Michael Lauck's Blog, page 7

Newspaper Article About Me

So, I guess it was a slow news day but the Lee’s Summit Tribune (my new hometown paper… not a new paper in my hometown but a paper in my new hometown) did a little feature on me.

Check it out:

http://lstribune.net/lees-summit-news/lee-s-summit-author-releases-second-novel.htm

And if you are interested, you can get The Heist on Amazon.

Anti Female Doctor Who...Not Evil

Instead of writing a whole post here about why I am not excited about a female Doctor, I invite y’all to check out my new video blog over on the YouTubes. I ramble on to try to explain myself there… I will probably post clarifications, replies and such in a blog here soon.

Please subscribe to my YouTube channel for more rants about science fiction and fantasy stuff.

You Have Been Warned..!

So back before I was writing novels (when I was writing technical manuals, lots of web copy and other weird ghostwriting projects) I did a video podcast called Flying DVDs Of Death with my buddy Jeff Wheat. We were kind of a manic DVD review show… at first we were going to just do martial arts movies, since we meant at the ol’ kung fu school. but really quickly we decided to expand our boundaries into the “cinema of asskicking.” That meant we reviewed whatever caught our attention from hardcore, old school Shaw Brothers kung fu movies (like anything with the word “Shaolin” in the title) to ‘60s Japanese gangster films (Tokyo Drifter is so awesome) to things people never saw coming (like Home Alone, which I still maintain is the children’s version of Charles Bronson’s Death Wish movies). Some people loved us. A few hated us. By and large, though, most people didn’t care about ‘90s Hong Kong crime films and samurai flicks as much as me and Jeff did!

Still, the show helped build a sense of community and I meant some folks who I still talk with today. I kind of miss that. I was reflecting during a recent 4 hour drive that I wish I had a bit more interaction with the folks reading my books and fantasy/science fiction fans in general. I want to talk about stuff beyond my own books. Heck, I want to talk about everything else going on in SF&F that isn’t my books (which are hardly major players in the SF&F universes!). So I decided to return to video podcasting. I have started the Swords And Rayguns YouTube Channel… there isn’t anything up yet, but you have been warned!

New Your Book Release Celebration!

So somebody asked me how I celebrated the release of my latest book on July 1st… and the honest truth is that my family was visiting relatives but I stayed behind to protect our bulldog from fireworks. I didn’t feel so hot anyway so I spent the morning catching up of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cartoons that have been collecting on my DVR (hey, it was Saturday morning) and the afternoon catching up of the episodes of the original Battlestar Galactica that had collected on the DVR since ME TV started airing the classic series a few weeks ago.

In a way that was really a fitting celebration because Saturday morning cartoons and science fiction television of the 1970s have really contributed to my writing style and tone today… There really aren’t many parallels between Battlestar and The Black Sky Rangers science fiction series I launched with my new book (The Heist…. shameless plug; only $1.95 as an ebook from Amazon). One is about refugees from a war they did not start and the other is about first responders in space but all those Saturday mornings spent watching Thundarr the Barbarian and Jason of Star Command added up to something. Throw in the nights playing Micronauts, Shogun Warriors and behind the controls of my cardboard Viper cockpit that I sent away who knows how many cereal box tops to get (it was a real thing; look up “Battlestar Galactica Space Station Kit” from General Mills) and that is how I ended up with my thoughts drifting to the adventures of the Alliance Patrol Cruiser Wyatt Earp and her small crew today.

If you grew up reading novelizations of Star Trek, Buck Rogers, Star Wars and Battlestar like I did and still love a good science fiction yarn in the pulp magazine tradition, please check out The Heist, the first in the Black Sky Rangers series of adventures. It is only available as a Kindle ebook from Amazon to help keep the price down, like a good ol’ 1970s paperback. If you like it, please take a second a leave a review on Amazon; it really helps out. And if you really like it please send me a message. I’ll turn off the TV long enough to read it, I promise.

New Book...

Hey, you haven’t posted a blog in a long time!

Yeah, that’s totally the truth. I have been busy and stuff.

Too busy to write a blog? 

