Ryan Decker, Harlow Mackenzie and the gang are back in what will likely be the last Decker novel for a while. Knowing that this might be the last Decker book, I took the plot and action to the next level. Explosive doesn’t begin to describe what unfolds. In fact, when I began the first full edit with Kevin Smith, my developmental editor, I started off by saying…”I have a few more action scenes in mind, but I’m not sure if we should add them. Readers won’t get a break after the first few chapters.” His answer (paraphrased)…”Are you kidding? The more the merrier.” SO, reader be warned. This one doesn’t give you much rest.
But don’t take my word for it. Here’s what a few major review sources had to say about SKYSTORM.
“Explosive action, a breakneck pace, and zippy dialogue.” — Kirkus Reviews.
“Readers seeking a well-constructed action thriller need look no further.” — Publisher’s Weekly
“If you enjoy action thrillers that have both strong male and female characters, then this may be the series for you.” — Mystery and Suspense Magazine.
GRAB A COPY BY CLICKING ON YOUR LINK BELOW (You’ll find ebook, audio and paper through each link).
United States Amazon Store
A Wall Street Journal bestselling series.
Unmasking a treasonous American conspiracy is a dangerous move in a heart-pounding thriller about greed, power, revenge, and murder.
After covert investigators Ryan Decker and Harlow Mackenzie demolished APEX, a billion-dollar criminal enterprise, a tenuous truce between the two factions suggested the battle was over. But not for Decker’s director, Senator Margaret Steele. She’s uncovered an even deadlier operation—code name Skystorm.
SKYSTORM violates every international arms-trafficking law imaginable. And for the senator, exposing the plot may be a gamble too far. APEX has caught wind of the investigation, and they’ve gone on the offensive. Steele’s warning to Decker and Harlow: we’re all in a no-holds-barred fight for our lives.
With APEX’s scorched-earth tactics now unmistakable, Decker and Harlow pull the trigger on their worst-case-scenario plan and move to turn the tables on their ruthless adversary. With a shadowy mercenary team, Decker and Harlow embark for a war—one that Skystorm’s influential DC backers have no intention of losing. To safeguard their treasonous secret, they aim to bury it, along with Decker and everyone he loves.
HOT ZONE just hit the audiobook shelves at Audible and iTunes, so instead of a post with a single title, I thought I’d create a post listing all of my audiobook titles. A one stop reference for those of you with long commutes, long walks to take, long breaks at work OR those of you who simply don’t like to “READ.” I know who you are!
WHAT IS THE ZULU VIRUS? Check out the description of the virus taken directly from the Black Flagged novels. 
1.) Adaptive Camouflage: Sometimes called “active camouflage,” this fledgling technology today will be fully developed and available to the military and highest bidder in the 2035 world created for Rogue State. You can imagine the tactical benefits of rendering a vehicle or operative invisible to the naked eye or infrared detection. Check out a few links describing today’s efforts to harness this technology. The image to the right is from the movie Predator, I couldn’t resist…the ultimate in adaptive camouflage.
2.) Rifle mounted, goggle integrated cameras: This isn’t exactly something new, but it isn’t routinely fielded today. I got the idea from playing Call of Duty and did some research. Like anything that might provide the modern day field operative or soldier an advantage, companies are putting consider time and money into development. Consider the benefit of being able to stick your rifle around a corner, see a target and shoot it.
3.) Facial Recognition Software is widely, publicly and openly used by law enforcement and government agencies in 2035. A few states have declared it unconstitutional and prohibit the use of FRS technology. This isn’t new either, but as far as we know, proactive, wide scale use by the government hasn’t been implemented yet—OR HAS IT? Here’s a quick paragraph from Rogue State describing the problem.
5.) Taking advantage of the population resettlement, drug cartels from Mexico have seized control of most of Arizona and New Mexico. The U.S.-Mexico border no longer exists as a barrier in those areas, and fierce battles rage between well equipped cartel soldiers and National Guard units in key border cities along the Texas border. It’s fair to say that the State Department has issued a travel advisory to Americans thinking about vacationing in Mexico. Much of Rogue State takes place a few miles south of the border or in these lawless U.S. areas.
7.) Mercenaries used by corporations to achieve their “goals.” You already got a good taste of this in Fractured State. CERBERUS is essentially a high-end mercenary outfit retained by corporations to safeguard their financial interests—or create new ones. In Rogue State, you’ll meet a slightly less refined group of mercenaries, comprised of former Russian Special Forces (GRU) operators. They specialize in murder and mayhem, which will unfold spectacularly and gruesomely.
10.) A Bigger Plot Unfolds: I’ll talk more about this in the fifth Behind The Scenes article, but it will become clear to Nathan Fisher and David Quinn that the California Liberation Movement is far more than what it seems to the public. They’ll face a tough decision when confronted with the full scope of Jose’s plan.
If you’ve read any of my books, you probably can guess that I like weapons. From knives to attack helicopters, I don’t shy away from the details, and I like my characters to make the best use of the weaponry available to them. Fractured State gave me the unique opportunity to take systems currently in development, and imagine them in widespread use 20 years from now. Every firearm is more compact and versatile, ammunition is far more lethal, heavy duty weapons systems normally employed by armies are now available to mercenary groups, and the effectiveness of personal protective equipment has increased to counter this new lethality. Take a look at the following links, along with a brief explanation of how I chose to employ that technology in Fractured State.
Color night vision technology
Smart grenade launchers
1.) Creating a world to support a series requires me to create a ALTERNATE HISTORY, or in the case of Fractured State, a FUTURE set 20 years from today. Either way, I start out with a TIMELINE OF EVENTS. This is outside of the story plot. For the Fractured State series, I started in 2016 and envisioned the world, national, state and personal-level events that would land the reader on page one. As you can see, this sheet has endured coffee and beer stains, many on-the-fly changes and an accidental “throw away” since I created it in early 2015. It rarely leaves my side while I’m writing.
For Fractured State, I spent a lot of time studying WATER sources in California, the rest of the southwest and the Great Plains. While the events in my story are purely fictional, the historic, ongoing drought in California and the U.S. Southwest is REAL. Frighteningly real. California’s current drought started me on the path to writing this series. The more I researched, the more I knew I had the background for an incredible story. What if the drought continued for another 20 years like many climatologists agree is possible? AND what if the effects of the drought were intensified by corrupt group of greedy industrialists and enforced by a ruthless mercenary army on their payroll? Secession? Mayhem? 
The Black Flagged books have undergone the most dramatic changes over the years. When I first published Black Flagged, I hadn’t decided if the characters and plot would continue in a series. Frankly, I had no idea if the books would sell! With that in mind, Jeroen ten Berge created a standalone cover, which remains my favorite to this day. There’s something about this cover that draws me back, over and over again.
FREE BOOKS, MASSIVELY DISCOUNTED BOOKS! I’m EITHER in the holiday spirit, OR, I’ve lost my mind. My wife nodded gently at the latter—she knows me best. 😉
For the next few days, you can grab the Black Flagged Box Set (Books 2-4) for $0.99. That’s a 95% off buying all three separately and 90% off the regular price of the Box Set ($9.99)! 
And if you don’t already have Black Flagged Alpha, the first book in the series, you can get Black Flagged Alpha for $0.99 for a limited time. 
And if you just like FREE books, you can grab the second book in the series, Black Flagged Redux, for FREE. 
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