Hello Friends and Readers!

I'm starting up a newsletter and Facebook page so I can let you all know what's going on in this writer's world. I see a lot of you at signings and book events, but there are many places I don't get to very often, and some not at all.

So maybe this is a good way to just say hello again and let you know what's news here.

Iron River came out early this year, to smashing reviews and I've been getting plenty of mail about that book because it's a controversial story. You may or may not know that "Iron River" is slang for the illegal gun trade along the U.S./Mexico border -- iron is the guns, and river is the flow south. If this sounds like something straight out of the news, it is. Iron River deals with the brutal cartel narcos who are establishing smuggling routes into the United States, where most of their marijuana, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine is consumed.

Fighting these extreme bad guys is the job of Charlie Hood, who you might know from L.A. Outlaws and The Renegades. He's an earnest young Los Angeles Sheriff's Deputy who is recruited to join an ATF task force trying to stem the flow of guns along the Iron River. When the task force goes up against the narcos, look out for epic trouble.

Epic trouble will continue for Charlie in The Border Lords, which will hit the bookstores January 11th of 2011. That's right around the corner! More on that later, but let me assure you that it's one hair-raising story.

Well, fall has fallen and the kids are back in school and the sun isn't getting up quite so early anymore. This writer plods out to his office every morning to check in on Charlie and create stories in which good and evil compete daily in the affairs of humankind. It's an entertaining way to see the world, don't you think?

T Jefferson Parker

If you would like to share your comments, please join other readers on Jeff’s new Facebook page!