Michael Formichelli's Blog: Nero's Niche, page 10

Star Wars, the EU, and the New Movie

I recently got back into playing Star Wars: The Old Republic. I don't remember what made me go back to see what was going on with the game, but I'm having a pretty good time now—better than when the game first launched a few years ago.

SW TOR Choose Your Path Trailer- Courtesy YouTube
They've added some new features (a starfighter PVP which is just awesome, for one), and the graphics are looking pretty amazing (but I think that was the case before). Now you can buy your own "living space" to hole up, or invite guests for an in-game or in-character hang out as well. One of the cooler features about the new "Strongholds" as they call them, is that you can put vendors inside as well so you don't have to go running across the galaxy to mod or buy new equipment. All of these things are pretty good, but even taken together I'm not sure they account for my improved enjoyment of the game.

So maybe it's not the changes to the game that account for my new-found fun, at least not them alone. Perhaps it's my views on Star Wars that have changed just enough to allow me to enjoy the game more.

If that's the case, it's probably a similar phenomena to what I experienced after watching George Lucas' prequels. At first I thought they were pretty awesome (with the exception of Jar Jar Binks), but after Revenge of the Sith I found my enthusiasm for Star Wars diminished. I thought maybe it was because, as Darth Vader would say, "the circle is now complete," but I think it was more than that.

The prequels were very pretty, but they weren't very good. Hayden Christiansen's performance was a bit wooden, and Natalie Portman, who is a good actress, was either not right for the role or just horribly directed (probably). The story wasn't as gripping as it should have been. If you don't believe me compare The Empire Strikes Back to any of the prequels. My heartbeat still picks up when I think about what happened on Cloud City; I can still hear Luke's scream in my ears. I just don't get any of that from the prequels.

But that's not to say there aren't still things about Star Wars I think are being done well (aside from the game). For example, there's the EU (Expanded Universe).

The books, largely popular on account of Timothy Zahn's trilogy launched in the '90's (Thrawn Trilogy), as well as the books by many other authors that followed, are hit and miss with me but many of them are quite good. (I recommend reading anything Timothy Zahn or Drew Karpyshyn wrote. Also, I, Jedi is fantastic). For television, you can't beat the Clone Wars animated series (both the ones that fit in between the movies, and the longer running series that came after), and I admit I'm addicted to Star Wars Rebels.

SWR in particular has really rebooted my enthusiasm for the Star Wars Universe. The characters and they way they interact pull me in week after week, and the villains are truly menacing. SWR captures the thrills and tension that made The Empire Strikes back so good. I put SWR in the same category as many other CG animated films like Big Hero 6 and Despicable Me, they may be geared towards kids, but they're enjoyable for older folks like me too.

And now I have to bring up Episode VII.


I'm worried. I'm very worried. The more I think about the trailer the more I think JJ Abrahms probably shouldn't be directing this, or maybe that the script isn't what it should be. It's hard to tell from such a short clip, but the sight of that idiotically designed lightsaber (the one with the cross-guard) sends chills of disgust down my back (for those that aren't aware, a cross-guard directs the incoming blade inward towards the hilt, which is great for steel weapons as this means it stops and "catches" an attack pretty well, but lightsabers cut through most materials, and a cross-guard on a lightsaber pretty much ensures the opponent's blade will be directed right into the physical part of your own, cutting it in half, and probably you right after). It also reminds me that JJ Abrams has already screwed up one of my favorite characters (KHAAAAAAAN!), which I speculate was a result of being both overly ambitious and not having respect for the source material. If he applies that same philosophy to Star Wars, Ep VII is going to be very painful. I think, for the first time in my life, I'm might take a miss on a Star Wars opening night and wait for my friends to let me know if I should run out and see the movie or not.

So, to wrap up, I think it's really the EU that's got me so excited about Star Wars, and hence the game, again. My trepidation about the upcoming film aside, coming back to Star Wars has been like reconnecting with that old friend you didn't really mean to lose touch with, but life just made it happen. If you've been straying for a while like me, check out the EU (and Star Wars Rebels in particular if you can), and maybe you too will say "hey what's up, been a while" to Star Wars.

Civ: Beyond Earth Follow-Up; Starships Announced

Back in October 2014 I gave my opinion on the upcoming (at the time) video game Civilization: Beyond Earth. Having been a fan of the Civilization series for many years I was really looking forward to the sci-fi focused version that Beyond Earth promised. Unfortunately, I found myself a little disappointed with the final product. The game wasn't bad, and had a lot of good features (like auto-upgrades for units), but it was a bit boring to play.

I'm not sure why it was I lost interest so fast, but something seemed to be lacking in Beyond Earth that was present in the games that preceded it. Civilization V, even years later, is still a fun game to play. Maybe the sense of struggle for supremacy, be it cultural, scientific, or military, felt more intense in Civ V than it did in Beyond Earth. I can't say for sure. I just know that for me, Beyond Earth, fell flat.

A new Sid Meier game was recently announced: Starships.

Starships is a sequel yet not a sequel to Beyond Earth. The story of the game picks up at the end of Beyond Earth and takes it into the stars. The overall goal of the game appears to be to build an interstellar civilization, which is pretty cool in principle. I love interstellar empire-building, but I have some concerns about Starships: 1) There are already a million other games that do this, and the previews I've seen don't seem to add anything new to the genre, and 2) Beyond Earth was so lackluster I'm worried that maybe Starships will be the same. I sincerely hope not, but I can't say my hopes are up.

