1967. He tells the history of the war but with the words of Israeli Soldiers who fought on the front lines. This 50 Minute Program is next on booktv. Thank you guys for coming out on this hot night. What am i going to do . I will try to do about 20 minutes and then we will just talk, questions and i will tell you about how this book came to be written and then a little bit what it is about since the 6day war sort of obscure in most peoples minds. Let me tell you about myself as a background as a jew. I found out that i was jewish when i was 13 years old. That is not as uncommon as it might be. That was a shock when might that laid down one on me so i sort of decided at this point, 1956, after about a week of shellshocked i decided that i would get with the program. If i am a jew i will get with it so i decided i would go to temple and learn this stuff. There was no temple in my home town of pleasantville, new yorks i hitchhiked to the next town where the clintons lived and the weird thing was that the real issues at the temple rejected me because i was this geek jew from the next town that they looked down on that had no bar mitzvah, couldnt speak phibro had had a very bad attitude about being jewish so after a little bit of trying to i sort of gave up and went back to being a regular american. But through this whole era of growing up, i was looking around like any guy for role models. I thought what jews are out there that i can relate to . This is the 50s and 60s of either comedians or Molly Goldberg or something, there was nothing i could relate to. I could never quite get with the program and then came the 6day war, 1967. And that was this thing that suddenly, until that time i dont think i was very much aware that is really existed. Suddenly there was this thing where the state of israel was hanging by a thread, about to be overrun by hordes of enemies. Suddenly in six days they turned it completely around and on tv you saw jewish Fighter Pilots, jewish paratroopers, jewish tank guys and the eye patch and i thought to myself, these are some jews i can relate to, look up to, all different style. So Flash Forward to 40 years later and i have a writing career and i have written books particularly military seemed, war seemed books about the ancient spartans, alexander and macedonians, the british, etc. Etc. But it occurs to me i have never done anything about my own people. Not to mention the fact that the six day war is an incredible story in terms of purely military terms it ranks with gettysburg or anything like that but beyond that, it is a great story because it is a story of return from exile and the climactic moment, i will get into that. That was i decided this was three years ago, paul knows about this kids he was with me all the way on this. The first thing i did. I had never been to israel, didnt speak hebrew, knew nothing about it so i called my friend david lives not far from here and how the hoodie you know in israel that is connected in military struggle so i can go over there and come by my house this friday and i will introduce you to somebody and standing there, too bad we dont have the capacity to project any thing, a picture of a Fighter Pilot. So meeting at davids house, lou who lived in venice, he was 92 or 91 years old at the time, he had been a marine corsair Fighter Pilot on okinawa in world war 1 world war ii, a hero. This state of israel was founded in 1948, he went over and flew flip fledgling Israeli Air Force and in fact he led the first fight emission of only four planes that saved tel aviv and saved the whole country. I will get to that story too so we immediately bonded. I was a marine, he was a marine and he just sort of adopted me like a son or younger brother and said i will take care of you, set you up with everybody over there so i went over there and i was there for three weeks and 6 weeks so 9 weeks total interviewing 67 pilots, paratroopers, hundreds of hours and then came back and put it all together. So let me tell you a little bit about the 6day war. In context, just to give you a sense i wont take long on promise. 1,000 b. C. David, king david of david and goliath fame captures the city of jerusalem and the kingdom of israel comes into its own in the whole land. God commands temple to be built but not by david, by his son solomon who built the great temple in jerusalem. The arc of the covenant is there. Raiders of the lost ark, the holy of holies and all that kind of stuff. On the temple mount in jerusalem. Now cut to 587 b. C. The babylonians conquered jerusalem, burned the temple to the ground and dispatch all of the jews to babylonia. I know you guys heard about bob marleys on, by the rivers of babylon there beset down and wept when we remembered zion. So the jews after a while come back, rebuilt the temple, cut to 70 a. D. The romans come to town, they burn the temple to the ground and expel all the jewish people out into the world so by the way both of these events happen on the same day of the hebrew calendar, the ninth of the month. When the romans expelled the jews, this was the start of the diaspora where the jewish people for 1900 years lived as aliens and exiles in the countries of the others. All the while longing for home, for jerusalem, which would be, that famous phrase next year in jerusalem which always seemed to be a dream that would never be fulfilled and because they were exiles and daily into the peoples country, all the terrible things that happened, persecutions, the inquisition, all leading up to the holocaust. So i know i am is oil long winded but bear with me. I am going to cut to france, 1890. Anyone heard of the dreyfus case . In france at that time, there was an artillery officer of jewish descent