Dangerous Men landed on my desk in CD format with a strong recomendation to read it. I may not publish fiction, but I do enjoy a good yarn, and getting into a well written spy story is right up my street. I downloaded it, settled into my favorite chair and read it off the screen of my laptop. I finished it in two sittings and was sorry when it ended. What a fascinating story. But even more fascinating is the "story" behind it. But let Mike Villiers himself tell it.

 

Background to

Dangerous Men

The Book They Wouldn't Publish -

Until Now

 

"Before taking up full time writing for a living, I was a freelance aerospace design engineer. It was a good life in that I was always in demand, it payed extremely well, often in tax exempt jurisdictions and allowed for great travel experiences.

One such contract took me to Israel. The contract was military and I had to sign secrecy and confidentialty agreements which I honour to this day. And it was on this contract that I met the man who would plant the seeds of Dangerous Men in my mind."

"I met Yitzhak in the old city of Jerusalem. He owned a delightful Antiquarian bookshop on small street near the Eight Station Of The Cross on the Via Dolorasa that was dedicated to the Middle East, Israel and the Holy Land. I haunted the place and bought many books and rare prints of the area by such artists as David Roberts. Yitzhak became a good friend. We shared a liking for the wilderness. He knew the Negev Desert well and he often took me camping on organized camel treks across this arid terrain with Bedouin Tribesmen who were his friends. He was of intellectal depth and something of a philosopher. He was also somewhat circumspect and secretive and never and spoke of his past. I assumed he'd been an academic."

"After the contract ended I returned to England for a well earned rest before taking up another contract. I'd been home about a month when Yitzhak telephoned me. He was in England on the start of long postponed world tour. He'd left his shop in the hands of a manager. We met in a local pub of mine, "The Lamb Inn". And over good British beer he opened up. And, surprisingly, on British soil, he was no longer secretive. He was expansive now, a very different man."

"Far from being an academic, he'd been a MOSSAD officer, a Katsa, and later an officer in SHABAT, Israel's domestic security organism. As a young soldier he'd been on the Entebbe Raid in Uganda and taken a serious bullet wound there which explained a slight limp. He began to tell me a fascinating story. It was also a long story and took three such evenings to tell it. When he'd finished he handed me a CD disc with the whole story on it. He wanted me to write it and publish it. Why me? "You're the only published writer I know," he said.

The following night, while I was on an evening dinner date with friends, my house was broken into and completely ransacked. It took me two days to straighten out the mess, but, amazingly, not a thing was missing: nothing. Expensive photographic equipment lay untouched and other valuables were still in place. Whoever raided my home that night was looking for something other than valuables. I did not report it to the police. But it was to be the first of many such disturbing intrusions into my life."

"My next contract was in Belgium and my uninvited visitors followed me there, entering my apartment, always leaving evidence of their visit: a cigarette stubbed in an ashtray, a glass of water on the table, a book opened on the arm of a chair and always, the acrid smell of cigarette smoke. Then, inexplicably, they stopped. But they had let me know they could enter my life at any time anywhere, at will."

"And so I began writing what was my first attempt at non-fiction. I completed the project in a little less than a year and gave it to my agent. Matt liked it, offered a critique, had it edited and I re-wrote it. He then sought to sell it to various publishing houses, but without success. He knew the Houses and their editors well. He knew the publishers personally. But to no avail. Those who read the book liked it, but declined to publish. It was a non-starter, going nowhere."

Matt was sympathetic. "Write it as fiction," he suggested. "Write it as a novel." I hadn't thought of that. "You think it would have a better chance of publication?" I asked. He laughed. "Publishers have no imagination," he said. "Self publish it. And as an E-book."

At first I declined. I am a writer, a novelist, a teller of tales. I am also a reader. And I have to say there is nothing like curling up with a good book in your favorite chair, before a fire with a bottle of wine. I do it. Often. So, my agents suggestion of self publishing Dangerous Men online as an "E-book" fell on deaf ears. But Matt was persuasive. He set down all the advantages e-books have to both the writer and the purchaser. And faced with no other alternative but to self publish, I relented."

 

Normally Ridge-Way Publications doesn't publish novels, fiction, poetry or biographies. We specialize in information e-books and how to guides. But when Mike Villiers' agent approached me and I read the novel, I made an exception. But first I sent out copies to friends and others in the business, editors, publishing house readers to get feed back. I got my feed back, and as all of it was positive, and I went ahead.

Michael Villiers is a writer of natural talent and Dangerous Men is a fine novel. And I invite you to read the sample chapters and get a feel for how good it is.

James Ridgeway

Ridge-Way Publications

 

 

SO WHY AN E-BOOK?

 

Apart from the politics of publishers and publishing houses and the games they play, the drawbacks of publishing with a conventional mainstream publisher are twofold.

First, book publishers are notoriously lousy at marketing, so a book may not sell very many copies.

Second, the writer earns only a small royalty - on average, 10 percent or less - of the sale price for each copy sold. Peanuts for all that hard work.

This is why self-publishing is in so many ways superior for a writer. And since, historically, many great writers have self published: Dickens, Melville, Twain among countless others, the self-published author is in great company.

And now, with the advent of the Internet, self publishing is even easier. Clearly, self-publishing a book as a downloadable PDF file -- an "e-book" -- is the superior choice for the writer. As you deliver an e-book to the buyer over the Internet on payment, the buyer gets the book instantly. There are no printing, storage, fulfillment, or shipping costs. You remove the publishing costs - and the agent's cut.

And the advantages for you, the purchaser/reader are many. The purchase price is much less than a store bought book: you cut out any applicable taxes for a start. And with the e-book loaded onto your hard drive you can't lose it. I once left an expensive hardcover book on a train seat and I've lost many a paperback in similar ways. With an e-book your safe.

But the best thing about an e-book is: if it's not to your taste you get your money refunded. Try doing that in a bookstore.

The e-book is the future: now. This is why Amazon's "Kindle" is taking the world by storm.

So, I offer you Mike Villier's Dangerous Men. I'm sure you'll enjoy it. And at $18.00 it's a snip. Purchase it, download it to your hard drive and read it on screen or print it off as you wish.

But should you not like it, E-mail me at:

tony@Ridge-WayPublications.com

And you will receive a refund within 30 days of purchase.

Beat that.

 

 

 

ORDERING INFORMATION:

What is an e-book?

An e-book is an “electronic book” delivered directly to your computer over the internet. If you can read this page right now, you can read an e-book. The e-book uses Adobe Acrobat® PDF Format to present the e-book. (If you don’t already have Adobe Acrobat® Reader, you can get it FREE right now at www.adobe.com). You can click on any chapter, move backward and forward and always have the information at your fingertips, because its on your hard drive. You can print it out or store it anywhere you wish. A good thing is you can read your e-book within seconds after payment. There’s no waiting a week or more to receive it in the mail. But best of all, you can't lose it by leaving on a train seat or some such. It's always there on your hard drive.

Once your credit card is processed, you will immediately be able to a download the e-book "Dangerous Men."

 

 

 

Credit Card Concerns:

How much will my credit card be charged? You will be billed $18.00 one-time only. There are no recurring charges.

Is it safe to use my credit card? This e-book edition ordering page uses the Pay Pal payment gateway, the most secure credit card gateway in the business. All information sent to this site is encrypted, protecting against disclosure to third parties.

 

 

 

 

Is getting a refund quick and easy? Absolutely. If, for any reason, you are not completely satisfied with Dangerous Men within 30 days just send an email to: 

tony@Ridge-WayPublications.com

And recieve an immediate refund.

 

 

 

 

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