Writing this book, I had to face the fact that Conrad was now over sixty years old. He's just not a front line troop any more, and I try very hard to keep my books realistic.

To keep the series going, I made the lead character an interesting young man who had met Conrad as a boy.

After dispensing with a German invasion (which really happened at this time), Conrad forms up the Explorer Corps. He has started building ferrocrete steamships that can sail the oceans. He wants to set up trading posts all over the world, to sell his products and to buy the raw materials he needs.

Each explorer team consists of a seven man squad, each with his own specialty. They are put ashore, spend a year on site, and report what they have found.

Our boy's first job is in northern Finland. It was a long, cold winter, but they found a major iron mine.

On returning, they begged that their next assignment will be to someplace warm.

They got sent to the Amazon Jungle. Conrad needs rubber, to cover electrical wires and air hoses. A small fleet of riverboats was sent up the Amazon River to find it.

There are a few survivors.

The book was not well recieved. Everybody wanted more Conrad. But, dammit, there is a limit to how many major battles a man can be expected to live through!

And while I loved the Horse Clans Saga, I am not about to spend eighteen books re-writing the same fights over and over again. No body else seems to think so, but I actually believe that I am writing serious literature here!

I liked the book a lot, even if Conrad didn't show up much. Enjoy.