Jack Chaucer's Blog - Posts Tagged "sci-fi"

By Alan Bisbort
Republican-American

With a title like “Queens are Wild” and an author named Chaucer, readers might expect a bawdy novel filled to bursting with at least 25 shades of gray. Indeed, this “poli-sci-fi” novel delivers on the bawdiness but in totally unexpected ways that are in keeping with the dictates of the plot. And admit it. You'd be disappointed if a novel with a title like this didn't have some nudity spiced with language that would be bleeped on “The Jerry Springer Show,” wouldn't you?

However, Jack Chaucer -- in contrast to Geoffrey Chaucer and his 14th century masterpiece “The Canterbury Tales” -- has more than a friendly pilgrimage to a cathedral in mind for the brave new world he's conjured in “Queens are Wild.” His pilgrims are, literally, unsuspecting pawns in a cosmic game of chess or poker (you find out which in the book's chilling last pages).

The novel, which uses Vonnegut-like flash-backs and flash-forwards, ultimately takes readers on a pilgrimage through time and space to the year 2036, when a megalomaniacal media mogul from Australia named Robert “Balls” Ballentine (sound familiar?) declares himself king of the United States of America. This dude makes Donald Trump appear humble by comparison (he possesses a 202-foot yacht called “Sheworthy”).

With the help of his ally China -- then the most powerful nation in the world -- King Ballentine easily takes over the U.S. and declares its new name is the United Kingdom of America (UKA).

Prior to this chaos-inducing coup -- during which President Margeaux Quigley is shot and taken hostage, and scores of government workers are assassinated by North Korean mercenaries dubbed the “Black Death” -- we meet Margeaux as a precocious 17-year-old high school senior who has just won a full soccer scholarship to Stanford in 1984 (hmmm, that date seems to ring a dystopian bell). We also meet Robert Ballentine, who was born on Jan. 1, 1984 (hmmm again), as a third-grader in Melbourne, where he tells his teacher, “One day I will be king -- king of the world.”

Out of the mouths of babes and straight to Chaucer's ear. By 2036, Ballentine is dangerously close to realizing his regal dream. In Chaucer's futurist world, the U.S. is paralyzed by national debt and jokingly called the “Divided States of America” by Ballentine. Social Security no longer exists (but CNN does!) and there is now an Area 52 in Nevada to house the spillover from extraterrestrial unidentified flying and/or crashing objects, one of which, named Gatherer 52, comes to the aid of President Quigley.

People possess things like “ST-Warp 5 mobile devices,” Dick Tracy-like “iWatches,” Clone Adapter Rockets (CARs) and web clouds instead of websites.

While this all might seem confusing, Chaucer is a sharp enough cookie to keep the action moving and the dialogue snappy, slipping his satire in on the sly. Particularly hilarious and painfully true to life are the scenes from Margeaux's high school class, in which zit-covered losers in Motley Crue T-shirts vie for attention by tormenting a hapless Spanish teacher.

Blend in some plot devices that recall “The Matrix” and “The Manchurian Candidate,” plus a soundtrack by Nine Inch Nails (one of whose songs provides the inspiration for the book's title), and you have a wildly entertaining page-turner.

You are not likely, for example, to read another novel that contains this line of dialogue: “Your swim cap will keep your brains from exploding.”

The e-book publisher smashwords.com makes it easy for potential readers to access and sample the text of this novel, providing both short and extended descriptions, and then allowing the first 20 percent of the text to be read before deciding whether to purchase.

In the case of “Queens are Wild,” readers are definitely going to want to punch the “purchase” button.

(Jack Chaucer is the pen name of Republican-American copy editor/page designer John Cullen.)

Jack Chaucer's new poli-sci-fi thriller "Queens are Wild" is now available for $2.99 in the online stores of Barnes & Noble and Apple.

The third book in my YA/NA/Sci-fi series, which follows the adventures of Nikki Janicek, is another major step closer to release now that I’ve completed the second draft and major revisions. I should be able to wrap up final tweaks and edits by sometime this fall, and I’m already looking forward to seeing what Damon Za of South Africa will pull off for a cover for this one.

I’ll shoot for a cover reveal before the end of the year and plan to have ARCs ready on NetGalley by early 2017. I’ll likely publish it in paperback and e-book some time in the first half of next year.

“Nikki White: Frozen Upside Down” had been my working title for this project, but “Polar Extremes” is shorter and works better on multiple levels. I think it’ll make life easier for Damon as well.

“Nikki White: Polar Extremes” resolves the cliffhanger ending from “Nikki Blue: Source of Trouble” and sends Nikki off on a new adventure, which primarily is set in Antarctica and South Africa.

I’ll be teasing blurbs and excerpts later on, but I just wanted to update my fans and followers that the book is coming along well.

At 46,400 words or so, it’s much shorter than “Nikki Blue” and slightly shorter than “Streaks of Blue.” There are four parts and 50 chapters, but the story moves along at a crisp pace. Though the first chapter begins on New Year’s Day, 2020, the book’s full time span is between August 2019 and September 2022, so there are some leaps.

“Nikki White” is less dark than the first two books and even provides one of the worst characters in the series a chance to change and grow. The third book circles back well with “Streaks of Blue” and provides some closure to the series, but it also leaves the door open for a fourth book. If I do write that book, it will be called “Nikki Red,” but I plan to do something different with my next project before resuming this series. I think three books are enough on these characters for now, and I’d like to experiment with a different type of story or genre next time around.

