Poetry Excerpt on Kindle

Excerpt - this link will take you to the Amazon site where you can buy the book (on Kindle)

I have spent some time this week learning how to convert my text to a format for an e-book.  I decided to put up an excerpt first since the original book (from 1990) is quite long and out of print. I did a presentation recently to a high school group on my journey to creativity and included a poetry reading as well as talking about my earlier life.  I showed the students my paintings and spoke about turning negatives into positive actions and the effect of choices on life.

I took some books out of the library on e-book publishing but did not find them that helpful. I bought the book "Publishing E-Books for Dummies" by Ali Luke and that inspired me to take action myself.  Now that I have the book excerpt on Kindle (my first goal), I will continue with making it available on Nook and in other formats.

Eventually I hope to convert the full book to e-book form as well as my chapbook. I found the formatting to take more time than I expected.  I kept finding little glitches that the conversion software did not get right.  I'm glad I know some HTML code so I could see what was going on. (It did not like hyphens and copyright symbols.)

While my original book and chapbook contain poetry from many years ago, I plan on compiling the more recent poems into small collections and making them available on e-book as well. Meanwhile, I worked a bit more on my painting of the catalpa blossoms (last post) and hope to have it finished for the next one. I'm not sure what I'll start on next, but the ideas are flowing . . .

The painting on the cover is my acrylic painting of a canal in Leuven, Belgium. The title of the collection is from one of my poems that is a reflection of my time living there (1969-1974).

What is poetry good for?

“To remind people of their own humanity.” Student answer

“That struck me as so sensible, so moving, so poignant . . . You know, I’m mortal, I exist, I have my own conscience, I have my own being, myself. Here I am with this universe. Maybe there’s a God; maybe there’s no God. This is my predicament, my human predicament. Poetry reminds readers of that.”

Charles Simic (American poet laureate consultant, 2007-2008) as quoted in: The Poets Laureate Anthology, Edited by E. H. Schmidt, copyright 2010, ISBN 978-0-393-06181-9

I don't have time for creating my own poetry and art at this time of year as my business is keeping me very busy, but I am enjoying reading a few poems every night. This is a library book that I took out and I've already renewed it once, so I doubt that I'll get to the end before it goes back, but it is interesting.

Reviews - Behind the Lies

The reviews and positive comments are starting to come in now. I'm very proud of Joe! Here's one:

Wow Joe!

After building the plot effectively in the first half the last half blew me away. Up to midnight finishing which is something that I do very rarely. Your writing talents have been hidden but you will take your place with the majors. A much better plot than the Cussler and Griffins.

When you get your book in front of the major reviewers you should hit the big time.

Jim

It's Here the Day "Behind The Lies" is Published

The book excerpts you might have read on this blog come from my military thriller titled, "Behind The Lies." Today, Xlibris a division of Random House has it for sale on their website: www.Xlibris.com. If you would like a signed copy of the novel my first shipment of books will be arriving within two to three weeks. You may visit my website: www.joesmiga.com and place your order and pay for it through Paypal. Now my work begins with the marketing of the book. Wish me good fortune. Since I have created my own blog http://smigawritesabout.blogspot.com, this will be the last posting I do on my wife's site.

Chapter Forty-Nine End of November

“Today, we’ll be making decisions critical to the safety of our country and its citizens. These decisions will entail military action which will lead to the destruction of facilities and human lives. I don’t have to say, none of these decisions can be taken lightly. Each one, in and of itself, will be a very heavy burden, a burden we must all carry for the rest of our days,” President Egan says gravely. “Yet it is vital that, as leaders of the United States, we make these decisions,”

Looking around the Situation Room at those seated before him – the chairman of the joint chiefs, an admiral, two generals, the directors of the CIA and the NSA, his secretary of defense – the president assesses the realities of this moment. Though I’m commander in chief, I feel inadequate to the task before me. Only these four military men have any strategic planning and military experience at the command level. I am humbled in their presence.

