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Peter  Glassman

COTTER

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Synopsis: Jacob Cotter dropped out of Yale Medical School in 1863 to enlist in the Union Army with his father Dr. Edward Cotter, then Chief of Medical Staff at Yale. Upon Edward’s murder by Confederate raiders at the battle of Nashville, Jacob Cotter is disinherited by his brother and sister. After the war Cotter becomes a bounty hunter to obtain money to return to Connecticut and complete medical school at Yale. He finds that his siblings have monopolized the valley wine industry through force, murder and intimidation. At Yale, Cotter works with the Colt Firearms heiress to set up his own vineyard. Violence ensues as Cotter and his hands confront efforts to burn him out. After Yale he sets out for Endura Texas. However, he finds 1872 Endura Texas a battleground like the New Haven he left. Victor Vlack, cattle baron and Endura’s largest landowner runs for state congress to thwart Endura becoming a city. Opposition to Vlack’s murders, pillaging and barbed wire oppression comes from Cotter and his physician colleagues. Cotter becomes his vigilante alter ego to confront Vlack’s moves. Cotter also finds his father’s killers working for Vlack. Vlack targets his Clinic and his staff for destruction. This includes his ether anesthetist, Mortimer Pignast, who runs for election against Vlack. Cotter falls in love with the Clinic’s widowed head nurse and her children. He’s torn between being a humanitarian physician, family man and his quest to avenge his father’s murder. Peter Glassman

Book Bubbles from COTTER

Yale Medical School 1868

Jacob Cotter dropped out of Yale Medical School along with his Father who was Chief of Surgery at Yale at the start of the Civil War. President Lincoln sent out an urgent call for medical assistance in the Union Army. During the war both Cotter and his Father found medical care in the southern states was often not available to its citizens. Both Cotter and his father vowed to bring healthcare to those areas when the war is over. Unfortunately, Cotter's father is murdered by Rebels targeting Union Soldiers' doctors and nurses. At the war's end Cotter is resolved to dedicate is life to two missions: First complete his MD at Yale; second find the killers of his father.

Back to School 1858

The Civi War has been over for two years. During those two post-war years former Yale Medical School student Jacob Cotter earned money for completion of his MD degree by becoming aa bounty hunter. Cotter is determined to finish Yale and has one more goal—to hunt down the murderer of his surgeon father from the Battle of Tennessee in 1864. Cotter had left Yale to serve along side his father when President Lincoln sent out the urgent call for medical support in the form of doctors and medical students. Cotter is motivated to bring modern medicine to the deprived west. It's also where his father's killer still lurks. With both a stethoscope and a sixgun he begins his adventure.

The Residue of War

Jacob Cotter left Yale Medical school to serve with his surgeon father in the Civil War. After the war Cotter became a bounty hunter to enable going back to Yale and get his MD. Cotter does not hang up his sixguns, however. His father was murdered by Confederate guerrillas during the Battle of Tennessee in 1864. Cotter vows to eventually track them down. He has nightly dreams of the event. He remembers details. After he finishes Yale, Cotter will leave Connecticut for a Texas practice with a keen eye for finding and avenging the killing. His PTSD will persist and serve as a driving force as a doctor who carries both a stethoscope and a sixgun.

Medical School 1868

President Lincoln sent out a plea to all Northern States medical schools for urgently needed help for Union solder Civil War casualties. Medical student Jacob Cotter dropped out of Yale Medical School with his Chief of Surgery father to join the Union Army Medical Corps. With the war now over and with enough financial resources gained from his two-year post-war bounty hunter savings, Cotter has two goals. First, to bring up-to-date medicine to Texas, and second, to find and avenge his father's murder at the Battle of Tennessee in 1864 by a renegade Confederate guerrilla. During his quest Cotter finds he cannot lay down his guns during his medical practice both at Yale and in Texas.

Medical School 1868

Jacob Cotter dropped out of Yale Medical School to serve, along side his MD father, in the Union Army during the Ciivlil War. The two-year hiatus from the war's end were spent with Cotter serving as a bounty hunter to get enough money to finish Yale and become a credentialed MD. This first chapter attests to Cotter's expertise as a shootist. He will find use for his guns even as a doctor. The ideal doctor might well be one use both his six guns and his stethoscope. Cotter's wartime PTSD centers around his father getting murdered by Confederate renegade outlaws. He is as driven to avenge his father as he is to finish Yale.

An old west MD needs his guns

Jacob Cotter finishes Yale Medical School after serving the North in the Civil War. Funding for his MD degree now comes from his two years post-war life as a bounty hunter. As in this excerpt, he has one more bounty to collect before he goes back to Connecticut and Yale. Cotter will find he still needs his shootist expertise to survive in the not-so peaceful 1868 New Haven Connecticut.

Sleeping with the enemy

Jacob Cotter is finishing medical school at Yale. He also owns and operates a winery in direct competition to his brother and sister's vineyard. Widow Pamela Skyler is Cotter's siblings' partner. Skyler is using her feminine wiles to undermine Cotter's efforts at success in the wine-making business. However, she knows her only way to do it is with feigning love and affection. For Cotter being loved was an experience he never had either growing up and definitely not during his recent years in the Civil War. Cotter now has to battle his feelings for love of his practice of medicine or his love for this insidious spy.

A Sixgun plus Medicine in 1868

Jacob Cotter dropped out of Yale Medical School to answer President Lincoln's call for Union Soldier medical care to include medical students. His father, Yale's Chief of Medical Staff enlisted with Cotter. Now with the war over and his father murdered by Confederate rebels in 1944, Cotter is ready to finish his MD training. At the end of the war he lacked enough money to return to Yale. Now in 1868 and a little over 2 years living as a bounty hunter, Cotter is financially independent. This excerpt marks the last episode of his life facing down criminals. Or is it? Cotter decides to take his guns to Yale just in case of a need. He's also harboring the seed of revenge to go back to the West after his father's killers.

Don't Bring Your Gun to School

Jacob Cotter left Yale Medical School at the end of his second year. It was the start of the Civil War. Cotter's dad was Chief of Surgery and also answered President Lincoln's call for medical service to include medical students. Cotter's father was assassinated by Confederate guerrillas at the Battle of Tennessee in 1864. At war's end Cotter found that he had been excluded by his family as having any claim to his father's estate. He became a bounty hunter to earn money to go back and finish his MD degree. He'll find Yale prohibits firearms on campus but it won't quell his PTSD and need to avenge his father's murder—and that day will come.

No Guns in School 1868

Jacob Cotter dropped out of Yale Medical School to serve with his father, a Yale Surgeon, at the start of the Civil War. Cotter's father was murdered at the Battle of Tennessee in 1864. After the war Cotter earned money to go back to Yale by becoming a bounty hunter. This episode depicts Cotter's last bounty in 1868. He is now financially independent. Cotter brings his guns to Connecticut but not to the Yale classroom. Guns are not allowed within Yale campus buildings. But that doesn't mean Cotter cannot practice and maintain his gunfighter expertise. He plans to seek out his father's killer after he finishes his MD degree.

The Stethoscope and the 1873 Colt Revolver

It's after the US Civil War and former Yale Medical student Jacob Cotter is going back to complete his MD degree. It's taken over 2 years after his service in the Northern Army as an assistant to his Surgeon father. The interim years found Cotter as a bounty hunter using his Colt six-guns to amass enough money for Yale and a self-sufficient existence. Cotter's life ahead in Connecticut and Texas will require all of his medical skills and those with his two Colt .45s. This excerpt is the opening chapter for COTTER, a fact-based old west thriller and award winner championing the same family and life's ethical values of today.

Pencils, books, and guns 1868

Jacob Cotter dropped out of Yale Medical School and served with his father, a Yale Surgeon, during the Civil War. Lacking funds after the war, and his father killed, Cotter becomes financially stable during 2-years as a bounty hunter. He's now ready to pursue the goals he promised to his father and to himself. First, Cotter must complete Yale. Second, he promised his father he would bring updated medicine to underserved Texas. And to himself, he will someday find the guerrilla Southern Rebels who murdered his father. The excerpt depicts Cotter's last bounty face-off but not his last need for his Colt pistols.

Guns and Medicine in 1868

Jacob Cotter left Yale Medical School at the start of the Civil War. The war is now over and Cotter becomes a bounty hunter to finance his completion at Yale. This excerpt defines Cotter's resolve to put aside his pistols and take up scalpel and stethoscope again. However, Cotter is also driven by his PTSD from the War when, working side-by-side with his surgeon father, his father is murdered by Southern Rebels. The road to resolving his recurrent nightmares of the event revives his need for his new Colt .45s as he heads back to Texas now a credentialed MD.

Christmas and Guns

Christmas 1868 has just passed and Yale Medical Student Jacob Cotter is more concerned than ever about his scheming brother and sister who want to take over his winery by force. Preparedness is his answer to an inevitable confrontation which he expects by Spring. However, as in this excerpt, it appears that after his groups usual Wednesday pistol practice an unknown gang has appeared at his home and vineyard unexpectedly. Cotter acts quickly. His winery workers are fine-tuned after target practice. A challenge goes out to the invaders.

Thanksgiving Danger 1868

It's three years after the end of the Civil War. Jacob Cotter is finishing Yale Medical School and plans to practice medicine with his physician friends in Endura, Texas. Cotter has problems in New Haven, Connecticut with threats and aggression against his winery. He feels he might be going from the frying pan to the fire when he partners with his Texas colleagues. The excerpt gives the feel of old west Thanksgiving occurring with domestic stress. In 1868 Dr. Wills and Garrison are under threat by a land grabber baron, Victor Vlack. For one Thanksgiving Day they try to put aside their anxiety and enjoy some domestic serenity. Today, we have political, social, and economic unrest but hopefully Thanksgiving Day will pass with friends and family for a congenial 24 hours.

Back to School with Books and Guns 1868

Jacob Cotter dropped out of Yale Medical School to serve the medical needs of the Union Army. At War's end and lacking money to finish his MD degree at Yale, Cotter becomes a bounty hunter. For 3 years he saved more than enough to finish his degree. He promised his father, Yale's former Chief of Medical Staff, that he would bring needed updated medical care to the Southern state of Texas. Cotter served as an assistant to his father in the Civil War until his father was murdered by rebel guerrillas at the Battle of Tennessee in 1864. Thus, Jacob Cotter has two goals: establish the first hospital in Texas and find his father's killer.

Guns, grapes, and medicine

Jacob Cotter is a 3rd year medical student at Yale. He runs a vineyard and winery to augment his income, and maintains his pistol expertise from his bounty hunter days after the Civil War. This excerpt cites a Wednesday when Yale classes are relaxed and Cotter practices and trains his winery staff on a firearms range on his property. A rival vineyard owned by his brother and sister have forced all competitors in New Haven to sell their assets to them. Only their disowned brother Jacob holds out. Cotter knows a violent confrontation will occur. After this Wednesday practice he finds strangers on his property. Is this the start of gunsmoke and bullets?

Trouble Along the Way Back

Jacob Cotter is on the last leg of his return to Yale Medical School. It's 1868, and Cotter survived as an assistant to his his Surgeon father in the Civil War. In order to get back into Yale and finish his MD degree he had to be financially solvent. For two years Cotter made more than enough money to move forward in his medical career. He has amassed a large amount of savings for rewards collected as a bounty hunter. On is way back to Yale, he finds that his path still requires the use of his guns as this excerpt shows. Is this an omen of things to come when he practices medicine?

Victor Vlack Villain, 1872

It's 1872 and Dr. Jacob Cotter must use his alter ego, called the Vigilante, to counter the killer land baron Victor Vlack. No one knows the true identity of the Vigilante. Cotter wears a buckskin outfit and bandana mask when he wields his two guns against Vlack and his killer hirelings. In this episode Vlack is about to hire a new gunslinger, Parkland Rhodes. Rhodes is a seasoned killer and unbeknownst to either Cotter or Rhodes, himself, the two have met before. They met at the Battle of Tennessee in 1864 where Cotter's father was murdered by rebel raiders.

Get The Bullet Out

It's 1868 in New Haven Connecticut, and with new anesthesia techniques based on Civil War experience, medical student fJacob Cotter sets up his major hired hand for removal of a war wound bullet. Just like in today's trauma surgery, a retained bullet with all the bacteria coating the fired round, infection is a major foe. Unfortunately for Cotter he has two other major foes—his brother and sister who run a rival winery. They want all competition eliminated which mean's Cotter and his winery must be destroyed. Cotter readies his staff for an eventual confrontation, but first they have to be in good health. He has to "Get the bullet out" of his foreman's leg.

The Winery from Hell

–Van Haven Vineyard in New Haven Connecticut in 1868 is owned by Jacob Cotter's brother and sister. Cotter survived the Civil War and opened a winery in direct competition with his estranged siblings who want him dead—dead like other competitors. This episode is a prelude to a warlike confrontation Van Haven is planning against Cotter who divides his time between Medical School and his Serenity winery. Cotter also keeps up his expertise with firearms. Cotter mentors the town Barber, Mortimer Pignast, to become an anesthetist at Yale Medical School. At the Green Moss Saloon and Bordello, Pignast gets the word that Van Haven's assault against Cotter's vineyard is imminent.

Thanksgiving and guns

Jacob Cotter is back in Yale Medical School in 1868. He's also starting a winery in direct competition with his vicious brother and sister. Cotter's siblings have marked him for death and hired a Prussian military man to oppress and often murder any and all vineyard competitors. Cotter, as a former bounty hunter, is teaching his winery staff to handle firearms. He knows a confrontation will one day occur and hopes it will be after he graduates medical school. Right now he knows enough to be wary of the man wielding an axe.

Bounty Hunter and Medical Student

Jacob Cotter dropped out of Yale Medical School to serve as assistant to his surgeon father in the Union Army. From 1861 to 1865 Cotter experienced war wounds both physical and emotional. He becomes a bounty hunter to get financially solvent to go back to Yale and get his MD degree. In 1868, as this excerpt shows, Jacob Cotter ends his career of seeking out wanted criminals. He cannot foresee the hurdles of injustice that lay ahead of him. Cotter will still need his two guns as well as his stethoscope as life dictates justice and healing are inseparable.

Letter from a Texas hospital, 1868

Jacob Cotter is completing his last 2 years at Yale Medical School. His plan is to help two MD colleagues in Endura, Texas set up its first Post-Civil War hospital. Cotter receives regular letters from a former Yale MD graduate and a Texas MD colleague, Drs. Charles Garrison and Dr. Stan Wills respectively. Garrison paints a picture of hostility with an evil cattle land baron, Victor Vlack. Cotter can only project that his future will be one of going from one frying pan to another—from Connecticut to Texas. He must continue to wield both his stethoscope and his guns. Old West medicine means healing the sick as well as supporting justice.

1868 Bullets and Bacteria

Post-Civil War times benefitted from wartime development of germ discovery and the antiseptic successes of Pasteur and Lister. Jacob Cotter has survived the Civil War and is back to Yale Medical School after becoming financially solvent from his two years as a western bounty hunter. Part of his medical education update is the reality that criminals have advanced in weaponry and business takeovers. Cotter's vineyard is becoming a major player in the Connecticut wine industry. Pasteur's techniques can stop the souring of wine. Cotter will have to defend life and limb to protect his Pasteurization devices from the vicious monopolizing wineries in New Haven.

Nellie's Leggs Saloon

Pole-dancing was introduced in Endura Texas via Nellie's Leggs Saloon. Of the three saloons Nellie's Leggs was owned and operated by an arch villain cattle and land owner, Victor Vlack. Dr. Jacob Cotter and his medical colleagues receive more patients as victims of violence from Nellie's Leggs than any other location or circumstance in town. This excerpt finds Cotter's colleague, Dr. Wills, on duty anticipating casualties from Vlack's lates enterprise to cut down the number of farmers and settlers in his efforts to establish cattlemen dominance. Vlack has hired a professional boxer, Knuckles Newly, to challenge any man to survive one round fighting him for a sizable sum. Knuckles maims many and kills a few. Cotter must call upon his skill as a former gunfighter to confront this threat to society.

Medical School and Target Practice

Jacob Cotter is managing his New Haven winery while finishing medical school. His vineyard has become a target for destruction by the competition—his brother and sister. Every Wednesday Cotter takes his staff to his firearms range for practice. He has been able to train his people to be as good a gunfighter as he is from his Post-Civil War days as a bounty hunter. This excerpt details an unexpected encounter when Cotter and his men return from the range to find unknown intruders at his vineyard.

The Gun and the Stethoscope

Jacob Cotter survived the Civil War. His Doctor father was killed by Southern rebel guerrillas in 1863. To complete his last two years at Yale Medical School, Cotter amassed his needed funds as a bounty hunter. With enough money, he heads back to Yale in the summer of 1868. In this excerpt, he finds he still needs his gun. Cotter is caught-up with the harsh realities of life. As a doctor, saving life is paramount. On the other hand, he understands the need to be able to stand up to the forces of war and evil. Cotter is concerned that he may have to lead a double life as doctor, and rightly so.

A Two Gun Visit

Dr. Jacob Cotter used to be a bounty hunter. His decision to practice medicine in Texas is motivated from a promise to his father murdered during the Civil War. Cotter has recurring nightmares about that night. He was there. He also knows that his chances of finding the killer might be realized in the location of his new Endura Texas home. Endura is ruled by a cattle baron who views the doctors as threats to his power. Before Cotter even meets Vlack, he strikes a note of fear into him by visiting Vlack as his alter ego, the Vigilante—a two gun Zorro wielding justice while fronting a persona as an idealistic doctor.

The Green Moss Saloon and Bordello

Conservative New Haven, Connecticut in 1869 has its bars and girls-for-hire. Mortimer Pignast, Cotter's anesthetist -in -training, keeps tabs on Cotter's brother and sister who want to destroy Cotter and his succeeding competitive winery. Pignast's lover is a Green Moss Saloon and Bordello regular and has heard from her fellow female entertainers that danger is imminent. It appears that medical student Jacob Cotter and his vineyard are in for an unexpected raid by hired gunmen. Pignast, however, is letting his romance affect his judgement by delaying timely forewarning Jake Cotter and his Serenity Vineyard.

David and Goliath 1872

Dr. Jacob Cotter settles in Endura Texas after completing Yale Medical School. As in Connecticut, Cotter finds evil elements plaguing innocent civilians. This time it's cattlemen against the farmers. The cattle and land baron Victor Vlack, has hired a professional bare knuckle boxer to cripple, maim, or kill settlers by dangling a $500 cash prize to best Knuckles Newly. Cotter activates his alter ego, the Vigilante, to stop Vlack's Goliath from further action. In this excerpt, Cotter finds Newly a tough adversary. It is more than a confrontation of "might verses right". If Vlack's champion wins, Cotter and the Doctor's clinic and the first hospital in Texas will cease to exist.

A Gun Doesn't Have to Fire a Shot

Jacob Cotter trained his vineyard employees to be up to his standard with the new 1873 Colt .45s. Andrew Mashpit, made deaf from Civil War battles, becomes a fluent lip-reader. Samantha, the love of his life, is constantly harassed by her Emporium employer, Mr. Fester. This excerpt demonstrates the self-confidence Cotter instills in his staff. Mashpit uses words and the threat of using his six-gun unless Mr. Fester mellows out in his treatment of his fiancee. However, Mashpit will have to pull the trigger on those who want Cotter and his people dead.

Two Guns To One

Jacob Cotter's completion of medical training was cut short by the Civil War. At wars end Cotter needed money to complete Yale Medical School. He became a bounty hunter and returns to the classroom in 1868. COTTER begins with one last gunfighter confrontation. Cotter heads back to Connecticut with resolve to become an MD like his father was. His second goal is to set up medical practice in the West and search for his father's murderer. Cotter's dad was killed along with other doctors by a leader of a Confederate rogue group at the Battle of Tennessee.

Old West Axe Murderer

Jacob Cotter's siblings are monopolizing the New Haven, Connecticut wine industry in post-Civil War 1868. All competitors who will not yield to a buy-out, including Jacob Cotter, are to suffer dire consequences. Danzer is a former Prussian soldier and chief thug of Cotter's sister and brother. A local vineyard refuses to sell his wine operation to the Cotters. Danzer eliminates an owner with his favorite silent weapon—an axe. Jacob Cotter has trained his vineyard employees in self defense in preparation for an inevitable deadly confrontation with his family. Cotter lives on his own vineyard while attending Yale Medical School. He hopes he'll be ready for Danzer's attack.

Six-gun Confrontation

Yale Medical Student Jacob Cotter hired a former deaf Union Civil War veteran for help on his vineyard while he attended classes. With full realization that Cotter's brother and sister would try to forcibly close his winery operation, Cotter trained his male help to be as adept a gunfighter as he is. The Deaf Andrew Mashpit faced off with one of his brother's thugs and disarmed him, throwing the man's six-gun into a street pile of horse dung. Danzer, the thug-leader, shows frustration with the ineptitude of having Cotter's handicapped vineyard worker overpower his hired killer. But not all of Danzer's murderers are like this. Danzer is a gunfighter who wields guns, knives, and his favorite weapon, a razor sharp axe.

Enemies Among us

Jacob Cotter is returning to Yale Medical School after serving the North in the Civil War. His father was murdered by Southern rebels at the Battle of Tennessee. While finishing out the war, his two siblings in Connecticut arranged his disinheritance. Cotter had to create funds to go back to Yale and finish Medical School by becoming a bounty hunter for 2 years. Back in medical school in 1868, he sets up a winery business in direct competition with his brother and sister. They have become vicious monopolizers of the New Haven vineyards. Murder, intimidation, and violence are their tools for managing competition. Now Cotter is back and deliberately sets himself for confrontation with his murderous family. But his family seems to have added professional gunman to heir ranks.

Back to School 1868

The Civil War has been over for almost three years. Jacob Cotter is heading back to finish Yale Medical School after intervening years as a bounty hunter out west. It's 1868 and Cotter's mode of travel is by train. His sense of peace and security at re-entering Yale changes as horse thieves try to snatch Cotter's palomino at his last train change for Connecticut. Fortunately, Cotter still can revert to his alter ego as a gun-fighter. Is this excerpt a portent of forever needing to fall back from stethoscope to six-gun?

Confrontation in Connecticut and Texas

Jacob Cotter's graduation from Yale Medical School will be soon upon him. His plan is to move to Endura Texas to help set up the first hospital in Texas with his two MD colleagues there. But first a confrontation is imminent in New Haven, Connecticut. His brother and sister's monopoly of the 1870 Connecticut wine industry has made Cotter's winery and its workers targets for a war-like battle. A letter from his Texas friends indicates that survival of the New Haven crisis will only be replaced by another life-and-death face off in Texas—if he survives.

First Impressions are Lasting

Jacob Cotter has just graduated from Yale Medical School. He arrives from Connecticut for a first confrontation with Victor Vlack. Vlack, a cattle and land baron in Endura Texas knows nothing of Cotter. Cotter, appearing as his gunfighter alter ego, gives Vlack a first warning to stop threats against the Doctor's Clinic and new Hospital in Endura Texas. Up to now Vlack functioned as a dictator and threat to non-cattle-raising settlers and the two town doctors. Vlack only sees the masked gunman dressed in buckskins and experiences fear for the first time in his life. Cotter has come to town to join his two doctor friends. No one knows of Cotter the Vigilante.

The Civil War, Hearing loss, and Romance

Andrew Mashpit is deaf from his days in the Union Army Artillery. Samantha Wigglesworth is the love of his life who knows association with Andy will put her in harms way. Jacob Cotter and anyone associated with him and his winery are marked for death by the competition—Cotter's brother and sister. Cotter has trained his male employees to be adept at defense and gunfighter techniques. Mashpit must use his enhanced senses for survival to overcome his hearing loss. This excerpt demonstrates that he has done this well.

Liveryman or Somehthing Else

Jacob Cotter is finishing Yale Medical School. His brother and sister have cheated him of his inheritance and turned the family fortune into a wine-producing monopoly. It's a monopoly by force and intimidation using hired gunmen. One of his family's employees is a liveryman who greets Cotter as Cotter reunites with his siblings for the first time since the Civil War ended. The liveryman may be more than his facade presents. Cotter warns the man not to touch his saddle bag continuing his gun. The liveryman also senses Cotter is more than just a medical student. His experienced past and present detects Cotter as someone to be wary of. Cotter senses the same about the liveryman.

Turkey, Beef, and Guns

Thanksgiving in the old west provides a respite from the tribulations of everyday life. In 1868 Texas "turkey day" was different from Cotter's feast in Connecticut. In this excerpt, Drs. Garrison and Wills cite that turkey is okay for New England, but Texans are thankful for beef, family, and friends. Like Cotter, the Texas group has their local demon. A killer cattle-baron, Victor Vlack, is targeting the doctors and farmers for hard times. In Connecticut, Cotter's siblings are using death and destruction to eliminate their wine business competitors, which includes their brother—medical student Jacob Cotter

Connecticut Christmas 1869

Cotter is in his last year at Yale medical school. His education was interrupted by the Civil War and after accumulating sufficient funds from being a bounty hunter, he was able to finish Yale. This excerpt is at Christmas in Cotter's home and vineyard in New Haven Connecticut,1869. His family and friends have temporarily put aside their life stressors for the cloak of Christmas and goodwill. As further discussion dictates, however, Cotter and his colleagues are forever vigilant of those who wish them harm and even death.

The Colt .45 Legacy

It's 1868. Elizabeth Colt survived her husband's death by pneumonia and is now managing Colt Firearms in Connecticut. She's also an investor in Cotter's winery, which is threatened by the competition with destruction if he doesn't sell his vineyard. Colt firearms is about to introduce their new Single Action Army revolver, scheduled for trials by the Army, and production by 1873. This excerpt stresses the importance of the second amendment, which guarantees the rights of citizens to defend themselves with arms. It also shows the importance of progress with the introduction of metal-cased bulleted cartridges. Cotter must now continue on in Yale Medical School, and protect his modernized vineyard.

