BookView Review

I have worked as a fishing guide, photographer, taxicab driver and software developer. I’m somewhat proficient as a graphic artist. So far, I’ve done my own covers and the two-dozen illustrations spotted through the series.

While driving a taxicab in Vancouver on the westcoast of Canada, I’ve met a cross section of humanity, including members of Parliament, Vancouver mayors, Hollywood actors, biz tycoons, alcoholics, junkies, hookers, thieves and drug peddlers. Most folks were in and out of my cab within five or ten minutes. My passengers were short-term acquaintances, not lifelong friends.

If readers wish to learn more about my cab-driving tales, watch out for the publication of “Gen H”, my current WIP.

“Woke” is the 1st-book that I published. The story-telling has many flaws, yet it introduces Dog Breakfast co-op, a counterbalance to the corporate model where bigger and wealthier equals success. Nyssa Persson, the main character, holds the narrative together.

“Hot Wheels” exposes the leadership of today’s corporate cartel that enjoys and stranglehold on global socioeconomics. This isn’t a future dystopia; it’s happening right now, for governments appear incapable of regulating transnational corporations, which have operations outside any one nation or trade block.

“Woke” has the lure of sexual innuendo. “Hot Threads” has exciting car chases. “Afterlife” is a police procedural which delves into sex trafficking and stripper nightclubs. I employ these come-ons to corral readers into encountering a boring and misunderstood concept—namely, economics, the theme that puts everyone to sleep.

In one form or another, capitalism has prevailed for 3,000 years. The Soviet Union had a flourishing blackmarket which was capitalist in practice. Today’s Russia features a gangster style of capitalism. After the death of Mao, China has adopted a highly regulated form of capitalism. Free market greed is the main reason why we’re experiencing a Climate Crisis.

I neutralize the ill-effects of capitalism (income inequity, annoying adverts, corporate espionage and boom & bust economic cycles) by replacing wealth rewards with greater prestige and influence. In cooperative societies, everyone earns the same spendable wages. The differences come in the number of votes that individuals can earn. Some folks have 200 times more voting clout than others. Those with multiple votes have a greater say in their co-op affairs as well as greater influence in social issues.

I admit I’m a diehard optimist. My novels dramatize Plato’s Republic, updated for the 21st-century. I don’t expect the world to unfold as a mirror of my fiction. But I feel its important to document hopeful paths that might be taken, because I fear the later half of the 21st-century will bring ugly dilemmas that no nation seems ready to forestall at present.

The Cool Assassins series rests on its characters. Of these, the members of Dog Breakfast co-op are the most fascinating. All characters are based on actual persons combined with separate versions of myself.

Shepp, an African and former smuggler, is the co-op’s weapons instructor and most ardent womanizer.

JoAnna is a fiery redheaded bisexual and former Miami taxi driver. She’s a loose cannon and not the smoothest team player.

Griz, a Finnish expat, looks like a Sumo wrestler without a gram of flab. He’s the co-op’s strength conditioner.

Cook was born in Tibet but grew up in California. He founded Dog Breakfast co-op with Absen, his life partner. Absen is deceased, and Cook has become the first among equals in the co-op.

Fingar, born in Yemen, is the co-op’s elite hacker and digital security chief.

Timekeeper is the co-op’s intelligence officer. She’s the go-between the co-op and its regulatory agency.

Jen was born in Siberia. She’s a worldclass acrobat and mountain climber, despite occasional bouts of vertigo. Jen is totally focused on her unique skills, which means she has a modest libido. Even so, she’s pursued continuously by the co-op’s most sought-after hunks. Shepp and Griz swarm about her like moths around a street light. They claim Jen is the Holy Grail of feminine sexuality.

Nyssa has a healthy sex drive. She was suckered into working in the sex trade. It damaged her sense of humor. After being rescued and joining the co-op, she continues to suffer from PTSD. I use Nyssa to examine the aftereffects of traumatic experiences. The three novels and a fourth WIP follow Nyssa as she reclaims more & more of her self-esteem.

I long to write in the audiovisual medium. Some day soon we’ll have audio books, which readers can listen to and observe word for word. Authors can include graphics to enrich the narratives. They can add definitions of abbreviations, of coined and foreign words. Audiovisual books will be needed as more folks become semi-illiterate. Within fifty years, I doubt more than five percent of the reading public will be able to tell the difference between AI-generated and human-authored literature.

In all honesty, I consider myself an educator as much as an entertainer. I expect readers to fill in the unwritten passages. On the surface, my stories are action and adventure tales. But discerning readers may notice there is more going on than meets the eye. My highest aim is to tell a good story clearly.

***