Some time last year I mentioned that I am working on a new thriller novel which of which the largest part will play out in Namibia (in the Namib desert, to be exact). I am going on a trip to Namibia very soon for a high school reunion, but I will have ample time to do some research for my book in the desert.

I'm looking very much forward to this trip, as I haven't been there for a number of years!

"Strike of the Black Mamba" is available with free shipping from The Bookdepository. It is currently selling at $11.69 on their site. Please check out if they ship to your country before buying. They are shipping to about 90 countries free of charge, but unfortunately South Africa is not included in the list.

So, if you live in the US, Canada, the UK, nearly anywhere in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Andorra, Maldives, or wherever, and you have always wanted the book - now is your opportunity to go get it with free shipping!

It just seems they are not shipping to Africa, South America, Russia and Antartica ... I wonder why?

Currently Tower.com is selling "Strike of the Black Mamba" at a discount (only $9.49). Please check their shipping rates first. You can find the book here: Tower Books.

Recently, I decided to join the Squidoo fraternity and make my own Squidoo lens. I'm still experimenting with the content that I will put on there. Feel free to check it out!

I've also made some other related Squidoo lenses about book reviews, etc. You will find my other lenses here.

As I've mentioned in an earlier post the paperback version of my thriller novel "Strike of the Black Mamba" (ISBN: 9781920265137) is now available at most online book retailers. Here are some of the sites where you can find the book:

USA: Amazon.com
UK: Amazon.co.uk
Canada: Amazon.ca
Australia: Booktopia.com.au
South Africa: Kalahari.net

These are just a few examples -- there are many well known online book retailers that sell my book. Just go and search for it in your favorite store!

Best-selling and world famous author, Michael Crichton passed away on the 4th of November 2008 at the age of 66. I think he was best known as author of Jurassic Park and its sequel, The Lost World. Both of these were turned into highly successful and world-famous movies - who hasn't seen them, or at least heard of them? The total sales of all his books were in excess of 150 million copies worldwide. He was also the creator of the very successful TV series, "ER".

To me, Michael was a born storyteller, but also with a fresh slant on the "science thriller" genre. Some of his work may be classified as "science fiction", but he has usually put so much scientific research into his work that the "science fiction" became real and achievable science, if not now, then soon in the near future. However, never did his "science thriller" stories become boring due to the science contained in them, but the science became part of the story. He masterfully created a flow of events that encompassed the science without the reader getting the feeling that he or she was being peppered with a lot of dull facts.

To Michael, I salute one of the masters of the craft. Thanks for creating all those terrific unput-downable books!

The paperback version of my thriller novel "Strike of the Black Mamba" will now also be published by CruGuru (ISBN: 9781920265137) and be made available at most online book retailers. It has already appeared at many of these websites, but some of the book's information still needs to be updated by the retailers.

I will let you know where else you can find the book when the information has finally been updated...

Not only do I like to read good thriller novels for pure enjoyment, but I also do it to study other authors' mastery of the craft. I truly believe that if one wants to write in a specific fiction genre, then one should make a good study of what is available out there, especially the good stuff.

I have started to post reviews of some of the books I have read on Amazon and GoodReads, so go and take a look if you want to see how I've experienced them.

My thriller novel "Strike of the Black Mamba" has now been published by CruGuru as an e-book in both PDF and Microsoft Reader formats. The ISBN for the PDF version is 9781920265342 and for the Microsoft Reader version is 9781920265359.

The novel is sold via most large online e-book retailers, such as Diesel eBooks, ereadable, Powell's Books, BooksOnBoard, eBooks About Everything!, eChapterOne.com, etc.

The retail price is $6.99, but some of these sellers are selling it at a discount; I've seen prices as low as $5.59. If you are into e-books then please check it out!

The research work for my new thriller novel is keeping me quite busy. Not that I mind, though - I love the research as much as I love the writing part.

At the moment I am mainly reading books on topics that I need to know more about and then searching the Internet for additional information. Everything of interest that I find on the Internet, I save on my hard disk in special folders, but some of the stuff I also bookmark.

The trick is to know where the information is stored so that I can go back to it when I do plotting or writing. Naturally, I will have to sift through the information and cut out what I need and assemble it into a comprehensible whole.

When I start to write, I will constantly have to guard against wanting to use too much of the research material, but with time that becomes easier to handle...