Greetings, old friends.  As you may discern, I've been out of the blogging circuit for a while. Life events, divorce, etc. But I am happy to report I've published a little satire on Amazon, I, TRUMP.  Please check it out if you fancy it. All kicks and giggles. I'm also working on Gray Area 2, the follow-up to my Amazon Best Seller in 2012, Gray Area. Look for it by the end of Summer. I hope all have you have been surviving the pandemic as best as possible. Strange year we've had. 

AS PROMISED

So, I'm finally posting the first chapter to my Mars book below. I'll keep chapters coming, hopefully one or two a month. It is still very much a work in progress, but I'm excited about it. Again, as mentioned earlier, THE GIANT deals with a rescue mission to save a group of families crash-landed on the largest volcano in our solar system, located on Mars. The mountain is called Olympus Mons. I'm adapting the book from my existing screenplay, hoping that with these preliminary chapters and then exposure on Amazon, that it will catch.

Please feel free to weigh in as we go along.

Also, please remember that my film A Fatal Obsession airs on December 20 as a Lifetime premiere. The film stars Eric Roberts, Tracy Nelson and myself. I am currently working on the novelization to the film as well.

Thank you.

Been busy - and free chapters to new Mars book "The Giant - Olympus Mons" and "Kill Match" and "Gray Area 2 - DEAD BEFORE DAWN"

Hi, folks. Yes, I've been off the radar for many months. This will not happen again. I am renewing all efforts to finish several existing projects (Gray Area 2 and 3) as well as introducing two new science-fiction novels. The Giant - Olympus Mons is an adaptation to a screenplay which is already complete and in the beginning stages of being marketed accordingly to the major players in Hollywood.  You can read periodic chapters as I write them in a special section of this website on a weekly or bi-weekly basis until it is completed in 2016. The Giant revolves around a rescue mission on the highest volcano/mountain in our solar system, on Mars, called Olympus Mons. For those sci-fi geeks out there, you will see similarities to Andy Weir's "The Martian" - extensive research mixed with the story of several families trapped on a mountain 110,000 feet high. Olympus Mons, which you can google, is a monster of a hill over 3 times the height of Mt. Everest. Everest would nestle comfortably in the shadows of the Mons' foothills. I spent years researching Martian topography, vulcanism and astronautics. The story is simple:  Ben Teller runs Mars America, one of two outposts on Mars - the other being a facility under the auspices of the Army Corps of Engineers. The first few families of colonists arrive and in an attempted landing run into problems and crash in the caldera of Olympus Mons. A rescue mission must be initiated by Mars America, near the base of Olympus Mons. It's a ticking-clock adventure where the colonists must be rescued in a certain time period lest they perish. Ben Teller and his party must get to them ASAP or all is lost.

Kill Match is a science-fiction story slightly more dystopian in nature. In a near or distant future, Army and Navy now fight one another in a seemingly endless war perpetrated by a supreme being known as the Gunman. It is a war wherein the survivors of an ancient catastrophe, the descendants of Army, who survived in underground bunkers, and the descendants of Navy, those whose antecedents survived in submarines, now battle one another for territory and indistinct political ideologies. Men and women no longer enjoy normal sexual relations - rather, they are bred for military purposes - and bred like animals underground, then rendered amnesiac after any encounter, to ensure combat-ready hate and effectiveness. Things get complicated when a soldier from Navy - Elena - and a soldier from Army -  Landon - who meet on the field of battle and fall in love (illegally. This is Logan's Run meets The Hunger Games.

And for those patient few - chapters to my 2011 #1 Gray Area novel in hard-boiled crime - will also be posted on this blog periodically over the next few months to tease one and all.

Please, gang, when you read the chapters, chime in and let me know you went in for a read so that I can track those of you who are perusing.

I was in Argentina for the summer shooting my film, Tangoman, and I may have to return in a few months to complete filming. We shot some scenes here in Los Angeles with Oscar Nominee Eric Roberts and I'll post that new trailer shortly.

Much more news in coming blogs.