Story Behind The Story

I wrote COTTER to dispel the Hollywood image of old west doctors as drunks. Who doesn't remember the drunken MD in John Wayne's classic Stagecoach. The reruns of Gunsmoke on TV still has the doctor using the Long Branch saloon as his office. As an addictionologist I was once asked by a patient who was watching Stagecoach on TV if the old west was where drunk doctors went to practice. "Not at all." I responded. "The facts are that most doctors went out west because small towns pooled their money and advertised for them. Still others established western practices at great self sacrifice." "Well, why doesn't someone write about that?"she asked. So I did.

PTSD: Then and Now

Post Traumatic Shock Disorder or PTSD is not new. The name is new. Battle fatigue, shell shock are older military titles. This excerpt from COTTER is typical of a PTSD experience from a combination of violence, murder, and loss of a loved one. It doesn't have to occur in a war as Cotter experienced it. Today it could still be a war but an automobile accident and a survivor with guilt about causality of the situation happens only too frequently. In Cotter's case the stimulus for the recurrent dream of the murder of his father at the Battle of Tennessee was meeting his family and old friend for the first time after the Civil War's end. In 1868 Cotter had no professional to turn to. However, externalizing his situation to the right person, family or friend, is often the first step to PTSD resolution. The reader of this book is taken in gradual steps with Dr. Cotter to experience this process.

A Gun and an Axe

Jacob Cotter is finishing Yale Medical School. Concurrently he is opening a winery in direct competition to is hateful siblings. His sister Nancy Locke has hired an ex-Prussian soldier, Kelvin Danzer, as a salaried killer for the Lockes and Cotter's brother. Danzer's favored weapon is an axe, but he is also an accomplished shootist. In this excerpt, Danzer targets LaRoque, Cotter's foreman, using his axe to send a message for Cotter to abandon his competitive winery. Danzer would rather use his axe on human flesh. Because this attempt failed, his axe will be coated with blood in the near future.

God and Firearms

Dr. Jacob Cotter and his close companions bring him closer to rediscovering spirituality he lost during the Civil War. The first step is going back to church. Sam Colt of Colt Firearms was once a patient of Cotter's father. Mrs. Colt has brought her main armorer, Carlton Strom, to introduce Colt's new Single Action Army revolver and brass case ammunition to Cotter's circle. Mrs. Colt has invested in Cotter's winery which has become a target for violent takeover. Her word's, "It sometimes takes God and bullets to survive," sets the stage for future hostile confrontations in a background of 1868 Yale medical practice..

Back to School 1868

Cotter dropped out of Yale Medical School at the start of the Civil War. After the war he becomes a bounty hunter to establish financial solvency and goes back to finish his MD degree at Yale. Like all college returnees he needs a place to live. This episode details more of Cotter's backstory. It also shows what it was like in 1868 for dormitory alternatives. However, COTTER has more than academic agendas. Getting his MD degree is but a next step to the road leading to discovery of his father's killer during the Civil War.

David and Goliath

Knuckles Newly is a professional fist fighter who offers huge sums of money to any farmer who can last in the ring with him. None last more than one round. Several die. Chief Cattle Baron, Victor Vlack, has imported Knuckles to the town to thin out the non-cattlemen landowners. In this episode, which follows a sermon at church describing David and Goliath, Dr. Cotter's alter-ego now known as the "Vigilante",becomes David against Knuckles visage as Goliath. Dr. Cotter will not have people in his town beset upon by evil. Part of his medical practice is to police any physical threat to solid citizens. With this confrontation, however, Cotter is injured. Can he continue to be the town's savior?

A Gunsmoke Introduction

Dr. Jacob Cotter goes from New Haven, CT to Endura, Texas. He must confront new evils in the form of cattle baron Victor Vlack. Vlack has sent out three killers to prevent Cotter from joining the Endura doctor's group. Cotter's alter ego as a masked gunfighter is unknown to Vlack. This excerpt is Cotter's first confrontation with Vlack after Cotter's arrival in Texas. As in New Haven, Dr. Cotter must use his guns as well as his medical expertise to survive in the day's post-Civil War existence. The attempt on killing Cotter on his way from Connecticut has failed. This is Cotter's way of delivering that message.

Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition

The 1870's brought upgrades in ammunition and the Colt single action Army revolver. The Serenity vineyards owned jointly by Cotter and Mrs. Samuel Colt is just starting up. The competition vineyards are owned by Cotter's violent siblings who want to crush his efforts. Cotter and his staff exhibit their noble cause of justice and humanity with the addition of spirituality. They will forge forward as Cotter complete's Yale Medical School and be ready for any attack on their winery with a gun and a bible. Righteousness and strength are solidifying Cotter's ethical standards.

Yale, Books, and Guns

Cotter begins his third year of medical school at Yale. He finds his siblings, who illegally disinherited him when his father was killed in the Civil War, may plot violence toward his competitive winery venture. His brother and sister have monopolized the wine business in the New Haven Connecticut Valley snuffing small vineyards who wouldn't sell their assets to them. As a former bounty hunter, Cotter feels he must prepare his wine-making staff, beginning with his first employee, to be as proficient as he his with firearms.

Back to School after War

The Civil War is over. Former Yale Medical Student Jacob Cotter is going back to complete his MD degree financed by his two year career as a bounty hunter. The transition noted in this excerpt is one of reality. His gun is still needed, Cotter hopes, until he gets back into Yale. However, he has just been given a window of what is to come. As a medical student and a new MD, Cotter will need his stethoscope and his guns, both in Connecticut and Texas.

A Stethoscope and a Gun

Dr. Jacob Cotter was a bounty hunter to make money for returning to Yale Medical School after his Civil War service. This excerpt shows Cotter as a senior medical student interacting with entrepreneur Mrs. Samuel Colt. She has gone into a winery partnership with Cotter and has continued the Colt Firearms legacy of her late husband. Cotter has maintained his shooter proficiency along with his winery staff. He anticipates a violent takeover attempt of his wine business. The 1872 development of modern day six-guns is noted here. Cotter and his winery staff get to try out the soon to be marketed 1873 Colt Single Action Army revolver. By Yale graduation day he will be grateful for both the stethoscope of his trade and the power to exact justice.

Pole Dancing 1873

Social life was a luxury for both the cattlemen and the farming settlers in 1873 Texas. Church was an attractant to most farm hands if they were married, otherwise they frequented saloons. Saloons had alcohol, ladies, and music. One saloon in Endura, Texas introduced Pole Dancing wherein ladies would gyrate around a pole to music discarding items of clothing. The shiny brass pole was derived from the foot rail of the walk-up bar. Pole dancing was only available at Nellie's Leggs Saloon. Violence was a byproduct and Dr. Cotter alternated covering their new hospital's emergency care with his two other colleagues. In this excerpt, a farm owner ponders the lure of Nellie's Leggs Saloon.

PTSD

PTSD is not new. It occurred in all wars including Dr. Jacob Cotter's war experience during the Civil War. In this excerpt, Cotter's nightly dream spilled over into his post-war activities even in 1868-three years after the war ended. He became a bounty hunter, outwardly to get enough money to finish Yale Medical School. However, his post-traumatic stress at witnessing his father's murder at the Battle of Tennessee unconsciously reset his domestic and society values. Until Cotter identified and resolved his need for revenge, he hung on to the positive side of living via spirituality, having people who cared for him, constantly present and part of his domestic life.

Sam Colt's Legacy

There's not only medical progress happening in late 1868, one of Jacob Cotter's medical school patients is Sam Colt's widow, Elizabeth. While finishing Yale Medical School Cotter is opening a winery in direct competition with his evil siblings enterprise. Cotter receives the new experimental soon to be released 1873 Colt Army revolver. Rather then paper cartridges it uses metal cases with primers. The gift from Colt Firearms is a blessing since Cotter and his friends are targeted for death by his brother and sister.

Texas Arrival

Jacob Cotter graduated from Yale Medical School and headed to Endura, Texas to set up a hospital and medical practice with two other Endura doctors. Endura was a town ruled by a cattle baron who had targeted the three doctors, including COTTER, for death. The Doctors Clinic was pro-settler and anti-barbed wire. In this episode, Cotter got off his train one stop before Endura and intercepted the killers hired to murder him on the stagecoach.. Dr. Jacob Cotter knew he would have to wield his guns along with his scalpel and stethoscope against the evil Victor Vlack and his hired thugs. He hoped his interruption and thwarting of the stagecoach killers would send a message to Vlack before he even sets foot in Endura. His friend and colleague Dr. Garrison awaits Cotter with eager anticipation and trepidation.

Pole Dancing In 1873

Saloons were the entertainment centers of the old west. Nellie's Leggs Saloon was the first such alcohol slinging joint in Endura, Texas to feature Pole dancing. Ladies would swing around shiny brass poles which were formerly bar foot rails. Removal of the dancer's clothing down to undergarments was a thrill for farmers and ranchers alike. In this excerpt, a hired gunslinger is out to maim and kill farm workers getting sloppy with booze and high spirited from the pole-dancing ladies performance. Such nightly violence meant Dr. Cotter or one of his colleagues had to stay in the hospital for the expectant casualties. As the killings and injuries mounted, Cotter vowed to intervene.

Guns and Medicine

It's 1868. Jacob Cotter is finishing Yale Medical School after serving in the Union Army and then becoming a bounty hunter to pay for his schooling. This excerpt depicts Cotter's wariness about his siblings intention to use physical means to force him from being competitive in the wine business. Cotter begins by training his former blacksmith in his shooting technique. This is just a beginning. He will need to train all his employees in order to survive his sister's takeover of the New Haven wine industry. Each of his employees must be as good as he was when he was a bounty hunter. Between being a Yale Medical Student and a vineyard entrepreneur Cotter cannot address his wartime PTSD until he finds spirituality.

The Green Moss Saloon

1868 New Haven Connecticut, like most major cities, harbored a bordello. It catered to all economic spheres and in this excerpt Dr. Mortimer Pignast was a prominent entity. Pignast was a Dr. of Phrenology. He could feel the bumps on one's head and relate to one's deportment, demeanor, and future aspirations. Pignast, like most Phrenologists of the time was also a barber. The barbershop was where he got most of his clients. Many of his clients were from Yale and Pignast and Cotter had many verbal diatribes over the pseudoscience of Phrenology. Pignast gave Phrenology readings to the clients of the Green Moss Saloon and Bordello thereby guarantying only he had sole access to the love of his life working there-Ms. Fern Ferndock.

Help for a PTSD vereran.

The Post-Civil War era saw war returnees with disabilities take menial and belittling jobs just to survive. In COTTER, Andrew Mashpit was once in artillery and map making. He became deaf from the cannon shell reports. He had to take any job that didn't require much people interaction. Road maintenance in 1868 consisted of scooping up horse dung and filling in urine-containing ruts with sand and gravel. This had become Mashpit's vocation. The excerpt defines Cotter's empathy in defining disability and humanity to those who risked life and limb for their country. It did indeed spill over into Cotter's bedside manner although he did not hesitate to right some wrongs with a six-gun.

Not so domestic domestic relations.

Jacob Cotter arrives in New Haven, Connecticut two years after the Civil War is over. He resumes Yale Medical School and connects with his brother and sister who disinherited him after his father's death at the Battle of Tennessee. His siblings are an evil lot and this first encounter by Cotter will set the stage for his plans to undermine their dark monopoly and intimidation of the local wine industry.

Old West doctors were not the drunks of Hollywood

As an Addictionologist I was asked by a patient, "Why do the movies and television show old west doctors as drunks? The film 'Stagecoach' and TV series 'Gunsmoke' brand this image." "It was just the opposite, " I replied. "Doctors trained in the east went out to the west at great self-sacrifice." "Well Dr. Glassman, why doesn't someone write about that?" And so I did. Peter Glassman MD, PhD

THE DUTY CREW

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

THE DUTY CREW chronicles December 25, 1972, the last Christmas of the Vietnam War at Queens Naval Hospital, Long Island. The North Vietnam president’s goal is to accelerate peace talks by bringing violence to all military hospitals in the United States. Ho Chi Minh has an agenda of terrorism and murder for the Duty Crew at Queens Naval Hospital to incite U.S. public reactions against the war, while President Nixon wants to end the war by political arbitration. Three women become aware of the internal and external assault on Queens Naval Hospital. Movie Star Iona Dell spends Christmas in Hanoi as her fans promote an activist presence at the U.S. military hospitals. She realizes too late that Hanoi has American sympathizers directing terrorism outside and within their walls. Newswoman Thule Thornbush wants only anti-war slanting of the adverse events on this Christmas Day in the hope she will obtain a position on the staff of the New York Times. LT Minerva Zettler as the Duty Crew Nurse-of-the-Day identifies the deaths as murders and raises the issue of intrigue inside the hospital. Her fiancé, LT Paul Norman as Junior Medical Officer-of-the-Day realizes that Zettler’s life is in danger by the murderer inhalation therapy technician. It takes the small Navy and Marine Security Duty Crew and mobilization of the Hospital’s Vietnam returnee patients to stem Ho Chi Minh’s plans for death and destruction on American soil. The events on this Christmas Day forever alter the lives of the three women.

Book Bubbles from THE DUTY CREW

A Christmas Day to Remember

The world will always remember Christmas Day as the birth of Jesus. Some, like Navy Nurse Lieutenant Jg Minnie Zettler, will remember Christmas Day of 1972 for additional reasons. It was the day that US infiltrators, disguised as anti-Vietnam war activists, launched attacks on military hospitals inside the US itself. The Duty Crew, discloses what happened at Queens Naval Hospital in Long Island New York. It's a story based on facts by the author who experienced that day. It's also a story of three women: A New York City new reporter; a Navy Nurse; and a movie star. Their lives would be intertwined on Christmas Day and each would play a role in patriotism, valor, and anti-American behavior..

Everyday Is Christmas Day

December 25, 1972 was the last Christmas Day of US involvement in the Vietnam War. It would take 2 years to withdraw men and equipment when the War ended in 1973. But this was the last Christmas Day as I lived it. There's not a day that goes by without a thought flashed back to Queens Naval Hospital in Queens Long Island. President Nixon left all stateside military hospitals with w skeleton crew on Christmas Day. At the same time he increased the daily air-evacuation of "stable" casualties for transport from Vietnam, the Phillipines, and Japan. LT Paul Norman was the Junior Officer of the Day who had to receive, triage, and admit two air evac loads of wounded warriors. He was totally aware that the enemy would arrive also along with its death and destruction.

Christmas Day Anti-war Protestors

Christmas Day 1972 with American Vietnam War protestors picketing Queens Naval Hospital in Long Island brings a collection of movie star fans against the War. While US wounded soldiers continue to arrive at Queens Naval and other military hospitals across the country, a famous activist Hollywood star is entertaining the enemy troops in Hanoi. Iona Dell feels that by publicly favoring the enemy in words and action, public opinion against the war will influence peace talks to end it. Another faction in the picket line will act out in violence. They will attack the hospital and its soldier patients with the same goal. Both groups are using anti-American tactics to exert a pro-American view to celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace.

Cardiac Arrest

It's afternoon on Christmas Day 1972 at Queens Naval Hospital. The Vietnam War has spread its tentacles from Hanoi to the Long Island facility. Peace talks are in effect and the enemy wants every advantage at the peace talks. One of its agents, Hospital Corpsman Huxley, has administered a lethal overdose of heroin to a recovering wounded warrior on the minimum care unit. Navy nurse Lieutenant (jg) Minnie Zettler suspects Huxley is already responsible for one death so far today. The only allowed press presence, Reporter Thornbush, seeks negative stories to fortify her paper's anti-war stand. And now she has two. Will there be more on this otherwise holy day celebrating the Prince of Peace?

The Phantom

Every war seems to bring about advancements in medical care carried over to civilian and hopefully peaceful coexistence. WW II utilized antibiotics on a mass scale and sodium pentothal was a giant leap forward in anesthesiology. The Korean War saw anesthesia and surgery advancements but perhaps the greatest one still in use today is the existence of the plastic IV fluid bags. This excerpt, taken from Peter Gassman's Christmas thriller of the Vietnam War , The Duty Crew, illustrates the history of "plastic bag". In The Duty Crew it also is the beginning of the Phantom Shitter.

Christmas Lunch at Queens Naval Hospital

It's December 25, 1972, the last Christmas during the US involvement of the Vietnam War. North Vietnam has infiltrated Queens Naval Hospital and already one patient has been murdered. Wounded and recovering US war returnees have invited visitors and guests to a gala Christmas Lunch. This excerpt contrasts a family who totally look at war in partial denial that their loved-one soldiers can get injured, crippled, maimed or killed. US Corpsman Huxley is supported by the Viet Cong enemy to show American citizens what war really means. He is one of the enemy leaders hired to kill military patients. Sgt. Vincent Vilth is one of his targets.

Red-Nosed Santa Falls From The Sky

The Duty Crew is a Navy thriller occurring on Christmas Day 1972. Queens Naval Hospital in New York is loaded with wounded warriors from Vietnam. Visitors are partaking of a Christmas Dinner. Two killers are lurking to create more corpses and negative press for the Vietnam War here in the US. Add to this a drunken Santa Claus arriving by Army Huey Helicopter and a Christmas Day will be like no other. This will be the last Christmas Day of US involvement in the Vietnam War. North Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh wants to bring the consequences of war to US shores via creating further blood-letting and death in American military hospitals.

A Christmas Welcome for Wounded Warriors

It's the last Christmas Day of US involvement in the Vietnam War. Air Evacs are scheduled to arrive at Queens Naval Hospital in two waves and by two modalities. Most air-evacs arrived by bus from Fort Dix New Jersey after the long air lift from Southeast Asia. They were the walking wounded. Those casualties requiring special attention such as with total body casts, spinal cord injuries, and continued one-on-one care came by train, also from Fort Dix. Rare patients were actually air-lifted by helicopter. The Duty Crew for the train pick-up were well experienced. This Christmas Day looked to be a routine transfer from train to the ER for triage and admission to the hospital even in the snowy cold. Neither the wounded warriors nor the hospital staff were aware that that they were still targets for destruction.

Christmas Day Security at a Naval Hospital

The date is December 25, 1972. It's the last Christmas Day of US involvement in the Vietnam War. Some war patients at Queens Naval Hospital in New York's Long Island are not all US combatants. Some are from countries who served the US to get combat experience for their home military. Arab countries including Egypt, Syria, Iran and Israel all donned special US uniforms and flew F-4 Phantoms on Vietnam targets. One such wounded Egyptian at Queens Naval was Captain Moustaffa. Head of the hospital's security force was LCDR Curley Norton. A by the book Naval Officer, he hated complications which were negative, such as Moustaffa's death, a possible murder.

Beware Christmas Day in the Navy

Everyone who has served in the US Military knows that each workday begins early in the AM with "The Plan of the Day," as in this excerpt. It's from Peter Glassman's fast moving thriller of the last Christmas of US involvement in the Vietnam War. It takes place only on December 25, 1972. Memorable and exciting, The Duty Crew is based on many actual events the author has experienced. The reader will never forget the Navy Santa Claus nor the 3 women main characters. A Navy nurse, A New York City reporter, and a famous film actress each discover the plot to assault Navy hospitals within the US of the day celebrating the the birth of the "the Prince of Peace."

Arab Pilots Flew Missions for US in Vietnam

Captain Moustaffa is an Egyptian pilot learning real time combat experience flying missions for the US. To be fair, President Nixon also had Israeli pilots flying against the North Vietnamese. Captain Moustaffa, however, is now a quadriplegic patient in a US Naval Hospital awaiting transfer to Egypt. A North Vietnamese paid sympathizer and US Navy hospital corpsman, however, needs to expose the US as a warmongering nation by drawing attention to American use of Arab and Israeli pilots. This would foster anti-war sentiment and get global press coverage. In this excerpt, Security Officer LCDR Norton's job is to keep this from happening.

Christmas Day Explosives

From President Nixon to disgruntled Vietnam War returnees a message is being sent to end the Vietnam hostilities. Nixon wants to end the war at any price. The three former corpsmen in this excerpt are paid by the enemy in North Vietnam to blow up the train station at New York's Queens Naval Hospital. The train depot receives wounded warriors in stable condition but with injuries rendering them non-ambulatory. Soldiers in total-body casts, paraplegics, and early post-operative gunshot and shrapnel victims arrive here. The three corpsman are to plant and detonate incendiary explosives on Christmas Day to send the message to Americans that the war has come to our shores on the day the Prince of Peace was born.

Christmas Day Murder and CPR

Christas Day 1972 at Queens Naval Hospital is fraught with murder and intrigue. Dr. Norman is called to the minimum care unit for a resuscitation effort. Only near-recovered patients are in the 600 capacity facility. This is the first cardiac arrest ever called down there. The team makes a maximum effort to bring back a Vietnam Returnee soldier to life. Respiratory therapist and Hospital Corpsman Huxley attends all cardiac arrests. He's already suspect in the death of one Officer-patient. Huxley finds a stash of Heroin at the dead patient's bedside. Navy Nurse LT. Zettler immediately suspects Huxley is at the root of the incident. But Why? And Why on Christmas Day? And Why kill this soldier?

A Who Done It Christmas

The setting is Queens Naval Hospital in Long Island New York. It's the only Navy hospital in NY running a full Vietnam War daily census of 2100 patients. The enemy in Hanoi has infiltrated the hospital with agents to bring the war to US shores. In NY patients are dying instead of recovering from their war-inflicted wounds or diseases. In this episode, a respiratory therapist, Hospital Corpsman Huxley, attended a cardiac arrest in ICU. The patient died due to faulty inhalation therapy equipment. Only one nurse is suspicious the death was murder. Huxley is also tasked by Ho Chi MInh to influence the press for the US to get out of the war. Reporter Thornbush is his targeted media representative.

A Christmas Day Murder

During the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese recruited ex-US military and active duty US military with former Vietnam service to become war-activists against the US. Many of these joined the North Vietnamese Communist movement. In this excerpt US Navy Hospital Corpsman Huxley has arranged for the killing of an Egyptian-casualty pilot flying in Vietnam for the US. It's early Christmas Day and Egyptian Captain Moustaffa dies from Corpsman Huxley's ventilator manipulation. The Duty Crew nurse is suspicious of Huxley who will use Moustaffa's death for negative War press with the only allowed newspaper coverage person allowed today. He plans something equally lethal for Navy Nurse Lieutenant Zettler.

Christmas Day 1972, The Beginning

It's to be the last Christmas Day of US involvement in the Vietnam War. Double the usual daily influx of transported war casualties called "air-evacs" are expected. At Queens Naval Hospital in Long Island, NY, the military day begins with reading the Plan of the Day before the Duty Crew. Besides the anticipated wounded warrior admissions, the Duty Crew is also responsible for the care of the 2100 inpatients. Security is another matter: Illegal drugs from visitors, anti-war activists at the main gate, emergency room visits, Santa Claus's arrival, gala Christmas lunch, and an accepted lottery called the "Phantom Sighting" will take place. What isn't expected is an assault and murder on Christmas Day, the birthday of the Prince of Peace.

Cardiac Arrest on Christmas Day

Dr. Paul Norman is the Junior Medical Officer of the Day (JMOOD) at Queens Naval Hospital. He and the staff are unaware of a plot to attack the New York Navy hospital from within and by attack from the main gate outside. It begins in ICU when Hanoi-paid Hospital Corpsman Huxley starts the murders by sabotaging Captain Moustaffa's ventilator. Moustaffa is a fighter pilot from the Egyptian Air Force recruited by the US to fight in Vietnam. Huxley's goal is to create a national anti-US-Vietnam War incident to show the world that America is training other countries for combat in Vietnam. Egypt will use Moustaffa-type combatants in the Middle East to train Egyptian pilots for attacking Israel.

Most Hated Woman of the Vietnam War Era

As a Navy Medical Officer I took care of the wounded warriors returning to our 2100-bed Navy hospital in Queens Long Island. Anti-war activism was rampant and a military uniformed man or woman would actually be spat upon, verbally abused, and sometimes physically assaulted. One self-proclaimed activist was a famous movie star who aided and abetted the enemy. While I had the Duty on this Christmas Day, she was entertaining the enemy troops in Hanoi, Vietnam. Our dedicated soldiers despised this woman, who in The Duty Crew is called Iona Dell. This excerpt shows her having second thoughts about her actions with the enemy. Today, still alive, she apologizes for her actions. However, for those who served, she will always be remembered as one of the enemy, and the most hated woman of the Vietnam War years.

Attack by Anti-war Activists

The hypocrisy of some anti-war activists emerges when they too become like the aggressors they protest against. The Duty Crew takes place on the last Christmas Day of US involvement in the Vietnam War. The setting is a wartime Navy hospital in Queens Long Island. Unlike our military and our wounded warriors of today, this era was marked by anger, resentment, and protest i toward all who supported our country's efforts to keep war violence from our borders. In this excerpt, the activists attack buses full of war casualties coming to Queens Naval Hospital. Their weapons are balloons filled with feces and wall paper paste. What happens is not what the activists had bargained for.

Here Comes Santa, Maybe

Santa Claus is due to arrive at Queens Naval Hospital on Christmas Day as he does every Christmas. Today, however, Santa arrives by helicopter onto a heavily snowbound Landing Zone (LZ). Santa has also had two much alcohol-containing Christmas cheer. The Huey helicopter hovers producing a snowstorm from its prop wash. The Navy pilot and crew have to support Santa lest his inebriated behavior lead to his falling out of the chopper. The pilot looks at the LZ and is grateful for the routine presence of the emergency vehicles attending every helicopter arrival. But will they be needed?

