Post 1000

Today finds me in Denver, Colorado for the MileHiCon science fiction convention. I have several panels scheduled today. When I’m not on panels, I have a table in the dealer’s room. If you’re also in Denver, I hope I’ll get a chance to connect with you this weekend. While I’m at MileHiCon, my blog has reached a milestone. Today is my one thousandth blog post!

It seems almost inconceivable to me that I’ve written 1000 posts since I started my WordPress blog. My first post was called “Blog: The Magnificent Ferret” and it was published on March 12, 2009. The post’s title refers to some background art in the New Scooby-Doo Mysteries episode, “Scooby-Doo Meets Dick Van Dyke.” In the episode, Dick Van Dyke has purchased a circus and one of the sideshow attractions is Blog: The Magnificent Ferret. In the post, I reflect on how blogs can be like sideshow attractions. I hope this one has been a fun, interesting, and engaging sideshow attraction. You can read the original post here: https://davidleesummers.wordpress.com/2009/03/12/hello-world/

My novels in 2009

In that first post, I noted that I had published five novels. In the thirteen years since, I’ve published seven more novels and I’m working on a new one. Among those novels were the complete Clockwork Legion series. Several of those novels have gone through multiple editions in that time. In a post a few days later, I noted that my daughters were six and thirteen years old respectively. Today, the oldest has graduated from university and works as a software engineer and the younger daughter is working on her geology degree. I started this blog about a year after returning to work as an observing assistant at Kitt Peak National Observatory. In that time, I’ve seen the Mayall telescope completely refurbished and repurposed, survived closures for pandemic and wildfire, and have seen several good friends move on to new jobs or retire.

My novels in 2022

The purpose of this blog has always been to provide news about my writing, where to find my short stories, and updates about my novels. I try to provide news of any appearances and places where you can find me. It also exists to provide insights into my writing. This includes reviews of movies and books that influence me along with a look at my job in astronomy and places I travel to. Some topics may seem familiar, but I hope I’ve also introduced you to some new books, movies, and places to consider visiting. My blog posts are typically a little over 500 words long, so it’s safe to say there’s a little over 500,000 words of material at this blog. That’s right around 5 novels worth of material at the length I typically write!

If you’ve found value in my blog, I hope you’ll visit http://www.davidleesummers.com and learn more about my novels and short stories. If you like my blog, there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy reading one of my longer works as well. Also, you can show your support by joining my Patreon. There you’ll get more insights into my writing and some news about my books before I’m able to share it here. I’ve provided some sneak peeks at short stories and revealed covers there before I do here. What’s more, you’ll get copies of my ebooks as they’re released. Supporting my Patreon also helps to assure that this blog remains an ad-free experience. Learn more at https://www.patreon.com/davidleesummers

Here’s to the next 1000 posts!

The Valley of Gwangi

Last month, Robert E. Vardeman mentioned that he’s a fan of the Ray Harryhausen film The Valley of Gwangi in a post on his Patreon site. A couple of weeks later, when I was on a panel discussing Weird Westerns with Jeff Mariotte at the virtual CoKoCon, the film came up again. Although I had been aware of the film and had seen clips, I’d never watched the whole thing before, so I took this as a sign that I should finally sit down and watch it.

Cowboys and dinosaurs meet in The Valley of Gwangi

The film starts off looking like it’ll be a pretty ordinary western. T.J. Breckinridge runs a struggling rodeo on tour through Mexico in the early 20th century. Her former boyfriend, Tuck Kirby, wants to buy her out, but she doesn’t want to sell. T.J. has an ace up her sleeve. Gypsies brought her a tiny horse from Forbidden Valley and she expects it will be a great attraction. A paleontologist named Horace Bromley, recognizes the animal as no ordinary horse. He declares it’s the prehistoric horse, Eohippus. The leader of the gypsies say the little horse is cursed and convince Bromley to capture the horse and return it to Forbidden Valley. Bromley, of course, is interested to see what other creatures might live there. To get the horse, the gypsies have to knock out one of T.J.’s men, Carlos.

