The Culmination – now on sale!

Let’s all welcome Gwen Plano to Entertaining Stories. She’s an author friend and one of my partners over at Story Empire. She’s here to tell us about an incredible sale. Don’t forget to use those sharing buttons so your friends can get in on this, too. Take it away, Gwen.

Thank you for inviting me to your blog, Craig, and for helping me launch The Culmination, a new beginning. It’s exciting to finally see it published on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. To celebrate, the Kindle edition is on sale at 99¢ through December.

So, what’s the book about? The Culmination can best be described as a military thriller. It tackles difficult topics such as denuclearization, the power struggles over oil in the Middle East, as well as the ever-present danger of war. Readers will find themselves sitting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, walking in the historic Red Square, and laughing with children in an orphanage in Turkey. They will glimpse the horror of war and watch the give and take of a negotiated peace. Readers will also meet the two Heads of State who fall in love and subsequently commit themselves to creating a world in which all are family.

I never expected to write this book, but in some ways, I had no choice. The characters crowded into my office and insisted that I listen to them. In a very real way, they wrote the book. I simply tapped the keys.

BLURB:

The Culmination, a new beginning is the third book in The Contract thriller series. After an assassination attempt on an Air Force base in northern California, tensions mount. Heads of state meet to craft a denuclearization agreement. The meetings between these nuclear powers take a murderous turn. A nefarious conspiracy re-emerges and leads the characters into the heart of the Middle East, where they encounter the unexpected and find a reason for hope.

EXCERPT:

The acting Russian President, Ivan Smirnov, is in Syria for the commissioning of a new destroyer. The President of Syria attends the ceremony, unaware of the plot to detain him. Once the ship leaves the port, he is arrested, along with a few of his men. The story follows:

When the vessel nears Cape Apostolos Andreas, the northern-most tip of Cypress, two Turkish military helicopters approach, accompanied by fighter jets. One lands, and the other hovers in place. The Russian guards gag each prisoner, put cloth bags over their heads, and take them to the chopper. Ivan watches as they clear the horizon and then gazes at the Commander. “Well done. Now it begins. Stay focused and alert.”

The second helicopter lands to collect Ivan and his secret service team.

Ivan’s helicopter reaches altitude, but a crackling voice from the destroyer’s communications system comes over the radio. The Commander shouts, “Incoming! Incoming!”

A loud explosion follows his warning. Sonic waves rock the chopper violently and send it into a spin. The pilots regain control but with zero visibility. Thick, dark red smoke blinds them. Another radio transmission reaches them. Though static breaks it up, they hear, “… missile … neutralized. Thank you, Israel.”

As soon as the chopper lands at Incirlik Air Base, Ivan rushes to the Command Center. The American Chiefs of Staff and Turkey’s military leadership focus on a large screen that shows a collage of camera feeds. President Ozdemir, the President of Turkey, stands to the side, talking on the phone with the Israeli Prime Minister. Ozdemir thanks the Israeli PM for his help.

Ivan signals he’d like to take the phone. Ozdemir gives him the handset. “You saved my destroyer, Prime Minister. Thank you. I’m ready to return the gesture.”

After the call, the two Presidents stand shoulder-to-shoulder and study the screen.

“It’s good we’re friends, Smirnov.”

Ivan offers a side-glance and a nod. “Da.”

“When this is over, let’s talk about the cabal.”

Ivan turns and faces Ozdemir. “You’re aware of them?”

“Of course,” Ozdemir snaps. “Their tentacles stretch far into the Middle East. And now is the perfect time to dismantle them.”

“Let’s include the President of the United States. Her CIA and other teams have information that could help us. Between our three countries, we’ll get the job done.”

An urgent phone call interrupts their conversation. The American Commander at the Prince Sultan Air Base tells the Chiefs of Staff that China’s subs in the Red Sea have crossed into the Saudi territorial waters.

“The Saudis ask that we deploy the Patriot missiles. They believe—and I believe—a Chinese strike is imminent.”

After a brief consult between the Chiefs, the order is given. “Deploy the Patriots.”

