The Journeymen is on Countdown offer

My second novel, The Journeymen, is on countdown offer at Amazon for a few days (until the 26th April).  This novel should ring a few bells with those of you who believe you've been unfairly passed over by inferior colleagues or that some people seem to have a disproportionate amount of good luck.  In fact, it is a conspiracy theorists book of choice.

Unlike most conspiracy theories this doesn't just make unsubstantiated links between what we see and hear and draw conclusions that many think are outrageous - it provides an entirely fabricated backstory to hand the lot off.

OK, bit of background might help you here.  We're not the only planet that has created civilisations, or indeed created the means to destroy itself many times over. Part of the focus in this book is one such planet approximately 9 light years away that has been there, done that, destroyed the Tee shirt.  In the book it is going through a renaissance following a period, a long time ago, when war nearly destroyed the planet and everything on it.  Critically the human stock, who are genetically very similar to us guys and gals, has depleted its genetic diversity to the point that the race is slowly dying out.  

Before the terrible wars that created this situation the planet had developed technology that allowed easy space travel over immense distances and had populated a planet nine light years away (coincidence? I don't think so).  They don't have the technology they had so embark on an intergenerational journey to what we call home, only to find things have changed a bit.  These guys, by the way, are the Journeymen.  A subset of them are a group that becomes sworn enemies, they are known as the Sons of Arlgon, nowadays referred to as the Sons.

The main problem when they got here, apart from the total loss of the technology they were hoping to harness to return with suitable DNA samples is that the original Journeymen have embedded (and bedded) the original humanoids on our home planet.  Luckily for the project, but arguably not for most us, many had kept to their own kind, but many had also bred with the indigenous population.  This resulted in the people discovered on arrival as the Colonists (AKA original Journeymen) and Interbreds (AKA IBs, also known as you and me, in the main).  

The Journeymen resolve to protect the Colonists, who generally had managed to secure positions of power and authority, by forming the second tier of authority - the Civil Servants and captains of industry, defending, protecting and directing the Colonists through the generations while the technology necessary to capture DNA and send it through space is developed from an extremely poor starting position.  And you thought HS2 was challenging.

The book starts, though, in the present day when a space vehicle engineer, Tom Roberts, presents a novel invention to help make long term space travel possible.  He is attacked, possibly by Sons who will do anything to thwart their sworn enemies, and rescued by a pair of Journeymen who happen to have their own agenda.  Tom is effectively imprisoned and ultimately framed for the murder of an ex colleague.  He escapes and through a series of adventures helped by a former lover and a reluctant senior Son seeks to secure his freedom.  The book interleaves Tom's story with the original Journeymen story, so aspects and subtleties of the history are revealed throughout the novel.

Back to my original statement about being passed over by less capable colleagues - and I bet you have - they were almost certainly either Journeymen being propelled to a position of power to better protect the Colonists in theoretical power.  Don't take it personally and don't try to stop it - none of us have that much power.

Obviously, if you have access to Kindle Unlimited then this book and its sequel, Journeymen II: Day of Reckoning, are free.  Otherwise, if this sounds like your kind of lockdown reading then why not grab a copy while it is price reduced?

Hotel California is free on the 8th & 9th May

Hotel California is free for two days only,8th & 9th May Amazon Standard Time about 08:00 onwards.

The book is a fast paced adventure, detective and, I'll admit, slightly speculative novel.  it's not based on the song by the Eagles, but I freely admit it was inspired by the song.  There's no dark desert highway, nor any mention of a mission bell either, come to think of it.  

It does have references to people who you may consider to be dead - they almost certainly are not around anymore and the characters described might just have a passing resemblance to them - you know, the likes of Elvis, for example.

The book isn't about a character named Elvis.  It's about a UK punk rock come reality TV star Ricky Maggot who wants to escape the world of celebrity (don't we all) and books a one-way ticket to a South sea island nicknamed in the music industry as Hotel California.  He soon realises he's made a massive mistake and teams up with the eponymous Elvis, who realised the same thing forty years earlier, and sets about trying to escape.  Add a couple of Russian gangsters who are hiding from their previous mafia life, a resort manager without a conscience, a killer on the payroll and a music journalist who asks just too many questions and you have a book that you'll storm through in a couple of days, especially if you are on lockdown.

It's on free for one day only so bookmark it and make sure you take advantage.

