Daniel Hartmann's secret war. That's the title for the moment. It's a historical novel whose theme is my father's own story. he hid what he'd really done during World War 2 until a few months before his death. The stuff of novels. This needs a lot of research as what he did had to be kept secret, so you can't find much on it in the archives. I have found some interesting books on the war in North Africa as a whole, where he was, so there's no problem for that part. The problem is how I treat this. I could tell his story, except that I don't have any information. However, I could have a fictitious character doing what he did and therefore invent details within the historical framework. And then, as I publish things here, would the story of an Englishman interest anyone? So, I thought, since he has to be able to speak fluent German, why not make him come from Alsace, who escaped from France to join De Gaulle in London? After, we don't often hear of the FFL (Forces françaises libres) who fought alongside the Allies and participated in some of the famous battles. The hardest thing now is constructing a story for this man in the midst of History with a capital H.

LAST CHANCE.  The final count down. This started with an idea of reincarnation, but not in the sense as it is seen here. I extended it to a series of civilisations on the Earth. This idea has already been dealt with in non-fiction books by some authors who present as proof the vitrified sand that can be found in certain places saying it is a result of a nuclear blast. So, OK I thought, supposing there've been a few and that we have lived in each and each life allows us to acquire an experience that, when put together, make us what we really are. Haven't got to that point quite yet and I'm not going to reveal all my ideas. Suffice it to say that if we add what the various religions say, then there are a lot of interesting ideas around. Diane and I wanted to write one day a story with a big mysterious content. She did hers, and that was the Cerulean one, whereas I hadn't started mine as I was busy writing something else. So therefore, this one is my version.

The story starts at the end of one civilisation and then we jump to another where things aren't going very well - of course., just like here. We have to wonder where mankind is going because no one seems to learn from the mistakes of the pastd. You just have to look at Russia and all the radical religions. Man's stupidity seems to have no limites. The second part begins with an expriment around the Haley comet. This idea comes from the 1980s when a probe was sent to meet Haley. I watched the televisioin to see what the result was. Nothing but mixels, really. But the idea remained and this time an inhabited probe is being sent. I'm not saying what happens, but there is a link with what's going to happen a few years further on, at a time when things are getting really hot and we're heading for the sort of catastrophe that ended the first part. However, what nobody knows is that this is Man's last chance to come out of it alive. Amoing the main characters, we have a strange journalist, a religious leader belonging to a radical group and an ordinary space ship commander - except that.... For the moment strange things are happening, they've all met up, the commander is subject to darker and darker hallucinations and a secondary character is busy wondering where he's seen the journalist before... You might say, dear me. I know roughly where I'm going, it's how to get there that's sometimes a problem. I have been stuck for a whikle as my characters went and did what they wanted, so I have to undo all that and take them down another road.

TERRA DUPLICATA. This one started as an idea with a young son of some friends towards 1998, who suggested we write a story together. He would supply the science and I'd do the story. I forget how it came about. He also wrote a short story which was pretty good. I've still got it. However, I don't have any more contact with them. His idea was that the Earth no longer existed. The details are all in the story. However, most of the population had been evacuated on to stations more and more numerous as time went by. After X number of years strange things began to circulate about the first stations and about "Terrans" - who didn't exist any more. We're heading for a spy story here full of hidden goings on. For the moment, I haven't gone too far with it. It's difficult to sell my SF, people think it's something that it isn't necessarilly, or get it mixed up with fantasy, so they miss out on good stories - like mine! I'll come back to this story one of these days, no doubt, as I did with others that I've since finished. I have people coming from the different stations having different ways of looking at things and I've also an idea about thses "Terrans" who shouldn't be existing. In the mean time I enjoyed do the cover and I think it's pretty good.