About the Author

I write hard-science technothriller stories that blur the lines between the real and the imagined. The ‘real’ part is based on my international life experiences and understanding of the world,  and my 35+ years of experience in the high-tech industry. The ‘imagined’ part are just the what-if stories that I invent – but that could happen. My books are a blend of adult literary suspense, alternate reality and contemporary fiction, and involve approachable fictional characters, dealing with the realities of the international geopolitics in general and semiconductor industry in particular, while coping with some real-world technological issues – all mixed in hard-to-put-down thriller dramas. The stories are intended to entertain and engage the readers, and then to leave them with a better understanding of some newspaper headlines, of some places, people and politics on the planet, and even of some aspects of silicon technology… My novels typically leave the readers questioning what is actually true and what is fiction, because the conjured characters, the places and events, the politics, and the technologies described are all either real or very realistic…

I was born in what was then Yugoslavia, spent my teen years in East Pakistan (Bangladesh now), Nigeria, Kenya and Tanzania, and completed high school in Switzerland. After I earned my BSc and PhD degrees in Electronics and Solid-State Physics in England,  I immigrated to the US. Since then I have enjoyed a truly rewarding and a very stimulating career in the semiconductor industry, acting in a variety of technical, managerial and business development roles in multiple companies.  It was an honor and a privilege to work with  some of the smartest people on the planet on technologies that changed absolutely everything.

And now I am a writer, trying to bring to life my very diverse experiences and my awe of chip technology through fictional stories.

Project 1

The global supply chain for semiconductors is falling apart.  This has got to be perceived as a strategic threat by many countries – including the US (see FA Confidential and Between the Dragons). However, currently the threat is probably most acutely felt by Russia – a country that sees itself as a superpower, that has no credible domestic supply of advanced chips, and that has been subjected to all kinds of sanctions following the start of the Ukrainian War.  Russia relies either on chips that have been smuggled in (through all kinds of inventive back doors), or on chips supplied by China (itself subject to sanctions and restrictions).  And yet, semiconductor chips and IC’s are essential in modern warfare – not only for smart weapons like drones and missiles, but also for use in communication systems, jamming, hybrid warfare, etc…  So, it is not hard to imagine that someone like Putin would find this situation unacceptable – maybe even humiliating. It is not hard to imagine that Putin has ordered development of domestic chip manufacturing..

And yet, as an engineer I find it hard to believe that Russia will soon manufacture its own advanced chips.  There is too much infrastructure required, Russia has been behind for too many years, and the West has a choke-hold on key equipment – such as the EUV lithography system. Nevertheless, Russia must be trying…

All this is a great backdrop for a good drama story.  A few interesting characters intertwined with the tension of real events, and…

The Golddigger’s Daughter is a fictional story set against this factual background that follows an ambitious woman who gets involved with a clandestine group tasked with bootstrapping Russian semiconductor industry, and then desperately tries to extricate herself from a dangerous web of intrigues, politics and espionage…

Expected late 2025 or early 2026