For much of my life people have asked me where I keep my crystal ball. I have an uncanny ability to sense the future. One manifestation of that are premonitions. I’ve dreamt of car wrecks before they’ve happened and can sometimes see what’s around a corner on a route I’ve never traveled before. As a kid, playing outfield in baseball, I would sometimes start running to where a ball would fly before the batter made contact.
In politics and international affairs, my writing sometimes predicts coming events. My book The Opposite of Trust, about US-Russia conflict in the Cold war and how it will manifest itself in the future came out just before Russia invaded Ukraine. The Eel and the Angel is built against the backdrop of US-Chinese high-tech competition and how dangerous it can become. The Shadow Game is a story of how unresolved conflict between the US and Iran can explode when a third party provokes and prods both sides. It came out just before Hamas launched the latest Middle East war.
For all but the premonition part of my life, I don’t rely on a crystal ball. Instead, I am a student of history and pay close attention to what is going on in the world. My book, Tempest North, coming out in July is set in the 1820s. It is a love story and an adventure set against the background of how the American Revolution upset the cultures and politics of a world dominated by European Powers. Many of the same conflicts are still with us today as the world goes through a new geo-political reset.
My newest Team Walker book, due out in November, is set in one of my favorite countries, Mexico. I love the land and the people. The background for my book Two Civil Wars is Abraham Lincoln’s meddling in the Mexican Civil War that was raging at the same time the War Between the States was happening. But the November book is contemporary. Another conflict is brewing, but this one involves the US, Mexico and China. I hope that it isn’t a crystal ball thriller, but it won’t surprise me if those who read that book don’t ask once again, “Where do you keep your crystal ball?”