Kind of, yeah. I wrote a new book. I moved across state. Plus, I write almost every day for websites and stuff.

So how come you can’t come around to the blog until you have something to sell?

Ouch. That’s harsh. I mean, it is true, but harsh. To be honest, I think there are two reasons. First up, if I am going to write, I might as well write something more substantial than a blog.

You could write stuff for the blog like free short stories or post book previews.

Yeah. I guess. That brings me to the second reason, though. The same reason I am barely on Twitter or Facebook. I am sick of all the vitriol and hatred and misinformed people running around feeling so superior and smart. It is both sides, but it is sickening. So I’d rather stick my head in the sand of my own little fantasy worlds… or someone else’s. Now that I am finally settled after almost a year of moving (and my home office is still pretty much a desk surrounded by boxes, tubs and some sweet vintage Danish Modern furniture) I am unpacking all my sweet comics, magic books and pulp novels. 

Okay. Maybe that is acceptable. So, what is the new book?

Glad you asked. I think it is the first of a new science fiction series called Black Sky Rangers. Basically, I am writing a science fiction TV show but no one is actually producing my show. I am not letting this stop me from creating a series of novelizations based on the episodes. The first one, THE HEIST (it should be available July 1 on Amazon), is a single story because I see it as the two hour pilot episode. After that, most books will have two stories, or episodes… unless they are a two part episode. 

So that didn’t really explain what it is about….

Good point. Black Sky Rangers follows a small vessel called the APC Wyatt Earp as it patrols a far flung, but heavily colonized, area of space. As the Earp’s captain Matthew Johnson explains, they are “the sheriff, the ambulance, the mail and sometimes even the dog catcher.” 

So what sets it apart from other space westerns… it is fair to call it a space western?

Ummm, probably. Space western, space opera… I want to have an old, pulp sci-fi feeling to it without the vacuum tubes. Like when that stuff got big when I was a kid with Star Wars, Star Trek and Battlestar and Buck Rogers. I guess I thought more about that than what genre it should fit into but the spaceship is called the Alliance Patrol Cruiser Wyatt Earp, so I guess that space western is fair. Of course, their sister ship is the APC Elliot Ness!

And what sets it apart?

Well, I hope that readers really get attached to the crew of the Earp. The captain is driven by the recent and mysterious deaths of three crewmen, the grizzled old combat engineer is also the ship’s chaplain and so on. Like I said, in my head, this is a TV show (probably a ‘70s TV show) complete with an action montage opening sequence and theme song and everything. There is probably even a scene where they slide across the hood of their fighter craft like an old cop show. I can imagine tearing open cereal boxes to get to the Black Sky Rangers toy inside. That isn’t to say that it is a story for kids, though. I just am kind of trying to recapture that feeling from back in the late 1970s when I was a kid and sci-fi went mainstream.

So when does it come out?

Black Sky Rangers, The Heist comes out on July 1 on Amazon as an ebook for $1.99; search for The Heist by Michael Lauck. I am trying to keep the price low, like the paperbacks I used to love as a kid. Sadly, I am not sure that this will come out in paperback at this point, though. It is just too expensive. I am exploring audiobooks, but that would be a bit down the road, probably after a few Black Sky Ranger books are out. For now, $1.99 as a Kindle book. But you can read a Kindle book on about anything: PC, Mac, Android or iOS. 

Okay, what next? Back to the kung fu stories?

Umm, no. I have another book basically written that is completely different from everything else I have written so far. I am still grappling with it, though. Although I have had some feedback requesting more stories from the world of The Grand Tournament, I am just not there right now. Instead, I think my readers can look forward to more Black Sky Rangers and maybe that other book, let’s just call it Book X for now.

Will there be martial arts in The Heist?

Well, given what the Rangers do, it seems reasonable that they would have some hand to hand training so it might pop up in future episodes (I mean books) but not in The Heist. There may be a mention of martial arts, but that is about it.

What about in Book X?

