Let's face it...we're living in some very different times. There's a lot that feels unsettling these days and so much divineness around the world that I think many people are questioning their values and thoughts. I know that I certainly am and as a writer my brain is running rampant with all sorts of book ideas.
However, the book I want to write about today was the first book that I ever wrote--COVERT REICH, and the reason I wanted to blog about it is that for a book I wrote twenty-five years ago, there are some messages in that book that in a weird way I see taking shape in our real world today--maybe not to the extent of what I fictionalized a long time ago, but still...there's some messages that I put in the book that I think if we looked around today we'd find evidence of some of the scary plot I created way back when.
The premise of COVERT REICH is: A sect of the US government has devised a plan to rid society of those they feel are "undesirable" within the culture.
I developed the idea when my oldest son Alex was born. He was six weeks preemie and spent two weeks in the hospital. It was a very difficult time as a young mom to see him in an incubator where I could only touch him through gloves that I put my hands through on the side of the incubator. He was hooked up to all sorts of monitoring machines and receiving medication for his under developed lungs. This was obviously very upsetting for me, but a nurse showed me an infant that had been addicted to drugs and his mother had given birth and left him for foster care. This baby had no fight in him. He was pretty still every time I looked at him. My son, on the other hand did his share of crying, moving around, etc...and although it upset me to see him struggle and not be able to hold him, the nurse explained to me that he'd be fine because he had a will to survive, and the baby who was detoxing from drugs did not have the same survival skills. That disheartened me a great deal.
Two weeks later, my son was big enough, healthy and strong enough to come home with his monitors (I'm happy to say that he is a very healthy 25 year old now) and because I needed to be at home with him, I decided that I would try to pursue my dreams of being a writer. What would I write about? Well...I knew I always wanted to write thrillers and mystery because that's all I ever pretty much read. As I was coming up with ideas, I watched a Sixty Minutes program about drugs, the impoverished, the government and the belief of their involvement in keeping the poor addicted to drugs, and also the sterilization of welfare recipients. Combined with Alex's stay in the hospital and seeing some very sick infants, along with that news story, I found my what if... and three hundred and some odd pages later, I had written my first book. I had originally titled it COVERT WOMB and when I finished it I went on to write more books.
A few years ago that original storyline, which hadn't been published kept nagging me to take another look at it. So I did and with the help of my Yoda (my editor Mile Sirota) we went back through and reviewed, polished and I self published it on Amazon where I've now sold a lot of copies.
More and more COVERT REICH reminds me of my beginnings as a writer, but lately it's made me think again about humanity and where we are in this day and age...do we love our neighbors? And, if we don't, shouldn't we? We sure need to. Hatred, discrimination, prejudice, paranoia, manipulation and divisive words and actions will lead is away from positive growth and inclusiveness. In fact, it has the potential to lead us into a downward spiral of destruction.
In the hopes that each of us will reach out to one another in a loving manner with kind actions and words (especially during this holiday season), I'm placing COVERT REICH on sale for .99 for the month of December. Any royalties received on that book for this month will go to Oxfam.org, which is a charity I believe in. I hope you'll check out the book.
Many blessings to all of my readers, your families, friends, and to all. Here is a link to the book on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/zposlwj
However, the book I want to write about today was the first book that I ever wrote--COVERT REICH, and the reason I wanted to blog about it is that for a book I wrote twenty-five years ago, there are some messages in that book that in a weird way I see taking shape in our real world today--maybe not to the extent of what I fictionalized a long time ago, but still...there's some messages that I put in the book that I think if we looked around today we'd find evidence of some of the scary plot I created way back when.
The premise of COVERT REICH is: A sect of the US government has devised a plan to rid society of those they feel are "undesirable" within the culture.
I developed the idea when my oldest son Alex was born. He was six weeks preemie and spent two weeks in the hospital. It was a very difficult time as a young mom to see him in an incubator where I could only touch him through gloves that I put my hands through on the side of the incubator. He was hooked up to all sorts of monitoring machines and receiving medication for his under developed lungs. This was obviously very upsetting for me, but a nurse showed me an infant that had been addicted to drugs and his mother had given birth and left him for foster care. This baby had no fight in him. He was pretty still every time I looked at him. My son, on the other hand did his share of crying, moving around, etc...and although it upset me to see him struggle and not be able to hold him, the nurse explained to me that he'd be fine because he had a will to survive, and the baby who was detoxing from drugs did not have the same survival skills. That disheartened me a great deal.
Two weeks later, my son was big enough, healthy and strong enough to come home with his monitors (I'm happy to say that he is a very healthy 25 year old now) and because I needed to be at home with him, I decided that I would try to pursue my dreams of being a writer. What would I write about? Well...I knew I always wanted to write thrillers and mystery because that's all I ever pretty much read. As I was coming up with ideas, I watched a Sixty Minutes program about drugs, the impoverished, the government and the belief of their involvement in keeping the poor addicted to drugs, and also the sterilization of welfare recipients. Combined with Alex's stay in the hospital and seeing some very sick infants, along with that news story, I found my what if... and three hundred and some odd pages later, I had written my first book. I had originally titled it COVERT WOMB and when I finished it I went on to write more books.
A few years ago that original storyline, which hadn't been published kept nagging me to take another look at it. So I did and with the help of my Yoda (my editor Mile Sirota) we went back through and reviewed, polished and I self published it on Amazon where I've now sold a lot of copies.
More and more COVERT REICH reminds me of my beginnings as a writer, but lately it's made me think again about humanity and where we are in this day and age...do we love our neighbors? And, if we don't, shouldn't we? We sure need to. Hatred, discrimination, prejudice, paranoia, manipulation and divisive words and actions will lead is away from positive growth and inclusiveness. In fact, it has the potential to lead us into a downward spiral of destruction.
In the hopes that each of us will reach out to one another in a loving manner with kind actions and words (especially during this holiday season), I'm placing COVERT REICH on sale for .99 for the month of December. Any royalties received on that book for this month will go to Oxfam.org, which is a charity I believe in. I hope you'll check out the book.
Many blessings to all of my readers, your families, friends, and to all. Here is a link to the book on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/zposlwj
Comments