Keltan's Gambit is Available! (& a Second Sample for You!)

Cover Art by Michael Lam 2015

The sequel to Blood Siren is now available for Kindle and in print. The versions should be linked on Amazon by Friday, but in the meanwhile you can get either this way:

For Kindle eBook, click on this link.

For Print from Amazon, click on this link.

For Print from CreateSpace, click on this link.


And if you'd like a taste, you can go back a post and check out what's going on with Nero, and/or you can check out the first part of the prologue from Keltan's Gambit bellow.
Enjoy!


PrologueCalemni System, ETMC Mining Colony #2A1640:10:37 (J2400:3042)

Meia licked her burning lips and felt the air suck the moisture right back out of them. Cold and dry was never her favorite climate, but with any luck the captain she was going to meet would be a professional, and she could get back to her ship before her lips cracked. They should be doing this deal earlier while the miners were still working, but this captain insisted on doing it now for reasons she couldn’t fathom. The street of the mining colony was just starting to fill with people, the majority were humans, but she did spy a couple of ‘quill-hawks among them. Soon the small mining colony would be swarming with exhausted, irritable miners looking for a drink and a good time.
The building across the street looked like a long box with two windows and a door built into lumpy-oatmeal walls. The only indication of what awaited patrons inside was the outline of a bottle stenciled onto the entrance at head level. That was strike-two against this captain—picking a bar at quitting time for a classified meeting.
She was familiar enough with pre-printed frontier buildings to know both the model and the manufacturer of the structure, but she willed herself not to let the knowledge hit her conscious brain. Traveling around the Spur with her father was a lifetime ago, and she didn’t really want to remember the happiest times of her life when they’d only weigh her down.
“Dammit.” She adjusted the silver-chains of her gun-rig so that the weapon rested below the broad curve of her hip.
“Lieutenant?” Ostrin said, padding up beside her on four feet. His species, the Delgrix, was sextapodal, and in addition to the quartet of legs projecting from the base of his torso he also had a pair of muscular arms bulging beneath his black uniform.
“It’s nothing, I’m just eager to get out of here.” She sighed, glancing up at the face below his sloping, conical head. His skin had a mottled, reddish-brown pattern, and one of his widely spaced eyes had darker skin around it than the other.
He frowned and the corners of his wide mouth distorted the short beard lining his jaw. “We could do this for you if you prefer.”
“We” included the DS-109 humanoid drone on her right functioning as an extension of her ship’s A.I., Iapetus. Over two-meters tall, the combat platform was covered in dull-gray bands of armor, and had a human-like head whose only feature was the network of green sensor-spots just visible beneath its translucent armored skull. A pair of miniature, high-energy laser cannons sat nestled in turrets on its shoulders like pauldrons, and seam lines in the bands of armor marked where more weapon-systems lay beneath.
“No offense to either of you but the file indicates this guy is pretty jittery, and I can’t say either one of you inspires feelings of security in nervous humans,” she said with a wink at the ‘109.
“I must concur with the Lieutenant,” Iapetus said through the drone’s vocalizer. “It is best if we proceed as planned.”
Ostrin’s thick nostrils flared as he snorted. “Fine, but if he twitches the wrong way, I’ll put him down.”
“Just let me handle it. That’s an order.” She headed for the bar.
“Acknowledged,” Iapetus responded.
Ostrin grunted, but didn’t follow when she crossed the street. The caramel-colored dust endemic to this moon crunched under her boot heels. She snarled in irritation when a dry wind kicked up and stung her face with the tiny grains. Two human men approaching the bar in oil-stained, ETMC overalls stopped to stare at her. Their eyes only took a millisecond to drop from her face to her chest. She knew she had the curves to draw the gazes of both males and females, but the idiots had to be willfully blind to the silver eagle clutching a five-pointed star on the slope of her left breast; they were staring right at it, after all. Both looked about to say something crude until the younger one spied the CG-90 “Growler” Heavy Gun in her rig. He turned pale, and found something else to be interested in faster than she could blink. It didn’t discourage the bearded one, though.
“Heya there, stranger. Want a drink?” The bearded one said with a twinkle in his blue eyes.A red dot appeared on his temple.
“Nope,” she said in a loud voice, knowing Iapetus would hear her across the street. If she said nothing the ‘109’s HEL-cannons would have shown her what his brain looked like running out of his skull.
The dot disappeared.
“Aw, come on baby—“
“You deaf?” She put her hand on the butt of her ’90. She didn’t want to kill him, it wouldn’t go over well with the local authorities—or her captain for that matter. Solus usually frowned on anything that could cause him embarrassment. Still, she could probably justify it if the asshole made a move.
“Don’t be like that baby.” The man was grinning.
