Monday, December 28, 2015

US Cover For First Response

Well, after much thought I have decided on the cover for the US edition of First Response, my new thriller to be published on February 26. Hodder and Stoughton are publishing the book in the UK, but didn't want the US rights so I'll be self-publishing it there.

This is the cover I'll be going with, designed by the wonderful Debbie at THE COVER COLLECTION.


And here's the blurb we are using to describe the book -

London is under siege. 
Nine men in suicide vests primed to explode hold hostages in nine different locations around the city, and are ready to die for their cause.
Their mission: to force the government to release jihadist prisoners from Belmarsh Prison.
Their deadline: 6 p.m. Today. 
But the bombers are cleanskins, terrorists with no obvious link to any group, and who do not appear on any anti-terror watch list. What has brought them together on this one day to act in this way? 
Mo Kamran is the Superintendent in charge of the Special Crime and Operations branch of the Met. As the disaster unfolds and the SAS, armed police, and other emergency services rush to the scenes, he is tasked with preventing the biggest terrorist outrage the capital has ever known.
But nothing is what it seems. And only Kamran has the big picture. Will anyone believe him?

You can read about the process of producing the cover by clicking HERE

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Gidday Stephen

I'm addicted to your books, which distinguish themselves, in my viewpoint at least, as the only fiction works which accurately reflect real world geopolitics. I like the way your heroes are not necessarily in the know, with their less-then-perfect sidekicks (especially Sharp) being more insightful. Nice touch.

I started researching who the hell is really running the world, way back in 1964, but made little headway until 2003, when a Lituanian girl smuggled me copies of Rothschild family histories, which I was able to expand on through the Internet. I wrote a book but eventually settled for an internet site, oziz4oziz.com

What i learned is uncannily close to your own plots.

Probably no surprise there, as your research is impressive.

Cheers

Tony Hayward-Ryan
Arnhem Land, NT, Australia

Stephen Leather said...

Cheers, Tony!

Unknown said...

A fair bit of coincidence at work here, Stephen LOL. It had occurred to me that one of your sources for character names might have been Australian media, or even the single Northern Territory newspaper; because so many names of characters actually exist here. While some of these are relatively common names, others, like Petrov are unusual in the West. Their story is worth telling because it demonstrates People Power.

The Petrovs were a famous couple, employees of the Russian Embassy, who were arrested by the KGB and were en route to Russia; and then the Gulags. In those days the plane had to land in Darwin to refuel, and the entire Darwin population was at the airport and refused to permit the plane to continue its journey. The KGB got beaten up and the police were powerless. The Prime Minister, Menzies, demanded the people desist, but they were adamant that if Mrs Petrov wanted to stay in Australia, then she could. Menzies was forced to capitulate. Mrs Petrov is still alive but her husband died a decade ago.

This saga showed the world that the people of Darwin gave the orders, not effing politicians. There were several other successful stand-offs but, sadly, Cyclone Tracy destroyed the rebel town and government pretty much forced the dispersal of the leading rebels. I think I am the last of the thorns in government's side but, happily, I seem to be making headway these days.

Hilariously, in the book I started reading this morning, the alias of Dan Shepherd, Tony Ryan, is the name I was born with, and continue to use online and as an author (I use that word 'author' advisedly, few of my books ever sold).

Anyway, Stephen, keep the books coming. You are the only fiction novelist who writes about the real world and acknowledges real world geopolitics. Congratulations.

If you ever visit Australia, or more especially the Northern Territory, look me up. There is material here for several of your books and I would enjoy showing you around.

Kindest regards

Tony
oziz4oziz.com/