In the Tunguska hospital where I was born, there was a fire in the post-natal wing necessitating a speedy rescue by my uncle. He braved billowing smoke from ceiling-high purple flames feeding on pharmaceuticals and the tender skin of those unlucky enough not to have a swashbuckling relative. No one who was me died, thankfully, but this harrowing brush with bring fricasseed only hours after making my grand world entrance has clung to me, and to this day I avoid medical centers that are smoldering. Offered a return back to the void so soon after coming out of it has injected a sense of urgency into my life, and chronicling my adventures has become not merely a passion but a necessity.
My name is Alexander Hamilton Bryant. It is also Christopher Ronald Bryant but only among family, heralds and members of the legal profession. You may not have heard of either though I have influenced your life through cooking for powerful figures in government: I prepare spicy dishes for the likes of bland but influential men in our nation’s capital. (Among my other published works is Burn Them in the Name of the Lord: Capsicum in the Bush White House. My Flames of Allah! dish, for example, crippled two food tasters, but the Vice President ate it with no ill effects, just that trademark quiet chuckle. Iraq was invaded less than two weeks later, an outcome far from my intention.)
I have orbited the planet at a height of one hundred thirteen miles, much of it voluntarily.
I have been stalked by an orangutigerocerous and, separately, an unspeakably vile teenage girl both times in the same Indian jungle.
I have killed a man, though in my defense he was going to die eventually anyway.
I am a U.S. citizen after much wrangling, bribery and an incident of blackmail wherein parts of Siberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo might be surprised to know that they belong to Henderson’s Rare Gifts and Tackle Boxes now. My oath of patriotism is on record with the RNC, and my ACLU card is registered with the Democratic Party.
You are probably interested in my writing credentials, however, so let me cover some of that ground.
Colder is my first novel entirely written in the United States. My previous book, Cold, sold well in Russia and southern Finland but failed to break out into western Europe, probably owing to the presentation medium of cured reindeer hide. For this new book, I have made good use of something my hated enemies and hated friends alike call an “electronic micro-computing device thingie”. I hope you will bear with me as I try to describe everything with words.
Should all go well and I become justly famous for this initial endeavor, then The Tamelin Light, Colder’s sequel, will pop out of the womb about 18 months from now. It is, as my interview with the (Greater East Northern Albanian) National Book Review has already indicated, about half written.
These simulated ink dots thank you for your attention.
THE Alexander Bryant
<p><strong>KURDISH SCAVENGERS UNCOVER A CACHE OF NERVE GAS IN IRAQ AND OFFER THEM TO KURDISH FIGHTERS IN TURKEY. THE SPECIAL OPERATIONS BEDLAM ALPHA TEAM MUST SECURE THE WEAPONS BEFORE THEY CAN BE USED.</strong></p><p>"<strong>You must swear by Allah never to say a word of what I'm going to tell you. </strong><strong>This is the most important secret. Ever!"</strong></p><p><em>In their daily struggle for survival, Iraqi Kurdish scavengers uncover a cache of chemical weapons. They offer the weapons to fellow Kurdish rebels in Turkey and Syria to assist in their quest to free an imprisoned leader and create a unified homeland. After receiving a tip from an unlikely source, the newly formed Special Operations Bedlam team is called to arms! </em></p><p><em>Travel with Craig Cameron and his international team on their covert operation as they weave their way through war-torn regions seeking to locate and recover the weapons before they can be used to cause irreparable harm and instigate a world crisis. </em></p><p><em>The odds are stacked against them. Can they manage to keep their operation hidden and prevent further clashes before it's too late?</em></p><p>"The Kurdish Connection--a compelling read. A story of friendship, danger and intrigue."--<em>Ann Everett, Amazon Best Selling Author.</em></p><p>..". Randall's authentic voice adds a powerful push to keep a reader turning the pages." --<em>Janet Taylor-Perry, author of The</em><em> Raiford</em><em> Chronicles, The Legend of</em><em> Draconis</em><em> Saga, and April Chastain Intrigues.</em></p><p>"Topical - Engaging - Intriguing - Powerful ... A real page turner."--<em>Rikon Gaites</em><em>, author of Mummy's Little Soldier and Darius</em><em> Odenkirk</em><em>.</em></p><p>..". Randall Krzak brings his wealth of experience living in this troubled part of the world and his military knowledge to bear in this exciting story..."--<em>John L.</em><em> DeBoer</em><em>, author of When the Reaper Comes.</em></p><p>..". a journey full of history, suspense, intrigue, and action...a MUST READ for all!"--<em>Les Stahl, Retired</em> NSA Executive.</p><p>..". Readers need to fasten their seatbelts for a fast-paced tale made believable by a writer who knows what he's writing about."--<em>Preston</em><em> Holtry</em><em>, author of the Morgan</em><em> Westphal</em><em> mystery series and the</em><em> Arrius</em><em> trilogy (forthcoming).</em></p><p>"A behind the scenes story, ripped from today's headlines deepening the reader's understanding of an ancient strife ... filled with the sights and smells of the market place and secret meetings, the reader is admitted to the secret heart, the desperate longings of those that must fight and win, or see continued subjugation by their masters..."<em>--Oliver F. Chase, author of Camelot Games, </em>Levant Mirage, Blind Marsh, and Marsh Island.</p>
H.P. Lovecraft created a deep, brooding, brilliant universe in the mythology of Cthulhu and the other Great Old Ones, Outer Gods and their followers. But as anyone who has ever read a lot of Lovecraft is painfully aware, the protagonists were secondary to his stories and often carbon copies from one tale to the next. Wouldn't it be interesting to borrow the universe, update it with the science of the 21st century and make the story about the characters and not the fearsome sanity-eating backdrop? This is what I have striven to do with the Tamelin Light trilogy: people whose stories move you, characters who we come to understand and love, who matter to us, setting their lives against the terrifying cosmos of the Mythos. Book One is "Colder", and is available now. Book Two, "The Tamelin Light" will be available in 2011. Book Three, "Annelli," will be published after that and there is a short story prequel in the mix in there as well which will be free. Fun fact: this book actually started - fifteen years ago - as a play-by-email adventure! I began writing it as a novel about ten years ago.
Well, my editor really likes it. The big names - NY Times Book Review, Booklist, NPR, the National Review, etc. - just don't know what they're missing yet. And this lottery ticket has the winning numbers on it, too.<br /><br /><div>And look - a unicorn!</div>