“Dean, you said that you wanted to start with the list of military sites we need to consider. Let’s have it,” Egan says with a sigh.

Dean Hargrove rises and walks to the podium. After adjusting a sheaf of papers in front of him, he turns on a computer. The Great Seal of the United States of America appears on the screen at the front of the room; all eyes are drawn to the thirteen arrows in the grip of the eagle’s talon.

Chapter Forty-Eight Arranging a Return

Dave Carter is best known for being able to go from casual camaraderie to serious business faster than anyone else at NSA, and he doesn’t bother with preambles. “As senior watch men, both of you are fully aware of our group’s Iranian message reports. I’m beginning to see something of a trend developing. I want to review my thoughts with you two before I pass my report upstairs.”

“What do you think you’re seeing?” asks Ritter, fishing out a pack of cigarettes from his jacket pocket. Carter’s clearly negative reaction inspires Ritter to drop them back in.

“I’m getting the sense of an increasing intensity in making deadlines by the military,” Dave informs them. “It’s almost like they’ve got some kind of major deadline they’re shooting for. I’m seeing traffic that suggests the two Kilos they’re buying from Russia are undergoing sea trials, with two Iranian crews already in Russia. In the past the Russians always delivered their Kilos, and sea trials were conducted in Iranian waters.”

“I don’t know if that really means anything in and of itself,” Proctor says, pushing his chair back from the table.

“Maybe you’re right. Maybe it doesn’t,” Dave concedes. “It’s a gut thing. Have either of you gotten any sense of a red flag? I need your views besides my own.”

Ritter gets up and paces the floor, thinking. Then it hits him. “There’s been a pick-up in messages between the Council and the navy, about missile firings that aren’t going as satisfactorily as they’d like. I can’t put a finger on what kind of missiles they are talking about, but there does seem to be a lot of internal pressure going into the problem, whatever it is.”

“Internal pressure. What do you mean by internal pressure, Jack?” asks Proctor as he puts his feet up on the conference room table.

“Its hard to put into words. It’s – it’s as if some project of theirs isn’t measuring up to somebody’s expectations.” Ritter tries to put the pieces of a hunch together. “But whatever this is, I get the sense that the navy’s trying to pass the buck. Have either of you seen anything that might suggest they’re having missile malfunctions?”

Chapter Forty-Seven Same Time in November

Two days later, Atwan meets with Hussein and Dakham in the conference room. This is a very different Atwan from the one they’ve done business with up until now. This Atwan is in executive mode.

“Give me your proposed routes and transportation requirements and I’ll handle everything here,” Atwan says in an almost patronizing tone. “I expected you have everything complete by now.”

“Jibril, we do not want to use the same means of transportation we did for the last trip to Russia,” says Dakham, pulling a map out and laying it one the table. “We shouldn’t attract anymore attention to ourselves than we have to. We plan a different border crossing into Pakistan, here, at Turbat,” he says, pointing, “in the southern end of the country, not going in again from Zahedan. And here is the name of a service we can use to get us from the border to the Karachi airport. As we told you yesterday, we’ll need a minimum of five days at Dimitri’s place to conceal the uranium in the housings, and we’ll need a flat-bed truck to carry the three reducers down to the port at the mouth of the Volga. And not just any flat-bed truck. This transport must have adequate shock absorbers to protect the units from being bounced around.” Dakham’s delivery is terse; his annoyance is beginning to show.

Hussein jumps in, taking over from here. “At the seaport,” he says, “we’ll need the services of a stevedore who knows what he’s doing, so the units are handled properly and are well secured inside of the ship’s hold. Everything needs to be labeled with a final destination of Pakistan, traveling through Iran. We have everything laid out. All you have to do is approve it. We have already taken the time to investigate every option.”

“All right, all right,” Atwan says, somewhat mollified. “Clearly the two of you have put a lot of research into these plans. You seem to have everything covered, just as you said you would. However, I might want to use other carriers than those you have in mind.” Hussein shrugs. We get it, Jibril: this is your show.

