I have been busy this year thinking about additional subjects to write about and writing two new books.

Bullets and Barrels

Bullets and Barrels is a non-fiction book about how American Civil War officers and soldiers helped develop the oil and gas industry. The book traces the growth of the domestic petroleum industry from Colonel Edwin Drake’s discovery well in Titusville, Pennsylvania in 1859 to Ida Tarbell’s The History of the Standard Oil Company in 1902 and her 1909 article in the American Woman Magazine titled “The American Woman – How She Met the Experience of War.”

Readers will learn how Charles Pratt built “America’s first modern oil refinery” in 1867 and the Confederate attack on Burning Springs in the Civil War. The book will describe how Civil War veterans like Amos Densmore, Edward L. Roberts, William W. Averell, and Samuel Jones introduced new technology into the fledgling petroleum business.

My plan is to publish Bullets and Barrels this winter.

The Traitor

The Traitor is the second installment in the Russell Conrad series of political thrillers. The story begins after Conrad returns home from saving the president’s life in The Analyst. Conrad is accused of treason for helping Israel thwart an Iranian missile attack. As the FBI transports Conrad to the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport, they are attacked by armed men who want to kill the SMU professor. Conrad is saved by a mysterious woman who whisks him to safety. Thus begins a frantic trip to the Texas Coast with the FBI in chase. En route to Port Isabel, Conrad and the women discover a terrorist plot that threatens the U.S. oil industry and the national economy.

My plan is to publish The Traitor early next year.

In the meantime, I hope you will check out my current publications.