Description: Once a popular print columnist, Meechy Blake has settling in to an uneasy retirement. His dream about a major book exposing the true dangers of AI have faded, along with his dwindling back account. He reluctantly accepts a reporting assignment from a webzine, if only to pay an unexpected debt. The assignment? A seemingly fluffy travel piece about an obscure canyon in southern California called Devil's Gate. Driving down the coast, Blake takes the opportunity to reestablish contact with a secretive source from the old days-- a retired scientist he nicknamed Dr. Boom-Boom, who once resided at the very hub of the U.S. government's national security establishment. When Blake tells Boom-Boom where he's going, the scientist tries to caution him about engaging Devil's Gate, an eerie site with an occult connection. Blake laughs off the warning and continues onward, fully embracing his assignment. That's when things begin to go seriously wrong and, after a few strange encounters, Blake realizes he has become a target. But why-- and by whom? Carefully covering his tracks, Blake sets off on a journey to answer these vexing questions, leading him to the hottest place on earth. Happenstance takes the reader into some very shadowy territory. And as Blake's quest for the truth evolves, certain secrets come to light that may have the reader asking, Is this really just a fantasy-- or is the author revealing some hidden truth? That nagging question is made all the more tantalizing by author Robert Eringer's enigmatic background in the world of intelligence and espionage-- and his journalistic exposures of that veiled community.
