I’ve been more excited about New York Minute and the character of Will Kane than anything in years. I wrote and rewrote this book from the heart. The characters are real to me—and that’s what this book is about: character.

I was thinking about what I wanted to write in terms of thriller a couple of years ago as I’m going back to that genre after years in science fiction. I thought about a Jack Reacher type of character and story; especially given the parallels in Reacher’s fictional life and my real one: Reacher was West Point ’82, I was ’81. Reacher was in Lebanon during the bombing while my unit, 10th Special Forces was running the MTT there when that tragedy occurred. Reacher’s mother is French from Strasbourg; my wife’s mother is French from Strasbourg.

I love Lee Child’s books, but as he says in the new opening to Killing Floor (a must-read), Jack Reacher is a mythical character. A modern knight. I realized I couldn’t write such a character, perhaps because of my own flaws; more on that in a bit. I wanted to write someone like the special ops people I’ve known, warts and all, but with a deep moral code, who is forced, against his will, into making a decision that he swore never to make. I wanted to surround him with a cast of reoccurring characters, each with their own flaws, strengths and backstory, and, most importantly, secrets. There are characters in this book that will grow much deeper as the series goes on.

I set in it in New York during a time period I am familiar with: the late 70s. Son of Sam is in the background—his first shooting occurred just blocks from my house and one of his victims was a classmate of mine. The city at the time was going down the tubes, very different from today. It adds darkness and vibrancy to the story.

The flaw, in retrospect, is starting the book slow, but I had to do that to show how Kane is forced to do something he vowed never to do.

I’m moving Will Kane forward in time from 1977. Not just in New York City, but as he gets involved in events such as the founding of Delta Force and Desert One. So far, I’ve got five books
in the series. BTW, all the titles are from songs with lines that apply to the story. New York Minute is particularly apropos as you’ll see as you read it.

Of particular importance is that Will Kane has Asperger’s. Just as I do. Writing a character with this issue is something I’ll discuss in another post.

Honestly, another one of my goals is to break this book & series out long term as an indie author. I’ve successfully been publishing without the backing of a Big 5 publisher or Amazon for a number of years. In this day and age, entrepreneur can make their own way as I have been doing for a long time. As such, I’m thankful to my readers for their continued support.