Newsletter 01/16

January 2016

I was just reading a capsule review of 2015. I didn’t realize 2015 was that bad, but when you read about it, the year really sucked. I mean, if 2015 was a movie, it would get, like, half a star. If it was a book, nobody would buy it.

Anyway, Happy New Year. I hope your Holidays were wonderful, including the eight days of Hanukkah. Yes, I said nine days in my last Newsletter, but that was because my nine-year-old said they told him in school that it had changed to nine days. I see a career in politics for him.

Some of my readers were upset about what happened between John Corey and his wife Kate Mayfield in Radiant Angel. Well, things happen. But I can now report that John and Kate are in marriage counseling, and they are working out their problems. John has admitted to being a male chauvinistic pig and a wise ass. Kate has admitted to being a humorless FBI tight-ass. They’re getting in touch with their feelings and making progress, so most likely they will appear together in the next John Corey novel.

My next novel, however, will not feature John Corey. I’m introducing a new male lead character whom I have not yet named. Any suggestions?

The book, too, is unnamed, but it’s set in Key West and Cuba, as I’ve said, and I’m excited about the subject and the setting. When I was in Cuba in November, I made a good contact, code name Lola, who is providing me with inside information about the underground opposition and also advice on investing my money in Cuba. “Lola” says I can buy a cigar factory for ten thousand American dollars which he asked me to send to him via his cousin “Pablo” in Miami. Pablo emailed me a picture of the cigar factory which looks more like a sugar refinery. I have to think about this.

On another subject, my last novel, Radiant Angel, will be issued in trade paperback on January 19. If you haven’t read the hardcover or the eBook, or haven’t listened to the audiobook, maybe it’s time to buy the paperback. No pressure here, but you’d be doing yourself a favor. Trust me.

Thanks for all your suggestions about who should play John Corey and Kate Mayfield in the Corey TV series. They were all good picks, especially from those who said I should play John Corey. I’m available.

January, as we know, is named after the two-faced Roman god Janus who looks forward and backward, which is easy to do if you have two faces. And this brings me to my book The Quest, in which there is a reference to Janus, which leads one of my characters, Vivian, to quote King George VI’s New Year message to the English people in the darkest year of the war.

“I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year, Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown. And he replied, Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”

My best wishes to you and yours for a happy, healthy, and peaceful New Year.

Sincerely,