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ATTACK on PRINCIPAL: it’s the Secret Service’s worst nightmare. Agents spend all their working lives, their days and nights training for it, and yet, they pray they’ll never have to deal with it. THE HOSTAGE tells the story of the charming and controversial former leader of the free world Jack Creighton, who after his presidency, begins to live his lifelong dream. He’s staying in a friend’s multi-million dollar vacation home on a remote private island just off Florida’s Gulf Coast. He’s working with Felicia Harrison his editor, writing his life story far away from the cares and pace of his former life that took place in a 24/7 media “fishbowl.” Now Jack seems to be the center of attention for two beautiful women who both want to be with him, neither is his wife. These women have their own dreams, they’re are very different from those of Jack Creighton. One is Felicia Harrison, a beautiful, strong willed editor who’s been promised the presidency of her family’s publishing company if Creighton’s book is a best seller. Selma Haywood, the other woman, was sent by Creighton’s wife to spy on Jack. Georgette Sadowski Creighton is running for public office and wants Jack out of the media spotlight and carefully watched lest he “damage” her chances to win the upcoming election. Haywood’s real mission is very different from the one assigned by Georgette Creighton, she’s working with radical Iranian extremists who want to kidnap the former president. A very powerful late summer storm is the trigger that brings the carefully laid plot to a deadly beginning. The huge tropical storm bearing down on southwest Florida is the perfect cover for onset of the Iranian plot. It becomes a race between the Secret Service and the Islamic extremists who are aided and abetted by Cuba and Iran’s newest allies, the FARC guerrillas from Colombia. Jack Creighton’s no longer in charge, in twenty very violent minutes his life’s turned upside down... now, it’s purely a question of survival... his.

Although anyone will enjoy reading this book because Alfredo Salmaggi was a character larger than life and operated in, to some way of thinking, a very unorthodox manner. He had many public relations tricks up his sleeve and never missed an opportunity for publicity. Throughout his life he really had three goals. To keep food on the table and support his large family, to bring opera to the masses at very reasonable prices, and to provide a venue for young American singers to gain experience before they moved on to The New York City Opera or the Metropolitan. This experience was invaluable in that they worked with seasoned artists from the Metropolitan or European Opera houses. For any serious student of opera, this book is a must. Alfredo Salmaggi made a great contribution to Opera in America during the 20th Century and should be lauded for it, not condemned. True, often his productions featured tacky scenery and costumes but it was the only way he could keep the cost down to make it affordable to the masses that couldn't afford to go to the Metropolitan Opera. Tacky or not, the young singer could get a role on its feet. It was somewhere to gain experience on the way up. Twenty two years before the Met had Marian Anderson make her debut as Ulrica in "The Masked Ball," The Maestro had a black soprano, Caterina Jarboro debut in the role of Aida at The Hippodrome. In 1932 he produced "Aida" in Soldier Field in Chicago to an audience of 45,000 people. This was unheard of in those days. Rock and roll and the Three Tenors were still far in the future. He received Italy's highest honor: Commendatore--for his work in nurturing Italian Opera in America. Enrico Caruso, considered the greatest tenor of the 20th Century, was a personal friend of Alfredo and the Godfather to one of The Maestro's sons: Guido. At Guido's christening, the baby was making such a racket that Caruso predicted "This boy will be a tenor." His prediction came true. Although Alfredo objected to any of his children taking up singing as a profession, Guido made his debut with his father's company at The Hippodrome in "La Traviata." Guido was only 21 years of age. Although his work covered a large repertoire of opera, his favorite seemed to be "Aida" and he used many famous sports figures in The Triumphal March. One example: he advertised "Johnson in Aida" on the marquee of The Hippodrome. The public could have mistakenly thought Johnson (who was manager of the Met at that time) was going to sing the tenor part. No, it was Jack Johnson, the heavyweight boxing champion of the world, appearing in the Triumphal March. One could go on and on about the people he gave a start to or influenced such as Jose Greco, Richard Tucker, Bruna Castagna, Anton Coppola, and Anne Jeffreys, who met Kurt Weill through a performance for Salmaggi which led to a career on Broadway. If you were told everything, you wouldn't have to read the book. READ THE BOOK! PLEASE.

THE STRAIT is a novel about Al Queda linked terrorists planning to sink super tankers in the Strait of Malacca. It is an action/adventure novel written by a man who’s carefully researched his subject and is very familiar with the US Navy’s newest ships, weapons systems and tactics. The plot’s right out of today’s headline news i.e., the real threat of the sinking of a fully loaded super tanker in the narrow choke point of one of the world’s busiest waterways, the Strait of Malacca. Desperate for funds since their traditional sources dried up, Islamic terrorists based in Southeast Asia decide to attack oil tankers to force Gulf nations friendly to the west to pay millions of dollars in tribute to keep their ships safe from attack. The terrorist leader, El Shaba, the Ghost, has issued a call for terrorists groups in the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia to join him and unite millions of Muslims in Southeast Asia under his banner. The US counters his move by sending the USS Virginia, a new stealthy nuclear powered attack submarine and the new Advanced Seal Delivery System (ASDS), a mini-sub, which carries a SEAL Team in a safe, dry environment into the enemy’s shallow water littoral area. Her top-secret mission is the assassination of the leaders of three terrorist groups. The killers are three CIA agents, well trained in “black ops.” One’s a raven-haired Asian beauty with nine confirmed “kills” to her credit. In the course of the mission the USS Virginia uses her stealth and new sonar systems to track a Chinese sub sent to disrupt a US Carrier Strike Group’s exercises in the South China Sea and halts a Chinese effort to occupy offshore oil platforms of a US ally. With the help of a Mossad agent, the CIA agents land in Indonesia. The plot of THE STRAIT leaps from today’s headlines and holds the reader’s attention from the first page until the last. The story’s fast paced and the actions straight forward. The book has been well received by several high ranking US naval officers and uses the navy’s newest weapons to their best advantage.