Tuck sees the gypsies leaving and discovers they’ve taken the Eohippus. He sets out after them. Unfortunately, Carlos saw Tuck and thinks he’s responsible for the theft. T.J., Carlos, and several of the rodeo riders set out after Tuck. They all soon arrive just outside the Forbidden Valley. After sorting out what’s going on, Tuck nearly recaptures the Eohippus, only to have it disappear into a cave in the cliff face. T.J., Tuck, Horace, and the rodeo riders set out after it. It turns out the Eohippus didn’t go into a cave, but entered a passageway leading to the Forbidden Valley. The rodeo men clear out some rocks and soon our band goes riding into the valley.

Once in the valley, our heroes discover that Eohippus isn’t the only prehistoric creature living there. They’re soon attacked by a pteranodon. After dealing with the flying creature, they encounter a small plant eating dinosaur. The rodeo riders decide it would make an even better attraction than Eohippus, so they chase it, only to have the dinosaur snapped up in the jaws of Gwangi, an Allosaurus. From this point on, the movie becomes full-on cowboys versus beautiful Ray Harryhausen dinosaurs. Our rodeo riders take refuge in a cave that foreshadows the Land of the Lost TV series I watched as a kid. Eventually, the cowboys capture Gwangi and take him back to town. In a finale reminiscent of King Kong, Gwangi breaks free and rampages through the town where he corners T.J. and Tuck in a cathedral.

All in all, the movie is great fun and a terrific example of a Weird Western story. As always, Ray Harryhausen’s stop-motion monsters are a marvel to behold. There’s a scene where the rodeo riders attempt to lasso Gwangi and Harryhausen seamlessly blended the live-action and stop-motion photography. The only real problem with the effects happened because the film’s post-production was rushed and Harryhausen was never allowed to color correct his footage. As a result, the dinosaurs have a tendency to change colors from purple to gray to green from scene to scene. While I’m not generally a fan of tinkering with old movies, I wouldn’t mind seeing a color-corrected special edition of this film where the dinosaurs are each a consistent color.

You can find Robert E. Vardeman’s Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/robertevardeman

As a friendly reminder, this blog is supported and kept ad-free in part by my Patreon, which is at: https://www.patreon.com/davidleesummers

Lucid Dreams

Operating telescopes at Kitt Peak National Observatory means that I work a night shift. My working days typically start at 4pm and end in morning twilight, about a half hour before sunrise. Despite that, I often spend my off time on a day schedule. Originally this was a matter of necessity. Being on a day schedule allowed me to interact with my kids before they went to school and after they came home. I also find that I don’t do well staying on a night schedule all the time. I find I do need occasional time out in the sunshine. Also, the neighbors get a little cranky if I mow the yard at midnight!

One of the ways I’ve adapted to swapping schedules is that I drive to work the night before my shift begins. I stay up as late as I can and then sleep as long as I can during the next day. This works pretty well, though I do find the older I get the more my circadian rhythms resist the change back to nights. No matter how late I’ve stayed up, my eyes will tend to pop open for a while around 8am. If I’m tired enough, I will usually go right back to sleep. What I’ve also noticed is that especially on the first night getting ready for a shift, I’m prone to lucid dreams. In short, lucid dreams are ones where you’re consciously aware you’re dreaming. This has become common enough that I’ve discovered I can sometimes interact with my dreams. I can decide where to go or what to look at.

The experience of lucid dreaming feels at once profound and limited. It feels profound because it feels like I’ve gained control of a realm where we normally have no control. It feels limited because the control isn’t complete. The best way I can describe it is that it’s like playing a video game. I can move around, explore some things, but I don’t really control the “plot” or what other people in the dream do. Still, I can see why there’s a history of spiritual teachers, especially in the Hindu and Buddhist traditions, ascribing special significance to lucid dreaming.

When I re-read Children of the Old Stars in preparation for starting a new edition, I noticed that I used dreams and dream imagery quite a bit. In my revisions for the forthcoming edition, I decided to enhance this and bring in some of my experience with lucid dreaming. I plan to expand these themes in the next book, Heirs of the New Earth. There, the protagonist’s experience with lucid dreams from Children of the Old Stars, prepares him for being able to move around a non-corporeal reality.