Thanks

OUT AND ABOUT & BACK IN THE HOOD

I've not posted much of late; I've been rather busy with the post-production of my first Tom Sizemore film "Blue Line" which wrapped a few months ago. We hope to shoot the rest early next year. I have also been involved in writing my next Lifetime film along with a film called Tangoman ... which I've completed the initial stages of shooting here in Buenos Aires, Argentina ... where I currently am posting to all of you out there. Tangoman will feature the revered music of Astor Piazolla, who rose to fame and prominence for his work in the 60s, 70s and 80s. All this activity has of course caused unforeseen delays in my sequels to Gray Area, which I still hope to have completed by the end of the year. More details to come on upcoming events as they develop. Stay well and be careful out there ... sometimes you get the bear and sometimes the bear gets you!

Stuff in the Air!

So, I believe March and April had to be two of the crappiest months I've ever known. Forget about the Malaysian Flight 370 pulling a Twilight Zone episode or the Korean ferry disaster. Those are pretty miserable events, but look at what is happening in the Ukraine and here in the U.S.  A very pretty girl in Connecticut was stabbed to death at her school by some crazy little bastard who said, and I quote, upon being captured:  "Wait, I'm not done killing people." And then we have that idiot rancher in Nevada, spouting filth about slavery and folks of color.  Then ... and I don't think I'm the only one voicing my perennial pithy ire ... there's the tax thing.  I dunno ... sometimes life is just plain overwhelming.  Okay, I'm done on my rant, thank you very much.

Other news:  I launched The Lynx Factor, my first book of three, in the series. This was done in February. Other books will be launched in May and July. The Lynx Factor is in the Ludlum genre of terrorism and espionage. Peter Lynx is the most unique hero you will ever encounter. An ex-Navy Seal/mortician who must deal with Al Qaeda on American turf.  I continue to labor away on my sequels to Gray Area and I would have been done with them months ago had not the need to pay rent reared its ugly head with work. My film A Fatal Obsession, starring Eric Roberts, took up most of January and my other film, Changing Lives, starring my friend, Mark Dacascos (who is also directing) took up February and March. Five days have already been shot in Moscow, with remaining shooting to resume in May. I shall be in Russia for a week or so at that time.

So there's the latest update, ramblers.  Keep reading! And stay out of trouble. And to those writers in the fore, remember:  Write about something worth reading ... or do something worth writing about.  Cheers!

ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT

So, as mentioned in my prior blog, I wrote and co-produced this film, A Fatal Obsession, in Connecticut this past January. Film stars Eric Roberts and the very dear Tracy Nelson (she has been in two other movies of mine for the Lifetime Channel - The Night Caller and Her Perfect Spouse). On Saturday evening, February 22, Entertainment Tonight featured my young producer, Richard Switzer, wherein he discussed the movie and how he found the script that attracted such notable talent. He was quite generous with throwing my name about as well.

Please enjoy the link below to the show's segment on Switzer, myself and A Fatal Obsession.

Rolling 'Fast and Furious' for 2014!

Sorry, folks - I've been off the radar these past few months, but my excuse is terrific: I've been producing back to back movies since late December.

My first film, which started shooting January 1, was A Fatal Obsession, starring the fascinating personality of Eric Roberts and the veteran talent, Tracy Nelson.  We're shooting for a Lifetime Channel sale.  Shoot was great but it was shot entirely in Groton, Connecticut, which was enjoying the wrath of the polar vortex (if you remember that sexy climatic term) and thus I was freezing my nuts off most of the shoot. I was one of the co-stars, and as luck would have it, a lot of my scenes were exteriors, i.e., outside in the friggin' cold.  But it all went well, so no complaints.

I returned to L.A. and a few days later, began shooting a movie I did NOT write, but had a decent role in and co-produced, Buddy Hutchins, starring Jamie Kennedy and the legendary Sally Kirkland. We wrapped that a week ago, and since that time, I've hustled to finish the first book of three in the series, The Lynx Factor. Fans of Russell Blake, John Irving and Robert Ludlum will enjoy this action story about an ex-Seal and mortician who must deal with terrorists taking over his apartment complex and threatening to destroy L.A. with a dirty bomb launched from stinger missiles smuggled in from abroad. I's not your conventional adventure - Peter Lynx is a quirky hero who suffers from perpetual bad luck, which he refers to as The Lynx Factor. I think you'll all love it. I launch the first book this weekend, so look out for it.

