DISPATCH :: Operation Warrior Library thanks Chris Ryan

There's a great passage in Neal Stephenson's SNOW CRASH where the protagonist realizes that even if he spends the next ten years living in a Shaolin Temple in China training to kill every single day that he will never be the bad-ass that another character naturally is.

You will never be the bad-ass that Chris Ryan is. The man is an SAS Gulf War Veteran who had to escape on foot through Iraq into Syria after a mission got hit hard by Murphy's Law. After telling that story in THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY: MY SAS MISSION BEHIND ENEMY LINES, Chris turned to fiction. And if you have any problems with that, take it up with Chris.

ULTIMATE WEAPON is a big hit in England and deserves to be here as well. Taking place during the current Iraq war, the book is terrifically entertaining as well as pertinent.


Thanks to Chris, we've been able to ship four boxes of ULTIMATE WEAPON to troops serving in Afghanistan. You can support Chris by picking up a copy of his book. Remember, any purchases made in the OWL STORE go to continuing to help us deliver great books to our troops.

DISPATCH :: Operation Warrior Library thanks Valerie Malmont

Hey, wait a minute, you might be saying to yourself. Is that some kind of strange coincidence? I know. I know. You can't make this stuff up:

It's really eerie how both my mom and I used the word DEATH in the titles of our first books.

Didn't know moms was a writer? Well, now you do. That's right. While the paper that would eventually become my first print run was still a tree swaying gracefully in some peaceful, undisturbed Canadian forest, my mother was busy creating the very popular Tori Miracle series of cozy mysteries. The character of the region of Pennsylvania that she and my dad found in the 70's reminded her of the English countryside she adored in Agatha Christie 's work. You can find her whole series in the OWL STORE but you should start with DEATH PAYS THE ROSE RENT.

Thanks Mom, for the books for the troops. Remember, the proceeds from any purchase you make on the site goes to helping us continue to send great books to our troops.

DISPATCH :: Operation Warrior Library salutes Jon Guenther

Jon Guenther's a really great guy who introduced himself to me soon after I published THE CHINATOWN DEATH CLOUD PERIL. He's been writing the continuing adventures of Don Pendleton's THE EXECUTIONER series - one of the last real pulp lines out there.

As a former soldier, Jon was only too happy to be able to donate some copies of HOSTILE ODDS and HARD PASSAGE. I can't imagine that these are going to be anything less than hugely popular with our troops in Afghanistan.

You can support Jon for making his donation by buying a copy of his book. Remember, any purchase you make in the Operation Warrior Library Store goes to helping us continue to deliver great books to our troops.

Thanks Jon!

DISPATCH :: Operation Warrior Library salutes Tiffany Baker

The worst cliche in blogging is the writer who has to start their latest post with an apology for not writing in such a long time. It's about as lazy as a journalist starting a comeback story by pointing out how wrong Fitzgerald was when he wrote that there are no second acts in American lives. And that's the grown-up equivalent of a school-kid starting out a report with a definition from a dictionary.

But I have been awfully busy. You can check all my twitter updates, if you don't believe me. Those thing don't just write themselves.

(BTW: twitter.com/pmalmont )

So since the next shipment of books for troops in Afghanistan are already starting to pile up in the garage, I thought I'd quickly round out the people from the last shipment that I haven't posted about yet.

First up, THE LITTLE GIANT OF ABERDEEN COUNTY by Tiffany Baker. I've been looking forward to reading this since I first heard about it earlier this year. I'm in the middle of reading it now and it really is wonderful. Check it out.

Thanks to Tiffany, her book is now being read by troops overseas. You can support Tiffany by buying her book. Remember, the proceeds from any book you purchase in the OWL store goes to keeping the books going.

Who knew Michael Jackson was a Jack London fan

Though probably not in the most positive way.

TMZ is reporting that poor MJ used to use the name Jack London as an alias to buy drugs.

I wonder why he chose that name?

DISPATCH :: Operation Warrior Library salutes Glen David Gold

Eight years.

That's how long it took Mr. Gold to create SUNNYSIDE, the follow up to CARTER BEATS THE DEVIL which is still a must-read.

It was worth the wait. Taking place as America enters WWI and takes center stage upon the world, the book is a wondrous mix of larger-than-life characters, romance, war, dreams and the things that frustrate them. It's always a stunning tribute to the creative process. Glen takes us inside the mind of Charlie Chaplin at work - giving us a glimpse into genius.

It's an amazing book full of humor and sorrow and life. Glen's on tour right now, so catch him if you can. He writes like Fred Astaire dances - he makes it look effortless, graceful, and fun.

Hope we don't have to wait another 8 years.

Thanks to Glen, we have four boxes of books shipping to troops in Afghanistan. You can support Glen by buying copies of SUNNYSIDE. Remember, any purchase you make in the OWL Store also helps us cover the costs of Operation Warrior Library.

DISPATCH :: The Vacation Read: Ricky Gervais, Matthew Robinson, Glen David Gold and Paul Malmont

Drew McWeeny over at motion-captured asked some of the people he knows to help cover his blog while he's on vacation. He asked us all the question, what's your favorite summer movie.

Somehow my answer ended up in the same post with Ricky Gervais. Sorry, Mr. Gervais.

Read on.