With the above words from my friend, Richard E. Kelly, I can tell you that the wait for The Permanent Plan is over. I’ve had the proof copy in hand from printer, Lightning Source, and have ordered books from them. I expect to have those books next Tuesday. I also have the proof copy from Createspace (Amazon Books) in hand and have approved it and the accompanying text for their website. It is now posted for sale on their website. Without boring you with the details, I can tell you that the editing, proofreading, re-writing, review, and submission of the interior files and the cover files was a much more extensive process than I expected. The result is a book that is in wonderful condition for the first printing.

Order The Permanent Plan now. Click here for more information…

The Permanent Plan continues the story of the wealthy Saylor family in Alaska. It takes Beth in a direction that puts her in the middle of state politics, resource development, and cyber-crime, with some unexpected consequences. The drug dealing criminals in Saylor’s Triangle are replaced by wealthy cyber-criminals with brazen agendas and an entourage of bizarre henchmen. An end more surprising than Saylor’s Triangle?….Yes!

Saylor’s Triangle:

I was very pleasantly surprised about a month ago when I was notified that Saylor’s Triangle was one of 1000 books moving to the second round of the “2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award”….out of 5000 entries. Sadly, it did not make the third round, but I was still very happy that it received the recognition that it did. With sales slowing down, it is my hope that The Permanent Plan will help pick them up. It really is advantageous to read it before reading the sequel.

Miscellaneous Thoughts:

For anyone interested in a compelling look at the life of a family controlled by the dictates of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, read Richard E. Kelly’s book, Growing Up in Mama’s Club. You will marvel at the story that begins when Richard is a child and follows him to when he is a young man. Not only have I read his book, I have watched him present his story publicly two times, including once at the Tucson Festival of Books, and it is fascinating.

This email list is growing, and as a consequence, there are names on the list I don’t recognize. If you are on the list because I bought a TV from you once, or something like that, and you don’t want to know about my novels, please let me know.

Thank you to Joyce Strassburg and the Book Club North in Scottsdale for your selection of Saylor’s Triangle as your book of the month for April. The meeting this week with your great group was very enjoyable for me.

For all of you who have been gracious enough to hold book signing events and would like me to speak to your book club about The Permanent Plan, Saylor’s Triangle, or both, please contact me.

My next step is to get this website, (CraigBieber.com), updated with information about The Permanent Plan, and to set it up so both books can be ordered using Pay Pal.

Finally, thank you. Most of you have bought and read Saylor’s Triangle, and some of you have gone way beyond what I could have hoped for in promoting it. Getting a novel out there for a self-published author is a series of baby steps, but the opportunities are growing. Through Lightning Source’s relationship with the Ingram Book Company, and Ingram’s association with Barnes and Noble, I hope to have both books available through Barnes and Noble this year. In Alaska, Borders carries Saylor’s Triangle, and I am sure they will take The Permanent Plan in as well.

Order The Permanent Plan now. Click here for more information…

With overwhelming feedback from readers who want to hear more from Fred, I decided to create a forum for him to comment about today’s world. Since Alaska is truly at the “Top of the World,” the title gives a sense of Fred’s ability to overview the world and make comments.

Fred is a pretty salty guy, so I have edited his language from what it is in Saylor’s Triangle. He also tends to be brutally honest. His unedited comments will be featured on the SaylorsTriangle.com and CraigBieber.com websites and blogs on an ongoing basis.

Fred Longcoor – From the Top of the World

Fred says: “Obamination?”

This is all just too bizarre to ignore. If it looks like creeping socialism, and it sounds like creeping socialism, it probably is creeping socialism.

I’m trying. Even though I thought Barack Obama was a silver-tongued messiah, with little substance to back up his hypnotic words, I am tying to support the fact that he is the President of the United States. It is very early yet, but me and my buddies just can’t get our heads around the things that are happening now. If you understand them, maybe you can answer the following questions:

1. Do you know that government will become an unprecedented 31% of the U.S. economy with the Obama programs that have been initiated and proposed? I’m not sure that even includes the $410 billion spending bill from out of nowhere that the Dems are trying to ram through congress right now.
2. “Stand back, ‘cause I don’t know how big this thing is going to get.” – Fred Longcoor (from Saylor’s Triangle). Can you wrap yourself around a $787 billion Economic Stimulus Package that comes on the heels of the $350 billion in TARP money that is gone without anybody knowing for sure where it went? Do you think that a pork-loaded…excuse me, earmark-loaded, package with things in it like $650 million for digital television converter box coupons is the proper way to stimulate the economy? Is that $650 million spend acceptable to you because you are comforted by the fact that the Obama led congress made the all important move of changing the date for the conversion to digital television signals from February to June?
3. Here’s a goat-roping in the making. Do you know that much of the Stimulus money will be spent at the discretion of state governors and city mayors? Can you imagine the chaos that will create?
4. And then, there is the $75 billion (or possibly up to $275 billion) Housing Plan. How do you feel about the fact that you have built a life of financial responsibility and worked your butt off to provide for your future, and now you will have to sit back and watch the government (with a lot of support from your tax dollars) bail out the fools and the freeloaders who couldn’t manage their own lives? Who says there aren’t any free rides?
5. My buddies and I apparently don’t understand the concept of bi-partisanship. Is it significant to you that only three Republicans supported the Economic Stimulus Package?
6. All my money’s in a sock right now, but have you noticed how the financial markets have reacted to the new programs? Stocks have recently plummeted to eleven year lows, and our country is going to have to count on financing from China, who recently enacted an
   economic stimulus plan that actually works.

