Archive for the ‘ Scientists ’ Category

Waiting in the Wings – Supporting Cast of the Future

Author: rja

Apr 10

If you follow this blog, you know I’m writing the first three novels of my new Parallel Ops series simultaneously.  I write a chapter of The Scientists, then a chapter of The Informants and then a chapter of The Guardians. Last night I completed chapter 10 of The Scientists which means I’ve now completed 28 chapters of my project. While I still have a long way to go, many new characters have already been introduced. Here’s a small sample of those you will meet in Parallel Ops:

Sophie Hoffman is a graduate student and self-proclaimed social activist currently working on her doctoral thesis in Northern European Languages at the Ludwig Maximillian University in Munich, Germany.

Sgt. Danny Miles is a young Marine assigned to the security detail of a major U.S. government research facility. A martial arts expert since he was six, Danny is a real life saver (literally).

 
 

Max Becker is a special agent with the BKA, Germany’s version of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. At the orders of his boss, the notorious Colonel Wilhelm Kruger, Becker is on a mission he is sure will end in failure and embarrassment.

Javier Reyes is the same character you met in Triangle, the final book in the Seeds of Civilization series. This time he’s back as a major player. If you’ve read Triangle, you’ve probably already figured out which new book he’s in, but you won’t guess where he is!

Carlos Gonzales is a semi-retired underwater videographer and a volunteer with Sea Watch, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the oceans and their marine life. Carlos also served in the Mexican Navy and his experiences there prove to be a valuable asset.

Carley Quinn was born in a remote Mennonite community in the Orange Walk District of Belize. When she married a British construction worker her family disowned her and she hasn’t spoken with them since. After her husband’s untimely death, she spent three years fighting with the rebels in Guatemala.

Rob Jefferies was born in Gresham, Oregon and graduated from Oregon State University with a degree in Computer Science. Before retiring to the Caribbean in 2005, Rob owned a successful software development company that specialized in banking and credit union applications.

Erik Mueller served as a decorated member of the U.S. Army Green Berets during the Gulf War but gave up a promising career in the military to become a ruthless soldier of fortune for a paramilitary group known only as The Six.

 
 

And, finally, there’s Michael “Buzz” Edwards. He makes appearances in all three books of the Seeds series and he’s already mentioned in each of the first three books of Parallel Ops. In Seeds we never really knew which side of the fence he was on but in Ops there will be absolutely no doubt!

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Filed under: Guardians, Informants, Novels, Parallel Ops, Scientists

Jim Barnes – Live Long and Prosper

Author: rja

Apr 8

This is the last of a 4-part series in which I hope to (re)introduce you to the main characters in my Seeds of Civilization and Parallel Ops series of mystery/adventure novels.

    

Professor Jim Barnes makes a brief appearance in Chapter 3 of Tractrix, the first book of my Seeds series, but he officially joins the “cast” in Chapter 10 when Frank summons him to Las Vegas. Within hours, he and Frank are off to Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula to investigate an underground cavern complex that has been known to the Maya for more than a thousand years.

Jim BarnesAfter successfully deciphering the messages on the mysterious black spheres in Book 1, Jim is instrumental in determining the origin and purpose of some ancient objects his team discovers deep inside a Japanese mountain in Tsubute. But it’s his brilliant work with the submerged artifacts of Triangle that finally brings him the public recognition that has eluded him in the previous missions.

 In the fall of 2002, after three highly successful missions with NWIDI, Jim resigns from the university to become a scientist at one of the U.S. Government’s top research facilities. Based on his work with NWIDI, he is also a sought-after speaker on the subject of ancient lost civilizations.

To help you better understand Jim, here’s his back story prior to the Seeds series:

Jim Barnes was born in 1968 in Spokane, Washington where he attended grade school and high school. He graduated first in his class from Washington State University, in Pullman, with a degree in Anthropology. He went on to earn his doctorate in Sociocultural Anthropology from the University of Washington in Seattle where he taught for a number of years. As part of his post-graduate work, Jim learned to read and write Mayan and its ancient predecessor, Olmec. It is at a series of university seminars on these languages that Jim first meets Frank Morton.

I’ll see you tomorrow with a little about several of my “minor” characters from the first series.

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Filed under: Novels, Parallel Ops, Scientists, Seeds of Civilization, Tractrix, Triangle, Tsubute

The Scientists – Geeks of the World Unite!

Author: rja

Mar 31

This is the second in a three-part series about books in my new Parallel Ops series. Next week I’ll (re)introduce you to the 4 “stars” of my novels and provide a little of their back story that you may not know, even if you’ve already read the Seeds of Civilization series that precedes “POps.”

The Scientists features Professor Jim Barnes and an entirely new supporting cast. Before hooking up with Frank Morton, Tony Nicoletti and Linda McBride, Jim was a professor of anthropology but his activities during the Seeds series have turned him into one of the world’s leading authorities on ancient civilizations. While attending a conference in Europe he  learns of The Six and their sinister plan from another scientist. Jim makes a couple of strategic location moves during the course of the story, but The Scientists has my usual secondary plot and other characters will take you to Europe, Washington D.C. and more interesting places.

Although he’s never been the adventurous type, Jim picked up some of Tony’s bravado during their travels together in Seeds and he steps forward to lead a select group of international scientists against The Six by combining their resources – and the secrets of mysterious ancient artifacts they have all come to possess.

And here’s a little secret you’ll only hear on this blog: The Six also show up in Book 2, The Informants, when Linda and friends intercept a string of coded messages and they appear again in Book 3, The Guardians, where Tony Nicoletti is trying to distract them away from a site he’s sure they want to find.

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Filed under: Novels, Parallel Ops, Scientists

Writing a Novel x3

Author: rja

Mar 16

As many of you already know, I’m working on a new, four-book series called Parallel Ops. This series is a follow-up to my Seeds of Civilization series and begins five years after the conclusion of Triangle, the final book in the Seeds series. The concept of the new series is that there will be a book featuring each of the main characters from Seeds as they each, in their own way, try to make semse of the event that took place in the final pages of Triangle.

Three of the books take place along the exact same timeline (hence the series title Parallel Ops) so I decided to write all three at the same time. I write Chapter 1 of Book 1, then Chapter 1 of Book 2, and so on. When all the Chapter 1s are finished, I go back to Book 1 and start Chapter 2. It’s a ”novel approach” (no pun intended) becasue I have to keep three story lines going in my head but it’s also fun becasue I get to shift characters and geographic locations every few days.

You’ve probably noticed that I haven’t mentioned Book 4 yet – that’s becasue not much is known about Book 4, even by me! I haven’t decided whether Book 4 will chronologically parallel the other three or whether it will overlap and/or follow them. I may even leave that decision up to those who read the first three books! The one thing I do know, is that Book 4 will not be started until the first three are on their way to the printer.

I keep referring to the books of Parallel Ops as Book 1, Book 2, etc. but they do have names, so here’s the run-down, including the Seeds character featured in each:

Book 1 – The Scientists – Jim Barnes
Book 2 – The Informants – Linda McBride
Book 3 – The Guardians – Tony Nicoletti
Book 4 – The Teachers – TBA

If you’ve read the Seeds of Civilization series, you’ve probably already guessed why Frank Morton is the “star” of the mysterious Book 4!

Well, the cup is empty, so that’s it for today. See you again tomorrow?

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Filed under: Guardians, Informants, Novels, Parallel Ops, Scientists