Bob Mayer's Blog, page 22

Area 51: Modern Myth? Or Something Else?

Area 51

I first heard of Area 51 in the early 90s. My ex-wife was an Army helicopter pilot and deploying across the country with her unit to the National Training Center in southern California. She mentioned how they had to divert around the airspace west of Nellis AFB and that it was highly classified. That piqued my interest as a fledgling novelist. I always ‘what-if’ things. Part of that comes from my background in Special Operations where we did a lot of what-iffing for our missions.

I began researching and came across the term Area 51. The more I dug, the more I realized all the alien/UFO stuff went back to one man, Bob Lazar, who claimed they were reverse-engineering a spaceship they’d found. They, of course, being those guys, You know the ones in the black helicopters. I found that story interesting until I realized one day as we were flying about in the newly formed Task Force 160 (Nightstalkers) that I was one of the guys in the black helicopters. So.

I started thinking about Area 51. Most thought the government had brought alien craft, and even aliens themselves to the place because it was so remote. Which is true. The remote part. You just don’t go by Area 51 on your way to anywhere. It’s part of the Nellis Air Force Base Range. To the west is the Nevada test site where hundreds of nukes have been tested. Not a place to wander through.

As a fiction writer, though, I reversed the thinking. What if there was something at Area 51? What if it had been found there, but was too big to move, so the government established the Groom Lake facility there and the ranges and nuclear test site around it, to hide what had been found?

What could be so big and secret? And thus, I began writing. Interesting note for aspiring authors. The original title for the book was Dreamland because that is the call sign for the Nellis Air Force Base tower. You knew that right? Another one of my stupid titles early in my career (like Eyes of the Hammer).

I had a two-book deal with Random House. The first book, which we got the deal on was The Rock, which is still one of my favorites. People either love that book or hate it. Anyway, we gave them Dreamland as the second book on that deal. The editor mentioned that Dreamland sounded too much like a fantasy novel, so I said, let’s change it to Area 51. At that point few people had heard of Area 51. But as the book went into promotion, X-Files started talking about it and then Independence Day came out and now everyone had heard of Area 51. And that is the power of luck in this business. Good timing.

Little did I know I had spawned a series that would still be going on with the 13th book, Area 51: Earth Abides, published last year. 25 years after the first. And there will be more.

What’s fascinating, though, is the epilogue I put at the end of Area 51 not planning on any more (remember, 2 book deal). Consciously, it was an ode to Arthur C. Clarke’s Sentinel story which was also the basis for 2001. Subconsciously? It became the opening of the next book, Area 51: The Reply as Random House gave me a new contract for more Area 51 books after the astounding success of the first book. And that is the power of the subconscious in creating. Something I’ve learned to trust more and more as the years have gone.

Nothing but good times ahead.

Book of the Day: Nightstalkers: The Rift

The Rift

Nightstalkers: The Rift

Who are the Special Operations who take care of things that go bump in the night?

The Nightstalkers.

Ever since the first Rift opened in Area 51 in 1947, via the infamous Demon Core from the Manhattan Project, exposing the world to deadly beings of pure energy, only the Nightstalkers have stood between humanity and complete annihilation. But as the decades have gone by, whatever power controls the Rifts seems to be getting smarter, as if refining an ultimate plan…

An old ally alerts the Nightstalkers to a resurgence of Rifts in Tennessee, not far from Oak Ridge, another institution from the Manhattan Project, and near one of the team’s first major skirmishes with the seemingly inexhaustible threat. Though still licking their wounds from their latest mission, the Nightstalkers know there’s no one else remotely prepared to battle these intrusions into our world. And this time, they’re intent on closing down the Rifts once and for all. But to do so, they’ll have to finally face the truth behind the Rifts’ origins.

The Demon Core

They say that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.

But what if the past has already doomed us all?

Nightstalkers are the elite Special Ops unit that take care of the things that go bump in the night; and worse. They correct the mistakes of scientists. They’re also a little bit crazy and a long way outside the bell curve, and not necessarily on the good end.

Wrath of Man and Archive. A Miss and a Hit

I stopped Wrath of Man about halfway through and went to sleep. I usually enjoy Jason Statham films as mindless, fun entertainment. There was nothing fun about this movie. I’m not sure why he took this role, which is out of character. He was so serious and brutal there was nothing redeeming. And I never knew so many armored cars were being robbed by so many different gangs.

Even the title feels a bit over the top. I think right away of Children of Men, the great 2006 movie based on the story.  Why? I don’t know. That’s the way my brain works. It just feels like Wrath of Man is trying too hard, as is Jason Statham in this movie. Enough said.

