Mike Gilmore
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At 15 years of age, Mike Gilmore started working for his uncle’s wholesale firm selling candy and tobacco products to small family-owned grocery stores, gas stations, and restaurants, becoming the general manager by the time he was 23. It was a male dominated business at the time and he worked with men who had lived through The Great Depression and World War II.
In 1986, he shifted to the wholesale electrical and plumbing distribution business where he started to learn his current trade. He filled positions as operation manager, branch manager, and regional branch manager in Ohio, Florida, and finally the coastal area of South Carolina. In 2003, he took a position with one of the world’s largest and most respected manufacture of plumbing fixtures for both residential and commercial products. He has worked as an account manager, market development specialist, and now as a national account manager servicing only one trade distributor that covers the United States, Mexico, and Canada with a sales force of over 1100 associates. He is the author of the Levels of Power novels featuring United States Senator Randy Fisher. 2013 saw the release of The Senator and The Legislator. His followers will see three Level of Power sequels released in 2014. That same year he released a little gem called The Toilet Salesman…the oh so Necessary Guy. The book covers incidents from 25 years of selling plumbing and electrical products. In 2015, he plans to release the next edition in the Levels of Power Series: The Vice President. He lives in South Carolina with his wife and two cats.
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Levels of Power: The SenatorPolitical Thriller
Andy Warhol is credited for coining the expression that everybody has 15 minutes of fame in their life. Randy Fisher’s 15 minutes turns into a new life. He’s a regional sales director for a manufacturer of industrial electrical equipment and was making a standard sales call at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds in Columbia. Fifteen minutes later he has been seriously wounded during a fight with a terrorist but prevents a nuclear incident from affecting the entire country. Two months later our national hero is appointed to fill the un-expired term of his friend, the retiring US Senator Robert Moore. As the junior senator from the Palmetto State, Randy moves to Washington DC to assume his new position. He’s only been in office for a few months when he meets Annie Willis, a project manager at the Department of Energy, and together they discover that someone might be stealing millions of dollars from the Federal Government. Join the country’s newest hero as he attempts to unravel this Washington, DC-based political mystery and is forced to confront the President of the United States when it appears that a member of the President’s cabinet is behind the theft.
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Levels of Power: The Legislator
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Political Thriller
United States border security is in shambles. The Mexican drug cartels have organized; illegal drugs are crossing the border in record amounts, and the White House refuses to acknowledge the issues. Join US Senators Randy Fisher and Tom Evans as they take on the politically explosive issues of border security and illegal aliens. But their fight isn't only with the drug cartels. They also have to take on the President of the United States.
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Levels of Power: The Diplomat
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Political Thriller
The demand for oil and natural gas is never ending and the South China Sea possesses the largest underwater stockpile in Southeast Asia. Nearly every country in the ASEAN organization, Association of Southeast Asia Nations, cross-claims portions of the islands and riffs doted throughout the sea. However, all must beware of their largest neighbor, China, who also claims nearly all of the same body of water for their own use. When war breaks out between China and Vietnam, the United States and India prepare to honor their mutual defense treaties with Vietnam and to keep the shipping lanes open to their merchant fleets. United States Senator Randy Fisher is in Southeast Asia to attend the ASEAN annual conference and is the only American in the theater who can prevent a full-scale war. His strained relationship with the current American President is nearing its own breaking point over their domestic policies differences. With little support from the White House, he risks his career and perhaps his life to prevent naval forces with nuclear weapons from confronting each other in one of the busiest body of water across the globe. From the Philippines, to Brunei, Vietnam, and into the heart of the Chinese Communist Government, the American senator will travel to unravel the well-made plans of the architects for China’s military expansion into the South China Sea.
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Levels of Power: The Chairman
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Political Thriller
Due to a vacancy on the high court, President Harold Miller must appoint a new chief justice. As a member of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Senator Randy Fisher must take part in the confirmation process. A sudden illness of the committee chairperson compels the Senate leadership to appoint Randy as the temporary chairperson of the committee. The president’s nominee, by all standards, appears to be perfect for the coveted position and only a slight slip of the tongue during his courtesy meeting in Senator Fisher’s office sets off warning bells in Randy’s mind. Why had the nominee lied about his wife when there was no reason to lie? Join Randy Fisher and his Senate staff as they launch their own investigation into the private life of the nominee and his wife. Is there a reason to prevent Randy from supporting the president’s nominee? The further they dig, the darker the information they uncover.
