Robert Bennett, a resident of Jericho, is taking the next step in his literary career. His new novel, Blind Traveler Down A Dark River, which will officially be released on July 3 by Publish America LLP, a Maryland-based publishing company, is available on-line and in bookstores now.

Blind Traveler Down A Dark River is a Mystery/Sci-fi thriller about a blind man, Douglas Abledan, who uses a GPS unit to navigate the world. One day the device malfunctions and he stumbles upon the scene of a murder about to take place. Due to the confusion caused by the failure of his technology, it isn't until he hears a radio announcer reporting an accidental shooting that the pieces start falling into place. Unable to convince authorities to look into the matter, he launches his own investigation.

On July 25, 1988, Bennett was in a car accident that left him in a wheelchair. "My own inaccessibility getting into public places started me writing about disability issues," said Bennett. "It was therapeutic at first and then I realized that it could help other people. My brother, Jeff, pushed me to write the novel."

Following 14 years of writing articles about issues of living with, adapting to, and overcoming disability, the idea for this novel arose while Bennett was researching an article about a real-world experimental system that allows a blind person to navigate through his environment using a combination of global positioning satellite and virtual reality technologies. The device assigns sounds to different objects thereby allowing the user to "see" potential obstacles. Reginald G. Golledge, Ph.D, professor of Geography at University of California, Santa Barbara, worked on this research.

"I took the concept of the device and threw it into the future so the technology would be solid and widely used," said Bennett. "Then, I thought about what would happen if the technology allowed a blind person to witness something he wouldn't otherwise have access to, like a murder. Two questions came to mind. Would anyone believe a blind man could witness a murder? How could he go about proving it happened and finding the perpetrator?"

Before his writing career, Bennett worked as a social worker. "I still feel I am doing social work but now I am reaching more people through my writing," said Bennett.

Bennett is currently working on other books and Douglas Abledan, the main character in Blind Traveler Down A Dark River will be the main character in a series.

In his review of the book, Michael Burks, public information officer for International Center for Disability Resources on the Internet, said "Blind Traveler Down A Dark River is an exciting and believable story of a man who uses the high technology that helps him get around in the world to solve a case that the police cannot. I found it to be one of the most exciting and believable books I have read in a long time."

The book is currently available online at www.amazon.com and www.borders.com and also at www.enablingwords.com