Chapter Forty-Six Middle of November

“I know that all of you’re aware of Project Whispering.” He pauses a moment while this fact is uniformly acknowledged in the affirmative. “As of right now, with the exception of a couple of analysts in the NSA, you nine are the only members of the government who are aware of this project, and until necessary, it will remain that way.” Again, he looks around the table for confirmation.

“Project Whispering,” the president continues, “is beginning to yield some insight as to what might happen in the near future concerning the Middle East and the United States. This is why I’ve called for a meeting.” The president pauses, looks down as if consulting with an inner advisor, then proceeds onto territory he never expected to have to face in his administration.

“Our top military people have suggested that, in the event of an attack on our shores, we designate pre-assigned targets to minimize reaction time – for retaliation.” He pauses again, giving the group a moment to adjust to such a difficult reality. “It makes sense to me to do so, but I believe the responsibility for making those choices lies with all of us. Do I have any questions at this point?”

Chapter Forty-Five End of October

Ayatollah Sayed Abbas speaks. “Supreme Leader, we are undertaking a worldwide military campaign. What are the chances of having secrets leaked to the Europeans or to the West?”

“With the IAEA no longer allowed to monitor our nuclear enrichment sites, we have eliminated the biggest source of a leak to the outside world. Within our own borders, our secret police have been monitoring anyone and everyone connected with these affairs. If anyone – or a number of anyones – might be tempted to betray us, they will be handled with the fiercest repercussions.”

Ayatollah Hossein Farook replies, “That’s all well and good, Fadil. However, the more people involved in this, the more the project lends itself to becoming of some interest to the outside world. I would hope that each segment of this plan is being carried out without another segment being aware of its partnership to the project.”

“Hossein, Jibril and I are the only ones who currently know the total scope of our plan. Others are performing their tasks without knowing their true nature or when, or if anything, will come of their efforts. It is easy to train people when they think that their contributions are for self-survival against the West.”

“All well and good, Fadil. However, now you have exposed us to purchasing enriched uranium from outside of our borders. I hope that purchase doesn’t come back to bite us.” Farook’s eyes betray his lack of confidence in what he’s hearing.

Sternly Ahmajid replies, “Farook, Jibril is very good at what he does. I have complete confidence in how he’s handling his end of this.”

“I hope you’re right. Only Allah knows, and time will tell us, if you are.”

“Let us go then with Allah’s blessing. Each of you know what your assignments are, am I correct?”

Each of the five nods his head in agreement.

Chapter Forty-Four Successful

Atwan sits at his desk nervously tapping his fingers. Two weeks have passed since he gave the lab the sample of uranium for testing. His anxiety level increases with every day, mainly because of the Euros equaling three hundred thousand American dollars that now sit in a mafiya account – and so far, nothing to show for it. Looking at the picture of the prophet Mohammad on his wall, he knows he must have faith. At least that’s what he tells himself.

Finally, he cannot stand it any longer. He calls the lab. “This is Jibril Atwan. Where are the results from the sample I left with you? It’s two weeks now.”

The lab assistant, realizing the importance of the man who is calling, says, “I will get my director, sir.”

The head of the lab comes to the phone. “Jibril, we are just putting our notes together as we speak. You will have a hard copy within the hour. We took our time so we could be absolutely positive of our findings.”

“All right,” Atwan says with a sigh. “I hope that you have good news for me.”

“You will be satisfied, Jibril.” The director hangs up his phone and shakes his head. Bureaucrats, he groans inwardly.

When the report arrives, it reads as follows:

Material is considered to be a good grade of enriched uranium. Quantity appears consistent with the amount normally found in a warhead. There appears to have been no decay within the container in which it arrived that would indicate deterioration of this material, at least not in the foreseeable future.

Atwan’s eyes light up as he reads the report. Quickly he picks up his phone and calls down to the Supreme Leader’s office. He advises his superior of the report, and recommends they should complete negotiations to purchase the remainder of the materials.

