Last call for SMASHWORDS and kudos to Google Earth

This is the last call for the SMASHWORDS promo - visit junoletters.com/smashwords.php for details.

I write about the great wars of the twentieth century - a rich playground of drama. It is not hard to find micro-events to weave a new story around. In 1943 the Americans launched the Alsos Mission - a vintage version of "Mission Impossible" to locate information on secret Nazi weapons (specifically the atom bomb), capture Nazi scientists, and prevent the Soviets from beating them to the punch. The story of Alsos is full of intrigue, and great twists and turns.

Look for a treatment of this clandestine operation in my new book - still untitled. One of the plot vehicles I use is to find small stories and insert my characters as players within them - blurring the boundary between history and fiction. This looks like a good one.

To make this plausible I use a lot of technology to build an accurate context for the story. One of the most useful resources is Google Earth. While I have travelled through Europe, you simply could never visit enough locations within a lifetime to flush out the details of a series of novels. Instead, I walk the streets of villages and cities using Street View and use real buildings, real cafes, real streets, real vistas ... a sort of fictional travelogue. I receive email from people who have either visited or plan to visit these locations, and even had one reader give a copy of The Clan of the Black Sun to the owner of Le Cafe Reuban Vert in Paris - my private haunt in the series.

I will post updates about Book 7 as the story progresses. And as usual, I always like to hear your story ideas and suggestions.

Good reading ... L.W. Hewitt

From my Oly Club office ...

We made it back! After a series of scans and tests we got the OK to go home. It was a long and challenging time but successful. I want to thank all who have sent their best wishes for our boy. He still has years of tests to go to make certain the cancer stays clear, but we are very optimistic.

I am sitting at my table in the Olympic Club for the first time in almost eight months - it is very cathartic. The work of the pub goes on all around me and I get to dissolve into its familiarity. Occasionally I even get a coffee poured ... by someone else! I was warned not to get used to that. It is good to be back. The Oly Club is recreated in my books as Le Cafe Reuban Vert (a real cafe) in Paris.

Now, to business. The Madonna Rosa went live on July 1 as planned and was included along with the rest of The Juno Letters series in the SMASHWORDS July Summer/Winter sale - the annual event which is the only time I offer production versions of my books for free. To celebrate going home I put the entire series up and the response has been great this first few days. I'll be connecting back with my publisher (California Times) and audio narrator (Gary Regal) to let them know I am now back in the game.

I am working on book 7 - and tossing ideas around to see how they interplay. Still no working title, but I have some great ideas to exploit. Something about stone age caves and "Die Glocke" - look it up and figure that one out!

For those of you who use the iPhone, the new iOS 8.4 supports the iBook version of ebooks through the iBooks app on the iPad, iMac, and iPhone. I make a version with iBooks Author and just tested it. Without a doubt it is the best ebook experience out there. If you have purchased (or downloaded) any copy in The Juno Letters series and want the iBook version, just drop me an email at junoletters@icloud.com and I'll send you a link to get a free upgrade.

I'm going to play with book 7 and just try to get adjusted to normal life. Stay tuned to the blog and have a wonderful summer.