Michael K. Rose's Blog, page 9

Duncanville, Texas Student's Eloquent Speech

A rousing speech by a Duncanville, Texas high school student may be the next viral video. If you haven't seen it, here it is:


In the video, the student, reportedly named Jeff Bliss , berates his teacher for handing out packets and yelling at students who don't understand the material rather than getting up and engaging them. Meanwhile, the teacher repeatedly and apathetically tells the student to leave.

Now, there's no real context surrounding this video yet. What set Mr. Bliss off? Are his words and actions justified? We may know more in the days to come.

However, the points he raises are valid and, no matter the instigating factors, he deserves to be applauded for his passion. And what I find most remarkable about his speech is how eloquent it is. I've often felt the need to "dumb down" dialogue to make it more "realistic," but, aside from the addition of a "yo" and some "frickin'"s, this sounds like it could have come from the pen of an award-winning screenwriter or playwright. We would do well to remember that human beings are capable of profound and eloquent expression. The fact that the words come from the mind of a high school student makes it even more remarkable.

If passion like Mr. Bliss's wasn't an anomaly, I would have much more hope for a bright future. But the lack of passion that I see among young women is truly alarming. Passion, properly channeled, is what drives people to greatness. Passion is what lets an individual master a skill, passion is what gives a person the vision to truly make a difference in this world.

But passion like this can also be turned toward destructive ends. It's up to teachers and parents to direct the passions of young people toward positive goals, not dismiss them or punish them because they are being disruptive. No matter the cause of Mr. Bliss's speech, the teacher's response should have been different. She should have said, "I understand that you're frustrated, and I really do want to discuss this with you after class." She should have made at least an attempt to listen to him rather than immediately dismissing what he was saying. Again, even if he was not justified in doing what he did, it was her responsibility to respond in a mature manner.

Mr. Bliss may or may not be right in his assessment of his teacher. But by being passionate about his position, whether right or wrong, he is an exemplification of what this world could be: not a world of passive, apathetic followers who submit to the status quo, but a world of vibrant, engaged personalities all striving to make things just a little bit better.

Interview: Michael J. Foy

Today I have an interview with science fiction author Michael J. Foy. His new novel Ghosts of Forgotten Empires, Volume 1 is now available both in print and as an eBook and can be purchased here .
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Tell us a bit about your new novel, Ghosts of Forgotten Empires, Volume 1.
Well it’s kind of like a Sci-Fi Mystery Thriller Romance. But seriously it is a mash up of genres but it’s mainly Sci-Fi. The hero comes by some alien technology left over from an ancient interstellar war that he has to employ in a new cold war since the other side came by it too.
What inspired the idea for the novel?
A couple of things. It’s actually the novelization of a screenplay that I optioned to Hollywood about 20 years ago. It was called False Gods but never made it to the big screen. I’ve updated it and tweaked it where it would be fair to say it’s now a stand-alone sequel to my first book Future Perfect.
Can you elaborate on the role Star Trek plays in Ghosts of Forgotten Empires?
The hero, Cord Devlin, is a devoted fan of the show. He drives his handler crazy by citing it all the time. But the lessons from the show come in handy when trying to put the bizarre happenings in the story in perspective.
Like you, science fiction also plays a big role in my life. Are there any science fiction writers who have influenced you either stylistically or in terms of ideas? Any non-science fiction writers who you would consider influential?
You mean other than Michael K. Rose? ;-) But there are others too. I liked the early Asimov stuff like Foundation of course. And then I like some lesser known Sci-Fi authors like Julian May and Fred Saberhagen.
For non-Sci-Fi, I liked Robert Ludlum who wrote the Jason Bourne series and liked Clive Cussler’s older books like Raise the Titanic.
What's in store for Volume 2?
Cord will find out more about the ancient interstellar war that touched Earth. And he’ll find it out from an unlikely source, his uncle Jamie McCord. In the process he’ll discover some family secrets that his mother, his only surviving parent, kept from him. He’ll need the information to survive and overcome his enemies on the other side of the Cold War.
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Michael J Foy was born to Irish immigrants in upstate New York. At 4 and then again at 12 years old his parents moved the family to London for a year before returning to the U.S. and permanently settling in the Boston area. Michael graduated Northeastern University in 1979 with an engineering degree and worked in that profession until 1992. In 1993 he changed careers and became a recruiter servicing the publishing industry. He founded Publishing Search Solutions in 1997 where he has worked with various clients including special assignments outside of the media industry.
Since college Michael harbored the desire to write science fiction. In 1991 he sold an option for his first novel, False Gods, as a screenplay to Timothy Bogart the nephew of Peter Guber, Producer of Batman. Tim's California based production company adapted material for the big and small screens.
Michael has since published the Science Fiction novels Future Perfect, The Kennedy Effect and Ghosts of Forgotten Empires, Volume 1. 
You can visit him at his blog here .

