The Last Ember’s paperback release has just been officially set to May 10th. Amidst the many preparations for the big day, we’re considering which cities to include in the tour. Any thoughts?
Drop a line at the contact page, and let us know where we should drop by!

Thanks to the packed house who came to the New York Public Library event on thrillers! I was honored to have been the speaker, along with Alex Berenson.

Most thoughtful comment from an audience member? “If ‘Sopranos’ is a thriller, then so is ‘Glee.’”

The New York Public Library interviews NYT bestsellers Daniel Levin and Alex Berenson to discuss “Thrillers.”

It’ll be a discussion on espionage, suspense, and what elements really keep us reading late into the night! Excerpts will be posted to the site.

Happens tomorrow (Tuesday, February 9th) at 7:00pm. Email for details. events@thelastember.com

Sometimes you just need a drink. If that’s what drove this particular expedition, then these archaeologists must have been happy to find five crates of well-aged whiskey in Antarctica.

The spirits were left behind by the Nimrod Expedition in 1909, when conditions forced them to give up the journey. The particular blend of whiskey has not been made for quite some time, so preservationists are excited to recreate the drink, if possible.

Read more here.

Ancient sites present dangers outside of The Last Ember’s pages, too.

Mudslides have trapped hundreds of tourists visiting Machu Pichu. Ancient Incans used the “Lost City” as a stronghold for a reason: it can be very hard to reach. For information about evacuation efforts see the CNN article.

Reprinted from my article on the Huffington Post:

Yesterday’s theft of the iron “arbeit macht freit” (”work makes you free”) sign at the Auschwitz memorial, may signal more than disrespect for the Holocaust. It may be yet another attempt to erase it.

Holocaust revisionists have long accused the structures of Auschwitz as being replicas, fabrications. They have tested the soil and bricks in countless futile attempts to debunk the “myth” of Auschwitz. Curators of the Auschwitz museum have long been cautious of tending to the museum’s exhibits behind glass in fear of additional accusations from revisionists.

The physical erasure of history is becoming a common practice – whether the Taliban’s destruction of Afghanistan’s rich Buddhist past, or more recent politically motivated destruction of religious archaeology beneath the Temple Mount.

The Polish Police should divert considerable resources to finding the original 16 foot-long wrought iron sign, which presided above more than one million prisoners who entered the camp and never left. A replacement of a modern fabricated sign will inevitably open the door for more heartless accusations that Auschwitz and its genocide is a mere invention. Sadly, the sign is as important a shield against Holocaust revisionism as it is an emotional touchstone for future generations to remember this darkest hour of our humanity.

The fate of a Caravaggio masterpiece, stolen in 1969, has been divulged by a newly-turned informant. Unfortunately, the news isn’t good: the painting was destroyed by the mafia in the ’80s.
Why destroy art worth £20 million? The rats and pigs, of course. The piece was hidden in a farm, where it was apparently ruined by the local color. The only thing left to do was to burn the piece.
Think life doesn’t get this filmic? Read for yourself.

Thank you for your votes! The Last Ember won the book club’s poll for the December book club. Read more at www.authorexposure.com.

The Last Ember is included in today’s poll for Author Exposure’s December book club! Vote at www.authorexposure.com, and fan the flame!

Conspiracy and espionage at U. of Michigan’s Literature, Science and Arts department. We got down to details in an interview about the inspiration for The Last Ember, from the academic halls of Michigan to the slippery tunnels beneath the Temple Mount.

Read all about it at the University of Michigan LSA Website.