Welcome to DouglasDeBono.Com, the Cyberspace Home of author Douglas De Bono

Welcome to DouglasDeBono.Com, the Cyberspace Home of
author Douglas De Bono.

READERMAIL:

Mr. De Bono,

During a rather vain moment tonight I put my own name in the Netscape search engine to see what might come up. Much to my surprise it brought me to your very interesting website.

What's odd to me is not simply seeing my own name as a character in your stories, but that my wife' name is Lynn (and yes, she is my best friend and God's blessing).

Furthermore, several years ago we had hoped to have a child, but it was not meant to be. We had hoped for a girl. Her name was to be Grace.

Also, I once had a business partner by the name of Jerry St. James. He is however, still very much alive.

Weird eh?

Please don't think of me as a nut job. I'm just curious...have we ever met?

-Jim Harper

p.s. I ordered a copy of Rouge State...I hope Harper is a good guy.

Jim,
That is a fair number of coincidences, but I don't think we ever met. Let me give you a run down on Harper.
During the time period of ROGUE STATE he is roughly 40 or so. He's been retired from Special Forces (sort of), he has 2 daughters (Cathy and Grace) and lives in Bartlett, Illinois (one of Chicago's western suburbs).
Harper is my main character, although, I have created a cast of people around him so that the character doesn't wear thin. Interestingly, a couple of years ago somebody named Damon Layne wrote me as well. Now Damon is a bad guy and I purposely created Damon Layne as my anti-Harper character (i.e. what happens if they get the same training, but one goes bad and other stays good).
Harper has appeared in all of my books. One thing you might want to be aware of is that ROGUE STATE is a loose sequel to REAP THE WHIRLWIND. ROGUE STATE starts about 2 months after the end of RTW.
Thanks for picking up a copy of ROGUE STATE.
Regards,

Doug De Bono

Douglas:

I was scanning the Metropolis Ink site in search of publishers for a couple of my novels then I came across your books and website. I'm sorry to say I've not yet read one of your books, but I'll be picking one up during my next Barnes & Noble run.

First, the coincidences:

1.We are college grads from '78 who ended up in the technology/software business as the first PCs began their conquest of our planet. We've both been involved in consulting businesses.
2.We played around with writing stories, but only began writing a novel after our fathers had passed away. (For me it was 11 years ago, and the writing started the following week--around 20 pages at a time as you'd mentioned.)
3.We apparently taught ourselves the computer business and the fiction writing business.
4.We are writing fictional accounts of true / real stories or events

Anyway...What caught my eye was your desire to allow the reader to draw the line between fiction and reality. My second novel is based on the true story of the 1997 Bre-X gold scandal. Without the guidance of an agent or publisher, I've invested eight months (full-time) in this story, hoping that what I've done will be marketable (sort of what a novelist is all about, huh?). The real story had all the ingredients for a blockbuster suspense/thriller---except one: there was no hero. So I put a female protagonist into the actual story, added some romance and a couple of major plot twists, and finished the story.

I'm now sending agent queries for "All That Glitters" and hoping to get representation for that and my first novel, which was rewritten dozens of times and so far has brought in 100 agent rejections.

I read you FAQ, and know I'll have more questions after reading one of your books, but for now: Did you have an agent sell your work to Metropolis or did you approach them directly? And finally...What, if any, legal problems have you encountered in using real people, places, and events in your stories?

Look forward to reading your work and to hearing from you when you have a chance.

Thanks.

Best regards,

Steve Fletcher

Steve,
Since you've been in the technology business, then you probably know that the best solution or product or book doesn't always get chosen.
Initially, an agent picked up POINT OF HONOR, while this didn't lead anywhere (and wasted about a year); it did confirm in my mind that the book was salable. I guarantee you that people will point out every flaw, wart, pimple and misplaced comma.
I was having lunch with a friend of mine and he urged me to examine the self published or digital publishing route. This is what Metropolis Ink does. They are a Print on Demand (POD) publisher and they are venturing into the e-book market.
The chain bookstores don't like POD books, because they still believe all POD books are non-returnable. This just isn't true. There are certainly POD publishers I would avoid (e.g. iUniverse, some fly-by-nights). Of course in 1998 I didn't understand how all these things really worked.
Understand that MI is basically an on-line bookseller only. Marketing is your responsibility and your budget. So while a run down to the local Barnes & Noble for one of my books is possible, you�ll have order it. This takes about a week.
I�d estimate that 70% of my sales take place through some kind of on-line store front like Amazon, Booksamillion, Barnes & Noble and others.
Getting back to my friend�he urged me not to wait for the perfect. So I went ahead and published POINT of HONOR and BLOOD COVENANT through iUniverse. Ultimately, this was an unsatisfactory arrangement. Eventually I hooked up with Kurt and David at MI, and we put out the first 4 books. These guys have always been honest and upfront with me.
I want to encourage you to keep writing and keep working. Ultimately, you have to believe in yourself and your writing and go for it.
Finally, as to real characters�my books occur against the real world. They are based on potential real world problems (e.g. backpack nukes in terrorist hands or Chinese missiles along the Panama Canal). They are also set at specific points in time, and I rejected the notion of creating a fictional administration or world leaders, when everybody knows who they are. For me this has always been a disconnect�especially in shadows of 9-11. While I would suggest the first 4 books were military or techno-thrillers, FIREWALL is a historical thriller and the TERROR WARS Series does not work outside of this context.
I hope this helps answer some of your questions.
Regards,

Doug De Bono