A Wounded Warrior Christmas

December 25, 1972 was the last Christmas day of US involvement in the Vietnam War. Air-evacs arrived at Queens Naval Hospital everyday, but are scheduled to arrive twice on this Christmas. It was not uncommon for stateside military hospital personnel to be former Vietnam returnees who became reunited with patient wounded warriors they had tended in Vietnam. The pathway for a frontline casualty was complex. A soldier wounded in a firefight or ambush was first treated by an Army or Navy tent field unit. The patient was then sent to a more intensive facility via helicopter. The two hospital ships in this excerpt were major contributors to saving lives. Once stable the recovering patient was sent to one of two fixed-Navy hospital facilities, either in the Philippines or in Japan. From there, the soldier was sent to a US Hospital closest to his home of record. Those wounded warriors from New York State were sent to Queens Naval Hospital.

A Wartime Christmas

Wartime hospital patients are the same regardless of the war. THE DUTY CREW tells the story of the last Christmas Day of US involvement of the Vietnam War. This excerpt graphically shows one of the true tragedies of war—the quadriplegic. A Navy hospital Corpsman tends to a totally paralyzed Marine. But in this story, hospital Corpsman Huxley has an additional agenda paid for by the enemy. He leads a sabotage unit bought by Hanoi to bring the war to America's home turf. A plan to assault and produce further casualties at all US stateside military hospitals is under way on Christmas Day, 1972. Huxley leads the effort at Queens Naval Hospital, Long Island, New York.

Santa Arrives Drunk

THE DUTY CREW on Christmas Day of 1972 needs to get a new Santa Claus. There are two problems. First, is how to sober up Santa for public acceptance and interaction with the waiting dependent children at Queens Naval Hospital. Second, the News Reporter, Thule Thornbush, is looking for negative press items for the Vietnam War and a drunk Santa will only add to her anti-war photos of wounded warriors. Unfortunately, Thornbush inhaled the dirty snow by getting too close to the Huey Chopper arriving with Santa. Both She and Santa need the services of the Emergency room staff.

A Hooker for Christmas

Queens Naval Hospital has digital flashing numbers for paging its staff. Dr. Norman is needed on the minimum care unit where recovering patients have received the gift of youthful prostitutes on this last Christmas Day of US involvement in the Vietnam War. As Junior Medical Officer of the Day, he must deal with this. Part of his job requires obtaining lab tests for venereal disease from the Hookers and from all their contacts. This excerpt comes later in the novel after possible murders and anti-war activist infiltration on the Navy Hospital compound. THE DUTY CREW is based on factual events and turned into a thriller for a most memorable Christmas Day.

The Phantom Strikes

It's the last Christmas Day of the US involvement in the Vietnam War. One Special Forces Sergeant has returned with total body shrapnel wounds. All wounds are superficial small abscess shedding bacteria. Sgt. Vilth is stuck at Queens Naval Hospital until the bacteria succumbs to the right antibiotic. To get even with the military, he secretly plants his daily bowel movement in a lab specimen container with a card reading "The Phantom Strikes." Six months at Queens Naval and the staff has stopped trying to find the Phantom. Instead, they conduct a daily raffle for where the Phantom will strike. Vilth's activities with his specimens puts him in harms way when he discovers a Nurse is targeted for death by anti-war activists. The Duty Crew reels with multiple action on a Christmas Day in a wartime Navy hospital.

Soldiers on Christmas Day

The Duty Crew is the entire staff of Queens Naval Hospital working on Christmas Day. The NY Navy hospital is targeted by two gangs of North American Citizens to bring the war to US soil. With only 40 MPs covering the 2100 patient facility, Medical Officer of the Day, with the rest of the staff, must resort to drastic measures to confront the assault. Junior Nurse of the Day, LT Minnie Zettler's plan is activated. Six-hundred patients in the uniform of their country turn out in crutches, wheelchairs, and wound dressings to back-up the MPs who are armed with bayonet affixed AR-16s, .45 pistols but no ammunition. It is indeed a memorable, cold, snowy Christmas Day-the last Christmas Day of US involvement in the Vietnam War.

Wheelchair Christmas Soldiers

Queens Naval Hospital must confront 80 Hanoi paid activists who will assault the Main Gate and Main Hospital entrance on Christmas Day. The Medical Officer of the Day (MOOD), Junior Medical Officer of the Day (JMOOD), and Nurse Officers of the Day (NOODs) must come up with a plan to confront the attack. Queens Naval has 2100 wounded warriors half of which are mobile and may now be tasked with a domestic combat resistance. THE DUTY CREW is a modern Christmas Story and tribute to those American casualties of war who will never give up.

Most Hated Women of The Vietnam War

Pure anti-war activism means protest against both warring factions, countries, or insurgents. During the Vietnam War one female Hollywood actress and self-declared activist favored the enemy over her American fellow citizens and soldiers. This is not activism. The movie star actually spent Christmas Day with North Vietnam's President. The US enemy is actually using her to serve their own ends. Iona Dell, the Hollywood star in THE DUTY CREW, begins to understand this, as shown in this excerpt. The military hospitals within the United States are being attacked. And this attack is being endorsed by Iona Dell. She became the most hated American woman of the Vietnam War.

Christmas Terrorism

It's December 25, 1972-the last Christmas Day of US involvement in the Vietnam War. Sabotage, death, and terror are weapons aimed at US stateside military hospitals. Queens Naval Hospital in New York has internal Hanoi agents, outside anti-war activists and a group of North Vietnam paid former Navy Corpsmen intent on blowing up the hospital's air-evac train station. In this excerpt, they have difficulty activating their timer detonation devices because of the cold, icy, and snowy day. The train brings those air-evac patients unable to travel to the hospital by military bus. Returning wounded warriors are unaware they are still in harm's way on Christmas Day in New York.

An Explosive Christmas Present

It's the last Christmas Day of US involvement of the Vietnam War. Political activism is now complimented by North Vietnam paid US dissidents picketing all military US hospitals with fervent antiwar sentiment. One such group, as in this excerpt, are paid terrorists who plan to blow up the patient-receiving train depot at Queens Naval Hospital on Long Island. The leader at Queens Naval is an anti-war embedded Hospital Corpsman. He's conducting former corpsman who are also paid by communist North Vietnam to inflict extreme sanction to those patients and staff at Queens naval hospital. It is just one of many US stateside military hospitals coordinated to be attacked on this Christmas Day.

The Last Christmas

It's December 25, 1972 and the last Christmas Day of the Vietnam War. North Vietnam has a terrorist agenda against all stateside US Military hospitals, including Queens Naval Hospital, Long Island, New York. Today, many of the activists include Vietnam War protesters who are on North Vietnam's payroll. Unbeknownst to the peaceable activists in this excerpt, North Vietnam president Ho Chi Minh has directed all-out bloody assaults with extreme sanction against any hospital resistors. Queens Naval Hospital, like all other military hospitals on Christmas Day operates with a skeleton crew thanks to President Nixon. Both the US and North Vietnam Presidents want the war to end. Will the war end by political or lethal means on this not so Merry Christmas Day?

A Wartime Christmas

The last Christmas of the Vietnam war is fraught with happiness, tears, life-giving and death. Common at Queen's Naval Hospital in NY were war returnees spiking fevers. Even if the patient had a wound, surgery or was a recent Vietnam arrival, malaria was most common cause of an FUO (fever of undetermined origin. This excerpt from THE DUTY CREW was a routine event at Queens Naval. At 1200 patients daily census, the skeleton duty crew for Christmas Day faced new Vietnam arrival admissions as well as tending to their sicker patients. Add to that the arrival of a drunken Santa Clause, 2 suspicious deaths and activists planning to assault the hospital itself, this Christmas Day will never be forgotten by staff, patients or visitors.

Christmas Day Welcome

I had to work every Christmas Day of my 5-years in the Navy during the Vietnam War. THE DUTY CREW takes place on the last Christmas Day of that war. In this excerpt several air-evac patients arrived by train. Other patients came by bus and a few critical ones by helicopter. All were called air-evacs. All wounded warriors were glad to get home. They needed, and received, a warm welcome by the Navy hospital personnel who were also happy to see them. The jolly banter between nurse and patient as well as the Christmas decor and music added to the reality of being safely home. During wartime all military hospitals are busy for the duty crew staff and especially on Christmas Day. However, the patients didn't know this Christmas Day would be unlike any the US had experienced. All military hospitals were targeted for attack by enemy-sponsored anti-war activists.

"No Thank You for your service"

My 5-years of Navy service during the Vietnam War was beset with political activism against the war. As a medical officer I took care of the wounded warriors who risked life and limb so the ever-present anti-war protesters could picket us-all of us. A directive from the CO advised against wearing our uniforms outside the confines of the main gate for fear of physical harm from these people. TV news showed wounded war returnees being "spat upon" and worse by anti-war sentiment. Today is different. I wear my Navy baseball cap year round and I receive a "Thank you for your service" comment by all ages. Schools honor us on Veterans Day. I'm retired now and wrote books like THE DUTY CREW to educate others and promote patriotism and gratitude for those who make up the military and risk all for their country.

Ever work Christmas Day?

I was in the Navy for 5 years during the Vietnam war. I was also the JMOOD (Junior Medical Officer of the Day) every Christmas. I did get every New Year's Day off but Christmas Day was one of large air-evac admissions and my wife and son having Christmas Dinner at a 2100 bed Navy Hospital. THE DUTY CREW chronicles the last Christmas Day of US involvement in the war. Babies were born, a few patients died, and smuggling prostitutes in as Christmas presents kept our security cadre in perpetual motion. Every day, especially Christmas Day, civilian activists protested with large picket lines and bull horn shouted slogans against the war, against our wounded warriors, and against doctors like me for caring for soldiers who put their life on the line so the activists could have the privilege of legal protest. God Bless Navy and civilian nurses who still have to work Christmas Day.

A Christmas Day Birth

Christmas Day celebrates the birth of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. I've often wondered what the labor and delivery was like. I bet the labor was not like the patient in this excerpt from THE DUTY CREW. Historians have never documented the labor and delivery aspects of Jesus's birth. As a doctor I've delivered hundreds of babies and assisted in thousands. The labor leading up to birth is rarely gracious. The birth itself negates any adverse memories of a woman screaming in labor pain or shouting expletives of regret and damnation. When that baby is born, as this one will be, on Christmas Day, it's still extra special.

A Phantom lurks on Xmas Day

Special Forces Sgt. Vincent Vilth has multiple infected wounds from Vietnam. The explosion that sent him to Queens Naval Hospital occurred in rice paddy night soil. Night soil is a combination of animal and human feces used as fertilizer. And now, over 6 months later Vilth is still in the hospital with pieces of infected shrapnel still working their way to his skin's surface. He is angry and frustrated and turns his PTSD into action. Sgt. Vilth becomes the Phantom Shitter who secrets one of his daily turds in different parts of the hospital with a note: The Phantom Strikes.

A Christmas Birth

Have you ever thought of what life would be like to be born on December 25. Would the presents be doubled? i mean, birthday presents plus Christmas presents. This excerpt from THE DUTY CREW has LT Minnie Zettler assisting in a delivery at Queens Naval Hosptial on Christmas Day. Her day began with a cardiac arrest in ICU and the arrival of a train complement of wounded combat soldiers who couldn't travel by air-evac bus. Life is what it is! Babies are born during wartime like any other time. Will they then grow up to be war casualties only to arrive back home in a Navy hospital air-evac train or bus?

A Christmas Scoop

Thule Thornbush was not unique to the pressure of "get out of the war fever". Getting a scoop with highlights of negative press at a Navy hospital on Christmas Day was the compulsive redhead's goal but not her assignment. She arrived at Queens Naval Hospital prejudging what she thought would make headlines and get her a promotion to a more prestigious newspaper like the NY times. Reporter Thornbush would use any means to slant her Christmas Day with wounded warriors in order to sell papers. The arrival of a drunken Santa Clause and the death of an Egyptian pilot flying for the US were good for starters. but there was much more to come on this birthday of the Prince of Peace.

A Christmas Day Welcome

Christmas Day for wounded arrivals from combat zones meant a lot of work for THE DUTY CREW. The Navy medical staff were a dedicated lot. Nurse LT Minnie Zettler was wary of the nefarious signals inside the hospital but welcoming the combat wounded was still her priority. This excerpt depicts a returning soldier receiving a warm welcome home to the US, albeit a Navy hospital. Layers of relief appear from a marine air-evac expressed in medical and flirtatious banter. This is a warm scene on a snowy Christmas Day which will become the focus of sabotage and murder.

Sabotage on Christmas Day

Air-evacs arrived mostly by bus to Queens Naval Hospital. Those with special needs such as total body casts, paraplegics, or burn patients arrived by train from Fort Dix, New Jersey. The rare critical wounded warrior arrived by helicopter. Anti-war activists on the enemies payroll (North Vietnam) planned to blow-up the hospital's modest railway depot building, preferably when the train arrived with an air evac load. The Christmas weather with its persistent snow and frigid cold was hampering success for the saboteurs but they're not giving up. .

Unpopular on Christmas Day

The Vietnam War was unpopular every day, but on Christmas Day 1972 protesters and activists were out in force. Air-evac buses with wounded warriors were on the way to being admitted to Queens Naval Hospital. Part of the anti-war reception group was armed with balloons filled with manure and wall-paper paste. These fecal missiles were for throwing at the Air-evac buses. Once inside the hospital compound, the soldiers, who had risked life-and-limb to ensure the protesters had the right to protest, received the warm and comforting welcome they deserved. Each one unknowing that their 2100 bed New York Navy hospital was destined for a major assault.

"Ho, Ho-friggin-Ho"

Santa Clause arrives drunk by helicopter on Christmas Day at Queens Naval Hospital. An alternate must be found. There are over a hundred children having Christmas Day dinner at the hospital and a Santa Visit is a a must. With the intrigue and emergency need for a new Santa, the prime candidate is the head of Hospital Security, LCDR Curly Norton. He must be tricked into becoming Santa to override his obsession with catching security violators. Seeing the possibility of being Santa as a means to infiltrate any potential threat to the hospital crowd, he replies in the affirmative with the most dignity he can muster, "Ho, Ho-friggin-Ho."

Christmas Day Emergency

In addition to the air-evacs from Vietnam on Christmas Day, the Duty Crew had to cover the emergency room patients most of which were walk-ins. It never ceased to amaze me what kind of conditions people called emergencies. In this excerpt, Medical Officer and JMOOD (Junior Medical Officer Of The Day) LT Paul Norman shows understanding and compassion for Navy families in distress. From a retired military grandfather to a newly married couple, the Duty Crew did their job unaware of a pending attack on Queens Naval Hospital in Long Island New York..

All nurses are heroes

THE DUTY CREW depicts the last Christmas Day of the Vietnam war. My heroes as a physician have always been nurses. They are front line people in the military or civilian life. LT Minnie Zettler as a caring, conscientious and wary Navy nurse is becoming a target for a psychopathic Navy Hospital Corpsman named Huxley. He's part of a larger plan to assault the Navy hospital on Christmas Day by activists paid by the communist enemy in Southeast Asia. Nurses and people of all walks of life who work on Christmas Day are truly doing service work for those of us at home with family and friends.

A new bag for Christmas

All wars have advanced medical practice. World War II is most famous for developing sodium pentothal in anesthesia. The Korean War moved us away from ether anesthesia and into the realm of halogenated gases. The Vietnam War gave us a medical item still used today. It's the plastic IV bag replacing the glass bottles of prior decades. As noted in the excerpt, the glass solution bottles needed gravity to work and became so visible they were a target by the enemy in field actions. The IV bag was placed under the wounded warrior's shoulder and life saving plasma and fluids infused out of enemy sight. Each time you see an IV bag think of the soldiers whose lives it saved. Sergeant Vincent Vilth in THE DUTY CREW was so awed on Christmas Day.

No one likes our war

On the last Christmas Day of the Vietnam War Santa Claus arrived by Huey helicopter drunk at my Naval Hospital. In the Duty Crew I embellished on what I had to do as JMOOD (Junior Medical Officer of the Day) to get another Santa. In the meantime espionage, sabotage and some just plain craziness was happening. Vietnam was so unpopular that the one allowed reporter to my Naval hospital wanted only to report negative news to add to anti-Vietnam War fervor. In addition, unbeknownst to us on duty this Christmas Day, our train station was about to be attacked by anti-war activists. Contrast this with the complete support our military has today amidst global terrorism.

Merry Christmas to all wounded warriors.

I worked every Christmas Day as a medical officer in my five years in the Navy during the Vietnam War. The last Christmas Day was most memorable because if would be the last Christmas of the Vietnam War. President Nixon wanted the war to end; anti-war activists picketed our Navy hospital in force; the media projected their war negativism against the wounded who risked life and limb for their country; some movie stars joined in with anti-American slurs. In THE DUTY CREW this last Christmas has all this anti-war presence but it has more. There was patriotism, compassion, family, and courage amidst the true tragedies of war - the wounded warriors. Although primarily a work of fiction over 70% of events depicted in THE DUTY CREW actually happened. The murder and intrigue outside and inside of the Navy hospital accentuates the mood of the times. As I looked back I realized in a Dickensonion way that this was my best Christmas and it was my worst Christmas.

WHO WILL WEEP FOR ME

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

A medical student, a law student, a dental student and a mob-connected friend have increased their bond from high school days when one of their group is murdered. Deborah Sterling, a Boston hospital nurse was the 7th victim of the Boston Stocking Killer and the group’s only female confidant. The four grief-stricken enraged men pool their resources to seek out and destroy the murderer amidst fruitless efforts by Boston Police and FBI resources in the tumultuous 1960’s. Edmund Sorelli, the Boston Stocking Killer, targets young nurses fitting the profile of his unwed nurse mother. A common thread from the characters’ teenage experiences produces a lethal confrontation a step ahead of the BPD and the Federal Agency.

Book Bubbles from WHO WILL WEEP FOR ME

Punishment Not Forgiveness

Edmund Sorelli transfers his hatred for his mother to all women. This excerpt shows what feeds his unexplained feelings to strike out at his mom and his girl...any girl. It's the start of an escalation of events that begin in high school. Lena, Edmund's girl friend is his first outlet. What further aggravates what happened to Lena in this report is that the police will blame hm for what happened to her. Thus begins the urge to strike out against his mother and lights the fuse for his negative attitude toward the law. The Boston Strangler is in the making.

The Boston Strangler started in High School

As medical student at Boston University during the terror the days of the Boston Strangler, I experienced what Michael Waxman did in this excerpt. I researched the background of the strangler and found our age and lives were on a parallel path as teenagers. Edmond Sorelli, the serial killer in Who Will Weep for Me, became a bully toward girls. His attacks were stimulated by his relationship with his single nurse mother. After high school Sorelli went from bullying to outright murder of young, heavily made-up nurses. One of his victims was a bonded friend to her former classmates in high school. Now at college and business the three friends vow to seek out and obtain justice against the murderer of their friend.

Another Nurse is Strangled

The horror of the Boston Strangler had a beginning before the serial killings occurred. Research into his childhood show anti-female ideation began to express itself verbally and physically in high school. In Who Will Weep for Me, the murderer-to-be high school student Edmund Sorelli, only child of a single parent who's a promiscuous nurse, becomes his role model for punishment. Any young nurse, overly made-up, flirtatious, with a sexual reputation, and blond becomes a target. In this excerpt, one of the strangler's victims triggers her friends to seek out and destroy the killer. A medical student, law student, and a young criminal will use any means to get him.

The Boston Strangler Targets Nurses

With Who Will Weep for Me I show the humanity of one of the Boston Strangler's victims and the Strangler's ultimate killer. The man who killed the Strangler and one of his nurse victims were once high school friends.. During his teenage years my friend, who is Carly Santo in the book, was openly against racial bias and our protector. Our small clique included Santo, myself and three other Jewish teens. We bonded well into our adult years. However, one member, the only girl, became a nurse in Boston and the Strangler's seventh victim. The real Boston Strangler, Albert DeSalvo, was killed in Walpole State Prison, by my friend. This fictionalized version of the young Boston Strangler and his murderous years are therapeutic for those of us who survive today. I remember our beloved Nurse comrade and the man who wrought revenge as they were in their younger years.

High School Remembered: The Boston Strangler

I never heard of the Boston Strangler until I reached medical school. The serial killer targeted only young nurses. Then one day I saw a victim I knew, presented at my forensic medicine class. I had to know more about the Boston Strangler. My search for information took me back to my high school days in Massachusetts. The Boston Strangler was a high school student in the same grade as me. Boston was only two small suburbs away from my home. I discovered many things about the killer when he was a teenage student. Fictionalized in Who Will Weep for Me, high school was dramatically different for me and my peers than for the budding strangler of young nurses.

Killing Mother Again and Again

The Boston Strangler killed only single, young nurses whose lifestyle resembled his mother. Edmund Sorelli, the Boston stocking murderer, called the Strangler by the media, reflects on his single mother's. Sorelli's mission is to destroy all those like her. Targeting girls began for Sorelli in high school. In Who Will Weep for Me, I reveal the parallel lives of Sorelli in Boston and the lives of a victim and her close friends who want to bring the Boston Strangler to justice. Sorelli and the others are the same age. They attended different high schools and had different family types. However, only Sorelli was the product of a single, loose and egocentric single parent—his mother, a Boston nurse.

When Bullying Changes to Murder

I went to high school with a friend who killed the notorious Boston Strangler. The deed was done at the Walpole Maximum Security Prison in Walpole, Massachusetts. I wrote Who Will Weep for Me to show how my high school friend, called Carli in the novel, started out as a champion against racism and was a good guy. The strangler went to school the same time as we did. After graduation most of my friends, and me, went off to college. Carli chose a life of crime. The future Boston Strangler took his teenage school-girl bullying to lethal levels. This excerpt introduces the crime that severely affects a small group of friends outraged by the serial killer. The book gave me a chance to explore a different path for Carli other than the one putting Carli in prison.

Hope, Change, and Murder

The Boston Strangler's roots to change the mental image of his single mother began as in this excerpt. Edmund Sorelli's mother slept around. She was a nurse and frequented bars and different men. Relationships were absent and without any frame of reference for the young Sorelli. A Boston high school female classmate had developed feelings for him. Someone actually liked him. A spark of hope was born that he might be able to escape his mother's example of womanhood. Another feeling competed—Sorelli was caught between budding love and a quest to punish his mother. He must go on a crusade to punish all women like her’—a young nurse, dyed blonde hair, heavy makeup, and loose sexual practices.

High School Friends Are Forever

Who Will Weep for Me is a thriller novel about a high school student who gradually morphs into a serial killer. This excerpt is a beginning chapter of a teenager who lives in a world of diversity fraught with racial prejudice. Italians, Jews, and blacks are the minorities racially frowned on in this 1950's tale based on a true high school experience. Despite the problems of nationality integration amongst high schoolers we were drawn closer together—most of us that is. One struck out against this world. He became the Boston strangler of the 1970s. The man who subdued him was one of my good friends in high school.

Music, Teenagers, and Bullies

The time element is important to bring out in any novel, especially a thriller about the Boston Strangler. This killer began as a bully in high school. There were other bullies as noted in this excerpt. It's easy to just note a date or even a decade. The high school years of the murderer were in the 1950's, however, placing the rock music of Elvis Presley, the hangout at an ice-cream parlor and the centerpiece of a jukebox adds more flavor. Thus, sounds, environment, smells, tastes, and teenage banter add realism and a feel for the era. Indeed, the bullies in this chapter take place not in the Strangler's city of Boston but in a suburb describing the rivalry and ethnic antagonism that existed everywhere in that time period.

Assault Against Women Begins in High School

Edmond Sorelli begins targeting women who resemble his single mother's flagrant pursuit of tempestuous sex. This excerpt occurs in high school as Sorelli is taut between feelings of hate for himself and his mother. Marie DelVeccio had seduced Sorelli during a home work assignment collaboration. Sorelli feels he must punish DelVeccio just like he feels he must punish his mother who brings home different lovers each month. He feels euphoric at brutally assaulting Marie. She deserved it. Sorelli's first sexual experience ignites a need for him to go on punishing young girls to prevent them becoming like his mother. High school is just a beginning and plants the seed for his dealing out escalating levels of more intense physical destruction.

Female Abuse Begins in High School

The Boston Strangler's roots for his serial murders of young hospital nurses, begins at the start of high school for Edmund Sorelli. It starts with non-fatal yet brutal beatings. Before Sorelli graduates and enters the Army he will further develop his assault techniques. This excerpt is a first event that fuels Sorelli's hatred for his single mother who continues to bring home men for her own pleasure. As a high schooler, Sorelli's life is one of developing anger and resentment at all women who make advances to men. This excerpt shows young Sorelli's helplessness at avoiding female confrontations. Who Will Weep for Me is a fictionalized version of what the Boston Strangler's life might have been like based on serial killer histories.

High School Bully vs High School Bully

The roots of our attitudes and behaviors begin in high school. Who Will Weep for Me is based on several facts I learned about the Boston Strangler when I was attending Boston University School of Medicine. This chapter is a flashback from the days when the Strangler was actively killing young nurses with their own pantyhose. Deborah Sterling will become victim number seven. When Deb was killed, her friends vowed to find the serial killer. Their character development begins as teenagers. Who Will Weep for ME is more than a serial killer story. It is a story of friendships, bigotry, and relationships that endure into adulthood. These teens are learning that violence is sometimes the answer to violence.

A Serial Strangler has a Beginning

The roots of the man who would become The Boston Strangler began in high school. Edmund Sorelli's single mom was a bleach blonde heavily made-up nurse. Sorelli's high school days were miserable because of his mother's drinking and sleeping around. In this excerpt, Sorelli, the high schooler, begins his striking out at girls who look like his mom or who might end up like his mom. He finds it easy to connect with such women and lure them to their own destruction at his hands. Maria DelVeccio is but a fly being lured into the spider's parlor.