She rolled her eyes and took a step toward the door. He moved in towards her with one hand outstretched to grab her arm. Reflexes took over and she twisted out of the way, grabbed his wrist, and turned back while wrenching it as hard as she could with both hands. At 173 centimeters tall and weighing in just over seventy-kilos she wasn’t a small woman, but he was still almost twice her weight with ten centimeters on her height. The move wouldn’t have worked if she hadn’t caught him off guard, but she managed to throw him head-first into the printed fastcrete wall of the bar with an audible thunk. She felt his body jerk with the impact, dropped his wrist, and continued on her way into the darkened interior as he fell to the ground behind her. She heard his friend curse before the door slid shut.
Her optic implants adjusted to the dim light in less than a second. The bar was as simple as its exterior, with a counter at the far end, and a scattering of tables and chairs. A space to her left was empty save for a beat-up looking amplifier and an old drum kit. The lack of somarill network units on the instruments to channel the emotional content into the audience’s brains marked them as frontier-issue. Listening to music without feeling it was considered to be too low-tech in modern civilization.
A mix of male and female miners populated the stools by the bar counter. A few turned their heads to look at her and did double-takes as they noted the black Star Corps uniform before their eyes flickered down to the ’90 resting below her hip. They turned back to their drinks, and the conversations they were having when she entered resumed at a lower volume. The only person seated at a table was the man she came to see. He had his back to a wall like he was in some kind of American Western stream, and watched her head over with a pair of tired-looking, sea-green eyes. His brown hair was longer than his image in the dossier. The lower part of it just past his shoulders and the upper half was tied back in a tight tail that kept his boney face clear. He sported a pair of mutton chops growing from his hairline to his jaw, and a deep scar running from his right ear to his nostril. She gave him a hard stare before moving over to sit across from him. He put a well-muscled arm protruding from his green-scaled jacket around his drink when she did.
“Didn’t think I’d see one of those today,” he said in a rumbling voice that was deeper than she expected.
“One of what?” She folded her hands on the table.
“A star-eagle,” he said with a nod towards her pin. “I was expecting a ‘jumper.”
“You know the lingo,” she noted. Jumpers, short for Star-Jumpers, was the Star Corps nickname for the Armored Tactical Aerospace Commandos. ATAC was the corps division that leaped out of space ships in powered armor to do shock-and-awe style attacks on other space ships and planetary targets.
“Yup,” he said, raising the glass to his lips. “I also didn’t expect someone so easy on the eyes. Last time they sent a robot.”
“My DS-109’s outside if you prefer to deal with him.” She was intrigued. From his tone he seemed like he really wanted to come across as star-scorched, but it didn’t fit him quite right. His eyes were weary, but the corner of his mouth twitched upward when she sat down.
He took another drink, and it became more apparent that he was trying not to smile after he put the glass down. “You’re here already. There’s no sense in wasting time to have the ‘bot come lumbering in or anything.”
“Guess not.”
He shifted in his seat, taking on a more relaxed posture. “So, how is old Captain Solus doing? You did come here on his ‘wormer, right?”
“Yes, I did.” She nodded. “When did you retire from the ‘corps?”
“Obvious?”
“No ‘wellers I know use ‘jumper’ and ‘wormer’ to refer to ATAC and FTL ships. It’s also obvious you’ve kept up with the PT, and for retirees that usually means you were a ‘jumper yourself since we eagles tend to be a bit more inclined to actually relax once we leave the service. Also, you know who Captain Solus is.”
Dimples appeared at the corners of his mouth. The smile stayed there for a few seconds, then faded like a sun behind fast-moving clouds.
“Met him afterwards. Savorcha’s what did me in, truth be told. I was—well, I was done after that.” He sighed and finished his drink. “How long have you been in?”
“Four standard Confederate years, subjective time,” she said, not quite believing it. A tour finished already and a second begun.
He signaled the bartender with a raised finger and crooked it down towards her.
“No thanks, I’m on duty,” she said.
“Come on, really? It’s the least you can do to humor an old vet, right? Besides, gotta do something to make up for the bad haircut they make you wear.”
Her hand lifted off the table, heading for the military crew-cut she sported on her scalp, but she stopped it. “Long hair gets in the way in zero gravity.”
“But you miss it, don’t you?” He cocked an eyebrow up. “I know I did.”
She did too, but discussing hairstyles was not why she was here. She waited in silence, meeting his gaze until the bartender put a fresh drink in front of each of them.
“The glasses are clean, right?” The dim light made it hard to tell.
“The alcohol’s strong, so I wouldn’t worry about that. To the corps.” He dipped his glass towards her and took a deep draw, finishing half of it in one swallow.
“The corps,” she nodded and did the same, then added a little extra liquid before swallowing. It burned going in, but her glass was lighter than his after.
“Nice.” He grinned at her. “Sharp, well-formed, and you can drink, too.”
“I’m my father’s daughter, I guess.”
He cocked a smile she could feel make her skin tingle. “I’m Kae.”
