Hi,

I wanted to draw your attention to a new TV piece about the 35th anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre (June 4) and my experience during that period in China. The Voice of America Chinese Service did a great job of collecting archive material — including never-before-published footage I shot with my old video camera — and putting together the story of that dramatic period, which still has resonance today.

It’s on my homepage for easy streaming.

I added English subtitles to the Mandarin narration, and my soundbites are in English. You’ll see inspirational footage of the student demonstrators, heart-rending scenes of mayhem during the crackdown, and you’ll hear one of my old radio reports from Beijing as well as my recollections of that time and my analysis of China’s prospects for political reform now.

The opening video shows protesters going past my apartment. I shot it from my balcony, and I also filmed some of the other clips they used. They even found news video of me packing up my office after I was ordered to leave the country, and a shot of me arriving in Hong Kong a few days later. It was a big deal at the time, and got me on the front page of many American newspapers as well as stories on evening news broadcasts, and even slots on Nightline and other TV shows.

The report is very well put together, so have a look.

For the writers among you, I’ll be speaking about the craft of writing and the process of getting published at two conferences this fall – Sleuthfest in St. Petersburg, FL Sept 26-29 and Florida WritersCon in Orlando Oct 18-20. Both are great not-too-big conferences with loads of great speakers and the chance to meet agents and publishers, as well as to network with fellow-writers.

I always find conferences inspirational. I wrote a blog about them here. Come on down to Florida in the fall!

It’s been a while since I produced a newsletter because I’ve been busy writing, revising, and trying to publish my next book, BODY MAN, a thriller about the political divide in America. I have a new agent and she is working hard to find the right home for the book.

I’ll update you when we have a plan.

Until then, have a great summer!

Al