SKYBIRD: Dale Brown’s Ops Report Copyright © 2005, TDPI

STORMING HEAVEN: Responses to readermail@DaleBrown.info

3 December 2004

Dale,

I enjoy all your books. Can't wait for the next one. Question: Have you given any thought of a story that may, in the future, team Patrick with his son? I know he's young now but they grow fast.

P.s. I was disappointed to see Wendy go but, oh well.

I would LOVE to team Patrick with Bradley! That would be great.

4 December 2004

hi dale,… im from n.ireland.

Im a 29 year old government/military person and have been a big reader since i was 3.

Up till a few months back I thought that clancy would be my ultimate techno thriller writer but he's got some serious competition from you.

Your first hand experience is the difference in my opinion. I've been able to find a lot of Clancy's facts/stats online (he more or less takes stuff from source and wedges it into his books.)

keep up the good work dale, fatal terrain was amazing!

good luck with future projects and have a good christmas skipper..

I hope you had a blessed Christmas and a happy New Year!

7 December 2004

Dear Mr. Brown,

I've just finished Air Battle Force and enjoyed it immensely, as I have your other novels.

I do have a suggestion, perhaps useful in your future work.

I'm pretty familiar with world geography and geopolitics, but it was very difficult for me to visualize the geography of the overseas action in Air Battle Force, despite your excellent descriptive ability. I'll bet that most readers don't have much of clue of the location and scope of Turkmenistan, not to mention the placement of its major cities.

Because positional strategy was important for the plot, I found it frustrating trying to visualize the loci of action. The solution would have been to include one to two simple maps to establish these locations.

Robinson, for example, does a decent job of including maps in his work--I think readers find it very helpful.

Anyway, I hope you understand this only as a constructive critique--I shall remain an ardent reader no matter what.

The subject of maps comes up quite often. I include charts with my manuscripts, and the publisher decides if they should go in. Many times the decision is "No" because it's difficult or impossible to reprint the charts without violating copyright laws. Many editors feel that including charts and other diagrams breaks down the fictional look and feel of the novel and makes it seem like more of a non-fiction work. Also, many charts simply don't look good when reproduced.

8 December 2004

Mr. Brown,

Hello! I have been an avid reader of your books since Silver Tower (the space station on the cover got my attention, after that I was hooked) and have read every one of your book since then. I am also very pleased to see that your working on a PC game, Act of War. Should be the best story RTS game since Command and Conquer came out in 1995.

I also have a request. I have been working on a story idea since July 2004 and am just about ready to begin the writing part of the job, at this point I have a basic outline and character list. My main questions are:

1. How early in the process do you start trying to find a publisher?

Finish the book first, THEN go out and find an agent (for a work of fiction).

It does you no good to start querying for an unfinished work. Finish the manuscript, polish it up the best you can, and THEN look for an agent.

In the fiction world, few publishers buy "over the transom" (directly from an author). Most publishing houses rely on agents to bring publishable works to them.

2. When starting out, do you send out complete manuscripts? Being new at this, I could see some publisher using the idea for their own book.

NEVER send out complete manuscripts. ALWAYS query first, either by snail mail or e-mail. ONLY send complete manuscripts if solicited. Otherwise you'll be wasting your money and the agent's time.

3. What guide books would you suggest for information on starting out? I ask this because the Internet seems to be lacking in this area.

Check out the many choices available on www.Amazon.com or www.BN.com. I don't recommend particular books. I suggest looking at a few for free at the library first.

9 December 2004

Good Morning, Mr. Brown.

I'm a typical avid reader and just ran across an announcement by Atari of a new real-time strategy game, "Act of War".

The article ( http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/12/06/news_6114535.html) states "The story, penned by New York Times best-selling author Dale Brown, depicts a near-future world in turmoil."

At first, I was very curious about the origins of the story and your connection to the game, if any.

Reading further on their website I see that you collaborated with the development team on the story. Kewl!

As an avid gamer and reader I find the connection between book and interactive game fascinating (e.g., The Matrix).

I have your Megafortress game (Amiga & PC) but never really mastered it.

I look forward to "Act of War", both the game and novel.

My son is as we speak playing the "beta" version of "Act of War." It'll be out in March 2005, and the novel will be out in May 2005.

12 December 2004

Dear Mr. Brown,

as you can see from the e-mail address, I live in Czech Republic. On my opinion, you are one of the best authors of military thrillers in the world and I have read almost all your novels. However, there are Czech editions of only three your books (The Tin Man, Fatal Terrain and Warrior Class), therefore I have acquired English editions of your other works. My most favourite are probably Warrior Class, Day of the Cheetah and Battle Born. Few weeks ago, I've bought Air Battle Force and Plan of Attack - I hope I will read them during Christmas and New Year time.

But that's not why I write this mail. The point is that I work for Army Technical Magazine ( http://www.atm-magazin.cz/), the most respected and most successful Czech journal about weapons and military technologies. And I write a series of articles called "Reality or Fiction?" which describes some fictitious or partially-fictitious military hardware, mostly from movies like Firefox or Blue Thunder and from books by Tom Clancy or James Cobb (i.e. USS Cunningham stealth destroyer)... and in the issues of 1, 2 and 3/2005, there will be articles about some hardware appearing in your novels: ATM 1/2005: Megafortress (EB-52 and EB-1C) ATM 2/2005: Russian Stealth Aircraft (Fi-170, Mt-179 and Tu-160E) ATM 3/2005: "Tin Man" BERP combat suit Moreover, I consider articles about some additional weapons that you've created, i.e. StealthHawk UAV, F-15 SMTD Cheetah and XF-34 DreamStar.

