My book, Secret Agenda, is featured in the PSST section (p. 24) of the March issue of Palm Springs Life.

Tomorrow my wife and I go to San Diego where on Saturday I will be judging regional competition for the National Trial Competition among law schools students. The competition is sponsored by the American College of Trial Lawyers.

New Kiva info.

I forgot to tell you that you get kiva at http://www.kiva.org/, or if you're inclined you can go to www.kiva.org/team/armenia to get on the team. From there you click on loans and get the same page as on the main kiva link.

Have you heard of Kiva? It's a San Francisco based organization that provides financing to small entrepreneurs in many countries, mostly developing, around the world. The way it works is Kiva has established partners around the world who find small businesses in need of funds and is a microfinacier for those businesses. Kiva publishes those borrowers and their business on a loan site, and lenders search this site for borrowers. The site allows you as a lender to select the type of business (retailer, transportantion, manufacture, farmer, etc.) and the area of the world that you're interested, such as North America, South America, Europe, Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia, etc. The loans are typically small, $25 or $50, but can be larger. The attraction is that anyone can participate.

I learned of this when my grandson joined Kiva as a fellow. He is a graduate in accounting from Santa Clara and has worked as an accountant for the prestige firm of Earnst and Young in NYC for several years. Kiva fellows work without compensation in various underdeveloped areas around the world and promote Kiva and this endevour. It takes someone without a lot of ambition and a willingness to survive in primitive areas on little money, but who wants adventure and an introduction into the world of microfinance. Obviously most are young people, and they must be recruited by Kiva and undergo an extensive training program in SF.

I got involved as a lender because of my grandson. He is stationed in Armenia, a new area for Kiva. I've found that it is a lot of fun and a worthwhile endeavor in helping small businessmen around the world. I've loaned $25 or $50 a taxi driver in Mongolia, a farmer in Tajikistan, a fuel transporter in Mongolia, a small shoe manufacture in Lebanon, and more recently, because they just became available, on the site a livestock farmer in Armenia and a food trader also in Armenia. You can even join a team of lenders, as I have the team Armenia. My team leader, my grandson, gets credit for all of the teams loans, no matter where.

Try joining Kiva and lending. You'll get a kick out of it.

Secret Agenda Book Signing

I've been inactive since the end of July for a number of reasons, but I'm now ending this hibernation. I'll be signing books on Saturday, December 12, at Borders in the River at Rancho Mirage, CA from 10 am until 4 pm. All of you Southern Californians or visitors are invited to visit with me. See you then.

My new book, Secret Agenda, was released by SterlingHouse Publisher today. It can be obtained at the publisher's website, Amazon.com or at B & N. I recommend it as a good mystery and a excellent summer read. You can get more info about it on this blog and from a video trailer on my website, www.jerrybanksbooks.com .

When I was at the BEA the end of May, someone asked me some questions about my writing. He said he'd heard that it was better to "show" with you style than to "tell" the reader. He wanted an example of that. I told him I do it by dialogue rather than narrative writing. For example in Secret Agenda, Nahir is giving an investigator a tour of the Ngawangeesh city of Ngawang, and I do it by dialogue, i.e.
Then he pointd at a large concrete structure they were approaching on the left.
"That's our hospital."
"Do you have some of your own doctors and nurses.?"
Nahir smiled, slowed the pickup and looked at her. "All of the doctors and nurses here in Ngwang are Ngwangeesh. As a matter of fact, most of our members practiced professions, ran businesses, or performed their trade as artisans before they were converted. Later I'll show you the dam our engineers built and the farming operations set up by our agronomists. I head a small law firm with 7 lawyers, and we have accountants who keep our books and follow the tax laws."
Hall shook her head. "What about taxes? Do you pay property taxes?"
"Property taxes presently, but income taxes no. We take the position that none of us produce income. What we produce is for the consumption of the community. We haven't been challenged yet."
Basically, what you see is the character showing, rather than the author writing a narrative.