Faded Gray

First formed in 1961 under the Kennedy administration, the U.S. Peace Corps is a government program that sends American volunteers into countries to aid in their social and economic development. When candidates are interviewed for the Peace Corps they're told idealistic mantras such as "everyone has a different experience," and "your service can be anything you make it." But in country, service often presents both unexpected and dangerous challenges. In Eastern Europe Volnteers are widely recognized as an American diplomatic gesture, bright, young people offered as an olive branch, tokens to the young satellite republics, who in turn accepted the tribute to make good for the poor acts of their former Soviet oppressor. In that regard, the program in Estonia had in it the largest per capita number of American volunteers serving in any country in the world. By the late 1990s, the U.S. government was caught ill prepared to deal with broken economies of the fallen Iron Curtain. The Clinton administration struggled to retrofit idealistic, covert, Cold War processes into effective programs for the growing needs of the unruly, wide-open region. As a result, the U.S. failed to stay ahead of the curve, and relegated itself to past policies, those of the lowest common denominator where the ends justified the means. In this novel, the first of three, lead character PCV Grayson Palmer finds in the former Soviet Union's wild-east an enigmatic Peace Corps. Palmer's experience had become something he'd never expected, but one he was born to understand. Still, sexton stressed, his na vet was exposed and he became unwittingly enveloped in the criminal world. Strange and new influences challenged him. He'll need all his skills to traverse the dark world of Eurasian organized crime. To regain that control he must relearn to become his own true arbiter. Grayson Palmer interviewed for the Peace Corps with little expectation, but what he got was beyond his imagination. He learned at a young age to handle everything in front him, to not fear the unknown, and to shoot the moon with every hand dealt. He was confident, moral and ethical, in a world where having such qualities was predicated purely by self-determination. But would it be enough? As Grayson Palmer confronts and submits to the elements around him, he discovers secrets that change his life forever.

Jeffrey Vollmer was born in 1968, in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and at eight-years old moved with his mother and sister to the nearby town of Stevens Point. He has two degrees from Wisconsin Universities, a Bachelor of Arts, and a Master of Science. As a young man Vollmer lived and worked a variety of jobs, including typewriter mechanic, roofer, potato inspector, cheese warehouse watchman, mall-store manager, produce salesman, telemarketer, bartender, university development director, and State and U.S. Government payroll deduct fundraising administrator, in the States of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Louisiana, Wisconsin and Massachusetts. In those jobs he met a variety of people with exciting stories, and mined from each unique voices and characters he brings to life. From 1997 to 1999, Vollmer served in the U.S. Peace Corps as a volunteer stationed in the former Soviet Republic of Estonia. He returned to Estonia after 9/11, 2001 to live there with his wife and son. He taught adult, primary and secondary grade English as a foreign language, as well as advised dozens of private, government and nongovernmental clients throughout the country. He and his son returned to the Wisconsin Northwoods in 2008. There they live, in a cabin on a lake, and breed Black Russian Terriers. Vollmer continues to volunteer, now as a local firefighter, and spends free time writing about the many characters he’s known.