Obviously, if you have access to Kindle Unlimited then you can download this book for free anytime.  But for those who haven't got access to that, or as Prime members have already used up their monthly allowance, then this promotion is an affordable way to add it to your library.  Put the date in your diary.
My other eight books are also available for free to Kindle Unlimited members and you can access links to them here.

Skin is on Countdown promotion starting 14th April

Skin is going on an  Amazon countdown deal starting 14th April - not sure which time zone, probably 8 o'clock in the morning somewhere on the West Coast of the US, and runs to the 21st.  The way the countdown deals work is that the normal selling price for the book is discounted, with a bigger discount at the beginning of the promotion getting less of a discount the longer you leave it.

So why Skin?  Well, it is a book based in the near future with elements stuck firmly in events of the second Gulf War.  There are flashbacks to a failed special ops mission just inside Iraq on the days running up to the shock and awe phase of that war that had unresolved questions for one person in particular, Rory Callum.  Rory was engineering support on a Chinook that crashed on that mission and was the only member of the mission to make it out of Iraq alive, however years later there are many important details of his journey back to Kuwait unresolved, while other parts of the mission are on an endless loop every time he sleeps.

In the book's present, our future, Rory is now working on the fringes of legality, acting as an industrial spy being inserted into manufacturing companies at a low level, usually, and sneaking out details of next year's big product.  This time he's inserted into a local manufacturer that has developed something really big, life changing and worth a lot of money to the right investors.  It's a development being watched all the way up to the top, with the British Prime Minister of the day indulging in some sneaky insider dealing - no, not Boris, a later replacement for him further down the line.

But parts of Rory's past start to catch up with him as he carries on his job, working for the enigmatic Max and the sexually disturbed and violently dangerous Melinda and Rory finds himself facing up to a madman called Fabin, who has an ex-Royal Marine killer to assist him.

The title refers to the process Rory is spying on - a method to create artificial skin that was just science fiction when I wrote the book but is now looking like it will hit the mainstream in some form in the near future.  There are parts of the book that are still science fiction, or at least technically difficult and improbable at the moment, but I'll leave you to decide which parts are in which compartment.

There's a lot of action in this book, from pitched battles in Iraq to manhunts in London in the book's present day.  It's a long book, but thanks to the pace you will race through it running from battle to battle, past to present as the story and, critically, Rory's missing memories, are revealed.

Obviously, if you have access to Kindle Unlimited then you can download this book for free anytime.  But for those who haven't got access to that, or as Prime members have already used up their monthly allowance, then this promotion is an affordable way to add it to your laibrary.  Put the date in your diary.

My other eight books are also available for free to Kindle Unlimited members and you can access links to them here.

Project: Evil – The Coronavirus Meeting

‘Why are we all sat two metres apart?’ asked O’Feld, fiddling impatiently with his revolver.  Daw sighed.

‘It’s the Government directive.  To slow down the spread of Coronavirus everybody has to keep a social distance between themselves and everyone else.  It’s playing havoc with the Thugs, grade three on kill missions,’ he said.

‘Sod the Government directive, I want a group hug,’ said O’Feld, holding his arms up, not securing any enthusiasm.  Everybody remembered the last time he’d offered a group hug and it turned out to be a body double wearing a suicide vest.

‘I’ll pass,’ said Daw, tapping his notepad with his pen.  Silence hung in the air as everyone watched O’Feld’s reaction, relaxing when he merely shot a henchman delivering sandwiches to the boardroom.

‘He looked like he hadn’t washed his hands properly,’ explained O’Feld, tucking into the beef and horseradish.  ‘Brown bread, my favourite,’ he added.  ‘So, why the emergency?’ he asked.  Brian sat up as he’d been detailed by Daw to present the technical briefing, which consisted of five minutes on Wikipedia and ten on the BBC website.

‘It’s a pandemic, sweeping across the world, killing people left, right and centre,’ said Brian.  O’Feld looked interested, then a cloud crossed his face.  ‘It is one of ours, isn’t it?’ he asked in his Irish brogue, levelling the revolver at Brian.  Brian flushed, then washed his hands.  As he always did whenever he shit himself.

‘Well, yes, I’m working on a biological weapon, but you always said you wanted it deployed from space and since we lost our rocket capability it’s been on hold.  I’ve been concentrating on a simpler pocket-sized thermo-nuclear weapon system recently, tapping his breast pocket.  ‘Oops,’ he said, pulling the device out and stopping the countdown timer.  O’Feld sneered.