“Meia, but that’s Lieutenant Ironstar to you.”
“Okay, Meia—“ He squinted. “Any relation to Sanevar Ironstar?”
“Dad.” She braced herself for the hero-worship that usually came after someone knew whose daughter she was.
“Holy shit,” he blinked. “Wow, I didn’t realize I was meeting with spacer royalty.”
“Don’t think of it that way,” she waved her hand in the air.
“Too late.” He shrugged and smiled in a way she found charming.
He seemed like he would be fun to swap stories with if they had more time, and Meia found herself thinking about other things she could do with him that didn’t lie within the mission parameters.
“Got any plans after the war’s done?” he asked.
“I’d rather get to talking about why we’re here.” The faster they got through business, the faster she could get to seeing if he would be game for tossing a bunk before she had to head back to the ship.
“Aw, come on. This is the last question, I promise.” Kae smiled in a way that put goosebumps on her skin.
“Last question, then we talk about what we need to talk about.” She let him see a faint smile on her face.
“Promise.” He nodded.
“Once the war ends the Confederation will probably open the borders again. I’m going to start an exploration and cartography company.”
“Like your dad had?” His eyes brightened.
“The happiest times of my life were spent beside him in front of a helm.” Some of her excitement faded as unpleasant memories of how that ended threatened to surface. “Now, no more bullshit. You’ve got cargo we need. Where is it?”
He leaned forward, putting both elbows on the table. His expression soured. “Do you know what’s in those canisters?”
“Above my pay grade.”
“If you did, you’d wish I’d lost ‘em on the way over.” Kae’s voice dropped down to just above a whisper.
She frowned. “I shouldn’t care, and neither should you. We’ve got a job to do.”
He regarded her for a moment. “One thing about being retired, as I am, is that I get to give a fuck about what I’m doing, and who I’m doing it for. I know you don’t have that luxury, but—“
“Are you refusing to do the job?” She frowned. It’d be a shame if she had to go to plan “B.”
“No, it’s not that.” He sighed, looking tired again—so much so that she felt a hint of worry deep in her gut. “You seem like a nice person, and I think it’s gonna hit you hard once you find out what this shit is.”
“My only job here is to pick it up and bring it back,” she said. “Looking at what’s in those canisters isn’t in the description.”
“That’s what I thought, too.” He finished his drink and his finger was up in the air before the glass hit the table.
She frowned, opened her mouth, and then closed it without speaking. She knew she shouldn’t ask. Among the many things her father passed on to her was insatiable curiosity, and knowing what was troubling him so deeply would probably lead her to actually open one of the canisters to check it for herself. Captain Solus was very specific with his orders, and when he said to go somewhere and pick up something he meant exactly that and only that. She’d put herself and maybe her crew in a spot of trouble if she exceeded those orders, but she could tell from the feeling brewing deep inside her gut that it was already too late.
She finished her drink and her equilibrium faltered as the glass left her lips. It was good, strong, frontier brew of the kind she remembered from the time when everything the border worlds had to offer was still new. Those were bolder days, when she was still young enough to be reckless and not care. She knew the moment she started thinking on them that she was going to ask him the questions she shouldn’t.
“If this stuff is so nasty, why did you take the job?”
“That’s the thing, isn’t it?” Kae waited for his next drink to arrive and downed half of it before continuing. “I wasn’t given much of a choice, and in the beginning I didn’t realize what was going on. That was before I saw—“ he stuttered to a stop, ending up with his eyes pointed straight down at the bottom of his glass.
Even more intrigued now than before, she wished they were in the same system as a Star Corps base. The dossier she had listed his name, ship’s registry, and some details, but no personal information or history. She knew he was ex-Star Corps from their earlier discussion, but had nothing else with which to guess what the deal was with this cargo and his reaction to it.
“What do you mean?” she asked after several moments of silence.
“I’m sorry I mentioned it. The stuff you want is in a warehouse nearby. Let me message you the location. Just a word of warning; if they’re going to test it here, don’t be well-side when they do.”
“Is it a weapon of some kind?” A message request popped up in her implant’s UI. She accepted it, and a set of local GPS coordinates appeared in the upper right part of her vision.
“Yeah, it is.” He finished his drink.
“Look, Captain Faen, I don’t know what’s going on, but I think you’ve convinced me. I want to know what this crap is before I load it on my ship.” She could feel an unsettled look appearing on her face as she spoke.
He stared at her for a long moment, his eyes glassy from the drinks. “I’ll tell you what this crap is, Lieutenant. I’ll even do one better than that. Meet me at the warehouse in an hour.”
That would put her off Solus’ schedule, but at this point she wasn’t sure that was a bad thing. “Make it thirty minutes.”
“I’ve got to find some nanodetox first—“
She held up her hand, reached into a compartment on her belt, and produced a small cylinder of instant sober for him.