I have another movie I wrote shooting in Moscow, late March, early April, so will be out of commission again until mid-April, but will be better at keeping you all apprised of activities in the next month or so. Hopefully, things will have settled down in the Ukraine by then.

The Bird of Time has but a little way To fly --- and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.

A very happy November to you all!  I have a trailer to the movie I wrote with Brent Huff, “Black Rose”

Looks pretty cool, I think.  Black Rose will be released in January nationwide (Russia nationwide, that is) in theaters, and will be seen on DVD some time in 2014. My second film to be shot in Moscow, The Boy, goes before cameras in December of this year.  I’ll be heading to Red Square this time around, hoping to see Katherine’s jewels and shoot some groovy vodka. In January, I co-produce a film in Connecticut from my script, A Fatal Obsession, which stars Eric Roberts, Tracy Nelson and yours truly as The Beaver.  Busy 90 days ahead, providing my cirrhosis doesn’t take over and I’m forced to kill some baboon for his liver.

The news continues to demoralize as do politics, so I shall remain shrewdly quiet on such matters.  On a more personal animal note – and it reminded me how kind animals can be to one another (a trait I wish was more apparent with human beings) – I walk by a street corner daily to fetch some fresh gourmet coffee.  Every morning, someone comes over and pours out a ton of bread crumbs in a shallow sand basin for a kit of neighborhood pigeons.  The birds enjoy breakfast, as such, on a daily basis.  Two mornings ago, I recognized a stray bird – actually, a banded pigeon, clearly someone’s property, perhaps just hooking up with the flock on his travels or simply lost and joining in the festivities.

He looked exhausted, and after eating pecking about for a bit (I watched the birds dine for about ten minutes) the guest bird crouched to a resting position and blinked sleepily at the feeding throng around him. A small hen approached this more sophisticated rock dove and began gently picking out mites from the weary traveler and in such a way that could only be construed as altruistic rather than bored abandon at scarfing down a dessert mite. The guest bird continued to blink sleepily and allowed the nuzzling.  It was a very touching sight to behold and made my entire day.

A truck passed suddenly and the group took to the sky, with the guest bird flying off on his own, toward his own personal destiny.  I watched him disappear over the horizon and whispered to myself “safe journey, brave soldier, safe journey.”  We all travel alone in this life, whether we have a mate or not.  Our own singular journey is very private and complex.  We can either traverse the course with some degree of happiness and a sense of adventure, or alternatively, with an inconsolable sense of dread and fear.  I choose the former, for better or for worse, whether there is a Great Creator or not. Life is a blessing. We should endeavor to celebrate it daily and with an inviolate sense of gratitude to whatever gods may be.

Now please glance at Amazon and peruse my many literary offerings.  I need bread for the birds should the old homeless person who feeds them daily suddenly keel over dead and leave his feathered children starving in the streets. 

We can’t have that now, can we?...

The Maya - like Miley - lets it all hang out as a wonder!

So, just got back from the sweltering jungles of the Yukatan Peninsula wherein I climbed one of the highest pyramids in North America (located in Coba) and reflected on all things spiritual and literary. That and consuming my body weight in tequila and beer on a daily basis.  Fascinating people, the Mayans; a clearly advanced society in terms of science and architecture, yet horrific in terms of their approach to humanity ... it was nearly non-existent.  Human sacrifice was the hobby of any given occasion - not just virgins (a horrible waste under any condition) but adults, children and babies.

The Mayans had a ball game, for instance, wherein they played in a huge court (beautifully intact) at Chichen Itza.  Much like soccer, they played with a rubber ball utilizing their knees, feet, elbows, head, etc. ... but no hands.  The captains of each team struggled desperately to win for a great prize rendered only to them should they emerge victorious:  they were allowed to be beheaded.  Yay!  I win. I get to naked above the shoulders to honor the gods.  This is because the Mayans believed that the next life beat the shit out of this one (arguable at cocktail hour).

They also followed the planet Venus and its cycle and it matched NASA's calculation to within an hour (you can google for more detail - I'll spare the reader the voluminous info in this blog).  All in all a fascinating adventure and I recommend it to one and all (it is now one of the 7 wonders of the world). So far I've seen 3 of them: The Coliseum in Rome, The Christos in Brazil and Chichen Itza. Gonna try to see the Great Wall of China and Stonehenge (and possibly the pyramids in Egypt), by hell and high water, sometime in 2014, depending on the $$$ coming in from all of you reading my books, dear fans.

