Honors for Counterclockwise! 

Roger's second novel, the recently-published Counterclockwise , has just won the prestigious Fantasy/Science Fiction Award in the 13 th annual San Diego Book Awards.

A genre-busting book-within-a-book, Counterclockwise combines elements of alternative history, science fiction and thriller, and features a cop, a spy, a glamorous movie star and a dogged reporter.

EXCERPTS FROM Counterclockwise

Cass said, "Cheers," took a sip and went on. "There's still so much we don't know. The limits of our understanding will look pretty feeble a hundred years from now. Imagine Lincoln or Napoleon trying to make sense of computers or spy satellites. 'What's your PIN number, Abe?' Blow their minds."

"You're saying nothing's impossible? That we'll discover how to move around in time?"

Cass shrugged.

"And maybe in some dimension parallel to this one, the Japanese pulled a Pearl Harbor on L.A.?"

______

Vee looked Tom and Cass in the eye, each in turn. "You're sure you want to hear this?"

"Yes," Tom insisted. "Don't stop now. 1924."

"All right then. That coronal mass ejection shot forth a huge solar wind, such a surge of electromagnetic energy that it buckled the Earth's magnetic field for a moment, long enough to split our space-time continuum. A second time track began."

Tom pursed his lips.

This accurate but fictionalized account of the Guadalcanal campaign is seen through the eyes of the Marines' commanding general, his enemy counterpart, a tormented Navy nurse, and a Japanese dive-bomber pilot. But mainly it's the story of a bright, lonesome young Marine from the American Midwest.

EXCERPTS FROM EVERY SHAPE, EVERY SHADOW

Night came on fast. Unlike northern Illinois, there was no lingering twilight here, close to the equator. Moods changed as darkness fell. Kenny saw their skipper, Lieutenant Gates, huddle with Sergeant Plunkett and the platoon's other noncoms. Sentry assignments were made, passwords and countersigns arranged, and the men turned in.

Nightshade brought no relief from the heat and mugginess, but in darkness the jungle took on a new aura. The trees had secrets. Sounds and shadows were full of menace. Kenny imagined danger lurking everywhere. He'd been right as a small boy after all. Goblins do inhabit the night.

"You scared?" Plunkett asked.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Good. Me too."

This was it then. Action at last. The patrol's mission was to see what was out there, how many Japs, find and probe their strongpoints. There'd be shooting for sure.

All of Kenny's doubts and fears resurfaced. He started to clean his rifle, which he did every day. Squirted oil on a patch but had trouble getting it down the barrel with his ramrod. His hand was shaking again.

Damn, he'd be worthless out there. Death would be lying in wait in that dark green stinking hell. Yellow men would be shooting at him. Shooting at him. Trying to kill him.

And to think that he'd voluntarily joined the Marine Corps. Walked right in there and signed his name. Was going to see the world. Exotic places he'd read about, places like Panama, Honolulu, Manila, Shanghai. All he'd seen was a smelly old steamer and a rotting jungle.