April Giveaway: SULLIVAN'S WRATH

My March giveaway of signed copies of Short Stories went incredibly well. Thank you to all who entered, and congratulations to the winners! This month, I will be giving away ten (10) eBook copies of my novel Sullivan's Wrath . This sequel to my action-packed science fiction novel  Sullivan's War  has just received another 5-star review on Amazon. In addition, winners will also receive a Sullivan's War Collector's Pack: a signed 4x6 card featuring the cover of Sullivan's War plus bookmarks.
Everyone who follows my blog currently, as well as new followers, will be entered to win. If you don't yet follow, just type in your email address in the "Follow by Email" box in the sidebar to the right, hit "Submit" then follow the prompts. You'll receive a verification email which you'll have to respond to by following the link in the email, but the entire process if very easy and will only take a minute or so. Once you are following my blog, you'll receive updates about new posts that I make.
If you already follow, you don't need to do anything; you're already entered.
Ten eBook copies of Sullivan's Wrath plus the Collector's Packs are up for grabs, so your odds of winning are pretty good! The contest will end on April 30, 2013, and the winners will be selected on May 1.
Once again, to enter the contest, type your email address in the "Follow by Email" box to the right and follow the prompts.
Best wishes and good luck!Michael K. Rose

Now Offering Competitively-Priced Editing Services

Hello, all! I have decided to make myself available for editing. When I began releasing my work, I made a very conscious decision that I would do everything in my power to make it as professional and polished as I could. To accomplish this, I spent a great deal of time researching English grammar: proper use of punctuation, tense, word usage, etc. As a result, I have received many comments from readers commending the professionalism and clarity of my writing, and some have even asked me who my editor was.
Although I have not been trained as a professional editor, I am confident I now possess the skills and the knowledge to provide a valuable service to my fellow authors. I have edited books for a few authors in the past, and they were very pleased with the results. My rates are highly competitive, and for the time being, I will only work on one project at a time, ensuring that your manuscript receives the careful attention it deserves. This will also guarantee a quick turnaround time for books that are already scheduled for release.
For rates and details about the services I offer, please visit this page . All projects booked during the month of April will received a 10% discount. I look forward to working with some of you in the future!
All the Best,Michael K. Rose

Leave Lucrezia Panciatichi Alone!

Have a look at the portrait to the right. If you are into horror, history or just plain weirdness, you may recognize her as Elizabeth Báthory , the "Blood Countess," who reportedly had hundreds of virgins slain so she could bathe in their blood and retain her youthful appearance. Someone's clever caption certainly supports that identification.
But this is not Elizabeth Báthory. The mesmerizing young lady is actually Lucrezia Panciatichi , a woman who lived in Florence at the height of the Italian Renaissance. The painting is by Agnolo di Cosimo, commonly called Il Bronzino or just Bronzino.
So why do so many believe this is a portrait of the Blood Countess? Well, once again the internet seems to have gotten something wrong. I don't know who started it, but do a Google image search for "Elizabeth Báthory" and this image is the first on the page. You will find it repeated over and over again as you scroll down.
Granted, one would probably not question the misattribution if one saw it, so does it really matter? Absolutely it does. Like anything else, our cultural legacy depends not only on transmitting information but transmitting the correct information. And to do that, one cannot simply accept the information one is given; too many arguments, misunderstandings and just plain stupidity have resulted from people believing things that are not true, and had they done a little research the entire mess could have been avoided.
I will acknowledge paintings are hard to check for veracity. If someone misattributes a painting, how do you know? You can't very well type a description of a painting into Google and get reliable results. But so much other information about society, science and history can be easily discovered with a little finger-work. Next time do the finger-work, and leave Lucrezia Panciatichi alone.

Edit: If you're a nerd like me and are into not only Renaissance art but also 19th Century literature, this portrait gets a mention in The Wings of the Dove by Henry James. The main character is said to have a striking resemblance to the woman in the portrait.

