Bob Mayer's Blog

Today I have a plethora of free ebooks on my Freebies page.

Duty, the first book in the Duty, Honor, Country series. If you enjoyed HBO’s Rome and love history, you’ll love this series.

Eternity Base. A Green Beret thriller where I used my experience in Winter Warfare.

The Kennedy Endeavor, a thriller steeped in history.

And the last day of Omega Sanction.

Also I have a tentative publishing plan for 2026. I thought I’d post it for public consumption, with the caveat plans can change: Jennifer Crusie and I have finished the draft of the first book in a new series. It’s tentatively titled Arresting Anna. It will be followed by a novella, Getting Carter. Then a novel. Stealing Nadine. Then another novella Surprising Lily. Then another novel to conclude Breaking the Frame. The plan is to have all of them out in 2026. I’m also working on a Rocky Start book featuring Max, titled Rocky Road, where he tries to finish the Appalachian Trail. I’m also going to complete a handful of books I’ve been working on for years now, including Area 51 Genesis and a couple of other novellas that have been in development for years.

Nothing but good times ahead!

The post Weekend Book Special and Publishing Plans appeared first on Bob Mayer.

The Kennedy Endeavor.

And it’s free today through the 24th.

For 13 days in October 1962 the world came the closest to nuclear Armageddon. On 22 November 1963, President Kennedy was assassinated. On the 25th of November, as Kennedy’s body lay in state at the Rotunda in Washington, Anastas Mikyoan, Khrushchev’s top adviser, presented the Premier’s condolences to Jacqueline Kennedy. She took Mikoyan’s hand in both hers and told him: “I am sure that Chairman Khrushchev and my husband could have been successful in the search for peace, and they were really striving for that. Now the Chairman must continue the agreed upon endeavor and bring it to completion.”

On 12 October 1964, a Washington socialite named Mary Meyer was shot in the back of the head and through the heart at point-blank range. She had been married to a high-ranking CIA agent. More importantly, she had been carrying on an affair with President John F. Kennedy and was one of his most trusted friends, at his side through the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis.

On 13 October 1964, the day after Mary Meyer’s murder, the Soviet Politburo forced Nikita Khrushchev to resign from power and put him under house arrest.

Today, Paul Ducharme and Evie Tolliver unveil a Fail Safe type scenario brokered by President Kennedy and Premier Khrushchev and race against time before the archaic Sword of Damocles initiates World War III.

The post A Thriller Steeped in History- with amazing facts you didn’t know appeared first on Bob Mayer.

One of my Shadow Warrior books is free today through the 22nd: The Omega Sanction. It’s a standalone thriller focusing on a unique delivery system for a weapon of mass destruction.

Also free today are The Ides of March, a Time Patrol story featuring six mission on the Ides into the past. The one involving George Washington is a unique one and reveals an event I’d known nothing about; when Washington stopped a coup among his officers. Also, New York City Little Black Book. Having grown up in the Bronx, I thought I knew quite a bit about the city, but I learned considerably more writing this. Whether you’re interested in trivia or going to visit the city and want to know how to read a subway map, this is great book to have.

And an update– here is the latest member of our household. Boo an orphan kitten who is now ruling Maggie and Earl.

Nothing but good times ahead.

The post The Ultimate Covert Weapon? appeared first on Bob Mayer.

This book makes a Stephen King novel read like a romcom

The title is a hint: Nuclear War: A Scenario. By Annie Jacobsen.

Thoroughly researched, this is what I would call speculative non-fiction. As a fiction writer, I write books based on “what if”. What happened in this book is that Ms. Jacobsen thoroughly researched the topic and asked the inevitable “what if it happens”?

The scary thing after finishing it, you almost feel like that unless we do something drastic the real question is “what happens when it inevitably does happen?” And we are damn lucky it hasn’t happened yet.

She asked the question and answered it thoroughly but what should scare us all profoundly is that almost every person who actually will make the decision to initiate nuclear war apparently has not. She highlights our misconceptions even among top ranked government officials (such as missile intercept, with the infamous hitting a bullet with a bullet analogy, except, to make it worse, there are thousands of bullets come at you, but you only have 40 to shoot back). We are under the delusion that things can be walked back. They can’t. Once a missile is launched it’s like we said with artillery: looked good when it left here and there is no calling it back and no self-destruct or abort possible (for fear of it being hacked).

Want more scares? It will happen FAST. A submarine launched missile (SLBM) will take less than ten minutes from launch to target and devastation.

Essentially, the premise, and frightening promise, of this book is that once initiated, a nuclear war is an Extinction Level Event. It can’t be “de-escalated”. The book details all the reasons why, both technical and human.

I’ve always enjoyed Ms. Jacobsen’s nonfiction because most of her nonfiction topics parallel my fiction topics. She wrote the definitive Area 51 book, I wrote an Area 51 series. She wrote about Operation Paperclip; I have that program in several of my series. She wrote Surprise, Kill, VanishThe Secret History of CIA Paramilitary Armies, Operators, and Assassins and I was in Special Forces and touch on those units in almost all my books. My review of that book is here.

