Mark Steyn Marches On

I'm in awe of Mark Steyn. Not because he's a fine writer and a clear thinker, a descriptive that has never been more dangerous. Heck, I can do a bit of that myself. It's because he speaks just as sharp and insightfully as he writes. I listen to him on Hugh Hewitt's radio show every thursday, and I want to cut out my tongue. I do radio interviews and I either speak too slowly or go on too long, and my best lines invariably come after we've gone to break, and thanks for speaking with us, Robert, you'll have to come back again in a few years.

Steyn reviewed the first book of the Assassin trilogy, Prayers for the Assassin, for the Canadian weekly, Macleans magazine. It remains one of my favorite reviews. The fact that this review contributed to Steyn's troubles with the nitwits at the Canadian Human Rights Commission is proof that God has a sense of humor, but unfortunately for us, it's mostly slapstick and irony.

In a new review for Macleans, Steyn reviews Caliphate, a novel by Tom Kratman, set one hundred years in the future, when an Islamic Europe makes war on North America. It sounds good, and I appreciate Steyn's mention of my work. One hundred years...? Sounds a little optimistic.

Ahmadinejad Sets Lance Straight

I have another humor piece up at National Review., wherein Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran, has a heart to heart talk with Lance, the room service guy, about geopolitics, Barak Obama and the new James Bond's sixpack.

Fun ensues.

Weekly Standard review

Joel Schwartz of the Weekly Standard magazine reviews the Assassin trilogy in this week's issue. He writes it well, and likes it for all the right reasons, although, truth be told, I'll take a rave review based on the book jacket. Which is only fair, since one of my crime novels got a lousy review from the LA Times a few years ago based on the flap copy, which as any reviewer should know, is not written by the author. I actually prayed I would meet this knucklehead at a party one day, but since I don't go to LA literary parties, we were both safe.

The timing of Schwartz's review couldn't be better. I'm on a one month deadline to complete the third volume of the trilogy and I could use a morale boost. Of course, this also amps up the already considerable pressure I feel to not let readers and reviewers down.

I'm going to go back to the manuscript now.