There is a rip-roaring tale just published that is an invaluable tale of a world in being that is invisible to most of us. In this one, retired Navy Commander Jack Tanner is described as he arrives in Malaysia on a cyber-security book tour. The vestiges of his counter-intelligence training shapes his innocent movements. He is relieved to not be on an operational assignment, though he discovers Beijing’s shadow war is far more sophisticated than even he had imagined.

The world into which Jack walks contains the Chinese Ministry of State Security and its selected cyber operatives known as the Three Immortals. They are orchestrating a devastating campaign that incorporates financial manipulation, autonomous drone swarms, and jungle-based insurgents to destabilize Malaysia, Southeast Asia’s strongest democracy.

Armed with his revolutionary Virtual Intelligence Center, a team of Al agents, Tanner races to expose the plot before Malaysia falls. But when the MSS strikes back with cyber warfare that turns his own Al against him, and the battle escalates from digital espionage to kinetic warfare in the Malaysian rainforest.

At Dragon Falls, where ancient waterfalls meets cutting-edge technology, Tanner faces the future of warfare itself. Artificial intelligence, drone swarms, and human desire and courage collide in a fight that will determine whether free societies can survive Beijing’s new form of conquest. The one in progress now.

Dragon Falls delivers the complexity of Ludlum-inspired conspiracies with Clancy-style technical sophistication, revealing how today’s real technologies are reshaping global conflict. This is the warfare we must master if our way of life is to endure.




Bob Gourley has been an associate of some of our crowd for nearly fifty years. The Chairman claims he recognized his enthusiasm based on a job in which he learned the middle-names of some 1,300 officers, but that was a broad net in which Bob swam effortlessly, specializing early in what those new computers on our desks might be able to do. It turned out to be a remarkable amount and he has been pushing the bounds of cyber opportunities ever since.

The Chairman himself was in the conference room with a copy of a trade-size paperback festooned with an ominous sky filled with approaching drones. “I just got finished reading this, and I have to say I have not been so jazzed since the Bond books were in first edition.”

He slid the copy over to Miles. “Have your crowd take a look at this and see if they get as fired up as I was. We can help Bob broaden market understanding for the world being created around us. We can use the magic of this book to bring back the elements of old trade-craft and counter-intelligence to penetrate the business aspect of the new multi-cultural world. It layers perfectly over the cyber-war with China that is already in progress. Remember those cyber-hacking farms the Secret Service found up in New York? The ones they said could shut down the financial center of America through denial of service attacks? Do you think New York was alone?”

Miles leaned forward and lifted the book. He knew that Bob had been an active U.S. Navy intelligence officer with operational experience in the hot spots of late 20th century Asia and Europe before specializing in the unique challenges of the emerging digital world. This is nothing short of breathtaking in terms of urgency as the new trade war erupts with China. President Trump has announced a 100% tariff to commence on the first of November. You can bet there are some digits flying across the globe.”

The group at the conference table seemed relieved that they would not have to conduct original research and only read what Bob has learned across his professional career. He had served beyond the standard naval intelligence career and specialized as Chief Technology Officer of the Defense Intelligence Agency. After retiring from the Government, he was co-founder of OODA.com, where he guides organizations through cybersecurity, Al, and big data challenges.”

“His intuitive sense of defense and intelligence missions has enabled him exploit the fusion of the classic espionage novel, filled with the primal emotions of the human spirt fused with the tantalizing glimpse of a new digital future. We are already experiencing part of it. Take a day or so on a ride with what Bob has done as an independent publisher, visionary and guide to a that is already surging around us. Bob brings an authentic operational texture to a swirling story of a veteran operative combating Chinese Immortals in a digital world. The fate of a Asian nation hangs in the balance. Let me know what you think.”

Out of habit, Splash and Rocket stood up as the Chairman smiled that wicked smile of his and swept out of the Conference Room. Melissa and Holly stayed seated and Miles gestured across the table to indicate silence until the man who financed the enterprise was out of earshot. When the steps faded, he smiled. “Looks like a good romp is coming up as we get to analyze someone else’s work. The problem is that Bob actually understands what is going on, and a little solid background will help sort out what is about to happen to us all.”

Splash laughed. “I’m not going to wait for everyone plow through a single copy. I checked when I saw what the Chairman had in his briefcase. I ordered it online and it is already in my Kindle library. This is not only a thriller, it is a value.”