She got a lot of her “what if’s” answered by the world’s premier experts on this topic. Spoiler alert about something you should know anyway. We did a target analysis of a nuclear power plant while I was in Special Forces (among many other targets such as the Alaskan pipeline). The ultimate scary assault on such a plant that we cannot stop is hitting the nuclear power plant with a nuclear warhead.

She has the North Koreans launching only 4 nuclear warheads. The first one from land heading toward the DC area. That one is the initiation and plays out through the book. But then, suddenly, you get an SLBM launched off the coast of CA striking the Diablo Canyon Reactor while that ICBM is still in flight.

Now someone is going to say “hey, NK doesn’t have boomers”! Well, they have a shitload of diesel-powered subs and they have successfully launched a SLBM. I researched SOSUS and other underwater detection systems for some of my books and I learned a lot. But as she illustrates and soldiers know, often low-tech beats high tech. And she explains in excruciating detail how NK could pull this off.

Back to a nuke on a nuke plant. We’re talking about an Armageddon event. The ultimate dirty bomb.

But wait, there’s more. There’s the EMP bomb overhead that wipes out our grid. I worked with some experts on how vulnerable the grid is and it is scary vulnerable to even a small terrorist cell. But an EMP nuke overhead? The North Koreans already have satellites over us that are suspected of containing an EMP blast warhead. That goes off and its lights out, perhaps forever.

Oh yeah, the fourth warhead fails. Who cares at that point because we’ve already launched a retaliatory strike against NK with hundreds of our own nukes. Unfortunately, our missiles have to overfly Russian airspace to get there. And, oops, the Russians aren’t as good as us in knowing exactly where our missiles are going.

Meanwhile, they try to get the President to Raven Rock, but in a chopper and the nuke will hit DC first. And I assume she got this from one of her Secret Service contacts, perhaps Lew Merletti who gave me a nice blurb for one of my books, but the Blackhawk, even though shielded, will lose electronics with such a close EMP from the blast, so the SS tandem jump the president out of the chopper right before the nuke goes off. That was a new one for me. Thus, he’s out of the loop. Except the Russians want to talk to him. And can’t.

Well, it doesn’t end well. Let’s put it this way, she goes 24,000 years into the future in the last chapter to discuss how the Earth might heal. Us? We’re toast.

Because we, the human race, are fucking idiots. We’ve spent trillions of dollars and dedicate hundreds of thousands of people to something that will wipe us out. And I hate to say this, think about the few individuals right now who have their finger on the button? We have mentally unstable people in those positions.

This book is a flashing warning for every single member of the human race, but is anyone paying attention?

The post The Most Terrifying Book I Have Ever Read appeared first on Bob Mayer.

Boo, a 1.8 pound kitten who is a literal rescue (we won’t discuss her tragic back-story) is now part of the family. This morning is her first in the office on a pile of pillows at the window where she can lie in the sun. Maggie is mothering her; Earl, unfortunately is at the vet today getting tutored, so . . .

Rest In Pink is free today until the 25th. Along with other books.

I’m continuing short videos of Maggie’s Farm on a daily basis. I try to keep them very short. But I will be doing longer ones on a variety of topics ranging from survival tips to gardening to random thoughts to Maggie, Earl and Boo adventures.

The weather is finally cool. Enjoy!

Bob

The post Welcoming Boo to the family and free books appeared first on Bob Mayer.

I’ve started doing daily short videos from Maggie’s Farm. I try to not go over a minute each. I usually feature a book amidst the flowers and fauna and dogs and ducks (yes, 6 ducks) and now a kitten (more on all that to come, although Maggie is quite taken with her), although I will branch out and touch on some key survival topics. Also, just some calming videos of just, like plants growing or Earl sleeping. For a minute.

There are three videos live—and yes, I’ve already ordered a small microphone to improve sound quality. I’m learning.

You can watch them several ways:

Youtube

Instagram

Tiktok

Facebook

Twitter

Bluesky

Also, today, The Green Beret Area Study Workbook is free along with Omega Missile, Area 51: Earth Abides; Z The Green Berets and Honor the second book in the Duty, Honor, Country trilogy.

The temperature is set to drop tomorrow, and fall will finally be here.

Nothing but good times ahead!

Bob

The post Videos posted and free books appeared first on Bob Mayer.

New York Minute, the first book in the Will Kane series is free today through the 14th.

Also, the first two books in the original Green Beret series, Eyes of the Hammer and Dragon Sim-13 are also free.

I think I’ve gotten most of the wrinkles smoothed out on my new web site. I’ve tweaked the gear page, checking links. Let me know if you find anything amiss. For basic preparation, I recommend getting a pre-packed Grab-n-Go bag. I’ve got two lists at the top of the gear page. I’d say about 80% of what’s in one of those is gear I’ve bought on my own for my own bag. It’s better to have one in hand then slowly building up. I always remember when my son needed a snowboard helmet, but they didn’t have the right size in the color he wanted so he ordered it. And before it arrived fell and hit his head.

