Tsunami - A Novel

Gordon Gumpertz’ Tsunami is a techno-thriller that does not miss most aspects of that genre: an impending act-of-God disaster, its effects unknown, but a fear that they might be under-estimated; an extremely masculine military hero, who is every much a leader and a fighter; a brilliant female scientist who eventually falls for the extremely masculine hero figure; and, a variety of greedy villains whose wealth is threatened by the impending act-of-God.

Tsunami, A Novel

In Tsunami, the impending disaster is a series of tidal waves, the tallest being over 200 feet, that will wipe out the California coast and leave up to five million people deceased or homeless. The greedy villains have backed a multi-billion dollar real estate development that is in the direct path of the tidal waves.

The greediest of the villains are not American, and they want to make money selling Ripper guns, as well as in real estate. The scientist is a Hawaiian Princeton-educated seismologist who has predicted impending doom when her colleagues at her California laboratory will not. That lab is partly financed by the developer, who is backed by the greedy gun-dealing villains, and its chief executive is their puppet. And Coast Guard officer David Steel is the extremely, but sufficiently sensitive, masculine hero.

Tsunami has good points. First, it gives you enough of the science to help you follow the story. One flaw of techno-thrillers is that they get too much into the science and technology for a non-scientific or non-military reader. Or they get too much into the politics of the science. Those who are more deeply into the science and technology find that boring. This novel struck the right balance.

Thank You Bobby Murcer

Reviewed By Stuart Nachbar

 
I remember my first New York Yankee game. It was July, 1970, in the “original” Stadium, Yankees versus Minnesota Twins: our hometown boys versus Billy Martin’s first division champions. At least I think Billy was still in Minnesota that July; he got fired so often I don’t remember for sure. 

The Yankees of 1970 won 93 games, but we finished second, 15 games behind Baltimore. Our top three starters won 49 games and our top two relievers saved 45. The nucleus, the middle of our batting order was young: catcher Thurman Munson, American League Rookie of the Year, steady and reliable left fielder Roy White and center fielder Bobby Murcer, our home run king. The next season, Murcer took the American League batting title to the wire, hitting a career-high .331, though the team won 11 fewer games.  
 
Bobby Murcer was my favorite player on those bad Yankee teams, the ones that were owned by CBS, before George Steinbrenner bought the most storied franchise in baseball—for less than CBS originally paid. It was easy to bill Murcer as the successor to Mickey Mantle: they’re both from Oklahoma, both played center field in the capacious original Stadium and both dressed in the same locker. Murcer could’nt match Mantle’s power, or speed, but he became a fine ballplayer nonetheless. Bobby was a five-time All Star and hit 252 home runs, and he was the youngest $100,000 player in Yankee history. He was twice traded for more established stars: first Bobby Bonds, then later Bill Madlock, a future batting champion. That’s quite a complement; it showed how valuable Bobby was in his prime.