My Patreon supporters have been joining me as I rewrite Children of the Old Stars for a new edition. That journey will wrap up later this month. In fact, I’ve already started the process of giving the book a complete, comprehensive re-read for consistency and last-minute corrections. I’ve also gone ahead and set the ebook up for pre-order. It’s currently available for pre-order at the following stores:

• Amazon
• Smashwords
• Barnes and Noble
• Kobo

Children of the Old Stars Revisited

This has been a busy year releasing new editions of my novels. Just as I was wrapping up work on the rewrite of The Pirates of Sufiro, which I started in late 2018, the contracts for three other novels came to term and the publishing rights to those novels reverted to me. As summer 2020 approaches its end, I’m pleased that new editions of all four novels are now available and it’s now time to look ahead and see what new projects I will tackle. I’ve been giving particular thought to what I would share with my Patreon subscribers for the next few months. Now, as I’ve been wrapping up these most recent projects, a couple of new opportunities have arisen and I am working on two new projects. Unfortunately I’m not at liberty to speak about them in detail or share them with my Patreon subscribers until they’re closer to completion.

Children of the Old Stars 2001 edition.

As I say in my Patreon introduction video, a primary focus of the site is to fund new editions of my Space Pirates’ Legacy novels. Because of that objective and because a chunk of my time will be going into new projects I can’t speak about yet, I’ve decided to continue the deep dive through the series and start working on book three, Children of the Old Stars. In The Pirates of Sufiro, we met the Cluster. The Cluster is a vast alien machine that destroys starships indiscriminately in its quest for something or someone. As Children of the Old Stars commences, Commander John Mark Ellis is booted out of the service when he fails to save a merchant ship. He believes the key to stopping the Cluster is communication. His mother, Suki Firebrandt Ellis, is a historian who believes the very leaders of the galaxy are withholding information about the Cluster. One of Ellis’s antagonists from The Pirates of Sufiro, Clyde McClintlock, believes the Cluster is God incarnate, seeking retribution. G’Liat is an alien warrior whose own starship was destroyed by the Cluster. All together, they set out to solve the mystery of the Cluster before it finds the object of its quest.

As with The Pirates of Sufiro, I’ll post a chapter of Children of the Old Stars one week along with my thoughts about it. My goal will be to post the revised chapter a week later. How well I meet that goal will depend on the other projects I’m working on as well as my evolving work situation at Kitt Peak National Observatory. That noted, I will make every effort to complete at least one chapter per month. If you want to be along for the ride, be sure to sign up as a patron at: https://www.patreon.com/davidleesummers. If you do, you’ll not only get to see updated chapters of Children of the Old Stars as they’re posted, you’ll be among the first to get a peek at the secret projects when I can share.

As a reminder, supporting me at Patreon also helps to support this blog so I can continue to give you an ad-free experience.

Now, you may wonder what other projects I’ve been considering, especially since they may be back in the running after I finish my secret projects. One is a sequel to The Astronomer’s Crypt. I have a synopsis written and have given the project quite a bit of thought. There are also a handful of vocal supporters for this project. I’ve also been considering a third book in the Scarlet Order Vampire series. Now there are many vocal people who will tell me that vampires are yesterday’s genre. However, I can’t ignore that in the three weeks since I released Vampires of the Scarlet Order, it has significantly outsold every other book I’ve released this year. It’s not a statistic I can ignore, especially if it turns into an ongoing trend.

A New Cover for The Pirates of Sufiro

As I mentioned in Tuesday’s post, my first novel, The Pirates of Sufiro, is now 25 years old. I gave Laura Givens the challenge of creating the cover for the anniversary edition. As we spoke about it, we decided to return to the idea I first had for the book’s cover, we decided that it should feature Suki, Firebrandt, and Roberts, the three people for whom the planet Sufiro is named.

