I was toying with the idea of having Mercer face the same adversary in each book so the reader could watch the two grow together reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes and his arch-nemesis Dr. Moriarty. So along with Mercer back came Ivan Kerikov. It would have been easier to just have him hire himself out to some oil sheik to disable the pipeline in order to drive up prices but that wouldn’t have been convoluted enough. By adding an eco-terror group the plot could have double and triple-crosses galore.

Vulcan’s Forge was based mainly on things I already knew about, however Charon’s Landing demanded a great deal more research, research that seems to have become a trademark in all my books. And I admit I love doing it if for no other reason it never ceases to amaze me how much I don’t know about the world.

Charon’s Landing was optioned by a Hollywood production company for a time, however the option lapsed. I think two key scenes are what intrigued them. First was when Mercer and Aggie tip over an oil rig in order to escape it and the second was the commando assault on a sinking supertanker in Puget Sound. Both scenes would have looked fantastic on the big screen but I think that the production would have bankrupted a studio. Computer Generated Imagery has come a long way since then so production costs would be considerably less and I still get the occasional whisper out of Hollywood but for now Mercer lives on only in the minds of the readers.

I had just finished writing Charon’s Landing when Vulcan’s Forge was published. One of the most consistent things fans mentioned in letters is how much they like Harry White. I think everyone has had an uncle, or neighbor like Harry, rough around the edges but with a heart of gold, okay Harry’s is silver, or maybe copper but you get the point. I felt badly that Harry plays only a small role in my sophomore book so I went into outlining number three with one thing in mind. More Harry.