Archive is a classic example of a bad title covering a good product. I don’t want to say too much about this movie to avoid spoilers. But essentially, it’s about a scientist trying to develop an artificial intelligence than can then accept the upload of the mind of a human. In this case, that mind would be that of the protagonist’s wife who was killed in a car crash and stored in a system that can only maintain her consciousness a certain amount of time as it slowly degrades. That, in itself, is an interesting concept.

The setting is beautiful. Supposedly it’s set in Japan, but in the credits you learn it’s set in Hungary. At times it felt like one of those cheap Netflix movies that have great blurbs and ideas than turn into two people sitting in a room chatting because the budget is next to nothing, but this movie transcends that, especially when you get to the end, which, unlike Wrath of Man, I recommend you hang around for.

The History of Time Travel—Low Budget, High Concept

History of Time Travel

This is a short movie, slightly over an hour, that is fiction presented as a documentary.

It is, frankly, quite brilliant.

It is one of those movies you’re either going to love for what it does, or hate and think it’s nonsense. As a writer, I would rather have someone hate my book than not care about it. Because, like a relationship, you want to evoke strong emotion, not apathy. I’ve written a Time Patrol series so I understand the travails of trying to delve into this subject. My take was that a Time Patrol’s primary mission is to keep our history exactly as it was, for a very simple reason: as flawed as things are, we’re still here.

It starts off exactly as what it says: a documentary about the history of time travel. It does a good job having an expert quickly discussing the various theories of time travel and the paradoxes. Then on to the key man who invented. We learned about his wife and his family. All of this is done through interviews with experts and a family friend.

You have to watch carefully, though as the documentary unfolds and things start to change. I love when the medium of the story actually is the story. That’s the case here. The documentary form never changes but the story does.

I don’t want to give away too much. I highly recommend it as a film that will get you thinking.

Stop Thinking Someone’s Going To Rescue You

What Interstate 95 looks like on Tuesday morning with drivers trapped for hours. (Courtesy NBC Washington)

Dawn comes this day with thousands of drivers trapped in freezing temperatures on I-95 in Virginia. A number of circumstances collided to produce this; one of them being a lack of plow drivers and emergency personnel due to record Covid numbers.

How many of those trapped drivers took to the road unprepared for an emergency? Most. How many have a good pair of walking boots in their vehicles? Few. How many have blankets and extra water and food? Few. How many failed to check the weather?

We have a “normal” mentality. What I mean is we expect things to be normal, then get surprised when they aren’t. Worse, when things are abnormal, we expect someone to come rescue us rather than prepare to take care of ourselves.

When hurricanes or tornadoes or floods strike, help comes pouring in from unaffected nearby communities and states to help. But what if there is a disaster so large, that help isn’t available? Can you help yourself? What if, like today, a convergence of events: storms, accidents, COVID, come together to produce an unprecedented disaster?

Even a light perusal of recent news show disaster after disaster. Killer tornadoes. Winter storm. Drought. Floods. Devastating wildfires. It’s not going to get better.

So why don’t people prepare?

Complacency.

The assumption that help is only a cell phone call away.

A lack of focus.

Mainly, a mindset of “it can’t happen to me.”

Except 1 in 3 Americans experienced a climate related disaster in 2021.

We will see more extreme weather of all types.

Emergency services will continue to be stretched to the limits.

Bottom line? Get prepared. Take it step by step but start today. Tomorrow might be too late.

Here is a short slideshow I put together to help get everyone started.

Basic Disaster Preparation; Action and Equipment from Bob Mayer

Good luck and be safe!

Welcome to 2022. Free Books and Key Information to Start the New Year

I hope the New Year finds you well and safe. To welcome in 2022, I’ve put together some new deals and also have new timely, titles on the horizon.

New York Minute, the first book in the Will Kane Green Beret series is free today and tomorrow (3 and 4 Jan).

Independence Day (Time Patrol) is also free through 7 January. It has one of my favorite Time Patrol mission with Roland going back to 4 July 1863, the day after Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg where he has to make sure the Union doesn’t launch what could be a catastrophic counterattack. If you’ve consider audiobooks, that entire mission is free to listen to on Soundcloud HERE.

Three Special Operations thrillers in one is discounted to $3.99. It’s also in Kindle Unlimited so you can download it to count as only one title against your ten limit.

Four books in the Area 51 series: Excalibur, Truth, Legend and Nosferatu are only .99 this month.

Given events I am finally finishing up a project I’ve been working on for a while: The Green Beret Area Study Workbook. It’s a companion to the Green Beret Preparation and Survival Guide as it walks you through in detail how to do an Area Study in detail.

As part of that, I just put together a free slideshow on the basic things you should do now to get ready to a basic level. As many learned recently in the fire in Colorado, disaster can strike quickly and in a devastating manner. That fire burned through just to the south of where we used to live, starting the open space where we used to take our daily walks. So here is what you should do now.