So get going, read up on the Mayans and buy my crap.  Please.

Thank you.

Peace In Our Time Doesn't Always Work When Dealing With Child-Murderers

At the risk of alienating some of my readership, I am posting the below on a subject I feel too strongly about to ignore.

I find it fascinating and depressing that the international community remains largely quiet on the Syrian debacle vis a vis that regime's use of chemical weapons against civilians and in particular, children. It voiced various degrees of outrage or support for the ill-advised criminal Iraq war perpetrated by the recidivist Bush regime but with clear evidence of inhumanity alive and well in Syria, well deserving of punitive military response, the world wishes to remain silent or, worse, like the UK, inactive and Neville Chamberlain-like passive. Only the United States is contemplating decisive action against the death merchant, Assad, and his evil retinue of murderers. Obama should exhibit no hesitation in committing U.S. forces to pounding the hell out of Assad and his minions; that should be the measure of U.S. resolve, and the longer we wait on such action, the more the salient message reverberates: My name is Assad and I can murder people with impunity. Go f__ yourself, world, and particularly you, America.

Let not wickedness triumph, Mr. President. Attack now. Unlike Bush, show the world you risk war for moral and decent reasons outside of political and territorial expansionist interests.

I quite understand the UK in one way inasmuch as their resources have been over-extended in both the Iraq and Afghan theaters; people are simply tired of fighting an enemy which is consistently horrendous in terms of civilized behavior (or lack thereof).  War has taken toll on the democratic peoples of the world and folks are weary.  But now is not the time to shy away from a clear, egregious example of virtual genocide, perpetrated by a regime clearly lacking in any moral foundation and contrary to all rules of not only war, but the basic precepts of decency and humanity.  

It is my prediction that President Obama will not wait long to hit Assad hard.  The question is will the President's characterization of 'hard' deter Assad from further acts of murderous euthanasia against the Syrian people? He has stated that the U.S. is not interested in a 'regime change' - by which he means to say he plans to allow Assad to continue living and holding sway over a defenseless population - and that he has no interest in committing America or its allies to another protracted debacle in the Middle East and beyond, such has been seen in the Iraq imbroglio and the Afghan landscape.  So that leaves the 'surgical' alternative: carefully calculated attacks on targets in Damascus designed to deter further weapons offensives and to demoralize the Syrian leadership sufficient to arrest Assad's homicidal acts against the native population.

Will it be enough?  At this stage of this ominous game, we can only wait and see. But if action is not taken, America's message to the world as the only remaining superpower is:  weapons of mass destruction and their utilization by outlaw regimes and/or governments will be tolerated ... because we're all so tired of fighting for the right thing.

And that, dear friends, would be the most tragic thing of all. For it was once said by a poet or some philosopher that evil prevails when good men stand by and decide to do nothing about it....

I would like to believe this is not the tacit mandate for the United States of America. Because, after all - and this is no joke - we're the good guys.  We must act as such, then goodness will continue to be blessed upon us.

On a lighter note, please note my books on Amazon and buy my crap accordingly. 

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=george+p+saunders&rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Ageorge+p+saunders

It's Raining Sharks

So here's a fun little tidbit:  my partner, whom I wrote and produced Mutant Vampire Zombies From The Hood with awhile back, ends up writing "Sharknado".  As you may know already, that little pix has gone more viral than your basic herpes outbreak.  We've acquired the Gersh Agency as our reps and are now pitching a parody of the old Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea series to networks. It's called DIVE! Please wish us luck. 

My last three books of the year remain sequels to Gray Area and the nearly completed action-thriller, The Lynx Factor. 

Do try to catch Sharknado, as my partner Thunder Levin, will be most appreciative.  It hits theaters next Friday.  They don't make the classics like they used to!  It be raining sharks, mon!

Press release for my film, Black Rose, and other announcements

Black Rose, a crime-thriller I penned some time ago with Brent Huff, is finally shooting in Moscow, as of June 19. Wrap date will be July 8.  Great cast w/Robert Davi, Adrian Paul and Kristanna Loken (she was the hot Terminator-bitch in T3- Rise of the Machines).  A press release is below.

http://www.screendaily.com/news/russias-luxor-nabs-new-nevsky/5057738.article

I'll head out to Moscow for my second picture, The Boy, sometime later this year.

