Phil Giunta's Blog, page 81
July 13, 2014
Chris Winner: Cover Designer in the Middle of Eternity
In the case of our upcoming anthology, Somewhere in the Middle of Eternity , that person is long-time friend and graphic artist, Chris Winner. Chris did such excellent work on the layout for my second novel, By Your Side , that I went back to him when my publisher agreed to let me update the cover to my first novel, Testing the Prisoner .
The fantastic images for both covers were created by friend and artist, Laura Inglis . I then mocked up a front and back cover in Powerpoint (yeah, I know, low end) with the blurbs and reviews that I wanted and sent it all to Chris, who works his magic in Adobe Illustrator. Needless to say, my font choices for titles were not always the best. This is where Chris's eye for design truly shines. What he returned was pure gold.
Thus, there was no question that I would ask Chris to layout the cover for Somewhere in the Middle of Eternity. We followed the same process. I mocked up something, sent it to him and my publisher, Steve Wilson of Firebringer Press . After some email discussions, we set Chris to work on the look we wanted and again, he did not disappoint.
Moving forward, I have a paranormal novella that I just finished and, if accepted, will be released strictly as an ebook perhaps in 2015 or early 2016. For this project, I am reaching out to Chris not only to layout the front cover (which is all we'll need for an eBook), but also to create the cover art itself.
Somewhere in the Middle of Eternity will contain 13 tales of science fiction, fantasy, and the paranormal written by eight exceptionally talented writers and edited by yours truly. Each story will accompanied by a black and white illustration provided by phenomenal artist Mike Riehl, who also created our gorgeous cover.
The will be launched at the 36th annual Shore Leave SF convention Maryland on August 1-3. It will then be available in paperback and ebook from Amazon, B&N.com, Smashwords, and just about every online bookseller.
July 4, 2014
Phil Giunta Brings Ghosts, Androids, and Interstellar Gangsters to the Middle of Eternity
So, self, tell me what inspired the idea for Somewhere in the Middle of Eternity.
Well, self, it was like this...
As you can imagine, that would get old quickly. In a previous post, I mentioned how the idea for the anthology came about and how I proposed it to Steven H. Wilson of Firebringer Press .
Click here to read that post .
In addition to creating and editing the anthology, I knew I wanted to contribute at least one story. Well, one turned into three over the course of the two years we worked on the project. Permit me to share a brief synopsis of each...
My first story, "Photos from the Attic", follows a single mom as she squares off against a vindictive spirit that kills through old family photos. Sound creepy? No family is perfect. Many have dirty little secrets that are kept for generations. What if someone in the family wants to come back from the great beyond and expose one of those secrets--even if it means claiming a few lives in the process?
My second contribution is a story that I wrote as my homage to the golden age of science fiction. "Water to Share" focuses on an exiled scientist who, while stranded on a desolate planet, makes a discovery that could change the course of history for the known galaxy. First, however, he must deal with a crew of interstellar gangsters who crash land on the planet while fleeing the law. Could these criminals bring salvation or death?
Lastly, in "Don't Go Fussin' Over Me", we encounter Mona Bretton, an ornery old lady who ain't ready to keel over yet, even though members of her family repeatedly drop in to make her "comfortable in her last days". The question is, are these people real or delusions resulting from Mona's failing mind?
To be published by Firebringer Press in August, Somewhere in the Middle of Eternity will contain 13 tales of science fiction, fantasy, and the paranormal written by eight authors. Each story will be accompanied by a black and white illustration provided by artist Mike Riehl, who also created our stunning cover.
Of course, I will be a writer guest at Shore Leave next weekend where we will launch the anthology during the Friday evening Meet the Pros party. It will then be available in paperback and eBook from Amazon, B&N.com, Smashwords, and just about every online bookseller.
Mike Riehl: Artist in the Middle of Eternity
Known in many circles as “
To be published by Firebringer Press in August, Somewhere in the Middle of Eternity will contain 13 tales of science fiction, fantasy, and the paranormal written by eight authors and edited by yours truly. Each story will be accompanied by a black and white illustration provided by Mike, who also created our gorgeous cover.
As usual, Mike will have his dealer table filled with ornaments at Shore Leave where we will launch the anthology at the Friday evening Meet the Pros party. It will then be available in paperback and eBook from Amazon, B&N.com, Smashwords, and just about every online bookseller.
See below for examples of his amazing talent.
Below: A sample of Mike's hand painted ornaments from TV shows such as Star Trek, Stargate SG-1, and Battlestar Galactica.
Below: LeVar Burton couldn't walk away from Shore Leave 35 without a Geordi LaForge ornament from Mike Riehl.
