Mark Greaney

Listen to "Mark Greaney And Marine, Lt. Col. H. Ripley Rawlings IV Release Red Metal" on Spreaker. In the course of his research for the Gray Man and Jack Ryan novels, Greaney has traveled to more than fifteen countries and trained alongside military and law enforcement in the use of firearms, battlefield medicine, and close-range combative tactics. During one of those research trips in Washington, D.C., Mark met Rawlings who was giving Mark a tour of the Pentagon. Rawlings, an active duty Marine, had writing aspirations of his own. A shared interest in military fiction led to a friendship and over coffee, not long after, as Mark puts it: Rip and I both agreed that a modern conflict between two super powers in Europe would make a heck of a story, so we begin talking it over. Initially, it was going to be a book Rip wrote alone with the two of us just spit-balling ideas, but quickly I was so excited about the project that we wrote up a 91-chapter outline and sent it to my agent and my editor. That theoretical conversation and outline grew into RED METAL, an epic, World War III novel that pits the West against a desperate Russian force. In it, a desperate Kremlin takes advantage of a military crisis in Asia to simultaneously strike Western Europe and invade East Africa in a bid to occupy a rare mineral mine that will give Russia unprecedented control over the world’s hi-tech sector. RED METAL features not only members of the U.S. and Russian military, but also an international cast of characters from all sides to fully examine the conflict. What makes RED METAL stand apart from other World War III what-ifs is the collaboration. Mark has been called “one of the best in the business when it comes to writing stories of pure action and adventure” (Suspense Magazine). His gift for delving into the plausibility of the stories he tells is unparalleled and his work with Rawlings adds even more of that “boots on the ground” realism.