[“Kane Looks Back” is a series of posts where my editor, Kane Gilmour, will focus on some of my past novels that you might not have discovered yet. Now read on… –Jeremy]
Erik Somers, the original Bishop, was sent to Iran to deal with an abandoned Manifold Genetics laboratory and a bioweapon. Coincidentally, another operator in Iran discovers information about Bishop’s true parentage, and the adventure begins. Gunfights, espionage, and terrorism ensue. Although this was one of the titles where Jeremy needed to adjust a lot of David McAfee’s first draft to bring the story in line with Jeremy’s vision for the team and with Bishop’s character, the resulting novella brings a lot into the story that Jeremy might not have brought, and that’s thanks to David’s approach. The tension, the pace, and threat, with Bishop conflicted by his own inner turmoil over his adopted upbringing and the discovery of his true parents distracting him in a time when he cannot afford to be distracted.
Foot-soldiers infected with a deadly bioweapon turning them into rampaging madmen. Betrayals and twists. A deranged terrorist forced to go out in a blaze of fury. And, perhaps most importantly, a view to the softer side of Bishop, a man who had already been turned into a rage monster in a previous story, and then constantly forced to keep that instability in check through meditation, serenity practices, and an unrelenting willpower. In this novella, we get further glimpses into what drives Somers, and after the upheaval of the main story, an epilogue that humanizes him even more.
Callsign: Bishop (2011) is available in paperback and as an e-book. The story is also available as an audiobook, narrated by Jeffrey Kafer. You can also purchase the e-book as a part of the Callsign: Tripleshot collection, which also includes the Queen and Rook novellas.
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