Browsing all posts in Lewis Perdue.

My Tesla Evolution 2: Ion Engine + Atom Smasher = Cosmic Engine

This is the third in a series. See also: My Tesla Evolution 1: Coil, Laser, Ion Rocket How Nikola Tesla & A Butter Knife Turned Me Into A Rocket Scientist   I never called it a “Cosmic Engine.” But that’s what the newspapers wound up calling it and the name stuck (see below). My Papa […]

My Tesla Evolution 1: Coil, Laser, Ion Rocket

WHICH ONE OF THESE COULD HAVE SHOCKED A SMALL CHILD INTO BEING A ROCKET SCIENTIST?   Thomas Edison didn’t invent direct current, but that’s what he used to power his other inventions. It’s hard to distribute and is limited. But still useful for an old technology. It’s impossible to tell whether it was the butter […]

How Nikola Tesla & A Butter Knife Turned Me Into A Rocket Scientist

NEW! The Kindle edition of my Cold War thriller, The Tesla Bequest, was published today. Click here for more.     Nikola Tesla turned me into a rocket scientist. Or it might have been a butter knife that did it. I think both. IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE BUTTER KNIFE The butter knife came first, […]

Think Like An Actor, Write Like God

Molly Ringwald wrote a very interesting piece recently for the New York Times: Act Like a Writer. “The appeal of diving into a character has always been the back story: everything that my character has been through up to the point when the audience first encounters her. I have eagerly invented intricate histories that I […]

S/he Who Doesn’t Dare Never Wins

We have no more giants in politics. Greatness has fled the national stage. We are a country of excuses and naysayers who ask “why?” instead of “why not?” “Who dares, wins” is not just an SAS motto, it’s a philosophy increasingly lost among the 50% of Americans who get government benefits and pay no taxes. […]

Why The National Parks Need To Scare Hell Out Of Its Visitors

The wilderness is wild. It will kill you if you aren’t trail smart. That’s one of the things I try and teach son William, and daughter, Kate (above). That photo was taken on Kate’s first backpack this June, in the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness area (just over the hill from the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center […]

Killed four people this morning in Nassau, Bahamas.

A few blocks south of Bay Street. Near a ritzy private bank. My heroine was responsible for three of the mortalities. All very bad guys. She’s very good. Right now, her name is Petra Armstrong, but I am not fond of the name. (Abject apologies if that’s your name … no offense. Really!) If you […]

Coming soon: Be My Bookselling Partner, 50-50

I’m setting up a system for anyone who likes my books to be my equal partner … sell a book through Smashwords, make 50% of what I make. Smashwords system is a little complicated right now, so son William is doing some programming that will make it very, very easy for you. I’d like to […]

Mozart Symphonies Help Me Kill

I’ve killed more people, in more creative ways, while listening to Mozart than any other music. You might think that Heartless Bastards or Van Halen might produce a better body count. But no. There’s something about the mathematical precision of Mozart — especially the symphonies — that sync with my brain waves and inspire creativity […]

Broken Publishing’s Big Author Problem: Nobody Ever Runs Out Of Electrons

Branding expert David Vinjamuri has written an astonishingly intelligent piece in Forbes that nails just about all the most salient issues dividing indie and traditional publishing. No matter what side of this issue you’re on, you’ll be better informed after reading his piece: Publishing Is Broken, We’re Drowning In Indie Books – And That’s A […]