I’ll provide a full chapter listing later, but for now here are some of my favorites for teasers: Dyer Situation, Root Beer Lolly, Men’s Room Fight Club, Filling the Crevasse, 10-Below Barbershop, Siberia on Steroids, Summer Wind, Race for the Hollywood Showers, $19 Million Burnt Rug, Mars Isn’t Enough?, South by South Pole, The 300 Club, Sugar Snow, Here Comes the Sun and Red Confetti.

And last but not least, the best new character in the series: Sam “Snowbow” Archambeau, a snowcat driver, handyman and bartender who just can’t get enough of wintering over at South Pole Station.

Here's my first stab at a book blurb for my upcoming novel, "Nikki White: Polar Extremes," the third book in the Nikki series ...

NIKKI WHITE: POLAR EXTREMES
By Jack Chaucer
Coming in 2017

When Nikki Janicek sprints from the 200-degree sauna out into the 100-below darkness wearing nothing but bunny boots, at least she's not alone.
She already has survived months of solitary confinement, a forced swim with sharks and a scary journey to the South Pole. Now she's a member of The 300 Club, an exclusive group of people on the planet who have endured a 300-degree temperature swing in a matter of seconds.
It's all part of her training for a six-person, one-way mission to Mars.
Nikki wants to go, but not with The Bridge -- a space-obsessed company that abducts, controls and violates people.
She wants to take a stand.
She wants to free her father, her former lover and herself.
And she'll do it with the help of the young man who shot her seven years ago.
It's a previously inconceivable alliance, bonded by polar extremes.

The sea gulls taunted me with their freedom.
They had it and I didn’t. And they could fly anywhere, but no, they had to show off, shrieking at me as they cruised alongside the boat.

-- the opening lines from my upcoming novel, "Nikki White: Polar Extremes" (Nikki #3) ... final edits are under way!!

“Why Antarctica?” Thomas asked.

Peter gazed at him like a lost sheep that had returned to the flock, and seemed to relish the question for a moment.

“Because she’s like an alien world,” he said. “Because parts of her are cold and dry like Mars, and because whatever baggage you arrive there with will be blown away forever. Antarctica will change you … for the best. She’s the perfect reboot for the soul.”

Excerpt from Nikki White: Polar Extremes (Nikki, #3)
... coming 3-24-17... when the sun sets at the South Pole for six long, dark, frigid months

Margeaux Quigley can still be America's first woman president in 2032, as predicted in my 2012 political sic-fi thriller, "Queens are Wild."

Go Margeaux in 2032!!

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

“Wake up sleeping beauty over there. You two have 10 minutes to strap on your full winter gear and meet me at the beer can exit,” Willem said.

“Speaking of beer cans, she’s pretty wasted,” Thomas pointed out.

“I’m not worried about that. Antarctica will sober her up in a fucking hurry. And we’re about to find out in the next couple of hours whether you two belong here or in a body bag! Now get moving!” he shouted.

-- from the upcoming YA-NA-sci-fi novel "Nikki White: Polar Extremes" (Nikki, #3)

CHAPTER 24: SHOCK
Nikki
February 20, 2020

One thing you learn pretty quickly at the South Pole, especially after coming inside from the outside, is to reduce your static charge as you walk around the station. If you don’t regularly touch something metal, the next door knob you grab will give you a serious, painful shock.

Then there’s the other kind of shock: the one when you turn a corner and see two people embracing who you never could’ve imagined doing so.

I slowed myself to all but motionless when I saw Thomas, of all people, hesitantly hugging the sobbing sea hag, Ina, in the hallway outside the communications room — one of several places Willem had denied us Martian trainees/abductees access to for obvious reasons.

“What happened?” I asked.

“ISIS,” Thomas said, barely even looking at me as Ina stepped back from him and wiped her wrinkled face with a shriveled-up tissue.

It was just stunning for me to see her show a vulnerable side for once.

“What about ISIS?” I asked.

“Double suicide bombings in Berlin and D.C. at the same time,” Thomas said.

Ina resumed sobbing and stumbled down the hall, her normally sturdy frame crushed inward from grief.

“Her twin brother got killed in Berlin,” Thomas added when she was out of earshot. “She said Peter emailed the station to let her know.”

“And she turned to you for comfort?”

He shrugged and looked down. He seemed embarrassed, an equally rare sight.

“She was just bawling and I was the first person she ran into. I asked her what was wrong and she told me. It’s hard to understand her, but I’m pretty sure she said thousands killed.”

I shook my head and tried to reconcile the irony of a former wannabe mass killer being the messenger at a time like this, but I could not.

With or without us, the cruel world we left behind carried on just the same. More senseless killing, every minute of every day, somewhere.

For a brief moment, I appreciated the isolation of Antarctica, even beside the likes of Thomas.

“And what do you think of ISIS?” I heard myself ask him without thinking.

He smirked, like he knew something no normal person could appreciate.

“Today is 02-20-2020 … that ain’t no coincidence. What’s your twenty? Two twenty — two locations they bombed at the same time. Fucking towel heads got a way with numbers and shit,” Thomas said before walking down the hall and leaving my head spinning.

I guess all killers think alike.

"I hate the way The Bridge shuffles the deck like we’re a bunch of playing cards. I also hate the way they switch out who’s dealing. It used to be Virgil trying to control me and Adam and Bill. Then it was David. Then it was Peter, who also flipped the Thomas card over on the table just to screw with me.
Now it’s Willem’s turn as dealer, with an assist from Ina and the cold, isolating bitch that is Antarctica."

– Nikki in Chapter 21: Card Trick from the novel “Nikki White: Polar Extremes” (Nikki, #3), coming 3-24-17