Chapter Forty-Three Early October

Jibril Atwan, advisor to the Supreme Leader, must now do some contacting of his own. Sitting in his office in the Ministry of Intelligence and Security, Atwan puts a call through to a phone number he has just looked up in his file. A phone rings in Russia.

“Hello. Who is this?”

“Your friend Jibril. Kolzak, how are things going for you?”

“Could always be better, Jibril. Are you calling on a secure line?”

“I wouldn’t call you any other way.”

“What did I do to deserve this pleasure, my friend?”

“The last time we spoke, you promised me two Kilos in ten to twelve months time. I’m merely calling to see if they are still on schedule.”

“Jibril, you’re fortunate that I like you,” says Kolzak, his voice deep and gruff. “You know that I’m only the minister of defense, not somebody with power. But, yes, we are still on schedule for the ten to twelve months delivery date I gave you. However, Jibril, now that you have called, I think it is good that you consider paying us the moneys you’re scheduled to pay since we have upgraded your delivery. I’m sure you know that it costs to get the needed parts as quickly as you want them. I also expect that you will have deposited the remainder when your crews arrive to receive delivery of the subs from our yards.”

“I assume that when you require the balance,” Atwan counters, “the subs will have under-gone sea trials. I do not want any of my men finding what could be fatal leaks.”

“Jibril, you can have your men here in four months, if you like. They can monitor and sign off on the sea trials and have any questions answered for them first-hand. That way we do not have to worry about any suspicious sub sinkings on the way home. I don’t want you calling me back saying something is my fault.”

Atwan just laughs. Would I do something like that? “I wouldn’t put it past you, Jibril.”

“Your money will be wired tomorrow, my friend. I will take you up on sending my two crews up in four months.” Atwan decides to push his luck. “Can they participate in the sea trials?”

“I can arrange that.” Of course. We have all been told to keep Iran happy, whatever the cost.

“Kolzak, when my people leave for home, I would hope you can aid us in making sure they don’t arouse suspicion when passing Norway, Sweden and Denmark on their way into the North Sea.”

“So long as they don’t go flying the Iranian flag, Jibril, they should have no problem. People are used to seeing our subs in the Baltic. Once they clear Denmark, they can run submerged for long periods.”

“Good,” Atwan replies. “I’m trying not to get too many people interested in our latest acqui-sition.”

Chapter Forty-Two War Powers Supplemental Act

Sitting in the Situation Room is President Egan, Vice-President Devonshire, Chief-of-Staff Sterling, Secretary-of-Defense Anderson, CIA Director McDonald, NSA Director Walker, Admiral Smith, Generals Bradley and Sanford.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, this meeting is going to have just one item on its agenda. There will be time for discussion. After the discussion, I will make my statement,” said the President.

“Having received substantiated intelligence on a regular basis, it appears that the nation of Iran is threatening to attack both the United States and the State of Israel. When it might happen, I cannot say at this point. However, the information received to date indicates that sometime in the near future we are going to have a confrontation with them.

“As President, it is my responsibility under the constitution to protect our people and our country to the best of my ability. Because of the serious nature of this intelligence, I have met privately with our admiral and generals sitting here this morning. We have discussed both preemptive confrontation and retaliatory confrontation.

“As the four of us see it, this country has a major problem if its shores are attacked on a larger scale than September 11th. If we are restricted to the constitution’s regulation of who is the acting president, in the case of the death or inability of the president to function as commander-in-chief, we could become crippled by our inability to make tactical military decisions to save our nation.

Chapter Forty-One Mafiya Sends Sample From Nuclear Warhead

“Alright Dimitri, this is what we will do. Hamid is going to send you a titanium container with a lead lining. We are going to ship you this container via United Parcel Service over-night. Your people will place the sample in this container and lead seal it so it cannot be removed. United Parcel will provide you with a return shipping label that will enable you to return the container to us without any charge. You must mark the contents as x-ray materials for lab use. We are not intending to value the components other than their normal insurance benefits so as not to arouse any interest in it. The package will be returned to us via over-night delivery. The day you send the package to UPS and we have a tracking number we will electronically transfer your initial deposit.”

