MUTINY

The Basilica de la Sagrada Familia

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Sagrade Familia

‘The Sagrada Familia in Barcelona will leave you speechless’ is a bold claim at the ticket office. Guess what? They’re right. It is an overwhelming experience and becomes the perfect venue for a reunion of characters in MUTINY, but they might need its space to offer prayers later in the plot. But, for now:

[Claudine reads, “Gaudi said, ‘Straight lines belong to man; curved lines belong to God.’ The cathedral is dedicated to the ‘Glory of Jesus’ and we see, above the altar, the path he took on his journey to heaven. Hell remains for those who move away from God’s divine plan.”

She wraps her arm over Michael’s. “Like the image of Christ rising to heaven under the parachute before us, we are setting others free from the bondage of money and greed.”

“Or, the parachute could be returning him back to earth?”

“I guess he’ll let us down gently when we see our bank accounts?” jokes Claudine, raising her voice.]

A Touch of the Dramatic

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King Lear

Shakespeare loomed across my academic radar more than once. I was in our high school production of King Lear – a guard protecting the mad king – well trying to. When the stage lights went out, my companion and I were left blind, frantically searching for the throne’s handles to lift it off stage. Hence a brief reference to the play within MUTINY when the protagonist confronts his own tragic failure. But, I can’t give too much away in this self-reflective moment, can I?:

[We are like Shakespearean players upon the stage of life. At Cambridge, I was a guard in our production of King Lear, protecting the establishment. Now I’ve left the theatre. My frosted breath releases words I remembered from the Bard’s As You Like It:

All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven ages.]

A Fireside Chat

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I cast my mind back to my first meeting with Sir Donald – the warm fireside chat, followed by a handshake to confirm my appointment. No contract and no fuss. “That’s how we do things here, old chap,” he said at the time and I honored our agreement.

The Fireside Chat

The short episode above was based on a job interview I had for a position in a prestigious high school – one that I accepted and enjoyed for many years. It would be fair to say it was the most fulfilling time of my teaching career. For our protagonist, however, the fireside chat with Sir Donald would prove less so. The warm fireplace soon cooled, along with any further career prospects for Sir Christopher. Still, the fireside chat is very English – a traditional way to relax and engage. It seemed perfect for a scene in MUTINY and was easy to write.

A Foggy Day, a Foggy Night

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A Foggy Day

It’s rare for us to have fog, but this morning’s was a beauty – dense, swirling fog that waited until midday to lift and reveal our normal view. Which segues nicely to MUTINY:

Chapter 51: [He was soon in a deep slumber, dreaming of pirates in Croatia – hugging the jagged coast in a storm. Through a gap in the subliminal fog drifted a four-masted galleon, its topsails and gallants flapping in a gale. Ted was shocked as a swashbuckling Peter Pan lookalike chased Sonia and tied her to the rigging.]

Chapter 65: [A swirling sea mist entombs the Sikorski Memorial at Europa Point, punctuated by foghorn blasts and high-pitched seagulls. This rocky coast along southern Gibraltar has taken on a wild mood and Hanover’s dark, impenetrable eyes add to the afternoon chill. My instincts tell me that our meeting might not go well.]

Chapter 82: [The chilly day of London ushers in an early night, and fog will soon blanket those who dare stay out. I hate winters here and yearn to be back in the Mediterranean.]

Fog defines our moods and carries a cold, chilling atmosphere into the manuscript. For that, I am grateful. There is one more fog – a political fog – that permeates MUTINY, but I will leave that for readers to discover.

Phantom of the Opera

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Phantom of the Opera

I enjoyed the Phantom of the Opera in Melbourne, Australia. The staging, Andrew Loyd Webber’s music, a crashing chandelier and, of course, the mystery surrounding the man in the mask – the Phantom. We all, in measure, hide behind masks and few get to see our real personality. In MUTINY, several characters change as the story unfolds – until a final twist sees a main character (or two) unmasked completely. Oh, what fun and readers would not expect anything less.

Warren the Whistler

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I gave a copy of MUTINY to a friend of mine and he mentioned that he was halfway through and found it amusing that his namesake – Warren –  came to an abrupt end. I suggested that this was inevitable as the character was an annoying whistler, which is not an attribute in a crowded submarine. I let slip that this character was based on a real person – a family member with the exact flaw – though, recently, he has been quite refrained in his whistling tendencies. Perhaps that’s why he still lives happily among us?