In the meantime, The Lynx Factor, a new action adventure book, will be launched in July and am finishing up Gray Area 2 and 3 - sequels to the very successful Gray Area last year.

More updates to follow in coming weeks. 

Thanks.

A Word on Branding, Prince and the Magic Quest and Gray Area 2

Hello, one and all.

Yes, I've been 'dark' on the blog circuit these many months.  Been hard at work on a film of mine shooting in Russia come early July, called "Black Rose."  The film ostensibly will star Alexander Nevsky, and Kristanna Loken (the bitch-kitty robot in Terminator 3 - Rise of The Machines). I'll have a role in it as well, a detective. Also helping out a buddy on his film, Guardian Angel, filming to start on June 21.  Both films are thrillers.


I wrote another YA book a few months ago with a buddy of mine called Prince and the Magic Quest, and for the first time, have a small readership in Japan.  My Asian friends apparently love fantasy, especially where swords and dragons are concerned.


And, yes, to my many queries, Gray Area 2 is on its way to launch by the end of summer, followed hard upon by Gray Area 3.  Special Investigator for the LAPD, Lou Diamond, returns in all his hard-drinking, cynical glory, this time as a by-proxy single parent to two ten year old girls.  It's not an easy balance, shooting up bad guys and engaging in tea-cup parties with the youngins'.


Finally, to all you hard-core writers out there, veteran or novice, who are trying to find your 'brand': Terribly important to do so from a business perspective.  There are numerous blogs out there extolling the merits of branding and I embrace those precepts so stipulated by those who have been in this self-publishing business longer than myself. Find a genre (or two) and stick with it/them, preferably one that lends itself to a franchise, and stick to the keyboard.  I've been doing this Amazon self-publishing thing now for just over a year, and while not making $50K or more a month as yet, I have seen steady income.  I have not yet really honed in on my brand as yet, but will do so assiduously this coming year to ensure higher sales.


But why have I not secured 'branding' for myself as yet?  Because I've actually enjoyed the process of writing and creating stories in a variety of other genres.  My non-fiction work has been the most successful thus far and constitutes the bulk of my monthly revenue, followed hard upon by my hard-boiled crime and to a lesser degree, my science fiction offerings.  Horror and YA has been softer, and this is probably due to the fact that in the past 14 months I've served up a wide-array of genres and my name has not been hard-and-fast secured to a particular kind of book.  "Oh, Saunders, yeah he's the action-adventure guy" or "Right, old Saunders, he dishes out that hard-core sci-fi stuff!"  This will come in time.


Writers ... don't suppress your urge to write what you want.  Branding is great for $$$.  But sometimes the literary soul must be hearkened to and not dismissed for the sake of fatter cash intake.  Perhaps I should have taken the advice of some who mentioned I should write under a separate name for my respective genres so as not to confuse my audience, but I did not, and do not plan to suffer for it.  I took a year to get my feet wet writing whatever I bloody chose to write.  Now, I shall pursue a branding course of action and suffer not too greatly for it.  Sometimes we must simply follow for a time the beat to our own personal literary drummer.  I have done so and have no regrets.


Marketing your books is still key, however, and the only reason I'm not selling ten or so books or less in a given month is due to assiduous efforts in marketing, including free promos, joining book clubs, twittering, etc.  These are all vital components for selling your work.  Writing alone will not make you a dollar and a cent in this very competitive business.  Letting the world know you have something to say - that you have a voice - is just as critical to your success as proving to that world you are the next Hemingway.


So get to work and buy my crap while your at it, okay?


Thanks.

Things Change ... and Stay The Same

A Happy New Year to one and all!  I've not blogged in 90 days due to family, holidays and multiple complications with problem drinking and the law, e.g ... life is like that sometimes...

Okay, little joke as preamble.