High School Jews, Italians and the Irish

In the late 1950s, high school students grouped together along ethnic lines. The Jews, Italians, and Irish often provoked each other as in this excerpt. Teens met at places like Brighams Ice Cream shop after school to have fun, enjoy juke box rock stars, and ventilate school-driven complaints. Sometimes a racial slur lipped out like by the Irish student O'hare. In my high school, we had a hero whose goal seemed to be that of mellowing out bigotry. His name in WHO WILL WEEP FOR ME is Carli Santo. As a tough guy Italian classmate, he did his best to keep the peace. Santo was a good friend of mine and other Jews who hung out with us.I found that high schools of the times had similar caste systems.

It Began in High School

WHO WILL WEEP FOR ME portrays the Boston Stranger's evolution from high school to murderous focus on young nurses. Medical Student Michael Waxman's reflections brings him back to the days when his classmate and friend Deborah Sterling met in Medford High School. She would be the strangler's seventh victim. The future Boston Strangler was also living a parallel existence in similar school grades. This excerpt is Chapter 1. It's a trigger for the reader to experience the roots of a serial killer. When Deborah sterling is slain as victim number 7, her friends use their resources to try to identify her strangler. Their efforts bring confrontations with the BPD, the FBI, and the Boston Mafia.

High School Minorities

Many high schoolers in the 1950's hung out at a Brigham's ice cream parlor. As the excerpt points out, it could be far from a safe haven for innocent teens. In WHO WILL WEEP FOR ME, I highlight how high school minorities grew up and interacted. Jews, the Irish, and Italian teenagers occasionally squared off against each other, even at Brigham's. Carli Santo was a feared Italian high schooler who was a self-proclaimed peacemaker via intimidation and violence. He would grow up to take down the Boston Strangler. I grew up with the real Carli Santo in a Boston suburb high school. I was half Jewish and half Italian like Michael Waxman. Life wasn't easy.

High school roots-the Boston Strangler

One of my high school classmates killed the Boston Strangler in prison. My friend was a caring yet assertive classmate. It was unfortunate his life's pathway ended in criminal incarceration. I wanted to remember him as I knew him-not as a convicted killer. It's on that note that WHO WILL WEEP FOR ME was written. Although fictional, the book is based on fact. This excerpt is the starting point in the novel when I was in medical school. The backstory comes shortly about life as a teen high schooler not only for me and my friend, but for the student who would become The Boston Strangler. I created a better outcome for my classmate but not for the Boston Strangler and killer of young nurses.

My First Car

Ever since high school cars have been important. The vehicle being prepared in this excerpt became my first car. It looked like a clean Chevy convertible Sunday driver. It was, however, the Charles Atlas of 1952 Chevys. I learned the excitement of driving, of knowing I had power when I needed it, and that I didn't have to flaunt it. I got it from my best friend who's Carli Santo in WHO WILL WEEP FOR ME. Having a car is just about the most important thing for a high school student like I was. Today I'm a retired physician. We do have a Sunday driver but I bought a low mileage Chevy convertible. A 2005 pristine silver Corvette convertible. I listen to the '50s radio station and have a pair of fuzzy dice dangling from the rear-view mirror.

High School Moments

I never related to the social side of being Jewish. My mother was Italian and my father was a non-practicing Jew. It wasn't until I went to high school that I got in touch with my "Jewishness". This excerpt from WHO WILL WEEP FOR ME shows the combination of teenage hormones and peer teen interaction typical of any group of high schoolers that I knew. Across town however, the high schooler who would grow up to be the Boston Strangler has a less affectionate association with teen girls - he beats them.

What did you do during high school summers?

I grew up in an Italian household. Because my mother married my Jewish father she was excommunicated by the Catholic church. Michael Waxman is really me (Peter Glassman) and this is my story. I was occasionally introduced to my Jewish classmates as being half-Jewish and half-Italian. In the same breath my AZA friend would say, "What he can't get wholesale he steals." That was okay as long my friend said it. In this excerpt, Michael Waxman gets a summer job from the efforts of his Italian roots. The family was expected to vote for the politician who got him he summer job. Waxman's father (and mine) never missed an opportunity to knock the Italians as basic crooks (Ganiffs).

A Jewish-Italian Experience at Christmas

I was brought up Italian ethnically and Jewish on the religious side. In high school I began to really get in touch with my Jewishness. I joined the AZA which is the Jewish counterpart of Christian teen groups like the Demolay. This excerpt is fictionalized from a real event when I took my Jewish girlfriend to a friend's Italian Christmas party. In WHO WILL WEEP FOR ME Deb Sterling had asked Michael Waxman, "What are Italians like." Her conclusion after the Italian Christmas party was, "Italians are just like Jews. They have a strong sense of family and God just like us."

Roots of a serial killer

Edmund Sorelli's roots as the Boston Strangler began as a high schooler. He had normal teenage male hormonal stimuli. However, Sorelli grew up with a single parent - his mother. She never knew who his father was and gave Sorelli her family name. Edmund Sorelli measured all woman against his role model mother. Unfortunately, she was a bar hopper and easy touch for any male companionship. Sorelli was disgusted with her. He recoiled when his mother called him by some man's name in her drunken stupor. Beating her up would be a prelude to physical abuse of any high school girl who he felt was like his mother in appearance and behavior. Sixteen year-old Edmund Sorelli was the Boston Strangler in the making.

Being Jewish and Italian.

I lived in South Medford Massachusetts-Little Italy-when I was a teenager. My father was Jewish and my mother was Italian. We moved into one of my Italian grandfather's houses. I never really got in touch with my "Jewishness" until high school. I remember my first day in Medford High School and the first day I met Carli Santo. That's his fiction name. In real life Carli would grow up to take down the Boston Strangler. We all had our roots in high school, even the Boston Strangler who's Edmund Sorelli in WHO WILL WEEP FOR ME.

I relived my high school years and loved it.

I went to school with the man who killed the Boston Strangler at a maximum security prison in Massachusetts. I heard about this at a high school reunion when I inquired about him as a fellow alumnus. I was saddened and upset that my aging classmates talked of him as a feared criminal. In high school he was a friend, fellow student and although rough around the edges had a strong feeling of justice. Today he was discussed only as a murderer of a murderer. I wanted to not only write about our lives in high school but to change his outcome. WHO WILL WEEP FOR ME does this. Perhaps it's therapeutic for me to write about how I wished he had turned out - how it might have been different. One thing is certain - I never knew how much I loved high school until I wrote this novel.

THE DRUID STONE

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Holthar, high priest of Stonehenge transcends thousands of years to select a Chosen Templar to save the planet from terrorist destruction. A crow singles out NY Times DC reporter Morgan Kane is given a stone from Stonehenge enabling a connection with the elder priest. Kane, the Chosen Templar, learns the power of light which can impart learning or impart destruction. Kane’s mission becomes apparent quickly. Iran wants to polarize the world into pro-Islam extremism and all others to evoke a world of Allies and Axis forces where there can be only one survivor. Holthar understands there will be no survivors if Iran uses its chemical missile weapons. Kane as the Chosen Templar must get to Tehran and prevent initiation of this last earthly holocaust.

Book Bubbles from THE DRUID STONE

Terrorists Are Here Now

NY Times reporter Morgan Kane was given a stone from Stonehenge during his UK tour by a strange black crow. Now arriving back to the US, the stone seems to be talking to him by turning color and triggering vivid dreams. He's having visions of seeing the Druid High Priest Holthar. Holthar's contact turns his pocketed Stonehenge stone into a bright blue color which seems to indicate peace and trust,.The presence of 2 terrorists unseen by Kane turned the stone green. What does it mean? Will there be other colors? What is the meaning of his dream of being at a Stonehenge Druid meeting and seeing Holthar. Kane is both excited and confused. The Druid civilization disappeared in 2000 BC.

The Road to WW III

When Iran organizes all Arab Jihadists to follow their leadership, WW III will erupt. The Druid Stone shows how that might happen when every country on the planet relaxes its borders. Terrorist cells will leak into all factions of political and domestic life. Even the military will be infiltrated. Review of Druid history, which was written long after the demise of Druid civilization, indicates the Stonehenge might have been a Holy place with powers and leaders not available to our current centuries. Druid high priest Holthar transcends time and comes to the US to help confront Iran's launch of a chemical war. Morgan Kane, a NY Times reporter, becomes the Chosen Templar to go face to-face with Iran's Ayatollah.

Stonehenge Becomes Alive

NY Times reporter Morgan Kane and Library of Congress worker Martha Sorel meet at Stonehenge on vacation. Kane appears to be singled out by a large ruby-eyed crow who delivers a stone from one of Stonehenge's pillars. Signs at the tourist site strictly forbid the removal of any fragment of Stonehenge's pillars. Kane pockets the stone and can't help but wonder about its significance. He is soon to learn of the stone's empowerment by the Druids. The power of light, the sun, and the moon will be needed to save civilization and Kane has been chosen to confront modern day terrorism armed with only a stone, as was David who confronted Goliath..

Paranormal Encounter Begins With a Crow

NY Times reporter Morgan Kane is on a forced vacation in the UK. His tour of Stonehenge ends his holiday but begins his destiny with global terrorists. It starts with a crow. A crow stalks Kane and gives him a key to Stonehenge and its strange powers. The Key is a stone from one of the Stonehenge rectangular pillars. It's a stone empowered by the ancient druids to protect the planet and the people on it—a Druid Stone. Kane's companion on the tour is also to be included into meeting Holthar, the High Priest of Stonehenge. The need of meeting such an ancient ghost is crucial to confronting Iran's launch of a global war. It's a war using chemical toxins to kill people but leave their land untouched for the conqueror, unlike nuclear devices.

Druid Power Against Iran's Jihad

With global immigration rules dissolved, terrorists are embedded in Western countries awaiting Iran's call to arms. Iran's trigger move will be to launch missiles with chemical warheads. Only the power of the Druids can confront this deadly attack. Morgan Kane, a NY Times political reporter possesses a stone removed from Stonehenge which gives him this potential ability. First he must infiltrate Teheran and find his way to the Ayatollah. Everything depends on his keeping the stone in his possession. With correct timing, proper weather, and assistance from the US Navy, he will become a Chosen Templar with the full abilities and powers of a Stonehenge High Priest.

Kill The Chosen Templar

NY Times political reporter Morgan Kane has dual identities. He's the US President's favored press rep at major conferences. Infiltrated jihadists to the President's circle want the US to be committed to being either pro-terrorist or anti-terrorist. Such a declaration would divide the Western and Eastern world into two factions as it was in World war two. It's a setup for Iran to start a world war. Kane is also transformed into Stonehenge's Chosen Templar imbued with unusual powers from a stone delivered to him from Stonehenge. Because Kane is anti-terrorist, embedded Jihadists try to kill him. His Druid Stone warns him by turning a red color and gives Kane the ability to use the red light to stop hostility.

The Power of Yellow

NY Times political news reporter, Morgan Kane, has the power of light via a stone from Stonehenge. He has found different colors impart different powers. Kane now has to instill thoughts into US Secretary of State Tara Corbet's mind. The Druid Stone can transform Kane into a Stonehenge Chosen Templar to activate the power of the stone. In this excerpt, Kane finds the power of yellow can instill thoughts and ideas into a person's thought processes. Kane needs Corbet to convince US President Holmes how to confront Iran and the terrorist factions the Ayatollah has organized against Non-Islam countries. The high priests of Stonehenge and the Ayatollahs of Iran have been enemies since 2000 BC.

Red Means Immediate Action

Morgan Kane, a NY Times reporter, is the target of Al Qaeda terrorists dispatched by Iran. Kane has uncovered Iran's plot to divide the world into global factions. Those who are terrorists and those who are anti-terrorists will become the Axis and Allies like from WWII history. Only the Druid Stone Kane has taken from Stonehenge has the power to confront Tehran before Iran's ICBMs are launched. The stone has turned red and assassins' bullets are directed at him in Washington DC. Kane must learn what other colors mean and what physical powers the Druid Stone confers on him as he gets closer to confronting the Ayatollah himself. Right now he knows that when the stone turns red, his life is at stake.

Worse than COVID-19

Iran is launching missiles at non-Islamic countries. The warhead is not of the explosive type. A deadly toxin derived from a fungal organism will kill all who are exposed. Only Iran has the antidote. Morgan Kane, a NY Times reporter has been endowed a Chosen Templar by Holthar, the high priest of Stonehenge. The link to Holthar is by The Druid Stone. Iran has completed Phase One which infiltrated Iranian cells into Western countries when global borders were relaxed. Agents are embedded everywhere in the US, from colleges to high political office. Only Kane with the power of Stonehenge can confront Iran's weapon.

The Druid Stone

Morgan Kane possesses a small stone obtained from one of Stonehenge's huge stone pillars. Although it was expressly forbidden to remove such artifacts from the site, some 6th sense told him it was important to keep it. The usually blue-gray stone kept in his pocket has created a nether-world connection between the Druids, Kane, and today's terrorist-laden civilization. This excerpt from an early chapter in The Druid Stone shows that certain people will affect the stone's color. For Kane to be a Chosen Templar and develop powers to confront Iran's bid on the world for domination, he must learn about the stone and its use. So far the stone has shown the color green with a suspicious Presidential cabinet member and blue with the President of the United States. Do the colors represent evil and good. And what of other colors yet to be revealed?

The Power of Light

Iran has organized all Islamic extremist factions and has planned an attack on all of non-Islam nations. The weapon is a chemical one poised to kill people without destroying structure or land mass. Only the power of Stonehenge via the ability of a Druid Stone can transform NY Times Reporter Morgan Kane NY into a Chosen Templar to confront the might of Teheran. Kane's Druid Stone is changing to a red color. It will turn him into the Templar. The power of red implies urgent action and Kane will shortly be plunged into the horror of chemical warfare.

Iran's Jihadists are Here

NY Times political reporter Morgan Kane is at Secretary of State Corbet's office. Iran has organized all Middle East extremest countries to infiltrate the US. Iran is now poised to attack all non-Islamic nations. The weapon will be a chemical toxin derived from a deadly organism. Only the power from ancient Stonehenge passed on to Kane is strong enough to confront Teheran's mobilization for global war. It is the power of light which Kane is using now to access Corbet's mind via the Druid Stone. Transfer of Iran's threat to her will be passed on to the President. Corbet will not remember how or from where she obtained her information.

The Crow, a Portent of Danger

Terrorism implies an attack on a nation with military ordnance. Iran has gone on record, in 2012, when it declared "Nuclear warfare destroys people, places, and things. There is nothing left for the conquerer. The best weapon will destroy only people." In The Druid Stone, Iran's weapon is revealed. It is a toxin derived from an organism which will selectively kill humans. Only Iran has the antidote. NY Times reporter Morgan Kane is selected by the powers of Stonehenge to confront Iran. In the beginning, a large crow portends the vision of Holthar, High Priest of Stonehenge. Kane will come to be transformed into a Chosen Templar to confront Iran's launch of what can be the final war on civilization. But can he succeed in time?

The President's Dilemma

The time is now. US President Holmes' administration has left the country's borders open as has all other nations. Radical Islam elements are now trying to polarize the world into those against terrorism and those who see jihadists as patriots. Holmes openly declares the US is against declaring such a stand as any polarity will produce a setup as in World War 2. In 1939 global ideology was set up as fascists and democracy. The President's problem is that some members of his inner circle is sending false statements which can lead the US into World War 3. Iran is behind it all and plans to launch a chemical warfare action against all non-Islamic countries. There's only one power that can help the democratic world—the power of Stonehenge.

Stonhenge and Iran's Biologic Plague

Today we are undergoing a blight on humanity by the coronavirus. The Druid Stone details what might happen when nations shed all border control. Iran's plan to attack non-Islamic countries is happening. Iran knows a nuclear attack will destroy all people, places and things. A biologic weapon will only kill people. It is the Jihadist chosen weapon. There is no human defense. No defense unless Iran's oldest enemy, the Druids and its power from Stonehenge. In this excerpt, NY Times reporter, Morgan Kane, is the chosen contact to confront the Ayatollah and Jihad extremism. Kane is learning about his power when he becomes the Chosen Templar. Kane speaks to Holthar, the Priest of Stonehenge.

The Next September 11th Attack

Martha Sorel is a senior Library of Congress worker who knows of the plot by Iran to use chemical or germ warfare on the US and other non-Islamic nations. Tehran has issued an order for Sorel's elimination prior to the launch of their toxin-tipped ICBM. Fatir Zahlen is Iran's US agent tasked with eliminating Sorel. Next on the list will be killing NY Times Reporter Morgan Kane who first discovered how Iran's next 9/11 attack will be executed. In the background is a mystical Stonehenge High Priest called Holthar who has transcended time barriers to help Kane and the US President confront the Ayatollah's megalomania.

A Pendemic or Germ Warfare

The scene is in Tehran. Iran is planning an all out attack on all non-Islam countries. The weapon will not be nuclear. It will be a toxin derived from an organism. In this excerpt, Iran's President and staff plus the Ayatollah discuss launching the holocaust. Agents are placed in countries throughout the world as country borders have relaxed movement into and out-of territories per a NATO and worldwide agreement. The country that holds the antidote and treatment of the infective agent will rule the world. That country is Iran. Only the Druid Stone and its owner, NY Times Reporter, Morgan 'Kane, can confront Tehran's leaders.

Can a Gobal Illness be Deliberate?

NY Times reporter Morgan Kane is given a small stone removed by a crow from a Stonehenge pillar. Kane's tourist trip and this magical stone brings him in direct confrontation with Middle East Terrorism on a scale that might put Iran in complete world dominance. Only the power of Stonehenge and transformation of Kane into a Chosen Templar of the ancient Druids can contest Iran's attack. This excerpt reveals the first step for Kane and the world for a first confrontation of a pandemic slowly involving because of lack of immigration control in both Islamic and non-islamic Countries. It is a rollercoaster ride as the High Priest of Stonehenge makes contact from the past with the key to civilization's survival.

Finding Iran's Plan to Attack the US

New York Times reporter Morgan Kane has become The Chosen Templar to discover Iran's plan to attack the US. North America, and the US in particular, is infested with terrorist infiltrators due to almost absent border security. Stonehenge's high priest has endowed Kane with the power of Stonehenge. It is the power of light. Certain colors of light, Kane has found, provides him with almost magical skills. In this excerpt Kane uses yellow rays emanating from his hands and eyes to extract information from the terrorist Dowan. He uses his power to also erase memory of the event by all bystanders. Kane is still finding out how much power is his as The Chosen Templar. He will need more than the power of yellow light to confront Iran when they attack the US and other non-Islam countries.

The Power of Light

NY TImes political reporter Morgan Kane, was given a stone by an emissary crow at the ancient Stonehenge temple. Holthar, high priest of Stonehenge appears to Kane as a hologram-like image. Kane was given the Druid Stone to enable him to confront todays terrorist plot by Iran to attack non-Islam states. This excerpt is at a time when Kane has used the powers of the stone to project colors from his eyes and hands. Confronting a group of homeless men he now finds out the color orange has the force and physical form of fire. His job by Holthar is to act as a Chosen Templar to Confront Iran's attempt at world takeover.

The Crow

A crow has followed NY Times reporter Morgan Kane during his Stonehenge tour. The bird removes a small stone from Stonehenge's circle of megalith pillars and gives it to Kane. Signs at the Stonehenge site strictly forbid removing any soil or fragments from the site under severe penalty. Kane secretes the stone in his pocket. Suddenly the stone glows and comes to life. It is an emissary and bridge between two time periods. The power of Stonehenge begins its mission to find a modern Templar to confront a terrorist destruction of today's civilization.

Open Borders

The time is today. All borders of the US are open to all who have passports. Many are forged. Many are immigrants. A lot are enemies of the US. These enemies are Islamic Jihadists. They've been infiltrating the US for years and now they will arise at orders from Iran. Such a Jihadist is Dowan who finds a threat to Iran's plan to launch global war in two people. The first is Morgan Kane, top political analyst for the New York Times. The second is a Library of Congress woman who uncovers the magnitude of terrorists already in the US awaiting orders. Falatha is Dowan's cell manager and liaison with Iran key US embedded Jihad Washington figures. Falatha wants permission to terminate Kane and the Librarian.

Color of the Stone

NY Times reporter Morgan Kane is followed by two terrorists as he heads to his Washington, DC apartment. He's been tracked by these two from his UK vacation tour of Stonehenge. Kane is a political analyst and one of a privileged few press reps with access to the President's daily press conferences. A crow at Stonehenge dropped a stone from the giant primitive columns into Kane's hands. Kept in his pocket, the stone vibrates when it changes color. In this excerpt, the color green is a warning to be vigilant and wary of people, places and things. He will learn what different colors mean, including a color to avoid his death.

The Chosen Templar

Holthar, the high priest of Stonehenge, comes to NY Times reporter Morgan Kane, napping on a plane from the UK. With Iran poised to launch a global chemical attack on non-jihad countries, Holthar seeks a Templar (priest) to use Stonehenge's powers to confront Iran. A ChosenTemplar is the only one who can thwart Iran's use of chemicals with the power of light. Such weaponry with light spectra was used by the Druids thousands of years before BC. This excerpt shows Kane's first contact bridging the time warp from Stonehenge days to our times of intense Jihad threat.

Ready for Global War

This excerpt denotes a scenario being seen today. In WWII there two major political factions: The Axis (Fascism) and The Allies (Democracy). Today we have Islamic extremism (often called Islamic fascism) and Western Democracy. THE DRUID STONE shows a world poised on another global war. First, it needs a world buy-in to the above polarities. All countries have been infiltrated by jihadists. All sections of government, including the military, have sleeper Islamic extremists waiting for their call to arms. Only the time-old enemy of jihad factions, The Druids, can confront Iran's bid for a global chemical world war. The high priest of Stonehenge becomes today's emissary for this confrontation.

Real or Imagined

A holographic image and presence of Holthar, the high priest of Stonehenge, keeps reappearing to New York Times reporter Morgan Kane. As Holthar increases the frequency of his connection to Kane, Kane becomes more aware of an Iranian plot to launch a global war. Kane's main problem is his own mental credibility. Is he hallucinating? Does he have a brain tumor? These are questions beginning to get resolved as this excerpt shows physical evidence of a paranormal experience. Kane learns more about the Druids and their power in a gradual progression to his transformation to a Knight Templar, needed to confront Iran's "holy" war against the West.

The assault begins

Iran wants the world polarized into pro-Moslem and anti-Moslem. Specifically Iran wants Islam extremism to dominant humanity. NY Times reporter Morgan Kane knows this via his interaction with a stone retrieved at Stonehenge. Kane has been selected by Holthar, the Stonehenge high priest, to become the Chosen Templar and confront the Ayatollah in Iran. Kane is slow to understand the power of his Druid Stone. Iranian agents want Kane dead so they can launch a global war beginning against the U.S. We see in today's headlines that Iran wants nuclear power. We see Iran assaulting international shipping. The world is standing idly by letting this happen. Iran wants another WWII. Only the power of Kane's Druid Stone can pose a threat to Iran's worldwide Jihad.

Terrorism and the power of Stonehenge

When my wife and I toured Stonehenge several years ago I was caught up in the history and aura of the Stonehenge Temple. There were signs everywhere warning not to take any stones from the site. I had been wanting to write about Iran's chemical warfare capability and now I had the missing link. The jihadists were driven by ancient religion and only ancient religion can stop them. The power of Stonehenge might do it. In The Druid Stone, Iran has broadcast its designs on eliminating the non-Islamic world. NY Times reporter Morgan Kane was given a stone during his Stonehenge tour and now sees Holthar, the Stonehenge high priest of 2000 years ago. The stone imparts powers of light which are emitted via Kane's hands and eyes. He arrives in Tehran and must stop Iran's launch of chemical warhead missiles on the western world.

U.S. NAVAL HOSPITAL

Biographies & Memoirs

U.S. NAVAL HOSPITAL presents 8 short stories of real life happenings to patients and staff during wartime. Central Park has three marine patients testing their recovery by allowing New York City muggers to attack them. Lexington and Thomas Jefferson depicts the author as a Navy Medical Officer caught up in the bureaucracy of a wartime mindset. When the Vietnam War ends the author faces Navy law prosecution for seemingly trivial circumstances in A Tale of Two Boats. The Man In White about a wounded warrior in a total body cast presents an epidemiological nightmare to the hospital commander. You won’t believe how much trouble a wounded marine sergeant creates for himself in The Tattoo. A noted Navy chest surgeon takes up a bow and arrow to stalk his wife’s lover from Central Park in Arrows in the Night. The most outrageous and frightening episode for the author because it really happened to him is revealed in Peter and the Wolf. Dirty Surgery is about germs-the US Navy verses imported bacteria and the paranoia it generates. Albans, Boston and Portsmouth New Hampshire Naval Hospitals all vie for unusual situations with life in a military medical society.

Book Bubbles from U.S. NAVAL HOSPITAL

Bugs on a Nuclear Submarine

As a medical officer on a boomer nuclear sub (SSBN Thomas Jefferson) my duties included food inspection, sick call, air oxygen and carbon dioxide content, garbage ejection, and monitoring the radiation containment of the nuclear reactor room. During my first reactor room surveillance, my corpsman and I discovered live cockroaches moving in and out of the engine room. I couldn't believe my eyes. The discovery led to an idea to study the ratio of roach body mass to dosage of radiation as registered on the Geiger counter. Little did I know that my report would lead me to a confrontation with the highest ranking Nuke sub commandant, Admiral Hyman Rickover.

Do You Have A Tattoo?

