We often talk about the flip-side of the coin.  In Thursday’s NY Times editorial, the Times editors, like many people ignoring the flip-side of one particular coin, lamented the civilian lives lost in drone attacks in the Middle East.  The two sides of the coin—at least, in recent experience—are drone and special forces versus “boots on the ground,” lots of boots!  The Times editors either suffered a lobotomy, or, like many pacifist activists with blinders on, have forgotten the perils of massive invasions and nation building.  Many more innocents were killed in both Afghanistan and Iraq when the massive U.S. war machine was launched against terrorists, a small minority hidden among a much larger majority.

Like many people, I think war is hell and would like to see the end of it, but, with respect to terrorism, we didn’t start it…and we have to finish it!  The real choice—and I don’t have a coin for this—is to decide whether we’re going to practice Old Testament policies or New Testament ones.  The problem is that the terrorists don’t give a rat’s ass which one we choose.  If we turn the other cheek, they’ll lop off our heads.  They’ll do that too if we fight—as long as there are terrorists left breathing.  I remember—do you?—an interview where a reporter asks a grinning and dentally challenged Taliban if the fanatic would kill him if he suddenly found himself free.  Remember what the Taliban said?  That sounds like it should be in a fighting song to the tune of Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit”—we should always remember what that Taliban said!  Off with his head, he said!

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[Reminder: No Amber Waves of Grain and Pasodobles in a Quantum Stringscape are freebies on Amazon, today, Oct. 17, through Monday, Oct. 21.  Download and enjoy!]

No, this post isn’t about Jane Austen.  I hate most 19^th century novels in general and hers in particular.  Yeah, I know she’s enjoying a revival of sorts—like an oozing zombie rising out of the tomb to bore us to death with romantic drivel.  Instead, I want to talk about all the senses you might use as you write your thriller or mystery.

I was reading Preston and Child’s Two Graves (no one gave it to me as a gift—it was on sale at $2.99), and I was struck by the scene where Pendergast’s ex-special forces manservant uses his keen sense of smell to help him combat a serial killer (if you don’t know the book, fine—I won’t give away any spoilers).  In my sci-fi mystery Teeter-Totter between Lust and Murder, Detective Castilblanco appeals to Detective Chen’s sense of smell to generate some additional and useful evidence about the events surrounding a murder (again, no spoilers here).  Castilblanco comments that the police don’t use odors much for evidence.

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[Reminder: No Amber Waves of Grain and Pasodobles in a Quantum Stringscape are freebies on Amazon, Oct. 17-Oct. 21.  Download and enjoy!]

(DK Halling, Pendulum of Justice, Quantum Dot Publishing, ISBN 978-1491264225)

Like some real roller coasters, this book starts slowly but soon becomes a thrill ride.  As a writer of sci-fi thrillers, I was immediately attracted to the concept.  Hank Rangar, entrepreneur and engineering genius, and friends try to file a patent and begin a start-up.  The apparatus will solve a problem with stents, namely that some arteries are just too small for stents.  This problem occurs around the heart as well as in leg stents.

I’m not sure I completely understand the science and engineering behind the device, but a stent company wants to torpedo it to avoid losing business (why wouldn’t the two technologies complement each other?).  Added to the mix are a crooked senator and a sleazy patent office head.  Hank’s personal stake in the patent appears when, after successful animal trials, his sister Janine is a first candidate for human trials.  Events soon get out of hand, and Hank learns that the patent office head has hired a shadowy organization to eliminate him after he talks to the reporter Christine.

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[A heartfelt thanks to you! I don’t say it often enough here, but I want to thank every person who reads this newsletter, my other blog posts, and, of course, my novels and short stories.  My goal is to entertain.  If I’ve entertained just one person with any sample of my writing, I feel successful.  If I’ve made you pause and reflect, even better.  And, if you’ve enjoyed my writing, please pass a kind word on to your friends and relatives.  In spite of today’s internet marketing, word of mouth is still the best marketing tool an author can have!  Read on for some freebies.—Steve]

#323: Amazon promos of my new releases.  Just for you, my faithful readers of this newsletter, I offer this advance notice: My two new releases, No Amber Waves of Grain and Pasodobles in a Quantum Stringscape, are available as freebies on Amazon from Thursday, October 17, through Monday, October 21.  The first ebook, a sci-fi thriller, completes the “Clones and Mutant Series,” initiated by Full Medical and Evil Agenda.  The second ebook, an anthology of speculative fiction, contains the novella “Flight from Mother World,” several Doctor Carlos stories set in a future beyond that of the “Chaos Chronicles Series,” and many short stories about zombies, ghosts, weird and/or humorous situations, and unconventional sci-fi themes (please note that these short stories are no longer available in “Steve’s Shorts”).

Here’s the blurb from the Amazon webpage for No Amber Waves of Grain:  “Steve Moore’s new sci-fi thriller carries the reader beyond government conspiracies and political intrigue to world-wide suspense and action. His new addition to the “Clones and Mutants Series” features many players from Full Medical and Evil Agenda: Kalidas Metropolis and friend, two clones, and your favorite evildoer Vladimir Kalinin aka Rupert Snyder aka Sergio Battaglia, who will surprise readers of the first two books in the series. But this country-hopping tale also stands alone as a glimpse into a possible future where forces, both good and evil, aided by science and technology, fight to the death.”

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I read most of Tom Clancy’s books until he started writing about a secret, privately financed, vigilante organization…a bit over the top for even this old thriller writer.  Up to that point and independent of his politics, I thought he could spin a good yarn backed by enough techno-babble that it all seemed real (see the Clancy quote running across the banner of this website).  In fact, I’d wager that some higher mucky-mucks in the Pentagon weren’t happy at times with his description of U.S. and Soviet military capabilities.

More importantly, Clancy covered an era from Cold War to counterterrorism.  His first two books, Hunt for Red October and Red Storm Rising, portrayed anti-Soviet operations featuring the U.S. Navy (the latter is an interesting Tolstoy-length account of what World War III might have been like).  The last books I read focused on terrorism (did the Japanese pilot who flew his aircraft into Congress in Debt of Honor provide ideas for the 9/11 terrorists?).  In between, he even touched on the emergence of China (The Bear and the Dragon), although he didn’t predict the kind of fascist capitalism that has taken over in that country.

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