We also discussed the background and how the book has a space western kind of vibe. Laura took that idea and created something that looks both futuristic and rough-hewn. I imagine this is Sufiro around chapter four of the previous edition. (In my rewrite, I’ve added a chapter, so it would be chapter five of the new version). This is when settlers from Earth have joined our three marooned pirates and have started to build a town called Succor. Without further ado, here’s a look at the new cover:

Here’s the description from the back of the previous edition: The Pirates of Sufiro is the story of a planet and its people—of Ellison Firebrandt the pirate captain living in exile; of Espedie Raton, the con-man looking to make a fresh start for himself and his wife on a new world; of Peter Stone, the ruthless bank executive who discovers a fortune and will do anything to keep it; and of the lawman, Edmund Ray Swan who travels to Sufiro seeking the quiet life but finds a dark secret. It is the story of privateers, farmers, miners, entrepreneurs, and soldiers—all caught up in dramatic events and violent conflicts that will shape the destiny of the galaxy.

I don’t really expect to make any changes to this description. I am making changes in the new edition, but all of this will still happen. My goal is that if this is the edition of The Pirates of Sufiro that you read, you can still pick up a previous edition of the sequels and not be lost or confused about what happened before. I’m filling in details and I’m hoping the new edition will have a more satisfying structure and be told from more effective points of view.

One of my big realizations while working on the new edition is to see that The Pirates of Sufiro is really a compilation of three novellas. This has helped a lot when thinking about the structure. The first novella tells the story of Firebrandt, Roberts and Suki exploring the planet and making a life there along with the first settlers who join them. The second novella is set a couple of decades later when a new wave of settlers discovers a rare mineral on the other planet’s other major continent and upsets the balance of life there. The third novella happens twenty years later when Edmund Swan arrives, a little like the classic western hero, to set things right.

At this point, I expect the new print and ebook editions will be out around the beginning of 2020. However, you don’t have to wait that long. I’m posting chapters as I revise them to my Patreon site. If you sign on as a patron, you can read the chapters as they’re completed and I’ll give you a link to download the finished ebook when it’s done. What’s more, I’ve been sharing some old artwork and photos from the days when I first wrote the book with my patrons. Check it out at: http://www.patreon.com/davidleesummers

Weeds

I’m not a big fan of winter or cold weather, but one thing I look forward to about this time of year is that the weeds in my yard typically die off and I don’t have to deal with them until the spring. Because of that January and February are often quite productive months for my writing and editing. This year, the weeds didn’t die off and I’ve been fighting them all through the winter.

As a writer who also operates telescopes at the National Observatory, I don’t have the kind of income that allows me to hire a gardener. So, this means I get to go out and deal with the weeds myself. Now, it’s not all bad. It gets me out from behind my desk to get some exercise and some sunshine. It also gives me some quiet time to think through plot lines and occasionally come up with blog posts about subjects like the hassles of dealing with weeds in the wintertime!

While weeding, I do find myself thinking that the process is not unlike writing and editing. When you write, you try to get everything you can down on paper. You try to make sure you explain why people do the things they do, what the setting is like, what the people are like, and who knows what about whom. It’s a little like letting a garden grow unchecked. Sure you’ll get blooms or vegetables, but they’ll be stunted by the weeds. As an editor, you’ve got to take out the weeds of the writing. That’s the stuff that isn’t really necessary to move the plot forward. You may move some of the plants you want around to make a better arrangement, or to make them healthier. In writing, that’s just presenting your information in the best order to reveal the information in a satisfying way to the reader.

This winter, I’m editing two terrific books by other authors plus I’m revising one of my own for re-release. I’ll have more news soon about the books I’m editing for others. Those are the supernatural adventure novel Armageddon’s Son by Greg Ballan and the weird western novella Fallen Angel by David B. Riley. The book I’m revising is The Pirates of Sufiro and I’m really excited about the progress I’m making. A lot of the credit there goes to my Patreon supporters. Because I’m answerable to them for the progress I’m making, it’s been motivating me to move forward with that project.

If you click the button above, it’ll take you to my Patreon site where you can browse the posts. Most of the content is just for those patrons who support me, but there is some free content. You can see the first chapter of The Pirates of Sufiro as it was in the most recent published edition and in the revision to see what sorts of edits I’m doing. A little over a week ago, I split one of the original chapters into two chapters because I felt I’d rushed the story in the original. The money I get from patrons helps to pay for cover art, layout and design. And who knows, if I get enough support, maybe I can afford to have someone help with the weeds!

