"The Donne Deal" (retitled "The Devlin Deception") is a work of fiction, with elements of action, espionage, sex and humor, but Donne's serious policies are distilled into this mini-book (about 20 pages), with none of that "fluff," as some might call it, included. 

“A dictator with total authority, like Donne, should also have the wisdom to exercise that authority sparingly.”  Agree or disagree?  Do his policies follow that dictum? And what other questions or discussion topics might this mini-book raise in the readers' minds?

"Jake Devlin" is the pseudonym of a passively gregarious (and very wise) twenty-plus-year resident of the city of Bonita Springs, Florida, nestled between Naples and Ft. Myers on the beautiful blue-green Gulf of Mexico.

His 45-year background as an actor, playwright, director, television writer and producer, investor, trader, court reporter and in defense intelligence and security (he can't discuss that any further) gives him a unique perspective on the world (no more nor less unique than anybody else's, of course, but most assuredly different), and he brings that (along with his ongoing sense of amusement at it all) to his wrting and to his life.

He enjoys challenging readers' brains and tickling their funnybones, and he gleefully rides roughshod over literary cliches and conventions while gently seducing his readers into emotional roller-coaster rides, with mind-bending twists and turns, in all of his work (well, in most of it, to be accurate).

Happily retired and gloatingly distant from his earlier domiciles in northern climes, he sets his novels in and around the placid beaches of Bonita Springs, with hopes (on a MUCH smaller scale, of course; he doesn't take himself too seriously) to do for Bonita what Randy Wayne White has done for Sanibel with his Doc Ford books:  put it on the literary map.

As for influences, he points to White, Dorsey, Fitzhugh, Buffett, Clancy, Laffer, Pirandello, Rollins, Grisham, Eisler, Hicks, Cussler, Machiavelli, McElhatton, Brown, Baldacci, Borge and hundreds of
other economists, authors, philosophers, traders and comedians, most of whose names he's QH'd (Quarterheimered; forgotten).  Oh, Ludlum, too.  And whatsisname ... ah, right.  Shakespeare.   And Pinter and the other ... oh, Beckett.  Seinfeld, too.   And Friedman, Monty Python and the Smothers Brothers.

He ages mostly comfortably (other than that Quarterheimer's thing) in Bonita Springs (at least when he's on his meds; when he's not, he writes).

(By the way, that parenthetical about his meds is just a joke; he only takes a multivitamin and an aspirin each day.  But he does use self-defecating humor often; he just can't resist it.  And please don't inquire further into his work in the intelligence/security fields.  He knows seventeen ways to kill using just his earlobes.)

(Oops; that was a typo; it's actually only seven ways.)
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And now, as promised, here's a little reward for your curiosity: a discount code for 15% off the print version of The Dracula Deception and any or all of the books in the Devlin Quatrology, valid only on the "Print" links for each book  above:
.

January/February 2018  Staged Reading of "The Dracula Deception" (planning)

November 2015  First radio ads for local Bonita Springs businesses aired.  Ads

November 11-12, 2015 Kindle promotion propelled "257 Ways to Fix the USA" to
#1 in its category in six hours

September 29-30, 2015  Kindle promotion propelled "Devlin Sub Rosa" to #6 in its
category in 18 hours

May 5-6, 2015  Kindle promotion propelled "The Dracula Deception" to #18 in its
category on Amazon in  26 hours

April 12, 2015  Book Signing at Sneaky Pete's, Bonita Springs..photo*

March 28, 2015  Book Signing at D&S Gallery, Bonita Springs

March 12, 2015  Book Signing at Pat's Cards & Gifts/Hallmark, Bonita Springs

February 25, 2015  Book Signing at Coco Locco, Bonita Springs

February 10, 2015..E.L. Wicker on "The Dracula Deception" Release*

December 15, 2014..E.L. Wicker on "257 Ways to Fix the USA" Release*

November 23, 2014  Book Signing at Sneaky Pete's, Bonita Springs..photo*

November 3, 2014.Author Interview by E.L. Wicker*

May 21, 2014 .The "My Writing Process" Blog Tour

January 14, 2014  Book Signing at Sneaky Pete's, Bonita Springs

September 30, 2013  Book Signing at Sneaky Pete's, Bonita Springs  video*

So what exactly is The Writing Process Blog Tour?  It’s pretty straightforward and simple, actually.  Each author who is invited to participate in the blog tour answers
four questions about the writing process.  The author then introduces another author.  The idea is to help readers discover other authors that they may not have known about otherwise.
 

