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Joe Buff's
"Vision 2005"
Briefing & Update

***** JOE BUFF'S "VISION 2004" BRIEFING AND UPDATE *****

November, 2004 Library of Congress ISSN number: 1545-7761

GREETINGS, FRIENDS AND READERS! I hope you each have a really great holiday season. This pre-Thanksgiving issue of my e-Newsletter will bring you up to date on the upcoming release of the STRAITS OF POWER hardcover; it will also, as in previous issues, provide what I hope you find to be useful and interesting items on naval affairs, national defense, and homeland security. I want to thank all of you personally for your feedback and support, which helped the recent paperback edition of TIDAL RIP go back to press in its very first week!

YOUR ATTENTION FOR A MOMENT PLEASE ON SOME ADMIN: Based on experience with my previous Newsletter issue, I've elaborated the instructions at the bottom of this issue for either subscribing or unsubscribing via the links to the "/newsltr" page on my website. The key thing is you must type your e-mail address accurately into the space provided within the ADD ME/REMOVE ME box. (Because of my Privacy Policy, I do NOT have any access to what your address is when you visit JoeBuff.com.) Plus, if you make a typo, your issue will just come back to me as Undeliverable and I'll have no way to find you; my Webmaster will then delete you from my (secret) distribution list. And right after the previous issue went out, I received one request to unsubscribe but the person left their e-mail address blank. If you are that person, my apologies -- I take my Anti-Spam Policy seriously too. Please resubmit with your address typed in.

Also, if your e-mail address changes, please remember to inform me via a new ADD ME submission thru my website, or by an e-mail directly to readermail@joebuff.com. Thanks!

Best regards, much obliged, and warmest wishes to all,
--Joe.

USEFUL AND VALUABLE WEBSITES, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED --

http://www.joebuff.com/newsletter/news16.htm

JOE BUFF "AUTHOR OF THE MONTH" FOR NOVEMBER ON MAJOR U.K. WEB SITE FOR WRITERS AND AVID READERS

I'm profiled in a written interview as Author of the Month for November on the major U.K. Web site for aspiring writers, www.aspire2write.com . This Web site was established in 2002, funded by a grant from the prestigious charitable organization The Prince's Trust. I'm the seventeenth writer to be interviewed. Previous Authors of the Month include NY TIMES bestselling novelist Stephen Coonts, and twice World Fantasy Award winner Gwyneth Jones. This site's many different features, regularly updated with fresh content, are a fabulous resource for anyone interested in writing, whether for fun or at the professional level. It also has lots of goodies for avid readers, who'll be fascinated by the Interview Archive's many "behind the scenes" revelations and reflections about how novels actually get written. (The books don't just suddenly end up in bookstores by magic!) In my interview, I share candid thoughts about my own career as a writer, and offer my best advice for any new authors who are trying now to break in and get published. When Noevmber is over, the interview will move to Aspire2write's permanent Archive. Check out this beautifully designed Web site -- I highly recommend it.

JOE'S "STRAITS OF POWER" HARDCOVER OFFICIALLY GOES ON SALE ON NOVEMBER 23, 2004 --

My next submarine warfare novel, the fifth in the Captain Jeffrey Fuller series, titled STRAITS OF POWER, will go on sale in bookstores nationwide, both brick-and-mortar and on-line, on November 23, 2004. The plot summary "embargo" has been lifted by my publisher! (See the links right here below.) I would like to add one item not mentioned in that summary: that U.S. Navy Seabees play a role at one point in the story this time, doing inventive and audacious things while under fire in the near-future saga of Captain Jeffrey Fuller and his crew and his friends and his enemies. There'll also be plenty of Navy SEAL action, great new tech and kewl surprises on the geopolitical front, plus some of the freshest and most frightening sub-on-sub combat scenes in the Fuller saga yet!

See cover of STRAITS OF POWER:

http://www.joebuff.com/books.htm

Read more about TIDAL RIP:

http://www.joebuff.com/book04.htm

DRAFTING STARTED ON SIXTH JEFFREY FULLER BOOK

Writing the manuscript for the sixth novel in the series has begun! The deadline for me to deliver the draft to my editor, Mike Shohl, at Morrow/HarperCollins is March 31, 2005. The hardcover edition is targeted for release near the end of 2005. While the plot is "Top Secret" for a very long time, I can safely say that if you think my other books are exciting, full of unexpected plot twists and real near-future weaponry and heart-pounding land and sea battle action, then you'll love Book 6. (Its title hasn't been chosen yet.) Stay tuned to my Newsletter and check the News page on my website from time for time for progress updates.

FRENCH TRANSLATION OF JOE'S "THUNDER IN THE DEEP" ON SALE SOON

For all you French and French-Canadian fans of my stories, I'm delighted to report that the French translation of my second novel, THUNDER IN THE DEEP, is going on sale in France very soon. (Later books in the series will be released in French as time goes by.) For more info, check with the publisher Fleuve Noir, at

http://www.fleuvenoir.tm.fr

JOE TO ATTEND LOCAL SUB VETS MEETING, & ALSO VISIT SSN IN GROTON

I'm planning to attend the November 17 meeting of the Albany-Saratoga Base (chapter) of the U.S. Submarine Veterans, Inc. (I had spoken at the SubVets national annual convention, hosted by the Base, back in September.) I'm being sponsored as an Associate (non-submarine- veteran) Member, so I'm crossing my fingers that my application will be approved. Also, I'm now scheduled with a very small group of people from the New York City Council (chapter) of the Navy League of the U.S. to be allowed onto the New London Naval Submarine Base in Groton, CT, to feed the on-duty crew of the Los Angeles-class USS SAN JUAN a special lunch showing the Navy League's appreciation for their service and sacrifices protecting our country from beneath the seas. I've been at a few of these fun lunches in the past, though they've gotten rather infrequent after 9/11 and Operation Iraqi Freedom for obvious reasons. We'll be bringing as the lunch menu's main item -- you guessed it -- submarine sandwiches! The lunch will include, for us visitors, a guided tour of the non-classified parts of the boat.

