Robert Austin Cox poses with debut novel, “The Palace”. Photo courtesy of Gerianne SanFilippo 

SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) – A Sacramento local and former publisher of Go for It Magazine, Robert Austin Cox recently became an author with the release of his debut novel “The Palace,” an exploration of the human mind and foreign policy.

The idea of writing a novel first came to Cox while discussing with his daughter Shauna the possibility of becoming a life coach to share his personal philosophies he’s developed over the years.

But rather than go down the life coach path, Cox instead decided to pack his wisdom into one concise novel, which takes readers on a journey across the globe to Tibet, where political uncertainty creates a sense of anxiety and divisiveness, much like the world we live in today.

The novel’s characters grapple with real life problems such as grief, domestic violence and political division.

“I’ve always found that when people come to me for advice or just to share something that they’re struggling with it’s a huge compliment,” Cox said. “It says that they trust me and they respect me enough to share something that they’re dealing with that’s causing them some sort of pain.”

While publishing his self-help magazine, Cox wrote a column each month diving into a personal experience or struggle and exploring how using one of his personal philosophies might result in tackling the problem in a new way.

Cox used a similar approach while writing “The Palace,” choosing instead to create a fictional world and characters, with much of the novel’s protagonist’s life being based on Cox’ own life and experience with grief after the loss of his second wife Diana.

“A lot of the experiences I share in the book were things that I actually experienced in my own life,” Cox said. “I wanted it to feel real. I wanted the protagonist to feel like a real person.”

The novel also grapples with religion, specifically the Buddhist faith.

“The Buddhist faith has always been something that, out of all the religions that I’ve encountered in my life that I’ve learned a little bit about, that’s always had the most resonating feeling with me,” Cox said.

“Just the idea of God being within you, it seems to make sense,” Cox said. “If we were created by God, wouldn’t the DNA of God be in each one of us? When we have that opportunity to access that divine information, we can let the information come to us freely instead of overthinking it.”

While Cox himself does not identify with any particular religion, he said with the novel’s setting of Tibet, as well as current global events in Russia and Ukraine, and the real-life Potala Palace in Tibet, a sacred Buddhist palace which draws thousands of visitors each year, the novel organically came together.

The first one-third of the novel was written on a personal vacation, with much of the rest of the novel unfolding for Cox over the following year like episodes of a television series.

It was important for Cox not to put himself under a time constraint or attach the amount of time the project took to his success or quality of his writing, allowing weeks or even months to pass between writing sessions. This strategy was rewarding for Cox, as he said he often felt transported into the world of the novel in those epiphany moments.

As more of the novel unfolded in Cox’s mind, an exciting, head over-heels love story began to develop when Cox realized there was a shortage of female characters in the novel. The female protagonist, Amina, represents the refugee community from Kazakhstan, sharing their culture and experience of uprooting their lives in pursuit of a better situation. She also represents falling in love again after losing a life partner and struggling with grief.

Writing a love story into the novel opened Cox up to experiencing romantic connections in his own life after going through his own personal grief journey.

Robert “Bob” Cox and his wife Gerianne on their first date. Photo courtesy of Gerianne SanFilippo 

“I realized I really do miss a lot of the craziness of having another person in my life,” Cox said.

It was Robert’s son who encouraged Cox to explore dating sites. It took just one day on the site for Cox to meet his now wife Gerianne, who had intended to quit the site that month.

Cox’ approach to problem solving and conflict has played a positive role in fostering his relationships, including his marriage.

“These aren’t concepts he blurts out lightly. He lives what he says and I find that admirable,” Gerianne shared.

Cox hopes readers can gain from the novel healthy mindfulness, deciding which thoughts to entertain, but also recognizing that not all negative thoughts are bad.

“There’s more power behind the struggle,” Cox said. To me, that’s what makes life so interesting.”

“The Palace” by Robert Austin Cox is available on Amazon and at Barnes and Noble.