Basic Disaster Preparation for All of Us

If you enjoy this newsletter and find the material worthwhile, please feel free to forward it and suggest to others to sign up.  HERE

Stay safe and enjoy the New Year!

Bob

Don’t Look Up: So On Target It Will Make You Laugh and Cringe. Watch It!

Don’t Look Up

Which is a hard thing to pull off. With a stellar cast led by DiCaprio, Blanchette, Streep, Jennifer Lawrence, Ariana Grande, and more, this movie skewers all of us so accurately that some scenes will make you cringe as we see how senseless, selfish, and misguided humans are.

Written and produced by Adam McKay, who did The Big Short, which explained the financial crisis and derivatives in the best way, it takes the trope of a comet headed toward earth being discovered by Jennifer Lawrence’s character and plays it out. How will society react? Given what we’ve seen with the reaction to Covid, we now know it won’t be one of those traditional “let’s all band together and defeat this thing” reaction in the disaster movie genre. After all, while I accurately predicted, and was lambasted for, at least a million deaths from COVID 2 years ago, I didn’t predict a strong anti-vax movement leaving 40 million Americans currently unvaccinated despite ready availability. Tens of thousands are going to die in the coming month due to their own disbelief in science and sheer irrational beliefs. People make that partisan but it’s not. It’s science. Even more than science, it’s REALITY.

In Don’t Look Up, everyone has an angle and saving Earth is a very low priority for most. Science is debunked by amateurs, much as we have so many “experts” on epidemiology with no scientific background who have sprung forth in the past two years.

The title refers to the movement that grows up to deny the reality of the incoming comet: namely, simply, Don’t Look Up. If you don’t, the comet doesn’t exist. Sound familiar? That only begins to change when the comet finally can be seen by the naked eye, but by then, of course, it’s far too late.

The cast is superb. Jennifer Lawrence grounds everything as the grad student who first spotted it. DiCaprio, as her professor, shows how fame can corrupt. Blanchette plays the blonde anchor with no depth perfectly. Fox News will be after her.

The feeling grows that our sheer irrationality is dooming us. Even more than the pandemic, the growing climate crisis is parodied in this film. We know it’s happening, we see it happening all around us, but many deny it and have the mantra of don’t look up.

We need to not only look up and around us, but take action. Before it’s too late.

The Novice—Movie Review–“You Need To Relax”

The Novice

Have you ever told someone who is upset to relax? Yeah. Experience has taught me it’s the worst possible thing to say to my wife in stressful moments and has the exact opposite effect.

The Novice is a movie about a young woman, Alex Dall, who is a freshman at a university where she is driven in all things. Not just academics, but her determination to not only be on the rowing team, but the make varsity crew her first year as a novice.

She’s intense beyond the point of common sense, thus the refrain from those around her to relax. But she can’t she’s driven to succeed no matter how much she hurts herself. And ignores those around her.

Overall, I wasn’t engaged in the movie. As with all my reviews it’s largely because of my background and point of view. Having been through numerous hard-core training programs I winced every time some varsity members would sneer “Novice” as it was Plebe or any other term I’ve heard over the years. It sounds funny coming out of the mouth of some 20-something about rowing. But when it’s your priority I guess it’s important.

I just wasn’t into the way the theme and message were hammered home. Every time the image of the crab was shown, I assume that was an insight into Dall’s feverish mind, but her actions were enough to show that. It felt like overkill. And the violin soundtrack about drove me nuts. I get it’s a dramatic scene. Don’t need the soaring soundtrack going “hey! Emotional scene!”. At times the movie shifted into a music video which is hard to do well and I don’t feel succeeded here. But I imagine someone much younger and of a different gender would be much more in tune. I feel old.

The movie was an interesting view into the mind of a person who is obsessive. The ending was positive when Dall finally realizes that her obsession is not only bad for herself but those around her. I liked the confrontation with her #1 freshman competitor who points out where Dall has gone astray in her single-minded focus. The last scene is well done; I wish more of the movie had been like that.

This is a movie that will appeal to a certain group of people. Just relax and watch.

Happy Holidays! Shane and the Hitwoman only .99 today through 29 December

I hope everyone is staying safe through the end of 2021. Sadly, Omicron has made an appearance and the next two months will be tough. Not just in terms of the pandemic but all medical emergencies. I’ve scaled back my outdoor adventures a bit because now is not the time to show up at the hospital with an injury. I had eighteen stitches back in October after I took a spill on the mountain bike; of course, after the accident I finished the remaining 15 miles of the ride, because, hey, I was out there.

My latest title and follow-on to Agnes and the Hitman is Shane and the Hitwoman and it’s only .99 for the new several days. Since Agnes was named one of the top 100 Romances of the decade I thought it might be a good idea to follow it up. Shane isn’t exactly a romance but it has got plenty of snark. So far, readers seem to be enjoying it based on the feedback. If you want a fun, fast-paced action book to read, give it a shot.