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The Toilet Salesman
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Biography
Sales representative by day; author by night. This is the real story behind selling one of life’s necessities. This is the story of The Toilet Salesman. Their official name is toilet or water closet but they have many vernacular names. Crapper, John, or Thunder Buckets are just a few. You can hardly go through a day without one but still you give them no respect. When they function properly, as in flush and forget you never give them a second thought. When they clog, leak, or break, they demand your immediate attention. Selling toilets is not romantic or likely to be the subject of the latest Hollywood action flick. Selling toilets is real everyday hard work to many plumbing sales associates in our country and around the world. Millions of people throughout the world have no access to toilets or even clean drinking water. In our everyday lives, toilets fall into that category of objects we just take for granted. This book contains information learned from almost twenty-five years in the plumbing trade industry. It is tastefully written, humorous, and filled with valuable information about toilets and the selling process. Once you have learned the contents of the narrative, you will dazzle your neighbors at the next block party about the inside story of selling toilets. 
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Levels of Power: The Foreigner
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Political Thriller
An eight-day vacation in England for U.S. Senator Randy Fisher takes a dangerous twist when a face from his past appears on his last day in London. The face is that of a dead terrorist from three years ago that tried to detonate a nuclear device in South Carolina. Overcoming his shock, Randy leaves his family sitting speechless in a restaurant to pursue the one man who can provide answers to unanswered questions. Who was responsible for bringing the device into the United States three year ago? Is there a new terrorist plot about to take place in London? From Trafalgar Square through Charing Cross Station and across the River Thames, Randy chases the man only to lose him when ambushed by a second suspect. His only physical proof to the possible plot is the contents of a backpack lost by the suspect. Now he must turn to the British government for assistance. Randy’s friend, Marion Bellwood, Deputy Director of Operations for the CIA joins the local authorities to hunt down the suspected terrorist group before they can unleash a deadly attack against vital London infrastructure. The Foreigner is a political thriller with a non-stop pace. 
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The Lace House Murder
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Mystery
South Carolina Governor Rick O’Shay holds the highest approval ratings most citizens of the state can remember for several generations. His entry into statewide politics offered a fresh experience from old established political power. Now into his second term, he is determined to hold back cost by state politicians looking after their own special interest. On the evening of his twenty-fifth wedding anniversary celebration, within the beautiful surroundings of the Lace House on the governor’s complex in Columbia, someone decides O’Shay will not complete his term in office. Tommy Marks, senior investigator with SLED, South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division, and his partner Cathy Motts, are thrust into an investigation creating shock waves across the country. Facing pressures from high-ranking state politicians plus federal investigators wanting to remove SLED from the case, the two investigators race against a time limit to find the killer. Every person attending the party is a suspect including the highest elected officials in the state government. The Lace House Murder stays inside South Carolina but weaves fact and fiction together into an exciting narrative. When you are finished reading the book, you will be asking about the sequel. 
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12♂24♀36
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Science Fiction
Twelve people, equally divided into three groups and separated by thousands of miles, discover together the answers to the beginning of our universe and all the life it contains. With the advent of a new solar cell developed in 2018 and coupled with the laminar flow battery, the value of oil plunges below pre-World War II levels. Within a few years, the economy of all oil-producing countries collapse. Soon after the failing governments must reorganize to survive. Where the map of the world once showed hundreds of countries, now the new borders contain only six. In the year 2036, Dr. Hannah Judah is a psychology professor at a small college in Ashville, North Carolina. In her spare time, she treats patients referred by the Modulation Program. Created by the new government of the United Nations of North America the program helps people to manage their stress levels brought on by the new world order. When stress levels build beyond the program’s allowance, Hannah and other doctors must offer treatment. Along with three of her patients, she discovers the cause of their sleepless nights is more than just from everyday worries. In Cheshire, England, astronomer Michael Dan leads a group of four people that study natural occurrences of the Sun through the newest solar telescope. With the sensitive equipment at the Jodrell Bank Observatory, they cannot explain with excepted scientific principles the physical movement of a new sunspot. Over a period of a few weeks, they learn their discovery will forever change the world and about life beyond Earth. The Organization of European Nations experienced the greatest mixture of ethnics and religious cultures than any of the other six countries. Trying to plan for their future the new national government contracts a group of four anthropologist at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology to determine future human migration for the next 25, 50, and 100 years. Angelo Simeon, Toni to her friends, heads the group in their research. As they work to use history to predict the future, world events move faster than they could ever imagine. Sample 12♂24♀36 
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The Capitol Center Murder
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Mystery
A body falling 20 stories to the top floor of a parking deck sustains unsightly damage. It was almost enough to disguise a .22 caliber bullet wound as the real cause of death. The victim was a South Carolina state employee working at the time of his death in an office rented by the state within the Capitol Center Building. The building lies within the heart of the state capitol and the law mandates that SLED lead the investigation. Tommy Marks and Cathy Motts of the State Law Enforcement Division once again lead their team of investigators looking into the death of Paul Lawrence. Very quickly, they discover the victim may have brought about his own death. Thousands of dollars hidden in a bank lockbox indicates Lawrence was taking kickbacks for state contracts issued by his department. When they discover money from a blotched Drug Enforcement Agency undercover operation mixed with the victim’s money, the DEA joins the chase for the killer. Soon after, the Federal Bureau of Investigation worms their way into the SLED investigation when it appears crimes have crossed state borders. One victim and many potential suspects keep the investigators chasing down clues and lead to more questions than answers. All the while, a team of deadly hired killers waits in silence for their own quarry to appear. In and around the Capitol Center Building the case develops. The tallest building in South Carolina may be the deadliest. Sample The Capitol Center Murder 
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Tales From The Azalea Cottage
Short Stories
Avondale, South Carolina is a quiet little town where the people live in peaceful harmony. Charlie and Mary Duncan chose Avondale for their last home. After serving 30 years in the navy on aircraft carriers as a master mechanic, Charlie wants to roam no more. As a registered nurse, Mary can earn employment almost anywhere.
