INTERVIEW: DAVID ALEXANDER ON HIS NEW USMC -- A NOVEL OF THE MARINE CORPS

Webmaster — 22 Feb 2007 19:32:14 GMT

PRESS RELEASE - USMC

Title: U.S.M.C.
Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Jove (MM) (Jan 30 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0515142565
ISBN-13: 978-0515142563

Website: http://www.davidalexanderbooks.com

Jove Books, a division of Penguin, has just released the action thriller USMC by David Alexander, crowned as "the King of Action-Adventure" by one U.S. publication. Alexander is the author of many action thrillers and nonfiction titles that include Tomorrow's Soldier, Stealth Warfare and Special Ops, the last of which has been translated into five languages, including Japanese.

USMC is based on Alexander's previous four novels featuring Marine Force One, a rapid-deployment force with global reach that takes special operations to an entirely new level.

In a recent television interview, Alexander was asked about what had inspired him to create the characters and general situations featured in USMC.

"First of all," replied Alexander, "I want to point out that like the Marine Force One books that preceded USMC, the plot unfolds not only in the near future but actually in an alternate universe where geopolitical realities something like our own prevail but in which there are certain marked differences."

"Such as what, for example?" Alexander was asked.

"For one thing, there is a resurgent Soviet Union in the saga of Marine Force One. In this alternate universe the United States is not only engaged in a war against global terrorism, but is actually fighting a 21st century version of the Cold War. Not re-fighting the Cold War, mind you, but fighting an entirely different and more dangerous version of East-West confrontation with new and more deadly weaponry. As I pointed out in my book Stealth Warfare, this might eventually happen, since the Russians are today very actively vying with the West in a kind of clandestine arms race behind the scenes."

According to Alexander, the type of unit he envisioned in Marine Force One had not existed in the real world prior to his first series book. It was only after the book was released that the U.S. Marine Corps actually fielded a highly mobile, rapid-deployment specialist force that seemed almost as if it had been modeled after "the Big Mean One." Could there be a connection?

"I have no way of knowing," says Alexander. "But I understand that copies are available at the book store in the Pentagon mall, so maybe the Corps literally took a leaf from my book. If so, more power to it. I wouldn't ask for royalties from Uncle Sam."

USMC is available at brick and mortar bookstores worldwide and via Internet shopping outlets.

DAVID ALEXANDER -- USMC INTERVIEW

INTERVIEW: DAVID ALEXANDER ON HIS NEW USMC -- A NOVEL OF THE MARINE CORPS