Friday, August 19, 2011

War Plan Crimson is Now Available at Barnes & Noble!

Good news!  War Plan Crimson, A Novel of Alternate History by Michael Cnudde is now available at Barnes & Noble for just $2.99! Meanwhile, Crimson, is also available at Smashwords, $2.99 to buy, free to try.

Good news also is that we should finally have an estimate for the trade paperback edition of Crimson sometime next week so that we can begin our long-awaited launch of the paperback version.  I'll keep you posted on this as things develop.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Literary Wars: Canada vs. the United States

I'm not the first author to write about conflict Canada between and the United States. I'll write today about two of my favorite novels in this genere. The first is Exxoneration, by Richard Rhomer (1974: Paperjacks).

The novel is the sequel to Ultimatum (1974: Paperjacks) which details a 1980 showdown between Canada and US over oil. Ultimatum ends with the President of the United States ("a Texan facing re-election"), announcing the fait-accompli annexation of Canada by the United States.  In a maneuver worthy of Defense Scheme One,  with waves of of US occupation troops on their way to land at major Canadian airports, the outgunned Canadian army is able to trap the US forces on the ground as they land, thus saving the day and forcing a US withdrawl.

The author, Richard Rhomer is no slouch: a  decorated RCAF fighter pilot, he is credited with piloting the reconnaissance plane over Normandy in July, 1944 that directed the airstrke that killed none other than the Desert Fox, Erwin Rommel, who is a major character in War Plan Crimson.

The second novel, Bruce Powe's Killing Ground: the Canadian Civil War (1968: Peter Martin Associates), was written at a time (pre-October Crisis) when English Canadian and French Canadian tensions were just beginning to boil and no-one knew which direction things would take. Fortunately, in reality, cooler heads prevailed on both the federalist and sovereigntist sides and the violence never largely happened.



The book ends with the concerned United States government, under the guise of UN intervention, launching an invasion of Canada. How realistic is this particular scenario?  During the previously mentioned October Crisis, which placed parts of Ontario and most of Quebec effectively under martial law due to two high-profile kidnappings by the FLQ, in October 1970, a former professor of mine at the University of Otttawa took a roadtrip to Morrisburg, Ontario, which is on the Canada/US border.  He said he could clearly see American armor and other mechanized equipment lined up on the other side, ready to go. Although I can not confirm or deny this, I am still inclined to believe him.

Fortunately, neither scenario has come to pass and have remained just some very interesting fiction.  In the meantime, you can always read another interesting fiction, War Plan Crimson, A Novel of Alternate History,  by Michael Cnudde ($2.99 to buy as an e-book; free to sample).

Thursday, August 11, 2011

More New Top-Secret Defence Scheme One Documents Uncovered!

This is very good news.  Not only can I tell you that I have received the final version of the cover and inside for the trade paperback version of War Plan Crimson, A Novel of Alternate History by Michael Cnudde, I can also share with you some more Defence Scheme One documents.

These two unsigned and undated pages were part of a call for criticism of the plan.  One of the major points the anonymous author makes is that "...the most difficult point in the Scheme, is that, in fact, is drawn up with Forces which are to a certain extent, non-existent... it would take a considerable time to organize, train and equip."

The author, while agreeing with the concept of advancing into the U.S. to buy time and gain sufficient depth warns that "...the American Forces are considerably stronger and better equipped." It makes for interesting reading and shows some of the very real challenges any presumptive Canadian advance would've faced.


....Meanwhile, until we launch the eagerly-awaited trade paperback version of Crimson (and I've had more than a few inquiries), you can always get an E-book version of War Plan Crimson, A Novel of Alternate History, here at Smashwords. Just $2.99, free to preview. As I said, a bargain at twice the price.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

The Mystery Truck

 



Ah... sorry for the fuzzy image.  This was taken with my cellphone camera from my balcony of a strange, rather anonymous white truck parked on my street, down from my apartment. The image doesn't do it justice - it doesn't look like a typical vanilla van. There were what looked four exhausts for cooling fans on the roof of the box portion, for example. It was parked there for most of the evening -until after I went to bed - right in front of a fire hydrant.

 Don't mean to sound paranoid, of course.  Is this somebody's reaction against yesterday's post? Why send a truck then? I'm sure the Powers that Be have other technical means to conduct surveillance on increasingly paranoid writers.

Hey, the good news is that we should have the final proof of the paperback version of War Plan Crimson, A Novel of Alternate History, very soon. Meanwhile, you can always read my novel, War Plan Crimson, $2.99 as an e-book, free to sample.

Monday, August 8, 2011

The More Things Change...

Here's an article in today's online edition of the Globe and Mail that alleges the CIA secretly kept a watch on the Canadian economy, the then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and our natural resources, including with a degree of prescience, the Alberta tar sands: “The sands rank with the U.S. shale deposits as the world’s most extensive known, largely untapped oil source... The pollution issue and opposition to defacing Alberta’s landscape may arise but has not as yet."

The information, with some of it still redacted, was released by the CIA in response to a Freedom of Information request, goes to the heart of the theme of War Plan Crimson that nations look after their own interests first - only others after that.

Of course, Canada has spied upon on its southern neighbour.  In Spyworld: How C.S.E. Spies on Canadians and the World, (1995: Seal/Bantam) by Michael Gratton and Mike Frost, it's alleged that Canada through its Communications Security Establishment (Canada's equivalent to the NSA) was able to undercut the United States on several lucrative wheat sales to China, by electronically eavesdropping on the U.S. Embassy.

I find the whole thing interesting, of course. We've only been able to get a partial glimpse of what really goes on... Meanwhile, you can always read my entirely imaginary -of course- War Plan Crimson, A Novel of Alternate History.  It's just $2.99 to buy as an e-book and free to sample.

Meanwhile, work on the trade paperback rollout continues. I will have more on this as it comes.