Navy Lieutenant Dr. Walters (Wally) is a Navy Anesthesiology Resident during the Vietnam War. Marine Sergeant Marble is a recovering wounded returnee who now wants a tattoo removed. The tattoo has the name of a previous lover. Dr. Walters is in the process of convincing Marble that the only safe anesthesia for him is a a spinal anesthetic. Marble is resistant to the proposed spinal anesthesia because he doesn't want to be awake when the tattoos are exposed in the operating room. Many of the female staff are anxious to view Marble's surgery. The Tattoo, like other stories in US Naval Hospital is true.

The Marines of Central Park

Blodgett was one of a trio of healed wounded warriors stationed at Queens Naval Hospital, Long Island, NY.They were waiting for orders to return to duty and, hopefully, back to the Vietnam War. Marines thought like that. Marines with medical clearance for reassignment from the hospital also wanted to simulate some kind of physical and combat training. Queens Naval was near the closest thing to a combat zone—NY's Central Park. The Park was infested with muggers and soldiers were always a prime target to prove to themselves and the reassignment board, Blodgett and two Marine friends take turns luring muggers and evaluating how well they succeeded in hand-to-hand confrontation. In this excerpt, It's Blodgett's turn first.

What's Your Tattoo Like?

Tattoos are almost synonymous with being in the military. Today, they're common in civilian life too. This excerpt from a true story is a rendering of how some tattoos can be an extreme liability, especially if your fiancé won't marry you unless you get it removed. Marine Sgt. Marble is in such a situation. Dr. Walters (Wally) must convince Marble to have spinal anesthesia verses general anesthesia to have the libelous tattoo removed. He has Marble perform an exercise which will induce asthmatic-like wheezing in a heavy smoker. This will mandate that Sgt Marble can only have spinal anesthesia for his procedure. On the other hand, If I had a tattoo like Marble's, I'd also demand to be put to sleep instead of being awake as with a spinal anesthetic.

Roaches Will Inherit the Earth

US Naval Hospital is a series of connected stories about a Navy Medical Officer's experience on a Polaris Nuclear Submarine. I was that Medical Officer on the SSBN Thomas Jefferson. My duties included maintaining the air safe for breathing, checking the sanitation facilities, holding sick call, selecting the movies, and inspecting the nuclear reactor power plant for radiation leakage. It was this last chore that got me in more trouble with the Navy than I could ever imagine. I found radioactive cockroaches living inside and outside the power plant source. If roaches could survive, why couldn't humans? I dove into a quest for an answer and studied the roaches life cycle and radiation levels throughout the cruise. I submitted my research report to the head of Navy medicine. My report triggered a series of possible negative incomes toward my career, my livelihood, and my freedom.

Central Park Stalker Arises

This excerpt from my Vietnam War anthology US NAVAL HOSPITAL, depicts the birth of a type of wartime PTSD. A Navy Chest Surgeon returns from the war to find his wife has left him for someone else. There was no Dear John letter, no mention of an affair, no hint of her new love life. The sudden realization that she's living with another man, and has been while he was away a year in war torn Vietnam, triggers identification of a new enemy. But who is the enemy? Is it his cheating wife or her lover. By telling a fellow medical officer of his social situation, he's ready to launch an attack. The planning phase begins in the next chapter. The Navy surgeon practices in the Bachelor Officer's Quarters with a bow and arrow.

A Werewolf in the Navy

The real science of Psychiatry has a defined entity of lycanthrope presentations. They are otherwise normal people who behave like werewolves during full moon appearances. I saw one during the Vietnam War at the Navy Hospital in New York when I worked the ER. This excerpt shows the dilemma at having such a case in the military during wartime (Vietnam). The problems that a patient named Wolfson forced the head Psychiatrist and me into, were outrageous. US Naval Hospital is a collection of real Navy Medical situations I faced which, although all different, are actually linked together and illustrate how strange life is. This book is a best seller at several book signings I've sponsored.

The Firewall

In an active wartime Navy hospital, I often had to live in the Bachelor's Officer's Quarters (BOQ) when I was on call as a duty Anesthesiologist. I was fortunate not to get orders to Vietnam but rather had assignments at stateside Navy Hospitals. Still, my experiences were not without risk as this excerpt shows. Dr. Blivitz was a Vietnam War returnee and thoracic surgeon. While he was away saving soldiers' lives, his wife was having amorous adventures at home in New York City. Since she did not allow him back in their NYC home, he took up residence at the BOQ. His resentments towards his unfaithful wife escalated as he practiced executing his wife and her lover with a bow and arrow.

Central Park Marines

As a Navy Medical Officer at a Naval hospital in New York, I was always wary of signing passes to New York City for patients awaiting transfer back to duty–especially Marines or Special Forces. This expert is from US Naval Hospital, a compilation of real incidents from a wartime military hospital during the Vietnam War. Three marines, Blodgett, Haynes, and Nodge, use Central Park to encounter muggers. The plan is for one marine to lure a felon and overpower him, or her, without having to call for his secreted fellow comrades. The marines and other soldiers considered this kind of testing as evidence of being fit for return to combat.

Remember the USS Thresher and USS Scorpion

I met Admiral Hyman Rickover, US Nuclear Submarine Fleet Commandant, on 3 occasions in the Navy. First, when I was the MD coordinating his annual physical exam. Second, when I reported the presence of radioactive cockroaches on my boomer submarine. And lastly, when I discovered rampant alcohol use at the submarine shipyard of my last assignment. The Portsmouth, NH yard was implicated in errors leading to the Thresher and Scorpion disastrous sinking with all hands aboard. This excerpt is from my book, US Naval Hospital, documenting my Navy service as a Medical Officer during the Vietnam War years.

Submarine commandant is my patient

I was a Chief Navy Intern during the Vietnam War at a 2100 bed NY Naval Hospital. I never went to Vietnam but the possibility always hung over our heads. As the senior intern I had to perform the admission history and physical exam on Admiral Hyman Rickover for his mandatory annual check-up which included lab work and x-ray studies. Rickover was of small stature but a reputed irascible commander. I was terrified I would do something in my work-up which would upset him enough to get me orders to an under fire Vietnam field hospital. This excerpt is a true account and shows that fear in the military doesn't have to come from a combat situation. It could emanate from administration of a barium enema.

Decompression

What would you rather do in the Navy as a Doctor - be in a front line under fire field hospital or be a nuclear submarine Medical Officer? I had that choice. My wife helped with the decision of course. I went to Submarine Medicine School in New London, Connecticut. It was safer, easier, and more fun than dodging bullets, right? Wrong. This excerpt taken from my book of wartime short stories in the Navy, US NAVAL HOSPITAL, shows that even submarine basic training could shorten your lifespan. It didn't get much easier when I was assigned to the USS Thomas Jefferson and we cruised 100 feet under water.

A Tale of Two Boats

I learned to sail in the Navy. Special Services supplied the sailboat - a 16-foot Puffin. My Corpsman was an experienced sailor and my mentor. When the Vietnam War ended for the US in 1973, I had more time to spend with the Puffin. As a Navy Medical Officer, I could use my afternoons and evening freely as long as I wasn't on call for the hospital. Portsmouth Naval Hospital was part of the Portsmouth Naval nuclear submarine shipyard. One afternoon our Puffin got becalmed in the submarine lane heading into the shipyard. The sub could not leave the lane and was coming straight for us. At times like this I use foxhole prayers and made promises to God to get me out of this situation.

The Letter 1968

Everyone,especially me, dreaded the Presidential letter of invitation to military service. It was called a draft notice. I had envisioned my life as stable and projected a career as a research doctor and ultimately full professor at Boston University School of Medicine. I had a new baby, I hadn't had an internship yet, and I had some physical disability from previous ulcer surgery. President Johnson and my draft board didn't care. A place for doctors could always be found in the service during wartime. Physician exemptions from the military were rare. US NAVAL HOSPITAL details a few of my exploits, none of which I write with regret. I think of the Navy and the Vietnam War every Memorial Day as something I had to do for my country, and would do again.

Making Rounds

Doctor-patient visits in a wartime Navy hospital are just like in a civilian hospital except the patients are wounded or sick warriors. The visits are called "rounds".The title of this short story is Dirty Surgery. The patients all have infections - some from bullet wounds, shrapnel fragments, or just tropical opportunist infectious diseases. The operating room personnel treated us and our patients as if we were lepers. We were somehow regarded as carriers of unseen microscopic bacterial enemies. It was common for me to take 2-3 showers a day before I went home. My wife viewed my existence on Dirty Surgery as if I was carrying the black plague.

Central Park Battleground

Three marine patients test their combat readiness by pretending to be easy marks for NY City's Central Park muggers. This excerpt is from one of the nine short stories in US NAVAL HOSPITAL. A marine named Blodgett lures a mugger by pretending to be alone and vulnerable. The deal with the three marines is for one to attract and overpower a mugger without having to call for help from the other two. They each have to take turns being a mugger's target. The consequences of this action reach back to their Naval Hospital in Long Island.

Three Marines

As a General Medical Officer in the Navy at St. Albans Naval Hospital, I was often in charge of soldier-patients awaiting call back to duty. Most marines wanted to go back to combat in Vietnam. I could never understand that. These hearty combatants had already proven themselves and had gotten bloodied. This excerpt from US Naval Hospital is a true story. I changed the names of course. Three marines had a weekend pass to NY City and headed for Central Park. Their mission was not R

Why Me?

This short story has three sections. The common entity is my interaction with the Navy's Nuclear Submarine Commandant when I was a young Navy Medical Officer. Admiral Hyman Rickover was noted as a brilliant submarine developer and a confrontational, irascible human being. He was short, thin and never smiled. My job in my first contact with the Admiral was to do his annual physical exam. Little did I know that our paths would cross two more times over the next four years. And each time was more fearful than the next.

Tattoos of Regret

A Navy anesthesia resident confronts a marine war returnee with a healing gunshot wound. The marine sergeant now wants his tattoos removed because they threaten his domestic tranquility. Many servicemen obtain tattoos because of peer pressure plus poor judgement brought on by alcohol as in this story. How does a tattoo get removed? What kind of anesthesia is needed? What are the consequences of the surgery called dermabrasion? This marine sergeant and most of the Navy hospital population find out.

Arrows in the Night.

I changed the names in my memoir short stories. The story lines are all true and especially this story about a surgeon who returns home from the war to find his wife has been unfaithful. The reader has to reflect on how often this happens. I can only say in my experience as a Navy Medical officer during the Vietnam War, I witnessed it many times. Does it occur now? Unfortunately it does. I work with PTSD Afghanistan and Iraqi returnees once a week. For a few, their PTSD is based not on combat but coming home to wives living with another man. Arrows in the Night is a true story even with the outrageous scenes taking place in New York's Central Park or at the US Naval Hospital.

Peter and the Wolf

I was the Junior Medical Officer of the Day (JMOOD) at St. Albans Naval Hospital during the Vietnam War. Our daily census was 2100 patients. As JMOOD I had to work the emergency room and one night the Brooklyn Shore Patrol dropped an army sergeant off in cuffs and chains because he was biting people in Central Park. It was a full moon mild fall night. When I began examining the soldier his demeanor and appearance changed. The whites of his eyes turned red, he began to salivate, and his hair stood up. It was a massive adrenaline discharge. He started howling like a wolf and attacked me. The clinical name for werewolfism is Lycanthropy. My wife heard about the episode before I came home. The entire incident was referred to as Peter and the Wolf. Peter Glassman MD, PhD

THE HELIOS RAIN

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

U.S. Air Force Major Dr. Mathew Collins is a military target in his plastic surgery practice. As the sole survivor of his special operations unit in Afghanistan after Iranians attack with the chemical trichothecene–AKA the Helios Rain. The U.S. fears its next home attack will be with this weapon. Collins’ primary physician, Air Force Colonel Dr. Abram Gesecke is actively testing Collins muscle tissue in pursuit of an antidote and reason for his survival. Gesecke urges Collins not to draw attention to his newfound super strength, as Iran wants his medical records and engineer his abduction. Indeed, an Iranian soldier, Lieutenant Kahlid Vermani, another Helios Rain survivor, is sent to the U.S. to find him. Vermani uncovers three Afghanistan veterans named Mathew Collins in his mission. In so doing, he prioritizes his targets–an Army Sergeant, a Navy SEAL Lieutenant and Dr. Collins. It is an agenda of discovery and death. Dr. Collins cannot hide his new powers. San Antonio crime boss Carl Grange discovers him at a fitness center, when Collins rescues the man by lifting 400 pounds off his neck. And when Collins sings the Lord’s Prayer in church with his newfound soul mate Nancy Tilden and her son Frankie, his voice becomes an ethereal, heaven sent delivery inducing a spiritual experience in all who hear him including the U.S. President. Presidential attention adds the Secret Service into the mix of Air Force Security and CIA trying to keep Collins and his new family protected.

Book Bubbles from THE HELIOS RAIN

The Iranian is Coming

US Air Force Plastic Surgeon Matt Collins and Iranian Army Office Kahlid Vermani have a common attribute. They have both been exposed to Iran's chemical warfare agent and instead of dying of muscular paralysis they survived now having the strength of 15 men. Collins gets sent to San Antonio to be studied in search of why he's alive and perhaps pass on his super strength secret to US armed forces. Vermani is tasked by Iran to seek out Collins and determine if the US has a toxin antidote. If the US does not, then the next 9/11 will be an attack on western nations using the chemical weapon.

A Superhero Is Born

Iran sprinkles down its neurotoxic agent on a Special Ops unit in Afghanistan. All but Air Force Plastic Surgeon Mathew Collins die from muscular paralysis. Major Collins survives with not even the slightest muscle weakness. On the contrary, Collins now has the muscle strength of 20 men. His connective tissue stops bullets from advancing beyond skin penetration. The US and Iran want to know how he survived. The US needs Collins to find an antidote. Iran wants Collins to be able them to change their chemical to kill more like him. Collins goes to San Antonio, Texas for Air Force and government doctors to get the answers. Collins learns he has superpowers which both sides also want.

The next September 11th

Air Force Plastic Surgeon Mathew Collins enters Bethesda Naval Hospital for a muscle biopsy. Collins unit was ambushed and exposed to a chemical toxin in Afghanistan. All but Collins were killed. Collins survived without any signs of muscle paralysis. On the contrary, he now has the muscle mass of a weight lifter and ten times the strength. The Pentagon feels the next 9/11 attack will the trichothecene poison used on Collins. Thy need a muscle biopsy to find out why Collins survived. They want to know why he has superhuman strength. They want to find an antidote for the poison.His fiancee Nancy Tilden finds out for the first time about why Collins is being nurtured, protected, and investigated by the Air Force, CIA, and Institute of health.

Terrorism Comes To San Antonio

The Helios Rain discloses the reality of Iran's ownership of trichothecene, a paralytic toxin to be used in the next 9/11 attack on the US. Plastic surgeon Matt Collins has returned from his military service as the sole survivor of a chemical attack on a US special operations team in Afghanistan. Iran's assigned terrorists need to grab Dr. Collins and find out why he survived. They need to know if the US has been using Collins to develop an antidote. CIA Agent Peck advises Frankie, a 13-year-old teen, to watch-out for suspicious people. His mother is engaged to Collins. A kidnap attempt on either one could be used to trade for Collins.

Nightmares Again

The toxin called The Helios Rain visited Air Force Plastic Surgeon Matthew Collins nightly. His special operations unit in Afghanistan was under chemical attack. Every one died except him. Every night they kept dying and he always woke up the sole survivor. His San Antonio doctors at the Wilford Hall Air Force Hospital had him scheduled for treatment to externalize his nightly horrors. In the meantime, they also want to find out why he not only survived the paralytic trichothecene Iran toxin attack, but why he now had the strength of over 15 men.

Iran Starts Chemical Attacks

We've seen the use of chemical agents by Iraq's Saddam Hussein. Iran has given a refined form of the toxin to Syria. Syria has used it on its own populace. We've seen the result on TV. The chemical called trichothecene causes muscular paralysis and death. In The Helios Rain, the agent is deployed at night but becomes deadly by photo-activation in sunlight. Hence the name "Helios". Air Force Major Mathew Collins is the sole survivor of Iran's use on a US Middle East Special Ops team. Instead of getting paralyzed Collins gains the strength of over 15 men. Iran and the US wants to now how Collins survived—each for a different reason.

A Single Mother's First Kiss

Nancy Tilden is a single mother of a thirteen year old son who meets an Air Force Plastic Surgeon returned from Middle East deployment with unusual wounds. While San Antonio Air Force doctors evaluate Dr. Mathew Collins' unusual powers after being exposed to Iran's toxic chemical weapon, the couple is gradually falling in love. Unbeknownst to either is that they have both become targets of Al Qaeda and Iran who need to know why Dr. Collins survived the weapon they want to use on the US as a follow-up to the 9/11 attack.

An Air Force Doctor and Chemical Warfare

Air Force Plastic surgeon Mathew Collins survives exposure to a chemical toxin in an Afghanistan ambush. He's the sole survivor. His muscles weren't paralyzed like the others. In fact, all of his muscle groups were now 20 times stronger than normal. Circumstances back in the states define how much Collins body has changed. From flipping over cars to destroying drug cartel buildings, Collins has become a clandestine superman. Asked to volunteer to sing The Lord's Prayer, finds Collins on the front page of the newspaper. His voice is so powerful, the congregation thinks God is using his voice. Some people fear him, some are hopeful that God's presence is upon them. Terrorists target him to find and use his powers.

Chemical warfare is here now

Dr. Mathew Collins is the sole survivor of an Iranian ambush in Afghanistan. A chemical toxin called The Helios Rain caused complete muscular paralysis and death in all but him. Collins is alive and instead of being weak and crippled he now has the strength of twenty men. While being evaluated by San Antonio's Air Force doctors he must perform daily fitness workouts to prevent his muscles from seizing in a contracture state. He was also advised to keep a low profile as Iranian agents are looking for him to find out why he survived. This excerpt shows how difficult it is for Collins to remain anonymous. Iran plans the next 9/11 attack on US soil using The Helios Rain.

Iran Uses a Chemical Agent

Iran calls their chemical warfare agent The Helios Rain. "Rain" because it's showered on soldiers and civilians from helicopters at night. "Helios" because the toxin is inert in the dark but photo-converts to cause muscle paralysis when the sun comes out. Air Force Plastic Surgeon Matt Collins is the only ambush survivor of a special operations group in Afghanistan. Iran helicopters sprinkled the Helios Rain on his unit. Collins does not display any muscle weakness. On the contrary, He now has the strength of a super hero. Can Dr. Collins' unusual reaction turn him into a super weapon against an Iranian chemical attack? Is he the answer to blocking the next 9/11 assault on the West?

An Air Force MD Begins Civilian Life

Air Force Plastic Surgeon Mathew Collins is the sole survivor of an Iranian ambush in Afghanistan. He is being studied by doctors and scientists in San Antonio, Texas to find out why he survived, while 39 others in his unit died. While this is happening, Dr. Collins opens his office to begin his civilian life. This excerpt initiates Collins into the human side of plastic surgery. It also takes Collins' mind off the fact that an Iranian band of terrorists are looking for him to also find out why he survived the ambush. Iran plans the next 9/11 attack on the US to be with the chemical toxin used against Collins. They must know if the US has found an antidote. They must find Collins at all costs and fast.

Only one survives Iran's first chemical toxin

The Helios Rain is Iran's first tactical chemical weapon. It's deployed at night and converted into a paralytic poison when the sun comes out. Air Force Plastic Surgeon Dr. Matt Collins assigned to a 40-man Navy SEAL special operations mission is the only survivor when the toxin rains down on his unit. Instead of suffering paralysis and death, Collins finds his muscle mass and strength is increased to biblical dimension. US doctors want to find out how he lived. They want an antidote. The US military also wants their soldiers to have Collins' new found power. Collins could be the answer to saving America from Iran's next nine-eleven attack using The Helios Rain.

Iran's Weapon Kills People Only

Iran continues to supply Jihadists with weapons. President Obama has a written agreement with Iran not to develop or use nuclear arms. Iran agrees, it will not use a weapon that destroys people, places and things rendering a conquered radioactive environment useless. It will use The Helios Rain, a liquid chemical called trichothecene which is rained down on an enemy at night. The toxin does nothing until the sun comes out and photo-converts it to a paralytic poison. Air Force plastic surgeon Matt Collins has survived such an attack. He has one side effect—instead of muscle weakness he has tremendous strength. The US wants to know why. Iran wants to know why, they want the next 9/11 attack on the US to be with the Helios Rain but not if Americans find a key to survival. Matt Collins is that key.

The Gangster

Air Force Plastic Surgeon Matt Collins survives the paralytic poison known as The Helios Rain. Not only does he survive he now has the strength of many men. The US Government wants to find out how he survived so Americans under future attack can survive. The Military also wants their soldiers to have the strength of many men. Iran, the maker of the deadly chemical wants to find out who this survivor is. And now, this excerpt triggers another unsavory group for probable uses of this modern day superman. All totaled, several friendly and a few anti-US government factions are after Matt Collins who is now under protection of the CIA, US Air Force, Secret Service and the President of the United States.

Afghanistan to San Antonio

“How am I ever going to learn my way around San Antonio?” I asked my wife. We moved to our retirement city for several reasons. First, every two years I went to San Antonio to attend the Annual Review Course in Anesthesiology. I fell in love with the city. I loved the weather—no snow. I loved the people—large military, active duty and retired, population. My daughter and four grandchildren lived there. So we moved. However, I couldn’t fathom San Antonio’s loop traffic system. I frequently got lost. So, I asked my wife, my ultimate mentor. Her response was immediate.“If you change the venue on your new book from Connecticut to San Antonio, you’ll have to find your way around.” She was right. My protagonist was now a Texan and through him I learned to navigate San Antonio’s streets like a native. The San Antonio habitat now seems like destiny. Only in this Texas metropolis could a contemporary thriller, romance, crime drama, and fantasy novel like THE HELIOS RAIN take place.

Forget You're a Doctor

Plastic surgeon Mathew Collins is the sole survivor of a chemical attack in Afghanistan. Thirty-nine Navy SEALs perished. There was a consequence, however. Instead of being paralyzed by the deadly trichothecene, his muscles enlarged and his strength became of superhero quality. In fact, if Collins didn't regularly exercise and get at least weekly physical therapy, his muscles would spasm to incapacitation. This excerpt from Chapter 3 in THE HELIOS RAIN, illustrates some of Collins PTSD related to his military action. He has problems relating to others as a person. He's a plastic surgeon whose first impression of a pleasant woman at a Physical Therapy office is her need of a nose job. He makes excuses for his own need for PT, glossing over his combat experience. Finding this woman will make him confront his PTSD.

Might is Right

Dr. Matt Collins is the sole survivor of an Afghanistan chemical attack. He was not paralyzed like the rest of the Navy SEAL team. He emerged with super strength. In addition, his body became impervious to any penetrating missile—bullet, knife or shrapnel. Iran sends agents to find Collins at his home in San Antonio. The terrorists want to launch another 9/11 using the chemical agent. Iran must kind out why it failed on Collins. The US military wants to understand his toxin resistance so all Americans can survive the next jihad attack on the US. This excerpt shows Collins using his strength to intimidate a drug cartel leader by flipping 2-ton Cadillac limo.

Surviving a Chemical Attack

I learned about the Middle East enemy's use of a fungal toxin, trichothecene, during Desert Storm while in the activated Army Reserve. As a Medical Officer I was aghast that exposure would cause paralysis and death. THE HELIOS RAIN puts forth the questions: "what if one person survived with the opposite of paralysis?; what if the soldier acquired super-strength instead of fatal weakness." Plastic surgeon Dr. Mathew Collins is that man. He learns the scope and breadth of his powers daily. The enemy is Iran and terrorists try to find out why he survived. Iran wants to use the paralytic toxin in missile warheads for the next September 11 attack on the US.

Transition to Normality

Dr. Matt Collins begins to accept life out of a combat zone as he renews his civilian plastic surgery practice. Intensive treatment for his PTSD from the Afghanistan ambush is helping relate to his patients, family and friends. This excerpt presents a young female patient who keeps popping up in Collin's office for cosmetic surgery in order to attract a marital mate. It's down to earth people like Cynthia bounty and Minister Reverend Chance who supply humor and sober moments. The Reverend is a key person helping Collins with his spiritual needs that help shed his soldier flashbacks.

Classic PTSD

A classic manifestation of PTSD in war returnees is nightmares. The nightmare can be recurrent or triggered by a sound (loud blast-like noise) or merely revisiting a photo of a comrade lost in action. It could be a holiday - Memorial Day, Veterans Day, the Fourth of July. Many PTSD victims seek treatment at the urgency of loved ones. Most, however, don't understand what's happening and diagnosis and treatment follow lost jobs, broken or chaotic home life, and inability to concentrate. In this excerpt, Dr. Mathew Collins relives his chemical attack ambush every morning and accepts it as part of life. It will take his Air Force doctor to bring it to the surface so Collins can focus on family, friends, job and spirituality. If Collins doesn't confront his PTSD, he'll be unable to process a new found fact - terrorists are here in San Antonio after him. They want to know how he survived the chemical they want to use for the next 9/11 attack on the US.

Romance takes a break from terrorism

Afghanistan returnee Air Force Plastic Surgeon Matt Collins finds life without war zone stress on the River Walk in San Antonio. Nancy Tilden is a new found love interest and a divorced mother of a thirteen- year-old boy who urges her to date Collins. The River Walk in downtown San Antonio can be likened to a Garden of Eden with a small river running through it. Mexican troubadours and mariachi bands add to the social ambience. They chose a Mexican restaurant which, as a surprise to the couple, has a karaoke requirement. Matt sings to Nancy and the spark of love is ignited.

"Don't draw attention to yourself."

