Stephen White - Alan Gregory discussion

Latest from Stephen White
Alan Gregory Book #19 to be released AUGUST 7, 2012

Happy New Year!


A Note From Stephen White

It has been a while since I wrote, but please trust that I haven’t been deaf to the questions that many readers have been raising about the next book.

A big part of the reason for the delay in revealing any information about the progress of the new book is that my initial concept for the story has been supplanted, rendering unusable months of writing that I did over the summer and early fall. I am aware that “supplanted” is an awkward word. Although it fits the circumstances, I spent some time trying to find a better one. I failed. For now, “supplanted” it is.

To be frank, I was enamored of much of the material that I set aside. Well over a hundred pages I wrote for the next book are now ensconced in a digital rock pile in my hard drive. (The deleted pages are actually far from lonely, joining dozens of excised passages from many previous manuscripts that are socked away in an archival file that is nicknamed “Shit I Writ”—with grateful acknowledgments to Steve Schemmerhorn.) Although I was reluctant to give up on the thrust of what I’d originally intended to become the nineteenth book in the series, I believe that the decision to start anew was the correct one.

Now, the calendar has rolled over to 2011. I have recovered from the initial storytelling misdirection and I am well on my way writing what will indeed be the nineteenth book in the series. And book nineteen, still untitled, will be very much a series book. Some of you will cheer at that news, some will sigh (or worse.) For those of you I disappoint with that news, I do apologize.

The new story is set primarily in Boulder and it will be narrated either completely, or mostly, in Alan’s voice. I am not intending to be coy with the “or mostly”; I simply haven’t made a decision regarding the wisdom of using an additional narrative perspective to tell the story. Right now? I’d say it’s fifty-fifty.

In structure, voice, setting, and character the new book will feel familiar. But the story and the perspective? Both are being turned upside down. My publisher and I have agreed to keep the details of the new direction quiet for a while, so I won’t be revealing anything yet. Or giving out any hints. Or responding to your guesses, wise or not. Suffice to say that I’m confident that the new direction will catch some of you off guard. It did me. I did not see it coming.

As for timing, the sacrificed writing time from last summer and fall may well end up being reflected in the publication schedule. In recent years, I’ve been publishing books in late summer. An August pub remains an outside possibility for nineteen (I do have a more lyrical working title for the book than "Nineteen, albeit a working title that will never be considered as the final title for the book. But to reveal even the working title would certainly break the promise I just made about not giving hints about the new book’s contents.) I think it is more likely that the pub date for "Nineteen" will be pushed beyond August. As I continue to make progress on the manuscript I will be better able to estimate when I might deliver it to my editor. With that estimate in hand, my editor will make a determination about where the new book best fits into Dutton’s list (as publisher at Dutton, as well as my editor, the factors he weighs in his decision require him to juggle a myriad of conflicting priorities, only one of which has anything to do with my book.) I do promise that when I learn something about schedule, you will all learn it too.

Thank you, as always, for your interest. Without all of you, none of this matters much.

A Note From Stephen

I have been assuming that by the time of the release of the mass market (read: paperback) version of The Last Lie, I would be able to reveal some details of the next series hardcover. But, alas (I don’t get to use “alas” as much as I would like,) The Last Lie is now available in paperback, and my publisher and I are not quite ready to reveal important details about the next new book.

One big piece of news I can reveal is that the—sorry, as yet untitled—new manuscript is finished. The editorial process has begun. I don’t expect the process to be time-consuming. What that means is that a title will soon be selected, the editing of the manuscript will soon be completed, and the book will be transmitted from the editorial side of my publisher’s domain to the production side. The editorial side is responsible for the words. The production side is responsible for turning those words into all the varied forms—printed, e-book, audio, etc.—of a modern book.

Soon, I hope to share with you important news about the book, including the anticipated publication date, and of course, the title. I also hope to be able to begin to describe the significant ways that the nineteenth book in the series will be a major departure from the eighteen that preceded it.

Thanks for your patience. Stay tuned.

Stephen White
www.authorstephenwhite.com

Thanks for sharing. I do get their emails since it is his official webpage. I can't wait for the new book!

Chelsea in FL

:-) Glad you're getting the updates.

Anyone who would like to subscribe can visit the website
www.authorstephenwhite.com

Thanks Dustin!