First Responder Training

This past week at Kitt Peak National Observatory, I renewed my first responder certification. As I mentioned in my Saturday blog post, observatories are in remote locations and bad things do happen. I’ve been fortunate enough that I haven’t had to deal with much in the way of criminal activity at an observatory. I’m often asked if I have ever seen aliens at the observatory. My answer to that is that the law enforcement agency I’ve interacted most with at the observatory is the U.S. Border Patrol.

That said, things can be bad enough without people engaged in illegal activities. I have had to treat an astronomer who was stung by a scorpion. I also know of a time a person on the mountain suffered a heart attack, though did not go into cardiac arrest. As I approach the age my father suffered a fatal heart attack, I find myself grateful that many of my co-workers know CPR and have been trained in the use of Automated Electronic Defibrillators.

Even without worrying about heart conditions, I have also had more than my share of accidents. About a month before my oldest daughter was born, I was working on a telescope when I accidentally knocked a 15-pound weight off a ladder and it fell right into my jaw, puncturing my lower lip. Luckily I didn’t lose any teeth. More recently, an elevator became stuck. We were able to open the door and I jumped to the floor below to go find a ladder to get my fellow passengers out. I managed to sprain my knee in the process.

At Kitt Peak National Observatory, once we dial 911, it will take 45 minutes for the closest ambulance to make it to the observatory summit. Many observatories are even further from emergency response. Having a staff where many people have first responder training means we can help each other and help visitors during emergencies.

I strongly encourage you to get first responder training if it’s at all available. I have to admit, I don’t always remember all the lessons from the videos and practice sessions, but the training does give me the confidence to follow instructions from a 911 dispatcher when I call. I’ve also found that in those rare emergency situations, I’m surprised by how much I do remember.

Another aspect of first responder trainer that’s important to me is that it gives me experience I can draw on as a writer. Aspects of both Kitt Peak’s remote location and the training I’ve received as a first responder have gone into such novels as The Pirates of Sufiro. The novel is currently out of print, but I’m about to launch into a full rewrite in preparation of a fourth edition at my Patreon site. My Patreon site also helps to fund this blog and I currently have an initiative to raise enough money to upgrade this to an ad-free site. Drop over to my Patreon site and read two free stories of my new collection Firebrandt’s Legacy. If you sign on, you can read the rest of the collection for free, plus you can see how The Pirates of Sufiro develops in its new edition. I bet you’ll even see some examples of how I put my first responder training to use in my fiction writing. My Patreon site is at: http://www.patreon.com/davidleesummers.

Steampunk in the Wild

In many ways, steampunk is more than a literary genre and more than a fandom. It can be a lifestyle and it can be a community. I experienced this when I joined the Tucson Steampunk Society to invade the mining town of Bisbee, Arizona, just a few miles south of Tombstone. The Society secured lodgings at the Bisbee Inn, also known as the Hotel La More, at one edge of Bisbee, overlooking Brewery Gulch, a home to saloons in the old west days and still a home to some fine breweries today. The Bisbee Inn is a lovely building that still feels very much like a nineteenth century hotel, even with its modernized plumbing and kitchen.

Unlike a convention, this outing was not jammed full of scheduled items. Most events happened on Saturday, August 18. We started with a meetup at the Cafe Cornucopia for an informal lunch. Afterwards, from 1-5pm, the League of Pythean Metachronists and Explorers of the Paraverse welcomed participants to a High … very High Tea in the far reaches of the Mule Mountains. Many participants hiked into the Mule Mountains for tea and adventure. Some remained below at the base camp, still others took the time to explore the shops and attractions of Bisbee.

My wife, daughter, and I decided to take the Queen Mine Tour, which is quite an adventure in itself. The Queen Mine was a copper mine that operated as recently as 1975 and our tour guide was one of the miners who worked there. The people who take the tour are loaded on a little train that rides along the old mining cart tracks deep into the Earth. There, the guide gave us a look at the equipment used in the mining operation and regaled us with anecdotes of his days working in the mines. I last took the tour circa 1994 and information I gained was used when I described the Erdonium mines in my novel The Pirates of Sufiro. I’m getting ready to start my rewrite of that novel at my Patreon page, so you can bet the fresh visit will be useful!