Plastic surgeon Dr. Matt Collins returned from Afghanistan to his home and practice in San Antonio. The chemical agent ambush left him with enormous strength and muscle mass while paralyzing and killing the rest of his unit. He was warned not to expose his Samson-like ability because terrorists from Iran were looking for him. However, life is what it is and some events are inevitable such as this seemingly innocent domestic scene.

An Afghanistan returnee sings The Lord's Prayer an

My Army MASH unit trained with gas masks and rubber suits. The Middle Eastern countries had chemical warfare agents supplied by Iran. The world and the media did not publicize this. I wrote the Helios Rain to reveal such a scenario. Dr. Matt Collins is an Afghanistan returnee and sole survivor of a chemical ambush. The toxin kills by paralysis. However, all of Collins' muscles increased in strength - even his vocal cord muscles. Collins attends church with his fiancée Nancy Tilden and her teen son Frankie. Collins sings The Lord's Prayer with a God-like delivery. Nancy, Frankie, and the congregation are astounded. This is but one of the new abilities Collins has because of his chemical exposure, Iranian terrorists are sent to San Antonio to find out why Collins survived. The Ayatollah wants the next 9/11 to be with chemical agents. Iran wants no survivors. Peter Glassman MD, PhD

THE HAPPY HAT

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

THE HAPPY HAT is a medical thriller, crime drama and unusual love story taking place in one of the Navy’s largest stateside military hospitals. The story is based on actual events which the author relives through fictionalized characters. An FBI agent undercover as a Navy corpsman follows a patient in a total body cast from Vietnam to Queens Naval Hospital. The cast contains a half-million in heroin waiting to be picked up by a Brooklyn biodisposal team of killers. The New York cartel eliminates any internal or external threat and films their torturous murders. Chief Corpsman and FBI Agent Isaac Kaplan agonizes trying to filter out the who, what, where’s and whys of the heroin smuggling ring which endangers several lives and the one Nurse who may be the leader–the one he falls in love with.

Book Bubbles from THE HAPPY HAT

Nurse LCDR Skagan, Friend or Foe

FBI Agent Ike Kaplan has placed Navy Nurse LCDR Skagan on his top suspect list. Is she the one coordinating the transfer of removed orthopedic plaster casts to civilian New York City heroin smugglers? He has to know. Especially, now that he has personal ambivalent feelings toward her. Why would she want to see him privately? She's an Officer and he's an enlisted Hospital Corpsman? That's a definite no-no in the military. She couldn't possibly know Kaplan was an FBI agent. Or could she? Kaplan weigh's his feelings against his FBI training and decides to take his .45 pistol with him on his date at her home.

Killer with the Happy Hat

Sebastian Remo, a wounded warrior from Vietnam, is also part of the cartel smuggling heroin from Nam into the US. Heroin is incorporated into the plaster casts of returning orthopedic patients. All casts from all patients are to be changed upon US arrival to avoid importing foreign microorganisms into the country. In Nam, Remo organized the application of the heroin cast material to battle casualties. Becoming a casualty himself, Remo now is lead man in Queens Naval Hospital, NY City for recovery of the heron by civilian medical-waste contractors. Remo regards his Aussie Digger hat as lucky...lucky to be alive and kill again in his hometown.

Navy Nurse Skagan and her cat Bork

Navy Nurse Philomena Skagan is a hardened all business healthcare giver at Queens Naval Hospital at the height of the Vietnam War. She's lives alone with a giant of a Maine Coon cat named Bork. In this episode the reader can sense that Skagan shares her no nonsense life attitude with Bork, who is as protective for his master as she is for him. Romance may bud for Skagan when a senior hospital Navy corpsman Isaac Kaplan comes courting. He has yet to meet Bork. Kaplan has true feelings for Skagan, however, he's also an undercover FBI agent who suspects her as part of a Vietnam-to-New York heroin smuggling ring.

FBI permission to write The Happy Hat

Should I or should I not write my Vietnam Wartime book about heroin smuggling? In 1970 I had to sign an official document not to reveal that heroin was smuggled from Viet Nam to the US in wounded patients' plaster casts. I was a Navy General Medical Officer working on orthopedic wards in a NY Naval hospital at the peak of the war. We had four orthopedic wards for primary care and 6 minimum care buildings for ambulatory convalescent soldiers. One day my senior corpsman, an FBI undercover agent (unbeknownst to all), locked down the ward. Both the FBI and DEA had tracked down the New York area heroin smuggling ring to our hospital. I always wanted to write about it. I called the FBI ten years ago and they denied any knowledge of the episode. They did, however, give me permission to write the book, The Happy Hat, as long as I stressed it was a work of fiction. I crossed my fingers and wrote it. This excerpt is about the civilian arm of the cartel processing plaster casts from the Navy Hospital patients.

First Impressions

LCDR Philomena Skagan is the senior nurse officer at Queens Naval Hospital in charge of disposal of all plaster casts from Vietnam's wounded warriors. Navy Hospital Corpsman Kaplan is an undercover FBI agent investigating heroin smuggling into the US. The FBI and DEA now know the heroin has been incorporated into the plaster of the casts in Vietnam. All casts must be changed upon arrival into US military hospitals and sent to a private civilian disposal service. In reality, the disposal team extracts the heroin for US distribution. Kaplan suspects the martinet nurse Skagan as the military go-between for the heroin cartel. He must get to know Skagan better, but she's an officer and he's enlisted rank.

A Cat Named Bork

Undercover FBI Agent Isaac "Ike" Kaplan is part of a multi-disciplinary team tracking heroin smuggling from Vietnam to the US. Kaplan, as a Navy corpsman, is now focusing on the possibilities of a Navy nurse as the key liaison in a cartel which secreted heroin in the plaster casts of wounded war returnees. She's in charge of cast disposal at Queens Naval Hospital. As he narrowed his suspects to nurse Skagan, his feelings are also changing. He very much likes this woman. This excerpt depicts a turning point in his personal attitude toward her as something more than a possible criminal. Her cat named Bork stimulates Skagan's usually stone hard exterior to a warmth that strikes to his core.

A Man Called Boomer

Boomer is a soldier back from vietnam in a total body cast. Hospital corpsman and undercover FBI Agent Isaac Kaplan follows Boomer from Nam to track the flow of heroin to the US. The FBI

The Man with the Happy Hat

Many war returnees, especially the wounded, bring back good luck charms. Sebastian Remo believes his Australian Digger hat allowed him to survive several tours of duty in Vietnam. Remo was pivotal to the initial chain of smuggling heroin from the front lines of Vietnam by substituting heroin impregnated into the plaster rolls used to form casts in orthopedic causalities. This excerpt from Chapter 10 incorporates part of my initial dialogue with the original patient who arrived on a train air-evac clutching his Digger hat. My patient was in fact part of a US drug cartel chain of smuggling heroin into the US. Remo continued his work in the smuggling process while a military patient in the Naval hospital. He was never seen without his Australian Digger.

High School Basics

To understand adult behavior, its important to reveal where we came from. LCDR Philomena Skagan is a prime heroin-smuggling suspect for undercover FBI Navy Hospital Corpsman Isaac Kaplan. He knows nothing of Skagan's background. Skagan is a compulsive detail person who doesn't trust men. This excerpt shows how parents direct our behavior and how early pre-adult events influence our attitude and demeanor. Nurse Skagan does not trust men. Her difficulty in establishing relationships goes back to this high school episode. "I'll leave the selection of my soul mate up to God," Skagan announces later in the book.

Attack of the Cat

LCDR Philomena Skagan is single, obsessive compulsive, and the chief suspect in the heroin smuggling operation at Queens Naval Hospital. Although she has no close friends, she is developing an attraction for Senior Navy Hospital Corpsman Ike Kaplan. She's unaware of his status as an undercover FBI Agent. Her one true protector and comforter is a Maine Coon cat named BORK. This excerpt shows a sign of humanity common to everyday life. She has a pet who loves her unconditionally. But is it enough? How long can a woman last without a mate? Should she send out hormonal magnetic signals to Kaplan? Who is he anyway?

From plaster to the street

The heroin-impregnated casts had to be processed once they left Queens Naval Hospital. The civilian "biodisposal" labs were drug cartel owned and staffed. As a street addictive commodity, the recovery of the heroin from the plaster casts was simple yet labor intensive. Diversion of the finished heroin product to a worker's possession was met with the most painful of sanctions. To thwart temptation, unclothed workers were watched closely and tested for drug use. Videos of those who stole from the lab were shown regularly to suppress such thoughts. The films were "snuff films" of workers caught with cartel heroin harvested at the lab.

Heroin takes a long journey.

Senior Hospital Corpsman and undercover FBI Agent Ike Kaplan accompanied a patient in a total body cast from Vietnam to Queens Naval Hospital to track a suspected link in heroin smuggling by orthopedic patients. He needs to uncover how the heroin gets into the hospital and how it gets to civilian distributors. This excerpt finds Kaplan meeting his New York FBI contact for the first time. The task to put together the entire chain of heroin smuggling seems overwhelming but Kaplan will soon have more suspects than one agent could ever want.

MY NAME IS KEVIN

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Kevin Dowd has been plaguing small towns in suburban Connecticut with face-to-face holdups at ATM Machines. Two people are killed in the process. Kevin takes haven in AA meetings immediately after his perpetrations using his attendance to hide from the case-assigned Detective. Dowd is not an alcoholic or addict. Detective Doreen Pousant is getting closer to finding the ATM highwayman and after 2-years the trail keeps ending at St Raphael’s church. Pousant’s alcoholism impedes her progress and she finds herself going into St. Rachael’s AA meetings looking for the criminal. She finds more than confronting her own alcoholism. Her investigation reveals an ongoing plot infiltrating the banking system based in New York City. Further probes uncover that the 2007-9 US economic downfall had its roots in a similar Islamic extremist attack. The ATM perp, the Connecticut Detective and some AA members are caught up in a deadly confrontation that reaches from the small town of Prichard, CT and New York City to Iran and its Al Qaeda links.

Book Bubbles from MY NAME IS KEVIN

Terrorists are in AA

Kevin Dowd is a small time Connecticut hold-up man. He usually targets bank customers using the outside ATMs. This day, however, he robs a liquor store. His MO is to victimize his target fifteen minutes prior to an AA meeting. Kevin isn't an alcoholic, but he uses the members at AA meetings for an alibi that he couldn't have been the felon being sought because of his participation in overt discussions at AA meetings which just happened to be close to his perpetration site. Detective Doreen Pousant has been after the ATM bandit for many months. She's an active alcoholic who has yet to successfully track Kevin. When she does she'll have to face her own demons with alcohol as well as face terrorists also frequenting AA.

Best Alibi for Murder

Kevin Dowd supplements a major part of his income by robbing stores and ATM users. In this excerpt, a holdup is already in progress by someone else. Kevin kills the armed criminal and robs the store himself. He flees to a place with many people who function as witnesses, if needed, that Kevin was indeed with them and not at a crime scene. The Place is an AA meeting. Detective Doreen Pousant has been trying to identify, locate, and catch the local ATM hold-up man but to no avail. Part of Pousant's problem is herself. She's an active alcoholic. Eventually, their paths might cross but will it be at a hold-up in progress or at an AA meeting?The latter by pure serendipity?

The Seed is Planted

Doreen Pousant and Dana Digby are part of the police department. Pousant, a feisty red-haired detective and Digby, an addiction and alcohol crime specialist, have been lovers for over a year. Pousant has difficulty with her alcohol use but so far it hasn't affected her work. She has been assigned in charge of bringing an ATM thief and killer to justice. However, her latest pursuit of the perp has dead-ended at an AA meeting. She finds she could not enter this domain but doesn't know why. In this excerpt Digby starts thinking as to whether she is an alcoholic or just a heavy drinker. Regardless, booze is affecting her work and her love life. Pousant asks herself about her sudden concern about her alcohol use: "Why? I'm not one. The seed is planted.

Terrorists target global banking

Meza is a New York bank executive overtly but secretly he is an Al Qaeda jihadist. Many such terrorists have been trained to attack a nation's economy with blood-letting a secondary consequence. Kevin and his friend Wynona have discovered the terrorist plan to undermine the Islamic nations' banks. Meza, Kevin, and Wynona met at AA meetings. Meza began his alcohol addiction while trying to masquerade as an Islamic banker who was westernized. Meza feigned favoring capitalistic goals of expensive living. Alcohol addiction, however, required him to seek a way to stop drinking, which AA has done. Now he can continue his US bank sabotage but first he has to eliminate Kevin and Winona who know his secrets.

Hiding in plain sight, at an AA meeting.

Kevin Dowd works at a mall men's department store. In his spare time he holds up innocent victims at ATM machines. Kevin subsequently races to an AA meeting just before it's about to start. He talks to people before, during, and after the meeting to implant his presence there for an alibi should the police find him. Kevin is not an alcoholic. Pure happenstance found him at an AA meeting after one of his ATM robberies. Unbeknownst to Kevin, a female detective has been assigned to his case. Although she is smart and fastidious, Detective Sgt. Doreen Pousant is an active alcoholic. It seems fate has created their paths to cross in a sequence of unusual circumstances which could have global consequences.

Terrorism and Alcoholism

After Kevin Dowd robs stores and ATM users, he immediately goes to an AA meeting where he creates an alibi should he be pursued. So far, Detective Doreen Pousant has not been able to find the ATM criminal. This excerpt is about his modus operandi. Kevin's criminal actions have killed one victim so far. Fate will elevate the importance of Kevin's one man crime wave as he runs into Alcoholic terrorists maintaining their sobriety with AA meeting attendance. in addition, Detective Pousant is an active alcoholic. Life weaves connecting links to these players blending crime with international terrorism in a most frightening and realistic way.

A Perfect Alibi

Hold-up man Kevin Dowd robs stores and ATM customers at gunpoint. His timing must be perfect. It must be thirty minutes before an AA meeting. He must arrive 5-minutes before the meeting starts. He must share at the meeting and talk with members after the meeting. If the police come looking for him, he has multiple members who will swear that Kevin was at their AA meeting.

A Perfect Alibi

Kevin Dowd is in his twenties. He has a 9-5 job at a retail Mall key store. Dowd takes his breaks and uses his nights to hold-up strip Mall stores or waylay the unwary at their ATM machines. As in this excerpt, Kevin times his heists for his arrival at AA meetings. He must be remembered at being at the meeting and not at a crime scene. Kevin is successful...for now. AA caters to anyone wanting to recover from alcohol addiction. Its members include solid citizens, criminals, and, Kevin is to find out, terrorists. This sample is from Chapter 1. Each chapter has a hook to fast moving suspense as an alcoholic detective pursues "the ATM bandit".

Alone in a Crowd

Kevin Dowd robs citizens at ATM machines at gunpoint. So far he's only killed one person and that man had a gun. Kevin uses AA meetings to run to and establish an alibi after his ATM heists. He's not an alcoholic. He chose AA because of the anonymity. You don't have to give your last name, yet everyone remembers you were there. In fact, you can make up a name–even your first name. Kevin doesn't relate to any human and feels alone even in crowds. His only concern now is the public announcement by the Prichard Police Department that Detective Doreen Pousant has been assigned to his case. Kevin doesn't know Pousant is an active alcoholic and their paths will cross in AA.

Detective Doreen Pousant

Detective Doreen Pousant is a detail oriented sleuth, a beautiful woman, and a feeling companion...until she picks up a drink. As a detective she's both the "good guy" and the "bad guy". Her Jekyll and Hyde existence will now be life-changing as her drinking will result in a focus on the trail of a major burglar and killer in her moderate-size Connecticut town. The case will take her to New York City and major bank offices. As Pousant achieves stable sobriety her local case expands to include not only bankers but terrorists infiltrating US banks. MY NAME IS KEVIN is a constantly crescendo-building crime and terrorist thriller that pulls the reader into every situation, including attending AA meetings. Dr. Peter Glassman, an award-winning addictionologist, brings us into the world of alcohol recovery and re-acquiring life's coping skills.

My Name is Meza

Islamic extremists have infiltrated all aspects of American government and corporate structure-including banking. Terrorism is more than killing people to evoke fear and intimidation. Hitting a country's economy strikes terror in every citizen. Islamic terrorists blend in with Americans by assuming their so-called defective traits such as smoking, gambling, and drinking. The Koran forbids drinking but Iran declares it is allowed to fool the Americans. Some jihadists become alcoholics and need treatment and recovery programs. AA is thus infiltrated by alcoholic terrorists. Two AA members discover this and now must flee for their lives from terrorist bank officers who also seek AA for cessation of alcohol use.

Catch Me If You Can

Kevin Dowd robs people at ATM machines and intermittently at high cash businesses like liquor stores. Timing is important. Kevin plans his heists 30-minutes before a regular AA meeting he attends. He makes sure he's noticed. People can vouch for him being at AA and not at a crime scene. But so far Kevin hasn't had to use this alibi. He's prepared nevertheless because the lady detective who's been chasing him for two years is getting closer. Kevin scoffs at the law and at AA. He's not an alcoholic. He just uses their meeting rooms and attendees. Unbeknownst to Kevin is that Detective Doreen Pousant is an active alcoholic in trouble with her drinking.

A Benevolent Killer?

Kevin primarily robs ATM machine users. However, one time he was forced to kill a competitor felon during a liquor store robbery. After his crime is completed Kevin flees to the sanctuary of an AA meeting. Kevin is not an alcoholic or addict. He uses the AA meeting for an alibi by performing his robbery close to AA meeting time. This excerpt makes one wonder about Kevin having a touch of humanity as he gives his ATM victim a token twenty dollars to get home after he takes her car keys and cell phone. He could have left her stranded on a cold winter night.

Escape to AA

Kevin is a felon. He commits armed robberies, timing them so he can hide at AA meetings. He always arrives at the meeting a few minutes early to be noticed and always shares on the AA topic. Kevin meets with a few AAers after the meeting. This MOS has only one purpose, to establish an alibi that he was at an AA meeting at the time of his crime. This excerpt is from a chapter that describes what an AA meeting is like. The people have varied professions, talents, and social status. They all have two things in common. First, they're alcoholics or addicts. Second, they no longer drink or drug. Kevin is not, and has never been, an alcoholic.

The AA Alibi

Detective Doreen Pousant has been after the ATM mugger for over a year. The perp apparently has some obscure escape route that has yet to be discovered. She pursues all leads but without definitive results and direction. Kevin is not an alcoholic. He's a criminal who hides at AA meetings immediately after a perpetration. To establish an alibi, he has to be noticed at the AA sessions. He has studied the habits and protocol of AA meetings and knows what to say, what to do, and how to do it to be remembered., This excerpt shows Kevin in action.

From ATM to Murder

Kevin is about to meet a person in AA who will change his life. The man is called Tex although he, like Kevin, is from Connecticut. Kevin robs a woman at an ATM machine and runs to hide and establish a presence at an AA meeting. Kevin uses AA like he uses people - for self-centered purposes. He is unaware that Detective Denise Pousant is hot on his heels. She will have to confront her alcoholism to cope with her job and rocky relationship with another detective. She also needs to be sober to cope with a discovery that has global consequences on the economy if she picks up a drink.

Our economy is under attack-again.

As an Addictionologist I facilitate recovery groups who are also AA members. I was intrigued by one member of a group because he was Islamic. When I questioned how he strayed from a Moslem taboo against alcohol he told me it was the ultimate assimilation into being an American citizen. This occurred at the time the US banks and the economy had floundered. I wondered if terrorists did the same thing. MY NAME IS KEVIN has terrorists who needed AA because they became alcoholics in their quest for dissolving into the American milieu. I pose the question in MY NAME IS KEVIN about whether our banks were undermined by terrorist infiltration. The novel is fast-paced and allowed me to write about our solid citizens in recovery as well as raise the alarm about terrorist attacks not being limited to attacking people but also attacking an economic system.

THE EYEMAN

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Navy LT Dr. Paul Norman and unstable Marine Julio Marco meet at Queens Naval Hospital, New York in 1971. Marco’s psychiatric treatment for alleged atrocities to VC corpses is cut short when the CO transfers Marco to the VA system with a benign diagnosis to avoid a blight on his chances for Admiral stars. The FBI is stone-cold in the dark 15-years later in their pursuit of a murderer who targets Asians and removes their eyes without apparent motive. A summary of the serial homicides in the media prompts Norman to contact the FBI and a hunt for Julio Marco becomes a national Agency priority. Julio Marco, now known as Rupert Petersen, is a respected business magnate in the medical supply industry. Marco only emerges from the Petersen persona when any confrontation occurs with an Asian. Petersen and his two partners from his Vietnam unit conspire to eliminate everyone who had knowledge of Marco’s Naval Hospital treatment. Dr. Norman and his wife, a former Navy Nurse who took care of Marco are last on the list. However, the FBI suspects Norman may be the Eyeman serial killer as those witnesses begin to get killed and no one can back up his story. Only one eccentric FBI Agent, Marvin Pellicle, uncovers incongruities in the evidence against Norman. Julio Marco and the FBI face a collision confrontation in their quest to reach Norman and his wife–one to arrest him and one to kill them.

Book Bubbles from THE EYEMAN

A Serial Killer Begins

Marine Lance Corporal is on R & R in Thailand. He's still grief stricken over his best friend Leon's killing in a Vietcong ambush. This is the first time Marco airs his attitude of revenge. A religious leader discloses why the VC cut out the eyes of their enemies. Marco saw this happen to Leon. He wants to get even. He wants revenge against Asians, any Asian. It all begins with Marco slaying an arms dealer in Thailand. The murder goes beyond just producing the man's death. He must remove the Asian man's eyes. Marco uses his Ranger double edge boot knife for this. It's a beginning of Marco's addictive urge to kill and remove the eyes at any Asian confrontation. The FBI will label Marco as a serial killer called The Eyeman.

Eyes of the Eyeman

Marine Lance Corporal Marco returned from Vietnam in a large air-evac of walking wounded. He was immediately admitted to the locked psychiatric ward. Outwardly Marco exhibited no sense of anger, no episodes of violence, or no sign of personality disorder. Navy doctor Paul Norman is called in an emergency to Marco's ward by the ward corpsman. Marco had assaulted Norman's nurse and paramour Ensign Zettler. Norman exams the nurse who is physically okay. Ward Corpsman Crumbett tells Norman about the incident that led to Marco's attack on the nurse. Norman now finds why Marco is on the psyche ward. Marco had returned to the states with a bottle of human eyes.

The Eyeless Don't Go To Heaven

Communist North Viet Nam believed that their enemies would not go to their concept of Heaven if their eyes had been removed from their dead bodies. This excerpt plants the seed in Marine Lance Corporal Julio Marco. His squad is ambushed by the VC. Claymore mines triggered by VC observers killing all but Marco. He regains consciousness only to see his dead squad members having their faces cut by the black-suited Viet Cong. The VC are systematically going from one corpse to another removing the eyes from the fallen soldiers. Something snaps in Marco's mind. He must do the same to the enemy. An Asian enemy. All Asian enemies. Marco becomes a serial killer the FBI calls The Eyeman.

A Bottle of Human Eyes

Navy Corpsman Crumbett tells the story of why a Psychiatric nurse in the locked psyche ward was attacked by Marine patient Julio Marco. The Marine went ballistic when the nurse discovered his bottle of North Vietnamese eyes. Marco had witness his squad ambushed by the Viet Cong. They had systematically removed the eyes of the dead marines, and some not quite dead yet. Something snapped in Marco. He began killing North Vietnamese and removing their eyes. The North Vietnamese held that all of their enemies believed that they would not go to heaven if their eyes were removed. From the day of that ambush, no Asian, friend or foe, was safe from Marco's boot-knife blade—not even when he returned to the US.

A Body is Found

Writer's block usually means a bridge is needed to continue a story line. In The Eyeman, I needed a disposable character to enable the FBI to find a signature eyeless corpse from a serial killer. The corpse had to be far enough away from the site of the murder to throw suspicion away from the murderer. Thusly, I needed a character who discovers the body yet appears only for a few paragraphs and then is gone forever. Such a person as Maximillian Sphinx is based on a real landfill scam and scammer in Long Island, New York. This excerpt provides the hook to bring yet another killing to the attention of the FBI and keep the reader involved.

The Eyes Have It

The North Vietnamese Vietcong removed the eyes of their fallen enemies—Americans and S. Vietnamese. The South Vietnamese believed that once dead, a person must have his eyes in his body to gain access to their concept of heaven. The Vietcong felt that all nations held with that same concept and set to demoralize their fallen foes with eyeball exenteration. Marine Lance Corporal Julio Marco saw his buddy almost dead having his eyes cut out and vowed to do the same to the Vietcong. Those he killed and those who were killed added their eyes to Marco's collection. THE EYEMAN is based on a patient I tended as a Navy Medical Officer. He was sent to the VA hospital system. His bottle of eyes were destroyed at the Naval Hospital.The story is a "What If" scenario—what if Marco slipped through the VA treatment and was released to society. Would he still be at war and kill Asians, any Asian, and cut out their eyes?The FBI called him The Eyeman.

A Marine's Revenge

The North Vietnamese knew their South Vietnamese enemies held that one couldn't get into their equivalent of heaven without their eyes. They therefore cut out the eyes from all fallen enemies. US Marine Lance Corporal Julio Marco witnessed his marine buddy's eyes removed after a Viet Cong ambush. During R & R in Thailand Marco finds he cannot contain himself when a perceived threatening confrontation occurs with Asians—any Asian. In this excerpt Marco and two other marines are attacked by Thailand criminals. Marco becomes an unsung hero when he kills their attackers. His friends realize they never tell anyone as they witness Marco cutting out the eyes of the fallen Thai killers.