The first five books of the Area 51 series are only .99 all of December. I do plan another Area 51 book in 2022. However, the first out will be Phoebe and the Traitor, the follow-on to Shane. Then Shelter from the Storm, another Will Kane book.

Have a safe and happy holiday season!

Bob

Wheel of Time, Station Eleven, The Leftovers: A hit, A hit depending on the target, an older hit.

Wheel of Time

I read The Hobbit as a kid in the Bronx a long time ago. I was really amazed at how that Tolkein guy managed to fit three movies into one book. I was hooked. I was thrilled upon going back to the library and finding three more books by the same author. I read Terry Brooks when he first came out. In 1977. Hey, do you remember the top books from that year? Beyond that, I’m not a fantasy person. Just not my bag. So, I didn’t expect much when I started watching Wheel of Time.

All genres have tropes and patterns. It’s both the appeal and the downfall of genre. Fantasy is usually a quest. Where the chosen one has to go on a journey to overcome a force of evil. In fantasy, evil is usually just evil. I tell writers that evil isn’t a motivation for the antagonist. There has to be a concrete reason for the evil with a concrete goal. For example, how did Hannibal Lecter become evil? But in fantasy it seems that evil is the motivation which really simplifies the conflict box.

There are uneven moments; I wonder who is behind the White Cloaks and why the Aes Sedia don’t just wipe them out. Also, perhaps one of the reasons I’m not so much into fantasy is that magic needs rules and those rules seem vague at times; more as needed according to the author. On the flip side, though, the intrigue in the White Tower (it’s always a tower; how come no one has a condo?), the Tinkers, and the fact people actually get dirty, are appealing.

I’m happy to report that while Wheel of Time follows the basic trope of fantasy, it has enough variance and interesting characters to be engaging. There are twists and turns along the way. I haven’t read the books but have a strong suspicion where the story is going as to who is the Dragon. But perhaps I will be proven wrong in the next season. But it is a series worth watching.

I also hadn’t read Station Eleven. I remember when it came out there was a big hullabaloo. Hey—spell check says that one is correct. Score one for me. Anyway, something about it didn’t engage me. Perhaps because I was working on my own post-apocalyptic novel, burners, and it’s always good while actually working on a certain type of story not to read or see something similar. Anywho, I decided to check out the first three episodes of the series last night.

You might recall my reaction to Apple TV’s Invasion? As bad as that was, I fast-forwaredd through the entire season trying to see if it ever revealed anything and was disappointed. Station Eleven? I won’t even do that. I know what the story is, but I don’t really care about the characters. Correction: I really liked Jeevan. Perhaps because he appears to have Aspergers which I also have. Which is why you should take my take on these shows with a grain, a big one, of salt. I don’t see them the way a lot of people do.

After all, a quick Google search has someone from Vogue saying it’s the best new series of the year, hands down. Slate is enthusiastic about it. I’m just a writer from the Bronx with a messed-up brain. It’s not that I don’t get what the writers are doing. I see the gestures and symbols that loop in the writing. One of the reviews mentions that one of the people behind Station Eleven worked on The Leftovers which was a totally weird show, but I really enjoyed. Perhaps because in The Leftovers, we start with an emotional premise and then have characters we can empathize with? Some of the episodes were totally off the rails, like the secret agent one, but still engaging.

Station Eleven? Yeah, I know. It partly answers the question posed in The Road. Why survive? Is it enough to just survive? As humans, shouldn’t there be more?

A neat question but a pretentious one in a way, which is perhaps why I am turned off by some movies/shows such as Station Eleven. It, like Wheel of Time, is more fantasy with little realism, even while it tries to punch the realism up to another level.

I do see the brilliance in the writing. When Jeevan tells the young Kirsten in the parking lot that it’s her choice whether she stays with him or goes, he then takes that responsibility back from the child by saying her parents have texted. Kirsten, even as young as she is, knows he’s lying, but appreciates him taking that from her. Even before that, when the sister calls Jeevan instead of her other brother, it’s because she knows as messed up as he is, he will act. As we see in the opening when he rushes the stage. It’s a great line when he’s asked: were you the only one in the audience who saw he was having a heart attack? And his response is key: I was the only one who stood up and acted.

In a way, it hit me like The Power of the Dog. It too had brilliant writing. An excellent point to make about evil.

But both are sort of preaching to choir. Perhaps it’s because I’ve gone through survival training numerous times, written books on survival, and been in some hairy situations and seen evil first hand and know one thing: YES, it is enough to survive. At least for a while. Human history proves that. It is often in the struggle of surviving that the best, and the worst, of humanity comes to the forefront. I don’t need to perform Shakespeare to survive. I need other people and to care for them and take care of them.