Took a stab at a synopsis of "Fires of the Djinn."

"In the tradition of Michael Crichton, "Fires of the Djinn" suggests an all too possible near future "what if".

After ten years of drought and budget cuts, the western U.S. is a tinderbox. Two survivors of the tragic Indian Wells fire in Oregon have become rivals. Big Mike Norris is convinced the National Wildfire Service is relying too much on technology--satellites, cameras, and drones. While agreeing that manpower is more important than tech, Cory Cantwell has chosen to work from the inside.

But someone else is paying attention. Terrorists have figured out that "One man, one match" can do more harm to the US than high tech bombs.

As the west explodes in flames, the terrorists strike. Bigger than the Big Burn and the Great Tsecho fire, the cities of the west are in the path of firestorms with the potential to be larger than any ever known or imagined."

I'll refine it later. :)

I'm about a third of the way through the first rewrite. I still like it, a lot, but I think I was doing it a disservice to call it a "thriller." It's a bit more thoughtful than that. I have quite a bit of research into wildfires and climate change and such, that I think are interesting and add verisimilitude.  I also spend the first third of the book developing characters. So it doesn't start off with the pulse-pounding immediate danger of a Lee Child or John Sandford book. That's not the book I set out to write.

But the last half of the book is all action!

There isn't as much wrong with the book so far as I imagined. I have to pay attention to the timeline from here on.

The research I'm planning to do will have to be measured. That is, I can't overload the book with these details. 

I'm going to take the first 3 chapters to writer's group and send them to Lara and get them as good as possible and then send them to agents. No harm, it's easy to do. So far most agents aren't even sending me rejection letters. Just nothing. 

How can agents ignore the combination of terrorism and wildfires? Easy, I guess, but I think they're missing a bet. Both subjects are going to be in the news a lot over the coming years.

Anyway, if nothing happens, I will probably publish this myself in May or so. It kills me that what I think is a pretty good book is likely to be ignored, but that's the state of the business right now.


Suggestion for the synopsis from a Facebook friend, Jerrod Balzer.  Not bad. 

"Ten years of drought and budget cuts turn the western U.S. into a tinderbox. While two rivals struggle over the best actions to take, terrorism creeps in to strike a match. In the tradition of Michael Crichton, "Fires of the Djinn", this powerful "what if" engulfs the landscape in a firestorm the United States has never before seen."

My take:


Ten years of drought and budget cuts turn the western U.S. into a tinderbox. While two rivals, survivors of the tragic Indian Wells fire, warn of the danger and struggle over the best action to take, terrorism creeps in to strike a match. In the tradition of Michael Crichton, "Fires of the Djinn", this powerful "what if" engulfs the landscape in a firestorm bigger than the United States has ever seen.