“Okay, make it thirty minutes then.” He nodded and grabbed the injector off the table.

Excerpt from Keltan's Gambit

Art by Michael Lam 2014We're getting closer to publication for Keltan's Gambit. I figured now would be a good time to release a little snippet from the novel for your reading pleasure. Below is a scene from fairly early in the book.

Enjoy!



Nero rounded the corner of the building, and paused by the wounded maw of the noodle shop before casting his eyes further down the edifice towards a neon sign. “The Wall” glowed in angry-looking Solan letters. Below the sign an Achinoi with a tall Mohawk of quills sat on a tall stool, staring into the e-pad held in his clawed hands. To his side, three meters away, a group of non-humans stood chuckling and conversing with each other while they puffed away at short pipes hanging from their lips. Each was a giant towering over the Achinoi. Nero estimated they could probably touch the second floor of the building with their three-digit hands just by reaching up. They had bulging forearms out of proportion with the rest of their limbs, and triple-jointed legs attached to elongated torsos. They wore blue armor as the shorter, big-eyed species did, but had their helmets off. Their faces were smooth, white, and capped by dark, rough scalps trailing rubbery cables to their shoulders. Two eyes flanked a thick, nasal bulge with six nostrils on the sides like the holes in a flute. Their mouths were small with thin lips, and each seeped puffs of smoke between draws on their pipes.
Nero took a deep breath of the frosty air and leaned against the building, watching from the shadows while the three exchanged jibes and made a popping, hoarse sound he assumed was laughter. One of them touched the shoulder of another and pointed at him. All three turned their heads, as did the Achinoi.
Damn it, he thought.
“You, human!” The voice of the soldier was deep, echoing thickly accented Solan across the lot of parked cars. “Come here!”
Damn it, he thought again. This wasn’t supposed to be a combat mission. Without Prospero he wasn’t sure he could take the three giants in a fight without a firearm. His high-frequency knife was tucked into his right boot, but they were armored. Just my luck, he thought with some bitterness as he walked towards the entrance of the club. He could feel the beat of the music in his chest. Eerie, electronic melodies muffled by the dark doors assailed his ears. The soldiers were taller up close, averaging a meter above his own height. He hadn’t felt so small since his meeting with Irin the Savorchan in the Kosfantari Biodome. Over each of their shoulders pointed the coiled nozzle of a rifle, and he noted a dark-gray pistol holstered on their hips.
“You are out past curfew, human. Show your pass.” One of the three took a step forward, shoving his breastplate in Nero’s face. It was strangely formed, having two pairs of lumps across the top third of it, and a flexible sleeve at the waist connecting to the plates covering his wide pelvis. Strange, gold characters were embedded over each lump, and the style varied among the three individuals.
“I must have forgotten it,” he answered, looking up at each one of them in turn. Two had blue, four-pointed irises, but the eyes of the one challenging him were hazel and had a gleam to them Nero knew meant he was in for it.
“Forgot your pass?” The two blue-eyed soldiers moved to flank him.
“I can go back and get it.” Nero gestured behind him.
“Too late for that, human. We’ll have to make an example of you, now. We can’t have the others thinking our rules don’t mean anything.”
He glanced at the Achinoi as the three closed on him. The four eyes across his brow gleamed in the dim light and the quills on his shoulders rattled as he shook his head.
“Okay, I see how it is,” Nero said. “How about I buy you all a drink inside and no one gets hurt?”
They laughed with that popping, croaking sound. He took a step back, sizing up the way they moved, and what the apparent bulk of their armor might mean about their musculature. It didn’t look good.
“Are you sure there isn’t anything I can do for you three?”
The one on Nero’s right leaned in and thrust a fist at his head. Reflexes took over and he ducked under the blow, stepping into it so the Brogh’s fist past by his ear. He popped up, putting fist to abdomen with all of his artificial muscle’s might. The blow caused the air to rush from the soldier’s mouth. Nero half-turned with his arm up to deflect a blow from the second or third Brogh, but the first, who had stumbled back a step after his punch, thrust a kick into his ribs. He staggered back a few steps from the force of the blow, then took another step back with his eyes on his three opponents.
“Quicker than I thought,” he muttered, rubbing his side and wishing Prospero were online to dilate his time-perception.
The next attack came from the one on his left. The Brogh swept in with a hooking high punch while the one next to him attacked with a stiff jab at his gut. Nero swayed back, causing the first punch to miss his nose by centimeters, and swept his arm down to block the second. He felt it connect with his forearm and used the contact to trigger his own counter punch, stepping in and thrusting his fist down towards the flexible armor in the center Broghite’s upper knee. He felt the hard joint bend and shift beneath his knuckles and heard the loud cry from its owner before the third soldier kicked him. He took it on the chest and rolled back with it. Turning most of the force into backward momentum, he tumbled out of their considerable reach. He let the roll carry him to his feet and stepped back, feeling the edge of one of the parked air-cars on the back of his knee.
This is a lot harder without Prospero. He wished he’d paid more heed to his SCC nagging him about endurance training.
“I don’t suppose you want to talk this out?” he said between pants as they closed in again.
One of them circled around to the side while the other two lunged forward. Nero jumped up onto the hood of the vehicle behind him, keeping his fists up in guard when he landed. The first Broghite came at him high and he ducked with the bounce of the car while the second came in low with a punch. The first attack missed. The second he blocked with a painful jolt to his forearm—and something hit the back of his head hard enough to black his vision out. His body flopped to the asphalt with a grunt.
Nero got to his knees and looked up, rubbing the back of his head as his vision returned. The third Broghite was holding a rifle with the stock end pointed outward. There was a broad grin on his thin-lipped mouth.
“No fair, that’s cheating,” Nero said.
“Katchla-fa!” The rifle came down again and sparks flew through his vision.


-Excerpt from Keltna's Gambit, by Michael Formichelli
Copyright 2015

Where is Keltan's Gambit? An Update & Back Cover Reveal

So where is Keltan's Gambit?

You might be asking yourself this question as you read these words, or perhaps you've been waiting for me to finally finish it with a machine's patience (which I thank you for, though I apologize that it's been necessary). I'm glad I can say I'm almost finished with the final draft as of the time of this post. The spine will need some adjusting for the print version after that, and following the modification I should be able to get it up on Amazon for sale.


So what does all of that mean?

KG is 1-2 weeks away from publication. I'm going to really, really, really try to get it out before the end of the month, but if not it'll be early February. I feel terrible about it being so late, but this way I can rest assured that the product you pay for is the absolute best one I could put into your hands.

Here are a few things I think you should know about the book:

1. It's going to be longer than Blood Siren by a bit (100+ pages)

2. Like Blood Siren, it will contain mature content (four-letter words, descriptions of adult activity, violence, etc.) - The intended audience is adults. Consider my books R rated in general, and this one is no exception.

3. The novel will continue the story of the Confederation of Sovereign Systems from Nero's, Cygni's, Cylus', and Ichiro's perspective (as 2nd edition did).

4. Expanded glossary and character information.

And of course, the awesome back cover by Michael Lam for people buying the print edition:

Artwork by Michael Lam 2015

Eden Paradox Author Barry Kirwan Interviews Me

Hi all

This week I'm sharing the reciprocity interview I did with Eden Paradox Series author Barry Kirwan.
We talked about my books, sci-fi influences, and there's a little bit of a teaser for Keltan's Gambit towards the end. Enjoy!

