I’m happy to Welcome Author, Allen Currie and his book Titled; OPERATION PHOENIX to Lyon Book Promos.

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Editorial Review:

“The seeds of a global perfect storm are sewn. Scientists caution of potential mega quakes, super disease, volcanic eruptions or solar flares. Population growth and industrial activities increasingly stress the environment. One Middle Eastern state after another erupts in civil war. (Sound familiar?)

And most insidious of all, the governments, central banks and banking industries of every developed country on the globe have been systematically building funeral pyres of paper under their respective economies, building them ever higher over the course of decades with mountains of debt, printed money and derivatives, just waiting for a spark, a match, a stray bolt of lightning…

In the novel, the protagonist, elite headhunter Gary Alden didn’t have a crystal ball, just a comprehensive study of the demise of empires past. He’d watched the alarming parallels with current events developing for some time. But he was one of very few. The vast majority don’t like to hear that the party is over, and aren’t apt to listen until it’s too late.

So, when the pyres do burst into flame, Gary must marshal his family and his resources – especially his expertise in recruiting specialists in various fields – to navigate a gauntlet of economic and social calamity, build a new community and preserve what they can of a modern standard of living before the ashes of another fallen empire scatter in the wind.”
~ Val Martinez

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

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A Canadian Author, Allen Currie resides in NW Ontario and enjoys nature and the outdoors. Part of the year this man of mystery hides deep in the Canada bush where who knows what he may be up to, but I hope it is crafting and writing more books. His release of ‘Operation Phoenix’ is now available on Amazon and Amazon Kindle Store. But I caught up with him and here is what Allen was willing to share ….
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“I was born and raised on a dirt poor farm during the dirty ‘1930’s. Began into computers when you still walked inside them and taught computer operation and programming. I then went on to become a CFO and CEO. Dabbled into consulting, primarily with the most advanced banks in the world. I later switched to “competitive intelligence” consulting, whose evil twin is industrial espionage.

I now live in Ontario. Along the way, I climbed mountains, traveled around the world, and became a glider pilot and a sculptural hot glass artist collected by international museums.”

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About The Book:

Are you comfortable with the state of the world today?

After decades of active mismanagement, neglect, greed, corruption and divorce from reality by humanity, the world reaches a tipping point. Having recognized the trend and studied the demise of empires past, Gary marshals his resources to deal with a financial collapse and subsequent gauntlet of social upheaval. It’s a thrilling and for some, terrifying ride…
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AUTHOR INTERVIEW:

Q – I read your bio and you have done a lot of unusual things. Computers when you still walked inside them, CFO and CEO, consultant to some of the world’s most advanced international banks, Glider Pilot, Hot Glass sculptural artist collected by international museums, world traveler, and now author. But before we get to that, one thing that intrigued me was Competitive Intelligence or CI. You say the evil twin to CI is Industrial espionage. Tell us about that.

“Well, the methods used in CI were really invented during World War 2. The Yanks needed spies in Japan, but they didn’t have many slanty eyed operatives. What is worse, a village on one side of a mountain speaks a different accent than a village on the other side of the same mountain. The North Islanders won’t even speak much to the Tokyo crowd because they are Gai jin – foreign devils. So any spy the Americans managed to find was going to stand out like a sore thumb, except in one small village where everyone knows everyone else.”

Q – You have been to Japan?

“Oh yes, I was briefly married to a Japanese I met in Tokyo. Mother nature likes to mix the gene pool. Anyway back to WW2. What the Americans did was to subscribe to every village newspaper in Japan. Of course, if there was going to be a factory built, the local paper would proudly write about how many people would be working at that plant, some idea of what they would be manufacturing, how many units would be produced, plus a lot of other details. Not only did the Americans know where to bomb to do away with critical things like bearings, but they learned almost exactly the capacity of the Japanese machine. They got 98% of what they wanted without leaving their desks.

Q – So, how does that lead to CI?

“CI is the art of gathering actionable information. Inferring information from other facts. If I ask someone who knows how many boxes for widgets a factory is ordering, I can be quite sure how many widgets they expect produce yearly. One of the more famous examples is about a company wanted to know secretly how many tons a competitor was shipping before they tried to take to take it over. They measured the rust on a railway spur leading to the plant and came up with an estimate that turned out to be within three percent of the actual.’

