Post Cold War Political Thriller Features Korea

The year was 1993. The Cold War had recently ground to a halt, and international relations were in a state of flux. Burke Hill, the disgraced former FBI agent who redeemed himself  in Beware the Jabberwock, had become director of clandestine activities for a global public relations firm headquartered in Washington that was actually a CIA spinoff. About the time a devastating explosion in Pyongyang's Presidential Palace killed the North Korean dictator and his heir apparent, Burke gets a tip about a highly secret plot for South Korea to develop nuclear weapons.

Meanwhile, in Seoul, an independent-minded homicide detective suspects civilian leaders who espouse closer relations with the U.S. are being systematically eliminated. He is consistently thwarted by the prosecutor who handles his cases.

The Poksu Conspiracy cover features the Great South Gate in downtown Seoul, South Korea's National Treasure No. 1. Beneath it are the hangul characters for poksu, which means "vengeance." Later in the story, it involves two Chinese characters for "pok"and "su,"but you'll have to read the book to learn about that.

The Prologue introduces a third character who is central to the plot but remains in the background through most of the story. Born in 1919 a few months after the March First Movement's abortive effort to achieve Korean independence from Japan, he grows up with a burning desire to wreak vengeance on the Japanese for the execution of the father he never knew. When Burke Hill and Capt. Yun Yu-sop of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Bureau finally get together, they discover they are after the same man, whose current identity is unknown.

Although The Poksu Conspiracy is called a political thriller, it could be identified as part spy story, part Korean police procedural. It runs a little over 154,000 words and has a sizable cast of  characters. Since many of them have strange-sounding Oriental names, I will include a Who's Who in the front of the book to help readers keep up with, what else, who is whom in the story.

Poksu will be available as an ebook for the Kindle by the end of October. I need some advance reviews, so if anyone would like to do a review Amazon, I can send you  a PDF of the book. Just email me here.

Visit me at Mystery Mania

Free Books - an Amazon Promo

By Chester Campbell

When Amazon first announced its KDP Select program, it looked like another effort of the 800-pound gorilla to throw its weight around. I had all of my mysteries set up on Amazon for the Kindle and at Smashwords for all the other ebook formats. The key to Amazon's program is the requirement that you make the book exclusive to the Kindle for 90 days.

The kicker to the deal is that the book is available in the Kindle Owners Lending Library. Amazon currently puts up a kitty of $600,000 a month to be divided among authors whose books were borrowed from the library. The kitty is divided by the total of books borrowed, and each author gets that amount times the number of his or her books checked out. According to the KDP Select FAQ, each book earned $1.70 per borrow in a prior month.  It isn't as much as the 70 percent royalty, but it isn't bad.

Only members of Amazon Prime can borrow books, and they're restricted to one per month. It costs $79 to be a Prime member, but you get other benefits like free two-day shipping on your puchases.

When I finished revising and getting my first Post Cold War thriller edited and ready for publication, I decided to try the KDP Select deal. I know several authors who have done well in the program. One of its features is the ability to make the book free for five days during the 90-day period. It's a good way to get word out on the book and encourage reviews. So here's the deal:

Today (April 27) and tomorrow (April 28), you can get a free Kindle ebook by going to this link: Beware the Jabberwock.

The book is set in the fall of 1991 and spring of 1992. As the Cold War winds down, former enemies on both sides of the Iron Curtain plot to retain power with a deadly stroke against top world leaders. Telephone intercepts hint at its existence. Veteran CIA spook Cameron Quinn finds it necessary to recruit an old FBI friend to assist in his investigation. Burke Hill, still trying to live down his dismissal by J. Edgar Hoover years ago, travels from Tel Aviv to Hong Kong and soon finds himself unable to trust anyone. He and Quinn's daughter, Lori, face one trap after another as they put the pieces of Operation Jabberwock together and find they're fighting against the clock to stop the slaughter.

Pick up your free ebook today or tomorrow and put a review on Amazon.