I’m often asked how I choose the names of my fictional characters. In the case of The Able Archers, people have asked me how I chose the names of the two protagonists, the American Kevin Cattani, and the Russian Ivan Levchenko I chose Kevin Cattani’s name for the following reasons: My own first name is Celtic. My last name (Morra) is Italian...
I recently sat down with Dr Robbin Laird to chat about the relevance of The Able Archers to current events in Eastern Europe and elsewhere. How Not to End the World: Brian Morra Talks About The Able Archers By Robbin Laird Recently, I reviewed the forthcoming book by Brian J. Morra, entitled The Able Archers. The novel (which I highly recommend)...
This is the third and final blog post on the men to whom I dedicated The Able Archers. Each was responsible in an important way for preventing an escalation to world war in the fall of 1983. General Charles L. Donnelly, Jr., United States Air Force (b. 24 August 1929, d. 3 July 1994) Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov, Air Defense Forces...
This post will continue my discussion of the three men to whom I have dedicated The Able Archers. I covered General Charles Donnelly, Jr., in my last blog post and will address Lieutenant General Leonard Perroots in a future one. Today’s post is about Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov – the ‘man who saved the world’. Lieutenant Colonel...
I dedicated The Able Archers to the memory of three men who were instrumental in preventing an escalation to world war in the fall of 1983. General Charles L. Donnelly, Jr., United States Air Force (b. 24 August 1929, d. 3 July 1994) Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov, Air Defense Forces of the Soviet Union (b. 7 September 1939, d. 17 May 2017)...
Biographies of the fictional protagonists of the Able Archers Series Current as of November 1983 Kevin Cattani, United States Air Force Intelligence Born: Southern Virginia, USA, in 1956 Education: BA, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, 1977 US Air Force Training: Air Force Officers Training School, 1977, San Antonio, Texas...
Almost everyone has heard of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 and how the Kennedy Administration was able to defuse a situation that could have led to a nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union. By contrast, almost no one knows about an equally dangerous crisis (a more dangerous crisis according to some) that occurred in the...