Oliver North Signs Book Deal With Christian Publishing House

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Oliver North has signed a book deal for a three-part fiction series with a publisher that specializes in faith-based literature.

North, a former National Security Council aide for President Reagan, said the series will involve a U.S. Marine who is assigned to the White House in 1994 and given the clandestine mission to kill someone, invoking internal religious and political turmoil.

"Like a lot of Marines I've come to know over the years, certainly this guy has a value system that is based very strongly on Judeo-Christian principles. And he comes to terms with the challenges of his life on a daily basis," North, a former Marine, told the Nashville Tennessean.

North was convicted of three felonies for helping funnel to Nicaraguan guerillas the profits from arms sales to Iran. The convictions were overturned on appeal.

North in 1994 ran unsuccessfully for Senate in Virginia.

The series publisher, Broadman and Holman Publishers, is a division of Lifeway Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. The publisher and North did not disclose financial terms of the deal.

The first book, "Mission Compromised," is scheduled for a fall 2002 release, with books following in 2003 and 2004. North also wrote an autobiography, "Under Fire," in 1991.