Science Fiction Movies of 2015 Part 2

Before I start in on the 2nd half of 2015, I have to go back and catch a few movies I missed in Part 1:

1-30
Project Almanac
Johnny Weston, Amy Landecker

Teenagers find daddy's time machine, go back, do all the stuff we'd love to do (win lotto, etc) and wind up wrecking everything because you can't do something huge like win the lottery without it changing the lives of everyone around you, and maybe the planet. Ripple effects, they are a real pain. So this one is kind of like Primer with the volume turned up for teens—or looks that way to me. It's also competing with The Phoenix Project, being another time-travel movie released in the same month. We'll see who wins.



4-10
Ex Machina
Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac, Alicia Vikander

I regret missing this in part one. I thoroughly enjoyed The Machine, and this looks to be a film along similar lines. I may just have a thing for movies that explore the nature of sentience, humans, and AI, but these types of movies tend to get me as both a movie-lover and a science-lover. Hell, they tend to be just plain cool, too. With luck, this one will be as well.



And now... The second half of 2015!


6-12
Jurassic World
Chris Pratt, Judy Greer

I like Chris Pratt. I liked the original Jurassic Park (which I saw in... high school, in a theater on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with a "live" crowd, lots of oohs, and OH NO's and whatnot), but this reboot has me raising my eyebrow. It might be good, maybe. I'm just not sure it can recapture the witty magic of the first one (and it better, the others were blah to crap).



7-1
Terminator Genysis
Emelia Clarke, Jai Courtney, Arnold Schwarzenegger

I have to admit, when I heard there was going to be another Terminator movie, and Arnold was returning for it, I groaned—a lot. I loved the Sarah Connor Chronicles, was 'meh' about Terminator Salvation, but I was ready for another Terminator movie—without Arnold... And then I saw this trailer, and I am now looking forward to it. I know. Shocking, but see for yourself.



7-17
Ant Man
Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly

Ant-Man is one of those heroes I can't believe exists. I mean, even I can defeat things that size... I sort of want to believe that this is a test of the "Marvel Can't Fail" thing they had on SNL. No, I have no interest in seeing this, but don't let that stop you.



11-25
The Martian
Jessica Chaistain, Matt Damon

No trailer for this one yet. Ridley Scott directs. I wish he'd hurry up and make Prometheus 2, but maybe he's warming up to it. Also, Matt Damon in a space movie for the second year in a row, and he seems to be playing almost the same character. Hmm... interesting... maybe. I loved Matt Damon in Elysium, so we'll see about this one as the year goes on.


12-18
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Etc. (You know who they are already)

Star Wars is probably a big part of why I write sci-fi. I saw the very first one (A New Hope) in the theater (too young, I have no memory of it but apparently mama took me), and I've seen every one after that in the same way, and then about 100 more times at home... (Except the prequels, those I've watched less than 10 times). Not to say I don't love Star Wars anymore, I still do. Clone Wars and the Rebels series are awesome! (Yes, Disney did a great job with Rebels). But having said all that:

I'm going to be a little irreverent about this movie because though the visuals look great, JJ Abrams ruined an awesome villain for me in Star Trek Into Darkness, and now he's after my childhood favorite, so I'm worried... And that new lightsaber looks horrible (a guard on a lightsaber is about as useful as an empty oxygen tank at the bottom of the ocean). So yeah, I'm really worried. Still, I'll go see it...




And there you have it, for now. Did I miss something? Let me know in the comments.
The second half of 2015 looks a bit empty as far as sci-fi goes, but it may fill in as we get closer. Here's to hoping it does. Happy watching!

Sci-Fi Movies of 2015! Part 1

And it's finally here!

My list of Sci-Fi movies for the year of 2015!
(Through May 2015, this is part I)

January:

1-9
Predestination:
Ethan Hawke, Sarah Snook

A movie about a time-traveling "Temporal Agent" and his first case, I think. Not sure what to think of this one.



1-16
Vice:
Bruce Willis, Thomas Jane, Ambyr Childers

This one has my attention. For the first half of the trailer I was thinking, "oh, movie about a distopia, there's a murder, things fall apart... Whoa!" That last bit was when I got to the last part of the trailer. Yeah, it grabbed my attention with a twist I didn't expect. I'm not sure what it says that such a big twist was shown in the trailer, hopefully there are more in the film, but I'm gonna have to see this one now for sure.



The Phoenix Project:
Corey Rieger, Andrew Simpson

This one looks like an artsy, dramatic alternate reality film. It kind of reminds me of the mood of Primer, but I'm pretty sure it won't be as good (just judging from the trailer).



1-30
Alien Outpost:
Adrian Paul, Reily McClendon

It's an alien invasion movie. If you've been reading my blog you know why I think most of these are stupid without a good, and I mean, really good reason for doing what they do. (You're telling me a civilization that has mastered faster than light travel is outmatched by a couple of macho men with guns? Really?) I didn't even recognize Adrian Paul (Highlander TV series) in this. I guess it's been too long, but anyways, here's the trailer.


2-6
Jupiter Ascending:
Channing Tatum, Mila Kunis

Biggest issue I have with this movie is that the whole "we seeded your planet 100,000 years ago" (to make humans, it seems) ignores the entire body of scientific evidence to the contrary of something like this happening—and it's a freakin' mountain of evidence. So I think the writers of this were pretty lazy and uncreative with the premise, but it still might be an okay movie. I'll probably skip it, though unless I hear it's really amazing or something.


