Dear Family and Friends,
I wanted you to know that my third novel in the Cabal of Clairvaux trilogy is now completed and available. Its title is Backgannet, and you can read about it. and the prequels, on my web site:
It represents a huge milestone in my life to have finished this project. It has taken countless hours of my time over many years of writing and researching the technology and history for the story, and I wanted everuone I care about to know that I finally reached this milestone. Please also know that I do not expect you to order the books. If you are not interested in reading the novels, I promise I will have no bad feelings about it.
On the other hand, if you do want to order any, or all, of the books in paper form, I would appreciate it very much if you would order them directly from the publisher. They can be ordered through Amazon, and the price is the same, but all Amazon does is pass the order on to the publisher while keeping half of the purchase price and insuring that the publisher makes absolutely nothing on the sale. The publisher is a small company owned by a very good friend of mine, and I would very much like his company to succeed, along with my novels. If you want to acquire Kindle versions of the novel, you will have to order those from Amazon, but that is an entirely different ball game for the publisher. An audio version of Raventross is available from the publisher, and we are hoping to have audio versions for the other two novels sometime soon.
These days it is impossible to make much money selling books. My big hope is that some Hollywood investor will pick up on the saga and decide to make movies out of it. That my novels would make a great movie is usually one of the first comments out of the mouth of a new reader. The novels can be ordered direct from the publisher through my web site (see above) or the publisher’s web site: www.cdespublishing.com. If you need or want all three novels, I believe the publisher is doing a discounted package price, at least for orders within the USA.
If you do decide to read my novels, I would love to know what you think about them. If you have already read Raventross and Frigatefire, and you enjoyed them, please tell your friends about the trilogy. Forward this letter if you would like. I characterize the story as aviation adventure, but many readers have said that what they enjoyed the most was the personal lives the characters, most of which were patterned after real people and actual events.
I have always wanted to be a writer of fiction. I had enjoyed some success at writing as a student at Vanderbilt. I was selected to represent the university at the Southern Literary Festival. However, after I graduated in 1965, the Viet Nam war and my being imminently subject to the draft, caused me to apply for the Marine Corps Officer Candidate School. I never made it back to the fun of writing fiction until I approached retirement age, but better late than never.
Very best regards,
JOHN WILKES
