Books under development
Finished!
A reference for evacuating passenger rope-ways.
First Aid Toons (Graphic novel text)
Illustrated cartoons allow a teacher (author) to describe a story with greater detail and effect than words or pictures, or even words and pictures can achieve. “Special Effects” are easily introduced where-ever a concept would benefit from focused and detailed explanation, and the most challenging aspect of actual first aid instruction is recreating the signs and symptoms of injury and illness. This is easily portrayed with cartoons, and at the moment no other cartoon book exists that addresses the topic of First Aid and CPR training.
This ‘text’ would serve as an excellent adjunct to the manuals training agencies already issue to students, adding clarification and additional explanation of widely used techniques. In the format of a graphic novel, a sub-story will run throughout that has characters engaging in activities that generate injuries. Then after each ‘shootout’ scene, the first aid instructors would arrive and demonstrate what would next happen in the real-world.
Demo frames already built, outline is completed, characters chosen. Focus and effort are all that are left to complete this concept. Estimating it will be over 300 pages when completed, and medium size format, (8 x 10), color pages but mainly B&W, 6 months of full-time effort to complete. This book will appeal to a far wider audience than just first aiders as the story is fun and you can’t help but to learn something about First Aid while reading it.
Ajax 15 (Fictional novel)
Based upon ancient and current events in the Middle East this book tells the story of a fictional war that could develop after an Iranian nuclear attack on Tel Aviv. (Progress – around 20% complete, currently at 20000 words)
With a female protagonist working in a world with much larger problems than she alone can solve, we ride with her as she focuses on getting her part of the job (fighter pilot) done properly, and helping with her effort to defeat evil and restore security and safety to the middle east.
This story very much lends itself to the development of a screenplay. Drawing from real world news stories that run nearly every day in print. Trouble in the Middle-east is an almost ever-present reality, and everyone alive today will identify with the possibilities that this novel describes.
Fifteen Years Later
“What’s the worst thing you‘ve ever seen?” I have been asked this question a hundred times during and since my work with Emergency Medical Services. There was never an easy answer because some of the things Paramedics see are difficult to describe in terms that lay-people can relate to. The question that is really being asked is more precisely “What’s the most horrible thing you’ve ever seen?” Having attended to thousands of emergency calls over the years, approximately 2% of which had fatal outcomes, I can tell some stories. This book would be an assembly of recollections (50 or so) about individual runs with Emergency Medical Services and the Fire Department that provide a glimpse into the real answer to ‘that’ question. Not just from a single perspective, but from a cumulative one.
What turns your crank? Stories about people burnt from head-to-toe? Heads missing? Dead babies in toilets? I have a worst story for every taste. The book as a read is like driving past the scene of a bad car accident. You can’t help but look, even when you know you do not want to see.
Gondolas of the World
I have already begun taking pictures. This would be a travel guide, alphabetically presenting passenger gondolas in various places in the world with a brief overview of facilities, a description of the ride, and the view from the top. To be sold in gift shops at all of the world’s hottest tourist destinations, this book could also be done as a series highlighting lifts in different regions.
Summit restaurants will all be reviewed. Descriptions of adjacent hiking trails included. Information about local flora and fauna, as well as seasonable weather and special events like festivals that are sometimes co-located at these passenger lifts.
A larger, color, coffee table format. Perfect for the Doctor’s office, or your living room table. This is a unique topic that offers potential for some spectacular images, and at the same time give practical advice about what to expect, or prepare for, when visiting these lifts.
Too Speedy
Factual analysis of speed enforcement in North America, and an objective look at the results. As an Emergency Vehicle Operation Instructor for the National Academy for Professional Driving teaching Emergency Vehicle Operation programs I have something to say about speed enforcement. And speed enforcement, at least the way it is currently being done is absolutely ineffective, and I can prove it.
Armed with statistical information about ticketing practises, and correlating this with the number of drivers and trips made, changes to vehicles and highways during the last fifty years, and analysing accident statistics, it is a simple matter to demonstrate two fundamental arguments. Firstly that speed does not cause accidents (Contradicting law enforcement messages), it is merely a factor in outcomes, and secondly, that there has been no reduction whatsoever in driver speeds as a result of so much enforcement. Further, despite these facts fatalities are dropping anyway.
Crucially in this book I will teach the overriding human physiological factors that are the real causes of accidents, and from this understanding about ourselves make driving safer for everyone.
Bronze Sculpture in China
On my trips to China over the years I could not help but to notice the hundreds, perhaps thousands of life size bronze sculptures that are in public areas throughout their cities. I have already obtained lo-res photos of some of these, but have always thought it would be good to get back there, and get photos and write descriptions of the pieces to create a large format, color, coffee table style book.
There are thousands, if not tens of thousands of these bronze sculptures scattered across the cities of China, and they tell stories about Chinas history and modern culture. Good quality photos, along with a description of what the sculpture represents, who the artist was, and where it can be seen.
Modern Chinese City Architecture
A complement to the bronze sculpture book, and one that could be developed simultaneously. Modern Chinese city skyscraper architecture is breathtaking, and China now has some of the world’s tallest and most striking skyscrapers. Photo-documenting these, and writing descriptions of where they are located, and the purpose they fulfill, would make an interesting read for anyone.
Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Guangzhou and Beijing are densely packed with amazing buildings, and many represent elements of Chinese culture that can be pointed out with descriptions that accompany each photograph.
Finished!
Camp One Hundred – http://www.amazon.com/Camp-ONE-HUNDRED-through-Soldiers/dp/1497327571/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1401548446&sr=1-5&keywords=camp+one+hundred
The online world of Battlefield Europe 1943 has been the world’s largest running Massive Multi-Player Online Game (MMPOG) for the last ten years. Battles that run in real time, twenty-four hours a day, and that last for week and involve tens of thousands of gamer’s recreates battles that occurred in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, England and Germany during World War II. It spans the largest online gaming map in existence, and front lines move back and forth as French, American and British forces battle with Germans in real-time.
After action reports (AAR’s) from this simulation read just like AAR’s from real battles in 1943. The game is a first-person-shooter that creates an immersive experience for participants, and this book would be a compilation of AAR’s over a single campaign, the 100th in the simulations history that is expected to occur in 2014 or 2015.
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