TOUR THE TORPEDO ROOM OF A BALAO-CLASS SUB SIMILAR TO THE USS SEGUNDO (SS 398)

 In my third video tour of a Balao-class sub we visit the torpedo room to learn how dud torpedoes affected Commander Fulp's unique fighting style.

READ ED KOSNER'S LOVELY REVIEW OF OPSTORM IN TODAY'S WALL STREET JOURNAL

Thank you Ed Kosner for the lovely review of OPERATION STORM in today's WALL STREET JOURNAL!
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324600704578400624055463186.html

TOUR A WWII BALAO-CLASS SUBMARINE

I've just premiered the first in a series of video tours of a Balao-class submarine just like the USS Segundo (SS 398), which I write about in OPERATION STORM!

Check the first one out below!

The Family That Reads Together, Stays Together

An old, childhood friend sent me this photo yesterday. Gotta love the support!

Underwater Aircraft Carriers?

Today is PUBLICATION DAY for my new, non-fiction book, Operation Storm: Japan's Top Secret Submarines and Its Plan to Change the Course of World War II. 

To read a brief history of UNDERWATER AIRCRAFT CARRIERS, follow the link below to my recent Huffington Post column: 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-geoghegan/underwater-aircraft-carri_b_2880155.html

Save $12 off "Operation Storm"

Pre-order Operation Storm from Barnes & Noble TODAY and SAVE $12.00 off the retail price!

See URL below for details:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/operation-storm-john-geoghegan/1114141490

Kirkus Reviews "Operation Storm"

Nice review from Kirkus for Operation Storm:

"Nicely dramatized story of the monster Japanese submarines that were trained on the American mainland at the end of World War II...An exciting narrative of a naval showdown revealing hubris and humility on both sides."

Click on link below to see full review...

http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/john-geoghegan/operation-storm/

Hardcover Copies

The feeling of arriving home and finding a box on your doorstep filled with your first hardcover book is hard to describe even for someone professing to be a writer.

"Publisher's Weekly" Reviews "Operation Storm"

"Publishers Weekly" released this very nice review of my new, non-fiction book, "Operation Storm" this week saying: "Geoghegan’s virtuoso research turns up surviving witnesses and obscure documents to corroborate this engrossing story of politics, logistics, and the technological leaps made during war...the resulting tale is a thrilling take on a little-known aspect of the conflict in the Pacific theater." 

IT'S GOOD TO BE ALIVE!

For details see: http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-307-46480-4

Visiting with my publisher

Met with Crown's marketing and publicity teams this afternoon to discuss promotion plans for "Operation Storm." Boy, they are one impressive group of people!

New Release Date

Publisher has announced an earlier release date for "Operation Storm."

On sale date is now March 19, 2013.

Author events to begin in March, so please stay tuned to this blog for more information.

Rare photo below shows the I-401 with two Seiran on her fore deck being readied for launch.

Index

Whoever prepared the index for my book I am sincerely grateful to you. It was bad enough proofing it, but creating it would have been impossible.

AMAZON NOW CARRIES OPERATION STORM

You can now pre-order Operation Storm from Amazon at the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/Operation-Storm-Japans-Secret-Submarines/dp/0307464806

Operation Storm

Publisher prefers the title Operation Storm because it's more military sounding so we are going with that.

You can now pre-order Operation Storm from Barnes & Noble below. Come on Amazon, get your butt in gear!

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/operation-storm-john-geoghegan/1112570785

New Title???

Oh-oh. Publisher doesn't like my title, "Storm From A Clear Sky: Japan's Top Secret Plan to Change the Course of World War II."

GOT ANY SUGGESTIONS?

Attacking New York City and Washington, DC

Storm from a Clear Sky tells the true story of Japan's plans to bomb New York City and Washington, DC as a follow up punch to the attack on Pearl Harbor. During my research, I came across this screen painted by Makoto Aida in 1996 which does an excellent job of depicting what the Japanese had in mind.

Copy editing

Got my copy edited manuscript back from the publishers. Now have to go through the somewhat tedious process of inserting my own corrections. Fortunately, thanks to my expert readers: Norman Polmar, Carl Boyd, Emil Petrinic, and Rear Admiral (ret.) Yoichi Hirama-san, my self-inflicted errors should be much reduced. I owe them a significant debt of gratitude.

Thank You, Annie!

Am loosing a wonderful editorial assistant at Crown named Annie Chagnot, but can't complain. In addition to taking great care of me, Annie's leaving to teach middle-school English for the New York City Teaching Fellows program. It's terrific that someone with Annie's background is undertaking such a noble task. She can make a real difference in reading habits at that age. Crown's loss is the children of New York City's gain! The world needs more readers. 

How I Came to Write "Storm From A Clear Sky"

I was recently asked what motivated me to write "Storm From A Clear Sky"? 

In no particular order, I had a desire to understand the psychology behind Japan's participation in WWII. I'd lived and worked in Japan, had married a Japanese woman, and had grown increasingly interested in piercing their culture (no easy task). 

I was also fascinated by the story of the I-400 subs, which were virtually unknown when I began. I'd read a one sentence reference to them in a book many years ago, and had kept it in a file marked "story ideas." When the wreck of the I-401 was discovered in 2005, I realized her captain was still alive, which led me to pitch the editor of Aviation History, a magazine I'd been writing for, to do a story on the I-400 subs based on an interview with their flagship's captain. Since I take my kids to Japan once a year to see their grandmother (and maintain their Japanese), I thought I'd interview the captain while I was there. One thing led to another and PBS made a documentary about the I-400s called "Japanese SuperSub." Since it was based on my magazine article, I wrote several versions of the teleplay and served as technical consultant on the production. Nevertheless, I found the one hour television format so limiting I thought a book was necessary to tell the whole story from both the Japanese and American points of view.

So, that's the explanation. Though it hardly fits in a nutshell, the genesis of these things rarely springs from a single event. If I had to trace it to one thing, however, I'd say I just couldn't believe there was such a thing as an "underwater aircraft carrier" and had to understand why it was built.

Live on Facebook

OK, finally went live on facebook today with a "Storm From A Clear Sky" home page. Even though we're still a year away from the pub date I thought it might be fun to start laying in material from the book to give people a taste of what's coming.

As a result, check out facebook when you get a chance and check back regularly. I've already begun posting photos of the I-400 subs, their Seiran aircraft, and some of the principle characters who dominate the book. More to come! jg