‘So, which one is responsible?’ he asked.  ‘Brass Digit?’

‘Gold Digit,’ sighed Daw scribbling on his pad.

‘Or that nippleless bastard Scaramouche?’ asked O’Feld, reeling off his direct competitors, not that anyone in the room would suggest any of them was competition for O’Feld.  Not waiting for Brian to answer he added, ‘Or is it Doktor Negativ up to his old tricks again?’   Brian shook his head.  

‘It started in China,’ he explained.

‘Who did it?’ asked O’Feld, only to be interrupted by the Diversity Officer.

‘Mr O’Feld, that’s a terrible racial stereotype,’ she said.  ‘You’re capable of much better racial stereotypes.’  O’Feld shrugged his shoulders and looked back at Brian, who continued his explanation.

‘It appears it is just a random mutation of an existing coronavirus existing in the animal kingdom that has crossed the species line and is infecting humans,’ he said, breathing in for the big spiel.

‘Enough of the science talk already,’ said O’Feld, ‘how does this affect our business?’  The catering manager looked up eagerly.

‘Half of the staff are self isolating, so my budget is going to look pretty good next month,’ he said.  The finance manager looked at Brian.


‘How is this affecting our staff levels?’ he asked.

‘Well, here in Basildon there is a lot of absenteeism at the moment,’ he confirmed, adding, ‘and the hookers and the thugs have agreed to work from home for the foreseeable.  There’s no reports that it has reached our uninhabited island in the South Seas yet, but I’m concerned that if it does it’ll sweep through the uninhabitants like a dose of salts,’ said Brian.  The meeting fell silent as the members considered the slave labour uninhabitant population for approximately three seconds.

‘Can they be replaced?’ asked O’Feld. Daw nodded.

‘That’s why you pay me the big bucks to be your HR director,’ he said.  O’Feld glowered.

‘I pay you?’ he asked.  The finance director leaned across the table.

‘Don’t worry, his salary is tax deductable.’

‘I pay tax?’ asked O’Feld, panic rising in everyone downwind of his revolver barrel.

‘Not so much pay as claim State benefits,’ explained the finance director, defusing the situation and, critically, the C4 bomb O’Feld had brought out of his bag.  He put the detonator to one side while O’Feld turned his attention back to Brian.

‘So, what’s the impact on the business?’ he asked Brian.

‘Well, it’s pretty much business as usual.  The protection racket’s going well, especially as we take PayPal now.  We’ve just issued social distancing guidance for thugs smashing up premises behind on their payments,’ he explained, ‘although the hookers are struggling to comply.  

‘And everyone is washing their hands,’ he added.

‘To eradicate the virus?’ asked O’Feld.

‘Oh, er, yes, that as well.  But mainly for corporate plausible deniability,’ he explained.

‘What about the people who work here?’ O’Feld asked.  The finance director was all over this.

‘We can claim 80% of our employees’ salaries from the Government if we furlough them,’ he said.

‘We pay employees? This gets worse by the minute,’ said O’Feld, his head in his hands while he contemplated whose head he’d prefer to be holding.  The finance director’s head looked favourite for leaving his shoulders.

‘Of course not, we feed them, clothe them, kill them when we’ve had enough of them.  But we’ve got a wonderful forgery department that can produce any amount of documents pretending to pay them,’ said the finance director, feeling his head was a little more secure.  Brian pitched in, if only to ensure his head didn’t replace the finance director’s.

‘But, the best bit is, we now know how much they’re prepared to pay.’  O’Feld looked up, questioningly.  Brian continued.  ‘Up until now, when we’ve decided to hold the planet to ransom getting the amount to ask for has always been the hardest.  Pitch too low and you’re the laughing stock of the megalomaniac underworld, too high and you’ve got a brace of nukes on your hands,’ he said, popping the pocket-sized thermo-nuclear device back in his pocket.

‘But now we know the UK are prepared to pay £350 billion, the Yanks up to $2 trillion and the Italians 25 pizzas.  It’s easier to make our demands,’ he said.  The finance director pulled a sheet of paper from under his notepad that had ‘pay us £2.3 trillion in used notes or the planet gets it, signed B L O’Feld’ using letters cut out from daily newspapers.

‘I’ve had this awhile, I only had to insert the amount,’ he crowed.  O’Feld was impressed.

