Life is a dangerous place to be. The woods, skies, lakes and oceans are filled with creatures bent on killing and eating each other. Nothing in nature dies of old age.

Prey animals are taken down by predators. It’s as if prey animals are made to be food.

Carnivore predators possess razor-sharp, canine-like teeth. Carnivores are the watchers from the shadows. All of them, such as lions, tigers, bobcats or wolves, are wired the same way. They don’t eat lettuce for lunch. To a carnivore, you simply look like another rabbit in the grass.

   There’s another carnivore that is often overlooked - man. Man has canine teeth. Man is born wired with the same instincts as the alpha predators.

    We’re taught to control it. Supposedly. 

Preface

  The story behind Turtle Lake could easily have happened. I was in a position to do it myself.

The information didn't all come to me at once, but over a period of time. I don't remember exactly how long it was, but I do remember suddenly realizing that certain people were being extremely lax with potentially dangerous information. And they were telling it to me. Why were they telling me this stuff? Well, I'm not really sure. It involved a president of a company who was very proud of his financial wealth and was, perhaps, too eager to share his pride with others. But why me? I was just a piano player working six nights a week in a supper club. This man from out of town used to come in, have dinner and a few drinks, and then a few drinks more. Then he'd come over to the piano and talk. He was extremely pleasant and maybe my gentle and friendly demeanor put him at ease. He'd give me huge tips, and when I'd politely inform him that each particular tune wasn't worth twenty dollars in 1973 cash, he'd reassure me that his wealth was both vast and magnanimous. And he told me how he came to have all that money. But as he talked over a period of several weeks, I wondered about his wisdom in telling me this information. I remember thinking, as he related one particular piece in the puzzle, "You fool! You shouldn't be telling this to anybody!" And even if I did indeed appear to be honest and pleasant, in the case of the true con man they all appear to be honest and pleasant and...

How did he know I wasn’t a con man or a crook?!

But I'm not a con man. I'm not even a petty crook. Oh sure, I've profited from a lot of pool games and, in my college days, chess games as well. But that doesn't make me dishonest. And when I realized how vastly I could profit from this man by misusing the information he'd given me, I began to get scared. I realized that the door was wide open for a high-level scam to take place, and that all I needed to do was to think it through carefully, yes – very carefully! - then punch the right buttons at the right time. He wouldn't have a chance. Not one stinking chance. I could do it to him as fast as lightning and he'd never know where it came from.

How could this executive sit and tell this information to a total stranger? I know a lot of pool hustlers who, if they'd been in my position, would have teed off on this situation like a major leaguer. In fact, in one area pool hall when discussing the plot of Turtle Lake, one man looked up at me and said, rather amazedly, "You were in a position to pull this off, and you didn’t?!"

But did this executive relating the information to me years ago seem to be aware that such people existed? No, he apparently didn't. All he knew was that I played piano and that he liked the way I played. Therefore, he liked and trusted me. I remember him commenting on the soft, subtle piano styles that I like to explore, and it reminded me of the lethal subtleties involved in a calculated chess combination, bringing your opponent crashing to his knees. Innocuous looking moves made behind the lines, yet soft and deadly. It reminded me of the deceptive ease with which a master pool player makes the game look so easy, but everything is designed to make the other guy lose.

And although it appears beautiful to the casual onlooker, it's dead serious business to the one who's making the moves.

So he liked my soft, subtle piano playing, eh? Well, he can thank his lucky stars that I was raised honest. In fact, it never occurred to me to pull off this scam even after I'd figured out how to do it. There seems to be that uncrossable barrier between someone who will do this kind of thing and someone who won't. In fact, I've made a study out of people who can actually do these things in an effort to understand this part of human nature, for one must never forget that we are just a small, single link in the whole realm of nature. Nothing more, nothing less.

    So the story of Turtle Lake came about through real life. It came about because he, as an honest man, has no concept as to what a dishonest man can and will do to him. And it was blended into pleasant, relaxing, and disarming conversations.

    Other elements of this book are true, also. Very little is made up. For instance, all the insane goings-on in the infamous Trappers Bar scene actually happened in places where I was playing the piano during my saloon playing days.

    I have changed some details from the information he told me. If I didn't, someone else would be able to pinpoint exactly who he was and exactly what he was talking about.

    And I can tell you, dear reader, that even after publishing this book, I could still go back and do what I had originally envisioned many years ago, and neither this man nor anyone else would have the slightest inkling as to where it came from. What's so scary now, as it was then, was that anyone else could have done it. Therefore, I have omitted giving even the slightest clue.

Robert Milne

The above Preface was written in 1990 for the original printing of Turtle Lake in 1992.  It is now 2025. This is a newly edited rendition of Turtle Lake, the same story as the original. Remember that the story takes place in 1990, an era before cell phones, sophisticated computers, and other modern technology. 

     Robert Milne began his musical career as a virtuoso French horn player in major symphony orchestras beginning in the tenth grade. Trained at the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York, he played in the Rochester Philharmonic and later the Baltimore Symphony.

    Alongside his horn performing, Bob enjoyed picking up piano playing jobs in saloons, entertaining audiences with on the spot improvisations and stories behind the music.  Milne learned piano on his own in this way and parlayed it into a lifelong career. Now he is on the concert circuit, in concert halls all over the United States, Canada, and overseas as both a performer and lecturer.

During the 2000s, Bob was given the designation of Ambassador of Music by the U.S. State Department during one of several tours in Japan and the Okinawan Islands.  In 2004 Bob was interviewed regarding his encyclopedic knowledge of American music by the Library of Congress for the national record. He was declared a National Treasure by the Librarian of Congress, Dr. James Billington.

Because of his incredible musical abilities, including hearing multiple symphonic pieces in his head at the same time, Mr. Milne is the subject of ongoing neurological studies.

    Robert Milne writes columns for various ragtime and jazz publications and has made numerous solo piano recordings. He is a prolific composer in many different styles and has had many of his solo piano pieces recorded. Included in these styles are songs based on the poetry of Robert Frost and Stillman Elwell, a concerto for trumpet and orchestra, a piano concerto with orchestra, over forty ragtime piano compositions, country music songs, and a full length grand opera based on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

    In 2023 Mr. Milne was awarded an honorary Doctorate from the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, for lifetime achievements in music.