What would happen, I wondered in mid-1982, if Israel actually invaded Lebanon. So I started writing a book, and wouldn't you know it, Israel actually invaded Lebanon, which somewhat detracted from the novel's fantasy element. Fortunately, the other part I made up didn't happen. That would be Israel's alliance with Armenian nationalists striving to establish a Christian democracy in Anatolia and northern Syria. Or at least that's the story the heroine (a French-Armenian actress) tells the hero, an American journalist who's been posted to war-torn Levantine for too long. Quite a thrilling book all these years later, if I do say so, containing object lessons on why it's not a good idea to invade complicated Middle Eastern countries.