I've been a ghost for a few weeks while I finished the new book. I had a heck of a time with the title. In my previous post I called it "Speak for the Dead" but boy did I not like that one. After kicking a few other options around, I finally settled on "The Open Contract" because it has a thriller-esque feel to it and refers to the plot. I'm happy with that one. I rolled the last page out of the Royal yesterday in time for my birthday party (I'm 32 now), and stuck it in a drawer. It's going…

Greetings--

I've been writing since I was 12; most of that writing has been done on computer. Now that I'm 32, I've come to believe that modern tools are not as good as the old tools.

On my desk right now sits a 1940s-vintage Royal typewriter. In the roller is a sheet of paper, the 17th such sheet, with a lot of words on it. Those words are part of my new novel, "Speak for the Dead." This is book #8. As with every book, this is THE ONE that will be the break-out. Period. But…