“How will you know the tracking number from United Parcel Service?”

“Having an account with United Parcel we will receive an e-mail saying the package has been picked up and giving us a time of delivery. Now it is up to you to give me your account number so we can wire you the money.”

“Just a minute while I get my checking account number.”

After obtaining the numbers, Kamil tells Dimitri the container will be shipped out to him tomorrow and he will have the package the following day. He also tells him to turn it around for reshipment within twenty-four hours.

Kamil hangs up the phone and pushes off the speaker button. “What do you think, Hamid?”

“I think Jibril’s idea of waiting ten days has really got him anxious to get his money.”“I believe you are correct. I don’t believe both of us have to go to Pakistan to send the container and wait for the return shipment. Do you want to go or should I go?”

Chapter Forty Mossad goes to Washington

President Egan replies, “We know of a number of facilities producing weapons grade materials. They already have four Kilos. What makes Bampur different and two more subs big news for you?”

Ariel responds, “Their Shahab 3 with a nuclear warhead possibly being fired from a submarine is big news for us. It is something you possibly should be concerned about as well. “Also, Bampur is not enriching uranium. It is reprocessing plutonium.”

Suddenly startled, everyone else in the Oval Office just looks at each other. Damn this is a new area they were not aware of.

“John, why don’t you share with Ariel, how we found out about his insertion and how we monitored their movements until they departed.”

John Walker goes into the explanation from the time the Los Angeles class submarine tracked their sub, to the National Security satellites tracking the team.

Ariel smiles because he is not surprised that this happened. He is just thankful it was not an Iranian submarine.

The president asks, “Ariel, are you receiving any word of the Russian Mafiya working with the Iranians?”

“No sir, not to the best of my knowledge.”

“Allison, tell Ariel what your contacts found around Bampur after his team left, what we know of the two remaining Kilos in Russia and the Mafiya.” Allison goes on to explain to Ariel what she had previously reported to the president.

Again, Ariel is not surprised at what he is hearing. “Thank you for sharing this information. It is most helpful. The real reason I am here on the orders of our prime minister is the following. Our team recorded some conversations with five individuals who were swimming just outside of the Bandar Abbas base. We believe that they are engineers and are working on redesigning their Shabab 3 missile so it can be fired from their Kilos. The comments specifically said, “Won’t the United States be surprised.” Another comment said, “So will Israel.”

“If that is not something for the two of our countries to be concerned with, I don’t know what is.”

Chapter Thirty-Nine The President speaks with Israel's Prime Minister

President Egan picks up his phone, “Yaakov, how was dinner?”

“Well, Mr. President, dinner was the usual stuff but the Knesset discussion was more than enlightening for a change. You don’t call me this late in the day without good reason, what is going on?”

“Well Yaakov, a certain situation has surfaced that we need to clear up immediately.”

“A certain situation, can you be more specific?”

“We identified one of your dolphin submarines off of the coast of Iran a couple of weeks ago. We know the submarine placed a covert team inside of Iran.”

(Pause) NO REPLY

President Egan continues, “The navy advised me regarding the drop and I ordered our National Security people to monitor the team. We tracked your people to Bampur and then to Bandar Abbas. We do know that they have departed Iran. We assume it was by submarine. I didn’t want to contact you until I knew the team was safe and secure.”

“If what you say is true, sir, I will have to check with our IDF to find out who authorized such a mission. This is highly irregular for us to enter Iran.”

“Well, we think so too, Yaakov. However, you might have decided that it was necessary.”

“Give me a couple of days, Mr. President and I will get back to you.”

“Fair enough,” You sly old fox got yourself caught in the hen house, did you?