   Time Magazine says of the top twenty-five people responsible for the current economic crisis, Bill Clinton is number thirteen, and George Bush is number fourteen! Second on the list is Phil Gramm, who, under Bill Clinton, pushed through the repeal of the Glass-Steagall act, which is widely blamed for opening the door to all those shady credit swaps.

7. Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank, and Harry Reid? Not Obama’s fault, but this sad comedy team as a major part of the face of the Democratic Party is just too much for me to take. Stay tuned for what Nancy’s hairdresser has to say. There is no real question here, just wonderment.
8. Bill Richardson, Rob Blagojevich, Tim Geithner, Judd Gregg, and Tom Daschle? Can you say, “Rookie mistakes?”
9. Is there anybody out there other than me who would like to know what would have happened if the government had stayed out of this economic crisis?

* * * * *

• Let’s see, some big financial institutions would have failed, bringing rise to many of the eight thousand smaller, strong, non-corrupt and successful financial institutions. Some big financial institutions that have already received billions of dollars from the government are probably going to fail anyway.
• Lots of people who signed silly loans would have lost their homes. They would have had to rent for a while as they rebuilt their financial reserves. Eventually, they would be able to buy one of the millions of available and reasonably priced homes that would be on the market. Kind of sounds like the good old days.
• Millions of people would have lost their jobs – millions are losing their jobs anyway. The money dedicated to TARP and the Economic Stimulus Package could have gone to un-employment payments and then it would have found it’s way into the economy.
• GM and Chrysler would have had to file for bankruptcy protection. Maybe they would figure out that instead of producing dozens of car models that nobody can identify, that offering a few quality built models would actually help them compete with the foreign auto makers. Maybe they would learn that making Jeeps look like Hummers, and Hummers look like Jeeps makes no sense. Most importantly, maybe the UAW would learn that an old fashioned work ethic on the assembly line at a fair cost would also help the US automakers compete with the foreign automakers. Maybe the Big Three could bring their $70+ an hour labor cost in the U.S. in line with Toyota, Nissan, and Honda’s $48 an hour labor cost in the U.S. Maybe they could also get rid of the UAW’s ridiculous and expensive Jobs Bank; several of my buddies, and a couple women I know, would love to have one of those $31 an hour jobs that pay you for not working.
• Maybe, with all of this going on, a “sleeping giant with a golden hammer,” a strong sense of loyalty to our country, and a real understanding of the issues would begin to stir. The Baby Boomers have made this the wealthiest generation in history. Maybe, with a generational sense that we need to work and fight for what is best for the country, the $33 trillion dollars of wealth that they have accumulated would begin to flow into the economy! That’s “trillion” – with a T!
• And this is a huge stretch – but maybe we would begin to react to the fact that we can’t continue to spend billions of dollars taking care of illegal aliens and people who have made a career out of accepting handouts from the government for doing nothing!.

America is a place where all things are possible. All things of significance are draped in responsibility, tempered by circumstance, and measured by performance.

There are millions of voters who found their way to the voting booths last November – many for the first time – and they are now waiting for the payout. I don’t know what the unidentified foreigners who put millions of dollars into the campaign for change are waiting for, but they may be getting it. The malleable millions who wore their cloaks of righteous indignation to the polls need to throw them aside and take a hard look at where we are heading.

I may be the first one to say this, but is it possible that we may not be witnessing the end of the Republican Party, but the beginning of the end of the Democratic Party?

“There’s a smell in the air, and it isn’t sweet. There’s a cloud in the sky, and it isn’t bringing rain. There’s a stir in my soul, and it isn’t soulful…and there’s a fear in my gut that we have created a regret.” - Fred Longcoor (from Saylor’s Triangle).

Nick is drawn back into the business by the mystical warnings of a new kapuna friend in Maui, and an Alaska Native spiritual leader.  Soon, Beth and Nick race drug dealer, Geno, and an eclectic cast of characters to a surprising finish.

Saylor’s Triangle was published in early January of 2008.  It has been described as a book with great characters, a wonderful setting, unflinching grittiness, and power.  Readers frequently call it a page turner and a book that they couldn’t put down.  It is an adult book, and a great read…if you like action, drama, romance, and mystery.

See information about Saylor’s Triangle, and other Ghost River Images books at ghostriverimages.com.