The Dagger's Kiss

Corporate VP Rupert Petersen is ex-Marine Julio Marco's alternate persona. Marco appears only when an Asian presence poses a recall to the Vietnam murder of his best friend. Marco returns to a combat stance. Mary Ling is an American Asian who's interest in Peterson is purely professional and academic in respiratory healthcare. The shape of her eyes replaces Petersen with Marco, poised to kill with any Asian confrontation. He can't help himself. Mary Ling's destiny was pre-ordained the day she met Petersen at the pulmonary medical exhibit hall. Will she just be a statistic in the FBI's archives for the serial killer they label as The Eyeman?

A Cover-up of Eyes

North Vietnamese Vietcong forces removed the eyes from their fallen enemy–Americans and South Vietnamese. US Marine Lance Corporal Julio Marco began removing Vietcong eyeballs after his Marine best friend was killed and his eyes taken. Marco's eye collection is discovered after Marco is a psychiatric patient in Queens Naval Hospital. The hospital Commanding Office, Captain Foaming, wants the discovery covered up. If the incident reaches Washington, his chances to become Admiral would be zero. This excerpt describes how Foaming destroys Marco's bottle of human eyes.

A Matter of Eyes

The North Vietnamese removed the eyes from the US and South Vietnamese dead. The did this because they felt their enemies held that ascension to heaven would not occur with empty eye sockets. Marine Julio Marco witnessed the event and cuts the eyes from fallen North Vietnamese soldiers. His vengeful act becomes more pathological when he expands his hatred to all Asians. This excerpt occurs in the Commanding Officer's Office at Queens Naval Hospital in New York. Capt. Foaming wants no incidents recorded at his hospital. When Marco's cache of human eyes brought back with him to the US is found, Foaming demands destruction of the evidence. The CO also wants all records of Marco's eye removals wiped clean from Navy records.

PTSD 15 Years Later

Dr. Paul Norman had a bad feeling about the newspaper articles he had been following. The FBI was tracking a serial killer who singled out Asians. A gut insight told him it was his patient from Vietnam during his Navy service. He was having nightmares again about Marine LCPL Julio Marco and his bottle of human eyes. Should he call the FBI. Marco's untreated PTSD could have evolved into targeting Asians whether they were combatants or not. The war had been over for 15 years but when Norman had last sent Marco off to the VA Hospital system, Marco was still fighting the war. It could be him. If he didn't call the FBI more Orientals would be killed. He had to make a decision.

Lethal PTSD damage

The Eyeman must silence all who knew of his Vietnam excesses. They could point the finger at him for the 15-year post-war Asian serial killings. Too busy today as an entrepreneur The Eyeman must employ others to eliminate those who knew him as a patient in the locked Naval hospital psychiatric ward. Untreated PTSD can have lethal collateral consequences when the war never shuts down.

Roots of a Serial Killer

Julio Marco and his flame-thrower specialist buddy, Jockomo Stinza, are on R & R in Saigon with their unit sergeant Fred Royce. Royce and Stinza partake of too much beer and are supported by Marco who doesn't drink. The trio are set upon by three murderous thugs in an alley and Marco rallies to save his buddies and deals with the assailants as he does with the enemy in the Bush. Royce and Stinza are aghast as Marco cuts out the eyes from the dead Vietnamese. This marks the beginning of Marco's behavior outside of a war zone. The war will never end unless his PTSD is treated.

Witnesses

The FBI is now searching for witnesses to confirm that their Eyeman killer began his homicides in the Vietnam War. Concurrently, ex-marine Julio Marco under a new alias is seeking out those same people for termination. They could remember him and point him out to the Agency. Edmundo Gupas was Marco's roommate at Queen's Naval Hospital locked psychiatric ward. Gupas had seen Marco's bottle of human eyes. Gupas is the first target on Marco's list. Marco and his former flame-thrower specialist friend from Nam, Jiacomo Stinza track Gupas to a Brooklyn slum.

War returnees with PTSD are still at war.

Ex-marine Julio Marco experienced intense psychotrauma at seeing his marine best friend killed and mutilated by the VC. Marco was obsessed with revenge and after the war any Asian confrontation, however innocent, could turn his family-man alter ego Rupert Petersen into the combat mode marine Julio Marco. Untreated PTSD can create a dual or split personality as I witnessed during my Navy service as a medical officer. The two personae existing in one body are totally different and the longer the PTSD is untreated the less chance for successful resolution. THE EYEMAN is based on a patient I had during the Vietnam War who arrived in an air-evac to the states with a bottle of human eyes.

Untreated PTSD can be deadly.

It was my wife who suggested I write THE EYEMAN. When I told her I was going to write a book about my Navy Vietnam experiences she said without hesitation, "Then write about that patient of yours who came back from Vietnam with the bottle of human eyes." Wartime experiences create a type of mental shock which in turn alters human behavior. If PTSD is untreated a split personality can occur. One can appear outwardly normal and the other a serial killer triggered by reflection to a combat experience. THE EYEMAN is an example of what can happen to a soldier if his PTSD is not diagnosed, ignored and untreated. Peter Glassman MD, PhD

THE ADJUSTMENT CLINIC

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Mary Murphy has spent a vicious existence at Wilson Medical Products rising to power by blaming faulty anti-FDA practices to get her boss, Dr. Lucy Pintell, fired and ostracized forever from the pharmaceutical industry. From the depths of despair, Pintell meets Dr. Harvey Brasher and together they form The Adjustment Clinic, a clandestine agency that will root out and correct internal malpractices within a drug company and excise the corrupt people responsible for covering up drug toxicity. Under her new identity of Dr. Rowena Diaz, Pintell begins an eight-year journey to confront Mary Murphy and absolve Pintell’s tainted physician legacy. Wilson Medical Products executive Mary Murphy sends an infiltrator into Legg Pharmaceuticals to delay Legg’s FDA submission of a competitive medication and thus gain a major market share with Wilson’s drug. Dr. Porfirio Quintos, CEO of Legg Pharmaceuticals enlists the aid of the Adjustment Clinic against Wilson’s spy. The saboteur from Wilson’s is killed and the submission package of Wilson’s drug is destroyed before it reaches the FDA. Undaunted, Murphy’s next agenda includes attacking Wormwood Drugs and Diagnostics to get their new antibiotic into the FDA first and thereby gain the most market share. Murder, kidnapping and group hypnosis are her tools incorporated into standard ethical drug development.

Book Bubbles from THE ADJUSTMENT CLINIC

Drug Company Sabotage

A Pharmaceutical company hires The Adjustment Clinic (AC). AC is a vigilante organization which discreetly, and for big money, will deploy its staff to clandestinely and with prejudice, stop unsafe drugs from getting to market. Wilson Medical Products is such an unethical, vicious drug company which targets its competitors to fail or delay application of their new medications to the FDA. Wilson Medical Products is a giant Pharma magnate which will do anything to get a huge share of the marketplace for any class of prescription drug. AC evolved to act as a private "agency to counter Wilson's and other companies like it...for a price. AC sabotage includes commando bloodshed tactics.

Drug Company Sabotage

The Adjustment Clinic the organization to call if you want to target a drug companies drug for failure. It'll take out select staff members to accomplish its deadly goals. The adjustment Clinic also is for hire to punish pharmaceutical companies that produce bad drugs—if you can afford their fees. In this excerpt which is Chapter One of the pharmaceutical world exposé by thriller author Peter Glassman, Legg Pharmaceuticals buys a contract against the vicious and crooked Wilson Medical Products. The FDA cannot do what the vigilante Adjustment staff can accomplish.

Hijacking an FDA drug Submission

It wasn't that long ago that NDAs (New Drug Applications) were paper submissions. A semi-trailer truck would have the complete files: efficacy data, safety data, pharmacy reports, and all clinical trial reports. A company representative, like Dr. DeCarlo would accompany the truck driver. The reality of FDA drug approval was that the first company to get FDA clearance would get the majority of market sales. All other pharmaceutical firms with "me too" drugs would trail behind. One extreme way, which did happen, was to destroy the submission package. In this excerpt, it's done by hijacking and murder. It would now take the submitting drug company six months to reapply. This gives other companies time o move to the head of the line. With enough money a drug company could hire The Adjustment Clinic to protect or sabotage an NDA.

Targeting Roger Umbo

Group and mass hypnosis can be used effectively to live audiences, by phone techniques, and by visual advertising. Drug companies are prohibited in using such techniques. However, some unethical practices slip through federal screens. The excerpt here is an example of privatizing audiences using such audio, visual, and live mesmerizing practice. Product Engineer Roger Umbo, from Wormwood Drug and Diagnostics is singled out at such a collective brainwashing. Only one member of the audience has missed the hypnotic capture. An academic named Dr. Daniel Gator's hearing aids were not working. His curiosity about the "Roger Umbo" focus has just begun.

Prescription Drugs by Hypnosis

The Adjustment Clinic (AC) via Dr. Brasher has assigned two agents to infiltrate Wilson Medical Products—a totally vicious drug company. Dr. Ramses, Wilson's chef hypnotist, has been orchestrating medical conventions to hypnotize key physicians across the country to promote their unsafe drugs. To eliminate the competition Ramses has used hypnosis on the chief production engineer, Dr. Roger Umbo of Wormwood pharmaceuticals (Wilson's competition), to sabotage Wormwoods production facilities and then commit suicide. Dr. Brasher must now get approval from Diaz (head of AC) to neutralize their plan.

The FDA creates an armed component

The DEA moves onto corrupt drug companies after their evil acts with prescription drugs have done their harm. The FDA tries to monitor all drug companies to prevent innocent citizens from being exposed to unsafe prescription medications. Something more is needed. This excerpt reveals the FDA creating its own armed force to deal with the criminal Wilson drug company. Both Wilson's and the FDA team are unaware that a vigilante group has already been acting against evil pharmaceutical operations. They will, however, in short time, come face-to-face with The Adjustment Clinic.

Drug Company Beware The Adjustment Clinic

"Who or what is AC?" asks a money monger pushing unsafe drugs through the FDA. Mary Murphy and her upper management colleague at Wilson Medical Products threatens another drug company CEO. AC is The Adjustment Clinic, a vigilante organization of MDs, PhDs and healthcare workers who do what the FDA cannot do—police aberrant, uncaring pharmaceutical conglomerates with everything in their power. Rowena Diaz, AC's CEO, has more than just an ethical interest in going after Mary Murphy and Wilson's. They were responsible for her losing her MD license by passing blame for their unsavory drug development practices onto her. She wants revenge, even "bullets for bullets" revenge.

Adjustment Clinic verses Bad Drugs

The Adjustment Clinic is a vigilante group targeting criminal drug companies like Wilson Medical Products. Such well-known Pharmaceutical firms have been known to portray a product doing what is advertised for beneficial effect while covering up the unsafe side effects. Wilson's uses money, hypnosis, and bullets to push high risk medicines through the FDA. This excerpt has The Adjustment Clinic drawing up battle lines against Wilson Medical Products corrupt key personnel. AC, as the Adjustment Clinic is called, does what the FDA cannot do—carry weapons and carry out clandestine destruction against money-mad drug companys' management. Rowena Diaz is the unsanctioned privatized James Bond of the healthcare corporate world.

Prescriptions by Hypnosis

Industrial sabotage is like a jewel with multiple facets. THE ADJUSTMENT CLINIC explores one of these—hypnosis. Dr. Nehman Ramses contracts his skills to a most unethical pharmaceutical company. Wilson Medical Products produces some unsafe drugs. It targets competitor drug companies and is not above impeding their rival companies by manipulating delays in their filing at the FDA. The rule in drug companies is "first to FDA approval means greatest market share". In this excerpt, group hypnosis of drug company employees will impart suggestions to impede competitive companies drug development. Perhaps the most well known use of hypnosis is to suggest that their MD audience write only prescriptions for their company's product. Wilson Medical Products uses all of these and has even resorted to extortion and murder.

Corporate Espionage

All drug companies guard their secrets. Crooked drug companies spy on their competitors. Some arrange "accidents" or outright murder to gain market advantage. In THE ADJUSTMENT CLINIC, FDA agents Feinberg and Trumble must work with the FBI as bad drug companies like Wilson Medical Products cross state lines with their deadly pharmaceutical malpractice. Feinberg and Trumble have the drug company expertise to infiltrate Wilson's. Kemos and Quigley are their FBI back-up. However, the FDA and The FBI have never come up against the vicious vigilante group known as The Adjustment Clinic who have the same targets.

Hypnosis, Marketing, and Murder

I was a consultant to eight drug companies as an MD, PhD expert in research drug development. I was there when a drug company's truck full of irreplaceable data was hijacked, never making it to the FDA. Another drug company got their me-too drug to the FDA first. Were they behind the crime? Those were the days of paper FDA filings. Today we are all electronic. Industrial sabotage still goes on. This excerpt is based on a seminar I attended for introduction of a new drug. I knew there would be bias as the drug company making the product sponsored the meeting. I found myself hyping the drug whereas before I had never heard of it. Group hypnosis is a marketing tool. In THE ADJUSTMENT CLINIC, I fictionalize what might be still going on.

I Write What I Know

Mary Murphy and Brimley Dowel are Wilson Medical Products drug company's top executives. They are responsible for pushing unsafe drugs through the research and FDA approval system. A vigilante group called The Adjustment Clinic (AC) has a contract to target Murphy and Wilson Medical to stop them by any means from continuing their criminal pharmaceutical practices. I write what I know. I have worked in and consulted to over eight drug companies in my medical career. My novel entitled THE ADJUSTMENT CLINIC is based on my dealings with crooked, unscrupulous members of pharmaceutical research groups. I wrote about what I saw and what I know about the pharmaceutical industry in this fact-based medical thriller.

Prescription by Group Hypnosis

AC, the Adjustment Clinic, is after drug co. conglomerate Wilson Medical Products. Wilson uses murder, intimidation, and mass hypnosis to market their unsafe prescription drugs. Roger Umbo of Wormwood Drugs has been a victim of such group hypnosis to destroy the chances of his company to get their new drug FDA-approved, thus allowing Wilson's drug a greater market share. In this excerpt, Dr. Harvey Brasher of AC works on Umbo to break the hypnotic suggestions embedded by Wilson Medical Products' hypnotists. However, when Wilson's hypnosis doesn't work, their bullets take aim.

A Pharmaceutical Company Dictator

Adolph Hitler and Saddam Hussein have shown us that one person can influence the politics and procedures of nations. On a smaller scale but with a huge scope of effectiveness, large corporations can become dangerous with a single despot in power. With a pharmaceutical company, dispensing an unsafe product will create lethal consequences on a large scale. Such is the case with Wilson Medical Products and its tyrant director, Mary Murphy. She has, and is still trying, to subvert competitors by physical force and bribe the FDA in obtaining drug approvals. Industrial espionage as I have witnessed it, and lived it, is the reason I exposed drug company crime in THE ADJUSTMENT CLINIC.

The FDA is Armed

The DEA goes after criminals when they've been found out violating drug laws. The new division of the FDA has now armed its agents. Purity Feinberg and Lance Trumble are given their next assignment. It will be an undercover embedding in a major drug company whose drugs are becoming more unsafe with each submission. Prescription recipients are dying. Unbeknownst to Feinberg and Trumble is a secret vigilante group for hire whose mission is to destroy such individuals in drug companies with extreme sanction. The Adjustment Clinic seems always to be one step ahead of them. The DEA, FBI, and FDA wants The Adjustment Clinic and bad drug companies brought to justice.

AC,the Vigilante

AC is the Adjustment Clinic. A vigilante group that gets paid by drug companies to police up competitors' evil doings. AC's actions include sabotage and murder. Rowena Diaz is the CEO of AC. Badger Wicket is one of her strong-arm enforcers. The FDA is a paper police force for the drug industry. If it disproves a drug, doctors won't write prescriptions for it. It never makes it to the marketplace. Billions of dollars are at stake. AC is targeting Wilson Medical Products-the number one drug co. in the world. Wilson's is vicious and pushes unsafe products through the FDA. They have there own anti-competition thugs. AC is about to wage war with Wilson Medical Products.

Drug Company Combatants

The DEA is an enforcement agency that's more like a police force out to capture perpetrators violating the current drug laws. The FDA division, as with Feinberg and Trumble, was created to flush out criminals in the corporate pharmaceutical world. This excerpt from THE ADJUSTMENT CLINIC, has DEA Agent Willomena Kemos interacting with Feinberg and Trumble about an FDA drug submission hijacking and double murder. Their assignment is to focus on, and possibly infiltrate, the two drug companies involved. They are totally unaware of the existence of The Adjustment Clinic.

A bullet kills one and a bad drug kills a thousand

The FDA creates an armed investigative component to infiltrate two drug companies suspected of murder, collusion, sabotage and pushing bad drugs through loopholes in their system. FDA Agents Purity Feinberg and Lance Trumble get the assignment and work with the DEA. While they are initially focusing on specific drug companies a third, and critical entity, The Adjustment Clinic, is in fact the guilty clandestine party. As Purity Feinberg relates, "It takes only one bad drug to kill and maim millions. The FDA has to do more than just look at paper approvals. We have to root out the evil in the drug development scene."

TV law ads clamp down on "bad drugs"

I spent 30 years working in drug development for nine major drug companies. During that time I witnessed internal corruption, overt data falsification, safety violations, employee intimidation and false claims submitted to the FDA. I was afraid to speak up for fear of job loss and demands with threats to keep silent. I'm now retired and THE ADJUSTMENT CLINIC represents the tip of the iceberg as to what a few people in otherwise ethical corporate surroundings can do with the drugs you take prescribed in good faith by your unknowing MD. While TV lawyers are bringing it to your attention, THE ADJUSTMENT CLINIC is a vigilante force trying to correct this by legal or other means.

Ocean City HQ

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

“Congress approved the new mission for the SEALs. It was based on the evidence you and others have sent from Iraqi and Afghanistan interrogations that terrorists are here from overseas battlefields.” Navy Captain Paul Spada and Congress thus set Islamic extremists in the US as military targets. It was the persistence of Navy SEALS like CDR Wilson Dakin that brought this about. The Navy SEALs become the combat arm of the CIA, DEA, and FBI, under the command of Captain Spada and CDR Wilson Dakin. Their mission is to eliminate all Islamic extremists who have infiltrated this country before they start killing American citizens. Dakin’s Headquarters is in Ocean City, Maryland. Their actions begin in Boston’s MIT, followed by a major confrontation in Las Vegas. The major US battle is yet to come and it’s in Scottsdale, Arizona. A merge of al Qaeda, Taliban and ISIS assemble a pilgrimage of non-extreme Muslim worshipers to meet in Scottsdale. They are to face MECCA and show Americans they are indeed peaceable people. The jihadist plan is to kill all 100,000 thousand of them, to evoke terror, and polarize the world as pro-and-anti-Islam. It is a set up for war just like WWII with its fascists and anti-fascists–a new Axis and Ally confrontation which can result in WWIII.

Book Bubbles from Ocean City HQ

Boston, Las Vegas, Scottsdale are Targets

Navy SEAL Wilson Dakin is given his first assignment to thwart, if possible, a planned attack on a Middle East attack on Boston's MIT. A world summit meeting will take place at MIT to put forth a plan to "democratize jihad Arab extremists. Boston has come up first on the Navy's agenda against embedded Islamic extremists. Two other locations appear to be in the planning stage for mass attacks by an identified leader known only as "Zee". Those actions are targeted for Scottsdale, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Enemy Among Us

LCDR Dakin is a Navy Seal who, like other SEAL Team leaders learned that Islamic extremist soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan infiltrate the US after completing several combat missions in the Middle East. He pleads his case to Navy SEAL Command that the Pentagon allow a military arm, specifically Navy SEALS, seek out and destroy the embedded terrorists in the US. No military service is allowed to perform combat actions within tour country. The FBI, CIA, and other homeland security agencies are not combat trained or combat ready. Dakin risks his career to make his case. In this excerpt he succeeds. Now he faces the tip of the iceberg as he is sent out to confront the enemy among us.

AL Qaeda Embedded in the US

LCDR Wilson Dakin is a seasoned Navy SEAL frustrated at the reality of Al Qaeda soldiers infiltrating the US. He pleads his case to Navy Command Leadership. He and others like Dakin have been informing the Pentagon for over a year about Al Qaeda combatants being embedded throughout the US. His plea to go after the known cells and seek out and destroy the non-documented terrorist cells has fallen on bureaucratic deaf ears. To date no US military arm can perform combat missions within the country. Dakin's prayers are answered at this meeting when the President and his military advisors appoint Navy SEALs the mission to go forward. Key cells in Boston, Massachusetts will be the first target.

Aliens Arrive as we Sleep

Navy SEAL CDR Dakin meets with his newfound love in Ocean City, Maryland. He's caught in his thoughts between his domestic scene and his more important job of intercepting jihadist terrorists infiltrating major cities in the US. Right now his focus is on a major multicell Islamic extremist pending uprise in Las Vegas. Dakin's cover in civilian life is as an author. His evolving novel is based on the radical Islamics creating a world like the one erupting in WW II. Lines are being drawn between pro-Islam and anti-Islam factions on a global basis. Dakin and the US President fear a recreation of the Axis and Ally world division of the 1940s war.

A Terrorist is Activated in the US

Damahd Farsier arrived in the US after serving four combat missions against US forces in the Middle East. Cells with jihadists like Farsier are embedded throughout the US. Only Navy SEALs have been allowed as the domestic military arm to seek out and destroy them. Farsier's target is a scientific peace conference to be held at MIT in Boston. Attendees are to formulate a plan to help Islamic and non-Islamic nations cohabitate the Earth without physical lethal confrontation. Farsier's weapon has been to successfully infiltrate the conference and detonate a bomb to destroy all attendees. He has calculated his success possibility to be 100%. Only one attendee is unknown to Farsier. He is a Navy SEAL who has also infiltrated the conference membership.

Embedded Islamic Extremists Arise in Boston

Navy SEAL LCDR Dakin, among other US combatants in the Middle East, is frustrated that the Pentagon does nothing about Jihad soldiers leaking into the US after they complete 5 combat missions with Al Qaeda. The problem: American military is not allowed to conduct operations within the US. Dakin's suggested solution: give the job to US NAVY SEALS. Dakin will plead his case in Washington. In the meantime, embedded terrorists are planning attacks in key US cities. Thousands of citizens will die unless US troops are used for this role. He knows that the first such uprising from the sleeper Jihadist cells will be in Boston within the next few months.

Terrorists have two names.

Navy SEAL CDR Dakin has sequestered a terrorist pivotal for a mission to destroy much of Las Vegas. So far the Al Qaeda arm of Iran's extremists have targeted Boston. Dakin must breakdown the Jihad agent known in the US as Volant Daiman. When Daiman reveals the terrorist's real name of Baktash Abdali, he's triggered the release of information his SEALS need to prevent a Las Vegas holocaust. But will it be in time? Ocean City HQ reveals what might happen when sleeper jihadists in the US rise up under Iran's unification of Middle East factions.

The Enemy Among Us

The US Military protects the country by training for defense against attack and war aggression. The states provide National Guard troops for citizen insurrection issues. There's no assignment given to our military to engage foreign infiltrators or terrorists actions. Ocean City HQ presents the US as having free immigration borders. Our enemies are here. They are plotting to destroy us from within. The FBI, NSA, CIA and other security agencies are not trained for surgical excision of such foe. Navy SEAL CDR Wilson Dakin, among others, have convinced the President that the US Navy SEAL Teams are best suited for this job. They can control foreign aggressors among us.

A Cell is not a Phone

Navy SEAL CDR Wilson Dakin is Team leader for a seek and destroy mission within the United States. Congress has granted the Navy for identifying and eliminating clandestine jihad cells in the United States. Islamic extremists from Mexican and Canadian borders leak across into America daily. Dakin's SEALs attack at night on a cell in Virginia Beach. Darkness can be bright with today's military technology. Hot objects can appear red or green in the blackest of nights. Satellite images are the ultimate in stealth enemy detection. Tonight Navy SEALS across the US attack the jihadists in a coordinated mission.

The Enemy is Among US

OCEAN CITY HQ is based on the finding of Middle East Terrorists within the US. However, we have no military force to combat organized cells. Military combatants are for outside US operations. This excerpt defines one way a Navy SEAL team leader is allowed to find and destroy extreme Jihadists operating in large cells in several known enemy concentrations. The sites include Boston, Las Vegas, and Scottsdale Arizona. This is a fast moving thriller incorporating another known fact: drug cartels and arms dealers in America are nurturing extreme Islamists to prepare them for armed insurgency.

Paradise Found

Ocean City HQ takes place in a US with leaky borders. Terrorists have been infiltrating the US for several years and are now at strength to rise up from massive sleeper cells. Boston is their first target. Damahd Farsier has failed in his attempt to plant and detonate an explosive devise at a global peace meeting held at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is now ordered to meet in a room at a Boston Hotel to answer to his superior. An assassin appears instead sending Farsier to Islamic Paradise for his valiant, yet failed mission attempt. Islamic extremism has just begun to unleash a wave of death in major US cities.

Know Thine Enemy

Life's interconnections are probably not coincidental. Navy SEAL CDR Dakin plans an attack on embedded terrorists in the US. Concurrent is an investigation into a love interest. A college professor he met at an all night coffee shop in Ocean City across from his condo, is suspect as being linked to al Qaeda. This excerpt highlights the priority action as focus on US Islamic terrorists. In the background, for now, are the contacts from Virginia Adams past. It's her drug and arms dealing ex-husband, who may be connected to Iran extremism. Is "Ginny" Adams also a terrorist?