COME JOIN JOE'S "SUB PEN" VIRTUAL TALK AND CALL-IN SHOW --

The Sub Pen meets most Tuesdays, from 9pm to 11 or midnight East Coast USA time. The next meetings are on November 9, November 16, and December 7. Then we'll resume after New Year's Day, 2005. That future schedule will be posted on my website.

For details click on the button "Sub Pen Chat Room" on the top-left of

http://www.joebuff.com/index01.htm

"Sub Pen" Privacy Policy: No transcripts will be kept.

AND NOW, FOR SOME OF JOE'S RECENT PROFESSIONAL NON-FICTION WORK --

SEABEE ENGINEER RECON TEAMS PLAY KEY ROLE IN IRAQ...

AN ESSAY, ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON MILITARY.COM:

"Seabee Shadow Warriors"

A year ago I wrote an essay “Seabees -- Special Forces?” The aim of this new piece is to remove that question mark forever. Last time, I explored the continuing importance to our nation of one lesser-known part of the military, Naval Mobile Construction Battalions (NMCBs), nicknamed Seabees -- first formed in 1942, and still active today in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their role and their goal are summarized nicely in the Seabee motto, “We build, we fight.” Their spirit is kept alive through an expression they introduced decades ago, now a classic part of popular American lingo, “Can do.” Seabees are skilled construction craftsmen and technically talented engineers, but they’re battle hardened quasi-Marines as well, equally competent handling jackhammers or M-16s, and just as effective at operating bulldozers or Humvee-mounted heavy machine guns. The work Seabees performed in the Pacific island-hopping campaign, clearing beach obstacles while under vicious enemy fire, led to the organization of dedicated Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs), from which, in turn, in the early ‘60s -- as Vietnam was heating up -- were born the U.S. Navy SEALs. So there’s a blood relationship, in every sense, between Seabee battalions of yesteryear and one of the very potent elites in the broader arena of special operations forces (SOF) today.

http://www.joebuff.com/essay57.htm

DANGERS OF A "NO NEW NUKES" POSTURE...

AN ESSAY, ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON MILITARY.COM:

"Bunker Snuffers?"

Columnist and author Peter Brookes, a regular contributor to Military.com, recently had an essay titled “Bunker-Buster Brouhaha.” His October 18, 2004 piece discussed the importance of continuing engineering feasibility studies for a new type of weapon to destroy deep, hardened enemy underground bunkers -- the proposed Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator bomb (RNEP). Allow me to begin by quoting the concluding paragraph of that essay: “In light of the WMD-proliferation threat and the increased use of underground facilities to conceal it, looking at adding RNEPs to our arsenal only makes sense. The safety and security of our nation may depend upon it.” I agree wholeheartedly with this statement and the reasoning behind it. Here, I would like to address (and attempt to refute) a counterargument I’ve seen in print elsewhere: that conventional high-tech munitions and tactics are able to defeat the deepest and hardest bunkers without any need to go nuclear -- even when the bunkers themselves are way beyond the reach of those munitions.

http://www.joebuff.com/essay56.htm

HOW BIG A NAVY DO WE NEED FOR THE 21ST CENTURY?...

AN ESSAY, ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON MILITARY.COM:

"How Many Ships?"

The question of how big a navy is "big enough but not too big" challenges and torments politicians and military commanders in every nation, around the world, that has a coastline. Several recent news events, seemingly unrelated to one another, all point to how pervasive and important this key question is. (More on each news item will come below here, but first let's take a broader perspective on the entire topic.) The problem of naval planning and procurement is highly complex: not just how many ships overall, but what mix of types (destroyers, supercarriers, submarines, etc.), and what mission capabilities to emphasize for each type -- anti-submarine, anti-surface, anti-air, amphibious assault; mid-ocean major engagements, power projection through enemy littorals (near-shore areas) and onto and across contested land, or homeland defense. Having a few warships, big and expensive, or many ones, smaller and cheap, is another dimension to the issue that, in almost so many words, dates back centuries. And we mustn't neglect that crucial planning dimension, time. Analysis and decision-making have to take a multi-year or even multi-decade forward looking view.

http://www.joebuff.com/essay55.htm

JOE BUFF'S READERMAIL PRIVACY POLICY --

I consider all your messages to me to be confidential.

I respond to them individually, as time permits.

No readermails will be published in my Newsletter or posted to my website.

JOE BUFF'S NON-FICTION "BOOK PICKS" --

(Great ones I've read myself lately, that influenced my thinking):

http://www.joebuff.com/newsletter/news17.htm

If you like, please forward this e-Newsletter to interested friends, but please don't spam anybody!

How to Subscribe to JOE BUFF'S "VISION 2005" BRIEFING AND UPDATE:

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Ahead flank, aye! ...Joe.

*******************************
Joe Buff's books (with review excerpts):
STRAITS OF POWER -- due out November 23
TIDAL RIP --"White-knuckle, hair raising"
CRUSH DEPTH --"Far above the standard"
THUNDER IN THE DEEP --"Out-Clancys Clancy"
DEEP SOUND CHANNEL --"Superb"
http://www.joebuff.com
readermail@joebuff.com
*******************************
If you love peace, prepare for war. Why?
Because we don't need more dead heroes,
and appeasement just never works.
*******************************

JoeBuff.Com / Joe Buff Inc.
Joe Buff, President
Dutchess County, New York

E-Mail readermail@JoeBuff.Com