Updates II

Scorpion: A Covert Ops Novel will hopefully be available on Nook in February/March 2015.

Meanwhile, I'll be taking a break from writing this week to read the new Brad Taylor book. Then I'll spend January in hermit-mode to finish writing "The Viper." Then a month or two of editing, and "Viper" should be available for publication in early Spring.

Currently reading

I'm taking a break from working on "The Viper" to read Mark Abernethy's "Second Strike." 

With the majority of thrillers showing the American perspective, sometimes the British, and occasionally the Israeli, it's interesting and original to read about an Australian character. 

Plus Abernethy's a good writer. His characters are lively, his plots are tight and suspenseful, and he uses locations not usually used in thrillers and describes them well.

Updates

I've made a few minor changes to "Scorpion: A Covert Ops Novel" to make a few passages read a little smoother. But customers who have already bought the book won't get the updated version, since the changes are so minor that they don't fall under Amazon guidelines to send the updated text to a customer's Kindle. Based on the customer reviews, though, no one seems to have taken issue with anything in the original text.

UDPATE 2/18: It appears Amazon has allowed customers to get the revised version. Depending upon your Kindle settings, you may either receive the updates automatically or need to re-download the book to your Kindle. 

Colombia in the Headlines

As I'm finishing up the last third of "The Viper," Colombia has been in the news all week, after FARC's 34th Front  has kidnapped the army general commanding Colombia's counterinsurgency task force. President Santos has responded by suspending the peace talks in Havana and ordering a massive search for the general. 

As a result of Colombia's successful, American-backed campaign targeting the FARC leadership, its units are essentially operating independently, many acting as mercenaries or involved in drug trafficking. The 34th Front has been the most intransigent and is the most heavily committed to fighting the Colombian state. They've all but officially rejected the peace talks by their actions.

FARC agents refusing to give up the fight and engaging in rogue acts of terrorism that threaten the peace talks is the subject of "The Viper."

Background for THE VIPER

This article in the Washington Post, detailing the US's mostly covert role in the Colombian Government's war against FARC, has served as a valuable reference, especially given the scarce coverage the conflict receives in mainstream media, for my second novel, which is called "The Viper." Like the ongoing conflicts in Yemen or Somalia, American agencies are heavily involved in what's happening in Colombia and have played an instrumental part in the Colombian Government's successful campaign targeting the FARC's political and military leadership over the past decade, which serves as the background to"The Viper."

Real-life scorpions

This is the Washington Post story that inspired the book's title.

Avery was always going to be an independent contractor working under the CIA's Global Response Staff (GRS), but after learning that the elite of the CIA's real-life contractors are referred to as scorpions (information I also confirmed elsewhere), I knew I had the title for the book.

GRS contractors provide security for CIA officers and facilities in high risk environments like Libya, Iraq, or Mexico. But they've also been used to collect intelligence, too, in dangerous places.

The 2012 attacks on the Benghazi consulate and CIA base brought public attention to the GRS.

Read Scorpion for Free

Scorpion will be available to download for free today through Friday as part of a special Amazon promotion. 

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"Scorpion: A Covert Ops Novel" Now Available

My first book, Scorpion: A Covert Ops Novel, is now available on Amazon for Kindle. 

You can also follow me on facebook here.

The plot description is follows:

The Central Intelligence Agency employs contractors, recruited from elite military units, for bodyguard and security work in high risk environments, and for deniable ops. The most skilled and lethal of these operatives are known within the CIA as scorpions.

One such scorpion is a former army Ranger and disgruntled ex-CIA paramilitary officer named Avery.

A high ranking CIA officer is abducted by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan in a backwater former-Soviet republic. Avery is deployed to Tajikistan to identify the terrorists and secure the hostage’s release before dozens of vital operations and agents are compromised.

But a high-stakes raid on a terrorist safe house in lawless, anarchic Gorno-Badakhshan Province yields clues pointing in another direction entirely, and Avery and his team of paramilitary operators are soon unraveling a complex conspiracy involving an American traitor, double agents, and Russian gangsters, to arm the Taliban with weapons of mass destruction.

From the remote terrorist enclaves of Central Asia, to the nuclear facilities of the former Soviet Union, "Scorpion" is a riveting debut novel, packed with gritty, violent action and authentic details on real world intelligence operations that will captivate readers of Frederick Forsyth, Vince Flynn, and Andy McNab.