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The Father of Invention

My kids always accuse me of taking credit for inventing things. In their deluded and semi-formed minds, just because I discovered something on my own does not mean I invented it. For instance, I am positive that I invented the term ”Press the reset button” to mean forgetting what is passed and focusing on the now. I distinctly remember coming up with that term one morning in August of 1979 while hitchhiking from the Grand Tetons and I was particularly remorseful of something that had happened. A few years later, Bingo! I started hearing people using that term. My kids point out that other people probably had the same idea, and just because I thought of it and didn’t know other people used the term doesn’t mean I invented it. As I said, deluded.

I had to admit the kids were right in one case: In my upcoming book, “Google Maps Handicap,”  two lunkheads inadvertently bring about the demise of the GPS system. This ushers in a new age of comity, depolarization, and general bonhomie,  because people have to ask each other for directions and come to find out that the other guy is just like them, bonded in their inability to read a map. I didn’t have a term for this, but was sure I invented the concept.

So imagine my surprise when I was interviewed for a podcast this month by sociologist  Dr. Gary David, Professor of Sociology and Professor of Information Design and Corporate Communication at Bentley University.  We discussed my books, published and upcoming, and when I described my theory that destroying the GPS would help us because people would have to rely on each other more, he said, “Yeah, that’s a common theory in sociology, called Collision Theory.”  Well, kids, I will give you this one. But even if I cannot take credit for inventing this theory, I will take credit for publishing a novel about it next year.

Talking with Dr. David was an enriching and edifying experience, and I am looking forward to listening to it when it hits next January or February. His schedule is here.

Besides the podcast, this month I gave a talk at the Loudon County library in Leesburg. One fellow showed up with a well-thumbed copy of my book and asked very pointed questions. I loved it and relished that he read it and came with questions. Bring it!

Speaking of Submerged, this November marks the 8^th month in a row it has been a bestseller on Amazon, and still going strong! Keep reading and thank you, wonderful readers!

In November, I have two public appearances:

A live podcast on Military Broadcast Radio on 18 Nov at 8 Pm Eastern. This will be my first live podcast. Can’t wait to hear what comes out of my mouth.

A talk at the Cascades library in Loudon County on November 25^th at 7 pm.

For people who wanted more of either Submerged or How to Hotwire an Airplane, your prayers have been answered! I published two chapters that I omitted from Submerged and an alternate ending to Hotwire on the Freebies section of my website.

Thanks for reading and happy November!

Peace,

Henry Rausch

Just dropped off the winners of a lottery GoodReads ran for my latest book, “How to Hotwire an Airplane.” For the people that won, if you would like the USPS tracking number, drop me a line at author@henryrausch.com. Or better yet, sign up for my newsletter here, and when you do, you will have access to a few things I wrote but never published. I just posted the alternate ending to “How to Hotwire an Airplane.” My agent at the time wanted me to change the ending, so I did, but he still didn’t like it, and we couldn’t come to an agreement, so we parted ways. I am interested in what people think–do you think the alternate ending is better? Let me know!

Another thing I posted to the “freebies” section are two chapters I had omitted from “Submerged” due to length considerations. I am sure all authors have this experience, write more than is realistically publishable and we have to “kill or darlings” as the saying goes. But this being the Halloween season, the “darlings” have come back to life as zombies!

For readers in the Northern Virginia or Washington DC area, I will be giving a talk at the Leesburg, VA Rust library tomorrow, 23 Oct, at 7 PM. Link here. I have more library appearances and radio and podcast interviews to come, and will publish them here as well as on my website. On October 18, I will be interviewed live on Military Broadcast Radio at 8 PM Eastern time — I assume they will make a recording and post it to their website.

In the meantime, thanks for reading my books, and I look forward to your comments, email me at author@henryrausch.com.

The earth continues its journey around the sun, the air gets cooler, football is on TV, leaves fall.  Picnic give way to tailgaters, and our coffee and food is imbued with everything pumpkin-coffee, milkshakes, lattes. October wraps around us like a warm blanket.

September was a busy time for me writing-wise. I signed books at the Gainesville B&N and then gave a well-received talk at the George Mason Branch Library in Annandale, Virginia. I also decided to change the cover of “Hotwire” from one that I loved. But I admit it may have been too inflammatory—Lady Liberty shoved in handcuffs across an ICE vehicle. The new one represents the book better, a beat-up plane in the desert. Book sales have picked up, so I think I made the right choice. I am running a giveaway on GoodReads this month. Enter here to have a chance to get a free book!

Submerged continues to do well! October marks the seventh month in a row that is ranked #1 in its category on Amazon and it is now #1 in two categories!

At the talks I give, people are really interested in the hidden world of submarines, and also in their history and future. I talk about how pivotal subs were in the Pacific War—the submarine force comprised 2% of the Navy but sank 55% of the Japanese shipping sunk. Hitler started the war with 59 submarines, and with those, he came dangerously close to starving England into submission. For the future, submarines are the only warships that can take the fight to our potential enemies, China and Russia. China has hypersonic missiles for which we do not have a reliable defense, restricting surface ships to the “Second Island Chain” (around Guam). They cannot proceed westward without being subjected to hypersonic missile attack. Russia is fielding Yasen-class submarines with Zircon missiles, also hypersonic. Subs will be the defining factor in, God forbid, a war with Russia or China.