After the mine tour, I joined the family for a visit of the shops. Va Voom near the Bisbee Inn specializes in many steampunk items and held a no-purchase-necessary raffle for a beautiful leather parasol holder. All of us found treasures in the store to take home with us. After that, we took a break until dinner time and had a nice, quiet dinner as a family. Bisbee is the kind of town where you can walk into a fine restaurant in your steampunk best and be welcomed with open arms. The group did elicit a few comments, and though a few were puzzled or curious, most were complimentary.

After dinner, my family and I visited a few more shops before rejoining members of the Society for gelato. We then returned to the hotel for the PG PJ Potluck Parlour Party. This was a chance for steampunks to gather and mingle. I was invited to read and the hotel, like many old hotels, is said to have its share of ghosts, so I read a sampling from my story “The Sun Worshiper” about a mummy-unwrapping party gone wrong, which appears in the anthology After Punk published by eSpec Books.

You might notice in the photo that I wore a top hat and tails to a PJ party. Of course, as an astronomer, that is viable late night wear! After the reading, the party moved on to a mix of tarot and tea leaf readings plus some party games. The whole thing wound down between midnight and one in the morning.

All in all, it proved to be a wonderful and relaxed time. It gave me a chance to know members of the Tucson Steampunk Society better than I would have at a convention. What’s more, when I go to a convention in a town, I rarely have time to actually explore the town. I loved that I got to spend time in Bisbee, visit its shops and see some of the people who weren’t part of the event, including a dear friend who lives there and another friend who was in town for a different event. I would certainly be happy to return for another such event either in Bisbee or in a new and different location.

I can tell many people worked behind the scenes to make this a wonderful event. At the risk of leaving someone out, I want to give kudos to Andie Ruiz, Kathleen Hill, John and Sabrina Floyd, and Jim Spring. And of course a very special thank you to Madame Askew who invited me to read at the event and is the vibrant and delightful personality at the center of many outstanding steampunk events. You should visit her Patreon page at: https://www.patreon.com/MadameAskew

End Game and New Beginnings

I’m currently working on the final chapters of my collection Firebrandt’s Legacy. This book collects space pirate stories that have appeared in numerous anthologies over the years alongside several new stories. The whole collection is an arc of related stories, so the book may be read as an episodic novel. I’ve been sharing the new and revised stories with my Patreon subscribers since September 2017.

Based on my current outline, I have about three stories to go to bring events up to the beginning of my novel The Pirates of Sufiro and to bring the collection up to the length I want. I will release the first story of the final three to my Patreon subscribers on Thursday, July 26.

My approach to Patreon has been pretty simple. I only have one tier and it only costs $1.00 per month to subscribe. Of course, patrons are welcome to pay more per month if they feel sufficiently moved by my work to support me at a higher level. My first goal is to use this money to pay the costs associated with publishing Firebrandt’s Legacy. My second goal is to print new editions of the other related books including The Pirates of Sufiro, Children of the Old Stars, and Heirs of the New Earth. Patreon support has already helped me publish the new edition of The Solar Sea, which is a prequel to my Space Pirates’ Legacy series that tells the story of how humans became a space faring society. I shared a free download of the ebook with all my Patreon subscribers. Patreon support also helps support this blog and helps support my travel to conventions where I give both writing and science presentations.

For the duration of Firebrandt’s Legacy, I have been posting at least one new or revised story to the site per month along with a “Behind the Scenes” look at where the story first appeared (if it had been previously published) and what influenced me to write the story. Of course, I plan to share a free download of the complete ebook to all my Patreon subscribers when it’s complete.

Now that I’m about to finish Firebrandt’s Legacy, I’m thinking about the best way to share my progress revising The Pirates of Sufiro for a new edition. I expect that I’ll be heavily revising this novel for a number of reasons. Not the least of which is that this was my very first novel and I’ve learned a lot since I first published it. I’ve also received a lot of feedback on the novel over the years and plan to take those comments into account. Sharing “reedited chapters” may not sound like much value to anyone who has already read the book and people may wonder why they should subscribe instead of just buying a cheap used copy of the book.