Below: A sample of Mike's interior illustrations in our upcoming anthology and the phenomenal cover!
June 29, 2014
Lance Woods Brings Classic Mystery Noir to the Middle of Eternity
As with Daniel Patrick Corcoran and Michael Critzer, I met Lance Woods through the Maryland SF convention scene. We were introduced to one another 20 years ago by mutual writer pal (and our then future publisher), Steven H. Wilson. Since then, Lance has gone on to create the audio drama, Superhuman Times. Episodes of this series are podcast on Steve's Prometheus Radio Theatre. Based on that material, Lance's first novel, Heroic Park, was published in 2012 by Firebringer Press.
For our upcoming anthology, Lance takes us into the world of classic radio shows of the 1930s. We're treated to a truly unique adventure as the protagonist's hearing aid picks up an unaired episode of the murder mystery radio series, Intensity!, plunging her further into a deeply personal mystery of her own.
Somewhere in the Middle of Eternity will contain 13 tales of science fiction, fantasy, and the paranormal written by eight authors and edited by yours truly. Each story will be accompanied by a black and white illustration provided by phenomenal artist Mike Riehl, who also created our gorgeous cover.
Lance will be one of the authors joining us at Shore Leave where we will launch the anthology during the Friday evening Meet the Pros party. It will then be available in paperback and eBook from Amazon, B&N.com, Smashwords, and just about every online bookseller.
Most writers have at least one established author who inspired them. Would you share with us some of the authors who influenced you?
Like any kid, I read my share of famous prose authors, like Mark Twain and Jules Verne, but as I got older, my tastes gravitated toward movies, and screenplays and teleplays became my literature of choice. I’ve read and studied many of them over the years, from Ernest Lehman’s North by Northwest (my favorite movie) to Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. I think the two writers whose voices have really stayed with me, though, are Rod Serling (his “Walking Distance” episode of The Twilight Zone never fails to make me cry) and William Goldman (best known for the novel and script for The Princess Bride, but also for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Magic, Marathon Man, and countless other movies, not to mention some hilarious non-fiction books). I love reading their scripts – especially Goldman’s, because in addition to having kick-ass dialogue, he crafts his exposition and directions to read like he’s in the room with you, telling you the story. I try to do that in my own scripts and stories.
In addition to prose, you also write audio dramas and plays. Tell us about Superhuman Times and how you became involved with Steven H. Wilson’s Prometheus Radio Theatre podcast.
SuperHuman Times is a radio anthology I created for Prometheus around 2006, and it’s set in a world where superhumans lead human lives, among human beings. I like to describe it as stories about the ordinary lives of extraordinary people. As I pitched it to Steve, my goal was to create a radio comic book written by James L. Brooks (Broadcast News, As Good As It Gets). We produced the first five Times stories between 2006-2008, and are finally underway with the second series of stories, which I hope to hear before my 14-year-old son has grandchildren.
I’ve also had two stage plays produced by the Baltimore Playwrights Festival – Breeding Will Tell (1986) and Murder Case (1991) – and spent 10 years writing, producing and directing parodies at s-f conventions with a gifted bunch of people that included fellow Eternity contributors Steve Wilson and Daniel Patrick Corcoran, and was known to fandom-at-large as Cheap Treks. Those stage experiences helped immensely in crafting stories for the Times radio shows as well as the novel they inspired, Heroic Park.
How did your first novel, Heroic Park, come about?
Heroic Park is a direct spin-off of SuperHuman Times (hence the subtitle “A SuperHuman Times Novel”). It evolved from a) Steve asking me if I had any ideas for a Times novel for Firebringer Press and b) my desire to try writing prose after years of writing scripts. It also sprang from my lifelong love of theme parks and my wondering, “What would a theme park be like in a world where people are used to seeing super-powered humans (albeit in everyday professions)?” Since my writing tends to gravitate toward mysteries and capers, that’s what this novel turned out to be. I think it works well within this micro-universe of mine, and people who have read it have told me that they agree. From that perspective, I guess the experiment was a success.
We’re both fans of vintage radio shows, which was one reason why I found your story for our anthology so captivating. Can you give us a quick blurb about “Dead Air”?
“Dead Air” is the story of a young woman, Alex, who works for a satellite radio channel that specializes in old-time radio. One day, she starts hearing, or thinks she’s hearing, an episode from an old radio suspense anthology, Intensity, whenever she nods off. Ultimately, she learns that the episode she’s hearing was the last episode of the series – and that it never aired. And when the lead character in the radio play suddenly calls out, “She’s going to kill you, Alex!”, things get really scary. Is she losing her mind? If she isn’t, is someone really trying to kill her? Or save her? From what, or from whom?