I hope the new one is better than the last one. That was disappointing after The Siege.

Of all his books, the one I didn't like very much was "The Siege" and I realized that one of the reasons was that Gregory was not in the story as one of the main characters.

I actually liked The Siege better than The Last Lie

Dustin Crazy little brown owl wrote: "I actually liked The Siege better than The Last Lie"

Me, too. Much better.

That's why I like to share what I read with others who love to read too. I usually learn a lot more from those who loved the books I didn't like than those who love what I love to read. I was a member of a book club in town and whenever I didn't like a book we were reading, I couldn't wait to hear from those who had liked the book and why.

I just started reading all of Stephen White's books again but in order since when I first started them a few years back, I hadn't realized that they were in a series (even though the books can be read as stand-alones).

Big News From Stephen White this past week - Book #19 has a title - Line Of Fire and will be released in 2012. Also, Book #20 to be the last in the Alan Gregory Series, so next year is the beginning of the end.
Here is Stephen's note:

A Note From Stephen White On 9-27-11

Line of Fire by Stephen White
Two big announcements today.

The first is easy. The new book, Line of Fire, is done. It will be published in 2012. Here is a working version of the cover art.


More details about the book, and the release, will follow soon.

The second announcement is much, much more difficult. Line of Fire is, literally, the beginning of the end, the penultimate book in the Alan Gregory series. The book that follows Line of Fire—once written, it will be number twenty—will bring the series to a planned conclusion.

Writing those words—presenting the news to all of you that the series is ending—makes it very real for me.

Almost a year ago I began to get an inkling that something I was taking for granted—my ability to control the way the series would eventually conclude—was in jeopardy. The concern was that forces beyond my influence—market forces, publishing trends, economic realities—would determine, perhaps soon, that a book I had just written or just published (this one? the next one?) was the de facto last book of the series. The option to write and publish any more, to wrap things up, might not be available to me.

I had a choice to make. I could continue to write the next book in the series while ignoring the risks I perceived. (Last fall, I was halfway done with that "next book.") Or I could face the reality that the series was already vulnerable to an arbitrary conclusion, and plan an ending on my terms. After much thought, and with the support of my longtime publisher Dutton, I made a decision to write a two-book conclusion to the saga of Alan Gregory and friends.

The first of those two books, the one that sets up the finale, is Line of Fire.

Although the end will arrive a little sooner than I might have hoped, the decision eliminates the risk that the series will become suspended in fictional time by circumstance or, worse, disinterest.

Line of Fire begins the process of conclusion. I am well aware that most writers of long series never get the chance to plan and create an end. I am grateful for the opportunity.

I imagine that at least a few of you will have comments and questions about my decision, and about the coming termination of the series. Go for it; I invite them. Please post them on Facebook or the Message Board or direct them to Jane Davis, my web site manager.

In the next days and weeks, Jane and I will attempt to collate and collapse your reactions into a manageable list and I will do my best to be responsive to your thoughts and queries. As with each new book, we will also begin to prepare other material—plot synopsis, Q&A, flap copy, and the like—to provide a more detailed introduction for you to a most dramatic addition to the series, Line of Fire.

There are two books yet to read. I have one series book yet to write.
The ride is not over. But, for the first time, I can see the end from where I stand.

Thanks to all of you for giving me the opportunity to make a living writing these stories. Not a day goes by that I'm not grateful for the privilege.



- Stephen White
www.authorstephenwhite.com

Wow. I guess the books aren't selling the way they used to. I give him credit for wanting to end it on his terms. Hopefully he will continue writing stand-alones which I think are every bit as good, if not better, than the Gregory series.

Gatorman wrote: "Hopefully he will continue writing stand-alones which I think are every bit as good, if not better, than the Gregory series.
"

I'm hoping for future stand-alones also :-) The "stand-alones" he has thus far done have still been technically part of the Alan Gregory series, most notably "Kill Me".

I've got to agree with Gator. Credit goes to White for ending the series on his own terms.

A Note From Stephen White

Line of Fire by Stephen White

I am humbled. Part one.



