Jeff Bailey
I write action/thrillers with a nuclear theme for a reason. I worked in nuclear related technologies of one description or another for forty-five years. In 1967, my first assignment for the U.S. Army at nineteen years old was to repair and maintain a portion of the nation’s nuclear weapons arsenal. By 2012, I retired from the science staff of a national laboratory, after seventeen years. In the years between, I built, initially started, or operated a variety of nuclear power and research reactors..
While I heavily infuse my nuclear resume into my stories, I base the stories themselves on true events from everyday news items. I based my first fiction release, The Defect, on the actual events surrounding the meltdown and destruction of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Station in Pennsylvania and on the lone gunman attack on Watts Barr Nuclear Power Station in Tennessee. The Wikipedia account of Three Mile Island says that the failure of an air pilot valve contributed to the accident. In The Defect, the defective air pilot valve is the hero. #JeffBailey
I am a member of The Sagebrush Writers Guild and the Tri-Cities Film Institute, both in Richland, Washington. #JeffBailey
My wife, Patty, and I have been married for forty-one year’s. It looks as though the perfect union might last. My hobbies are my family down to my great-grandsons, reading, writing and the occasional crossword puzzle. #JeffBailey
Deer Hawk Publications released my first book, The Defect, in June of 2016. The Defect is a fictitious account of a terrorist infiltration of a nuclear power plant in Southern California. It was so easy. It all went so wrong. Who or what saved Southern California from widespread radioactive contamination? The story is based on true events surrounding the meltdown and destruction of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Station (NPS) in Pennsylvania. I also based certain elements on the lone gunman attack on Watts Barr NPS in Tennessee. Read the first chapter of The Defect. #TheDefect
Not on My Watch is my second book. When terrorists steal two nuclear weapons, they don’t count on a witness - a lone female U.S. Marine firefighter witness. Alone, unarmed, and out of touch with her chain of command, she is determined to stop them. She soon becomes entangled in a terrorist conspiracy and must find a way to stop it. Not on My Watch is scheduled for release in 2018.
The screenplay version of Not on My Watch was a finalist in the Pacific Northwest Writer's association 2020 screenplay. The book can't be all bad.
I completed The Chilcoat Project in November. It is slated for release winter 2022. A senior scientist has gone missing from a National Laboratory. Homeland Security is concerned that the secrets of his last DARPA project may be lost with him. Worse, Homeland Security doesn't want a terrorist organization to have the secrets, either. Brian Sing is asked to help find the Chilcoats and recover the intellectual property contained in The Chilcoat Project. The book is scheduled to be released by Deer Hawk Publications.
In Wine Country, Brian Sing's niece, Abby Sing, is a college coed writing a personality study for a psychology class. Her study reveals that two of her class mates have sociopathic personalities. She follows them and discovers that they are going to act on their tendencies. Her investigation takes her from stolen x-ray machines, to a wanted terrorist, to the White House.
I'm writing THE AMERICAN PIRATE in collaboration with a gifted YA writer, Brad A. Lamar. THE AMERICAN PIRATE chronicles the adventures of Carlos Monveta, a fifteen year old looking for his first job in New Orleans in 1813. He takes a job in what seems to be a legitimate business at the time, privateering, pirating, for the government. When his employers, the Lafitte brothers, are captured, Carlos' life takes an unexpected turn. Ya' gotta' love a swashbuckler.
In SING'S ARTIFACT, Sing Boudreau is on a High School graduation scuba diving trip off the coast of Africa. She finds a piece of sunken treasure: a small thing, really. So, she googles it. Several groups around the world, including U.S. Homeland Security, take notice of her search and all hell breaks loose with Sing in the middle. Keep in mind, I write nuclear thrillers.
The main character in COMRADE PRESIDENT has a knack for gaining the political support of the politicians, diplomats and generals, domestic and foreign, that enter his world. He doesn't always use legal or ethical means to gain that support. He learns that one of his minions, an Army General, has found an undocumented nuclear weapon and has kept the find a secret. Comrade President must decide how best to use the weapon to gain even more power world-wide. What could go wrong.
The Hot Nugget is a future project. In The Hot Nugget, Government officials have found a gold nugget, in its natural state (right out of a river in Africa.) However, this gold nugget is significantly radioactive. Naturally occurring gold is not radioactive.The nugget must have been in the radiation field of an operating nuclear power plant or close to an exploding nuclear weapon. Who would radiate a raw gold nugget and put it back in the river? Is there an operating nuclear power plant in equatorial Africa? The President assigns Brian Sing to find out.
Philty's Legacy will be based on his short story Philty's Gold Mine. The short story was so well received that he expanded the story into a novel. Philty's Legacy takes place fifty years after Philty's Gold Mine. The main character is facing the retirement and his mortality. He decides to explore one more mystery from his youth, a lost gold mine. His journey takes him places he never expected.
Film: I participated in the production of a short film, Renewzit, a comedy short written and produced by Randy LaBarge and directed by Nat Saenz. I was a script assistant during filming. It was a fascinating experience. Renewzit will be available after the 2017 Helsinki Film Festival and the 2017 Tri-Fi Washington State Film Festival. I'll post the link when it is available.
Screenwriting: My writing collaborator, Randy LaBarge, and I completed our first screenplay based on my second book, Not on My Watch, in January 2018. We have submitted it for coverage and consideration. Screen writing is a different horse that novel writing. I consider it expansive cross-training. The full script is available upon request.
My Favorites:
My favorite movie is The Forbidden Planet with Leslie Nielsen and Robby the Robot.
Mys favorite book is Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.
My favorite authors are: James A. Michener, E.L. Irwin, John Steinbeck, Brad A. Lamar, 'Papa' Hemmingway, Larry Rodness, Jack London, Stephen King, John Grisham, T.C. Schueler, Clive Cussler, James Patterson, Wilbur Smith and Robin Cook.