Chapter Thirty-Eight Getting Debriefed Inside Mossad Headquarters

“Wish we could have gotten more,” Natan says. “We could only work with what we had.”

“Trust me, you did fine,” Ariel assures them. “Now, the building you requested we monitor by satellite seems to be some type of technical assembly room for engineers. We have been watching it now for over two weeks. Only five men have been using it, which leads us to think that it must hold something of a highly secret nature. Especially as it appears to be guarded twenty-four hours a day.”

“That was our impression,” Mark confirms and Ariel nods.

“Last but not least, the conversations you picked up from the five men who went swimming outside of the fence area, is nothing short of alarming. It sounds as if Iran is redesigning their latest missile to be capable of being fired from a submerged submarine. Not the kind of news you want to hear as we prepare to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, I am afraid.”

Both Natan and Mark register a degree of alarm appropriate to Ariel’s remarks.

Chapter Thirty-Seven Mafiya's Response

"Who's this?" says a voice that could be Dimitri's.

"Who am I speaking with?" says Hussein.

"Dimitri Kostovich. Who is this?"

"Dimitri, this is Kamil and I have Hamid with me on speaker phone, so that we can both hear you."

"You were supposed to call me back in two weeks," Dimitri says. "It's now three weeks."

"Yes, I know and I apologize." The expression on Hussein's face is not one of apology. "I did mention that we have other clients who also take up our time."

"Dimitri," Hamid cuts in. "Have you found a way to disassemble the goods we discussed in your office?"

"It can be done," Dimitri tells them, "But we have not started yet, since we have not heard from you."

Chapter Thirty-Six In the Oval Office

President William Egan is sitting at his desk. Sitting expectantly before him with their regular morning reports are Allison McDonald and John Walker. "I read both of your briefs over breakfast this morning," he begins, "and I must say, both of them are most interesting-to say the least. I'd like to hear your personal thoughts. Allison, ladies first."

"Well sir," McDonald starts, "the most critical areas of my reports relate to three issues: Bampur, Russian Kilos and the Russian mafiya. I'll start with Bampur." The president nods.

"You already know that we sent an operative that we have inside Iran to get as close to Bampur as he could, to see if we could clarify the situation. Believing that the Israelis had a team on the ground and moving towards Bampur, we needed to be able to advise you on what is going on there. Our operative, a native, dressed himself as a nomad traveling across the desert. He had two camels with him, and only carried things that someone of his persona would." At that point, Allison consults notes in her lap.

"As of 28 August, he was a week overdue returning home. Another operative was sent in to see if he could find him, which he did. Both our contact and the camels were shot to death. It appears that they were machine-gunned to death about five miles from Bampur. What that means exactly we can't say. Most bandits do not carry machine guns for weapons. We suspect that he was murdered merely because he was too close to Bampur. His personal belongings were strewn everywhere, we were told, leading us to believe that who ever murdered him and his animals were trying to find out if he was legit."

"Sounds like a logical conclusion," the president commented.

Chapter Thirty-Five Leaving No Traces

Silberberg and Schwartz double time it for one night, burrowing themselves into the sand during the daylight hours, eager to get off of Iranian sand and soil. Schwartz sends a message burst to Bergman that reads, "Requesting taxi 26x57.5 0200. Inform driver will confirm departure 15m before. Will be waiting with our luggage."

Bergman receives Schwartz's message and immediately forwards it as an encrypted message to the Renewal via satellite, adding, "Confirm receipt of this message with me within twelve hours of transmission."

Behind The Lies went to the publisher today

Behind The Lies-the book you might be reading excerpts of on this site has been sent to the publisher and I am now awaiting a call from my publishing account representative.

Writing the book took twenty-six months, finding a good publisher and editing took another year. Now with most of the work done except for final proofs I can relax some.

Hopefully you enjoyed all or some of the excerpts. I will continue to post more as the book has a prologue, one hundred- five chapters and a final epilogue.

I would love to hear your comments if you would take the time to post them.

I will be adding my website for this book as soon as it is online.