W. Dale Ogle has a lot of high adventure and international intrigue on his mind for a retired school teacher.
Stinger missiles, a ruthless gun runner, a beautiful professional killer and an old-fashioned train speeding through the Alaskan mountains along a narrow gauge railroad.
But don’t worry, none of it is going to cause the terror alert level change to colors because it’s all on the 179 pages of Ogle’s new book ‘White Summit Pass,? printed by PublishAmerica.
‘I’ve wanted to write a book all my adult life,? said the 67-year-old Oxford resident. ‘This was my first effort and I’m really pleased with it.?
Ogle’s fast-paced story, which he noted is ‘quite plausible,? follows the adventures of Terry Hanson, a Harvard graduate and young covert operations agent with the CIA assigned to a law firm in Philadelphia in 1992.
‘He’s a tall, skinny, self-assured individual who doesn’t need or see any reason for pretentious behavior,? Ogle said.
Hanson’s position affords him the opportunity to get close to one of the firm’s clients, Phil Deavors, an arms dealer who uses his auto shop to cover his dirty business.
‘He has virtually no scruples and no allegiance to any country,? Ogle said. ‘Money is his game.?
A hunting trip to Alaska that Hanson manages to secure for he and Deavors gives the gun runner the perfect cover to obtain some U.S. stinger missiles smuggled out of Afghanistan ? leftovers from its successful war against the former Soviet Union.
But there’s one factor neither men count on ? Jodara, the beautiful Middle Eastern wife of Deavors. ‘Jodara is beautiful. She is a babe,? Ogle said. ‘But she’s really a monster. It’s hard for American men to see that because we are all still engendered to believe that women are angels.?
A trained, professional killer, Jodara is working to obtain the missiles for Saudi Arabia, who’s trying to quell the rising military power of its aggressive neighbors Iraq and Iran.
Jodara, whom Ogle described as the ‘kingpin of it all,? is ‘highly sensual? and skillfully uses her sexuality to manipulate others and lure them into her deadly traps.
The book’s main action takes aboard a steam engine train on the real life White Pass and Yukon Route in Alaska.
About five years ago, Ogle and his family rode this narrow gauge railroad built in 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush to link the port Skagway, Alaska with Whitehorse, the capital of Canada’s Yukon territory. It’s an isolated system with no connections to any other railroad.
Ogle found the ride to be an ‘exhilarating? experience as the train climbs nearly 3,000 feet in just 20 miles and features steep grades of up to 3.9 percent, cliff-hanging turns of 16 degrees, two tunnels and numerous bridges and trestles.
‘You feel that grade as you’re going up,? Ogle said. ‘If you’re afraid of heights, you don’t want to be looking down.?
Surrounded by mountains, glaciers, gorges and waterfalls, Ogle felt this historic railroad isolated by wilderness made the ‘ideal setting for a high adventure drama.?
It took Ogle, who spent 31 years as an English teacher and counselor in the Utica school district, a little over two years to write his book.
‘It took a long, long time to write this thing,? he said. ‘To really write well, you’ve got to do six, eight, 10, 12 drafts, and sometimes start over in a brand new direction. I threw away entire chapters, entire confrontations.?
‘It really moves along,? he noted. ‘There’s some humor in it and a lot of surprises, some real big surprises.?
Doing research for the book was a time-consuming process, but Ogle admitted technology made it a lot easier.
‘I don’t know how people ever wrote without the Internet because if you can’t afford to go to those places, you’ve got to be able to bring them to you,? he said.
Ogle’s main goal now is to get his book on the shelves at places like Borders Books and Barnes & Noble.
The way to do that is by garnering media attention (like this article), which will hopefully generate public interest and lead to book signings at stores.
Ogle stressed that his book was not printed by one of these publish-on-demand companies where authors pay anywhere from $500 to $5,000 to have their work turned into books.
‘This didn’t cost me a penny,? he said.
Based in Maryland, PublishAmerica is a traditional publishing company whose primary goal is to encourage and promote the works of previously undiscovered authors.
Like more mainstream publishers, PublishAmerica pays its authors advances and royalties, makes its books available in both the U.S. and Europe through all bookstores and never charges fees for its services.
Publish-on-demand companies, in Ogle’s opinion, ‘don’t care what you write? and will ‘publish anything.?
Because PublishAmerica is the one spending the money to have the book printed ‘they won’t publish it unless they think it can be sold.?
‘The only way the company gets paid is if the book sells,? Ogle said. ‘That’s a real plus for me.?
Ogle is nearly finished writing his second book in which a ‘tsunami to dwarf all tsunamis? crashes into a cruise ship around Antarctica and kills everyone except for a handful of people who must fight to survive.
He plans to submit the book to PublishAmerica, but wants to ‘wait to see some success? with ‘White Summit Pass.?
‘White Summit Pass? sells for $19.95 (soft cover only) and is available on-line at Amazon.com, PublishAmerica.com and BarnesandNoble.com.