101 Thoughts on Self-Publishing -- 005: Play for the Endgame

As an independent writer, you may sometimes feel like you're doing an incredible amount of work for very limited results. In addition to writing your books, revising them, coming up with cover ideas and seeing that your work is properly edited, you also have to constantly promote yourself. If the many hours you spend on this each week are amounting to only a handful of sales, it can seem like you'll never get anywhere.
If this is you, as it has been me many times in the past, I find that looking at what you're doing form a different perspective can sometimes help. If you've read my books, you may have picked up on the fact that I am a chess enthusiast. A chess game is divided into three parts: the opening, the middlegame and the endgame. Depending on where you are in your career, you may be in any of these stages. But chess players know that your ultimate goal is to play so that you enter the endgame in a strong position.
So how can this help you as a writer? Well, of the possible twenty first moves in a chess game, sixteen of them are simply advancing a pawn. Pawns are the weakest piece in the game, and amateur players will often see them as merely an impediment to getting their more powerful pieces out into the center of the board. But at the highest levels of play, the loss of a single pawn can lose the game.
When you are just starting out as a writer, the seemingly simple and inconsequential things you are doing--the things that don't seem to be producing any results--are your opening pawn moves: building up your Twitter followers, writing interesting blog articles that get people to your site, befriending established independent authors. Even before you publish your first book, you have to lay the groundwork that will carry you beyond the opening and into the middle game and, ultimately, the endgame.
In both chess and a career as an independent writer, there are both bad and good moves. These articles I'm writing, as well as the articles written by many other authors more successful than I, are designed to help you make the right moves. I know that it can be hard spending your days working yourself to exhaustion while watching your sales remain stagnant, but remember that you are still making your opening moves.
So when do you enter the middlegame? When do you begin making moves that have more immediate results? Well, I now have three novels and a short story collection published, and I feel that I am only now entering my middlegame. My books are my rooks and knights and bishops. Just as I have slowly been developing my pawn base over the past year and a half, now I must carefully position my more valuable pieces. I do that by making sure they are well-edited and professional in appearance. Don't send your novel off into danger by putting it out there before it is ready. It is at this stage that you must be even more careful; now the stakes are higher. A poorly-received novel could be a major setback at this stage, just as losing a piece to a foolish move can lose your chess game.
Fortunately, writing is more forgiving than chess. Many is the chess game I've won or lost due to a single mistake. As a writer, you can recover from an early setback; there is no game-ending move. But there's no reason you should have to suffer that setback if you make the right moves.
Novice chess players will often develop their pieces too soon, sending them off into enemy territory to threaten the opponent's pieces. If the opponent has carefully protected his pieces, these are wasted moves and gives the other player what is called tempo. Basically, he now has the freedom to move and make you respond to him. As an author, you can keep the tempo fairly easily: be active in the community, try to produce new work-- even if they are just short stories --regularly, keep writing interesting blog articles , run sales and promotions. I find that it's a good idea to always have something going on, something that keeps people thinking about you.
Eventually, you will get to the endgame. It may take years, but if you've positioned your pieces carefully, you will enter it in a strong position to achieve your goal: in chess, checkmate. In writing, a successful career. The important thing is to keep that goal in mind from the very beginning. Don't let the loss of a piece, or a month of poor sales, divert your attention from that goal. You will constantly face hardships, your position will always be under attack. But when you move that final piece that wins you the game, you will know that everything you've done up to that point helped contribute to your victory. Don't let short-term mistakes or losses discourage you, and don't give up, no matter how long you have to fight for it. Play for the endgame.
If you're enjoying the series so far and would like a single page to bookmark, I'll be adding each of my 101 Thoughts on Self-Publishing here . Also be sure to subscribe by email (see the box in the sidebar) to be automatically notified about my new posts.
Best,Michael K. Rose

Free March 15-17: "The Human Body," a Psychological Horror Short Story

Hello, all! This weekend, March 15-17, my new short story "The Human Body" is free at Amazon's Kindle stores:
Amazon US Amazon UK Amazon Canada Amazon Germany (and all other international Amazon Kindle stores)
And if you're a fan of short stories, you can enter to win a signed copy of my collection Short Stories. Entering is easy; see details here .
I hope you all have a great weekend!
Michael K. Rose

March Giveaway: Signed Copies of SHORT STORIES

As many of you know, I love writing short stories. I also think I've done some of my most imaginative work in that format, and the reviewers seem to agree.
This month, I'll be giving away signed print copies of my collection Short Stories to three lucky winners. To enter, just type in your email address in the "Follow by Email" box in the sidebar to the right and hit "Submit." All new followers will be entered.
Non-US residents can enter, but due to the high cost of shipping packages overseas, international winners will instead receive an eBook copy of Short Stories plus a Collector's Pack: a signed 4in.x6in. card featuring the cover of Short Stories and bookmarks.
The contest will run through March 31, 2013, and I will randomly select the winners on April 1, 2013. Note that all winners must still be following at the time I make the selection.
Best of Luck!Michael K. Rose

Note: If you already follow my blog by email but want to enter, drop me a note in the comments, and I'll be sure to add you to the list. Let me know what your email address is, too, so I can find you on the followers list. Just the first part of your address is fine.