I feel pretty humble about my life most days, but your collective response to my announcement about the pending end to the series has humbled me further. Hundreds of you have offered a mix of sadness, encouragement, gratitude, congratulations, wonder, apprehension, and bafflement regarding the news. There has been some annoyance, too, and an occasional whiff of anger. It’s all good; your passion about my decision, positive and negative, warms me. Since replying personally to the individual comments and questions is beyond my capacity, I will try to find a cogent way to respond to the threads and themes that tie your thoughts and queries together. As with all things having to do with communication between me and the readers who enjoy my books, Jane Davis has been invaluable (for the record, Jane is invaluable) with the process of organizing, identifying, and categorizing the comments posted on Facebook, your questions on the website Message Board at authorstephenwhite.com, and your personal emails directed to us.



We have read them all. Two or three times.



Your kind words, your generous words, about what the series means to you? Wow. I mean, wow. More on my reaction when I get to the end of this meandering, fragmented response.



Some of you thought I was vague about my reasoning for bringing the series to a conclusion. The truth is that I was. Intentionally so. Why? Mostly because I have no appetite for sour grapes. (Real sour grapes I like. Metaphorical sour grapes, not so much.) What else can I say? The truth is that the business of bookselling has changed, is changing, and will change more in the near term. The consequences of the changes—don’t underestimate them, the changes are revolutionary—have altered the fundamental economics of getting my books, all books, into the marketplace, and have changed forever the streams of revenues that flow into publishers’ coffers. That, in turn, has made the prediction of the viability (and of the value) of long-term publishing contracts much more difficult for all involved. For me, the increase in ambiguity about my publishing future (yes, it is intimately linked to publishing revenue) translated into a potential loss of creative control about the series conclusion. My response was to choose to terminate the series before circumstances that I might fail to anticipate ended it for me. I have no doubt other writers would respond differently to the same set of circumstances. Some of you certainly would have had me respond differently. I accept that. It wasn’t an easy decision for me. I went back and forth a few times before I jumped off the fence.



Still too vague? I am sorry. Any continued reticence is probably due to the fact that I am so grateful for having the opportunity to write this series that I don’t wish to shed even a single tear over the fact that outside forces may have compressed the ultimate length of the Alan Gregory saga by a book or two. If publishing realities contributed to a premature end to the Boulder tales, the responsibility is ultimately mine for not adapting sooner, or more nimbly, to those realities. No doubt other writers are faring better as they navigate though the same waters that confounded me. But for me? Twenty books is a good length. I’m grateful for it. If one of you had looked me in the eyes twenty years ago and promised me a twenty-book writing career, I would have had you hospitalized against your will. Seriously, I had that authority.



Scary, yes?



More than a few of you questioned why I even need or want a traditional publisher going forward, given the industry-wide tilt toward ebooks and the growing trend toward authors self-publishing through various digital platforms. All the arguments that you presented to support the adoption of a digital self-publishing strategy were valid points. I can’t counter any of them. But the arguments failed to account for a particular, and maybe even peculiar, reality of my readership. This one: fewer than thirty percent of you read The Last Lie in ebook form. Since that number is increasing with each new release, I made a good-faith guess-timate that by the time the mythical last book in the series is published, a good half of you may well choose to read it, the twentieth and last series book, in some digital display format. But—and this is crucial to me—that means that half of you wouldn’t. Couldn’t. Would never. Like, ever. I couldn’t swallow that. I considered the self-publishing alternative to continue the series, but I ended up making a personal decision to extend the series only if all, or almost all, of my long time readers could have easy access to the books in their preferred form, whether hardcover, paperback, audio, or ebook. Library or not. (For those of you whose preferred format is BitTorrent, well that’s a whole different conversation. One for another day.)



I’m not quite done with this reply. Many, many of you want to know what I’ll be up to next. Please stay tuned for part two.

- Stephen White

A Note From Stephen White

Line of Fire by Stephen White

I am humbled. Part two.



Your most frequent questions are about what might be next? This focus on my future is awkward for me. For context? I tend to feel self-conscious when people ask if I have plans for the weekend.



Fortunately, your questions sort into a modest number of categories.



Many of you wonder if I plan to retire as a writer after I conclude the current series? Here’s an easy answer: I have no plans to stop writing. Writers write. For now, I plan is to continue to do just that.



What do I plan to write next? Another series? A thriller? A screenplay? The honest answer is that I do not know. That I have not thought about it. That I will likely not think about it until the last book in the series is near completion. (My brain gets crowded with these things. One story at a time suits me best.)



