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05.27.2008
27 May 2008
Who Dares Wins
Ok, wargaming WDW here in Atlanta. My head hurts. Changes and more changes although the message stays the same
Instead of a Cycle of Success, there will be a circle of success. Seems like a minor difference but it’s actually quite big. Because you can really start WDW at any place. It’s not a step by step thing—which brings about Change Two: They’re not steps any more, they’re Tools. Nine Tools. Not numbered. Numbering them makes you think you have to start at one and go through nine.
Formatting the Areas and Tools is what the focus is on now and getting there. I really want this book to be a success because I envision a line of books under the Who Dares Wins umbrella.
Another thing I’ve been told to keep in mind is that for this type of book people tend to jump around. They look for the part they think they need rather than just start at the beginning and go to the end. Let’s double-tap them is my philosophy, but unfortunately that decreases the client base. So, we’re putting it together like that. Each Tool will be formatted the same way.
I did have a brilliant idea though—I want the hardcover inside to be camo underneath the paper cover. Very original.
Bob Land:
Here is some neat info-dump that unfortunately had to be cut out of THE JEFFERSON ALLEGIANCE (what’s her name suggested I do this):
Ducharme shrugged, not sure where she was going with her train of thought. He had a feeling her mental tracks weren’t too straight. “Hoover was a wack-job. The FBI certainly didn’t do a great job with either 9-11 or the KC Attack.”
“I heard he liked to wear women’s clothes,” Carson threw in, a valuable contribution, Ducharme thought.
“Yes, he was a cross dresser and a homosexual,” Payne said. She turned to look at Ducharme. “Everything is connected. You need to understand that. Let me give you an example. Take Hoover and JFK. You ever hear of Judith Exner?”
Ducharme blinked. “No. Should I?”
“You?” Payne asked Carson, who shook his head. She continued. “Exner was a beautiful woman who knew Frank Sinatra.” Payne lifted a single long finger. “An event: Sinatra introduced her to Kennedy in Vegas when Sinatra was filming Ocean’s 11. The original one in 1960. This was when Kennedy was seeking the democratic nomination. She and Kennedy started an affair.” A second finger went up. “Sinatra also introduced her to Sam Giancana, head of the Chicago Outfit. They call it the Outfit in Chicago, not the Mafia. She probably began an affair with Giancana also although she claimed not to have slept with him until after her affair with Kennedy was over. Regardless, Kennedy knew who Giancana was.”
“I know who Giancana was,” Ducharme said, irritated and not liking where this was going.
“Good, most people don’t.” She pointed both fingers over her shoulder to the rear. “Go back: the Kennedy’s were no strangers to shady dealings, since, after all, Joe Kennedy, the patriarch, made his fortune as a bootlegger during prohibition and had connections with the Mafia, including Giancana. Who knew Sinatra. Who knew Exner. The introductions were not made by chance.” She pointed ahead, out the windshield. “Go forward: John Kennedy hands Exner a bag full of cash to give to Giancana. ‘To help with the election,’ she said he told her.
“It helped. Kennedy got the nomination—with a big push in Chicago helping– and won the election. Then Exner continued to act as a go-between. She said in her memoir she delivered information that led Giancana to try to kill Castro for the US government at Kennedy’s behest.”
Ducharme shook his head. “What’s that got to do with Hoover?”
She lowered her hand. “Continue going forward along the thread. Hoover had dirt on everyone. The FBI had taps on Giancana’s phone and Exner would call the President on that line. So Hoover set up a lunch with the President where he brought his file on Exner. Up to this point, Kennedy and his brother, Robert, the Attorney General and technically Hoover’s boss, had treated Hoover and the FBI with little regard. After that lunch, Hoover had the Kennedy’s by the balls, to use a crude metaphor although an appropriate one. He got what he wanted, including authorization to illegally eavesdrop on Martin Luther King, something Kennedy hated allowing, but had no choice about because he’d had an affair with a mob boss’s girlfriend. And he couldn’t have that affair looked into too carefully because there was a lot more to it than extramarital sex.”
Payne looked at Ducharme. “Follow the thread. Sinatra. Exner. Kennedy. Giancana. The nomination. The election. The Presidency. The Civil Rights Movement. Martin Luther King. The FBI and J. Edgar Hoover. We end up with the FBI illegally surveilling Martin Luther King. So much for Camelot.”
“Interesting,” Ducharme said dryly, checking his watch.
Carson piped up from the back seat. “I suppose you think the Kennedy’s had Marilyn Monroe killed and an alien spaceship crashed at Roswell.”
“Marilyn Monroe wasn’t killed by the Kennedy’s. Directly, that is. She committed accidental suicide.”
“’Accidental’?” Carson asked.
“And Roswell was disinformation by the government to hide what they were really doing.”
“Which was?” Carson asked.
“Who knows?” Payne said. “That the point. It worked. We don’t know what they were really doing while everyone was focused on Roswell and Area 51.” Payne shook her head, dismissing Marilyn Monroe and Roswell. “The point is, things are connected along the lines of history,” Payne said. “Often in ways that are very difficult to unravel unless you really focus and dig deep. Few people nowadays go deep—everything is superficial and given in ten second sound bites. Whatever is going on now run deeps. Can’t you feel it? History isn’t just the past. It’s the present when history is being made and the future, which develops from past events. It’s like a rope made of many threads. You pull on one thread and you have no idea what it’s connected to in the past or what it will affect in the future.”
Movies and Books:
Watched an old movie last night: Now Voyager with Bette Davis from 1942. Really good. Excellent psychological study.
Also watched The Savages. Also excellent. Also psychological. Laura Linney was superb in it.
Deb gave me a book to read on my flights: Predictably Irrational. Interesting ideas in it that tie in to WDW.