Spectrum of Speculative Fiction Blog Hop: Three Must-Read Science Fiction Short Stories

Hello, all! I'm very excited to be a part of the Spectrum of Speculative Fiction Blog Hop. My focus will be on science fiction short stories and, keeping with the theme, I am offering an eBook copy of my collection Short Stories to one lucky winner. Entering is easy: just follow my blog by entering your email address in the "Follow by Email" box in the sidebar to the right. Then leave a comment below with a way I can contact you should you win (valid contact methods are an email address or a link to your Facebook profile or Twitter profile).
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From the very beginning, science fiction writers as a whole have produced some of the best work in the genre in the form of short stories. Some of the most popular and prolific fiction magazines of the twentieth century focused on science fiction and its speculative fiction brethren. Science fiction short stories launched the careers of many of the genre's greatest writers--Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, Sturgeon--and while short stories in general seem to be slowly fading from public consciousness, with many mainstream magazines have reduced or eliminated their fiction section, science fiction short stories still enjoy a decent amount of popularity. There are three major print magazines and countless online magazines offering new fiction every month.
I think one of the reasons for the success science fiction has seen in the short story form is due to the very nature of the genre. Science fiction writers love exploring new and different ideas. When the answers to the "What if?" question that every writer asks spans the entire breadth of time and space and even cross over into parallel realities, it makes sense that the short story--which allows a writer to explore so many more ideas--would be a medium of choice.
For those who aren't too familiar with the long and fascinating history of science fiction, there is a book that everyone even slightly interested in the genre should read. It is called The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume I . First published in 1970, its goal was to present in one volume the very best short stories that science fiction had to offer. I've read through the entire collection and have re-read several of my favorite stories, and I would like to offer up just three of those as absolute must-reads.
"A Martian Odyssey" by Stanley G. Weinbaum
Isaac Asimov considered this story to be a work that changed the way all subsequent stories in the genre were written. It is, at its heart, a basic adventure story, but Weinbaum's imaginative descriptions of the life on Mars is both fascinating and delightful. I'm a big fan of Weinbaum, and if you enjoy "A Martian Odyssey," be sure to check out his other stories, most of which can be downloaded for free from Amazon or Project Gutenberg. More information can be found here .
"Nightfall" by Isaac Asimov
This story explores a very basic idea: what would happen to a people who experience true darkness for the first time? The planet of Lagash is located in a solar system with six suns. Approximately every two thousand years, the suns align in such a way that the only visible sun is eclipsed by another planet. The story is both fascinating and chilling. It explores what people--even alien people--are capable of when everything they believed to be true about their world is upended.
"Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes
I am not ashamed to admit that I cry every time I read this story. Unlike "A Martian Odyssey" or "Nightfall," it takes place on Earth and exposes a side of our society that we all know exists and, unfortunately, will probably always exist. Told from the point of view of Charlie Gordon, a mentally handicapped man, "Flowers..." follows the mental and psychological changes he undergoes after participating in an operation to make him more intelligent. If you have not read this story, I do not think it goes too far to say that it will change the way you look at the world, especially those who are different through no fault of their own. You can read more of my thoughts here .

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Don't forget to enter the giveaway by following my blog by email and leaving a comment below. And if you're interested in my other work, click on any of the banners in the sidebar to the right to read more about my books. Also be sure to check out the rest of the blogs listed below.

All the Best,
Michael K. Rose

CHRYSOPTERON: Only 99¢ Until the End of March

Hello, all! For the rest of the month, I've decided to put my novel Chrysopteron on sale for just 99 cents (or your country's equivalent thereof). It's received great reviews so far, and I personally think it's the best thing I've written to date. Despite that, sales have been a little slow, and I really want you all to have a chance to read it.
Chrysopteron is available at all Amazon Kindle stores as well as Barnes & Noble's Nook store (See links below).
Amazon's US Kindle Store Amazon's UK Kindle Store Amazon Germany Amazon Canada Barnes & Noble's Nook Store
Praise for Chrysopteron
"A masterpiece." - 5-Star Review
"Chrysopteron is a 'golden-winged' gem of a novel and one that cements worlds imagined into the conscious dream of worlds yet seen." - 5-Star Review
"This tale is woven expertly, filled with intrigue, suspense, and grips onto you to the very end. If you have not read any of this author's work, you are missing out! This is a definite must read."- 5-Star Review
"The scenes are vivid, and Michael K. Rose has a keen sense of pacing. He knows just when to do a quick cut to the next scene to keep the story moving quickly. This is very, very well-written."- 4-Star Review