3-13
Air
Norman Reedus, Djimon Hounsou

Not sure what to think of this one. The teaser here didn't give me enough to go on. IMDB says it's about a diver who comes up in a world without breathable air. Weird. Maybe there'll be more as we get closer to release date.



3-19
Robot Overlords:
Gillian Anderson, Ben Kingsley

This one reminds me of the Tripods series by John Christopher (but only vaguely). Robots come in and take over, then a boy finds he can control them with some kind of cybernetic device. This movie was adapted from the novel by Mark Stay of the same name. I am wary of such things after the Maze Runner, so not sure I'll see this one (though I do love Ben Kingsley as a villain, and yeah, Gillian Anderson in Sci-Fi is a good thing).


3-20InsurgentKate Winslet, Shailene Woodley
I didn't see Divergent, so I'm just going to leave this here.


3-27ChappieHugh Jackman, Sigourney Weaver
If there's a movie I am dying to see this year, it's this one. Neill Blomkamp, Hugh Jackman, Sigourney Weaver, and it's about an adorable, kick-ass A.I. It's like Mr. Blomkamp is writing me a love letter.


5-1Avengers 2: Age of UltronRobert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, et. al.
For some reason I'm not as hyped as I should be about this. Maybe it's the mismatch (due to studio rights) between Quicksilver in the X-Men and Quicksilver here, or the fact that Marvel titles are inescapable as far as promotion and the media go. Maybe I'm just a little burnt out on the hype already—but whatever the case I do love RDJr's Iron Man and Mark Ruffalo's Hulk is freakin' awesome. So yeah, I'm seeing this.


5-15Mad Max: Fury RoadTom Hardey, Charliz Theorn
I'm a fan of both stars of this movie, I'm just not a Mad Max fan. I'm not that into post-apocalyptic stuff, since it tends to just sit unwell with me, and I'd rather be dreaming of a future among the stars than one in the dirt (kudos to Interstellar for giving me that metaphor). In any case, if you're a Mad Max fan this is probably going to do it for you.




5-22TomorrowlandBritt Robertson, George Clooney
And a week after Mad Max comes a movie on the exact opposite on the happy spectrum. This kind of looks like a modern-day Wizard of Oz to me. It's another one I'm not sure how to take, and though I do like George Clooney, I'm a little iffy when he dips into sci-fi (Solaris, Gravity, to name two). Still, this could be very cool, or not. I'll wait for more trailers before really deciding.




And that's it for the first half of 2015! I'll put part 2 up for the 2nd half of the year soon.
Be well!

Interview with Eden Paradox Author Barry Kirwan

Below is the transcript with some video clips of an interview I conducted with Eden's Endgame author Barry Kirwan. Barry and I go back a few years now, and I was very happy to finally get him to sit down with me (via webcam) and answer a few questions about his life, his writing, and his newly released book, Eden's Endgame. Enjoy!



Barry Kirwan

Interview with Eden Paradox Series author Barry Kirwan


When did you start writing, and by that I mean fiction, because you;ve got a few non-fiction books right?
Yes, okay, so I started writing when I was a teenager for my school buddies, but I took it up as a hobby when I moved to Paris in 2001. In 2005 I wrote a short story called Trouble in Eden, which grew to become a four-book series.

Did you plan it to be a series or a trilogy to begin with, or did it kind of just blossom as you went along?
That’s an interesting question. It started as a short story, and I took it to a writer’s workshop in Paris, there’s quite a good writers’ community here, and the workshop was run by Michael C Curtis who was then editor of Atlantic Fiction. So, I took it there and they really hated it. Michael said, you know, they hate it so much, there’s obviously something good about those characters, you’ve elicited such passion. He said, forget the story, keep those characters and put them in a different story. And that’s what I did. They were the original four characters on the spaceship Ulysses in the Eden Paradox. By the time I got to ten chapters I was in Africa on holiday, lying on a beach, and in the space of about an hour the whole story of all four books just came to me, it was pretty overwhelming.


Who are your top three authors in science fiction?
Am I allowed ten? Okay, so the ones that really kicked me off were Isaac Asimov (Foundation series), quickly followed by Arthur C. Clarke (Rama series) and Frank Herbert (Dune), and I realised early on that I was into series. Today it’s more people like Iain Banks, who unfortunately passed away eighteen months ago, Alistair Reynolds who is really excellent, and Peter F Hamilton – hmm, they’re all British, where’s my flag?


Peter Hamilton is one of my favourites as well, and he was the one who made me not afraid to do multiple perspectives, for example with his book Pandora’s Star.
For me that was David Brin with his Sundiver series, when I read him I was relieved, I thought hey, I can have lots of characters’ points of view. I really wanted to write in multiple perspectives, which works well for Space Opera. I love his work.




Who is your favourite character in the Eden Paradox series, maybe in the first book so we don’t give any spoilers away?
Okay, Micah and Blake are the two main protagonists in the first book, but Gabriel for me is a really strong character in the first book. I also really grew to like Vince towards the end. I had him as a hard-ass character, and in the beginning I didn’t like him much, but now I want Vince on my team.Someone said the villains make the story, and you have some good villains…Yeah, Louise is a strong character, she actually started out as a secondary character, but just grew and grew and grew.


