Living Dangerously Weekly - Inventing Science, Seafood, the U.S. Navy and Velcro Pimp

It's been a hell of a week. At the start I worked on the outline for the St. Martin's Press/Thomas Dunne Books project, SEAL TEAM 666. Now it's all tricked out and ready for prime time. Waiting to see what the editors think and keen to get contracts signed and deals sealed. In fact, I was on the plane over Mississippi with free internet, sitting in first class (free upgrade), when I finished all the edits and additions. Glad to put that baby to bed.

The rest of the week I spent working on Blood Ocean. I'm on track to finish this, but keep feeling like I'm behind. I'm at a technical part of the novel where I have to invent some science. Gotta love soft science fiction novels. I wonder if Mr. Murray from my H.S. biology class knows that I'm totally faking being a scientific expert because I actually learned more from my English teacher. Mr. Murray almost kicked me out of the class because I just couldn't get it. Still, back to writing the novel, the secret about inventing science is that it has to be about 90% accurate so that the reader will embrace it. The rest is bright lights and tinkly bells. On an interesting note that only serves to stress me the hell out, Blood Ocean is up for pre-order at Barnes and Nobles Online. I'm not even finished with it!

I did spend the week in D.C. The day job demanded that I genuflect at the seat of government power and do some serious work regarding intelligence training. I mostly came home exhausted, but still managed to plug a few pages of Blood Ocean away every night. Thursday night was a special night. My old friend Dave Lake and I went to The Wharf in Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia. This is my favorite restaurant. My favorite bartender was there as well, Brian Wallenius (aka Velcro Pimp). It was a grand meal that took four hours. We talked old times and new. We drank two bottles of wine. And we had incredible food. Check it out: Oysters on Half-Shell, Corn-fried Oysters over a lump crab and corn succotash, She Crab Soup, and perfectly prepared Rockfish stuffed with lump blue crab.  Mmmm Damn!  (If you're really hungry, have the same apps then order the Lobster and Shrimp Linguini. It comes with half a lobster in the pasta and the other half on top of the pasta)

Now for the really big news. My Daughter is in the NAVY!!! She's going to be an Aviation Ordinance Woman. She's going to have access to bigger guns, bombs and missiles than her dad. It's just awesome.

Last but not least, a word about Velcro Pimp. Brian Wallenius has made it to my short list of best bartenders on the planet. Not only does he remember things near perectly, but he has a personality to match. We got to talking and he really wanted me to create a psycho killer character for him. And you know what, I think I will. I've already decided that he's going to go by the name Velcro Pimp. I'll write it as a short story. So there you have it. If there are any takers for this story, let me know and I'll write it. But for now it's fermenting in the vats of my mind.

Lest I not forget. Shock Totem #4 is out featuring my story Playlist at the End. To my knowledge, it's the only horror story using an mp3 playlist as a narrative framing device. It was a load of fun and nasty as hell.

You can get this from the folks at Shock Totem or at Amazon- Shock Totem 4: Curious Tales of the Macabre and Twisted. The playlist is going to blow you away.

Until next week.