The least likely option is that I will set out to write another series. But I said the same thing nineteen books ago, too, and we all know how that turned out.



If I choose to write another thriller—not a long shot, but not a certainty—revisiting some favorite unexplored characters from the series as a stand-alone is intriguing to me. Dee and Poe from The Siege show up in my head at odd times. As does Jimmy Lee from Kill Me. Others, too—Merritt. Thea. I have ideas for historical thrillers. I could also choose to write a contemporary thriller that doesn’t reference the earlier series in any way.



***



I would like to thank you.



It may be trite to say, but I don’t get to do this without you. So thank you for appreciating my efforts. For being entertained and distracted by my stories. For being intrigued and enlightened by an occasional insight. For giving me the gift of this opportunity.



Thank you, deeply, for your recent kind words, your generous appraisal of what my work has meant in your lives, and for your good wishes for the future.



I look forward to offering more. I have no doubt that I will get double or triple back in return.



—Stephen White

A Note From Stephen White:
http://www.authorstephenwhite.com/Ess...
Line of Fire planned for August release

Looking forward to it. Thanks, Dustin.

Cliffhanger Caution - A Note From Stephen White

Line of Fire by Stephen White
A short note:

Now that Advanced Reading Copies of Line of Fire are out there, I think I should say a little something about having written a, well, cliffhanger.

For those of you who don't know, Advanced Reading Copies (also called bound galleys) are production versions of an unpublished book that are distributed before pub date to selected booksellers and reviewers for marketing purposes. Inevitably, some ARCs end up in private hands. Inevitably, some of those are resold online. (No, sorry, we don't have any to give away right now.)

First though, a caution: If you like to be surprised by the books you read, please heed all warnings about spoilers regarding the new book. A lot happens in Line of Fire to many different familiar characters. If I were in your shoes (actually, I hope you kick them off before you curl up with a good book) I would not want to know how this one ends before I begin to read.

In the past, I have not written stories that intentionally leave developments unclear so that I will have an opportunity to exploit the narrative ambiguity in the next story. Please know that I do exactly that in Line of Fire. I go out of my way to set up story arcs and character arcs in this book that will not be resolved until the next book (which by now I hope you know will be the last book in the Alan Gregory series.)

Also, based on personal feedback I have already received from some early readers, I would caution readers to be skeptical about what other people think they have read in the bound galleys of Line of Fire. There are two reasons for my caution. Number one, the ARC of Line of Fire was printed from the uncorrected First Pass Pages. Small but crucial changes to the narrative were made as I corrected that First Pass. Those changes are not reflected in the ARC. Number two, I learned twenty years ago that people don't necessarily read books the way I write them. I put the words on the page but readers, bless them, are idiosyncratic. Each reader reads in his or her own unique way.

That fact once frightened me. Now I consider it a marvelous part of this writer/reader collaboration.

Jane and I plan to be vigilant about spoilers regarding Line of Fire on Facebook and on the website. If you see any spoilers based on an early reading of the ARC that we might have missed, please let us know.

Thanks.

Line Of Fire will be released on August 7, 2012, in the USA and Canada.