‘I hope that typeface isn’t from the Daily Mail,’ he said, standing, indicating that the meeting was over.  ‘Hateful newspaper’, he said.

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I hope you enjoyed this topical extra Project: Evil instalment.  If you have and you missed Project: Evil first time around then catch up on Brian, Daw and, of course, Barry Liam O'Feld, the famous Irish Megalomaniac in the original book.

You can catch up on any or all of my books in ebook and paperback format on the links provided on this page.  If you are a Kindle Unlimited member then these books can be downloaded for free.

Random thoughts on random Covid 19 testing

Back on my current hobby horse - the corona virus pandemic. I've been reading lots of various views around the world today (and the last few days) and there is a consensus forming as far as I can tell.  Apart from the fact that most places aren't testing anywhere near as necessary, which I bleated about a couple of times already, the testing isn't helping anywhere near as much as it should.

OK, many countries are choosing their own way of testing, that's their prerogative in the absence of an international standard.  Although the World Health Organisation has stated test, test and test again, and I don't think you could get a bigger nudge towards standardisation than that, it's a little light on direction.

Statisticians are now claiming that the methods used up to now are not suitable, and the arguments I'm hearing are compelling.  We had, in the UK, the herd immunity argument that suggested that by voluntarily socially distancing people you could flatten the now famous curve and save the health care system from imploding, while getting the majority of relatively fit people exposed and presumably immune for the short haul.  Completely isolating the vulnerable - and that means identifying them and ensuring they have a suitable support network for the twelve weeks that seems to be the common standard - while the rest of us get the disease, shrug it off in the main, treat the few that react badly sounds like a plan.  However the numbers of deaths started to stack up, and the simple requests around social distancing to allow the herd immunity to develop in a controlled manner wasn't being followed by a significant number of people.  If it helps, I followed it as far as my employer let me - cramming 22 students into classrooms designed for 18 at a push and rotating them from classroom to classroom every hour and a half didn't help.

The real problem, well two problems actually, are that many people didn't take the sensible measures to avoid mass contamination seriously and on top of that there wasn't any apparent plan to identify the vulnerable and support them.  They're working on that now, but only because we're in lockdown and I'm hearing anecdotal reports of clearly vulnerable people not being on the database the government has compiled.

But testing as it stands is way below useful.  As a minimum the NHS staff need to be tested - and by the way there are 1.2 million of them.  Not all doctors and nurses, of course, but receptionists, cooks, cleaners, admin staff all working in close proximity and interacting with the front line guys and gals.  And one test each is only a start as someone could be given the all-clear and pick up the virus fuelling up on the way home.

But the real challenge is knowing where the country is in relation to infection rates.  The current process of only testing people who are showing signs of the illness is going to give a fairly high success rate, if determining someone is suffering from Covid 19 can be called success. It makes the hazard rate appear larger than it is, for one thing, and fails to tell us anything about how prevalent the disease is.  An analogy I'm going to steal here is one I read online a day or so ago:

Suppose you wanted to know how popular Ford cars are in your area.  One way is to pop over to your local Ford main dealer and ask everyone who walks through the door during a determined period of time, say one day, what make of car they drive.  Many will say Ford, because many of us are creatures of habit.  That is what the testing has been like in the UK, testing those exhibiting signs of CV.  Alternatively pop over to your local Asda (Walmart for US readers) car park and count how many Fords there are and also how many non-Ford cars there are.  Don't advertise it, choose a day at random, and you'll get a pretty good idea of how popular Ford cars are in your locality.  There should be random testing in supermarkets - there would need to be legislation and the government would need to provide strong guarantees that the data will only be used for CV testing purposes as they would need to know who provided the sample.  They would need to provide assurances that persons tested wouldn't have DNA information provided to the police, because that would provide people reasonable excuse to not participate.

That way we would have a better picture of the distribution of CV in society.  It would have been useful to have known where it was before lockdown, but we can't go back there.

I for one wouldn't have any objections, and would happily share my DNA if it was for a useful purpose.  In another world, maybe, I might be more circumspect - if you've read the Journeymen, and especially its sequel Journey Men II: Day of Reckoning you might wonder if the information was being used for other, nefarious reasons.  But right now I'd like to think that sorting CV 19 out is our main priority.

You can access my books on Amazon using the links provided on this blog post.  Stay safe and follow the rules, please.