Now that Craig Hart and I are poised to release SpyCo #6, Assignment: Dublin, (our 4th book together), I feel it’s time to address some of the… I must call them what they are… bloodcurdlingly frightening similarities between the two of us.

Here is a lovely picture of Craig making Kim drive AND mail a signed book to one of his many fans!

Here is a lovely picture of Kim and me about to pick apples. See how I’m toppling over and she supports me? So… well, supportive!

I’ll start with the fact that both of our wive’s are named Kim. What are the odds? (Seriously, any mathematicians reading… what are the odds?) Both of our Kim’s are great and are super-supportive of our work, which makes life for a writer a whole lot easier than, say, having a wife who routinely sets you on fire or calls you from the grocery store and disguises her voice then asks you if your refrigerator is running.

My son Evan, his wife Brittany, my daughter Mariah, and Kim, right before they set me adrift on a raft in the Atlantic Ocean, which is clearly photobombing us in this picture.

The next similarity is that we each have two children. There is a notable difference here, however. Kim and I had our two over a period of 3.5 years. Kim and Craig had theirs within a period of a few minutes of each other, which is, I suppose, more efficient. I have a policy about posting pictures of other people’s children (I don’t do it!) out of respect for the little bugger’s privacy and safety, so you’ll have to pester Craig if you want to see his adorable twins. My babies are 28 and 25 now so I can exploit their likenesses all I want!

So that takes care of the stuff you can maybe explain away. But now try some of these shockers on for size:

• Craig grew up in Michigan. I also grew up in a state, just not the same one.
• Craig lives in Iowa, a state with four letters. I live in New York, a state with three letters… followed by FOUR LETTERS!!!
• Craig met me on Twitter. I met HIM on Twitter as well!
• Craig has never seen me in person. Aside from the times I’ve stalked him at book signings wearing a big-hair wig and Lennonesque sunglasses, I’ve never seen him in person either!
• Craig was born in 1980. I was drunk in 1980.

“Hello, Mr. Hart. Will you sign my copy of Serenity Submerged, available now along with all the other Shelby Alexander thrillers at your favorite retailer?” – S.J. Varengo in a clever disguise.

So I think two things are painfully apparent. 1 – I am a very unstable individual and B – we were pretty much born to write awesome books together. How else do you explain away all of these amazing coincidences? In fact, I think it was the Buddha who said, “Really there are no coincidences, only a lot of things that are very similar for no clear reason. Oh, wait. That’s pretty much the definition of a coincidence, isn’t it? Never mind. I have lots of other better sayings.”

The point here is that if you enjoy action-packed spy thrillers, crammed with amazing heroes, villainous villains, fantastic locations, and a lady named Dot who will have you in stitches, (in more ways than one), then you really need to read the latest work of these two super-similar authors, when Craig A. Hart and S.J. Varengo release Assignment: Dublin in February 2018 at all your favorite outlets, except maybe Home Depot. Because I’m pretty sure they don’t sell ebooks.