Yeah, it definitely has a martial arts theme but it is set in a very different world than The Grand Tournament or Rise of the Mountain Tiger. And like I said, I am still wrestling with it. Now that The Heist is done, I have several more Black Sky Rangers stories bouncing around in my head. I wouldn’t be surprised if you see one or two more before I finish Book X or go back to the stories of the Hong Yue.

So you won’t say what it is about?

Nope. 

New Free Short Story

My new short story Rise Of The Mountain Tiger will be free from Tuesday, January 31 until Saturday, February 4. It is a stand alone prequel to my wuxia inspired fantasy novel The Grand Tournament, which is available as a paperback or ebook on Amazon. Rise Of The Mountain Tiger is only available as an ebook.

Check it out here: Rise Of The Mountain Tiger

New Story On Amazon

Hey y’all. How’s it going? 

Just in case you need something to do between watching politics on the news and waiting for sports (I hear some kind of big deal is happening next week… it isn’t fighting so I don’t much care), I released a new short story on Amazon for the Kindle called Rise Of The Mountain Tiger. It is a stand alone prequel to my novel The Grand Tournament (meaning you didn’t have to read the book to get what is going on in the new story). My plan was to release it free, but that apparently isn’t an option anymore so it is 99 cents. However, since you are reading my blog and all I will share with you that as soon as I am able (probably Monday morning) I will run a five day promotion to give the story away for free. If you are a Kindle Unlimited subscriber it is already available to you for no cost.

I hope everyone enjoys it. My plan is to eventually release two more related prequel stories, probably over the next year or so. I have a few other things in the works, though, and I am 99% sure that my next release will be good ol’ fashioned pulp magazine style science fiction. 

It’s cold out there! Read a book!

Whoa! It is December!

So I have been incredibly busy as I try to finish this cross state move that started way back in the spring. I am pretty much done with everything I can do… I just need someone to buy my house! Once that is done I literally have about one carload to pack and make the drive to join my family on the western side of Missouri.

The good news is that I got my annual winter illness out of the way. I have been pretty much out of commission since Thanksgiving but, even though I felt terrible and just laid around, I managed to do some serious thinking. I worked out a few things and should have some new stories out soon. In fact, I am ready to announce that my next project will be a free standalone prequel to The Grand Tournament. It will be only available on Amazon as a download and the novella length story should be out soon. It is well over half written but had a nagging issue that I finally figured out while I was sick. I should finish the first draft this weekend (’specially since it is supposed to be really crappy outside), then some editing and test reading will start.

After that I am going to launch a new series… I am not ready to talk about it yet except to say that it is going to be an homage to the cheap sci fi paperbacks I read back in the day and its origins go all the way back to stories I would tell myself as I played with my space Lego sets back when I was little! Basically it is going to be a novelization of the TV show that no-one ever asked me to write. Why should that stop these stories from getting out, right?

Hope everyone reading this is in good health and cheer!

Star Trek 50 And Roddenberry’s Vision

I’ve had this blog for about a year now
and I will be the first to admit that I am not nearly as active on it
as I thought I would be or even as I think I should be…  We are
moving across state and I have to admit that this is a much longer
and more laborious process than I ever imagined. All that aside, my
other concern is that somehow it seems like all my posts are about
Star Trek and I am trying to avoiding that since I am not
connected with the franchise in any way… But I am back and there
was just the 50th anniversary of Star Trek and guess what I am
going to write about?

I have heard some grumblings about Star
Trek lately that it was not really Gene Roddenberry that made the
show diverse or wanted the diversity, it was NBC. After all, they
started I Spy with Bill Cosby in 1965 and if you watch the
original pilot, The Cage, there is no Uhura, there is an Asian
crewman at the transporter but no Sulu. How diverse is that? When I
finally I a break last night, I was watching The Cage as
presented by Svengoolie on ME-TV (and even that was time shifted) and
trying to talk myself into staying up late enough to watch the first
episode of the Planet of the Apes television show from ‘74
that ME-TV was beginning to air that night (well, early morning… I
am watching it now; it got time shifted, too). I had to admit that
The Cage did not look very diverse and that Star Trek
would be a very different series in cast and tone when it actually
was aired. Was Gene Roddenberry not the visionary we had been told?
Could that be true? I think he was actually a little more radical!