named Alfred Dreyfus who was accused of treason and convicted, send to doubles island but what happened at that time was in his trial, emile zola wrote the famous editorial i accuse in defense of dreyfus. This wave of antisemitism where mobs were in the street chanting kill the jew, kill all the jews, etc. At that time there was a secular jewish reporter from austria, hungary named Theodore Herschel was covering the trial and when he saw this outburst of antisemitism he was appalled and horrified and the conclusion he came to was that the concept of assimilation, that jews could within the countries of others and it would work was never was going to work. If this could happen in a country of civilized cultured country like france where the Jewish Community had been striving for a thousand years and where thousands of jews had served and died for the armies of france, this is never going to work. He came to the conclusion the jewish people had to have a state of their own. When i was researching this book i was with the two star general that i was interviewing, he drove me to this street where the original, the first boutique was on the corner and to a little plaque on wall, the plaque sit in hebrew and fringe in 1895 Theodore Herschel, the founder of the Zionist Movement wrote the book the jewish state that foretold the resurrection of the state of israel. So finally, cutting ahead, 1948 est. Of israel is founded and for the first time jews are back in the hole land. Now to return to my friend lou from santa monica, 1948, as soon as the jewish state declared itself, 1948, may 14th, five arab parties, egypt, as urea, lebanon, iraq and jordan, attacked, across the border to drive the jews into the sea. My friend saved tel aviv, this was called the war of independence, a big battle occurred over jerusalem, over the old city of jerusalem and what happened was the arabs won. They captured the old city of jerusalem which was where all the holiest sites were including the western one. Remember the temple i talked about, the temple was turned down twice . The only thing that remained of the temple was the wailing wall, the western wall, wasnt even the wall of the temple. It was retaining wall of the temple mount so that site had become over 2,000 years the holiest site of the jewish people to witch pilgrimage would be made when it could be made but once the jordanians captured the old city of jerusalem, first they burned 60 synagogues, killed every jew they could find and it was impossible for anybody to come to the western wall. So this being kind of the Schools Center of the jewish people, finally cutting ahead to the six day war, 1967. Does anybody remember nasser . Nasser was the president of egypt. Probably the greatest arab leader, the most charismatic arab leader ever. Nobody to compare to him now. The short version of it is he brought 1,000 tanks and 100,000 egyptian soldiers into the sinai desert threatening israels existence. Then syria, jordan, same thing. Again, the short version of the story is in six day as the jewish people defeated the combined arab armies, captured the west bank, captured jerusalem and the key moment of this, the emotional climax of this thing, i remember this vividly from 1967, when israeli paratroopers pass through the lions gate, a gate in the walls of jerusalem and reached the western wall. There were moments of secular paratroopers who didnt know how to pray, baking their brother paratroopers to teach them how to pray and it was sort of an overwhelming moment in jewish history. The 2,000 year cycle, finally came to its conclusion at that moment. To me as a writer, you look for not just the surface stuffs. Not just the actual events, the bourse for, the action scenes but what does it mean . We were talking about this before. What is the metaphor underlying of this thing. The metaphor to me of this story was the concept of exile, the jewish people stand for and the total world soul, a people that had been in exile and aliens and strangers in a strange land forever because they were separated from this place, the sole center of the people and i feel like that is as true for individuals as it is fair nations. In any senses, the gnostic according to rabbi finley, believe that exile was the essential state of the human being, that we all are sort of in exile from something, from god, from our higher nature, from who we were born to be from our best selves and our lives, the quest for Self Realization or self actualization is a search for that center that is our true selves. As artists we try to find that spot where we are in touch with the news and it seems to me that we kind of go through our evolution of our lives, we try on different identities, searching, getting closer and closer. To me, that moment which when attempt paratroopers reached the western wall, the sole center of the jewish people after so long, was so emotional even around the world because i think people related to that and could understand it and the other thing is you dont get to that place, nobody can give it to you. It cant be handed to you on a platter like had the western powers or russia or the u. N. Given it to israel wouldnt work. It has to be taken by force of arms in the face of opposition. Anyway, that is what it meant to me. And at the same time the process of meeting the people that i met and immersing myself into that world which i had never been to israel, knew nothing, was also kind of trans formative in a way for me, way of coming home in a certain sense. I have abbreviated lot of stuff here. I hope i didnt bore you guys. Why dont we if anybody has anything to say or ask or what ever you can ask about it. Thank you for that. Appreciate it. Dont know if this is