What can readers expect next from you?
More words, I’m afraid. I’m working on the follow-up novel to Heroic Park, currently titled Spellbound. It follows one of the key players in Heroic Park, security expert Nataliya Tzone – the most powerful sorceress in the SuperHuman Times Universe – and her two daughters as they pursue three separate cases that dovetail into each other. I’ve never tried to wrangle this many plot threads before, so I’m probably more curious than readers will be as to how it will come out. I’m also trying to rough out a new play – another mystery, this time for high school productions (if I can get it published). My biggest challenge is just figuring out which project I want to tackle first.
What does Lance Woods do when he isn’t writing?
I write and edit for a living in (the non-glamorous marketing side of) the comic book industry, so someone actually pays me for my words. This helps me provide food, clothing and shelter to my wife Cindy, who’s also a formidable producer for Prometheus, and our son Greg (who, thankfully, hasn’t shown any signs of wanting to be a writer). I also swear under my breath at you and other writer friends for being 100 times more productive than I’ll ever be.
June 27, 2014
Writing Sample - Opening Scene from Root for the Undergods in ReDeus: Beyond Borders
Opening scene from "Root for the Undergods"
by Phil Giunta
The core message of all motivational speakers can be boiled down to one simple concept—take control of your life and fulfill your potential. There had been a time when Orlando Start, superstar of the inspirational circuit, raked in seven figures annually simply for preaching that message.
Yet now, a decade into this new age where the destiny of the human race had been torn from its collective grasp by callous deities, how could one fulfill one’s potential when mere survival was questionable? How could people hope to be motivated to better themselves when their will has been stripped and their lives shattered?
Orlando Start no longer had the answers. He couldn’t even save himself.
In the years since “The Return”, the tours had been cancelled, the Blu-Ray sales had bottomed out, and Orlando’s clients, family and friends had immigrated to the lands of their ancestors as commanded by the gods of their fathers.
Battles raged between domestic and foreign pantheons as the Native American gods fought to keep people from fleeing their territories. Still, millions had managed to escape across the globe, hoping to evade death and start anew on foreign soil. Orlando’s wife had been one of them.
Intractable as usual, and despite the odds against him, Orlando had refused to leave the United States or swear fealty to Kishelemukong, the Native American god of the Lenape that ruled over the area. For a time, Orlando’s disobedience went unnoticed in the chaos. He had even managed to live well and quietly off his savings.
Until six months ago, when the gods had finally caught up with him.
Yet rather than kill Orlando outright, the state government had merely blacklisted him from society. All of his debts had become immediately due and his bank accounts frozen. He’d been unable to seek legal counsel or find a job. He couldn’t even buy food at the local grocery store, when it actually had anything in stock. As far as the world was concerned, Orlando Start had ceased to exist.
Here and now, the thirty-eight year old was alone, bankrupt, and days away from living on the streets.
It was 7:30AM on a serene Monday morning as Orlando reclined in the driver’s seat of the Range Rover. In his closed garage, the hum of the engine provided a rhythmic bass to the soft blues sax on the radio. Together, they brought an odd sense of comfort, soothing Orlando’s misery. A few more breaths and it would all be over. I’ll die on the streets anyway. May as well get it over with now. To hell with the house, to hell with the gods, to hell with this life. Orlando closed his eyes and inhaled deeply…
An instant later, a jarring mechanical whine shook him awake. He peered up through the sunroof and watched the panels of the garage door glide by overhead.
“Son of a bitch.” Orlando sat up and squinted against the morning sunlight reflected in the rearview mirror. He climbed out of the car and massaged his throbbing head before running a hand down the side of his stubbled face.
A shadow moved across the floor of the garage and as his vision cleared, Orlando found himself staring at what looked like a reject from a Renaissance Faire. Long brown hair and an unkempt beard framed the craggy face of a man in his mid-50s. He stood well over six feet tall, a head above Orlando, but it was the maroon chainmail tunic and leather body armor that were most striking. Black leather gauntlets, studded in gold, covered his wrists and forearms. Black pants ended at gray fur boots.
The man looked him up and down before speaking in a low, gravely voice. “You are Orlando Start?”
Suddenly self-conscious, Orlando tried in vain to smooth the wrinkles in his grimy polo shirt. He felt the beer stain from the night before and decided instead to cross his arms over his chest. He squared his slumped shoulders in a feeble attempt to preserve what little decorum he had left. “That depends on who’s asking.”
The man bowed his head solemnly. “I am Taranis, god of thunder.”