LINE OF FIRE EXCERPT
Chapter 1

"Daddy," my daughter asked, "where is the red flag?"
It was a good question. And, unusual for Grace in her current developmental phase—technically, she was mid-latency, although I tended to think of her stage of development as the pre-devious—the query was posed without apparent subtext.
We were in the middle of a Sunday-night family dinner discussion about the danger posed by the tinder-dry grasses that carpeted the hillsides around our rural home on the eastern slope of Colorado's Boulder Valley. Lauren, my wife, was cautioning the family—mostly me—about engaging in any outdoor activities that might create even the smallest spark. Lauren's warning did have a subtext; she had already asked me—twice, she would be happy to note—to take my car in for a tune-up. The thing had backfired a couple of times over the weekend.
Grace's older sibling, Jonas, a boy who had antennae tuned to things dangerous or nefarious, real or imagined, responded to his sister in an I'm-the-big-brother-I-know-what-I'm-talking-about tone that a Red Flag Warning was in effect for all of Boulder. "And that includes us." Jonas stressed this in case his sister had forgotten where she lived.
Jonas had a subtext. He was on the cusp of adolescence; he almost always had a subtext. When he said "us" to Grace, he meant "you."
During other recent family discussions Jonas had produced ample evidence that his younger sister often managed to get herself excluded from general rules of family conduct, and he'd argued convincingly that her parents, mostly her father, let her get away with it. Where my personal parenting was concerned, Jonas had a valid point: I had a sweet spot for my little girl that could interfere with better paternal instincts. I had pled guilty to cutting Grace the undeserved slack and promised to work on it. Jonas seemed to be disarmed by my candor.
I decided to ignore the subtext Jonas included in his comment to his sister about the fire risk. I ignored it because I wasn't in a refereeing mood, and because Gracie wasn't involved in too many activities that generated sparks.
In reply to Grace's earlier question, I told her that I didn't think there was a literal red flag flying anywhere in town to warn residents about the extreme fire danger along the Front Range. In a preemptive effort to forestall whatever verbal jabs might come next from Jonas's direction, I added, "But your mother and your brother are right. We all need to be careful. It's very dry out there."
Jonas nodded in agreement. That, of course, worried me. Even his nods tended to have subtexts. He said, "It's a virtual flag, Grace."
Jonas had a way of rolling his eyes that could be so sly it was almost criminal. He did it then. Before Grace could react to the eye roll—I had no doubt she would react to the eye roll—Lauren jumped in. She said, "It's so dry. And it's been so windy. I never thought I would miss the summer monsoon season, but I do. Where were the monsoons this year? It's already Labor Day. Where is all our rain?" She sighed. "Maybe we'll get an early snow."
Chapter 2

My first psychotherapy session of the new week started routinely enough the next morning. But by 7:57—I noted the time as I pressed 911—I had my hands, one atop the other, between my patient's breasts.
At that moment, I would not have thought that my day could have gotten any stranger.
I would have been wrong.

Twelve-plus hours later I was exiting the elevator on the third floor at Community Hospital when I heard Sam Purdy's distinctive Iron Range patois.
"Hey, what the heck are you doing here, Alan? Is everybody all right?" Sam managed to extend the o in doing long enough that it had earned its own url.
"Yeah, we're all fine," I said.
I was as surprised to see my friend as he was to see me. I moved in for a quick hug before I recognized that my impulse, as Boulder as the Flatirons, was not mutual. Embracing was a form of greeting that Detective Sam Purdy tolerated begrudgingly, almost never in public, and certainly not when he was on duty.
He was on duty. I could see the bulge of a shoulder holster beneath his sport coat. I stopped a few feet away while I explained that I was checking on a patient who had taken ill that morning.
"What about you?" I asked. "Are you here because of the fire?"
The fire was on everyone's mind.
He gave it some thought. "Indirectly," he said. He lowered his voice to a whisper. "So you know, it's even worse up there than they're saying on the news. I've heard reports that over a hundred homes have been lost already. It's completely out of control."

My office was only six blocks away from the sharp rise of the Rockies in west Boulder. I first saw smoke rising above the mountains late in the morning. Within an hour I could smell the smoke as well as see it.
The Red Flag Warning was no longer a fire drill.
My patients, scheduled back-to-back almost all day long, had kept me apprised of the fire's progress. In between sessions I used my phone to monitor the news online. The wildfire was being called the Fourmile Fire, named after its starting point up Fourmile Canyon above Wallstreet, not far from Gold Hill.
Each new patient I saw reported fresh bad news about the fire's march and the horrendous damage it was doing. Although the blaze wasn't currently threatening Boulder proper, it was apparently devastating the rugged residential areas in the mountains above Boulder, especially up Fourmile Canyon and up Sunshine Canyon. The pioneer treasure that is Gold Hill had been spared, barely, but flames were consuming dozens of homes in the surrounding canyons and on the nearby ridges.