working or not but hopefully everybody can hear me. Two questions. How did. End up in santa monica . Did your research in writing the book gives you a different understanding or change anything on how you view Current Events happening in the middle east . Very good question. I will tell you a longer story about lou. Came home from work as a Fighter Pilot hero. This is where he lived. He was in the movie business. One day a palestinian major, palestinian at that time meant someone who lived under the british rule, in other words a jew, came and spoke at a synagogue in hollywood and he was recruiting people, looking for soldiers and pilots and at that time the fbi was after anybody who tried to to help the infant jewish state because you were serving under a foreign flag. At the same time the Jewish Defense forces were conspiring like mad to get around that. So one guy gave lou if you were a that, you could buy an airplane. Lou was given 5,000, 100 bills so he went to the center, bought an airplane, the kind of flow for in india. He wound up going over to israel and at that time, this is more than you asked by will give it to you, the Israel Air Force had no planes at all. The only thing they could get, they got four screwed up mr. Schmidt 109s that were put together with bomber engines and mismatched parts from czechoslovakia. Flew them into israel and they were not even bolted together yet and meanwhile the Egyptian Army was coming up the coast toward tel aviv which was only 60 miles. There was a famous fight where women fought in the trenches against the advancing egyptian brigade so anyway lew was planning to take his four planes and attack this based. Suddenly into the air base where they are comes the jeep with a guy who was in charge of the jewish forces defending against the Egyptian Army coming up so he said lou, we need your plane and lou said dont worry, we are attacking tomorrow. You dont understand, we need them right now. We have the egyptian sell the that this half blown up bridge and if we dont stop the right now they are in tel aviv and that is the end of israel so lou took these four planes up and the bombs didnt work, the guns didnt work. It was the total debacle but the emotional shock of seeing four messerschmitts with the star of david on the side stopped the army, stopped the Egyptian Army and deflected away so that was how hulu at age whatever age he was, came to be just got married to someone and is in israel. What was your second question . The reason it shifted . In putting this book together and interviewing people and all the research that went into it and the writing of it. Did change our perception at all, open things up in terms of the Current Situation in the middle east and a lot of conflict that is happening right now . Yes. I confess that i am not really an expert in what is going on as far as the palestinians or anything like that. But it certainly showed me what i was talking about, let me read you i sort of hate to read because it gets really boring. I will just abbreviate this. There is the moment when the paratroopers got to the western wall and there were two guys who were best friends, and one of them was killed shortly thereafter by terrorists but he and let me see if i can find this. They were a deputy brigade commander, second highest ranking paratrooper and they had gotten to the wall and the photographer it is only two paragraphs. Photographer was recording the historic moment with his camera. Stuck my body between himself and the lens. No film could he be made of his tears. He held my arm in a group of iron. Please see tried to speak and twice his voice failed. People be so close that the bras of our helmets with touching. The guy telling the story, was such a motion that i could hear the words still, the we spoke almost 50 years ago, if my grandfather, if my greatgrandfather, if any of my family who have been murdered in the death camps, if they could no somehow even for one second that i, their grandson, would be standing here at this hour, as this place wearing the red boots of an israeli paratrooper, if they could knows this for just one instant they would suffer death thousand times and count it has nothing. He gripped my arm as if he would never let go. We shall never, never leave this place, never will we give this up, never. Suppose thats shows me sort of the depth of the motion that is there at least on one side of the conflict that was not there before. I am not sure that answers your question but that is what i did learn. The depth of the motion on the one side. Anybody else with anything . Anything more . Michael. I dont know your whole body of work. This sounds like a departure. That said, how did it affect your methodology of writing because i would think compiling other peoples words and stories into a narrative is different. In other words you have a force to reckon with. Very good question. The answer, one of the things ive out after this was overs i was never going to do nonfiction again because it is much too hard. Right now paul goydos i am fedexing to israel 300 separate books to everybody that helped me over it there. It will cost me 30,000 and it has taken me to answer your question, although it is completely nonfiction is completely different, this is narrative nonfiction so it is like black hawk down or perfect storm in that you cant make anything of. You dont have that crutch. You want to make a point so you invented scene. You cant do that. But the same rules apply. To storytelling. There has to be a theme and it has to be paid off in the final scene and it has to be set up all the way through. There has to be a protagonist, there has to be an end agonists, all of those things. You were right on target