When the rockets strike the subs, an immense fireball lights the expanse of desert and sea. An iconic mushroom cloud rises into the blue heavens far above. The Commander takes a step back with a horrified expression contorting his features. He realizes what this means. The Chinese had planned a nuclear attack, so much worse than a third World War.

The Commander sends an urgent message to the Joint Chiefs. China intended a nuclear attack on the Saudis. Expect the same in the Persian Gulf.

Contact Gwen:

Blog:  https://www.gwenplano.com/blog-reflections

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/GMPlano

Twitter: https://twitter.com/gmplano 

Amazon Author’s page:  https://amzn.to/3eAU2BtBook links:

Letting Go into Perfect Love – https://amzn.to/3bToO7t

The Contract between heaven and earth – https://amzn.to/2U2Lgmv

The Choice: the unexpected heroes – https://amzn.to/3lcz8eA

The Culmination, a new beginning – https://amzn.to/3eEWkj9

The Idea Mill #32

The articles are pouring in rapidly now. We had a drought of decent grist for the mill for months. This time I am holding five new articles. This post will address three of them, and I’m fairly sure the next Idea Mill won’t be long in coming.

For the new readers of these posts, I set a bunch of push feeds to send me articles that relate to my interests. Some of them get pretty repetitive, but some of them feed my Muse. These can lead to new stories, or morph into elements in those stories. I share them here in hopes of kicking your own Muse in the pants.

There is an added bonus of that small slice of reality. I like to base my speculative fiction in as much reality as possible. That way, when I ask for a leap of faith, it’s isn’t a death defying jump. Weaving a few of these things into a story helps set the stage for that leap.

Here we go. Our first article is a strange medical phenomenon. It seems a man became a father. A DNA test proved he was not the father, which is something that happens. What is weird is that his brother fathered the child. (Also been known to happen.) Where it goes completely off the rails is that he has no brother.

To make this even better, the baby was conceived in-vitro. This adds all kinds of intrigue and blame to a story. The poor woman was impregnated by someone else’s sperm. Except that isn’t the case here. It turns out the man is a human chimera. At one point, he was a twin. His twin brother was “absorbed” and fused with the remaining fetus. The father of the child is an amalgamation of two different people. The parts that father babies actually belonged to his secret brother.

The article gives hints of others in similar situations. It even gives some interesting possible physical indicators that can play right into character descriptions. Read the story here.

This alone would make for a great family drama. “You’re not my father,” takes on a whole new meaning from a bratty teen. Because of who I am, I would take it in a different direction, somewhere out near the Twilight Zone. Have the guy go through the stages of grieving. Let the brother assert himself in a split personality kind of way. Maybe the brother is a better man, a better provider, a better lover. Drive the poor guy into a deep hole. Find a way to let readers know the poor guy is being absorbed, just like his brother was.

What would you do with it?

Next we have The Radium Girls. The United States Radium Company was a highly successful business about a hundred years ago. They made clocks, watches, and gauges for aircraft. Their claim to fame was the fact that the numbers and pointers glowed in the dark. This was the result of radium based paint. The Radium Girls were factory workers who applied the paint.

I remember the old-timers in my family being deathly afraid of wristwatches that glowed in the dark. This is because radium is a deadly radioactive substance. The Radium Girls were told it was safe, and encouraged to lick their paintbrushes to obtain finer points for detailed work. The girls even played with the paint, applying it to dresses, fingernails, etc. I can just see one of them painting a radioactive seam up the back of her legs to simulate nylons of the day.

Of course, this didn’t end well. It led to a giant lawsuit, destruction of the company, and a whole lot of pain and suffering.

The fact that this happened, means the research material is out there somewhere. Here is the article, but it’s one of those clickbait style things. This builds a solid foundation for that leap of speculative faith we were just discussing. Want to write a superhero story in a dieselpunk environment? How about Radium Girl? She cleared the trenches in France, and cured trenchfoot all at the same time.

There have been some radioactive assassinations in fairly recent history too. Maybe you prefer more of a radioactive Unibomber type story. Radium could be a basis for that too. Glow in the dark chocolates anyone?