So, we've had an election and the world failed to end, both for America and in spite of the Mayan forecast of doom and gloom ... though some of my Republican friends are still in an agoraphobic phase of 'the sky is falling' after Obama's re-election.  And, yet ... in spite of that, the U.S. trundles on.  Politicians are still creatures to be leery of whenever possible, as well as vacant-eyed psychopaths wearing hoodies and carrying automatic machine guns.  We have a near-object flyby of an asteroid on February 15 that is about the size of a football field which will thumb its meteoric nose at us then run off like a whore in a nunnery.  The economy continues to struggle ... but in time, that, too, will change.

As all things do.  Yet also, paradoxically, things remain the same.  I'm still paying too much for gas, young supermodels have zero interest in me and my Chinese bartender and cook still tries to convince me that the recooked kittty in my moo-ho-I-just-don't-know rice dish is really chicken.  I now only drink home-distilled grain alcohol and have refrained as much as I can from milk and dairy.  Yet ... I continue to gain weight.

The other night I was walking across the street, thinking there is no God.  A car races in my direction, without his lights on, and had I not happened to look to my right in that split second, I would have been splattered.  Weird. I believe one writer called it a God-wink.  Apologies, my atheistic friends ... I remain unconvinced in your convictions. A change for me ... because I doubt so very often in most everything.

Where things haven't changed (in my view) is in the world of publishing.  We can still be surprised.  Writers - you crazy kids - did you notice your sales jumped by nearly three times in January compared to prior months?  The same is true for this month.  Why?  I think the clear answer is that Amazon/Kindles must have had a fine holiday season in the marketplace.  More Kindles - more downloading.  One theory only.

Or ... I've just turned from a hack into F. Scott Fitzgerald nearly overnight.  Or people are confusing me with Lindsey Lohan (an obvious and pardonable mistake).  I dunno.  But I'm kinda happy about the overall results.  Please feel free to contact me and let me know how your sales are doing.

Last, we all continue to mourn the horror of Newtown, Connecticut.  There is no rhyme or reason for this kind of evil.  Except, perhaps, that evil and psychosis (going happily hand in hand) simply exist and will always do so.  We can only pray for those families daily and likewise do the same that this kind of tragedy never occurs again.

I wish you all a prosperous 2013.  And thank you for not smoking.

Greatness in Great Ones Must Not Unwatched Go

I despair, at times, with our parochial society of penurious puritanism. Two fine patriots are now officially excoriated in the ethos of our nation - David Petraeus and his lover, Paula Broadwell. Petraeus is a downright hero, but not many people know that Paula graduated from West Point, served in the reserves, achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel and was the director of a counter-terrorism

think tank. Both worthy human beings. But because emails were analyzed by the FBI, the General felt a need to resign his position as the Director of the CIA. And Paula is taken down into the mud by unwanted press scrutiny.

Alright, it was the so-called 'honorable thing to do' for the General, and sorry, Mrs. Petraeus, that you're on the short end of the stick. But people - all people - have personal failings in my life. Even I have loved two women at the same time ... imagine. But for a valued general - an intrinsic component to our national security - to feel forced to abandon ship ... it is saddening.

I reckon the President did what he thought was right in accepting the general's resignation, but I would have preferred a different response: "General. Sir. I respect your decision in resigning your very important post, but the country cannot afford to lose you. You have proved yourself too able and essential to our country. Get a room next time, and don't email the chick ... but you, sir, are invaluable and I must ask you to return to duty, apologize to the wife and keep on defending America and the free world at large. You're not the first great man to be distracted by a hottie like Paula. Get over it and be Great!"

In a way, we need more Bill Cintons in the world - leaders who we know are great even when their penises, always guided to the true polar north of sexual opportunity, get them into mischief. A man's personal foibles should not be thrown into the petrie dish of combined superior assets and achievement and thus to be judged too harshly for the relative insignificance of those foibles.  David in the Bible had another man killed so that he could have at it with his wife, Bathesheba.  Did history look at David and vilify him?  No.  He knew how to kill giants with a sling and extol God.  Was Franklin D. Roosevelt demonized for his affair, while Eleanore dealt with the indiscretion as best she could?  No.  Roosevelt obliterated the Great Depression and killed Nazis.  Was John F. Kennedy regarded harshly for screwing everything female while married to Jackie while in the White House?  No.  He was remembered for bringing us out of the shadow of nuclear oblivion through the Cuban Missile Crisis and incentivizing us to go to the moon.

Point is, I wish we'd get over the whole 'well, Petraeus showed himself to be a deceiver and an unfaithful husband' bullshit.  He's helped kill evil jihadists that murdered 3,000 of our people on September 11, 2011 and up until yesterday, was assisting in taking down more of these scumbags. A man's personal life should not be a reflection on how he executes his duty and destiny - particularly when that duty and destiny is to keep America safe.

Abraham Lincoln was once approached by his cabinet about General Ulysses S. Grant. They said: "He's a drunk." Lincoln replied: "Maybe so. But he wins battles!" QED, my friends, QED.

Political Shenanigans Aside

I rarely remark on things political, but this time I will, because it gives me the opportunity to make a positive observation.  Whatever one may think about President Obama or Governor Chris Christie, one must hand it to one and both that they've come together for the sake of the embattled state of New Jersey for the best possible of causes - that poor state's reconstitution and rehabilitation.  I have an ex-girlfriend, someone I stay in touch with and who lives near the Jersey shoreline, and she says that conditions there are still fairly prehistoric.  No doubt, casualty numbers will continue to rise as the seas recede.  It is my hope and prayer that assistance provided will come quickly and restore normalcy as soon as possible. It is also my hope, notwithstanding political cynicism, that this bolsters or inspires some kind of future bi-partisanship between two polar opposites in the Republican and Democratic realms of decision-making.  While I may be a registered Republican, it is my belief that President Obama will win re-election at this point in time; the electoral college alone has all but mandated this manifest destiny.  No doubt, the Democrats will retain control of the Senate, and I further believe, the Democrats stand a good chance of prevailing in the Congress.

Bottom line, like most of the country, I hope this all leads to progress for our great nation.  The economy is still in need of a jump-start and our old adversaries in Al-Queda are clearly still up to no good in the Middle East and northern Africa (among other parts of the globe).

My prayers are with all of those folks on our Eastern Seaboard.  Please share in those prayers for the safety and healing of all our fellow Americans in that tormented landscape hit by Queen Bitch of Ms. Hurricane 2012 - Sandy.

Free Download of new Science Fiction Novel - Desert Angels

Hello, folks:

I've already introduced my new book, Desert Angels, but for those who check in, it is now available today, Thursday, September 27 - ONE DAY ONLY - for free on Amazon/Kindle.  So hurry and check it out.

My next book, PETER AT THE BAT, takes a stab at domestic terrorism and is not unlike Die Hard in many respects.  Non-stop action, ruthless villains, a conflicted hero.  But there are some uncomfortable laughs as well, and violent radical Islam is spared nothing!  Look for this book to be published on or around October 15 of this year.

And for those who have been patient, my November/December novel will be a sequel to the highly successful GRAY AREA, which I introduced back in April of this year.  Lou Diamond picks up where he left off, a year following his exposure of a Neocon sub-division of the DOD, working in tandem with certain terrorist nations for profit.  Having laid low in Mexico for two years, he returns to Los Angeles, seeking work at what he does best:  Kicking ass on bad guys wherever they may be found.

Thanks - and thank you all for a very successful first six months since I've started this crazy publishing business.

Nuclear War, Reincarnation and some String Theory

I have just published my new science fiction adventure novel, Desert Angels, on Amazon/Kindle.  This is a book, which like Whatever Gods May Be, was written in the 1980s... almost 30 years ago, when, as the Brothers Four once put it in their song, And The Waves Roll In:  "when the fish were thick, and I was young and strong."  It was my second outing out as an author, penned in 1985.  I have updated the book somewhat - yet the times seem not to have changed that much. The inciting incident to the story is world war, which takes place initially in the Middle East, with Iran causing all sorts of problems vis a vis Israel, and shit stirred up in general in contiguous nations.  The story takes place a few years in the future, as there is reference that some nations in South America have somehow acquired nuclear weapons, or have perfected a nuclear weapons program.

After the war, our hero, Jack Calisto - a kind of Omega Man - represents the last normal human being on the planet ... inasmuch as he's not suffered from radiation poisoning or mutation.  The world has gone topsy-turvy in this world; the normal rules of physics sometimes do not apply, and there are zombies galore, along with reincarnated wives who come back to help Jack in this nutty post-nuclear environment. Though there is plenty of action and sci-fi scenarios for the most ardent of science fiction Neocons, there is also at play a certain Ray Bradbury-like magical realism that the reader must simply accept.  At heart, I believe Desert Angels is a tragic love story.  You will see what I mean once you have read the book.

