New Titles at the Upcoming Authors’ Fair!

I'll be here with my friend/fellow author/collaborator Nick Hayden.
I’ll be here with my friend/fellow author/collaborator Nick Hayden selling and signing books, both old and “new.”

I haven’t had many book signings lately because I’ve been wanting to have new books to take with me.

I plan to amend that soon at this event.

I’ll be returning to the Allen County Public Library November 8, 2014, for their annual Authors’ Fair. But I won’t be going alone. My friend/fellow author/collaborator Nick Hayden will also be present. I’ll be selling some of my mainstays–Pandora’s Box and The Day Afterbut I’m excited to announce that I’ll be selling not one but two “new” titles at the fair!

The first will be Destroyer: Deluxe Edition. I’m in the process of migrating that novella from Lulu.com to CreateSpace, and this new edition will include Nick Hayden’s bonus story, “House of the Living,” which will be available exclusively in print in this book!

The second title will be Children of the Wells: Jaysynn Kyzer, Vol. 1. Much like the first collected volume of Children of the Wells novellas, this will collect the first three stories of the serial’s second plotline, which tells the tale of the exiled prince Jaysynn Kyzer as he endeavors to raise an army to liberate his ruined city from a tyrant. It collects The Fall of the House of Kyzer by yours truly, The Rules Change by John Bahler, and the just-released New Wells Rising by Timothy Deal.

Not only that but I will be one of the speakers at a panel entitled, “Not Just for Teens: Trends in Writing for Young Adults” at 1pm.

Be there or be square!

They Lost Roddenberry’s Brain!

I wanted to write about this last week, but busyness and September 11 joined forces to make me write a timelier blog.

Anyway…

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September 8 marked the 48th anniversary of Star Trek. I’m a Trekker. (I prefer that term to “Trekkie.”) I’ve loved the Star Trek franchise since I was three years old and watched reruns of the Original Series on a local Fox affiliate with my Dad. I’ve watched almost every episode of all five TV series (ST: The Next Generation, ST: Deep Space Nine, ST: Voyager, ST: Enterprise) and I own all the movies (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is my all-time favorite film). The franchise helped inspire me to become a science fiction writer, so it’s near and dear to me.

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I was sad to see Enterprise get cancelled when it finally found its space legs. For several years, I thought the franchise was dead. Then J.J. Abrams revived it with his epic reboot/prequel/remake/whatever. I liked its sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness, even more (despite having a title that would’ve been improved with a well-placed colon).

However, there was always something about Abrams’ version that bugged me. I wasn’t sure what, though. It got many things right: the characters and their dynamics, the adventure, the “personality” of the ships, the optimism, and the music, among other things. It didn’t dawn on me what the issue was until last week. Truthfully, it’s something I think I always knew—and had even heard fans discuss—but it didn’t hit me until then.

They lost Gene Roddenberry’s brain.

Mr. Roddenberry, who died in 1991, created Star Trek as a serious science fiction TV series that addressed mature themes and issues. In other words, it was cerebral science fiction. This was something seen in books and magazines but not on television in that day. It was ahead of its time.

That’s what “Nu Trek” lacks. It’s fun. There’s plenty of space-faring action and adventure with great characters played by wonderful actors, but it isn’t as cerebral. Yes, it plays on themes like friendship and family, but it doesn’t have big sci-fi ideas like the franchise did at its peak. There are no Cold War allegories (the Klingons in TOS), no questions about individuality vs. collectivism (the Borg in TNG), or observations about the effects of religion in people’s lives (the Bajorans and Sisko in DS9). Abrams did exactly what he said he wanted to do: inject some Star Wars into Star Trek (he always preferred the former, hence why he’s directing Episode VII). It wasn’t just in terms of style, though. The story and themes play out more like a Star Wars film.

I’m not saying this is bad. I love Star Wars, but for different reasons. While fans argue which is better, the truth is that they’re apples and oranges. Each is distinct and does what it does well. But with these new films, Trek has veered more in the direction of Wars. I’m not opposed to a new style. Far from it. Any franchise can benefit from a fresh perspective, even from someone who hasn’t been inundated with its lore (Nicholas Meyer wasn’t a fan when he landed the job to direct Wrath of Khan, though he did do his homework). But Abrams’ films aren’t quite Roddenberry’s vision.

