Have your read "Chipset" by Lior Samson, a new techno-thriller?

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Lior Samson, author of Chipset, answers your questions in this brief interview.

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1. What is the one book you want us to read (title, genre, and availability).

Chipset (Gesher Press, 2012), a techno-thriller in The Homeland Connection series, just published and available in print (ISBN: 978-0-9843772-8-2) and Kindle (ISBN: 978-0-9843772-9-9) editions from Amazon and elsewhere.

2. Give us a one sentence synopsis.

Madeira, a charming and picturesque Portuguese island, proves dangerous when a technology journalist uncovers a mystery in the military chipset he is delivering to the Madeira Intelligent Robotics Institute.

3. Who are the main characters and who would you like to see portray them in a movie?

The Homeland Connection novels share a number of characters in common, but the two central ones are Karl Lustig, an American ex-pat consultant and journalist living in Israel, and his British-born Israeli wife, Shira Markham, an artist and major force of nature. I am no casting director, but I could see William H. Macy playing Karl and Rachel Weisz as Shira.

4. Tell us about the story, but please don't reveal too much.

Like the other novels in The Homeland Connection, Chipset is a meticulously researched action thriller centering on genuine technological threats involving ordinary people facing extraordinary challenges. Like the novel that launched the series, Bashert (Gesher Press, 2010), the narrative is non-linear, in this case plunging the reader back to World War II in a story-within-a-story that is intricately connected with the present circumstances and the fate of the main characters. As with the other Homeland Connection books, Chipset stands on its own or can be enjoyed as part of the series.

5. What inspired you to write this book and how long did it take?

I was inspired by my experience with real-world cyber-security threats, as was the case with Web Games (Gesher Press, 2010), an earlier novel in the series. There were also lurking personal secrets of my characters that begged to be brought to the surface. In this novel, Shira and her intelligence-agent friend, Anat Dorfman, get the opportunity to take over the stage, something that I had long planned.

I made my first notes for the book in December 2011, but didn’t start writing in earnest until March of 2012. The manuscript was finished in September but it took several months to get and incorporate feedback from a number of reviewers and subject-matter experts.

6. What other books have you written?

In addition to the four books of The Homeland Connection (Bashert, The Dome,, Web Games, and Chipset) my fiction includes the somewhat noir medically-centered thriller, The Rosen Singularity(Gesher Press, 2011) and Requisite Variety (Gesher Press, 2011), a collection of science fiction short stories. I also have seventeen published non-fiction books, including one award winner.

7. Which authors inspired you, your style?

I have been inspired by many writers, starting with the inimitable Ursula Le Guin, but I can’t say that my style has been inspired or influenced all that much by any particular writers. That said, several reviewers have compared me to John Le Carré, and one writer has said I am better than Tom Clancy. Whether true or untrue, deserved or not, I am flattered by the company into which I have been cast.

8. Where can we learn more about you and your books?

My Amazon author page (http://amazon.com/author/liorsamson/) is as good as any place to start.

9. How can we follow you? Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc.

I am on Facebook under my pen name, Lior Samson.

10. Is there anything else you would like us to know?

There are more novels coming in The Homeland Connection, but my current work-in-progress, like The Rosen Singularity, is another excursion into uncharted territory.