Orlando paused. “You mean like Zeus or Thor?”
Taranis forced a thin smile. “Yes.”
“Never heard of you.”
“Few have in this age, which is the reason why I’m calling upon you.”
“Come again?”
“I wish to hire you.”
Orlando blinked. “To do what?”
“You are a motivational speaker, are you not?”
“Well…yes.” At least, I was…
“Then we wish to engage your services.”
“We?”
“My pantheon requires motivation.”
“And what pantheon is that?”
“We are Gallic.”
Orlando shrugged.
“Perhaps you’re familiar with the ancient Empire of Gaul in Western Europe.”
“OK, yeah, sure. Sorry, I slept through parts of my Western Civ class in college. Well, actually most of it.”
Taranis raised an eyebrow.
“But I remember Gaul. Though I didn’t know they had gods of their own.”
“That appears to be the popular misconception,” Taranis said, “one that we hope you can help us correct. You see, upon our return, we were dismayed to find that so few historical references about us had survived the ages. We were once a distinct pantheon, but many of our legends have been assimilated into Celtic or Roman lore.
“As a result, we have no followers, no believers, no army to defend against the Romans. They constantly plunder and divide our lands amongst themselves with no regard for the suffering they inflict on the mortals. Our pantheon has been all but forgotten.”
“How many of you are there?”
“At present, we are merely five. However, I suspect there may be others in hiding throughout Europe, awaiting the day when we can unite and reclaim what belongs to us. We hope you will help us accomplish this.”
“Let me see if I understand you. I’m supposed to motivate you and your, uh, colleagues to stand up to the other pantheons so you can take back your lands and reinstate yourselves as respectable, powerful deities who will then engender the love and worship of the people.”
Taranis smiled and spread his arms. “A brilliant summation. Despite appearances, you’re very astute.”
Well, hot damn this is a new one. It could also be the first step to getting my life back. I wonder how far I can press this turn of luck?
“My fee isn’t cheap.”
“Money is of no concern to us. If we are successful, you will have more than you ever dreamed.”
“I dream high.”
Taranis smirked. “Yet you have fallen so low.”
“Says the god who comes to me for help. Look, I can offer support, ideas, and perhaps a different way of looking at a world that has changed dramatically during your absence, but in the end, we all fight our battles alone.”
The god of thunder nodded solemnly. “No truer words have ever been spoken. I take it that you accept the offer?”
Do I have a choice? Orlando Start, motivational speaker, shook hands with the god of thunder.
“So how do we get to your place?”
Taranis nodded toward the Range Rover. “This chariot will be suitable.”
Orlando let out a chuckle. “We’re going to drive to Europe? You realize we’re in Philadelphia, in the United States.”
Taranis opened the back door and climbed in. “Of course. Trust me, young man.”
Shaking his head at the absurdity of it, Orlando climbed into the driver’s seat and turned off the radio. “I just have one last question. How did you even find me?”
“One of my brethren happened across a few of your videos in a rubbish pile. Curious, we viewed your presentations and found them rather inspiring, so we followed the advice on the packaging.”
“Let me guess—”
“Call Orlando right away and Start changing your life today!” the two sang in unison.
Orlando closed his eyes. I hate that goddamn jingle. He looked at Taranis in the rearview mirror. “So, where to?”
“Bring us out into the road.”
“Which direction?”
“It matters not.”
A moment later, the Range Rover was in the middle of the street. Taranis leaned forward. “I shall take it from here.”
“What?”
The vehicle began moving, slowly at first, then suddenly accelerating at an impossible rate. Panicked, Orlando stepped on the brake pedal to no avail.
“Stop! What the hell are you doing?” Orlando pointed to the upcoming intersection. “The light’s red!”
“Yes, a most cheerful color it is.”
Orlando cringed as the Range Rover blasted across the intersection. Angry horns and screeching tires faded into the distance as the car raced toward the expressway. Orlando cussed, threatened, pleaded and finally begged Taranis to stop, but the god merely laughed.
Orlando could do nothing but scream as the speedometer topped off at 220MPH on their way toward morning rush hour.
Then, there was lightning.
June 22, 2014
About This Writing Stuff...
All that and a little more. Enjoy!
