Cancel Christmas

What excites you most about your book’s topic? Why did you choose it?

 What do you hope your readers will gain from reading your book?

I felt that I was creating a relationship with my readers.  Without meeting them, I felt that I could come to know them from the way I would be able to have some influence on them.  First and foremost I hope they enjoy the book.  After all, I wrote as if I were sitting beside the reader, perhaps over a coffee, in a dialogue.  As I wrote, I anticipated the questions and reactions of my reader.  My purpose was to engross the reader and to entertain.  In other words, to satisfy the reader and to entice that reader to finish the book. 

All books are aimed at satisfying the reader, that the read was worthwhile and not a waste of time.  Only if that criterion is met can any message come through.  All books have a message.  It varies from author to author,.  The message can be to entertain, to frighten, to motivate, to explain, to stir things up, or just to entertain the reader during the reading process.  My motivation was to entertain and to alert the reader during that process about some nasty things going on in our society.  It is just not right that powerful individuals can influence or buy power, or influence legislation, or even use  , and even use taxpayer money in  the process.   Hence my approach was to use satire and humor to make the reader aware of a growing problem that will affect us all even more in the future.  The technique of the big lie is back and in full sway.   I felt it was important to make my reader aware of this problem.  I used satire, with a sprinkling of humor, to make the point.  The biggest surprise to me was the ability to frame an argument and tell a story on a very personal  basis for a reader I met only in my mind. 

What projects are you currently working on?

I am currently working on four non-fiction books and one other novel.  Since my retirement from the corporate world, I have decided to dedicate my remaining years to writi9ng and lecturing.

The novel is ready for publication.  It will be issued early in 2010.  It concerns a planned major terrorist attack on the United States.   Success is plausible and possible.  The terrorists are dedicated, the United States is working to prevent it, and a dedicated group of individuals have the key to victory.  The tension is high in this book.  More will be said about this book early in 2010.

The non-fiction books include a history of the very first computer - the ENIAC - which was the brainchild of Drs. John Mauchly and Presper Eckert.  Against unbelievable odds, they created this machine out of nothing, in the early 1940s, on a shoestring budget.  Theirs was a case of courage and intestinal fortitude - guts - to get the job done.  For their herculean efforts and brilliant success, they were virtually dismissed from their jobs.  This book tells that story, and the impact their invention had and is still having in the world.   This book is finished and I am negotiating for its publication.

The second book is concerned with Truth, what it is, how to discern it, and some examples of other efforts at Truth.  This is heavily a personal search, and applies the scientific method of discovery and analysis to major truths in religion and theology.  is there a God, is there a soul, is there an afterlife, and what is a person.  In all cases, I apply a cerebral approach based on the scientific method, confirming that truth is universal no matter how described into all disciplines of knowledge.  

I use two examples to illustrate these concepts associated with truth.  The first is the Galileo controversy as an example of the clash between truth and its acceptance.  In particular I concentrate on the human aspects of acceptance contrasting with the scientific  method of determining, recording, and analyzing facts. 

The second example I use is that of Darwin and the acceptance of evolution.  I contrast the Scopes Trial to the widely accepted atmosphere of today, but pose a question associated with tolerance and exposition of other views.  I detail these in the book.

This second book is only weeks away from completion.  It will probably be published in two part6s.  I have commitments for publication.

The thirds book is an autobiography that I wrote in two parts.  The first part if for my grandchildren so they will come to know me and the age I lived through even if I am not around to tell them about it.  The second part concerns my career and the exciting things I worked on all around the world.  These vignettes include working on heat shields for space vehicles,  on giant computers in the infancy of this industry, and developing electronic currency to fuel the global flat world.

This two part book should be completed in a few more months.

The fourth book is my father's autobiography.  He left me to finish the transcription of his tapes after his death.  This is now done,. the book is edited, and I am searching for a publisher.  It is a fascinating description of life in the early part of the twentieth century, and my father's rise to world prominence as a Master chef and culinary judge.  I know I am biased, but this remarkable and brilliant man, Domenico Martino, lives again through his words in this book.  I am privileged to have been able to complete it and now to get it ready for publication.   My great regret is that business pressures and distractions kept me from completing this work sooner.  

The working title is "Chef!"

Is writing your sole career? If not, what else do you do?

It may seem that way, but writing is not my major career.  I was trained as a mathematician.  My first application of these skills was in money as an actuary.  When that became boring, I entered graduate school and became an astrophysicist, or rocket scientist.   Since the equations  of space flight parallel those of finance, many rocket scientists have entered the world of finance.  I was one of them.  The only difference was that to solve my space flight problems I used  computers.  But that was the early 1950s.  So I was a rocket scientist in finance who understood computers.  That was my career. 