What am I working on? First, I need to tell you that "Jake Devlin" is both a pseudonym and a lead character in my novels.  (You can learn more about him [and me] in the "About the Author" link above.  PS.  it's all true.) As I write this, in late May 2014, I'm about two-thirds of the way thru my third novel, "Devlin Sub Rosa," which I'm aiming to finish and launch in September (maybe October or November) of 2014. It's both a prequel and a sequel to my first two novels, and in this one, I've challenged myself to write it entirely in dialogue, no narrator, (other than in the Prologue, which was a one-page scene I wrote for "The Devlin Deception," but didn't fit in either that book or "Devlin's Defiance"). How does my work differ from others of its genre? One of my readers told me that my first book reads like David Baldacci crossed with Monty Python.  What genre is that? I don't write in a particular genre (horror, YA, sci-fi, fantasy, police procedural, etc.).  I try to create believable, moderately dynamic characters that readers can relate to (sorry for the final preposition) and empathize with (same). My novels are, I think, realistic, contemporary, humorous and aimed at mature, intelligent readers with a good sense of humor and who are not overly prudish.  They should also be moderately adept at reading between the lines, since I don't tend to lead them around by the noses. In fact, I like my readers to occasionally exclaim, "Wait, wait.  What the -- that doesn't make -- oh, okay," even if the "Oh, okay" comes a few chapters later ... or earlier, come to think of it. (Sneaky me.) I also have a hard time staying serious (or read that as "somber") for more than a few minutes at a time. I described my first novel as an "anti-political absurdist thriller," but I'll leave it to my readers to define the genre for themselves. Why do I write what I do? For decades, I, as well as many Americans, have been outraged, disgusted and frightened by the USA's polarized and downright corrupt "democracy."  (Nothing striking or unique about that.) For those same decades, I've tried to dig deep behind the lies, propaganda and filtered news We the People have been and continue to be fed, often by talking with "insiders" and picking their brains. (Okay, that's a bit different; but I've always been  exceptionally curious about how and why people behave in the ways that they do.) When the idea of a (possibly benign, possibly not) dictator to run the country arose, the first part of my novel fell into place and virtually demanded that it be written.  So I began. Then I remembered two plays I'd seen back in college in the 1960s, Luigi Pirandello's "Six Characters in Search of an Author" and "Enrico IV," from the early 1900s, in which he played with the boundaries between fiction and reality in some clever ways. I also remembered a play I'd written, produced and directed in 1974, using similar themes, which was well-received and gave me some insights into and experience with plot, pacing and character creation. (Note:  In early 2015, I adapted and updated that script into a sort of novel with the same title as that play:  "The Dracula Deception."  I debated retitling it "The Dracula Delusion," which might have been slightly more accurate.  But it sounded like a nonfiction sociology text title.) Those memories gave me the second part, using a story-within- a-story format, and thus Jake Devlin was born, as both author (pseudonym) and character.  (I use a pseudonym so that when the CIA, FBI, MI6 or Interpol come prowling, I want them looking for "Jake Devlin," not my real name. PS. I'm only half joking.) Then I kept asking the "What If?" question and made Jake's life both threatened and complicated because of what he (not me, NSA, okay?) was writing. And when a beautiful woman with perhaps a dark secret in her past slithered into his life, that gave me the chance to include some obligatory gratuitous erotica.  (Too little for some people, too much for some others.  Ah, well; ya can't please everybody.) And thus "The Devlin Deception" and its sequel (and spoiler), "Devlin's Defiance," came into existence. Oh, I also seem to have a fairly offbeat sense of humor, so there's lots of that in my work.  Just for a quick example, back in the '90s, sitting on Bonita Beach, looking out at the placid waters of the Gulf, with dolphins and manatees swimming by, I wondered how the elderly* beachgoers would react if Godzilla suddenly appeared. I found a way to write something similar, but logically motivated, appropriately foreshadowed, realistic and believable, in spite of its total absurdity, into my first novel (twice, in fact). (*Here in Bonita Springs, the average age and the average high temperature seem to be about the same:  mid-eighties.) So why do I write what I write, really?  Because I'm now fascinated with the idea of blending fiction with reality and with the characters who've now developed lives, conflicts and interrelationships of their own, especially as I changed the pace for the second book, again for the third, and again for the fourth, which is now just percolating in the back of my brain.  After that, who knows?  The ideas keep popping up and the characters keep surprising me.  (It's an ongoing adventure for this old retired guy ... and it's fun.) How does my writing process work? First, I must tell you that I have no diagnosed or undiagnosed mental illnesses ... at least as far as I can tell. But my writing process often works by my intentionally inducing something that parallels MPD, Multiple Personality Disorder, in which I develop characters, give them a plot point to bring out in a chapter or scene and then let them loose in my mind, see how (and if) they do it, noting down what they do and say. I also like painting them into a corner to see if they can come up with a way to escape or solve the problem; sometimes they do, sometimes not.  If not, then I cuss at 'em and intervene. I follow Ernest Hemingway's advice, "Write drunk, edit sober," even though I don't drink.  