Unbetitelt

[qcrelcel]

A Fierce Love of the Country This is the fourth installment in my "Expats" series, but it can be read independently of the other novels.

[qcrelcel]

Translating my new novel Gravitas: this is the fourth installment in my "Expats" series, but it can be read independently of the other novels.

[qcrelcel]

Trigger Warnings, Microaggressions, and Student Veterans

Trigger Warnings, Microaggressions, and Student Veterans

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Tentative new cover for PLATEAU REBELS

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Queen of Estonia - can't make up my mind

Queen of Estonia – can’t make up my mind

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Tentative new cover for COMBAT FATIGUE

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Tentative cover for my new novel

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Chapter 9 from my new novel - JUMP

Chapter 9 from my new novel – JUMP

9

  PAUL

    My new name was immediately processed to “HP”. I didn’t mind that Nick was flirting with me. He was so obvious that everyone else noticed it too. His courtship was uplifting. Just like Steve’s sarcastic remarks that were basically supposed to amuse us. We were struggling for survival, but it felt more like a school trip with pubescent boys.

It was better than pondering the dangers of…

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[qcrelcel]

Chapter 8 from my new novel - JUMP

Chapter 8 from my new novel – JUMP

8

  PAUL

  I wake up at five AM. I get up to close the window and climb back into bed. I could do some weightlifting before driving to Fort Meade. Instead, I stare at the ceiling and think of the little boy who tried to find his goat.

      In the afternoon, B.O. took over my watch at the cave entrance. I was glad that I was finally able to lie down. B.O. had been lying next to Nick, so I took…

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Chapter 7 from my new novel - JUMP

7

PAUL

June is a good month. Ten years ago, Nick and Alex got married. It was a spontaneous and secret affair. When they came back from Copenhagen and had to confess to their parents that they skipped the big wedding ceremony, considerable drama ensued, especially in the Brewster family. Alex’ father stopped talking to her for a few weeks. Alex’ mother was sad because she was cheated out of…

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[qcrelcel]

Chapter 6 from my EPIC SPY NOVEL

6

PAUL

I love my new job. The only problem I have at the moment is the fact that I’m new. This means I have no network. There is no one I can hit on for confidential information.

My teammates can’t tell me anything because they simply don’t know how this Donahue thing has evolved. It takes weeks to find out which analysts are dealing with the case. I try to chat one of them up in the cafeteria,…

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[qcrelcel]

Chapter 5 from my new novel - JUMP

5

MARINA

I don’t get much sleep at night. I can’t reach Hernandez, but I talk to some officer on duty who will not confirm that Lindstrom is an NSA employee. What was the point of giving me an emergency number to call if nobody can help me? The colleague gives me clear instructions: keep playing my role, stop trying to find out more about Lindstrom and Chilton, and report to the guys at Quantico…

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[qcrelcel]

Chapter 4 from my new novel - JUMP

4

MARINA

  “Not again”, I moan as I enter the windowless room where two colleagues are eyeing me suspiciously. Hernandez is sitting at a table and laughs.

“Having a déjà vu?” he asks.

I sit down on a hard plastic chair.

“Same room, different year”, I reply. “New faces, okay. But the last time that you personally grilled me, we were in your office. What happened? Have you been demoted?”

The others…

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Chapter 3 from my new novel - JUMP

3

PAUL

When I got out of the Hudson, my knees were trembling, but not from the cold.

It felt good. The adrenaline rush was tremendous. I wanted to jump up and down. I would have danced if there had been music. I was completely euphoric. For the first time in my life, I was able to save someone from drowning, nearly fifteen years since I’ve started training for this event. Back then I was young…

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Chapter 2 from my new novel - JUMP

2

MARINA

My job can be very tedious. And then there are days like this one. It might not be exciting to stand around in Manhattan on a Sunday morning. It’s cold for May. The wind sweeping across the Hudson River is cool and brings some rain drops, but that doesn’t bother me. I enjoy the view of fighter jets and helicopters. Tomcat. Cobra. MIG. They used to belong to the Navy, the Marines, even…

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[qcrelcel]

Losing the war, over and over again

Losing the war, over and over again

Nathalie Leclercq:

And this is how you lose a war.

Originally posted on Carrying the Gun:

Samir, the Afghan cook stood in front of the grill, smiling widely, upbeat music playing loudly from a battery operated radio behind him. He nodded eagerly to each person who passed by. On the white board behind the grill that normally displayed information about the day’s meals, a message was scrawled in…

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Chapter 1 from my new novel - JUMP

PAUL

  Wisdom is nothing more than the willingness to repeatedly review the basics of human knowledge.

  The wisdom of the NSA lies in constantly reviewing the knowledge of our enemies.

  In the past, phones got tapped and letters were secretly opened with steam. Spies in trench coats walked through the cities of the West, and if they could overcome the Iron Curtain, also through the cities of…

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