2 kids at 2 book fairs remind us why writing books still matters
Also, China is not a bystander to the War in Iran
A reminder of why we do what we do…
A few weeks ago, JR and I were at the Rewind Book Fair in Minneapolis. About an hour after the show opened, a kid showed up at our table unaccompanied. Maybe 14 years old, crewcut, glasses. His eyes got big when he saw our books. (To be fair, our book display tends to stand out at these kinds of events.) He was kinda shy, but he asked a few questions, then ran off.
Twenty minutes later, he returned with a credit card and told us he had permission to buy two books. We sold him signed copies of Command and Control and Counter Strike and sent him on his merry way. I have zero doubt that he started reading as soon as he left our booth.
Last weekend, David was flying solo at the Lakefly Writers Conference in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He gave a presentation on Paths to Publication and sold books at the Book Fair. (The presentation went well. Thanks for asking.)
A young lady walked through the book fair with her parents in the morning. She was also about 14, and I heard her telling a nearby author that she wanted to write historical fiction.
Later that day, I glanced down the aisle and saw this:
That same young lady was getting her copy of Courting Freedom signed by historical fiction author Ellyn Baker. I grabbed my phone and took this picture that I later shared with Ellyn.
Seeing these two young people so excited about books is a keen reminder of why we do what we do.
China is meddling in the Gulf
A few weeks ago, we used our fictional powers to speculate on how China might be processing the ongoing War in Iran.
They’d watch US battlefield tactics, monitor our rate of munitions depletion, and assess how the US deployed AI in warfare. China is an ally of Iran, but taking a side in this war would be a risky move.
Or maybe not.
As JR, our resident intel officer, will confirm, most of the intel used in military analysis is open-sourced intelligence, or OSINT in military lingo. The value is not in the raw data, but in the analysis. That used to mean highly trained people processing data and providing context.
Not anymore. You know what’s really good at analysis? AI.
The Washington Post has reported on
…a fast growing new market: Chinese firms — some with links to the People’s Liberation Army — marrying artificial intelligence with open-source data to market information they claim can “expose” the movements of U.S. forces.1
These are private companies charged with “developing AI with practical defense applications under its civil-military integration strategy.” Their output is not transferred directly to Iran, instead, it is posted on social media for the world —including Iran — to use.
It’s a neat trick. Beijing can say it’s staying out of the conflict, while companies funded by the State publish open-source targeting information.
Review of the Week
As writers, we often put all our emphasis (and judge our “success”) on what happens on Launch Day. The real power of our work is in what marketers call the “long tail.”
Every day, for example, we sell a few copies of Weapons of Mass Deception, a book we published in 2015. Command and Control was published in January 2022, but in January 2026—four years later—we received this review from a reader who just found us. Dustin writes:
Command and Control is an electrifying start to what promises to be a blockbuster series.
Bruns and Olson bring hard-earned military and intelligence experience to bear on the narrative, lending the story a sense of realism that makes the fictional scenario feel uncomfortably plausible. Technical and tactical details are woven seamlessly into the action, enhancing rather than slowing things down.
For anyone who enjoys their thrillers big, bold, and believable, this one is highly recommended. The writing is crisp, the narrative relentless, and the stakes genuinely feel global.
Finding readers is sort of like planting trees. The best time to plant a tree (or find a reader) was ten years. The second-best time is today. If you haven’t started the Command and Control series, you’re missing out…
As always, thanks for being a supporter –
David & JR, AKA the Two Navy Guys
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/04/04/china-ai-military-intelligence-iran-war/
Great intel tidbit. China's ingenuity strikes again. Will we see this sleight-of-hand in a forthcoming book?
Thanks for great reminders on why we write and the long tail of book sales. I appreciate your insights into what’s happening in the world even when the end result is scary.