I will try to convince our graphic artist (his name is Tomas Foldyna) to send his artworks of the mentioned weapons to you. I hope they will please you.

Thank you for all the excellent books. I look forward to the next one.

COOL! Can't wait to see these articles!

17 December 2004

Good morning Mr. Brown I can honestly tell you that your books bring me a world of happiness. Being and old retired person living in Sun City (Summerlin,NV) I encounter a lot of ex-military air crew members, you have a huge following here in Las Vegas. My days as an enlisted man, electronics career field, make me wish I was an air crew member. However, your books place me right there with your heroes. Good luck in the future, and may God Bless you and the United States.

Thanks!

17 December 2004

Hello Dale,

During my first visit to the States I had to wait a couple hours for my connecting flight. At a bookstand I bought one of your books. My first. And I got hooked. I've read all your books except 'plan of attack', because this one is not (yet) for sale in the Netherlands. I order your books at the local bookstore or buy them via the internet.

I'm a private pilot myself and like flying a lot. Your writing puts me in the cockpit and connects me to your world. Even my wife can't let me put your books down !? Keep on writing and I will read them over and over.

Thanks a lot!!

19 December 2004

Dale, I'm from Liverpool in the United Kingdom. Your books are absolutely amazing. I have only read some of the books involving Patrick McLanhan. They entirely different from anything I've read.

Will there be any more books involving Patrick McLanhan or was Plan of Attack the last one.

I wish you a merry christmas or thanksgiving whichever you celebrate.

The upcoming book, "Act of War," and the as-yet untitled one after that, will feature several new heroes: engineer U.S. Army Major Jason Richter; his partner, engineer Dr. Ariadna Vega, both of the Army Research Laboratory's Infantry Transformational BattleLab; and U.S. Army Command Sergeant Major Ray Jefferson, assistant to the National Security Adviser.

You'll also see these characters both in "real" life and in CGI in Atari's upcoming PC game "Act of War: Direct Action," due for release in March.

I'm not done with Patrick McLanahan and his colleagues yet, but I hope everyone enjoys the adventures of Jason and Ari. Stay tuned!

20 December 2004

Dale,

I love all your books and eagerly await every one. I've been hooked since the Old Dog. I still have them all in hard cover and paper back. My only "complaint" is, if I can read them in 2-3 days, why can't you write them in a few days? 8-)

I just read my first Dreamland series book (Strike Zone), and it took me a little bit to seperate the two series. I'd like to read them all, but I'm not sure of the plot order. (help?)

Have you read ENDGAME: The Blueprint for Victory in the War on Terror by Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney USAF (Ret.) and Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely US Army (Ret.)? If I recall correctly, in their "discussions" regarding the government agencies (in general) not forseeing 9/11, they indirectly reference your Storming Heaven and Clancy's Debt of Honor, though neither are discussed at length. I'm glad other people (especially policy makers) are as insightful as you in forecasting the "world weather".

I appreciate your your work and the entertainment. I like Larry Bond, Vince Flynn, Tom Clancy, Gordon Kent, Michael Farmer and a few others, but you are my favorite author.

Thanks for your e-mail! The "Dreamland" series, co-written by Jim DeFelice, takes place generally after the events in my third novel "Day of the Cheetah." Events generally parallel but follow a few years behind those in the McLanahan series.

27 December 2004

I am no longer getting your newsletter. Did you stop distributing it? I see it on the website so I know you still create it. Please advise. Thanks and happy holidays

It's a lot of work maintaining an Internet newsletter, so I stopped and decided just to post my newsletters on my Web site. At the time I was maintaining the list myself, but that gets to be a real chore.

If my readers indicate that they prefer an e-mailed newsletter, I'll get together with my Webmaster Bill Parker and restart that project. Until then, enjoy all my newsletters on www.DaleBrown.info !

30 December 2004

Dale, I noticed on the cover of your latest book, which I’ve just started, you are sporting a new look. I also noticed that you don’t mention your family much. Are you still married? If this is too personal, I understand.

A lot of readers speculated that when I killed off Wendy Tork McLanahan in "Wings of Fire" that there was some sort of personal family crisis. This roughly corresponded with a new haircut.

Life does not always imitate art! Diane and Hunter are doing great. Here is a recent photo of my son finishing up shoveling the driveway…

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Click here for more on Plan Of Attack! Get Plan Of Attack At Amazon.Com! Plan Of Attack (MAY 2004) The unthinkable is about to happen in this high-flying novel of adventure and suspense. In Air Battle Force, Dale Brown introduced U.S. Air Force aerial warfare expert Major General Patrick McLanahan and his air combat unit of the future. Armed with a force of these robotic planes, the general and a handful of commandos were secretly deployed to the oil-rich nation of Turkmenistan to stop a Taliban invasion. And though the Americans won the battle, the war is far from over.... To punish McLanahan and his fleet of robot warplanes for their audacity, Russian president General Anatoliy Gryzlov decides to do the unthinkable: a sneak attack on America-unlike anything ever believed possible-that devastates her strategic air forces. McLanahan has collected information that not only foretold the Russians' daring plan, but also gave him the data he needs to plan a counterstrike that could stop the Russian war machine dead in its tracks. But Patrick is no longer in charge of Air Battle Force, and the Russian sneak attack has left the embattled U.S. president with few options: retaliate with every weapon in his arsenal, even if it triggers a global thermonuclear war, or to a cease fire on Russia's terms... ...or listen to a disgraced and discredited young bomber commander's long-shot plan of attack.

"The novels of Dale Brown brim with violent action, detailed descriptions of sophisticated weaponry and political intrigue... His ability to bring technical weaponry to life is amazing."
--San Francisco Chronicle

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