I worked on many complex and important  problems.  These included the heat shield determination for space vehicles - capsules and shuttles.  From there I went into large-scale international planning systems.  I stood on coffer dams in rivers, on the steel in skyscrapers, and on the movie lot with the stars.  I worked on international finance and created many systems that ultimately handled as much as three trillion dollars a day.  I travelled the world, consulting, programming, installing systems, lecturing, and directing and doing whatever was needed.  I worked for the largest companies on earth, and for many governments.  I even worked on weapon systems.  I met many famous people all over the world, including the Pope and the President.  I worked with the inventors of the computer, of radar, and of software.  I created many of the systems and approaches still in use around the world.  Ultimately my company was working in thirty countries and I was tired of living on airplanes and in hotels.  I sold the company in 1998 and have been working on patents every since.  These patents are associated with mobile wireless communications all encompassed in a machine I built, the CyberFone. 

Two years ago I moved into writing and let the lawyers handle the patent situation.    This may appear as a bizarre switch but I have to confess that I won scholarships in English and History that financed my education in mathematics.  I would have pursued a career in History or Literature but I was deeply interested in going to the moon.  I almost made it.  Now I can write about all those experiences. 

Did you do any research for your books, or did you write from experience?

To a large extent I wrote from experience even though significant research was needed to verify and update my experiences.

My knowledge of various levels of government was acquired over the years working for various government and military departments in different countries.  I worked on major planning efforts for the State of Illinois, the United States Postal Service, the Federal Trade Commission, the United States Navy, the Canadian Department of National Defence,  and the State of Pennsylvania to name a few. 

I am well acquainted with the system of earmarks described in Cancel Christmas!  I know and saw them used by various organizations I was acquainted with, and even discussed them in conversation with elected members of Congress. 

Finally, with regard to spin, PR, and influence planning, as CEO of an international company I saw and used such techniques. 

On the whole, I lived through and was part of the types of discussions and situations described in Cancel Christmas!  In fact, I laughed often as I dictated these portions of the book remembering equivalent episodes in my own professional life.    What was of greatest interest to me as a writer was ability to see as sides of the game, and to 'play the pieces on the board.'   Cancel Christmas! is for real even if the characters are fictitious.  

How did you come up with your title?
 
In Chapter One of Cancel Christmas! I introduce the major protagonist Timber Bleakheart.  Among the characteristics of this dedicated, energetic, successful, yet miserly, executive is his approach to solving problems.  He smashes them with a sledgehammer.  The pieces may fly in any direction so long as he wins his way and demolishes a problem that stands in his way. In fact he uses the phrase 'Cancel Christmas!' in commanding his subordinates to meet his wish to reduce his cost of vacation pay at Christmas.  For him it is strictly a case of reducing cost and improving profit.  Christmas vacation time stood in his way so his solution is to Cancel Christmas!

This episode in the first chapter gave rise, in my mind, to the concept used in the cover.  The publisher's cover artist executed my design concept except for one minor point.  He placed the young sobbing girl in forefront.  I asked him to move her to the background to avoid any suspicion that Bleakheart is going to strike the girl.  Would he?  I leave that to the imagination of the reader now that I have revealed that little change made in  the cover.

What else could I have called this book.  I toyed with the idea of calling it 'The Plot to Change Christmas' but this was too long.  By default it became Cancel Christmas!'.  It is apt, short, and attention grabbing - all the elements of a good title.   Ooops, I almost wrote that as 'all the earmarks of a good title'.    