With Mary working a full week, Charlie uses Monday and Friday to clean their little comfortable cottage and maintain the half-acre yard.
Tuesday,Wednesday and Thursday he stays busy with his small company, Three Days Home Repair. Charlie can build or repair almost anything but if the job requires more than three days; it is too big for Charlie Duncan.
Their favorite place in the cottage is the glass and screen enclosed L-shape front porch. Cooled in the summer and heated in the winter, the Duncan’s and their two cats, Pepper and Pokey live their own quiet lives.
These short stories start and end on the front porch of the Azalea Cottage. Each describes some of people living in Avondale that touch the lives of Charlie and Marry Duncan. Some are happy and funny. Others might make you cry or reflect on your own life. Other times you might say, “I know someone just like that character.”
Tales From The Azalea Cottage can bring a short period of peace and contentment to your own hectic personal life. Each chapter is a single story.
Sit back. Relax, and enjoy!
Avondale, South Carolina is a quiet little town where the people live in peaceful harmony. Charlie and Mary Duncan chose Avondale for their last home. After serving 30 years in the navy on aircraft carriers as a master mechanic, Charlie wants to roam no more. As a registered nurse, Mary can earn employment almost anywhere.
With Mary working a full week, Charlie uses Monday and Friday to clean their little comfortable cottage and maintain the half-acre yard.
Tuesday,Wednesday and Thursday he stays busy with his small company, Three Days Home Repair. Charlie can build or repair almost anything but if the job requires more than three days; it is too big for Charlie Duncan.
Their favorite place in the cottage is the glass and screen enclosed L-shape front porch. Cooled in the summer and heated in the winter, the Duncan’s and their two cats, Pepper and Pokey live their own quiet lives.
These short stories start and end on the front porch of the Azalea Cottage. Each describes some of people living in Avondale that touch the lives of Charlie and Marry Duncan. Some are happy and funny. Others might make you cry or reflect on your own life. Other times you might say, “I know someone just like that character.”
Tales From The Azalea Cottage can bring a short period of peace and contentment to your own hectic personal life. Each chapter is a single story.
Sit back. Relax, and enjoy!
Levels of Power: The Vice President
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Political Thriller
Millions of Americans are closely following the national election process as President Harold Miller faces two challengers from within his own party for the nomination at the upcoming Republican Convention. Short by 211 delegates, Miller must deal with either Jerrod Wyman, his own former vice president, or Leonard Graham, former speaker of the US House of Representatives. Not in many years has the nation witnessed a brokered convention. All the party in fighting will certainly tear the GOP apart. Wyman has plenty of money and Graham a pocketful of dirty tricks. Senator Tom Evans has already locked up the votes needed for his own nomination during the upcoming Democratic convention in Baltimore. There is little doubt in his mind that South Carolina Senator Randy Fisher is the right man to be his running mate. Regardless of the outcome of the Republican convention, the DNC is confident their candidates can remove President Miller or win against the other challengers. The Democratic campaign appears to be working perfectly as they leave their convention and make the final run for the White House. The polls are showing a growing tide of support for the two senators. They appear unstoppable to the Republicans until an event, never thought possible, derails the perfectly planned Democratic campaign. Levels of Power: The Vice President tells the back room story of politics at the highest level. Politics at it’s best. Politics at it’s worst. Sample The Vice President 
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