Cars Part Deux. A Missed Opportunity?

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In 3 WISE MEN (available on Kindle), a scene is elevated by an E-Type Jaguar, finished in primrose yellow with whitewall tires and chrome trim. It flew – rather drove – from Milan to Menton where it met its demise in unfortunate circumstances. I fell in love with the car and shocked my readers with the ending, though it wasn’t deliberate, but rather a natural flow of words, helping me write my way out of a difficult plot. MUTINY has fewer cars. I mentioned a few in my previous post, but there was another – a rather sleek BMW. Did I miss the chance to enjoy adding a car-chase chapter – an exotic ride through the Dolomites into Croatia, or skidding down the harrowing Pyrenees into Spain and along the coast to Gibraltar? Yes, I think I did. Though MUTINY is tighter in plot. It’s a more serious thriller – less thriller and more serious perhaps? That would make it a literary work? But, it’s not that serious or is it? It’s more glamorous in the scene with the BMW, which is a flashback to my childhood. We were never a rich family, but never poor either. We fell in the middle somewhere and just as the earth is in the middle of the Milky Way — allowing it the perfect view – I guess my upbringing was central too, stuck between rich and poor, thus giving me a glimpse of both. You see, dear readers, there is a reason for our season. Now, back to the BMW:

BMW Sports

[“Welcome to this year’s European Banking Federation Summit. I would like to thank you all for your patience as we checked your passports; an inconvenience I know, but necessary to protect us all in these troubled times. You will be pleased to learn that your names have been entered into our door prize and, thanks to our generous sponsors, Deutsche Bank, one of you will be returning home in a new BMW Sports sedan. The winner will be announced at our gala dinner. Don’t worry if you miss out – just leave a business card with the BMW representative and you will receive a special offer and free delivery to your corporate headquarters. You can view your BMW in person during recess. She’s parked alongside the refreshments.”

Applause erupts as a picture of slick black and chrome splashes onto a huge screen behind the podium. I can see myself driving the prize all the way to Gibraltar.]

SMW3 – Giant Undersea Data Delivery

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Discussions take place aboard a submarine, now lurking in the Mediterranean. What unfolds is the most important data delivery system anywhere in the world:

[Nikolai asked, “What is the SMW3?”

“Also known as Sea-Me-We 3, it is the longest submarine cable in the world,” Frances replied, her finger tracing a bold red line. “It stretches 39,000 km from Japan and China, with a branch extending to Western Australia. SMW3 is a major fiber backbone linking 33 countries. It’s a pipeline moving money out of China and Russia and into the free business world. Every bank and every billionaire is connected by SMW3.”

“Let me help you, Nikolai,” said Frances. “The cable we’re checking, the SMW3, is one of the most important. It is also the longest and carries data load for 92 telecom operators, plus a huge slice of all global financial transactions, totaling over $10 trillion.”

“Each month?” Nikolai asked.

“No, they carry this amount each day, and we’re talking US dollars. You can imagine how much company information that includes.”]

The Strait of Hormuz – Confirmation of MUTINY’s Plot

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Strait of Hormuz

CNN reported today: “Emboldened by its successful wartime blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Iran is turning to one of the hidden arteries in the global economy: subsea cables beneath the waterway that carry vast internet and financial traffic between Europe, Asia and the Persian Gulf.

The Islamic Republic wants to charge the world’s largest tech companies for using the subsea internet cables laid under the Strait of Hormuz, and state-linked media outlets have vaguely threatened that traffic could be disrupted if firms don’t pay. Lawmakers in Tehran discussed a plan last week which could target submarine cables linking Arab countries to Europe and Asia.

“We will impose fees on internet cables,” Iranian military spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaghari declared on X last week. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards-linked media said Tehran’s plan to extract revenue from the strait would require companies like Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon to comply with Iranian law while submarine cable companies would be required to pay licensing fees for cable passage, with repair and maintenance rights given exclusively to Iranian firms.”

Comment: The plot for MUTINY is now part-playbook for the global tensions in the Middle East, but it’s only fiction.