Monday, November 16, 2015

We’ll Always Have Paris

My thoughts lay today with the people of Paris, France. The ISIS attack last week, preceded by the Charlie Hebdo attack a few months ago, has shown that the  terminal disease called Islamic fundamentalism is at least as grim and deadly an undertaking as the Spanish Inquisition was, six hundred years ago. These events also punctuate the claim of atheists who, like myself, believe that religion is the most implacable cause of mass murder.

Imagine, as John Lennon proposed, there is no religion. Yes, there might still be occasional wars. Economic fundamentalism causes a few of those, but it is second to religion. But religious exterminations, of which there have been ever-so-many, would simply not exist.

Is there any reason to believe in god, when if you do believe, you must then reconcile that being’s existence, with world events such as those in which groups like ISIS and Islamic fundamentalist groups target peaceful, soft targets. No real “god” would permit this, and therefore, there must not be any entity called god out there. Those of you that pray are simply applying wishful thinking to the world.

Don’t pray for Paris. Do something tangible about it. Contribute some money to help the victims. ISIS consists of deluded human beings, who are motivated more by hopelessness than by their religious beliefs. I believe two additional things: First, every time we poke our noses into the Middle East, we make things there much worse. Taking an active role again in the mess we’re have already created won’t end the turmoil. The United States should assist those countries we call our allies, but not supply a presence. Second, ISIS must be exterminated, but it is not our role to do that. It is the role of the real stakeholders, the governments of neighboring countries that feat being overrun. So, not our job.

In an earlier blog entry, after spending two weeks in the Middle East a few years ago, I stated that “The Middle East has Always Been a Time Bomb.” No longer. Now it is the Middle East is exploding all over Europe.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Blog Tour for DS Kane's Baksheesh (Bribes), Book 5 of the Spies Lie series

Would you like to know more about what a former spy does after he's no longer serving his country? Of course you would. If this is your guilty pleasure, drop by any of these web sites where I'm being interviewed this week and next week:

All of my tour stops are listed here:  
November 9: 
It's Raining Books
November 11: Stormy Nights Reviewing and Bloggin' - review only
November 11: 
The Voluptuous Book Diva
November 12: Queen of the Night Reviews 
November 13: 
Reviews by Crystal 
November 16: 
Laurie's Thoughts and Reviews 
November 17: 
Christine Young 
November 18: 
BooksChatter 
November 19: 
Room With Books 
November 20: 
Long and Short Reviews 

I hope to see you there!

Monday, October 5, 2015

Cover Reveal: DS Kane's ProxyWar, Book 6 of the Spies Lie series

Yes, DS Kane's ProxyWar, Book 6 of the Spies Lie series will be released soon... in early December, 2015. The manuscript is currently being copyedited by master copyeditor Karl Yambert.

But, to whet your appetite, here's ProxyWar's cover, designed by the legendary Jeroen Ten Berge:

Decades in my past, I lived in Manhattan, three blocks south of the United Nations. In this cover, you can see the UN General Assembly building with it's row of flags dotting the left side of the cover, and the tall Secretariat Building  on the right side of the cover. Also visible are the two figures, a shooter on the right of the title, and a body lying under the title. The bleak, bare winter trees punctuate the scene at the top right edge.

I think this cover tells you enough to keep you shifting your weight on the balls of your feet, thinking, "Okay. Now, I want to read the story!"

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Kirkus Reviews selects DS Kane's Baksheesh (Bribes) as a top book!


I just received another email from the folks at Kirkus Reviews (Anna Cooper):


"I just wanted to send the good news that your most recent review for "Baksheesh (Bribes)" was selected by our Indie Editors to be featured in Kirkus Reviews 10/1 Issue. Congratulations! Your review will appear as one of the 35 reviews in the Indie section of the magazine which is sent out to over 5,000 industry professionals (librarians, publishers, agents, etc.) Less than 10% of our Indie reviews are chosen for this, so it's a great honor. "
Note that its predecessor book in the series, GrayNet, was featured in Kirkus Reviews 9/15 Issue.