My current plan is that when I start The Pirates of Sufiro, instead of doing the “Behind the Scenes” segments, I’ll share the chapter as it appeared in the most recent edition, perhaps along with some notes about the inspirations and the origins of the ideas. I’ll wait a couple of weeks, then present the revised chapter, so people can see what I’m doing with this edit. In both cases, I’m delighted for people to comment on what I’m doing as the project progresses.

To prepare for this transition, I’ve recorded a brief intro video and posted it to my Patreon site. Also, I have made two of the Firebrandt’s Legacy stories/chapters available for anyone to read whether or not they’re a patron. They’re the first chapter, “For a Job Well Done”, and Chapter Twelve, “Calamari Rodeo.” I encourage you to drop over to the site, watch the intro video and read the two free stories. If you like these characters, please sign on as a patron. My Patreon site is: http://www.patreon.com/davidleesummers

One last thing before signing off. Speaking of used copies of The Pirates of Sufiro, Children of the Old Stars, and Heirs of the New Earth, Hadrosaur Productions is running an auction at eBay for the last complete set of the LBF/Hadrosaur editions of the Old Star Saga in their stock. Drop by and place a bid at eBay!

Bringing Characters to Life

A little over a week ago, at El Paso Comic Con, I had the opportunity to meet Jonathan Frakes, who not only starred in Star Trek: The Next Generation as Commander William Riker, but directed two of the films and several episodes of the series. I told him a little about the Star Trek: The Next Generation script my friend William Grother and I had submitted back in 1991, which had made it to the producer’s desk, but wasn’t actually produced. We shared some kind words. His commanding voice and intense blue-eyed gaze, which made him perfect for Riker, stuck with me into the coming week.

After El Paso Comic Con was over, I needed to write a new story for my book-in-progress, Firebrandt’s Legacy. The book is a combination of previously published stories and new material about Captain Ellison Firebrandt and his crew of space pirates aboard the good ship Legacy. My goal has been to create a set of stories that work together as a satisfying story arc. The new stories are there to bring the story arc together and then bring the overall story to a satisfying conclusion. I’m about two-thirds of the way through the process and hope to finish the book over the summer.

The story I needed to write required a character who could put the indefatigable Captain Firebrandt into a tough spot. Firebrandt’s a privateer and he’s mentioned several times that he answers to authorities on Earth. I decided the time had come to show readers who exactly Captain Firebrandt answered to. I saw this person as a tough admiral who manipulates people and ships like pieces on a chessboard, doing everything possible to keep Earth out of open conflict because, frankly, in this universe Earth would be seriously outmatched in an open conflict. Because I wanted this to be a memorable character, I wanted to think of aspects that would bring him to life for the reader. One of the tricks I sometimes use to do this is to imagine the actor I would put in that part if this was dramatized. Jonathan Frakes with his intense presence seemed just the kind of person I would cast as the person to put Captain Firebrandt in a tough place!

A writer can also reverse this trick and think of a character who has characteristics very different from a familiar actor or character and then visualize that person. Another time I needed an opponent for Captain Firebrandt and his crew, I wanted to create someone who was capable, but not exactly likable. I turned to Sir Patrick Stewart and his portrayal of Jean-Luc Picard. However, I didn’t want a Picard, I wanted an anti-Picard. The result was William Robert Stewart, a posturing, arrogant, loud-mouthed captain who is happy to let his feelings be known. Captain “Billy Bob” Stewart has appeared in two of my Firebrandt’s Legacy stories.

I hope to release the book Firebrandt’s Legacy later this year, but why wait? You can read the stories as I edit and write them by becoming a patron at my Patreon site. Just click the button below or at the right side of the screen. For just one dollar a month, you’ll get a brand new story, plus behind the scenes information about the stories. I’ve also given away a free ebook of The Solar Sea to patrons and I plan to give away the complete ebook of Firebrandt’s Legacy to my patrons as well. For that matter, if I get a few more patrons, I might be persuaded to send out signed print copies. What’s more, patrons get a chance to be mentioned in the book’s acknowledgements. You want more? I’m also working with a very talented group of voice actors to create a full-cast audio dramatization of the book. So, why wait? Sign aboard the Legacy today!