"You usually work this late?" Sam asked.
His curiosity seemed sincere, not always a given. "I worked late today, but not this late. The patient I'm hoping to see was having a procedure when I got here a couple of hours ago. Every thirty minutes the nurses tell me I'll be able to see her in another thirty minutes. I'm going to try one more time. If that doesn't work, I'll come back in the morning." I paused. "Have you heard about any fire damage near Left Hand Canyon? I've been trying to reach Diane all afternoon."
Diane was my friend and my longtime partner in our psychotherapy practice.
Sam asked, "She lives where exactly? Pine Brook?"
I said, "No, Lee Hill. Near Olde Stage."
He nodded. "Then they were definitely evacuated. I haven't heard of any homes burning there yet. Farther up, yes. She's probably okay, so far."
Those reports had been consistent all day long. The homes that had been destroyed were farther up in the mountains.
But Diane being okay? That was a different question altogether.
A few years before Diane had survived a devastating hostage situation outside Las Vegas. Her post-traumatic recovery had been tenuous at times, but I had thought she was turning the corner until the previous year's holiday season, when one of her close girlfriends was arrested for murder. Diane's decline after that fresh insult was precipitous. She began spending like a Kardashian. She had almost stopped coming into the office for work. I rarely saw her.
I didn't explain to Sam that I was as worried about Diane's emotional reaction to the fire as I was concerned about her safety. He would have lost interest.
I asked him what brought him to the hospital so late in the day.
"A John Doe was involved in a single-car accident on his way out of the hills. Car was packed full of shit, like he was evacuating. But his injuries don't add up. Pattern doesn't match the impact. Lucy and I are lending a hand because the department has everybody focused on the fire. Turns out your name came up at the scene. I was going to call you about it tomorrow."
"Yeah? How did my name come up?"
"No big deal. I need to see if you recognize somebody. We can do it in the morning."
I consciously allowed his big head to fade out of focus. The clock over his shoulder in the nursing station of the nearby intensive care unit told me it was a few clicks shy of nine o'clock. I was going to miss my kids' bedtime no matter what. I lowered my voice to ICU reverential. "Hey, I'm here. My tomorrow is crazy. If I can help, I'll help. No apologies necessary."
"I wasn't going to apol—"
"I know you weren't." I smiled.
"You sure?" he said.
I hesitated. Sam noticed the hesitation. He said, "You want to do your visit first? I'll be here a while."

My first patient that morning had been a forty-two-year-old woman who worked as a statistician at the Commerce Department labs on the south end of Boulder. Although she dressed the part—her work outfits nailed the nerd at the National Institute of Standards look—she was actually a generationally misplaced hippie. She spent a lot of emotional energy looking back over her shoulder at decades and opportunities she was sure she had squandered while following rules and guidelines her instincts had long told her to ignore.
She started that day's session by telling me she hadn't slept well. She punctuated the comment by pressing the side of her fist against the center of her chest at the top of her rib cage. Reflux, she thought.
"I had a dream, too. I should talk about that."
From another patient that transition might have sounded like a loose association. But not from her. She would never have wanted me to think of her as someone who wasted my time complaining about heartburn and insomnia. Or work, or friends. Or her husband. She wanted me to think of her as a patient dedicated to growth and change.
Ten minutes into our session she suddenly exclaimed, "Oh my!" in a high voice that caused me to think of Dorothy and of lions and tigers and bears. She—my patient, not Dorothy—sucked in a quick volume of air, held that breath, and pushed the knuckles of both fists into her upper abdomen. She closed her eyes in a tight wince. Moisture began shining through the powder she had dusted near her temples.
I thought, Oh shit. I had witnessed one heart attack in my life. What I was observing looked completely different from that earlier MI.
But it felt exactly the same.
I said her name as I stood to offer help. She began to stand with me but crashed to the floor before I got close enough to break her fall.
By the time I slid the coffee table out of the way and dropped to my knees beside her, she was unresponsive. I felt her neck for a pulse. I did not find one. I listened for a breath. I did not detect one.
I thought I was keeping cool, reacting well to the crisis, at least initially. I checked her airway before I called 911. Help on the way, I readied myself to start CPR.
I placed my hands between her breasts.
And that's when my progress stalled.
I was stumped trying to remember anything at all about a Bee Gees song that I was confident I detested. It was likely that I detested the entire Bee Gees catalog, but confirming that fact would have required a grand review, something I would be reluctant to do in any circumstance and not something that was a good use of my time given where my hands and my attention resided at that moment.
The specific Bee Gees song I was trying to recall had been featured in an online article that had identified it as the perfect song to recall in moments like the one I was experiencing.
Oh God, what is it? The song's lyrics had something-something in them about a mother and a brother that never made any sense to me. Shit!
Two inches. One hundred beats. Yes! The article suggested two-inch chest compressions with each thrust, and one hundred compressions during each minute of CPR. The purpose of that particular Bee Gees song was to help find the rhythm that would achieve that target pace of one hundred beats a minute.
........ continued in next post

