive as this as all of my prior writing experience was very short articles. But there was that night....
One rainy Chicago night after the Arnold- , I had a sudden inspiration and wrote part of an initial chapter of the 'Iron Factory'-no particular reason whatsoever. I posted it online for laughs and was simply stunned by the response. Well, the book ( actually an extremely long short story) is finally done and now available as a digitally downloaded product through this website. You will notice that I dedicate this book to the late great Roger Estep, former World Record Holder in the 90 kilo or 198 lb class, and a gentleman that I had the honor to train with and be friends with for many years. Roger died of a virulent form of Brain Cancer a couple of years ago. He was a class act and faced this end like a true champion, with courage and dignity. Right before his untimely passing, he actually encouraged me to write this novel, because, as he put it so eloquently...
"The World needs to learn about our Sport..."
In fact ,part of the profits of this book are going to be donated to the American Cancer Society in his name and honor. Roger would have enjoyed reading "The Iron Factory" not because of the awesome lifting sequences, but because it is simply a great story, one that was a real labor of love for me to do. It has a little something for everyone- intrigue, suspense- adult themes, and some of best lifting sequences that "never happened ." I managed to even weave in some references to some of the old time lifters of the 50's - the ones that paved the way for others through their dedication and perseverance in the face of some incredibly tough obstacles. And yes, it is about the Ukraine, a country peopled by tough, courageous folks who still manage to enjoy life despite any small privations that we as Americans would be horrified over. (Try walking to the store 45 minutes each way for some groceries-in 20 below weather. Makes you appreciate your old used car with a heater-even more!)
I decided to set the novel in the Ukraine because of their long heritage in the Strength Sports, and because of the high personal regard I hold their people and country. I have a lot of friends in and from the Ukraine, and having been there several times, I have seen and experienced first hand the level of toughness and courage the average person has to show just to survive there, on a day-to-day basis and have witnessed the amazing performances by some of the great lifters from the Ukraine- Alex Kutcher, Vadim Dohvanyuk, Evgen Yarymbash, Olexander Martynyuk ,Viktor and Sergiy Nalekin, to name a few. The fictional Character 'Sergiy Arkhipov 'may be just around the corner in real life , so far as we know. Of course - I took a lot of "artistic" license with the book, and yes, any similarity to people living or dead is purely a coincidence- so that my legal team is sufficiently satisfied- but nonetheless, much of the information was gleaned from actual first hand experience. I hope each and everyone who reads this book comes away with an appreciation of the sport and an appreciation of the toughness and resilience of the valiant people of the Ukraine. And remember-, if you are under the age of 17, please get your parents permission to download this book and to use their credit cards!
To Powerlifting
and to the Memory of Roger Estep
Ron Fernando
Aurora, Illinois 2008
The Great Olexandr Kutcher- "Iron Sasha" Roger Estep- USA Powerlifting Team 1979
WPO World Champion USA Champ and World Record Holder -90kg Class
Ukraine Champion A Great Champion and Great American
The Greatest Powerlifter in the History of the Sport Gone..but Never Forgotten
WPO World Champion USA Champ and World Record Holder -90kg Class
Ukraine Champion A Great Champion and Great American
The Greatest Powerlifter in the History of the Sport Gone..but Never Forgotten
Questions? Contact Ron directly at
ron@ironfactorybook.com
630 674 1681
ron@ironfactorybook.com
630 674 1681