If you'd like to read the unexcerpted reviews of either book, pick up Kirkus Reviews (https://www.kirkusreviews.com/issue/).

 
Here is an excerpt of the October Kirkus Review of Baksheesh (Bribes):
 
“In the fifth installment of the Spies Lie series, former covert operative Cassandra Sashakovich is finally ready to settle down with her family, though a plot to start World War III threatens to pull her back into danger.
At the conclusion of the fourth installment, GrayNet (2014), Cassie had barely survived being shot by an assassin determined to collect a bounty placed on her head. As she recovers both physically and mentally, Cassie, her boyfriend, Lee, and their adopted teenage daughter, Ann, plan for a new life in a new city under new identities. Hopefully, none of their old enemies—many of whom are still hungry for revenge—will find them. Cassie decides to sell her consulting agency, The Swiftshadow Group, to the Israeli mercenary Avram Shimmel and to finally put her obsession with great food to good use by opening a restaurant. Yet an obstacle arrives in the form of Amos Mastoff, the U.S. vice president who becomes president when the president-elect is assassinated the day after the election. Mastoff plans to make Christianity the sole religion in the world by wiping out Israel and rest of the Middle East via a few well-placed suitcase nukes obtained from a Russian arms dealer. The Swiftshadow Group must utilize all of their very special skills to stop Mastoff and his cronies before they wipe out half the world. To do that, they need Cassie’s talents as a hacker. Author Kane shows no sign of running out of wild plot twists and corrupt figures out to destroy Cassie, not to mention the world… readers will be swept away on the tidal wave of sexy, espionage-laced prose...the large ensemble of colorful and incredibly damaged characters… the reappearances of some seemingly forgotten central characters from the pre-Cassie books in the series.”

 

 

Saturday, September 26, 2015

A Humble Thank You for the Promo Results for DS Kane's Swiftshadow, Book 3 of the Spies Lie series

From September 21 through 23, 2015, I offered free Kindle copies of DS Kane's Swiftshadow, Book 3 of the Spies Lie series to readers FREE. I am truly amazed at the results, and wish to thank everyone who downloaded the book.

Amazon distributed 7,735 copies of Swiftshadow over the three days. Over 100 of those were paid sales. I am forever in your debt for the popularity of my books. I am especially thankful for the 15,000 of you who already own the two books that preceded Swiftshadow.

Total sales of my books for for this year currently exceed 23,000 copies. My sixth book of the series, ProxyWar, is currently in production and should be available before Christmas. My superb marketer, Rebecca Berus of 2MarketBooks.com, is arranging promos for the three books that follow Swiftshadow. And, I'm currently outlining the seventh book in the series. I hope I can retain your interest as the series continues on.

And once again, thanks for your interest in my books.

Monday, September 21, 2015

Swiftshadow, Book 3 of DS Kane's Spies Lie seres is FREE!


For FREE at eBooksHabit.com
Swiftshadow
by DS Kane

Get This Book for FREE 
(today and tomorrow only)
When Cassandra Sashakovich, a bright but arrogant economist and consultant, is in Riyadh completing a financial forecasting assignment, her cover is blown by a mole from her intelligence agency. A covert agent whose call sign is “Swiftshadow,” she barely survives an encounter with a hit man and escapes to Washington, where she is fired by her agency for becoming a liability.
Hunted by terrorists who fear she may have hacked details of their pending operation, Cassie must identify the mole and neutralize the terrorists to recover her life. She finds help in the arms of another rogue agent, Lee Ainsley, and learns how to deal with life on the run from a homeless teen, Ann Silbee.
From Riyadh to the halls of power in Washington, from New York’s homeless to Hong Kong’s center of technology, from the remnants of Silicon Valley to Al Qaeda’s Afghanistan, Cassie desperately races against the clock to expose plots by both her own government and the terrorists; an operation that could result in the deaths of millions of Americans. Cassie must come to terms with her own nature, find and use skills she never knew she had.
But even if she survives, will the experience change her into someone worse than those who want her dead? And if she survives is there some way for her to emerge more mature and self-reliant, no longer a naive tool of her country?