Need to Know Now on Amazon!

Need to Know Sean Smith's latest national park thriller, is now available from Amazon. Kindle and
Paperback versions of Need to Know can be found here. 

Need to Know starts in 1947 when nine silver discs were spotted over Washington State's Mount Rainier National Park. Since then, buried high on its volcanic slopes is a secret government's would kill to protect.

In Need to Know, Park Ranger Grayson Cole finds himself once again at the center of a worldwide conspiracy.

Along with Aimee Crocker, the daughter of a disgraced Army Intelligence officer, the two risk avalanche, blizzards, and deadly agents in a race to uncover something that could shake the world to its foundation.

Need to Know is Sean Smith's third Grayson Cole thriller. The first is Unleashing Colter's Hell about a terrorist attack in Yellowstone. The second called Lost Cause is about a search for a Civil War relic that supposedly has the power to start a second Civil War.

Draft Need To Know Covers: What do you think?

Below are four draft covers for Need To Know, the next Grayson Cole Thriller. The novel is set at Washington's Mount Rainier National Park and is a cliff hanger about a secret that's been buried on the volcano's slopes for nearly seven decades. Once revealed, the secret will shake the world to its foundation.

The first cover is reminiscent of a Tom Clancy Thriller and promises Clancy intrigue and suspense. The second  plays on novel's conspiracy theories, while the third mirrors a poster that might accompany the book's movie tie-in. The last resembles a spy thriller and hints at the secret at the heart of the story.

So which cover to you like? Make sure to vote in the online poll to the right.

Need to Know Tom Clancy Cover



Need to Know Conspiracy Cover

Movie Poster Cover

Need to Know James Bond Cover

Sean Smith is a former Yellowstone Ranger, and an award winning conservationist, TEDx speaker, and author. He writes national park thrillers from his home in the shadow of Mount Rainier National Park. To learn more about his thrillers click here or follow him on twitter: @parkthrillers

The top secret source of my inspiration!

When meeting with my readers and fans, I'm often asked where do I get my ideas. My quick answer is from my past experiences.  The oft quoted cliché for author's is write what you know. The longer answer to this question is my past travels, family life, and work have shaped my experiences which in turn shape the material I can draw from for my work.

But it is my time with the park service that serves as the inspiration for much of my work. I've worked at iconic parks like Yellowstone and Glacier, but also visited more than half of the nation's park system from the Everglades to Denali, from Acadia to Death Valley and countless parks in between.

Visiting and working in these parks revealed that America is a diverse country, one made up of millions of people, places, and more importantly stories. While working with the park service I had the honor of personally meeting tens of thousands of people from all over the world. In my interaction with these visitors I found people are attracted to the parks for many of the reasons one would expect, the scenery, the wildlife, the history, the recreation, the opportunity to spend time with family and friends. However, many are attracted for other reasons. Some come for the adventure national parks represent, some are drawn to the mystery parks can contain, the opportunity to discover something about themselves, their country and world.

Then there was a select set of visitors who came to the parks for the conspiracies they hold and represent. On more than one occasion, I met with visitors who were convinced Yellowstone national park belonged to the United Nations, while others thought Glacier National Park is the site of a super secret Nazi base hiding a lost gold train.  At the North Cascades, I once spent much of an afternoon discussing with a visitor his passionate belief the United States never went to the moon. Other conspiracies I heard included the Park Service's air dropping wolves and other endangered species into wilderness areas to push out cattle ranchers, the Park Service working with the Department of Homeland Security to depopulate the country, and the nefarious disappearance of thousands of people from the National Park backcountry.

These visitors' active imagination became the source for the themes at the heart of my two thrillers. Unleashing Colter's Hell for example, centers around a potential terrorist attack on the park which ignites the super volcano, destroying the United States in the process.  Meanwhile, Lost Cause focuses on a extreme right wing militia attack on Civil War battlefields in the hope of starting a second civil war. My next thriller, Need to Know is due out later this year and figuratively takes off after a UFO sighting at Mount Rainier National Park.

Conspiracy theories are fertile ground for writers, especially thriller writers who can take the public's acceptance of simple solutions to complex problems and spin it into compelling stories.

Where will my next thriller go? What conspiracies will it explore? Well to paraphrase the X-File, as long as people go to the national parks, the source of the next thriller is out there.

Do you have a favorite national park conspiracy theory? Please share in the comments section. Perhaps it will turn up in one of my future thrillers!

Sean Smith is a former Yellowstone Ranger, and an award winning conservationist, TEDx speaker, and author. He writes national park thrillers from his home in the shadow of Mount Rainier National Park. To learn more about his thrillers click here or follow him on twitter: @parkthrillers

Need To Know: National Park Thriller Draft Cover

Here is the next draft cover for Need to Know. What do you think?

This is the third Grayson Cole thriller. This time Grayson is at Mount Rainier National Park, the location of the world's first UFO sighting. Since then, buried high on its volcanic slopes is a secret, on world government's would kill to protect.

Look for Need to Know in 2016.  Until then check out the other Grayson Cole thrillers here.

The source of my inspiration keeps me up at night

George Hodan

I’m often asked where I get the inspiration for my novels.  The quick answer is it often comes from worries that keep me up at night. I’ve found plumbing the depths of ones deepest fears is a rich environment within which to find themes and setting for my thrillers.

The more irrational and unlikely the fear, the better story it makes.

Humanity likes to think it’s in control of its destiny.  We tell ourselves we are smart and capable enough to handle any crisis.  And why shouldn’t we believe this?  We’ve dodged every threat so far be it the plague or nuclear war.

But this is a false sense of optimism, for there are threats to humanity that no amount of human ingenuity can prevent.  Things like extinction events. 

In my first novel, Unleashing Colter's Hell the plot hangs on one such natural disaster that if it humanity may not survive.  The story is set in Yellowstone national park, where I had the honor of working as a park ranger.  Most visitors to the park know about its geysers and bears.  But few appreciate the fact that Yellowstone is the world’s largest super volcano. If it were to erupt as it has in the recent past the northwest corner of Wyoming would be unlivable for centuries. The Eastern half the United States would be buried under tens of feet of ash, and the world’s temperature would drop to levels not seen in tens of thousands of year. Much of the world’s agriculture, transportation, and water supplies would be destroyed, millions if not billions of people would die.

Scientists tell us it’s not a matter of if Yellowstone will erupt but when.  Even more terrifying, if Yellowstone were to begin waking up today, there is nothing we can do to stop it.

That’s the backdrop for Unleashing Colter’s Hell, where a mad man has acquired an atomic bomb, with the plan to detonate it in Yellowstone, triggering a cataclysmic eruption. Park Ranger Grayson Cole is all that stands between the world and Armageddon.

World destruction isn’t the central fear of my second novel, Lost Cause. No, this time it’s revolution, or more precisely the start of a second Civil War which serves as the organizing fear. America has enjoyed more than 150 years of domestic peace since the Civil War. People have come to expect that civil war is impossible in modern society and the American ideals of democracy and freedom will continue forever.  But are we justified in this assumption? Lost Cause, presents a story, where some don’t except that end of the civil war. It’s merely half time, is their motto. Seems far-fetched?  Not really, for there are organizations and politicians that exposes the dismantling of America.  It appears our politics is more divided than ever. Fertile grounds for civil war.

My third novel focuses on invasion. Not invasion from a foreign army, rather invasion that’s more alien in nature. I didn’t say these fears have to be rationale; they just have to evoke a deep emotional response. Look for Need to Know in 2016.

So what keeps you up at night?