How Science Made Me a Writer by Andy Weir
Three Men and a Writer by Paul Kupperberg
The Problem with Plagiarism by IndieReader
The Hachette Job by Joe Konrath
15 Questions for Your Beta-Readers and to Focus Your Own Revisions by Jodie Renner
The Four Characteristics of Author Attitude and Why You Need Them by Nina Amir
Because Size Matters: McKee's Four Tips on Writing a Big Story by Jan O'Hara
Don't Make Me Call BS! by Amanda Headlee
June 18, 2014
Steven H. Wilson Brings the Night To Life in the Middle of Eternity
It was October 1995 at Farpoint, an annual SF media convention in Maryland. There was a writing contest. The winning entry was to be printed in the convention's program book. I submitted my first EVER Star Trek fan fiction short called A Passion for Peace wherein Kirk and crew rescue a Romulan defector near the beginning of their five year mission. Her tale of a peace movement on Romulus leads Spock to begin pondering the idea of a reunification of Romulans and Vulcans.
I did not win and I was, of course, disappointed...until I ran into Steven H. Wilson, co-founder of Farpoint, fellow fan fiction author, and writer for DC Comics Star Trek and Warlord issues. He assured me that I had been a top contestant and encouraged me to keep writing.
So I did...and over the years, Steve and I remained in contact and saw one another at the Maryland conventions. He has never been anything less than encouraging and as a writer, Steven has shown talent and temerity, ambition and genius. He is the creator of the Parsec and Mark Time award winning podcast site, Prometheus Radio Theatre which delivers original SF, Fantasy, and Horror audio shows and books and has amassed a large following.
Steven's publishing imprint, Firebringer Press, has grown its titles substantially over the past several years, publishing both of my novels as well as Steven's Arbiter Chronicles adventures and Lance Woods's Heroic Park (and since Lance is a contributor to our upcoming anthology, he will be interviewed here next week). This August, Firebringer will publish its first anthology.
Somewhere in the Middle of Eternity will contain 13 tales of science fiction, fantasy, and the paranormal written by eight authors and edited by yours truly. Each story will be accompanied by a black and white illustration provided by phenomenal artist Mike Riehl, who also created our gorgeous cover.
Steve will be one of the authors joining us at Shore Leave where we will launch the anthology during the Friday evening Meet the Pros party. It will then be available in paperback and eBook from Amazon, B&N.com, Smashwords, and just about every online bookseller.
Now, let's catch up with Steve!
Most writers have at least one established author who inspired them. Would you share with us some of the authors who influenced you?
Robert A. Heinlein, of course. Ayn Rand, even though that's not trendy. Ray Bradbury, Alan Dean Foster, L. Neil Smith, Edgar Rice Burroughs... a lot, really. I also love the films of Frank Capra, especially when scripted by the wonderful Robert Riskin. Star Trek and a lot of 70s SFTV also inspired me. And I'm a huge admirer of Thomas Jefferson and his ideals. Writing is about ideas, after all. My mind is always stimulated when I encounter any creative work which advocates freedom, compassion, individual accomplishment and competence, be that work a novel, a movie, a TV show or a Declaration of Independence.
Since our last interview, you released your third SF novel, Unfriendly Persuasion, based on characters from your Mark Time and Parsec award-winning audio series, The Arbiter Chronicles. Can you give us a blurb about the story?
Unfriendly Persuasion tells the story of a young war hero, Terry Metcalfe, who's a very reluctant warrior. He's lauded for saving the lives of billions, but he had to kill to do it, and that doesn't sit well with him. When he comes upon a planet of peace-loving people who think they've found God incarnate on their world, he's ready to leave the military and settle down as a pacifist farmer. Unfortunately for Terry, "God" turns out to be a new problem for him to solve, not a solution.
For listeners, Unfriendly Persuasion picks up where the second series of Arbiter Chronicles episodes left off. For non-listeners, the novel opens with the events from the end of the series being related by Metcalfe's arch-nemesis, Sestus Blaurich.
In the latter half of 2013, you released the first four episodes of The Arbiter Chronicles as eNovellas. What prompted the decision to do that? Do you plan to continue?
Several things prompted me to do that. One, a lot of reviews of my Arbiters novels made it clear that many readers weren't hearing the audio dramas, and they wanted to know the previous adventures of these characters. I realized that my audiences were split. Some wanted just prose adventures. So I decided to adapt my radio scripts as novellas. That also gives me the chance to write those early adventures again, knowing what I know a decade and a half after beginning to write their audio adventures. I get to embroider a bit on the original stories. I'm hoping it will expand the audience for the Arbiters.
Continue? Yes. I'll do the next four soon. Ultimately, I want to release all eight of the first series of stories as a hardcover.
Tell us what inspired your magical story, “Don’t Go in the Barn, Johnny!” for our anthology.