Also, if you’re looking for a good leaves turning drive, here’s one I recommend. A Recommended Fall Foliage Trip: Tail of the Dragon and the Cherohala Skyway https://link.medium.com/smhAzXefjub

Stay safe and enjoy the cooler weather.

Bob

The post FREE today New York Minute; first two Green Beret Books & Fall Foliage appeared first on Bob Mayer.

I’m updating my survival slideshows, one a day, and posting them. Here are the ones I’ve done so far. They’re on Slideshare and you can look at them for free.

If you want to start preparing, start here. Survival Essentials You Must Have! https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/four-survival-essentials-your-must-have-for-under-55/283227839

20 Things You Should Have In Your Day Pack– making it a basic Grab-n-Go bag  #camping

https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/20-things-every-hiker-should-have-in-their-day-pack-073d/283256952

80% of Natural Disasters Are Accompanied by FLOODS https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/how-to-prepare-for-deal-with-and-survive-floods/283338305

Be prepared any time you’re in a crowd. How To Prepare for and Deal with Civil Unrest, Crowds and Riots.

https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/how-to-prepare-for-and-deal-with-crowds-civil-unrest-and-riots-a627/283311782

What Books Should You Have In Your Survival Library https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/what-books-should-you-have-in-your-preparation-and-survival-library-1196/283399237

Newly updated. How to Prepare for and Survive a Power Outage https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/how-to-prepare-for-and-survive-a-power-outage-0ce3/283281451

The Classic Rogers Rules of Rangering https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/what-are-rogers-rules-of-rangering-why-are-they-important/283428081

They strike fast and with little if any warning. How to Prepare for and Survive a WILDFIRE

https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/prepare-for-live-through-and-survive-a-wildfire/283371660

Stay safe!

The post Newly Updated Survival Slideshows For Free appeared first on Bob Mayer.

Free through the 28th, take a Quantum Leap through History on D-Day with the Time Patrol.

‘Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.’ Winston Churchill

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Area 51, Nightstalker and Green Beret series.

6 June 1944.: Behind the beaches of Normandy an OSS agent and the Resistance must destroy a bridge to insure the last ‘good war’ ends the way history records. Someone wants that bridge to stay intact.

6 June 478 B.C.: Pythagoras is murdered in the entrance of the Oracle of Delphi’s cave. Who did it and why?

6 June 452.:In the great hall Heoret the very real Beowulf battles Grendel, proving reality is more dangerous than poetry.

6 June 1843: At West Point, a middling cadet, small in stature, named Ulysses S. Grant is trying to survive and graduate. Someone wants to prevent that.

6 June 1998.: A secret nuclear weapons depot in Pakistan, where the saber rattling of nuclear tests is getting ready to escalate into Armageddon; a war to end all wars.

6 June ????: And, strangest of all, thousands of years into pre-history, to the day Art is born.

While history doesn’t record the heroics by the ordinary, there are those who do notice. And there are those who want to stop those ordinary people and change our history in order to create a time tsunami and wipe our present out of existence.

It is up to the Time Patrol to make sure that doesn’t happen!

Reviews for Bob Mayer’s science fiction:
“Quantum Leap on steroids!” Book List.
Terry Brooks: “Spell-binding! Will keep you on the edge of your seat. Call it techno-thriller, call it science fiction, call it just terrific story-telling.”
Kirkus “A crackling science thriller in the vein of Crichton that mixes action with science fiction.”
Publishers Weekly: “The best combination of science fiction and technothriller this year.”

The post Free today through the 28th; D-Day appeared first on Bob Mayer.

I took the strategies and tactics we used in Special Forces and put them into a Cycle of Success anyone can use.

The Green Beret Guide For Success is free today through the 24th.

Also free the same time period is Equinox: Time Patrol. If you haven’t read any of the Time Patrol books, check this one out. In the Time Patrol books I mostly use real historical events; I just twist them a bit with a malignant force trying to change our history. Because if enough of our history is changed, our timeline is wiped out. Here are the events, essentially short stories that support each other, in Equinox:

1862. Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation. But there are some who want to twist this momentous event into something entirely different.
1692. Eight people are hung for being witches in Salem. But a young girl makes a very bold offer to prevent it, not knowing the potential consequences could change history.
1823. Joseph Smith claims to have found gold plates which would form the basis of a new religion. He did find something; which he was never supposed to see and they must be returned to their rightful owner.
1776. Nathan Hale has but one life to give for his country, but there is a plan to use that life to force George Washington to make a strategic error that will destroy his army.
1948. The Berlin Airlift is keeping the western part of the city alive. But if the slightest thing goes wrong, the Cold War might become very hot.
1947. At Area 51 the first Rift opens. A rip into another dimension and Fireflies come through. In history, it was sealed at great cost. But what if the Rift expands?

I’m also slowly updating my Gear page and my slideshows on survival. Newly redone:

Four Survival Essentials Your Must Have for under $55

20 Things Every Hiker Should have in their day pack

How to Prepare for and Survive a Power Outage

Nothing but good times ahead, but best to be prepared if they aren’t.

The post The Green Beret Guide For Success is Free Today appeared first on Bob Mayer.