Think of it like this: old-school Trek was the class valedictorian while “Nu Trek” is his fun-loving classmate. Sure, he probably gets all B’s in his classes, but he obviously isn’t as smart as the former. Likewise, the valedictorian knows how to have a good time, but he isn’t as much of a party animal.

This is why I’d like to see Trek return to television. It’s easier to tell cerebral stories in a television format. I’m glad Star Trek is fun again, but it needs to have substance, too.

That would please the Great Bird of the Galaxy (Gene’s nickname) and he would bless the franchise even more.

What do you think?

But I Digress…, Episode 26: How to Write Speculative Fiction, Part 3 – Major Subgenres of Fantasy

“But I Digress…”
Hosted by Nathan Marchand

Now that you’ve learned the “rules” for writing speculative fiction, it’s time to learn about the types of stories you can tell. Knowing this will help you focus your writing, ascertain what your audience’s expectations are, and and know how to market your stories.

Here’s Part 1.
Here’s Part 2.

Please comment, subscribe, and share!

September 11: What Do You Say Now?

september-11-pictures-images-graphics-commentsI’ve written something about September 11, 2001, every year that I’ve had a blog. But now after 13 years, I’m not sure what to say. Indeed, what more can be said? It’s not that the tragedy of the day means nothing to me, because it certainly does. I remember what I did that day quite vividly. The world itself drastically, and so did my little corner of it. I was a child when the Cold War ended. Then at the end of my relatively carefree adolescence did a new enemy—extremist Islam—rear its ugly head. To go any further than those statements would mean getting extremely political, and I’d rather not talk about politics on this solemn day. The events of that day and what has happened since have already been over-politicized, and I refuse to do the same.

The truth is I don’t know what else to say about today that I haven’t already. Yet I feel I must say something so that I don’t forget that day. It would dishonor the lives of the people murdered in those attacks, both the victims and the heroes. They deserve better than to be relegated to a page in a history book. I visited New York City a few years after the attacks. I saw massive holes where the World Trade Center once stood. I visited Washington, D.C. just a month after the attacks and saw the Pentagon with its huge breach. I imagined what it was would’ve been like to see a low-flying plane crash into the building. In many ways, those imaginings still seem more like a movie than real life.

We shouldn’t just September 11, 2001, for the lives that were lost, but for the people we were that day and the months that followed. That is my prayer. It’s times like those when we’re at our best. Complacency is the enemy of greatness.

Perhaps even I have been infected. The fact that I don’t know what more I could say 13 years later might be a sign I myself have become complacent. I truly hope that isn’t true and that it never becomes true.

And may it never be true of you.

Never forget September 11.

My Influences for ‘Pandora’s Box’

In the latest episode of the “Derailed Trains of Thought” podcast hosted by my friends Nick Hayden and Tim Deal (which if you aren’t following, you should), they spoke about the lesser-known stories that have influenced them. Nick mentioned that he could easily name most of the influences in the first 50 pages of his first novel, Trouble on the Horizon (one of which is “Pokemon”!?).

This made me think about the literary influences that came together and—by their powers combined!—became my first novel, Pandora’s Box. So, just for fun, I decided I list them and explain what they contributed. You may be surprised by what I include and how they affected my writing of that book.

(NOTE: I’m excluding the personal experiences and experiences of others that contributed to its creation. I’m also excluding [most of] the research I conducted and the “soundtrack” I compiled as I wrote it. As I said, this is focused on literary influences. I make little references to other literary works, but I’m not including those because their influence is minimal).

In no particular order…

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Works and Days by Hesiod

This is an obvious but obscure influence. It’s a lesser-known epic poem by the ancient Greek poet Hesiod. Why is it here? It details the best-known version of the Pandora’s box myth (to my knowledge there are two). Honestly, it’s a terribly boring read other than that story. Not to mention misogynistic. Hesiod, from what I remember, blames most the world’s misery on women, and uses the story of Pandora as one of his bits of evidence. When’s he’s not bashing the fairer sex, he’s giving instructions on farming. Seriously. He’s no Homer.

