The First Casualty

Author’s Note

Yes, Nikola Tesla was a real person and yes, he really does hold the U.S. patent for the radio as well as more than 900 others, including AC current. The oscillator existed as did his relationship with Mark Twain. Whether the death ray was real or not is subject to speculation. His words describing it to a reporter are accurately repeated in the story.

The events of June 30, 1908 also took place, including the dead owl.

There also seems to be some uncertainty as to Tesla’s original nationality. The Croatia of the 1850s Austro-Hungarian Empire of Tesla’s birth is not the same as today’s Croatia. Tesla might well have been born in today’s Serbia. The operators of the Tesla Museum in Belgrade certainly think so. I chose Croatia simply because, at the time I wrote the story, I had not been to Serbia.

I think that is what is called literary license.

Was he genius? Surely. A nutcase? A little of that, too. There are a number of biographies on the Internet for those inclined to dig deeper into one of America’s lesser-known characters.

When writing fiction for a general audience, there is always a choice to be made when subjects of a scientific nature become part of the story: Burden the non-scientifically inclined reader with details he neither understands nor cares about, or make the scientific mind feel short-changed? As one who would be the nation’s oldest high school student had physics been a required course, I’ll leave the explicit details of why things work to my science fiction writing friends.

I do make an effort to be correct when dealing with historic events such as the Bosnian-Serb War or whatever one calls the 1990–1991 events in the Balkans, the greatest shedding of blood in Europe since World War II. This was an explosion of ethnic/religious hatreds that had simmered since multiple diverse people had been lumped together as Yugoslavia at the end of World War I. With the fall of the iron rule of Communism, there was nothing to prevent the chaos that followed. I think I got it right but understanding the underlying prejudices and hatreds, some of which go back four centuries, makes understanding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict simple in comparison. If I got it wrong, I’m sure I’ll hear from some of you readers.

Yes, I know air-to-air tankers such as those described don’t fly out of Andrews Air Force Base. Please see “literary license” above. In the same vein, I’m aware the Niger River is frequently not navigable as far north as to be within a few kilometers of Timbuktu.

In the spring of 2012, while this book was being written, the democratic government of Mali was overthrown by a cadre of young military officers who were dissatisfied with the handling of the latest Tuareg separatist rebellion in the Timbuktu Province. The Tuaregs seized the opportunity to take the city of Timbuktu and declare their long-desired independence. Whether the central government will let them go in peace or seek to reunify the country is anyone’s guess. For that reason, I have chosen to not deal with the status of Timbuktu here.

And, finally, thank you:

Thank you, Chris Fortunato, my inventive and hardworking agent who took me on when my previously publisher had folded and my previous agent had retired. His knowledge of both the domestic and foreign publishing businesses have made him invaluable.

Thank you, Rob Hart, my editor at MysteriousPress.com. Rob sees an extra twist to be had with each tale and improves the story thereby. He also catches the inconsistences that haunt every writer, all of which lends authenticity to the yarn.

GL

June 2012