The title is intimately linked to why I wrote this book. 
During the winter and spring of 2009, I became increasingly perturbed at how the Congress was using taxpayer money.  As a nation, we were in the midst of a severe recession, millions were out of work, pundits were crying that the sky was falling, and speeches were being made by the President and senior members of Congress that we needed a stimulus program to get the economy going again .  A massive spending bill was passed – The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 – otherwise commonly referred to as the Stimulus Bill of 2009.  It contained thousands of earmarks for special requests and spending measures by individual members of Congress.  The total of these was in the billions.  Earmarks are ways that individual Representatives and Senators can secure specific funds ‘earmarked’ for programs in their districts and states.  The purposes stated are to help businessmen, to fund research, or for any purpose whatsoever that the member wishes, that the leadership will allow, and that will not result in a hue and cry from other members.  Historically a significant number of these earmarks are questionable.  Funding has been approved in the past for roads to nowhere, unnecessary bridges, ridiculous research studies, and funding for dubious reasons.  One wonders if re-election ranks as a primary motivation behind many earmarks.  While for many years I would ‘grin and bear it’ as the saying goes.  As I recognized what was going on, I became angry when this disgraceful performance increased by using a national emergency as a means of furthering personal rather than the national interest.  I decided to do something about it.
That’s when I started writing this book.  I chose exposure through humor, and a clash of personalities in a novel.  I chose a traditional occasion – Christmas.  For Christians, of course, it is primarily a religious observance; but in actual fact, for most people, Christians and non-Christians alike, it is a festive time when the best in people comes out.  Good fellowship reigns, and there is a spirit of appreciation of life and of others.  Gifts and merrymaking are only outward manifestations of the inner glow that many people have during the Christmas Season.  To attempt to modify a traditional observance for strictly personal pecuniary gain would certainly raise a lot of hackles.  Hence the introduction of the big lie technique to cloak the real intention with a lot of spurious opinion polls, using manufactured facts and spin to fool enough people to win the point.  The objective was to get Congress to pass a change of date act, and to have it enforced before people realized what was really going on.  That was the basic plot.  The spin masters behind the program were all motivated by the concept that “people don’t count’, and anything can be done if there is enough advertising and artificial support for the effort.
But people do count.  I chose people to be the foils for the attempt at twisting a tradition into a means of making or saving money, and of being re-elected.   I let the characters of the book act out in what was goes on in Congress.  I also feel that Congress, like any organization, has its good apples and its bad apples.  I tried to show both sides, but I also wanted to show the basic attitude of many that re-election is an issue that is more important than the national interest or anything else.
I was also perturbed at what I perceived to be a return of the technique of the big lie.  The idea is to tell a lie so monstrous that people will accept it on the basis that it must be true or else it would not be said.  Hitler and his propaganda minister, Josef Goebbels, used this technique to great effect during the Nazi regime.  Other dictators have used it since, most especially Stalin in Soviet Russia and Mao Zedong in China.  It is also the usual approach of the terrorists in brainwashing their followers.  Part of the operational mode of this technique is to push hard, move quickly, keep the opposition off balance, and get things done before anyone knows what has happened.
All of these elements are in this book.
Fundamentally, however, I believe in the goodness of people.  I let the characters of Sam and Cindy grow to represent the people.  I believe rather strongly that people count, and in this book I wanted to counter the blitzkrieg approach of the big lie with the thoughtful development of resistance based on character and goodness.  Self sacrifice for family as in the case of Cindy, or to satisfy a code of ethics on the part of Sam are basic elements of human nature.
The book concerns some serious topics.  A humorous break was needed.  That’s when I decided that senator Christian needed a spittoon.  To be honest, I often burst out laughing as I wrote book this whenever I used the word ‘thwack’ as the senator used his spittoon.  I hope you laugh hard as you read these scenes.  Yet there is a butter truth hidden in this character.
Character and conflicts based on character are an important part of this book.  I used such conflicts to emphasize the message.
Finally, I wanted a sense of mystery to get interjected.  The book ends with unanswered questions:  will a future attempt be made to change or cancel Christmas, will Sam take the job offer, will the romance between Sam and Cindy   blossom, and who is the hobo?
I wanted this book to be a good story with some tension in it, using humor and character development to make a major point.  The underlying theme of this book is that Christmas is an attitude of mind shared by many people, that it does a lot of good, and shouldn’t be meddled with.  The greed of a single person must never be allowed to subvert the function of government so that one person’s profit can be achieved at the expense of many.
That’s why I wrote this book.  That's why I chose the title Cancel Christmas! as an alarm signal of what might happen. 

What books have influenced you the most?

I read quickly and hence scores of books over the years have molded my thinking.  In most cases, these books has verified or strengthened my opinions.  At times, they have created new approaches, and even new ideas.  In all cases, I have then pursued other sources to verify before committing.  The 'Great Books' are certainly a major source of my thinking and opinion formulation.  So is much of history, especially biographies of great men. Foremost amongst these are biographies of our founding fathers.    
Hence it is more the types of books that have influenced me rather than specific books.  History, biography, great literature, philosophy, science, and humor are rhea types I most commonly read.  I also consume the junk food of thrillers as a complete diversion.  These are very diverse in nature. 

Who was your publisher and why did you choose them?

I chose Infinity because of the speed of getting the book into print and circulation.  They are also very easy to work with, and responsive to author desires and needs.  They are to be commended and recommended.  I do. 

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