because you take all these facts like donna 3 x 5 card and it would cover the whole wall, it is like a puzzle that what comes first, what comes second. For instance, just talking about the primacy of the western wall. In putting this together the third chapter is about that and just kind of plant it in the readers mind. So yes. I just want to ask something about lou. I know luann sino a bunch of guys. Out of all the pilots that fought in the is really work, only three were is really. Everyone was from the united states, canada, australia and south africa. I knew. Very well. I just finished an article myself about another pilot that was a very good friend of lews during the war. His name was mitchell flynn. He is 91 years old and he lives in los angeles and he told me the whole story and i put it on line. A great story as well. What they did and how they got under the rate our of the american authorities and israeli authorities because they an amazing story. During the 67 war i was in the military, in israel and the war was in june. An ended in september my service. Where were you . Up north in the golan heights. Thank you for coming here tonight. Yes . What specifically inspired the story . Did you read an article about something . Was a conversation with someone . And also what was your process light . How long ago was that . That inception face up until today . Great question. I will tell you why they give you more of an answer then you wanted. One of my classmates, three four years ago from high school sent me a message on facebook, he said the you know that allan blue died . He was a guy who was cocaptain of a football team, really cool dude back in high school and he totally a jew, totally secular. I looked up did you know that he became a rabbi . Did you know that he was like he was the zen rabbi of San Francisco . He became a very beloved figure. So i thought this was a mindblower to me, this kid that i knew in high school. Allen had written two books, so i bought them. They both kind of blew my mind. One was about his sort of the journey as a jew. I always thought he was hit and school and nothing bothered him but he was going through all kinds of turmoil and stuff like that. The second book was about, partly about this holiday, nine and a month, the date the temple was destroyed two times, 650 years apart, and that sort of got me into thinking about that stuff, about the exile of the jewish people and then i remembered the six day war because i was alive then. That circle kind of happened in my mind and i didnt even think about it for a few months and later it just kind of came through that way and i started on it. That was like maybe the ideal was five years ago, i was with nancy at that time. It was probably three years ago that i started. Anything specific you wanted to ask about . Process . The project. Yes. Others and i have a blog that i do every week, only that. It was all consuming. The other night i was going over in my mind how much money i have spent versus on this thing and it is coming down, i am making three dollars an hour if that much. I cant believe how much i spent. [inaudible] never been associated with that . With israel . What did it do to you . These crazy people over there . What happened to you after you spend so much time with those crazy people of air . In terms of how it changed my outlook and everything . For israel and be the same person . It was really lets see if i can boil it down to something simple. If one of the things over here we had since vietnam, the all volunteer army, no draft. We had two generations grow up that ever served in the military so when you meet somebody under 60 years old you assume they have never been in the military all. The jewish people too smart. Then you go to israel and you can see a face. You look great for 47. I juice a lot in going through the journey as a writer, was there an identity finally in completing this work or maybe just spending time in israel . Was there an identity that you had perhaps been looking for since 1967 or even the 1950s when your father had informed you that you were jewish. At the end of the day was there an identity that you found that you realized you had been looking for, and then one small question after that, is going back to previous work of yours, where there are any forces of resistance that were unexpected and how did you defeat those . Those are beth great questions, deep questions. Id been really thinking about that a lot, scott, about the identity, and im torn. On the one hand, we all have our tribal identities, no matter how much we may pretend we dont. We have a certain face, a certain body, we belong to a certain thing, and so that when i was over there, i certainly felt id be with a bunch of these Fighter Pilots of guysthat kind of thing, or men and women, and i would really feel like this is where i belong. But then i would feel, well, maybe i dont. So that sort of one kind of way of looking at that, became very that really it was born in me and kind of grabbed me. So thats there for sure. But at the same time, im really not a believer in tribal identities. That it what it fucked up in the world right now. Everybody says its us against them, dah, dah, dah. If were ever going to get anywhere on the planet we have to get beyond those identitiesing are right . Im a sunni. Youre a shiite so im going to kill you. So, i am sort of torn. I dont really i dont really know im both issue guess i would say. But it certainly didnt come dune to like, lou, move to israel. I wont be doing that. But im my heart is much more there than it ever had been before. And in terms of resistance, a good question about the war. One of the things that happened when i first got there, i