She certainly did! I really like reading the chapters when she’s on camera, so to speak, because you know, love her or hate her, she really puts you in that world, she’s fantastic. Why are your favourite characters your favourites?
Well, Vince, for example, has certain characteristics that I don’t have, that I’d like to have (laughs). And Blake, he always makes great decisions fast. One of my fans early on said “Barry, you want to be Blake, but actually you’re Micah,” (laughs) gee thanks…
Brains are good…
You do martial arts as well, Mike, and for Gabriel, and Ramires later on from book 2, I still love writing those martial arts fight scenes, having done a lot of martial arts down the years.

Where did you study?
The UK, then Australia, and I still go to Hong Kong every couple of years, though I’ve slowed down, less of the martial stuff these days, more Taichi these days.




I love your fight scenes, I can tell you know what you’re talking about, as I’m also really critical of fight scenes being a martial artist; you can always tell when a writer hasn’t done it, the description is off, and you think, that wouldn’t work!
Yeah, everything comes from stuff I know how to do, except when they’re spinning in the air (laughs).

I guess, kind of related, how much of yourself is in the characters, and did you borrow from any real people for your characters?
For a couple of characters I borrowed from two people I know, mixing their traits with fictional ones, and in one case in the second book, Eden’s Trial, I made a villain (Shakirvasta) out of someone I used to loathe. It worked really well! Jen and Zack are based on people I know; I modify them, and I’ve learned the hard way that it’s best not to tell people when you do it…




In terms of your fan base, are you more popular in Europe or in the US?
It’s kind of a balance between the UK and the US, when one slows down the other seems to pick up. I had a fantastic sales spike in the US a couple of years back, and sold 2000 copies in one week, and was getting ready to give up my day job, but it only lasted a week… I have fans in Germany, France, and other places as well, and a lot of people in Ukraine reading my blogs every day, no idea why, but I’m happy about it.

Is it translated into any other languages?
Not yet, I’d love to see it translated, but I think I’d need a bigger publisher, as it’s quite expensive to get it translated. One day, maybe.

There’s a project called Mars One, to move people to Mars. Would you sign up for such a trip if you could?
Yeah, I would – let me check my wife’s not listening – yeah, I would. I think, like you, I would really love to do something like that, I couldn’t say no. I’m a psychologist, and having read Kim Stanley Robinson’s Red Mars, I think that’s one of the biggest challenges for a trip to Mars, just staying sane and not tearing each other to pieces.
And how about the International Space Station?
Hmm. I’m a Big Bang Thoery fan, and in that series they sent Howard up there and he didn’t have such a great time. But I’d love to be in space, to do a spacewalk. I’m a scuba diver, and that‘s the closest I can get. So I’d love to be in space, but living on the ISS, I don’t know, I’d probably get bored and start doing martial arts with my sword, cutting people’s airlines and getting myself into trouble…


Do you have any aspirations to have the series made into a film or TV series?
A lot of people have said to me that the books read like a film, the books are very visual, they can see it. So sure, I would love to see that happen.
Do you have any ideas who might play any of the characters in a film/tv series version?
I think the actress Charlize Theron, who was in the film Prometheus, would make a great Louise. Ed Harris was my original idea for Vince, and John Savage would have made a good Blake. For Micah, I don’t know, I’m still looking…

Do you have any more plans for scifi in the future, now that you’ve finished the last book in the Eden Paradox series?
Yes, I do. There’s a book I want to write called Last Human, about someone who survives the culling of Earth and is literally the last human. He’s been shot in the head and can’t remember who he is, then finds out he used to be President, and decides he was not such a nice guy. But he’s determined to bring those who betrayed Earth to justice, in a galaxy that’s not very hospitable, and he’s going to have a very rough ride… There are also a few short stories I want to get done, in my Hell and Sphericon short story settings (available on his website, www.barrykirwan.com).

Well, Barry, thanks very much, and I can whole-heartedly recommend Eden’s Endgame, the final book in the Eden Paradox series, just released, to lovers of science fiction. I hope it does really well.
Thanks Mike, much appreciated.

Rambling Update: Moving Closer to Publication & Happy New Year

Happy New Year! (almost)

Just wanted to drop in and do some more announcing and updating before 2014 ends.

Art by Michael Lam 2014

It's been a pretty good year overall. I got Blood Siren 2nd Edition out in publication, and I almost, almost, got Keltan's Gambit out this same year. Looks like I'm going to miss it by about 1-2 weeks, unfortunately, but that's how the book gets bound... or something. Okay, maybe that was a lame joke, but I'm trying to avoid cookie metaphors right now because I'd love a cookie, and don't have any... but I digress.



Art by Michael Lam 2014As of this moment I'm about 50 pages of editing and 3 emergency scenes (of the "oh crap, I really need to write this right now" kind) away from having Keltan's Gambit right about done. I say "right about" because I always do another read-through after my last round of edits, which usually spawns some last second edits of its own—BUT that does mean I'm very close to sending this baby off for publication. I'm aiming to release the paperback and the Kindle eBook editions at the same time, so standby for whatever reading experience you want more!






Also, coming very soon is my interview with sci-fi author Barry Kirwan (Eden Paradox Series), and following that, his interview with me. Watch for it here and over at barrykirwan.com where you can also find his books. If you're a fan of suspense in your science fiction, I definitely recommend you check them out. The latest and last is Eden's Endgame, just released this holiday season!






Also coming up will be my annual look ahead at the sci-fi movies of 2015. There looks to be some pretty cool ones in the batch, so be sure not to miss it!

And on that note, Happy New Year!