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Critical Focus
Jamie Williams has fought against corruption, war, and oppression all his life. A former campus radical, he publishes the newsletter, Uncommon Sense. Middle age has banked some of his fire, but not his values. And it has taught him that if he wants his voice to be heard, it has to be reasoned and balanced.
Perceived by both the media and many within his administration as weak and indecisive, President Marshall Thornberry has yet to find his public voice. He knows he’s in the Oval Office only because the powerful right wing of his party selected him as a face that people would find acceptable, and it is they who’ve wielded the power during his first two years in office.
A fragile economy exacerbated by corporate greed, unchecked militarism, terrorism, and out-of-control energy prices, has left millions of Americans feeling powerless and disenfranchised. A new Internal Security Agency is eroding civil liberties, and there are rumors of a secret military initiative in Africa. And behind the scenes, a sinister cabal of conspirators within the administration led by a paranoid Attorney General has devised a scheme to misrepresent public sentiment and manipulate the President even further.
With an investigator's nose for trouble, Jamie senses that big changes are afoot which could endanger everything he holds dear, and Uncommon Sense is needed more than ever. His newsletter has a loyal following, but it’s growing too slowly to make a difference. Americans needed to hear his voice…if only there were a way to reach them.
Perceived by both the media and many within his administration as weak and indecisive, President Marshall Thornberry has yet to find his public voice. He knows he’s in the Oval Office only because the powerful right wing of his party selected him as a face that people would find acceptable, and it is they who’ve wielded the power during his first two years in office.
A fragile economy exacerbated by corporate greed, unchecked militarism, terrorism, and out-of-control energy prices, has left millions of Americans feeling powerless and disenfranchised. A new Internal Security Agency is eroding civil liberties, and there are rumors of a secret military initiative in Africa. And behind the scenes, a sinister cabal of conspirators within the administration led by a paranoid Attorney General has devised a scheme to misrepresent public sentiment and manipulate the President even further.
With an investigator's nose for trouble, Jamie senses that big changes are afoot which could endanger everything he holds dear, and Uncommon Sense is needed more than ever. His newsletter has a loyal following, but it’s growing too slowly to make a difference. Americans needed to hear his voice…if only there were a way to reach them.
334 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 30, 2011
1 person is currently reading
About the author
Alan Zendell
13 books14 followersAlan Zendell spent more than forty years as a scientist, aerospace engineer, software consultant, database developer, and government analyst. He spent two years working on the first manned lunar mission, then moved on to a variety of near-Earth satellite projects, and Pentagon support for anti-ballistic missile systems. As the aerospace industry became more oriented toward the military, he applied his skill set to health care and social service systems, and ultimately branched out into software and database consulting.
No matter what he did to earn a living, he never lost his fascination with science fiction and speculating about the future. He always wrote a lot, but it was generally really boring stuff like proposals and technical papers, reports, business letters, and policy memoranda. But trapped inside him all that time were stories he wanted to tell and ideas he wanted to share, so with encouragement and cajoling from a loving baby sister he plunged into fiction.
He has written several short pieces in a variety of genres and completed five novel manuscripts, three of which have three of which have found their way into print and e-books. “Wednesday’s Child” is hard science fiction with a different twist on time travel; “The Portal” is a science-fiction love story set in a dystopian twenty-second century America; and “Critical Focus” is a contemporary political novel that addresses the major issues facing present-day America. But regardless of the story lines and subject matter, his writing is about more than aliens and technical marvels. He creates strong, three-dimensional characters a reader can care about, because it’s people and the way they live and feel that are important. It’s the things they believe in and how much they’re willing to invest to preserve them that make a story worth telling. It’s convincing interactions and well-researched credible plots that make a story worth reading.
Alan has six book currently listed on Goodreads, including sample chapters.
No matter what he did to earn a living, he never lost his fascination with science fiction and speculating about the future. He always wrote a lot, but it was generally really boring stuff like proposals and technical papers, reports, business letters, and policy memoranda. But trapped inside him all that time were stories he wanted to tell and ideas he wanted to share, so with encouragement and cajoling from a loving baby sister he plunged into fiction.
He has written several short pieces in a variety of genres and completed five novel manuscripts, three of which have three of which have found their way into print and e-books. “Wednesday’s Child” is hard science fiction with a different twist on time travel; “The Portal” is a science-fiction love story set in a dystopian twenty-second century America; and “Critical Focus” is a contemporary political novel that addresses the major issues facing present-day America. But regardless of the story lines and subject matter, his writing is about more than aliens and technical marvels. He creates strong, three-dimensional characters a reader can care about, because it’s people and the way they live and feel that are important. It’s the things they believe in and how much they’re willing to invest to preserve them that make a story worth telling. It’s convincing interactions and well-researched credible plots that make a story worth reading.
Alan has six book currently listed on Goodreads, including sample chapters.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 28, 2011
Great suspense, wonderful mystery, nice development of characters. Overall loved the read!
July 22, 2016
Fire Pages 4.5 Star Review
I also liked that Alan threw me right into the middle of the chaos, starting with a funeral. Nothing like a little death to create an uncertain, chilling atmosphere. This set an exciting tone for the novel and left me filled with anticipation. The scheming in this story is unreal. Individuals who are close to the President have created a way to misrepresent the poll results, ultimately wanting to mislead the entire country. Secrecy, threats, and plotting weaves its way through this novel seamlessly, leaving you jaw-dropped at some parts and wide-eyed in others. I also like Jamie and the Uncommon Sense publication. Uncommon Sense is a different concept that Jamie started from the ground up. I would like to read a copy of the newsletter.
To read the full review: http://firepages.blogspot.com
I also liked that Alan threw me right into the middle of the chaos, starting with a funeral. Nothing like a little death to create an uncertain, chilling atmosphere. This set an exciting tone for the novel and left me filled with anticipation. The scheming in this story is unreal. Individuals who are close to the President have created a way to misrepresent the poll results, ultimately wanting to mislead the entire country. Secrecy, threats, and plotting weaves its way through this novel seamlessly, leaving you jaw-dropped at some parts and wide-eyed in others. I also like Jamie and the Uncommon Sense publication. Uncommon Sense is a different concept that Jamie started from the ground up. I would like to read a copy of the newsletter.
To read the full review: http://firepages.blogspot.com
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews