Bob Mayer's Blog, page 61

History of the High Line

Why was it first built? What happened to it? How did it become a major tourist attraction in New York City?

History of the High Line; New York City from Bob Mayer

Son of Sam and the Rise of Tabloid Journalism

Basking the glow of Watergate, the Pentagon Papers and other coups, the press corps was riding hide.

Then the perfect storm hit New York City in 1977. Rupert Murdoch bought the venerable NY Post, originally founded by Alexander Hamilton. Son of Sam was in the midst of his spree.

The rest changed journalism forever.

Here is the slideshow:

Son of Sam & the Explosion of Tabloid Journalism from Bob Mayer

The pre-order for New York Minute is now live on all platforms.

What was the #1 song, album and artist of 1977?

Interesting to research this. I remember most of these songs. 1977 was an interesting year in that several different sounds were converging in different directions: rock, disco, punk was on the rise, etc.

The Music of 1977. What was #1? Song? Album? Group? from Bob Mayer

New York Minute– the story

My latest slideshare, the first of a number that will revolve around the world of New York Minute: 1977, New York City.

First Blood meets Breaking Bad from Bob Mayer

Nothing but good times ahead!

NEW YORK MINUTE

New York Minute and the reason for writing

Finally! A fixed publication date for New York Minute, 24 June, and the pre-order is live on all eBook platforms. Print will be live prior to pub date and the audio is being done this week and will be also be ready before pub date.

I’m more excited about this title than anything in years. I
wrote and rewrote this book from the heart. The characters are real to me—and that’s
what this book is about: character.

I was thinking about what I wanted to write in terms of
thriller over a year ago as I’m going back to that genre after years in science
fiction. I thought about a Jack Reacher type of character and story; especially
given the parallels in Reacher’s fictional life and my real one: Reacher was West
Point ’82, I was ’81. Reacher was in Lebanon during the bombing while my unit,
10th Special Forces was running the MTT there when that tragedy
occurred. Reacher’s mother is French from Strasbourg; my wife’s mother is
French from Strasbourg.

I love Lee Child’s books, but as he says in the new opening
to Killing
Floor (a must read), Jack Reacher is a mythical character. A modern
knight. I realized I couldn’t write such a character, perhaps because of my own
flaws. I wanted to write someone like the special ops people I’ve known, warts
and all, but with a deep moral code, who is forced, against his will, into
making a decision that he swore never to make. I wanted to surround him with a
cast of re-occurring characters, each with their own flaws, strengths and
backstory, and, most importantly, secrets. There are characters in this book
that will grow much deeper as the series goes on.

I’ve rewritten this book more than any book I’ve ever
written. And, by delaying publication, I was able to write most of the next
book, Lawyers, Guns and Money and it will be published just 90 days later.
By doing that, I was able to deepen the characters and go back to New
York Minute and make adjustments. I already see the third book, Walk on
the Wild Side as I know the exact image at the end of Lawyers that will
propel Will Kane, the protagonist, into that story.

I’m thrilled to move Will Kane forward in time from 1977. Not
just in New York City, but as he gets involved in events such as the founding
of Delta Force and Desert One.

Honestly, another one of my goals is to break this book &
series out long term as an indie author. I’ve successfully been publishing
without the backing of a Big 5 publisher or Amazon for a number of years. In
this day and age, the entrepreneur can make their own way as I have been doing
for a long time. As such, I’m thankful to my readers for their continued
support.

Nothing but good times ahead!

Seven Days in May

I was giving a keynote at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference several years ago and I mentioned this book and movie and got blank stares.

The book isn’t that great actually. It reads like a manifesto and lecturing. One of the few times the movie is better than the book.

You’ve got Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas to start with. As antagonist and protagonist. President Kennedy actually allowed them to film the opening fight scene outside the White House, he was so impressed with the story. The movie was originally scheduled for a December 1963 release, but Burt Lancaster forced them to delay it as he felt it was too soon after the assassination.

This was the second of Frankenheimer’s “paranoid” trilogy after The Manchurian Candidate.

The mistress part, played by Ava Gardner, was based on General MacArthur and his long time mistress.

When Kirk Douglas is entering the Pentagon those are real guards who had no clue who he was and saluted him because he was in costume as a Colonel. The Pentagon had refused to allow filming there which makes sense since its about a military coup. In the same way, my book, The Line (Shadow Warriors), which is about a military coup by a secret clique of West Pointers, was refused to be reviewed by the Academy’s graduate magazine or be racked in their bookstore.

