My new novel, Pardon the Mess

Pardon the Mess is about a 33-year-old geek named Bill Horner who tries to survive the dating world while saving the digital world from a terrorist plot.

Bill has his own data recovery business in Los Angeles, and while life is grand hanging out with his nerdy buddies on Friday nights, he knows something is missing from his life: a girlfriend. Enter Eileen Duggan, a checker at a local health food store. Bill likes Eileen. She's interesting and exciting, and he's-well-Bill. Bill finally gets the courage to ask her out and finds himself back in the dating game, for better or worse. But his cell phone addiction threatens the relationship, and Eileen wants to call it quits.

In his professional life, something interesting has happened. While recovering information from a doctor's burned up insurance system, Bill discovers a hidden set of documents. With the help of his friends, he uncovers a plot by Chinese terrorist organization called Islamic Jihad 2.0. They are planning the largest cyber attack the world has ever seen against America and her allies, and if they're not stopped, there will be chaos on the Internet.

Bill hits a major turning point in the story when he witnesses the death of Dr. Shapiro, the man whose data recovery job started the whole terrorist mystery in the first place. Bill is at the wrong place at the wrong time, and with no alibi, the long arm of the law is pointing its finger of condemnation right at him. What's worse is that Dan, Bill's cousin-in-law from the FBI, is leading the charge.

With the Feds after him, problems with his girlfriend, and terrorists breathing down his neck, thing aren't looking too good for Bill. He's running out of time. And if his relationship doesn't kill him, the bad guys might.

I was staying overnight at a friend's parent's house while they were on vacation in the winter of 2006. I had just turned off the lights and I started thinking about-what else?-writing. I said to myself, wouldn't it be fun to create a story in the first person? I could tell a compelling tale through the eyes of someone unique. Then I thought, why not make it present tense? It would be like going to the movies and seeing events unfold in real-time. That's when the first line struck me: "So the receptionist gives me that look."

Right then I knew I had something special. From that one sentence I conceived Bill Horner, a protagonist with a quirky personality and offbeat sense of humor. He'd be the underdog in social settings, with his plain looks and out-of-shape physique. But he'd have certain strengths, like his ability to make sense out of globs of seemingly useless information as well as his devotion to friends and family. Bill would be the ordinary fellow with a hero's heart.

So, I got out of bed, turned on the lights and scribbled down all the story elements churning in my head. But that wasn't enough. I had to write. So I powered up my laptop and typed the first chapter. When I finished at 2 AM, I knew I was onto something.

Of course, I took a year off to finish up the editing of Prophecy, my first novel, but I consider the hiatus a blessing, because it gave me the opportunity to flesh out the storyline for Pardon the Mess.

There are several differences. For one, this one is a first-person narrative. That means I can't tell the story from any other vantage point than Bill's. We don't get to see Eileen when she's not around Bill or get a sense of what the bad guys are doing when things start to unravel around him. I consider the first-person perspective deeply personal. After all, you're experiencing everything through Bill's eyes.

...which gives rise to the second difference between this book and others in my queue: the story is very much character-driven. I want people to be immersed in Bill's thoughts, his view of the world, the lives he touches, how he changes and evolves. That includes the other characters: Bill's friends, family and girlfriend. They need to be just as real, but unique in their personalities and the way they interact with Bill.

The third difference, obviously, is the genre. I'm used to writing fantasy and science fiction. This story is a mystery with humor thrown in-a complete departure from the norm. The funny thing is, writing Pardon the Mess was far easier than writing The Chosen One series. Prophecy and Destiny were complicated novels, each taking years to develop and execute. I think the reason why Pardon the Mess was easier was because I was comfortable being inside Bill's head. The words just flowed, even when he got into trouble (which happens quite a lot).

The good guys

Eileen Duggan, Bill's love interest, is central to the story. She's five years younger than Bill and works as a checker for Whole Foods. But she has aspirations. For one, she wants to become a nurse. She's taken a year off from nursing school to work fulltime and save up some money to finish her degree. Eileen also wants to get married and raise a family. She was in a long-term relationship before Bill, but her ex didn't want to commit. So Eileen is being cautious this time around. She doesn't want to fully invest her emotions into a relationship if she doesn't see it going somewhere. Of course, Bill has his own issues from the past, namely the relationship with his ex-girlfriend, Kara. But Bill likes Eileen a lot, and he will do whatever it takes to makes sure they're together, even if he ends up in FBI custody, which seems to be where he's headed.

Besides Eileen, Bill is blessed to have an assortment of friends. Kim Lee is his closest. They went to high school together and kept in touch during college. He's also Bill's confidant on relationship issues in the story, since both he and Bill shared a long period of celibacy and have had little experience in dating.

Roland Jones is an eccentric character that I patterned after a college buddy of mine with an antisocial personality. Roland went to Berkeley with Bill, and has a reserved, almost innocent quality to him; someone you'd think of as square. But I push Roland to come out of his shell in the book, first with his interest toward his female friend, Medina, and then as a main driver in stopping the terrorist plot.

The third person in Bill's closest circle of friends is Mike Finnegan. Mike appeared in my story accidentally. I was writing the chapter that introduces Bill's friends (chapter 4), and all of a sudden, there was Mike sitting on the carpet playing video games. What's odd about the whole thing is that Mike is deaf and looks like a Raggedy Andy doll. Yet he has a hot girlfriend. I like Mike's strength of character and positive attitude toward life. It helps Bill through the rough patches in his relationship with Eileen.

Roland's roommate, Vincent Patel, a.k.a. Vinny, isn't one of Bill's friends, but he does play a major role in the latter part of the story. A New Yorker with bad ethics and a propensity for causing trouble, he constantly gibes Roland and Bill. Yet, for all his advocating of drug use and breaking the law, he has certain principles when it comes to his friends. Vinny seems to be an underachiever, but he is brilliant and surprisingly resourceful. I have plans for him in future books with Bill.

The bad guys

Of course, we can't forget about the bad guys in the story.

One, who really isn't bad, is Bill's cousin-in-law, Dan. Dan is an agent for the FBI and has always been suspicious of Bill. As much as they want nothing to do with each other, their paths cross at a crucial juncture in the book. There's a lot of good tension in the story because of it. While it looks like Dan has it in for Bill, I've got some surprises up my sleeve. But you'll have to read the story to find out.

The antagonist in the novel is the leader of the terrorist organization, Islamic Jihad 2.0. His name is Xiang Wang. Xiang is an extremist with a single purpose in mind: to make China pay for not allowing a free and independent Islamic state to exist in the country. If he can make the largest cyber attack in history look like it was orchestrated by the People's Republic, he could demand the independence he's looking for and return from exile to China. While he's seemingly diabolical, Xiang is really an idealist who believes extreme action is the only way to effect a judicious outcome for his people.

I need to get a publishing contract. My goal is to get a book deal by the end of the year. In the meantime, I have plans for two more books in the Bill Horner series. Of all things, the Shrek movies has inspired me. In the first book, like in Shrek, it's all about boy meets girl and the problems associated with the two. In the second book, Bill and Eileen fight over the "M" word. As in the second Shrek, they have to settle their differences to succeed. In the third book...well, I know what it is, but I'm not going to tell you. Hah!