Some of my writing in this blog might be taken as controversial (you always have the right to disagree with me and I will defend that right, unlike some members of our branches of government and certain news media – oops!  Did that just make me a liberal?  And is our Supreme Court really a third branch anymore?  Was it ever?).  So here’s an exception:  the techno-thriller Soldiers of God deals with various forms of fundamentalism.  Perhaps one not treated in enough detail there is scientific fundamentalism.  (Did you see this one coming?)

To me fundamentalist thinking just means that a person has either willingly put blinders on or he has been so brainwashed that the effect is the same.  The consequence is that this person will not listen to any contrary opinions.  In the extreme case he lashes out and tries to destroy anyone holding these contrary opinions.  And it is especially laughable when they are fundamentalists about different things and these things are contradictory!  (Human beings are wonderful that way.)

(more…)

Why do I think we will see terrorist attacks on American soil any day now?  Because we have really done nothing to stop the international jihadist organizations.  (DHS knows this-this is why they are giving out grants right and left to beef up port security, etc.)

Some thoughts:  One, we really don’t know how to fight them abroad (and a superior military won’t do the trick, people!).  Two, we really do nothing to help rectify the living standards and poverty that make people desperate enough to blow themselves up.  Three, we seem to continue this more than a century-old doctrine of overthrowing governments we don’t like when it suits us. 

(more…)

I am moving from Amazon to this new web site.  I liked the idea of blogging on Amazon right next to my first novel, the techno-thriller Full Medical, but now there is a second novel (and soon to be third), so, sorry, Amazon, the blog has moved.

There is a potpourri of topics here, so hopefully there is one or more that captures your attention.  Don’t worry-I will be posting more often than I did at Amazon!

r/Steve

We all know the USSR with its managed economy was a flop.  Yet China seems to be doing well now with strict management on one hand and laissez-faire attitudes with respect to pollution and the well-being of its citizens on the other (including trampling on all sorts of freedoms we hold dear).  I could go darker (i.e. be more pessimistic) than the futures portrayed in my novels by suggesting that this is the model for the successful capitalistic society of the future, a nefarious blend of fascism and capitalism.

The chickens have finally come home to roost for the high-rolling investment banks.  I would say than Bernanke did what he had to do with the Bear-Stearns fiasco.  If he didn’t, all the others would have to tell the world that they’re carrying all that worthless paper.  IndyMAC was another example of how the slow whittling away of controls put into effect after 1929 has put everyone at risk.  Robert Kuttner (former Boston Globe columnist and author of The Squandering of America) testified before the Committee on Financial Services of the U.S. House of Representatives on October 2, 2007, warning them of the impending disaster (this was before Bear-Stearns).  Did all these bozos just bury their heads in the sand?  Several experts suggest that we will have a continued downward spiral for some time.

Mis tres libros tienen latinos como caracteres principales.  En esta seccion de mi blog me gustari’a charlar sobre libros latinos que lei’ y me gustan.  Considerando que vivi’a en Colombia por muchos an~os (Una Cancion para Sancho relatara’ aquellos tiempos), mantengo buenos sentimientos para la cultura latina y todavia hablo espan~ol, aunque sea como gringo.  Como consecuencia, y ariesga’ndome a mayor humiliacio’n, an~adire’ aqui de vez en cuando versiones en ingle’s y espan~ol, algunas revistas corticas y commentarios.

(more…)

My top 5 thrillers of all time:

Frederick Forsyth, The Day of the Jackal – Frederick mixes true events with fictional ones in a real page turner.  I often study this one!

Jeffery Deaver, Garden of Beasts – This didn’t seem to take off as well as the Lincoln Rhyme novels, but I think it’s Jeffery’s best work.  Again, it hooks you fast.  It’s in the historical context of World War II, though, so maybe a lot of young readers can’t relate to it.  Too bad.

Tom Clancy, The Hunt for Red October – Sorry, Tom, this is still your best!  And the movie was probably the best submarine movie since Das Boot.  Tom managed to make the boring life on a nuclear submarine adventurous and dangerous.  Quite a feat!

Dean Koontz, Odd Thomas – Dean has created a really memorable character in our friend Thomas.  And this is a great story too!  I’ll take Koontz over King any day.

David Baldacci, The Winner – David is at his best here.  While the Oliver Stone series is very entertaining, this is story is damn scary with a damn scary villain.  Great writing!

My top 5 sci-fi novels of all time:

Robert A. Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress – a computer attains sentience and aids a prisoner rebellion at the lunar prison colony.  This was a description of the “coming singularity” before Vernor Vinge coined the term (which ain’t gonna happen, people, but it makes a good story).

Frederik Pohl, Gateway – an anti-hero homeless bum makes a living “prospecting” at the alien Heechee station and saves humanity.  Again, this was a description of the “coming singularity” before Vernor Vinge coined the term (in that personalities are stored away into terabyte compartments).

Isaac Asimov, Foundation – really the start of a great future history series.  Isaac’s universe is a little boring without aliens, but he explains why further down the road in the series.  Still a great story-and a great series.

 Isaac Asimov, Caves of Steel – the novel that introduced the three laws and also showed Isaac’s ability to write great mysteries.  All you sci-fi buffs know that the robot series and the Foundation series, together with the Eternals, were all melded together at the end to make a great future history series – perhaps the greatest.

C. M. Kornbluth, Not This August – This is the quintessential apocalyptic novel that makes Cormac McCarthy’s The Road seem trite and folksy-just my opinion, you McCarthy lovers.  I think we’re returning to some of this dark writing style as terrorism knocks on our doors (and also Big Brother).

Opinions?  What’s your list?