started having panic attacks, and i never could really figure out dish still dont know exactly what it was, bus i would do things i wrote about it on me blog i would get locked in the parking garage and i couldnt figure out how to get out of the parking garage, or i would get lost or just try to go to from my hotel to a bagel shop i could see from the window of my i couldnt find my way there. And i would be in such a state in the morning getting up to go on the interviews, i would have to like literally tell myself, now put the toothpaste on the toothbrush, now put it in your mouth, and i never really figured out exactly what that was. But eventually i went away and i got in the groove of it. As for the writing of it, this long process ive never been so deeply shoveling working as hard as i could, but the writing of it was a piece of cake. That was like nothing but Everything Else was just a nightmare of hard, hard labor against the grain. I dont know if that answers your question, scott. Thanks for asking great questions, you guys. You said you came up with the metaphor of compile exile for this book. Did you decide that when you started or did it come to you. I decided it from the start. A really good question. And i think thats the way a writer works. That the first question i found, for a lot of years of doing this, is to ask yourself what is this about . What is this project about . Whether its writing or any other kind of a thing. And like when i was telling the story about rabbi lou, my friend from high school, had already kind of thought from his story of exile and return, and my knowledge of the six day war and the moment at the western wall, i already knew that was it. But i very definitely that was the spine of the story and i built the story around that. So, it was like what you were saying, your question of fiction versus nonfiction of. If this had been fiction i would have made up the scene, this scene, to make it work. But because it was nonfiction, had to go there and find people to tell me those things. But i knew like lets say the question was, whats going to happen in the final scene at the western wall . If its Stephen Spielberg directing the movie. I could come up with some bullshit but i knew that if i could talk to the real guys, that they would tell me something i would never have thought of in a million years, and ill tell you just a couple of tiny things here. You guys still have patience for a little more of this . Of the craziness of war and of this kind of stuff. They when the israeli paratroopers got up to the temple mount where the western wall is, they didnt really know where it was because no jew had been allowed there ever, in 2,000 years, burt they knew there was a poplar gove there. Found the poplar grove, and suddenly out of nowhere, like they had just come out of a gun battle, an old, ancient arab appeared in a white robe with a huge key around his neck, and one of the guys went up to him and said, what where is the wailing wall, in english . The guy was two freaked out to say anything but they dragged him over to this gate they were looking for a get and said finally they realized he was the gatekeeper and that is what the key was. Finally when they had him by the gate, a small door in a big gate, he said to them kind of recovered himself and he said to them, i knew i had been waiting for you for 19 years. I knew you would come. He gave them the key. They turned it and there was the wall on the other side. And then theres another crazy story right after that, that one of the things they wanted to do, the paratroopers, was to hang the israeli flag, and they had to find a spot above the western wall so the kind of went back up the same place againthe same small group of guys, and they there was sort of a row of buildings blocking them from a place that were where they knew they could hang the flag and suddenly this guy came appeared, young guy, with a blonde on one side and a brunette on the other, and he says in english, dont shoot canner im one of the good guys, and turns out he was a jew from brooklyn named mark im going to forget the last name he converted to islam, changed his name to abdullah, and was there working for english language newspaper. He said, come through this door this is his apartment opened the door to this apartment and said, the places youre looking for is right on the into side and thats where the went to. So these are the things you could never make up in a million years but thats how things happened. [inaudible] i never knew. His girlfriends, i guess. Good question, steve. How did your background as a marine help you do this project . Was it were you able to relate to the soldiers better . Absolutely. A lot of the story was infantry stuff. So, definitely i could relate to it, and they could relate to me. So, yeah, definitely. Doctor . Yes. First of all, congratulations. Quite a journey. Thank you. Inspirational to watch. Wontly i had a friend named jim who he said, im going to israel. And i was like, really . Why are you can do that . He goes, well, thats where the rental car is. And i said, thats a great reason. I didnt hear that, what . He said thats where the rental car is. That was his excuse for going to israel. Thats where he rented the car. Never really understood but thats my one israel story. Doesnt actually qualify as a question but i did think it was kind of a unique reason to go to israel. Okay. Thats where the rental car was. And i also i read your blog of yesterday, the part about youre entitled to the labor but not the reward, and or that the reward was the sitting on i presume on your ass, so im rubbing my ass thinking, god, thats an interesting reward. And i was wondering if you had any