An Interview with Victor O'Reilly

Best Selling Author and Counter Terrorist Expert

Reprinted with Permission

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askSam:  Mr. O'Reilly, what can you tell us about your work including the preparation and research that is part of your writing process.

VICTOR O'REILLY:   My work is described in some detail on my web site at http://www.victor-oreilly.com  but let me give you a brief outline here.

I am a best selling author and counter terrorist expert who specializes in writing researched action thrillers primarily for the US though I am published in countries as far afield as Russia and Japan.  My three published books are:

GAMES OF THE HANGMAN (a New York Times Best Seller)

RULES OF THE HUNT

THE DEVIL'S FOOTPRINT out in paperback in Feb. 1998

Further books in the pipeline are

SATAN'S SMILE due out in late 1998

And

THE DRAGON'S RESPONSE which is targeted for 1998.

askSam: Which of our product(s) do you use and how does askSam assist you in creating a novel?

VICTOR O'REILLY: I have been using askSam in some form or other for about ten years and was so impressed with the thinking that underlies your products that I actually visited you in Florida - as you know.  Your hospitality almost killed me!  Currently I use askSam 3.0f Network Edition under both Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 95.  askSam is an elegantly simple to use and yet vastly powerful database product with a shorter learning curve than any other software I have encountered.  It allows both fixed fields and free text searching.  I use it to keep track of over 4,000 contacts, over 2,000 files, over 3,000 reference books, and a host of other items including audio tapes and videos.  Essentially, askSam underpins my entire operation.  If I can remember anything about anything, I can find it in askSam.  By using the network edition, I can share that data with my assistants.  It is an extraordinarily powerful tool.

askSam: How has askSam made your job any easier, faster or more efficient?

VICTOR O'REILLY:  Simply put, I could not run the kind of operation I do without askSam.  I have tried all kinds of alternatives including dBase in the olds days and I dabbled with Lotus Notes.  The bottom line is that askSam is simpler to use and more powerful and flexible than the alternatives.

askSam: Can you tell me about what kind of customer support you have received as a user?

VICTOR O'REILLY:  We have had very little need for customer support but where we have had a glitch, customer support has been impeccable.  We are dealing with real people who have real answers - and do return phone calls.

askSam: Would you recommend askSam and why?

VICTOR O'REILLY: The key strengths of askSam are:

#  Extraordinary power

#  Minimum learning curve

#  Flexibility in use

#  Minimum hardware requirement

#  Outstanding support

askSam: What applications do you plan for askSam in the future?

VICTOR O'REILLY:  These three come to mind at the moment.

#  Document Management

#  Taming Internet downloads

#  Keeping my graphics library

I am sure there is more that I can do but the truth is that I have been using askSam for a decade without ever really learning - or having to learn - it.  All software should be this way!

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Victor O'Reilly, Author

520 Brookfield Drive

Winchester VA 22601

USA

Web: http://www.victor-oreilly.com

E-mail: voreilly@visuallink.com

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