Instead, I try to take all the filters off when I do first drafts, and put at least a few of 'em back on when I edit ... and edit again ... and again ... and ... oh, you get the idea. I don't start with a detailed outline, just a general idea of the macro plot arc (or arcs) I've devised for each book (and the super-macro arcs for the entire series).  The outline gradually falls into place during the process ... most of the time. On a daily basis, I wake up early (no alarm clock; just naturally), pack my cooler and drive to Bonita Beach, where I sit in my car and read other authors' books for perhaps half an hour while the sun comes up, and then roll my lounge and other stuff onto the beach and set up for the day.  Then I usually take a nap.  (As Apple says, "There's a nap for that.") Often, when I awake, I've got some ideas for dialogue, plot or theme on the particular issue I'd planted in my subconscious the previous night.  I write down enough notes that when I get home and to the keyboard, I can add them to my manuscript file(s). If I'm working with dialogue, as I am for "Sub Rosa," I do a lot of talking to myself, which most of the beach regulars have come to understand, luckily.  It helps me to speak the dialogue aloud, especially if I'm working with dialects, as I did with the Amish alternate epilogue in "Deception" (all the "thou shalt milketh the cowth" and "I shall burneth thethe paperth" were great fun to rehearse ... and throw in some lithping, ath well). After any -- and I do mean "any" -- sentence or bit of dialogue, there are many options for the next sentence or response, and at least one of those is what I call "the absurdist option," and I often ask myself "Do I dare?" to take that option and send the chapter careening off in a new direction, and I sometimes answer myself with a resounding "Yes!"  (Luckily, the beach regulars mostly understand that when I'm chuckling to myself, I'm not going over the edge.  Tourists and snowbirds, maybe not so much, especially when I actually laugh out loud.) In my first book, imagine, if you will, building a masonry wall in your garden.  You get a load of bricks and then set them in place with mortar one row at a time.  In my case, I wrote a lot of scenes (the bricks) first and then set them in place when I got to the point where they fit. In my second book, I challenged myself to see if I could write, A, a combat scene (not armies, just two vs. 17 or 18), and B, a graphic, explicit sex scene, both of which my readers tell me I can.  (The sex scene got SO explicit I was scared to put it in the book, so I wrote some dialogue suggesting that the author put it online and put a link in the book itself.  Which I did, as I had with a final alternate epilogue in the first book.  Female readers have told me it led to several cold showers ... and in a few cases, the use of certain battery-operated devices.) I also took a hint from an old joke ("I just finished Chapter 93 in James Patterson's new book, and i'm only on Page 20") and wrote shorter chapters.  It's more episodic than the first as a result, but it all comes together in the end ... sort of. I'm doing the same thing in my third one, but in this one I've written the main plot arc first, in the odd-numbered chapters, and I'm now filling in the three subplots in the even-numbered ones.  And again, it's all in dialogue (after the Prologue).   If you'd like to see the results of all that, feel free to click the button below to get to the top of my home page.  You can also reach me by email; I do respond to all. top Now to pass the torch on to another writer Here's E.L. Wicker, who writes young adult vampire stories with her own special (and VERY clever) twists.  But I think I'll let her introduce herself here in her own words.  And the link to her blog post is..HERE I read and I write, then I read and I write some more and when I am done doing that, I read – then I write. Sometimes, I pen the occasional tweet – okay, that’s a fib, I tweet too much, it’s a problem but there is no Twitter rehab so I’m getting through it one day at a time. I was born in Ireland and moved to England when I was nine years old. I live in Hampshire with my husband and my two children. We have four cats and a dog and I am trying to convince my husband that we need an elephant in the garden. He doesn’t seem too receptive to this, I cannot fathom why. I write fiction for young adults. I have completed one book – it just needs an edit – and my second book is well underway. I write about the supernatural with a huge focus on vampires. My passion is writing, from the moment I wake until the moment I sleep all I want to do is write. I have been a bookworm since a very early age. At school I started writing because I wanted to be able to make up my own stories. I won competitions and always did really well whenever it came to creative writing.  I wrote a poem in German at school for a competition, my teachers would not submit the poem – they said it was too good. I was immensely proud at the time. Now, I like to pretend that sure, it was too good – yeah right.

Just click on the Kindle US link for any book and then on the "Look Inside" book cover; you'll be able to read about 10% of any of the books - free.

One exception:  For "257 Ways," 10% doesn't include any of the text, just the title and copyright pages.   But you can get the entire book free, if you send an email to Jake.Devlin @ JakeDevlin.com with "Free 257" as the subject and a promise to post a review; that will also put you on our mailing list, which we do NOT abuse.  Just occasional announcements.

AND just because you were curious enough to get to this page, here's a special deal for 27-30% off the print books.  Click HERE for the details.
(You can ignore the 12/15/15 expiration date.  That discount is good as long as this paragraph is here.

"Razor-sharp and intelligent" -- MLH

"A joy to read. I laughed out loud ... a unique way of fixing these United States" -- TSR

"Great political fiction ... a must read ... plenty of action, adventure and romance" -- JMG

“One of the most intelligent books of fiction I read in the last decade. Cleverly written, witty, funny - written for the smart side of all of us readers ...” -- MB