When a man loves an airplane, it's a matter of calculations. When a man loves a woman, everything is up in the air. Paul Owens, in the early 1970s, found an obscure Soviet technical journal-and an inspiration that would save the Free World (based on true history). Paul also falls in love with a beautiful, intelligent young widow named Marsha Kassner, 32, who moves next door with her son Peter, 9. A brilliant aircraft engineer at Lockheed's Skunk Works, Paul is also a handsome young man tending toward fast cars, long hair, and loud music-all anathema to his stiff-necked supervisors. Certain mid-level managers conspire to eliminate him, in favor of someone safe, bland, and devoid of ideas like they are. Their mediocrity, and their resistance to change, nearly derails one of the most brilliant inventions of the century. Have Blue, named after the project that gave birth to this technology that saved mankind from World War III, is a historical techno-thriller with a strong romantic story line, loosely based on the first days of that project. The hero, a young engineer with a fascination for aerodynamic nosecones, discovers a stunning mathematical secret in an obscure Soviet journal--overlooked by similarly mediocre managers in the Communist domain. Have Blue was the most top-secret U.S. military project since the atomic bomb project. In 1973, the fate of the world hung on what would eventually become known as the F117-A stealth fighter. This became clear during the so-called Yom Kippur War (October 1973) between Israel and her Arab neighbors. This brief, devastating war was a test run between U.S. and Soviet proxies. One of the key arenas became the war between Soviet-built Egyptian defensive radars and U.S. penetrating attack jet technology-and the latter won, hands down. Now if only Paul Owens could overcome the forces conspiring to keep him from bringing his growing affection for Marsha Kassner through all the opposing radars to win her heart.
About the Author: John Argo's fiction, straddling several categories, can be found at cafeokay.com and clocktowerbooks.com. Like Have Blue, all his novels include a (usually sentimental) love story. He writes historical fiction, DarkSF, suspense, thrillers, and Empire of Time (high SF). Note: there is no connection between Have Blue (historical suspense) and Neon Blue (suspense novel that, in 1996, became one of the first true e-novels ever published online for download. More info at cafeokay.com and clocktowerbooks.com. Look for the Museum pages for important historical info.