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Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein

I was writing a military science fiction novel, so I had to read the all-time great of the subgenre. A friend in college highly recommended book, saying the popular but awful movie was a slap in the face. I loved every page of the book. Heinlein’s futuristic military, in particular its unmerciful training methods, influenced how I created the Vanguard. Its influence is strongest during the bootcamp chapters of Pandora’s Box. True confession time: My sexist drill instructor, Sgt. Barak, is modeled after that novel’s drill sergeant, Sgt. Zim (my favorite character). Just read the boot camp chapters of both books and you’ll see the similarities. This was by the most influential on the writing.

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Friday by Robert Heinlein

Another Heinlein book had a more indirect influence. I read it because it seemed similar to what I was endeavoring to write: a science fiction adventure story with a female lead written in first-person by a male author. However, I quickly learned that Heinlein’s titular character had little in common with mine. Friday’s morals are looser; she has a mellower personality; and she spends most of her time thinking she isn’t a real person. Also, there wasn’t as much action/adventure as I expected. It’s not a bad book, though.

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Halo

I wrote Pandora’s Box as the Halo video game series made it meteoric rise. I didn’t own an Xbox, but I played them often with my friends and brothers. I include it because I modeled the Vanguard’s cyber-armor somewhat on Master Chief’s armor. Some of the Vanguard’s other weapons and gear were inspired by items in the games. My book’s action sequences also have a bit of a Halo flavor, particularly the shoot-outs. If I was going to cosplay as a character from the book (which I’ve considered), I would use designs for a Master Chief costume as my starting point.

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Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

It’s my favorite movie, so how could it not play a part? When I listened to director Nicolas Meyer’s commentary, he said he told the late great Richardo Montalban that he was to play Khan like he was King Lear. “Madmen are scarier when they’re under control,” he said. The audience never knows when such characters will snap or what will set them off. Despite being a megalomaniac, Khan is a man who cares deeply for his followers (a side Benedict Cumberbach displayed when he played Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness). He’s a three-dimensional villain. Hearing all that inspired my characterization of Erebus the Overlord. I presented as a cold, calculating dictator who, it seemed, was trying to liberate his oppressed people. I enjoy complex villains.

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28 Days Later

I hesitate to include this film because I felt like the movie stole my idea when I watched it (I’ve since learned it wasn’t the first. Heck, I just watched an episode of the original Star Trek that had an element similar to this). Regardless, at the time I thought this was a unique take on zombies. These weren’t reanimated corpses with an appetite for flesh. They were victims of a disease that acted like a nasty strain of rabies. Despite feeling like my idea was stolen, the film influenced how I presented the Morlocks. What the film didn’t steal was the moral dilemma I injected: are they monsters or simply ill people? That was an angle I never saw any zombie story. That was the part I was glad wasn’t “stolen.”

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Into the Crucible: Making Marines for the 21st Century by James B. Woulfe

This is a nonfiction book I read as part of my research for the novel. It describes the 54-hour exercise trainees must endure to become Marines. It inspired not only many of the bootcamp exercises, but it also gave me my heroine’s name. It briefly recounted the legend of Lucy Brewer, who disguised herself as a man to serve during the War of 1812. I took her surname for Pandora. The Vanguard has its equivalent of the Crucible, the Highway to Hell, which is mentioned once. Perhaps I’ll write a short story about that. (Hmm…that’d be a nice addition to next year’s edition of Missing Pieces).

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Aliens

James Cameron Aliens is an epic military sci-fi tale with incredibly good pacing. My own writing has often been complimented for great pacing and suspense. More importantly, the film features a strong heroine. Ripley has much in common with Pandora: she’s a woman in a male-dominated field; she’s tough yet compassionate; and she can carry her own against the boys. I have a feeling Ripley and Pandora would be best friends if they met.

Honorable Mentions:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990): I always thought Shredder had an awesome entrance, so I used a similar one for Erebus when Pandora finally meets him.

-The Last Letter of Sullivan Ballou: A letter written by a Civil War soldier to his wife on the eve of the Battle of Bull Run, where he died. The man’s sentiments inspired the characterization of Dante, Pandora’s boyfriend.

Alien: Nick Hayden was my beta reader for the horrible first draft of the book. One thing he said that stuck with me was that I made excellent use of silence during the action sequences to create tension and atmosphere like Ridley Scott did in Alien.

What are some of your literary influences?