.......
Suddenly, I recalled the chorus: Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive.
The chorus led me to the beat: out loud, I started singing, "Ba, ba, ba, ba. Ba, ba, ba, ba," to time my compressions. When the clock indicated I was nearing four minutes of CPR, I paused and lowered my ear to my patient's mouth to listen for breath sounds while I spread my fingertips on her neck to search for a pulse.
I found neither. When the EMTs arrived moments later, I was feeling no confidence at all that my patient was, well, staying alive.
The instant the ambulance departed, I called Daniel, my patient's husband. I knew from her psychotherapy that she felt certain he'd been having a long-term affair with a woman who was a customer of his bicycle shop in Longmont. "I know who she is," my patient had told me. "She has this . . . great butt, and calves that are . . ." She did not finish that sentence. "Some of us can't spend all our time in spinning classes."
She and Daniel were discussing separation.
I explained to Daniel that his wife had collapsed in my office after suffering chest pains. I told him that her heart was beating and that she had begun breathing on her own by the time the ambulance left for Community Hospital.
Daniel said he was on his way there.
—
Read more of Line Of Fire when it is released on August 7, 2012, in the USA and Canada.

LINE OF FIRE - The First Of The Dramatic Two-Part Conclusion To The Bestselling Alan Gregory Series

Line of Fire by Stephen White

Stephen White returns with a gripping thriller about the one devastating secret that could cost Alan Gregory everything.


Alan Gregory is finally beginning to feel settled, hopeful that a long period of upheaval in his private life is behind him. He refocuses his energy on his clinical psychology practice, where a beguiling new patient is challenging his values. The interlude of calm doesn't last, of course: Alan's dear friend Diane is showing signs of a long-simmering emotional collapse, and Alan's greatest fear—the exposure of his most dangerous secret—has become something he can't ignore.

A new witness has surfaced, causing authorities to reopen their investigation into the suicide death of a woman named J. Winter Brown. When Alan and his equally culpable friend Sam Purdy inadvertently disclose details of their involvement in her death to a desperate drug dealer, any confidence they felt about riding out the new investigation evaporates. The trail that leads back to Alan and Sam, once cold, has turned white-hot.

With his vulnerability mounting daily, Alan begins to fear that his mesmerizing new patient may be the catalyst that can cause everything he treasures—his marriage, family, friendship, and future—to implode. As the authorities close in, the story hurtles toward a conclusion that will set the stage for the most unexpected of outcomes: the final act of the Alan Gregory saga.



Line Of Fire will be released on August 7, 2012, in the USA and Canada.

Looks good.

Does this trace back to an earlier book? One that I apparently haven't read yet?

Jan C wrote: "Looks good.

Does this trace back to an earlier book? One that I apparently haven't read yet?"

If so, I haven't read that book either :-)

the name J. Winter Brown doesn't sound any bell for me, but often has delved into the past unexplored in previous novels.

It may have been from something in Dry Ice. I am looking at Penguin Group book discussion for DI and Question 12is is "Did you suspect that Sam was involved in the death of Currie/J. Winter Brown?"

Ring any bells?

I'm not sure that it does with me and that's the one that I most recently finished. Unless it w edited out of the audio version. I gave away my hardcover.

Oh, I know who that is now. Oh boy, if that case gets re-opened then Sam is in big trouble! This is gonna get intense :-)

The death of J. Winter Brown is the reason Sam was on leave from the Boulder Police Department.

I do have my hardcover of Dry Ice - can post a passage to refresh your memory if you want :-)

Thanks.

I didn't know he was on leave from Boulder Police. The latest (in the series) book I've read was Dry Ice.

Was this the sniper? I think there was a sniper.

Sniper was in Kill Me. Hostage Situation was in The Siege. Sam was on leave and that's why he was doing on the side work during The Siege.

MAJOR DRY ICE SPOILER ABOUT J. WINTER

IF YOU HAVE NOT READ DRY ICE AND WANT TO ENJOY THE AMAZING STORY THAT IT IS, PLEASE DO NOT VIEW THIS SPOILER :-) Thanks.