We’re going to wrap this up with the most dangerous object on Earth. It’s called the Elephant’s Foot, and it’s a blob of material from the Chernobyl meltdown. Spend 300 seconds around it, and you have two days to live. This thing is so hot it melts concrete and sand. Hey, it will get less dangerous over time. In 100,000 years maybe they can paint watch faces with it. Read the article here. I should mention the last two articles have some interesting photos.

This is like a gift to thriller writers. Someone making off with this thing, or even a piece of it, gives you an automatic maguffin for your super spy to chase after. You wouldn’t even have to sell the dangers very hard. You can start right out kicking ass and bedding babes on your way to preventing a nuclear ice cream truck from driving through the city. Spreading radioactive love as it drives past schools and call centers. (Okay, maybe park it overnight by the call center, and a timeshare office too.)

I’ve done my part for radioactive murder. Reference Practical Geology in my second Experimental Notebook. Maybe granules of this thing make a good catalyst to create lush green worlds out of distant space rocks. We fire them off today, and by the time colonists arrive it’s a garden of Eden. Maybe Radium Girl brings it to life and she and her blob save humanity from the terrorists. What would you do with the Elephant’s Foot?

Part of these posts involve me coming up with a shtick using all the stories. I’m thinking thriller today. Our hero’s mother was one of the original Radium Girls. This caused a problem with her pregnancy, and our hero has the pale markings of a human chimera. Maybe he has two different colored eyes too.

After a long military history, he settled down and started a family, only learning of his chimera status after his child was born. This leads him down a rat hole of self doubt and split personality issues. He’s recalled into service when terrorists get their hands on the Elephant’s Foot. He embarks on a global chase for the maguffin, all while battling with his internal brother, who turns out to be the extra manliness he needs to save the day.

What would you do with these snippets of history and news?

Let’s all Speculate, Part 2

There were a lot of pictures yesterday, so I'll tone down today's post. This corner of Idaho actually has it's own interesting history. The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has gone through many names over the years, but that's the current one. It played a pioneering role in the dawning of the nuclear age.

It isn't as explosive a history as White Sands, in New Mexico, or Jackass Flats, in Nevada. This has to do with a more peaceful use of nuclear power. (That's subjective though when you consider the nuclear Navy.)

There were accidents, and they tell me there are three people buried out there in lead coffins. Think about that for a while. Maybe you want to write about a nuclear powered superhero or villain.

There have been over fifty nuclear generators built at INL. These include the first nuclear submarine, the USS Nautilus. The little town we are staying in, Arco, was the first city on Earth lit entirely by nuclear powered electricity.

There is a conning tower in the city park that reflects upon this era. The name of the ship is there, but it isn't important for this post.

The ship's number isn't lost on me either, but I don't get a paranormal vibe about the place.

Saturday afternoon we stopped at the camper for a sandwich. Then we went to a pseudo ghost town called Atomic City. The name appealed to me more than anything else. What a great name for a science fiction town.

Hee Haw reference, “Atomic City, Idaho. Population 29. Sal-oot.”

This appears to have been a place for workers at INL. It has a definite fifties vibe. There are even homes that look like the old cinder block barracks buildings. There is still a kind of biker bar here, but not much else. Check out these two abandoned buildings:

I can just see a stranger in a black suit pulling into town in a black Hudson Hornet. He gets fuel at the station, then stops at the bar where he meets a girl. What kind of trouble can they get into?

INL still requires a security clearance, and most of it is posted No Trespassing. There is an ancient train track into the facility, and it isn't hard to imagine a black train, accompanied by black helicopters, shipping some top secret item out. Of course there would be an anarchist or something screwing it all up.

There is an atomic museum further down the road, but we chose to pass. It makes me sad, but you don't leave a puppy in a hot car. You just don't.

Maybe the “man in black” and the waitress have to flee through Craters of the Moon. Want to write a late 50s or early sixties Cold War story, start your research right here. Maybe you want to try a diesel-punk story with some older technology.

I've had a drink at the Little Alie-Inn in Rachel, Nevada. This is where Area 51 is. I've also trekked through the mountains about fifty feet beyond the nuclear test site outside Las Vegas. These places get over used though. This is an area that has a lot of potential.

What would you do with this setup? I'll schedule this to go live on Sunday, since I have to hook up the camper and head home.