I finished the first draft of Endangered Species while enjoying a great holiday in Mazatlán. Two weeks off! I can’t remember if I’ve ever had two weeks off. Judy and I had a 10 day vacation in Tahiti a few years ago to celebrate our 30^th wedding anniversary, that’s the closest I can think of. I’ve been unemployed, but that’s been quite a while ago, besides, it doesn’t really count when you’re broke, you think your career is over and you’re in a nearly complete state of panic.

                I’ve been at a loss for a couple of weeks, deciding not to decide on my 2006 novel until the official end of 2005. Hoping for inspiration or divine guidance, I guess. Besides, there was plenty to do with printing up review copies of Hartz String Theory and Endangered Species and preparing Glen Wilson’s Bad Medicine for publication by the great international publishing conglomerate The Armchair Adventurer.

                For some time now, I’ve been operating under the assumption that I would work on volumes 5 and 6 of the continuing adventures of the irrepressible Glen Wilson, namely Toxic Shock Syndrome and Immortality, LLC.  I have a strong desire to write these novels. However, having written two non-series novels opened my eyes a bit. Each new novel is a fresh opportunity to land a major publishing deal, whereas the series lives and dies all together. Adding a 5^th novel, as satisfying as that might be personally,  does not do much for my marketing campaign. What to do?

                I will not run out of projects in this lifetime. I literally could not decide which novel to start. Judy was lobbying for The War of the Ages. I was leaning toward The Golden Age, but kept changing my mind. So, on December 31, 2005, I scribbled down 11 ideas, numbered them 2-12 and literally rolled the dice.  The number 8 came up. Steve Stephens Takes Revenge (quickly renamed Steve Gets Even, then quickly renamed Sandstorm).

                On the airplane trip down to Mazatlán, I read a novel by Vince Flynn: Memorial Day. I’d heard Vince interviewed on the radio and I know he’s been a hot property. He seems like a nice enough young man and a genuine American patriot. Good on him for his success. He writes with a simple and clean style. Not literary enough for my cultured and sophisticated taste, but no hack either (in the hack category, as always, Dan Brown comes to mind). Vince has sold a gazillion copies of his books and I’m sure major motion picture deals are immanent. I wondered if I could write something as commercial. Probably not, but I’m not too smart, so I’m willing to give it a try.

                Daydreaming and giving the matter some thought, it occurred to me that Steve Stephens would make a good, if formulaic, hero. He’s ultra-straight and, as far as I can tell, a very normal and upright citizen. Steve is loosely based on a large black Master Sergeant I worked for in the Air Force when I was stationed in Del Rio, TX. In a strange coincidence, his name was Robert ‘Steve’ Stephens. This was over 30 years ago, I wouldn’t even know if he’s alive now. I liked Steve, he was a no-nonsense type of guy. “Don’t sweat the small shit, boy.” That’s a direct quote if my questionable memory can be trusted. All Steve cared about was whether our Localizer, Glideslope, TACAN and TVOR equipment were calibrated and operational. We got along just fine.

                So, here we are. This novel will have characters from the Glen Wilson series, even a minor appearance by Glen himself, but is not in the series, if such a distinction makes any sense.

                It’s dangerous to say anything about a novel that doesn’t exist yet. I may fall completely on my face, but I do have some experience, after all, I did finish six already. How hard could #7 be?

What do I know about Sandstorm? Not much. I’m going to try to write as simply as possible, with no imaginary physics, side trips to hell or voracious alligators. There will be Radical Islamic Terrorists and a large angry black man in the mood for spilling blood. Wish me luck.

For the record, here is the list of my potential 2006 projects (this list does not include future novels Immortality, LLC and The King of Alaska are not on the list for 2006). This also does not include my next nonfiction, Structured ASIC Design for FPGA Engineers, which I still hope to get to some damn day.

1. The Golden Age
2. Toxic Shock Syndrome
3. Howly Day
4. Ferdinand the Frog
5. They Love the Night
6. Las Vegas – Lady Luck
7. Hartz – Temporal Physics
8. Steve Gets Even
9. Let the Computer Games Begin
10. Hoke Mosely #5
11. The War of the Ages