For those who have mentioned the word "sequel" in your reviews, yes, in 2013, a sequel to Mars, The Bringer of War will be released.

Introducing The Man Book

It seems like forever since I first came up with the idea of writing a book that explains everything a modern man needs to know to be happy. The first kernel of an idea began, as with so many of my inspirations, with a cocktail – which in and of itself isn’t unusual, I suppose. Be that as it may, I was on a flight and was chatting with a young lady who seemed mystified as to why her fiancé (she pronounced it Fhay-an-ce, like Beyonce with a ffff and an ay) didn’t respond to her ideas and thoughts as she hoped. As I imagined her plunging 32 thousand feet to her death, or alternatively, someone driving an ice pick through my ear to end the suffering, I thought, “Why is it that any man would listen to this for more than five seconds?” That led to another cocktail, and soon I was mentally sketching out the idea of a primer for men, lest any other male ever have to endure what I did for that two hours of living hell.

And so The Man Book was born into the world. It’s a very funny book, in the way that watching someone else get into a car accident or walk down the aisle is funny. But more than that, it is a book that will make me easily the most hated man on the planet to the female of the species. And that will be undeserved, because all I am doing is explaining why modern men are unhappy behaving like neutered housecats. And yet I know that the outrage from mannish women with bad short haircuts and a sincere belief that the planet would be better without men, or with only a few for artificial insemination purposes will be loud and immediate. I shall treasure each and every one star, foaming at the mouth review I get, and wear it as a badge of honor. Because ladies? The world isn’t anything like what you think it is. While you’re driving the Explorer a man invented and engineered, talking on your cell phone that a man designed and conceptualized, on your way to the beauty salon to have products invented by men applied to your hair while you complain about what a dick your husband, who wishes for death like a Labrador wishes for a squeaky toy, is, men are building the roads you drive on, crafting the medicines that will keep you alive, and figuring out how to get you to buy more crap nobody in their right mind needs.

That’s the world. And men. That feeling of emptiness and despair you feel as you trudge through your modern life? It’s a feeling that is completely unnecessary. I’m here to bring you news of freedom. You don’t have to feel guilty about being a man, with all that implies, any more. I’ve written a book that even the slowest among you can grasp, that will tell you how to be happy and fulfilled. And yes, strippers are often involved. But there’s so much more to tell. So much.

Without any further ado, I would ask each and every one of you to order it via Amazon – a company run by a really smart man, and download it to your computer or Kindle (which was designed by a man), and then discover what you’ve been missing. If you don’t like it for any reason, you can suck my fat dick, but more importantly, you can get a refund, which you can spend on getting your chest waxed or whatever you’re into.

God? Good? Evil? Or Random Horror of the Universe

Like most of America - perhaps most of the world - I was horrified by the acts of the 'thing' I refer to as James Holmes, who mowed down 12 people in Agoura, Colorado, and injured 59 others in a movie theater last week.  I've been asked by friends and family more than once:  Where was God?  Why did he not stop this horror?  To which I reply consistently:  I don't know.  Perhaps we are not supposed to know ... or if there is a reason behind it, it is beyond our comprehension and not our business to understand.  Personally, it is the only answer I can live with.  Evil is alive and well in the world, and it, more than occasionally, wins.  My books generally revolve around the battle between good and evil, and in those books, sometimes evil triumphs.  We either accept this as a reality of human existence or we go quietly and slowly insane.  Fortunately, Man's constant friend and companion, alcohol, can ameliorate the horror of evil's sometimes victorious nature.  I say this only partially in jest -- but we all cope with incomprehensible acts of evil in our own very private way.  While I do not generally advocate the death penalty, I find myself hypocritically hoping that they fry this James Holmes freak.  I will forgive myself this piece of hypocrisy in the short term.  I am too near the horror ... as I believe are we all.  God bless the families of those who lost loved ones in that dreadful imbroglio last week.  And God bless America - let us see that this kind of violent horseshit does not happen again.  That is, to the best of our ability...