Okay, now you're making me go back in time quite a ways. I wrote that thing during my first semester of college, 31 years ago. I was a fanatical jogger then, before I gave myself stress fractures and had to quit. Weather didn't stop me from getting out and running, and some nights, running in (then) rural Clarksville, MD, I would practically freeze my ears off. I would often jog past this magnificent, creepy old barn on Simpson Road, where I grew up. It was surrounded by old trees, we're talking Civil War era here, which seemed to come alive at night. It was as if the night had its own kingdom. And, because I was just 18 and perpetually horny, it seemed to me that, in the depths of that nightmare kingdom, there had to be a beautiful, sinister princess, waiting to claim an innocent young man who strayed into her realm. It's really an erotic fantasy without dirty words. In 2013, when I took it into my head to start writing some short fiction again, I dusted that story off. It was my favorite work from my Freshman honors English class, and I decided it deserved to (pardon the pun) see the light of day.
What can readers expect next from you?
Excuses, mostly. Right now I do not have another book in me. I will again, but not in the immediate future. I know what the next two or three Arbiters novels will be, but I'm not ready to write them. So I think I'm going to focus on shorter works, try to get into some magazines and anthologies. I really want to right six more episodes of the Arbiters audio adventures and get them published, plus the novellas. I might do something with some one-off characters I've created, like my nameless, libertarian vampire and Mura, the gypsy girl with her golem boyfriend. And I might do a sequel to Peace Lord of the Red Planet. Just not sure.
What does Steve Wilson do when he isn’t writing?
I write more. Seriously, I hang out with my family, because that's important. I read quite a bit. I'm crazy about books. When I'm depressed, I self-medicate by buying books. Oh, and I have a couple of jobs that pay the bills. I'm CIO for a metropolitan fire department, which is very challenging and keeps me very busy. And, of course, I'm publisher for Firebringer Press, and I blog weekly and do some podcasting.
Steven H. Wilson Brings the Night Alive in the Middle of Eternity
It was October 1995 at Farpoint, an annual SF media convention in Maryland. There was a writing contest. The winning entry was to be printed in the convention's program book. I submitted my first EVER Star Trek fan fiction short called A Passion for Peace wherein Kirk and crew rescue a Romulan defector near the beginning of their five year mission. Her tale of a peace movement on Romulus leads Spock to begin pondering the idea of a reunification of Romulans and Vulcans.
I did not win and I was, of course, disappointed...until I ran into Steven H. Wilson, co-founder of Farpoint, fellow fan fiction author, and writer for DC Comics Star Trek and Warlord issues. He assured me that I had been a top contestant and encouraged me to keep writing.
So I did...and over the years, Steve and I remained in contact and saw one another at the Maryland conventions. He has never been anything less than encouraging and as a writer, Steven has shown talent and temerity, ambition and genius. He is the creator of the Parsec and Mark Time award winning podcast site, Prometheus Radio Theatre which delivers original SF, Fantasy, and Horror audio shows and books and has amassed a large following.
Steven's publishing imprint, Firebringer Press, has grown its titles substantially over the past several years, publishing both of my novels as well as Steven's Arbiter Chronicles adventures and Lance Woods's Heroic Park (and since Lance is a contributor to our upcoming anthology, he will be interviewed here next week). This August, Firebringer will publish its first anthology.
Somewhere in the Middle of Eternity will contain 13 tales of science fiction, fantasy, and the paranormal written by eight authors and edited by yours truly. Each story will be accompanied by a black and white illustration provided by phenomenal artist Mike Riehl, who also created our gorgeous cover.
Steve will be one of the authors joining us at Shore Leave where we will launch the anthology during the Friday evening Meet the Pros party. It will then be available in paperback and eBook from Amazon, B&N.com, Smashwords, and just about every online bookseller.
Now, let's catch up with Steve!
Most writers have at least one established author who inspired them. Would you share with us some of the authors who influenced you?
Robert A. Heinlein, of course. Ayn Rand, even though that's not trendy. Ray Bradbury, Alan Dean Foster, L. Neil Smith, Edgar Rice Burroughs... a lot, really. I also love the films of Frank Capra, especially when scripted by the wonderful Robert Riskin. Star Trek and a lot of 70s SFTV also inspired me. And I'm a huge admirer of Thomas Jefferson and his ideals. Writing is about ideas, after all. My mind is always stimulated when I encounter any creative work which advocates freedom, compassion, individual accomplishment and competence, be that work a novel, a movie, a TV show or a Declaration of Independence.
Since our last interview, you released your third SF novel, Unfriendly Persuasion, based on characters from your Mark Time and Parsec award-winning audio series, The Arbiter Chronicles. Can you give us a blurb about the story?
