Here's the jacket for the third volume of the Assassin trilogy, due out August, 2009. (Scribner)
In Heart of the Assassin, time is running out for both nations that once made up the USA --- the Islamic republic and the Bible Belt. Weakened by their division and their own intellectual and moral decay, they are threatened by the expansionist dreams of the Atzlan Empire (Mexico.) The only solution is to somehow reunite the two nations. Time is also running out for the Old One. Over 150 years old, long used to the idea of his own near immortality, he is dying and with him the idea of recreating a world-wide Caliphate. He is not happy.
In a couple months I'll post the first chapter of Heart, which features Lester Gravenholtz, one of my favorite badguys, skulking in a rundown Neuvo Florida themepark, Castroland!, waiting to kill the Atzlan oil minister. Fun ensues.
A note on the back cover of the ARC of Heart of the Assassin. An ARC is an advanced readers copy of the book in paperback, that is printed early and sent to reviewers. The short bio of me on the back cover contains an error. It says "Robert Ferrigno has been a full-time gambler, college student, pilot for the Blue Angels, punk-rock columnist and bestselling novelist." I plead guilty to all of these except I was never a pilot with the Blue Angels. As a reporter I once flew in a plane piloted by a member of the Blue Angels. I even took the stick for about a minute and technically piloted the jet for that brief period of time. It was one of the most intensely cool minutes of my life, but in no way was I a pilot, let alone a Blue Angel aviator.
