I know, Shameless Self-Promotion

Well, I have a small announcement to make. On repeated recommendations from friends (who may soon regret it), I have finally conceded to write another book. My first one, "Leadership: The First Step" was a text for teaching management and leadership skills which was first published in 1993. This time, however, the effort will be pure entertainment. No, it's not going to be an historical novel, nor an auto-biography (gezz, how boring). Nor is it likely to worry the likes of Dashel Hamet or Ernest Hemingway. It is just a fun little project to give my mind an escape from politics and world events -other than watching NCIS on television... It is a fictional action adventure and spy story about a conflict between China and the United States in the South China Sea.

Why am I writing it? I don't know. I suppose just because I can. Several friends have been telling me for years that I should write a book and now that I am "retired", I guess it's time to give it a try and see if those friends ever make the mistake of giving me that advice again.

So far, I have had fairly encouraging reviews on the parts I have completed. I am even in positive negotiations for getting it published. If all goes as projected, it should be out around the first of the year.

So, just to give you a little tease, here is the copy from a preliminary promotional piece about the book:

OPERATION:
Avenging Dragon

by Gary L. Graybill

Sean Wallace is from the Bay Area in California. He used to be an Intelligence Agent in the Navy, but that was a long time ago. Sean left all that behind him and he is now enjoying his life teaching at a small, private business college in Southern California. He decides to take a few days off to go back up to visit the Bay Area, to see some of his old haunts, enjoy a few drinks with some old friends and chat about the 'good old times'. Instead he stumbles into Chinese plans to occupy and take control of the whole South China Sea --and the rich oil and natural gas fields recently discovered there. Suddenly, he finds himself back in his old world of danger, betrayal and intrigue. And the Chinese are willing to kill to stop him!

The fast moving story involves spies, romance, counter-intelligence, the Chinese and US Navies and even Cyber Command in a disparate effort to stop the Chinese plan before it develops into a full war.

Will Sean be able to get the details of a planned attack in time to save the sailors and ships of the US Pacific Fleet and avert a war? Will an American destroyer on lonely patrol duty be able fight off sudden, deadly attacks by patrol boats and a Chinese frigate? Will Sean find love and romance along the way with his pretty assistant from the Office of Naval Intelligence? How does all this intrigue involve a quiet farmer and his family in Iowa? Will the U.S. block the Chinese effort to knock out America's satellite network? Or, will Chinese plans cause mass chaos across America and distract the United States from their real objectives?

You won't know until the final, deadly confrontation in this tense, page turning work from first time fiction author, Gary Graybill....

I'm sure I'll be doing some more blatant self-promotion as the publishing date gets near (my sincere apologies in advance)....

Live Long and Prosper...