other thoughts . Thats the only question i can come up with. All right. Nothing to do with the lions gate but i did think the profun did of the reward is the sitting was an interesting comment and i wondered if you had anything else about it. Well, the blog was about the lions gate. The lions gate had been out for a week, and the question was, as a writer, how too you manage your own expectations. Just like actors and directors when your movie comes out, are you so psyched up. And so over the years, being in the movie business i have had my heart broken so many times the bottom line for me was that you cant base dish tell the story of dish wont tell it you cant base your selfesteem on what other people say or what the response is out there in the real world because you can do something great and it goes nowhere, right . You do something terrible and youre the toast of the town. So, the so i was just talking about as krishna says, were entitle to our labor but not the fruits of our labor. I just ask myself, am i happy . With what i did. Did live up to my own expectations . And if i can answer yes, then im okay with that. So then what paul was saying about the sitting is this is the kind of the zen thing that the sitting is its own reward. Its not as though youre seeking enlightenment and if you dont get a bolt of lightning that makes you a different person, that you failed. That youre there to sit and be still and be in the present moment. So, same thing to me with writing or any art. It is its own reward. To do it. And that i think is the only way to stay sane in this racket in a creative racket. Anything else . Thank you, doctor. This actually might be you talk about how the state of israel came into being as a result of a force that had to be, which was the assertion militarily of, like, were going to be have a violent expression. Yeah. Do you see any relationship with that thought, as controversial as it is because im not saying its not true. Im just saying its an interesting thought. As it relates to the treatment of palestinians today as they relate to the jewish state. Could you be a little more specific . I mean, like, obviously we would all like peace in the middle east, but if a country is forged in blood, does that Carry Forward . There is any hope thats a great question, and eight like an insoluble question because going back for centuries, blood for blood for blood for blood, right . But i tell you one little anecdote i thought was interesting. [inaudible] we can could back to the crusaders [inaudible] let me tell you an anecdote and maybe this will be of interest. This is my other friend, elly, the guy who is checking the radio each time, and were driving past an arab town in israel, and i said to hem, tell me the truth, any hope of piece here . And he said, yes, and ill tell you why. And he said, how can you tell an arab house or palestinian house . Just from looking at it. They all have glad flat roofs, unpin issued and youll see rebar sticking up from the roof. Why is that . Its because when eldest son takes a bride he can never afford a house of his own so they build an apartment on top of the house. Thats what the rebar is about. Whereas if you go to an israeli town youll see a lot of roofs that are red tile, california type of sloped roofs. So, eli says look at the palestinian town, the arab town now. Theres a red tile roof, theres another one. I see half a dozen without even looking, and he says what that tells me is that people are prosperous enough that the son can get married and buy his own house. And he said, nobody is going to be a suicide bomber who lives in a house with a red tile roof. So, again, thats kind of oversimplified but there may be some hope there somewhere. Building on your the idea of letting go of the expectation of what happens once your book is published, what usually happens after you write a book . Do you get a post publication depression until your next project . Yes, yes. You start on the next project, what is it . Yes. Thats definitely true, that when i first came out here, many moons ago in the movie business, if i had a movie that was coming out or anything like that, i would drop everything and just wait for the drive past, was anybody and everyone was a bomb, and just heartbreaking. So i sort of learned over that time to be well into the next project, halfway through the next project, and put that one kind of behind you, and because trying not to jinx yourself by doing that. So i think what has been my experience even with successful stuff, things good out there and its not like people hate them, its like they dont even know theyre there. They just sort of sink without a trace, and its really depressing. Are you going to make a movie . No one has asked me yet. Not yet . Not yet. Scott . One last quick question here. I know that when i read, reading always leads me to maybe eight or ten other books. What i the one book i read informs my next step. Me, too. Im wondering if in writing the lions gate if this book has informed what youll be doing in the future at all. Good question. And i know youre careful with this. If youre at all willing to give us a hint or tell us anything about what is on the horizon. Very good question. I will. Usually im superstitiously dont want to talk about anything, but im actually writing a book [helicopter running] writing a book about the writing of this book and how it affected me and the blog post im doing now are part of that. Like talking about panic attacks, ive written about that on the blog that i do, and so i think its in many ways the story to me is almost as interesting as the story of the war, because its a transformation youre going through. Its about thats all ill say. Anything else