Las Vegas Terror

Navy SEAL teams begin their infiltration of Las Vegas Casinos. Terrorists have been embedded throughout Vegas Casinos and Navy SEAL leader CDR Dakin needs to find and engage the Iranian-backed Al Qaeda banker. He knows the man is the CEO of the major banks within the neon city. Dakin is disguised as a high roller gambler, and with CIA operatives as Casino personal, he plans to catch the bank executive off guard. CIA dealers are to facilitate Dakin's guise as a frivolous big bucks patron. Dakin must win big to achieve a face-to-face meeting. The trick is to do this without being labeled as a dishonest gambler and thrown out of Las Vegas before he meets the head banker terrorist. This excerpt provides background for CDR Dakin's scheme.

Trust No One

Navy Seal CDR Wilson Dakin sent interrogation tapes to DC indicating terrorist groups had already established cells in the US. The US Government assigned the SEALs to seek them out and destroy such AL-Qaeda enemies before they struck Americans down. Dakin also learned that jihadists from the Middle East were turning peaceable US Islamics into terrorist elements. And now many did not have to be Islamics at all but of any faith to be wooed by the jihad. This excerpt is a conversation between CDR Dakin and his CO about a woman of personal interest. He initiates a background check on her and just as he's getting romantically involved, the woman is not at all what she seems to be.

Paradise Found

Navy SEAL CDR Wilson Dakin is after his target martyr in Boston. The Islamic terrorist Farsier posing as a political mediator for the assembly of pacifists at MIT feels invincible. His meeting with Dakin changes all that and after Farsier contacts his jihad manager known only as ZEE, his fate is sealed for his failure to execute the terrorist plan. This episode represents how jihad terrorist cells in the US can move freely and become poised for mass killings of unwary Americans. The President via his military advisors have mobilized Navy SEALs to seek out and destroy all terrorist cells and thwart their plans. This one succeeded. But what about others?

Survive to fight again

I overheard two active duty soldiers in a pediatrician's office talk about their interrogation of captured terrorists in a Middle East war zone. If an Al Qaeda or other Jihadist survives 5 combat scenarios their reward is to infiltrate a non-jihadist country in a cell system. The cells will arise for terrorist attacks within countries like France, Belgium, Spain, the US, and Turkey. Navy SEAL LCDR Wilson Dakin has sent such information on to his command echelon without any action until he threatens to leave the Navy. Dakin becomes a lead in turning the Navy SEAL military might into a domestic routing force to destroy the embedded jihad cells. The first jihad action to come into the Pentagon's radar is in Boston.

Romance and Body Armor

The time is the present. Islamic terrorists have been infiltrating the US ever since 9/11. It was all part of a plan orchestrated by Iran. The US government only recently acknowledged the proliferation of terrorist cells throughout America. The military's job to find and destroy Islamic fascists has been given to the Navy SEALs. Navy SEAL CDR Wilson Dakin is the SEAL coordinator who is also a target for destruction by the enemy. He has found the love of his life at his headquarters in Ocean City MD and is now faced with asking his paramour for an evening out on Ocean City's Boardwalk. But how do you ask your lover out for date specifying you both have to wear bullet proof vests?

Coffee and a Story

Humor & Entertainment

Coffee and a Short Story marks Peter Glassman’s 14th published work and 2nd contemporary short story collection. Here are short, short tales which could be read at breakfast, lunch, or breaks with your favorite coffee drink. A Christmas wish comes true; a mummer job remembered; and a lost college love are among the 45 delightful literary vignettes to make your day fulfilling.

Book Bubbles from Coffee and a Story

Wheels of Independence

Can you remember your first Car? I'll never forget mine. I was in high school and fell in love with a 1952 Chevy light gray convertible. It looked good like a "chick magnet should". My father argued against it but I had saved up for a car and he signed for me when I bought it. The phrase "I told you so" took on new meaning as I discovered the vehicle's many faults. It was actually and "anti-chick magnet" after one ride. The convertible top leaked as did the floor. A rainy day was a disaster. The two-speed automatic transmission was so slow I almost never made it when the red changed to green and I was first at the light. That was just the beginning. Only the power of my family could correct the situation. This short story is one of 45 in Coffee and A Short Story.

A Trick or Treat Family

A young family dresses alike for this year's Trick-or-Treating. This mini-horror short story is one of over 40 short, short stories I wrote for the San Antonio Writer's Meetup. My granddaughter took it to her elementary school where it received accolades in all three third grade presentations. The tales of multiple genres encompass Holiday scenarios, romance, science fiction, crime drama, paranormal, historical, and a few 3-page excerpts from some of my 12 published thrillers. Coffee & A Short Story is a delightful way to enjoy your break at home or work and at the same time, get a piece of literary satisfaction.

Exodus and the Boston Holy Cross Cathedral

This true story is about a romance that ended because of a Massachusetts' town's name. It is one of 45 short stories in Coffee And A Story I compiled as part of belonging to the San Antonio Writer's Meetup. Meeting twice a month each author presents a short story, poem, or excerpt from a completed or ongoing work. I picked this story because today I'm meeting with a Boston University Alumni Asst. Director. Last quarter one of my novels, OCEAN CITY HQ, was highlighted in BU's alumni literary notes, Whenever I think of my BU undergrad days I remember Judith Novaks. She was my first college romance which ended in a way that I could never have predicted. I had to tell the story. It was therapeutic for me to do so.

A Trick or Treat Family

I write 2 short stories a month for the San Antonio Writers Meetup. Attendees present their written works. Some themes are seasonal, like my Trick or Treat Family. This is a delightful and scary tale of a young family making rounds on Halloween Night. At the end of my first two years in the writer's group I decided to publish my short stories as an anthology. Some are are adapted from my many thriller novels, however, most are stand alone tales, most of which could be authored as novels with the short writer's club presentation as but an expanded story line. I envisioned the collection to be read at a break at work...a coffee break. Hence the title of Coffee and a Story.

Wheels of Independence

Remember your first car? I bought my car because it was a convertible and looked like a chick magnet. It was a used '52 Chevy but turned out to have multiple defects with negative impact on my social life. I mean the roof leaked as well as the floor. In rainy weather my date would get her head wet and muddy road water would spray up from the floor. But other faults in the car were scary as in the excerpt. I was 17 and bought the car over my dad's protests. Now I had to unload this lemon on someone else. The whole family devised a plan that worked. The effort brought us together like a therapeutic domestic tranquility exercise and I listened to my parent's advice with deep respect thereafter.

Gone but not Forgotton

I write two short stories per month as part of attending the San Antonio Writer's Meet-up. We meet at a local popular coffee shop two Sunday afternoons each month. A topic is suggested and a max of 1200 words adhered to. One such topic was to write of a memorable former romantic attachment. This excerpt from Coffee

THE MYOSIN FACTOR

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

The Myosin Factor After 8-years of focused research, Neurologist Dr. Cosmo Patrini finds a protein factor that reverses the weakness and death sentence of muscular dystrophy’s victims. To test the safety of the drug in humans, he self-injects the drug and has the strength of 15-men as judged by his holding up the collapsing baggage claim apparatus at Boston’s Logan Airport. Three witnesses to the event seek the superhero’s secret. Dr. Gerhard Hardt, a German cardiology drug researcher and Dr. Sin woo Boto, a Chinese pharmaceutical company physician, vie for possession of the molecule. The third man is a popular television aerobic exercise celebrity who threatens Patrini’s anonymity with exposure unless he endorses his TV program The Germans and the Chinese infiltrate Patrini’s professional and domestic life to wrest the secrets of the drug from his Harvard Medical Center laboratory. German scientists select Bostonian victims at random to test the drug on excised human heart tissue. The Chinese have need of Patrini’s discovery to amass an army of superhumans for a world domination agenda. Dr. Boto directs his team to eliminate all competition for their sole possession of the Myosin Factor. The U.S. Government is interested in the Myosin Factor’s potential and has an agent enrolled as Patrini’s graduate student to find out what the Germans and the Chinese are doing. Agent Lazlo Pennypacker works in Patrini’s with and Pennypacker’s boss, Colonel Merlin Sweeney, uses CIA and FBI resources to uncover the faceted plot.

Book Bubbles from THE MYOSIN FACTOR

Sex and Becker's Muscular Dystrophy

Two types of muscular dystrophy predominate in this fatal muscle disease. Duchenne's muscular dystrophy is apparent from birth with death by age 25. Becker's muscular dystrophy has less weakness in early years with progression to death in the fortieth decade. Remarkably men with Becker's adapt to give the perception of normal function in some areas of social activity. This excerpt from THE MYOSIN FACTOR is about Philip Stilson as a high school teen with Becker's and a functional adaptation to his first sexual experience. By the time he's 35 he'll die without an illegal injection of the experimental Myosin Factor. The drug dramatically not only reverses the disease's muscle weakness it adds phenomenal above normal strength. It does so with normal people also and 3 nations want the Myosin Factor for its armies and will go to any length's to get it.

Enhanced Intimacy

The myosin factor reverses the fatal muscle weakness in muscular dystrophy. Like all drugs there are other effects-side effects. The myosin factor has given its discoverer the strength of 15 men. Usually Dr. Cosmo Patrini performs his husbandly intimacy with his wife Yolanda in a pure biologic manner. However, after self-injecting the myosin factor, he becomes a lover of Casanova caliber. Dr. Patrini attributes his enhancement d'amour to the drug but his wife Yolanda wonders if her husband has learned new bedroom skills from his office nurse, Megan Pavda. The only way for Dr. Patrini to save his marriage is to confess to self-injecting the myosin factor. But can he do it and risk losing his medical license?

High School Football Sabotage

Dr. Cosmo Patrini's family is infiltrated by a youthful-looking Captain in the Chinese Army. He's there to protect Patrini's two teenage boys. Posing as a high school student, Wing Wah takes the bait from a bigoted football captain to unknowingly incite the black players to attack both he and the Patrini student. Wah must fall back on his military training to confront the physical assault on both him and Amadeo Patrini on the gridiron practice field. Wah's only constraint from his commander in China, "You must not kill any of the students."

China wants the Myosin Factor

Dr. Cosmo Patrini discovered the Myosin Factor in his quest for a treatment for muscular dystrophy. His animal research suggests it will save the lives of those with the disease. He self-injected the drug to check for side effects. He found two. One was amazing strength enhancement and the other was elevated romantic ability. Unknown to Patrini are the sinister people who want to steal the drug by any means. Patrini was seen by two MD's to support a collapsing airport baggage return ramp. These two MD's, one a German and one a Chinese, want the Myosin Factor for military use. This excerpt introduces the surveillance of Patrini's research and his family life. Dr. Boto needs to protect Patrini and his family from harm until he has the secrets of the Myosin factor.

The Myosin Factor

Dr. Cosmo Patrini is a neurologist at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He's discovered an injectable protein which can save muscular dystrophy children and adults from a paralytic death. At least in animals - so far. Patrini self-injected the protein to see what adverse effects, if any, would occur in humans. His first awareness that the Myosin Factor not only reverses muscle weakness but enhances strength far above normal came when he held up a collapsing luggage ramp at Boston's Logan Airport. It took 15 men to allow Patrini to release the structure. His second enlightenment comes when he confronts a bigoted Irishman whose son had assaulted his own son Amadeo.

BLACKWATER FEVER

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

A resistant strain of falciparum malaria accounted for significant US casualties in Iraqi Freedom’s early years. A special research study to treat this type of malaria involved a CDC chief physician and two New York specialists. These three individuals induce, rather than treat acute malaria attacks with added delirium to obtain inside stock market trader information. Almost a billion dollars were made until collateral damage with death and attempted murders draw attention by the NYPD and the CIA. Senator Clement, Drs. Ganucci, Krantz and Bellini use three war returnee malaria patients to milk the stock exchange and use murder, intimidation and extortion to maintain their scheme. Detective Furdis Nosh is a relentless redhead female sleuth who will not let go of the investigation. Former Special Forces Officer David Swanson is a malaria victim who wants out of the malaria study alive. He’s distraught over a colleague ending up comatose during one of his malaria episodes. The woman, Lisa Feldman, is kidnapped from the hospital as her memory of Krantz and Binelli returns. Swanson joins with CIA Agent Mallory Finder when Finder’s fiancée, Lisa Feldman is abducted. Senator Clement uses all means at his disposal to thwart revelation of his malaria-stock market scheme. Snipers, contract killers and deadly healthcare workers reach out with their lethal tentacles to prevent exposure. Nosh and Fender are not enough to probe and disclose the stock market assault.

Book Bubbles from BLACKWATER FEVER

Malaria and Murder in New York City

An ex-soldier, David Swanson, with drug resistant malaria from Iraq service, survives a malaria attack in a New York City restaurant. His colleague, Lisa Feldman, attending Swanson's delirium is ambushed by fake EMTs who inject her with a deadly drug inducing an irreversible coma. It's a scene a NYPD detective has seen before. It's a scenario raising suspicion by Hospitalist Dr. Pluto Blum. It will take both to uncover a conspiracy of murder and insider-trading sabotage at Wall Street using multiple former military returnees with a history identical to David Swanson's. US stock exchanges will be ravaged by 3 US doctors and one US Senator behind the plot.

National Malaria Study:Do not enroll

American soldiers returning from the Middle East with an Iraqi strain of Malaria are offered participation in a National Malaria Study. Lt Abigail Elden is one of the few afflicted whose vocation change involves a successful stock exchange career. Dr. Alberto Ganucci, a lead clinical trial investigator helped design a program to induce, rather than prevent, severe malaria attacks. During the attacks the victims are vulnerable to releasing insider stock trading information. Such episodes also involve collateral damage to innocents including suicides and outright murder. An NYPD feisty redhead lady detective detects the conspiracy and is the only spark of hope to bring it down before the economy collapses.

Malaria Invades Wall Street

David Swanson contracted a resistant strain of malaria in Iraq. He had to leave the military and became a stockbroker in NY City. Still suffering from occasional attacks of malaria which puts him in a delirium, he had become part of a national malaria study. However, whenever, Swanson, and others on the trial, got his anti-malaria injection, his study doctors got insider trading information from him during the delirium. In this excerpt, Barbara, a study nurse, and Swanson together with an NYPD female (Detective Nosh), have begun to track two murders related to their situation to the study doctors. However,, the scheme is more far-reaching. It's roots are in the US Senate.

Deliberate Use of a Disease in Wall Street

The Middle East War saw more casualties from malaria in Iraq than battle field injuries. It took two years and two billion dollars for the US to control the disease in that country. In Blackwater Fever, author Peter Glassman exposes how three doctors and a US Senator exploit returning US soldiers with recurrent malaria to infiltrate the Stock Market with vicious insider trading. This excerpt shows the three MDs involved and how they planned their scheme with patients like David Swanson. This page-turning thriller was written before the effects of a pandemic like the covid-19 devastated today's global economics.

Manipulative Disease and Murder

Dr. Pluto Bloom is taking care of a lady stockbroker found in a coma after her friend suffered a malaria attack. Detective Furdus Nosh suspects the two things are related and they meet outside of the workplace for possible clues. Both professionals are single. Their conversation is both a beginning to a possible social outcome and a clue as to how events with a stock exchange Malaria patient and his comatose stock market colleague are related. From a medical perspective Dr. Blum has found only one outstanding abnormality in the unconscious non-malaria patient. Her blood contains an experimental drug that could be the causative agent. But who administered it? Where and how was it obtained? Can they find out before other such events occur? What if she never wakes up?

A Disease and US Doctors Steal from Wall St

Lt. David Swanson returned from the Middle East with severe malaria. His malaria attacks continue in his life as a Wall St stockbroker. In this excerpt Swanson cannot remember what transpired during his malaria delirium. He and several other malaria victims are totally unaware that they are revealing stock market secrets. Dr. Ganucci is one of three MDs and one US Senator obtaining inside the stock exchange information. Together they are making millions. Collateral damage includes murder, extortion, and intimidation of several Iraqi service returnees. Blackwater Fever is a centuries old name for a severe form of malaria.

The First Attack

More casualties resulted from malaria attacks than combat in the first two years of US involvement in the Iraqi war. Two billion dollars were spent by the US Government to control malaria in Iraq to counter this. Lt David Swanson describes his first malaria attack. He can't remember his others which occur in the US after he's released from the military and becomes a stock exchange member. . During those US malaria bouts three doctors and one US Senator extract insider stock trading information during his fever delirium. The situation goes undetected until collateral murders occur. This excerpt is between Detective Furdus Nosh and Swanson who is investigating one of the murders that occurred while Swanson had an attack in New York City.

PTSD From an Infectious Disease?

David Swanson is a US soldier who returned from Middle East deployment with chronic malaria. He's totally unaware that his attacks are programmed by opportunist medical and political individuals. As a civilian Swanson is a successful Stock Exchange broker. He has no memory of his revealing Wall Street secrets during his malaria bouts. Between attacks his life is miserable. He suffers PTSD from both Middle East service and his chronic Malaria. It will take more than VA Hospital Senior Infectious Disease Nurse Barbara Winn to help him. Both the NYPD and the CIA begin to suspect something amiss as other malaria ridden soldiers return to civilian life.

Blackwater Fever

David Swanson is one of many Iraqi soldiers with chronic malaria. He leaves the service and becomes a successful stockbroker. Referral by the military doctors are to a specialist in his type of treatment resistant malaria—a form called Blackwater Fever because his urine turns the color of port wine. He'll be placed in a research program to help him control his recurrent blackout attacks. Besides his problem with the disease, he must deal with finding out what he does during his memory lapses while having a malaria episode. His most recent one will find him face-to to-face with a nightmare that is real involving an assault on the stock exchange as well as colleagues being murdered at the peak of his malaria chills, fever, sweats and delirium..

A Disease Sabotages Wall Street

Blackwater Fever was written four years ago. It's about war opportunists using Malaria to invade the privacy of investing. The US Stock Exchange is being compromised by a red blood cell parasite that causes Malaria. Centuries ago the disease was named after the dark urine its victims produce—Blackwater Fever. Middle East war returnee David Swanson is but one of such malaria infected victims used by corrupt US Doctors and a US Senator to manipulate Wall Street's outcomes. But can a disease really upset a nation or global economy? Today's coronavirus headlines answers this question.

Malaria, New Ammunition by Opportunists.

Bacteria, viruses, and parasites can be used as a weapon or a tool for financial gain and advancement of power. Blackwater Fever is a tale of returning US Middle East Soldiers who have malaria from Iraq. The US spent 2-billion dollars to control malaria so far during the current conflict. Several US physicians and politicians now see an opportunity for using the malaria parasite via these infected soldiers to control the stock market. Today's headlines and reading Blackwater Fever will make you shudder as you read each page and experience the same possibilities with the coronavirus.

Malaria and Inside Trading

Blackwater Fever is the name of my terrorist thriller and the old name for malaria. The dark 'port wine' color of the urine during an attack gave it the name. Malaria was endemic when the US first went into Iraq. Two billion US dollars and two years into Operation Iraqi Freedom and the country was almost free of the disease. However, many US servicemen returned with residual falciparum malaria. A few, like David Swanson, became stock brokers. Three doctors and one US Senator concoct a scheme to produce and conduct a stock exchange interview for insider trading information during malaria attacks in these war returnees. Dr. Gail Binelli is one of them.

An Eyewitness

Lisa Feldman, a Dallas stock exchange expert, witnessed her New York colleague, David Swanson, suffer an acute Malaria attack in her New York hotel room. A medical team arrived and gave Swanson and Feldman injections rendering them stuporous. The accompanying Doctor then interviewed both about specific Wall Street activities. Swanson then received an injectable medication to counter his malaria crisis and left to awaken slowly. Feldman, however, was given a further medication from which she was not expected to recover. Feldman did not expire. She was taken to a NY City hospital where her memory was slowly coming back. This excerpt describes her abduction for her final silencing.

No Witnesses

Gideon O'Brien had witnessed Swanson's malaria attack and Swanson's release of insider stock exchange activities. The three doctors and the US Senator could not allow discovery. O'Brien had to be silenced. An overdose of an hypnotic drug with the results in this excerpt sent O'Brien off his hotel's 11th story balcony to be impaled on a bronze egret statue. Will this incident invite police, FBI, or CIA investigation? It's up to an NYPD detective and another victim's friend to act quickly.

3 Deadly Doctors

Dr. Bergan Krantz is a psychiatrist manipulating malaria patient David Swanson's mind into accepting his amnesia episodes linked to his malaria attacks. Dr. Gail Binelli is Swanson's primary malaria specialist using a drug to precipitate his malaria crises. Dr. Alberto Ganucci is a senior MD at the CDC in Atlanta coordinating a national malaria clinical study and coordinating Swanson's malaria attacks with major stock market changes. The three MD's are the front line perpetrators raking in money from Wall Street information gleaned from Swanson during his attacks. There is one person above the three doctors-a US Senator in Washington, DC., who can cover up the scheme, including murder, when necessary.

Malaria Malfeasance

David Swanson wanted a military career. Alas, an Iraqi strain of malaria ended such a dream. He became a stock broker. His malaria still precipitated amnesic malaria attacks. Unbeknown to him, however, his malaria specialist, Dr. Gail Binelli, in New York City has the ability to turn on Swanson's malaria attacks at will. She does that only when Wall Street insider information is desired. NYPD female detective Furdis Nosh investigates the near death of Swanson's colleague during one of his malaria bouts of fever. She has a lead pointing to something suspicious about Dr. Gail Binelli and her stock market activities related to her malaria patient, David Swanson. It is a lead which will extend from New York to Florida and Washington, DC.

It Happened Again

With each malaria attack, David Swanson's recall of events were absent. Physically, he suffered the consequences of the high fevers, shaking chills, and ruptured red blood cells. Headaches, memory loss and muscle aches were always present as was the hemoglobin from his red cells eliminated by his kidneys. His urine was the color of port wine, hence the original name of malaria...Blackwater Fever. With each attack, collateral damage was now occurring. His date the previous night was also, like him, a prominent stockbroker. His only recall of the night before was the aura and prodrome of a pending malaria attack at the restaurant. This morning Lisa Feldman was on a ventilator in ICU. What was happening?

Beware the Opportunist

3 MDs and one US Senator track 3 former soldiers from Iraq who returned with malaria. Their strain of malaria causes a "truth serum" delirium during which they can reveal insider stock exchange information. The Senator and Doctors use murder and intimidation to cover their Wall Street operation. This excerpt reveals a malaria attack on David Swanson, former soldier and now prominent stock exchange professional. Two doctors have set up his attack to conduct a delirium interview for Wall Street secrets. All witnesses are expendable.

Greed, Evil, and Malaria

Most think of malaria as a parasitic disease transmitted by a non-US mosquito. What if greed and pure criminal intent to manipulate a disease for profit at a victim's expense, is allowed to happen?Malaria is called "Blackwater Fever" because of the high temperature and "Port Wine" color to the urine during an attack. This excerpt takes place when a collateral victim of an Iraqi war returnee has an acute malaria attack. Both are stock exchange brokers. Both have revealed Wall Street secrets while under delirium induced by different entities - one by drugs and one by malaria. The criminal masterminds are 3 doctors and a US Senator. They have been evil doers since their undergraduate college years.

The Panic Begins

A malaria specialist and a psychiatrist go back and forth as questions are arising about their use of malaria patients who are prominent stock brokers. In this excerpt, Dr. Gail Binelli is beginning to unravel under pressure from a persistent redhead detective, Furdus Nosh. Psychiatrist Dr. Bergan Krantz tries to calm her down but the seeds of doubt have been sown and she is now the weakest link in their assault on Wall Street with the malaria organism. One patient and one nurse add fuel to Detective Nosh's suspicions that something is screwy about malaria in New York City.

It's all about money

For a government insider stock market trading to go unnoticed, a high official has to be running the show. In BLACKWATER FEVER, its a US Senator. Since the key to infiltrating Wall Street is a manipulative malaria disease, equally corrupt MDs are needed. The two key doctors are a malaria specialist in New York City and a highly placed MD at the CDC in Atlanta. The CDC doctor in charge of the stock market manipulation is Alberto Ganucci. Unscrupulous and vicious, his roots and connections with Senator Bonticler Clement go back to their college days. This excerpt defines part of the stepladder to power enabling such an insider trading via a disease process to take root. "It takes money to make money," is also a credo with the dishonest among us.

Red Hair Beware

Feisty redhead NYPD detective Furdus Nosh is a force to be reckoned with. There is something strange about a stock broker's near death and current life supported existence that doesn't fit a simple hotel room assault and break-in. Hospitalist Dr.Pluto Blum also has questions about his patient. He is as aggressive in his profession as Nosh is in hers. Together, their verbal bantering will unknowingly lead them to face murder, death, and a national Wall Street assault they could never have imagined.

The Malaria Specialist

What makes once ethical people cross the line to violating principals and a fair sense of humanity? In BLACKWATER FEVER Dr. Gail Binelli and two other doctors find the promise of riches is enough to forget the Hippocratic Oath. Dr. Binelli begins to have second thoughts as a feisty and persistent redhead detective puts Binelli on her radar about a stock broker who was rendered comatose at one of Binelli's induced malaria episodes. Insider Wall Street trading information will make her rich. But now...at what cost?

A War Returnee Victim

The microscopic parasite for malaria doesn't have feelings or thoughts. Samantha, Barbara Winn's parrot speaks like a tape recorder but has feelings. At the top of the primate scale are humans. Most are feeling individuals. Some are opportunists creating victims and don't care at all about their feelings, thoughts, or quality of life. This excerpt shows the victimization of a Middle East soldier, David Swanson, who came back with malaria. In addition, it demonstrates the collateral human damage brought about by those who create victims for dollars.

A Disease of War

A treatment resistant strain of malaria was common amongst early Iraqi War casualties. Two years after the start of the war and 2 billion US dollars later, the disease became a rare entity. War creates opportunists and three doctors and a US Senator subject three malaria returnees to medical manipulation for stock exchange information. Collateral damage includes murder,Wall Street sabotage and medical fraud. Opportunism is a disease of war.

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