CARL NELSON

SECRET PLAYERS

Carl Nelson — Annapolis graduate, former Navy captain, professor of international business, writer, author of the Vietnam War novel "The Advisor" (Co-van), and eight works of non-fiction — widens his landscape with the introduction of his second novel.

"Secret Players" opens with a gripping tale of terror and then chronicles the lives of the protagonists, moving back and forth between America and Japan. The finale is between the two men and their wives and shakes the reader in light of the terrorist attacks in our own country on 9/11.

The story takes the reader to Pittsburgh, Detroit, Saginaw, Washington, Paris, Tokyo and Taiwan. It shows how the lives of five strong women and four determined men become intertwined during the last half of the twentieth century.

In it, two veterans who faced each other during WWII set out to change the world. Buck Steele, who wants to be rich, is determined not to live a Pittsburgh steel mill life. Sako Amanuma, out of the hatred and shame and against the wishes of his wife, becomes the Shadow Shogun of Japan with a strategy to conquer the United States. Carrick, Buck’s accidental wife, takes him to Detroit and introduces him to the Cass family of Saginaw. Buck then grows CASS Corporation into America’s first billion-dollar conglomerate and a target for take-over by the Shadow Shogun.

Winner: “Best Thriller” of 2003 by the prestigious San Diego Book Awards Association.

"An absorbing tale of rivalry that carries the weight of history. Potent stuff!"

— The San Diego Writers/Editors Guild

"Secret Players" is published by New Century Press, 2003; ISBN 1-890035-32-7. It can be ordered at www.newcenturypress.com, (619) 476-7400, through most Internet and local bookstores or www.carl-a-nelson.com.