Thanks
to the fanatic devotion to Star Trek and the Internet,
you can find out a good deal about formation  and development of the
show. There are some disagreements, apocryphal stories and opinions,
of course, but I’d like to look at one very specific document: Gene
Roddenberry’s proposal for the series, complete with several episode
ideas. Thanks to Lee Thomson’s script archive, you can still read the
proposal and there are a few interesting suggestions inside!

First, this is where Roddenberry refers
to Wagon Train when explaining the concept of the show. It may
not be the first time, I am not doing that much research! But what is
interesting is that he does not portray the show as a western in any
way, shape or form (he mentions Gunsmoke later and Dr.
Kildare, too, when talking about the scope of the ship). He says
that the structure of the show is that the crew of the ship (the
Yorktown) would move from place to place to provide the stories,
calling it a “Wagon Train concept.” A key concept
was that the crew would visit many parallel worlds, like Earth but
with important differences, that would give the writers a platform
for social commentary. We’ll get back to that in a minute, though.

The crew does not include Uhura or
Sulu. First presented is the Captain, Robert April. He is pretty much
what you would expect and is described as “A space-age Captain
Horation (sic) Hornblower.” Second up is Number One, the female
second in command. There are two important aspects to her
description: she “is probably Robert April’s superior in
detailed knowledge of the multiple equipment systems, departments and
crew members aboard the vessel” and she is “slim and dark
in a Nile Valley way, age uncertain.” I can not be sure what
Roddenberry meant for sure but could it be that Number One was meant
to be Eqyptian or Arabic woman or even the black woman that became
Uhura? Instead of Chekov and Sulu navigating the ship was to be Jose
Ortegas from South America. Mr. Spock was to fill the role of the
first lieutenant and described as being intensely curious and
probably half Martian! Finally, Colt, the captain’s yeoman, the
second woman on the bridge and obviously a love interest for April.
The crew is not as diverse as the crew we have grown to love, I will
grant you. But don’t count Roddenberry out yet.

Included in the proposal are
suggestions for nineteen episodes and these are the most fascinating
revelations about Roddenberry’s vision. Some seem familiar, for
example, The Man Trap was eventually the first episode of the
series and Infection, about an alien impregnating a crew
member, was eventually a Next Generation story. Several of the
other plot summaries delve deeper in to explorations of society and
what it is we want to become as a civilization. The first story, The
Perfect World, finds the crew on a seemingly prefect world that
hides a brutal, communist 1984-like police state under the surface.
100 AB explores a world a century after their nuclear war and
Reason explores whether a robot society is capable of emotion
and human style reasoning with a sequel story exploring what happened
to the human survivors of the society. Other stories include an
examination of the morality of meat and an early version of the
“mirror universe” which was eventually featured in the
show. Towards the end, perhaps after Roddenberry had hoped to hook
the executives, are some of the most radical concepts presented. The
Pet Shop, set in a world much like 1916 St. Louis, portrays a
society whose women keep men as pets. The Venus Planet sees
the crew visiting a world centered on love but devoid of men. No
doubt the most daring suggestion, though, was called Kongo. In
a world much like the pre-Civil War South whites are held as slaves
and members of the crew are captured and placed on plantations.

There was no Uhura or Sulu, no Chekov
or Scotty in the early days of Star Trek. It was not as
diverse in the first version as what we would eventually come to know
and love. Reading over this early proposal for the show, though, I do
not think that it is fair to act as Gene Roddenberry did not has some
very serious attempts at social commentary in mind when creating Star
Trek. In fact, with its parallel worlds and flawed society of the
week, I almost wonder in Star Trek was not meant to make much
more of a statement.

A Short Thought

Life has been kicking my ass lately. It keeps knocking me down, I’m up and a quick shot I never saw coming puts me back on the ground.

But I keep getting back up. And Life doesn’t know that this time, this time as I struggled back to my feet I picked up a fistful of dirt and a chunk of brick. It’s a new fight now, Life and I don’t see a referee anywhere.