Unfriendly Persuasion tells the story of a young war hero, Terry Metcalfe, who's a very reluctant warrior. He's lauded for saving the lives of billions, but he had to kill to do it, and that doesn't sit well with him. When he comes upon a planet of peace-loving people who think they've found God incarnate on their world, he's ready to leave the military and settle down as a pacifist farmer. Unfortunately for Terry, "God" turns out to be a new problem for him to solve, not a solution.
For listeners, Unfriendly Persuasion picks up where the second series of Arbiter Chronicles episodes left off. For non-listeners, the novel opens with the events from the end of the series being related by Metcalfe's arch-nemesis, Sestus Blaurich.
In the latter half of 2013, you released the first four episodes of The Arbiter Chronicles as eNovellas. What prompted the decision to do that? Do you plan to continue?
Several things prompted me to do that. One, a lot of reviews of my Arbiters novels made it clear that many readers weren't hearing the audio dramas, and they wanted to know the previous adventures of these characters. I realized that my audiences were split. Some wanted just prose adventures. So I decided to adapt my radio scripts as novellas. That also gives me the chance to write those early adventures again, knowing what I know a decade and a half after beginning to write their audio adventures. I get to embroider a bit on the original stories. I'm hoping it will expand the audience for the Arbiters.
Continue? Yes. I'll do the next four soon. Ultimately, I want to release all eight of the first series of stories as a hardcover.
Tell us what inspired your magical story, “Don’t Go in the Barn, Johnny!” for our anthology.
Okay, now you're making me go back in time quite a ways. I wrote that thing during my first semester of college, 31 years ago. I was a fanatical jogger then, before I gave myself stress fractures and had to quit. Weather didn't stop me from getting out and running, and some nights, running in (then) rural Clarksville, MD, I would practically freeze my ears off. I would often jog past this magnificent, creepy old barn on Simpson Road, where I grew up. It was surrounded by old trees, we're talking Civil War era here, which seemed to come alive at night. It was as if the night had its own kingdom. And, because I was just 18 and perpetually horny, it seemed to me that, in the depths of that nightmare kingdom, there had to be a beautiful, sinister princess, waiting to claim an innocent young man who strayed into her realm. It's really an erotic fantasy without dirty words. In 2013, when I took it into my head to start writing some short fiction again, I dusted that story off. It was my favorite work from my Freshman honors English class, and I decided it deserved to (pardon the pun) see the light of day.
What can readers expect next from you?
Excuses, mostly. Right now I do not have another book in me. I will again, but not in the immediate future. I know what the next two or three Arbiters novels will be, but I'm not ready to write them. So I think I'm going to focus on shorter works, try to get into some magazines and anthologies. I really want to right six more episodes of the Arbiters audio adventures and get them published, plus the novellas. I might do something with some one-off characters I've created, like my nameless, libertarian vampire and Mura, the gypsy girl with her golem boyfriend. And I might do a sequel to Peace Lord of the Red Planet. Just not sure.
What does Steve Wilson do when he isn’t writing?
I write more. Seriously, I hang out with my family, because that's important. I read quite a bit. I'm crazy about books. When I'm depressed, I self-medicate by buying books. Oh, and I have a couple of jobs that pay the bills. I'm CIO for a metropolitan fire department, which is very challenging and keeps me very busy. And, of course, I'm publisher for Firebringer Press, and I blog weekly and do some podcasting.
June 17, 2014
Stuart S. Roth Brings a "Deluge" of "Obligations" to the Middle of Eternity
For our upcoming anthology, Stu penned two phenomenal stories. The first is a heartwarming fantasy set in World War II Japan and the other is an SF/mystery from a distant planet.
To be published by Firebringer Press in August, Somewhere in the Middle of Eternity will contain 13 tales of science fiction, fantasy, and the paranormal written by eight authors and edited by yours truly. Each story will be accompanied by a black and white illustration provided by phenomenal artist Mike Riehl, who also created our gorgeous cover.
Stu will be one of the authors joining us at Shore Leave where we will launch the anthology during the Friday evening Meet the Pros party. It will then be available in paperback and eBook from Amazon, B&N.com, Smashwords, and just about every online bookseller.
Most writers have at least one established author who inspired them. Would you share with us some of the authors who influenced you?
For pure world building, I would say Frank Herbert’s Dune Series was my greatest influence. The depth of the world he created was amazing. Arthur C. Clarke (notably Childhood’s End and Rendezvous with Rama) was another influence. In terms of storytelling, John Wyndham (Day of the Triffids, Chocky, Midwich Cuckoos) and Stephen King (Salem’s Lot and the Shining notably) have great voices. Finally, Hiroyuki Agawa’s biography of Admiral Yamamoto provided an interesting “character sketch” that made an impression on me.