Blog Special:
Hmm, what to do, what to do. UFOs seem to be in the news a lot lately and Dell just went back to print on Area 51 (I think it’s the 16th printing since 1995) and I sold the foreign rights for Area 51 to Spain for the SECOND time, and I mentioned it above, so let’s do that. The first book in the Area 51 series for $3 plus S&H. Then if you like it, there’s eight more to go.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Yo, Bob!
Did a silly thing and tagged you for a meme (May 23rd post on my blog) as my token male. Silly me, what was I thinking? That silliness wouldn’t fit your blog criteria. Frankly, I was hoping to give Crucie something to tease you about (if you were to play tag).
Totally agree about “The Savages.” Great movie.
For movies, check out A&E’s mini-series (will repeat endlessly, I’m sure) “The Andromeda Strain.” Did a pretty good job of the Crichton novel while modernizing it some. I’d be curious about your take.
Looking forward to seeing the MWC gang at Cannon Beach this fall. Have a great summer, cheers, Lisa
May 27th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Wow, good stuff Bob, can’t wait till the books come out.
I agree with your review of The Savages. It was a Sundance Movie. Much buzz abounded. Just for giggles rent “The Foot Fist Way.” I’m sure in your experience you’ve run into a lot of martial arts instructors like the guy in that film. Too funny. Have a great trip.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
Make that “Crusie,” not “Crucie.” Bad typo above…
May 27th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Roswell. Hmph.
My father was stationed there the year after the ‘weather balloon’ incident. Did he have any juicy gossip to pass on to his daughter? Nobody talked about it, was all he said. Huh.
And I’ve found someone else who liked ‘Now Voyager’! Excellent.
May 28th, 2008 at 7:36 am
I know this is a random tangent, but it trips me up every time I see it on your blog– my fault, not yours. It’s a case of my habit winning over your context.
I’m used to seeing W__W (where the blank is filled in with the authors first intial) This is netspeak for “Write, Bob, Write”. Every time I see WDW, I keep translating it to “Write, damnit, write!” not “Who Dares, Wins.”
(Yes, I know the epithet is two words, but no one ever says it like that.)
May 28th, 2008 at 7:52 am
If I don’t get a copy of Jefferson in my hands soon there will be much gnashing of teeth and pulling of hair- and I LOVED the info dump- but I don’t think it’s an info dump- I think it’s a very good way to describe the cause and effect of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, but I’m a professional historian so what do I know
May 28th, 2008 at 8:11 am
I enjoyed your excerpt. But yeah, I suppose it is a history dump disguised as dialogue. You should have seen the dumping I had in my WIP, (which a certain person told me to remove). I did. It’s much better. Now I’m down to two and three word sentences. But the story moves along at a fast pace. Heh.
Yeah, go for the camo hardcover on WDW. That would be cool. Predictibly Irrational sounds like the story of my life. I should read it.
May 28th, 2008 at 8:30 am
Camo hardcover. Where have I heard of that before?
If someone thought that was “bad”, then I can’t wait to read the stuff that’s good, because I thought that bad was good! Is there a way to keep the lines at the end about the history is not just the past?
May 28th, 2008 at 9:33 am
The WDW format sounds great. I like the idea of the Circle of Success & as you say, change is a process. :))
Thanks for the cut excerpt of The Jefferson Allegiance (Very cool name). A nice teaser–my curiosity is both somewhat satisfied (I now have a clue what it will be like) and ignited. I am really looking forward to the release of the book.
“Predictably Irrational”–I looked it up on Amazon books. Intriguing. And I think we are what we focus on and that influences our decisions. Goes back to knowing the self.
May 28th, 2008 at 9:50 am
Thanks for the excerpt. Don’t tell what’s her name, but sometimes I enjoy info dump.
May 28th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
I’m going to agree and disagree with JC. The initial Hoover stuff is so well known that it doesn’t add anything, but the mob connection, Kennedy, and Hoover is interesting if you are explicating a point that means something later.
Area 51 here I come. Please sign, Bob?
May 28th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Love your info dump. What would it take to convince you that the first, oh, say 400 or so pages of Jefferson are info dump? Then you could cut them and post it all over here.
Did you know that Mercury is retrograde right now? It’s a planet. That’s supposed to cause travel delays, lost luggage, electronics glitches, miscommunications. Sounds like a great time to travel to Not-The-Midwest and try to communicate with What’s-Her-Name. With power tools. Be sure to back-up all your WIP. Ooooh, I know, you could just email all your work to me. For safekeeping. Really.
You know, since you’re so busy and your head hurts, maybe you could let Deb come over here and talk to us. She could do a guest blog post. We’ll behave. We’ll even be nice.
May 28th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
I second what cc and Bcb and Mcb all said about the ‘info dump’. It isn’t that to me. I find all that history and intertwining of lives very interesting. I knew most of it since that was big news in the late sixties.
I really liked the analogy using the rope.
“History isn’t just the past. It’s the present when history is being made and the future, which develops from past events. It’s like a rope made of many threads.”
I also liked the change from “a cycle of success” to “a circle of success” making it a continuous thing instead of linear. Way to go Bob.
May 28th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Forgot to say that I too like the movie Now Voyager. Didn’t Bette Davis get an Academy Award for that?
May 28th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
History is always interesting, but sometimes you have to leave out the best parts: Marilyn and the Kennedy curse.
May 29th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Woohoo - ordered my first blog special. I’m in the mood for aliens - and hopefully a bit on conspiracy theory?
May 31st, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Um … Bob, I believe there is something propped up against the wall in the T.V. room, at you know who’s place, parts of a couch perhaps? I think it needs putting together. Hint, hint.