Author and Lecturer Sam Penny has published two novels in his The 7.9 Scenario series: Memphis 7.9 (Revised) and Broken River, and is finishing his next book: The Phoenix of Memphis. These techno-thrillers offer a blunt perspective of what will transpire when once again a 7.9 magnitude earthquake strikes the center of the United States, as seen from the point of view of characters who are there when it happens. The stories are based upon scientific analyses from the USGS and FEMA of what happens when a giant earthquake again occurs on the New Madrid Fault beneath the Mississippi River, within a few miles of a major metropolitan area.Penny retired in 1998 from a career as an engineering… physicist, computer scientist, entrepreneur, and corporate executive. "My keen interest in geology evolved while designing computing systems for the oil drilling industry. During that time, I co-authored several trade and scientific articles with geologists on directional drilling and rock mechanics."In 1989 he felt the shaking from the magnitude 7.1 Loma Prieta earthquake. "When I saw the fallen Cypress Freeway in Oakland, California, a mile from the original offices of the company I helped found in 1970, my interest in geology refocused on seismology and the effects of giant earthquakes."Since I retired, writing has become my avocation as my wife and I travel full-time in our RV, following the best weather from place to place throughout the North American Continent, and researching the effects of natural disasters on our land."