I remember our days working together in fan fiction, where so many genre writers got their start, whether they want to admit it or not. You served as both editor and contributor to the Norman fanzine and it was a joy working with you then and I’m excited to do so now on a professional level. What fan fiction did you most enjoy writing and why?
I will always remember the days working on Norman. We produced 12 issues, I was involved with 6 of them. Fanzines teach you project skills, deadlines and are great opportunities to interact with fellow writers and artists. They can also be frustrating at times. Fanzines are not businesses, they are circles of friends. Sometimes the product that comes out is a bit raw. Authors, including myself, can be prickly and sometimes there are disagreements. Other times, the collaboration works out brilliantly and everyone is happy. Anyway, I ramble. To answer your question, Doctor Who was my favorite genre. The scope of the series is so broad that I could always find a Doctor and period to write about.
You have two brilliant stories in our anthology, “Deluge” and “The Obligation of Kitsune” which our publisher, Steven H. Wilson, has called a masterpiece. Please tell us what inspired each of these tales.
Deluge is a pure science fiction tale. I have always been intrigued by how life would develop on another planet. Deluge is about evolution on another planet and how a predator functions in such an environment. The inspiration came from the expression “like lemmings to the sea”.
Kitsune is a hybrid of Japanese mythology stories surrounding foxes. In Japanese literature foxes play many parts, some evil, some good. In The Obligation of Kitsune, we learn that even in great world conflagrations, a fox still has its obligations to meet.
What can readers expect next from you?
Recently, I completed a novel about the interaction between two realities. As humanity reaches out into space, we discover that first contact comes from an unexpected place, our own minds. With luck, you will hear more about Myomria in the near future.
What does Stuart Roth do when he isn’t writing?
I’m happily married to my beautiful wife, Maria. We enjoy travel, barbecues, hiking, and visiting local arboretums. My daytime job is in the non-fiction world of finance and accounting. If there is one creative endeavor that rivals storytelling for me, it is creating a good excel spreadsheet – I mean a good one, one that does what it is supposed to do. You have to grab your thrills where you can find them.
June 16, 2014
Book Review: The Puppet Masters by Robert Heinlein
Led by an inscrutable veteran known only as the "Old Man", agents "Sam" and "Mary" quickly find themselves facing an insidious and calculating alien parasite. As a result of its method of joining with its host, a law called Schedule Bare Back is eventually passed, dictating that all citizens must go topless. Women are allowed to wear bras, but no more.
During a meeting of the entire intelligence staff, all are ordered to strip down to the buff, revealing that one of the office assistants had been compromised. The "slug" manages to escape and eventually possesses Sam. Under alien influence, he quickly dresses and flees the agency--but not without a witness. Sam finds himself unwittingly assisting the aliens with possessing a key member of the US government in an attempt to get to the President himself.
Mary and the Old Man thwart the plot, but once apprehended and freed of his "master", Sam threatens to quit the agency. The experience was simply too much for him. He is convinced to remain when the Old Man informs him that a captured "slug" is to be interrogated. In order to do so, however, Mary agrees to become a host. Sam, now in love with her, objects and reluctantly takes her place.
Armed with the footage of this interrogation, the agents meet with the President of the United States. Alerted to this new threat, the President seeks out assistance from the UN. Meanwhile, more ships from Titan have arrived and nearly the entire midwestern United States has fallen under the control of the parasites. The military engages in active war with the invaders, but the aliens multiply at a phenomenal rate.
Can the agents devise a way to stop the "slugs" before the entire world is overrun? Who exactly is the Old Man and what is his relationship to Sam? Will Sam and Mary eventually find love in one another?
If your answer to these questions is "who cares?", that's about how I felt while reading this. The story felt like a mash up of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and War of the Worlds, especially given the method used to defeat the aliens. While the plot barely held my attention, the characters were shallow. Even the Sam, the POV character, seemed to spend more time lamenting his situation and oscillating between passive-aggressive treatment of Mary.
Although written in 1951, the story begins in 2007 and while I fully understand how women were treated in American society of the mid-twentieth century, the patronizing, chauvinistic attitude of Sam toward the equally--and sometimes considerably more--capable agent Mary was embarrassing. Heinlein introduces her as a strong match for Sam, but by the end of the book, she is little more than a submissive female, bending to his wishes with a "yes, dear" every other chapter.
All told, The Puppet Masters proved to be one of Heinlein's weaker efforts, in my humble opinion. This was a book I had no problem putting down for weeks before picking it up again simply because I'm not inclined to leave chores unfinished. My recommendation: skip it.