I also made progress on my new novel, tentatively titled “Google Maps Handicap”. The external story is about two gearheads who invent a racing app that forces the US Government to turn off all the GPS satellites. But it is the subject of the internal story that I think will captivate readers more: the growing polarization in America today, both the economic divide and the ideological one.  I have written about 30,000 words of the first draft. When ready, I will post a few chapters on the website.

I have heard from a few readers in the past month and yearn to hear from more! I respond to everyone and that is why I write, to create a reaction in people. Hopefully positive, but negative is fine too. Let me know what you think!

October will be another busy writing month for me. I will be hosted on a podcast early October, when that hits, I will post a link here. Oct 23 I will be giving a talk at Rust Library in Leesburg. And on Oct 19 I will find out the result of the Writers Digest Writing Awards, the top of which is a five-figure cash award, and an all-expense-paid trip to their 2026 convention. So if you live anywhere in Noeth America and hear a primal yell coming from West Virginia on that day, you will know my memoir won.

Until next month! Thank you for reading, and, as always, peace.

First, the good, no, make that fantastic news: My memoir, Submerged, was awarded first place in published nonfiction at the 2025 WriterCon! I am writing this in a Quality Inn in Russellville, Arkansas, on the way back from that convention, held in Oklahoma City. I am deeply honored and humbled by this award. There were world-class authors there, some of whom are on the NY Bestseller list. The award was not a “gimmee” or participation trophy, which makes being awarded it all the sweeter. More on WriterCon in a moment.

August started out with a splash. I was invited to be a guest speaker at the Virginia Writer’s Club Annual Symposium held in Ashland, VA. I spoke about how to get a manuscript approved by the DoD Office of Pre-Publication Security review (DOPSR). I had to get Submerged approved by DOPSR, and so does anyone else who has held a security clearance. Like all things government, it is daunting, bureaucratic, and time-intensive. But having learned the ropes, I felt honor-bound to help other vets in my shoes. I feel quite strongly that we should tell our stories; if not, they will be gone when we are. My second book, How to Hotwire an Airplane, has many stories from my father, who served as a Hospital Corpsman with the US Marine Corps 65-67 in Vietnam. He never wrote his story, so I did it for him.

The second week of August, I learned that Submerged had been selected as one of the top 11 all-time submarine books by a book review site, Tales and Text, which was very gratifying. You can check out the other books they recommended here.

18 August found me giving a talk on submarines to a library group in Alexandria. One of the attendees was a 98 year-old woman who had been an Air Force pilot! Boy, did she have some stories.

This brings me to WriterCon, which I mentioned I am just returning from.  It is a gathering of authors, agents, and editors for an intensive three-day series of lectures, workshops, meetings, and sharing. I remember meeting a woman at Oshkosh who told me she gets her “aviation batteries” recharged at that annual convention; well, I felt this same way here, for writing. I learned so much, I will spend the next few days retrieving my notes and putting them in order. Plus, the vibe was supportive and collegial. I made new friends and met people with whom I had only conversed via email before.

That’s it for this month. I promised not to spam you, only send a newsletter once a month. As I write this, it has turned 1 Sep on the East Coast, which means that Submerged has now spent a WHOPPING SIX MONTHS on the Amazon bestseller list in its category! For everyone who bought it, thank you!

One of the exercises at WriterCon—a contest actually–was to write a 100-word story, subject “End of the World”. Here is my entry, which I thought was pretty good, but the woman who won it had a much better story, to be honest. As I said, the writers there were top-notch.

Until next month, peace, and I wish good things for everyone.

Henry Rausch

Missile Drill

“Set Condition 1SQ for Missile Launch”

The order rang through the submarine, accompanied by the familiar gong-gong-gong of the general alarm. 160 sixty pairs of feet hit the deckplates on the way to missile launch positions. Men trundled out of racks, ditched meals.   When he got word that stations were manned, the XO of USS Oklahoma clicked the bezel of his stopwatch and assessed the results. 66.6 seconds, nearly a new record. He was pleased; hundreds of launch drills had paid off. It wasn’t until the missiles left the tubes that the crew realized it was not a drill.

Hi everyone. When I started writing and publishing, I did not realize that I would have to gain skills in, if not master, a wide variety of subjects that have nothing to do with telling stories. Hosting and building a website is apparently one of them. Up to now I have been sending my domain (henryrausch.com) to the Amazon author page, but it was impressed upon me that this does not suffice, hence this meager and halting attempt at a webpage which must look like first efforts back in 1996 if not sooner. Rest assured, it will get better! I am especially interested in establishing a dialogue with my readers, and I think this site will enable that in two ways: I have now an email address: author@henryrausch.com, and I think there is a comment feature on this site which allows people to make comments directly.

I will have lots more to write about in the coming days. I want to tell you about the two books I have published and the one I am writing now. Also, I fly alot, all around the country, and will be posting my thoughts and experiences about that as well.

For now, Hello, readers!

HR