John Frankenheimer who directed it wanted a more futuristic weapon than the current M-14 in use in 1963. So he choose the Colt AR-15. Which subsequently was adopted by the military.

Leonard Nimoy was in the casting call for the movie, but never appeared.

My favorite scene in the movie is when Jiggs Casey, Douglas’s character, puts all these little clues together (no big smoking gun) and makes the career-ending decision to go to the President with his suspicions of a coup so quickly.

The Ides of March

15 March is a significant date in history, but not just for the event of 44 BC. It’s also the date in 1917 that the last Tsar of Russia formally abdicated, which I submit might be the most significant event of the 20th Century, given what followed and is still happening.

It’s also the date in 1783 that General George Washington, with the Revolution not over and peace negotiations dragging on in Paris had to make a famous speech at the encampment in Newburgh, NY, to quell a mutiny among his officers who had not been paid for a long time. He saved the fledgling United States even before it was a United States.

Other events happened on this date and these three and others are part of The Ides of March (Time Patrol). Which is free all the time on all eBook platforms. It is a window into this series of books I’ve written where the basic premise is that there is a force from another Earth timeline that is trying to change ours by traveling to our past and changing events. The Time Patrol’s job is to keep our timeline intact. It’s not perfect, but we’re still here is the basis of their missions, especially since they’ve learned other timelines have had their history changed and utterly disappeared.

How the Last Tsar, Nicholas, came to fall from power is a fascinating story and some powerful lessons can be drawn from it. I covered some of the major events leading to this as one of the seven disasters in Stuff Doesn’t Just Happen: The Gift of Failure. Which is free today only, 15 March.

While we mourn today with New Zealand, we must mourn with all mankind and do our best to stop the hate.

15 March 1917: The Last Tsar Abdicates

This might be the most significant event of the 20th Century. Tsarist Russia was gone, replaced by Communist Russia. Part of the momentum behind Hitler’s rise to power was the battle against communism in Germany. The Cold War. And on and on. To the present day.

The reasons for the fall of Tsarist Russia are complex, but focusing mainly on Nicholas, I lay out the six Cascade Events that led to the seventh, the formal abdication in Stuff Doesn’t Happen: The Gift of Failure. It is currently free.

I also used this event in another book, The Ides of March (Time Patrol) where I ran a mission to stop the Tsarina from halting the abdication and causing a different outcome.
One of the premises of the series is that we need to keep our history the same based on the fact we still exist. Because the Time Patrol knows there are other timelines that had changes in history and they no longer exist.

Below is a free slideshow on that mission:

The Last Tsar abdicated on 15 March 1917 from Bob Mayer

91 Years Ago: Worst Engineering Disaster in California History

At 11:57 PM on 12 March 1928 and then cascading into 13 March, the St. Francis Dam, north of Los Angeles, failed. Designed by William Mulholland, the man who was hailed for bringing water to the City of Angels, there is another dam, designed exactly the same, still in existence in the city of LA.

The slideshow below details the Cascades that led to this disaster and what we can learn from them.

The book, Stuff Doesn’t Just Happen: The Gift of Failure 2, in which this is one of seven events covered, is free 3/12 to 3/15 here.

One of the Worst Engineering Disasters of the 20th Century from Bob Mayer

When Spanish Expansion in New World Was Halted. In Nebraska

This is the stuff I love finding when researching. in 1720, a Spanish expedition out of Santa Fe was attacked in Nebraska by Native Americans, most likely at the instigation of the French.

The Spanish were there to capture French explorers and trappers and stop the French expansion west into what was ostensibly Spanish territory.

The site of the battle, more a massacre, isn’t certain but most likely near Columbus, Nebraska, where the Platte River meets the Loupe.

Spain had claimed ownership of the Great Plains since the Coronado Expedition of 1540-1542. Which is 180 years before this massacre. That’s a lot of time. I find the history of the west prior to what we normally view as “westward expansion” fascinating.

The Spanish were led by Lieutenant General Pedro de Villasur. He had forty soldiers, sixty Pueblos, 12 Apaches and some others. They left Santa Fe and went north through Colorado, Kansas and into Nebraska.

On 14 August 1720 they were attacked by Pawnee and Otoes, and if you look closely at the drawing on the buffalo robe, it looks like other Europeans, most likely some French.

Most the Spaniards were killed.

The survivors limped back to Santa Fe and that was was the end of Spanish attempts to take the fur trade from the part of the continent.