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NEW NOVEL #22 IS IN!
by Dale Brown, 2009

ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED AT Facebook.com/AuthorDaleBrown, 15 November 2009

Finishing #22, entitled "EXECUTIVE INTENT," was a little strange. I had already exceeded the target page/word count, and 2 weeks ago I had a general idea about how it was going to end, but I was struggling with 2 or 3 different possible endings.

It was as if I woke up early Friday evening, and the manuscript was done: I had made a decision about the ending without really recalling how I made that decision (I remember talking it over with Diane but that's about it), and I had about 75 new pages in a week. Poof! Done. A real Charles Dickens moment.

I like when that kind of stuff happens, but I wish I had been there to experience it!

"Executive Intent" is set after events in "Rogue Forces" but is more the sequel to "Shadow Command." The U.S. Space Defense Force is still trying to get started but faces great opposition in the White House. But its champions, Vice President Ken Phoenix and Undersecretary of the Air Force Ann Page, have managed to give the SDF significant new capabilities.

These new capabilities threaten three important groups: Russia, China, and the greatest enemy of the U.S. Air Force: the U.S. Navy, championed by Pres. Joseph Gardner. Russia and China see the SDF as setting out to do in space what the U.S. Navy already does now--dominate the world's oceans--and they work together to try to counterbalance America's naval and space capabilities.

That's all the teaser you get for now, except for this:

I wanted to do three things in this novel. First, I wanted to continue writing about the building blocks of U.S. military space. I truly believe the U.S. military will be based in space within the next 10 years, and I wanted to be the first to write about it.

Second, I wanted to address some critics that say things tend to work TOO perfectly in my novels: the gadgets always seem to work, the good guys all seem to perform and think flawlessly, and the bad guys do dumb things. Not so in this one. In fact things are quite a mess at the end.

Third, I wanted to define Patrick McLanahan's future. I had to face the fact that the guy is starting to get up there in age (unlike his creator, of course...) and it's rather unrealistic to have the guy always in the center of the action. He should be a leader, not a shooter.

I hate to admit it, but I was perhaps halfway through the book before I figured out a place for Patrick AT ALL! But I did figure out what to do with him, and he evolved into a central character, not just a player in a subplot. No, I didn't kill him off, as a lot of fans thought I might do.

So again I'm looking for ideas for the next book. It's a nice chore.

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