WHITNEY HOUSTON

Whitney Houston had a pop voice that can only be described as magnificent.  She could reach out and grab a note anywhere it happened to be and make it her own, without, it seemed, having to work up to it.  Regardless of the actual circumstances of her death, we all know that she had a life with horrific chapters, there along with her singing and acting triumphs.  The world has lost a great voice and her family has lost a loved one.  Have a nice day!  JERRY 

SIG SAUER P224 .40

SIG Sauer P224.  I just picked up my writer's sample and this little .40 S&W with ten plus one capacity seems ideally suited to concealed carry.  Carry it in a belt or inside waistband holster, just like you would a Glock 27.  Unlike a Glock, however, the SIG 224 is a double action only, the hammer self-lowering.  So,  the SIG 224 can be carried in a coat pocket or even loose in a woman's handbag, fully loaded with one in the chamber.  In the next few weeks, I'll be testing the SIG Sauer P224.  Like any SIG product of my experience, I'd assume it will be an outstanding performer.  But, I'll let you know!  Have a nice day!  JERRY  

SAVED BY "FLINT"

On last Tuesday night, “IN LIKE FLINT” was just as much fun as Sharon and I had remembered it to be.  The late Jerry Goldsmith’s music was excellent, as always.  The film also saved us from watching the guy who lives in The White House, which kept my digestion and my blood pressure in the normal range and helped to guard against injury to the middle finger of my right hand. After “Derek Flint” had saved the world from a conspiracy involving a fake President and traitors who were out to control the world, we flipped over to FOX News.  Sadly, the guy who lives in The White House was still talking.  We got off that as quickly as possible and caught fifteen or twenty minutes of another film.  At last, when we turned once again to FOX News, there was a FOX News panel critiquing the Address – and being “fair and balanced,” I might add.  Then, as Sharon and I had hoped for, we caught the excellent Republican Response, delivered by Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, former Director of The U.S. Office of Management and Budget under George W. Bush. The major point, as we understood it, is that the Republicans want to see America once again become a nation of “haves” and “soon-to-haves,” rather than a land where initiative is condemned, small business is beaten to death by never ending numbers of government regulations and the jobs situation in America does not improve.  Lots better than what the other guy said, I’m sure, and much easier on the stomach.  Have a nice day!  JERRY

In Like Flint

As I write this, tonight is the STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS.  Normally, good citizen that I am, I would watch that on television.  But, I don't feel like getting myself all out of sorts, listening to a guy I don't trust telling me things I don't believe -- principally, because he's saying them.  If you feel as I do, yet don't have anything in mind to watch out of your DVD library, I would suggest what Sharon and I intend to do.  We're going to tune in to TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES and watch that great old comedy spy flick "IN LIKE FLINT," starring the late James Coburn.  In the film, the ever versatile Andrew Duggan plays both the real President and a fake president who is working with the bad guys to take over the world.  "Derek Flint" has to stop him and save the country and the world.  Check it out!  JERRY

Some Book News

www.speaking-volumes.us  is a website in which many Ahern readers may be interested.  Some sixty plus of our books are coming out in all the popular downloadable E-formats.  Additionally, those same books will be available in trade paperback print format.  And, except for THE SURVIVALIST, already available in fully soundscaped audio from www.graphicaudio.net on both CD and MP3, these other books — THEY CALL ME THE MERCENARY, THE TAKERS, THE DEFENDER –  will be coming out as audio books fromwww.speaking-volumes.us, some already available.   The first several books in THE SURVIVALIST are already available in print and E-formats, as well as THE KILLER GENESIS, the first book in THEY CALL ME THE MERCENARY.  A reader asked a while back about the third book in THE TAKERS series.  Entitled SUMMON THE DEMON, it was previously only available in one E-book format and as audio.  It, too, is coming in new audio, all major E-formats and in print.  Our latest novel from Baen Books (www.baenbooks.com) is WRITTEN IN TIME.  Debuting October of 2010, it is still available in  paperback and in E-format from Baen.  Additionally, our first novel for Baen, THE GOLDEN SHIELD OF IBF, is also available from Baen in E-format.  If you’re a fan of THE SURVIVALIST series, and you do Facebook, there’s a Facebook group that’s devoted to  THE SURVIVALIST.  I partcipate in that group and Sharon and I would be happy to see anyone who follows our books join it.  All the best!