Q – Your intriguing thriller, “Operation Phoenix” seems to be positing the state of our society as we rush into turmoil. Are you predicting the end of the world?

“Definitely not the end of the world. I am predicting great change in our world, which some may think of as the end of the world as we know it. Change in the world is happening at a rate never before known to mankind. We are so accustomed to having some things, many of which most people don’t even understand, such as certain technologies advancing to solve various problems that crop up, that the world is reaching a tipping point on many fronts. Climate and weather change, over-population of our world, peak oil, financial excesses, super diseases, political short term solutions to real long-term problems, the list of possible tipping points goes on.” 

Q – Political such as?

“Consider the hoo-haw that went on in the most recent debt ceiling debates in the US. If the debt ceiling wasn’t raised, the US would default. If the US cannot pay its debt now, how could it repay a greater amount? If it cannot pay its debt, it is bankrupt. When Iceland reached the same point a very few years ago and its banks required a bailout, Iceland said they are a commercial enterprise, and let them fail. No bailout. Particularly the UK screamed blue bloody murder because UK banks were heavily exposed to Iceland but the UK bailed its banks out. The result in Iceland was vicious but short lived. Today Iceland is doing very well economically, thank you.
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They let nature release the stresses that had built up in the local economy. The last time that the Fed in the US did not interfere in an economic downturn was in 1919. That depression was probably the most vicious to that date, but short lived again. Eighteen months. The next depression, the dirty 30’s was history making. The government interfered and today’s estimates are that the resulting depression was doubled or tripled in depth and length because of that fiddling by government.
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Today the pressures have built too much higher levels because of more “management”.  The explosion will likely be much bigger. What makes it worse is that so many economies around the world have jumped on the same “management” theories. It will spread like wildfire. The US, Japan, and Europe are ‘Wily Coyote’ who is off the cliff but not yet looked down because of government “management” spin. Take the foul tasting medicine to cure the disease, otherwise, it becomes worse. But politicians loath to put forth “foul tasting” because they will lose their jobs. ”

Q- This is fascinating, but let’s get to your thriller novel. I didn’t notice any mention of CI. Is there a connection?

“On a very basic level, there is definitely a connection. CI is about information and using that information. It is a method of thinking. The ideas in the novel develop according to CI training. Some people would call it in a logical way. If  there is debt, it will be paid somehow. Either to the lender or to mother nature if only in a damaged credit rating, but it will be paid. The world has not only been borrowing financially but environmentally, socially, more ways than I care to count. Sooner or later the piper has to be paid.”

Q – So why did you write Operation Phoenix only now? It describes the result of these tipping points that you say you have recognized since 1987?

In 1993 I decided I had to give back to humanity for having lived in the best time and place mankind has ever known. I had thought about the problem since 1987 and had slowly come to the conclusion I was somewhere near correct. It turns out I was amazingly so. My forecasts have been much closer than I ever believed possible. However, in any field, you have to pay your dues to become proficient. Writing is no different. The basic story has not changed. What I had to learn was how to write a story. And I had never written any more than a letter till that time. It would have been much easier to have simply stopped and gone to university and taken a journalism course.

Q- Well I read most of the free preview and reviews, what I read is well written. I found it rather fascinating. Tell us how we can get a copy and where readers can connect with you?

It is available online on Amazon and my website. You can download copy or order a hard copy which will be printed for you specifically. Delivery is in about a week depending on your method of shipping. Usually, I get mine in about four business days.

Go to Allen Currie Website You can find a free giveaway contest of an autographed book, and a forum to discuss the ideas in the novel or your questions, which I try to attend on a regular basis. (At least weekly if I am out of touch.) There is also an unusually long free sample read. You can connect with me on Allen Currie, Author on FB  and on Allen Currie on Twitter …
(Now also available on Amazon & Amazon Kindle store)

AMAZON BOOK REVIEWS:

Author Interview Presented By ‘Lyon Book & Social Media Promotions’