(view spoiler)[ J. Winter teamed up with Michael McClelland during the story. McClelland was a character from a previous book. In the ending chapters of Dry Ice, Sam goes to J. Winter's house and kills her making it look like a suicide. (hide spoiler)]

I may have to listen to that again. Well, next time I take a trip.

Sounds really good. Thanks, Dustin, I read Dry Ice but had forgotten her name.

I think I may have to re-read Dry Ice before August; I want to have a full understanding of the current as well as past events. You two have certainly whetted my appetite, I will be anxious for these last installments in the Alan Gregory stories.

Looks like the fire of 2010 (happened on Labor-Day Weekend) is going to play a big role in this next book too.

If you're a member of the Stephen White - Alan Gregory Group, you may not have to wait until August to read the latest book!

Line of Fire will be released on August 7th, but arcs (advance review copies) are currently being distributed. I've been in touch with Jane Davis who manages Stephen White's website and it looks like our group might get some copies.

If you are interested in an arc of Line of Fire, you must be willing to write a review on goodreads with NO SPOILERS. We will have to be careful about spoilers in this thread also.

I'll keep you posted when I know more :-)

That sounds cool!

I am definitely interested, and more than willing to write a review! Thanks, Dustin.

I thought you two might be interested :-) I'll keep you posted. I'm not sure how many copies we will get, but 3 copies are now spoken for(that means Janice, Jan and I)

Okay 10 copies arrived on my doorstep today, Jan and Janice, since you've been following this discussion you get first dibs. Please send me a mailing address via goodreads message and I'll get your copy to you.

That leaves 7 copies up for grabs so if anyone is following this discussion send me your mailing address. If I don't hear from 7 other people, then I will start contacting group members based on their past group participation and willingness to write a goodreads review.

Thanks everyone :-) I'm gonna start reading my copy of Line of Fire tonight.

I sure am enjoying this book much more than the previous installment in the series, The Last Lie :-)

Line of Fire opens in a fun spirit in my opinion. On page 16, Sam starts going on a Tattoo Rant:

"You know I don't get tats - I mean, I don't understand tats, aesthetically speaking. Exactly what it was he thought was of such enduring value that he had it engraved in indelible ink on his freakin' arm? Well, I got nothing."

This page made me smile because as some of you might know, during the past year I have started gettting tattoos. I now have six - my most recent one last week :-) I'll be happy to post pictures if anyone is interested.

There are going to be lots of flashbacks in this book and connections to previous books. Earlier, we already discussed a connection to Dry Ice. On page 32 (chapter 5) there is a connection to Kill Me.

I learned a new word on page 33:
Gork - God Only Really Knows

Another example of fun to think about:

With texting and GPS, the game of tag was no longer the same challenge it had been when I was a kid.
-Line of Fire, Chapter 6

Don't worry, I'll be careful about spoilers, especially as the book progresses. I just like to share interesting things and a few teasers :-)

A slight Higher Authority reference in chapter 7:

Sam was old school. Where spiritual inclinations were concerned, he preferred organized religion - the more organized the better, as long as it didn't involve Catholics or Mormons doing the organizing....

started this today, and I'm totally lost! I guess I should have more of this series before starting this one. I have a feeling that reading this one is going to ruin a lot of the ones I haven't read yet! I'm sure I'll catch up soon, and maybe after this one I can go back and pick up the series where I left off.

Emily wrote: "started this today, and I'm totally lost! I guess I should have more of this series before starting this one. I have a feeling that reading this one is going to ruin a lot of the ones I haven't r..."

Yes. There are lots of references to other books. I haven't read all of them, but the McClelland character was introduced in book one, Privileged Information and he returns in Dry Ice. Missing Persons also plays a major role in Line of Fire to explain what happened to Diane in Las Vegas. FYI: we are currently reading Missing Persons as a group read during the month of May if anyone is interested.

Don't worry - you'll have plenty of time to catch up while waiting for the final book to be released :-)

I have finished Line of Fire and really enjoyed it. I thought it ended very well and (view spoiler)[the last sentence makes me wonder what we'll see in the final book :-) it seemed like an omen that things weren't finished yet (hide spoiler)]

Line of Fire Q&A with Stephen White:
(Parts 1&2 - Part 3 coming next month)

http://www.authorstephenwhite.com/Boo...