

The second edit for my new book Tail of the Dragon is well on its way. As we speak my editor is plugging away at the daunting task of delivering it back to me for a final edit near the start of the New Year and from there a 2012 release date will be forthcoming. I know a lot of my readers here at Overmanwarrior’s Wisdom are interested in this very cryptic project of mine that has been three years in the making now. While I can’t give away specific details I can provide the tentative marketing summary that I prepared for my publisher as we enter into this next phase and begin to contemplate marketing necessities for the books release which you can see below.



A highly rebellious loner whose NASCAR dreams have fallen short finds himself the victim of a governor’s plans to run for President of the United States. Wellington Royce, governor of Tennessee is seeking the support of the Fraternal Order of Police to catapult him into the White House by adding more officers to the highways around The Great Smoky Mountains and to pay for them with increased citations on the tourists who visit. Thrown in jail, abused, and set-up, Rick Stevens in a fit of rage accepts an offer to declare war on the highway patrol by the governors political enemies using $20 million dollars to build the car of his dreams in a plan to wreak havoc in what becomes the greatest car chase in history. The chase emerges as a journey of self-discovery, deep contemplation and new-found romance as an impenetrable gauntlet of guns, missiles and the might of the military sits at the finish line and the treachery of politics proves to be more sinister than even death.


Tail of the Dragon is an intensely layered novel that intricately combines the struggles of emotional growth with breakneck action and imminent danger with peril at virtually every mile of this illustrious car chase. What makes this particular story unique is that the chase is actually instigated and is politically motivated by the protagonist. People who have read the early manuscript say the beginning is reminiscent of the film First Blood while the ending is 100X the chase at the end of The Road Warrior. The lead character knowing what to expect builds a car specifically designed to out-run, out-wit, and out-maneuver anything the police or military can throw at him. This includes the latest in composite armor technology of course, but the two most unique attributes to this mystery car that is built for this epic car chase are elements that I am particularly passionate about.

When purposely planning to flee from police officers during a high-speed chase the first problem that must be solved is refueling, the Highway Patrol will naturally be sure to shut down all petrol stations within many miles of a fleeing vehicle. That is why the main character in my novel decides to use an alternative fuel for his high performance supercar, something that he can get independent of heavily guarded fuel stops where snipers from helicopters can shoot him dead as soon as he attempts to refuel. The police to prevent further injuries and risk to civilians will naturally attempt to force a car fleeing from officers to simply run out of gas so they can capture the driver when they attempt to escape on foot as the last option. That is when the main character plans to utilize the technology shown in the video below.

Yes, that’s right. The fuel for the supercar in this epic car chase is vegetable oil, which can be found at virtually any restaurant. So in theory our hero plans to refuel his car when he runs out of gas by backing up to a McDonalds and dumping their used oil into his car. And no, the police are not happy about it…..not in the least.

The other big development is in the engine, which is a highly specialized Peugeot diesel engine from France that puts out close to 700 HP. The engine has to be a diesel engine because in order to run a car on vegetable oil the power plant must be a diesel. Now most people think diesel engines are built for trucks. Not so. Have a look at this Audi from Germany and what they’ve been able to do with a diesel engine.

That gives you an idea of what kind of power, and quickness we’re talking about with the super car featured in Tail of the Dragon. When planning to outrun everything the police have available, and the aircraft that the military has to offer a car would need to accelerate from zero to 100 in less than 7 to 10 seconds and would need a top speed of over 200 M.P.H. because many police departments have their own supercars for such high-speed pursuits. But you could not have a fuel source that the police could control but something that existed on the open market in great abundance, like vegetable oil.

In modern America where there are fast food restaurants at nearly every highway exit ramp, vegetable oil is just the thing for a fuel supply. Getting over 700 HP out of an engine that runs on vegetable oil is a bit tricky, but Peugeot has solved the problem by producing a diesel racing engine for Le Mans events so the technology for all my thoughts about the supercar featured in Tail of the Dragon can become a reality. (FOR MORE INFO ON TAIL OF THE DRAGON AND THE WORLD IT’S ABOUT CHECK OUT THE LINKS BELOW FOR MORE HINTS) The first link has a video introduction about the book by me as well as other videos that show how politics and racing have gone together with each other for a long time.

Public Announcement of Contract Signing


The Speed Culture of the South and Why it’s Important


Pictures and Video from the actual road Tail of the Dragon, where the novel takes place


My first article upon completion of the manuscript


What does nearly 200 M.P.H look like? An update from the publication hunt


Why are Pirates important to the pursuit of FREEDOM!


Why the Confederate Battle Flag should be remembered


A government out-of-control: the senators who voted for NDAA


Just like in the golden age of piracy in the Caribbean where the ships needed to be much faster than the ships they were robbing, my editor pointed out to me a few weeks ago that Tail of the Dragon is a modern pirate story and the car in the story was like a modern pirate ship. That was an aspect I hadn’t considered, since I simply wanted to resurrect the good old car chase stories of the 70’s like Crazy Larry and Dirty Mary, Bonnie and Clyde, Smokey and the Bandit, Vantage Point and many others. But in this story the protagonists actually picks a fight with the law, on purpose and for political reasons which conjured up in her mind a pirate story. That was completely unintentional on my behalf, but was simply a byproduct of my interests which any writer is vulnerable to. For the blank page that sits before a writer will soak up the mind of those who fill it, and my mind has a lot bouncing around in it, as anyone who reads here often will know. So yes, my love of pirate lore found its way into my epic novel! It was unavoidable!

The benefit however is that we have a car in this story that is unlike anything ever created for literature or a film. Take every trick car in a James Bond film and you might have something comparable to the pirate car in this story, and that is exciting. I waited for years for somebody else to do a story like this, but they never did, so I accepted the task to put my dreams on paper! I look forward to the day in the very near future where I can share all this great stuff with a larger audience and reveal finally the details of an epic American tale that not only looks to be culturally significant given our current government problems, but will help paint an artistic picture of what the world will look like under the rule of a police state, similar to what the senate just passed with the NDAA act. Such things only three years ago seemed like science fiction to many when I first put pen to paper in the mountains of Tennessee and began the journey that has become Tail of the Dragon. Because the government is growing at an alarming rate, and is becoming more and more intrusive it can be a lot of fun to follow the exploits of a man who looks at this encroachment and decides to go pirate. But it takes more than just a pirate to tell such a story because in every great tale of adventure, plunder, and revenge there is a pirate ship, and Tail of the Dragon certainly has one, so much so that in the words of my editor, “the car is one of the strongest characters.”

Mission accomplished!



Rich Hoffman