Todd Embry - SciFy author of Revenge from Mars, Alien Manifesto and Earth's Mirror
Young: Hello Todd. Nice of you to join us.
Todd Embry (T.E.): Thank you for having me on your weekly blog.
Young: Let's jump straight to the point. Tell us a little bit about yourself?
T.E.: There is not much to tell really as my wild days are far behind me. I have been married to the love of my life Linda for 20 years last September. We have 1 daughter Cori who has just finished her aa in criminal investigation and is working on her bachelor’s degree. We have 1 dog, her name is Princess Ivy the Insistent. We have one troublemaker of a cat, Biggin and two rescue kittens will be joining our family soon who as of today are unnamed. I am a jack of many trades but a master of only one, telling stories. I had delusions of grandeur when I went to culinary school at Le Cordon Bleu. Turns out I am a fantastic cook but the pressure in the kitchen during rush is too intense for my liking. While I was at culinary school, my English professor asked me a question that changed my life. He asked me how many books I had written after turning an in class assignment. I scoffed I was going to be a great chef why would I want to write books. Fate it seems had a different destiny in mind for me. Being dyslexic and having adhd and being bi-polar are the challenges I have had to overcome. Without the computer and the word program my writing would be difficult to understand if I was having a good day, the bad days it would only make sense to me. Of all the many jobs, I have had in my life and there have been far too many telling a good story is what I do best. It is not work because I love to lead the reader down the garden path and then do an unexpected turn in the opposite direction. I call them a crazy Ivan and I love them. An added bonus is I get to make up the worlds, the rules and the story, not something one can do in everyday life.
Young: What do you do when you are not writing?
T.E.: My wife owns a flower shop and I spend most of my non-writing hours there or on the road doing deliveries.
Young: Do you have a day job as well?
T.E.: Yes and no I work at the flower shop but I don’t have a set schedule
Young: When did you first start writing and when did you finish your first book?
T.E.: I wrote ghost stories as a kid but with my challenges, I was the only one who could read them. I got so frustrated that I stopped until after I got out of culinary school. By then the pc had become widespread and now my gibberish made since. Word taught me how to form sentences. I finished my first book Revenge from Mars 3 years ago. I completed my second book Alien Manifesto 18 months later. I am hard at work on the sequel Earth’s Mirror and a book of short stories, The Ravings of a Bi-Polar Mind.
Young: How did you choose the genre you write in?
T.E.: I write mostly science fiction but I am dabbling in a horror story about alien abduction. It may become a book but right now it is just the beginnings of a short story
Young: Where do you get your ideas?
T.E.: I see something and it sparks a thought that leads to an idea and an inspiration. If I manage to get it on paper it takes on a life of its own.
Young: Do you ever experience writer’s block?
T.E.: Yes I have fortunately for me it never lasts very long usually a couple of days maybe a week at the most.
Young: Do you work with an outline, or just write?
T.E.: I sketch out where I want the story to go and then my muse and characters fill in the rest.
Young: Is there any particular author or book that influenced you in any way either growing up or as an adult?
T.E.: When I was about 8 years old a friend gave me a book of short stories all of which were science fiction. I loved it and it inspired my first novel Revenge from Mars. I do not remember the name of it. I wish I did.
Young: Can you tell us about your challenges in getting your first book published?
T.E.: It would seem that my journey to get published was a short one. I received 13 rejections by agents before I got picked up by the Gilbert Literary Agency. Once I got the blurbs and what not done my agent Emma found me a publisher in 6 weeks. I have been told I am fortunate as some authors wait years before being offered a contract. I suppose I am.
Young: If you had to go back and do it all over, is there any aspect of your novel or getting it published that you would change?
T.E.: I would like to do a rewrite as I have progressed so much as a writer since then. The process of getting published I would leave the same.
Young: How do you market your work? What avenues have you found to work best for your genre?
T.E.: I wish I knew a good place to market my work. I am working with the social media tools facebook and twitter and I am not impressed with the results. Facebook plays too many games with who sees what and now they want you to pay to advertise. The twitter feed goes by so fast that it is easy to get lost in the shuffle. However, I am poor so those are what I have to work with until I make enough sales to warrant a publicist.
Young: Have you written a book you love that you have not been able to get published?
T.E.: I am probably one of the few writers who got their first book published and their second and options on my third. I have a long list of future projects so only time will tell.
Young: Can you tell us about your upcoming book?
T.E.: I would be glad to. It is titled Earths Mirror and is the sequel to Alien Manifesto. The premise being that an exact mirror of Earth exists in another galaxy that is joined cosmically to Earth as they both vibrate at the same frequency. I incorporate the story of Cain and Able and the legend of Atlantis to explain the similarities of both worlds development.
Young: Is anything in your book based on real life experiences or purely all imagination?
T.E.: I have based some of my characters on family and friends, but only to give them a personality. Not much of my real life is portrayed but lots of my imagination.
Revenge from Mars
(Blurb)
In the future, Earth is controlled by one man, Supreme Leader Jeremiah Johnson. Fueled by a desire to control the world, Jeremiah Johnson infiltrated himself into the mega-churches and led a campaign of suppression and subversion that resulted in one Church of True Enlightenment, with himself as leader. The political influence of the Church extended into the political arena where Jeremiah Johnson was also elected Supreme Leader of the World. With both the power of the church and the government in his hands, nothing stands between Jeremiah and world domination. Henry Thomas’ parents were on a mission to uncover evidence that would undermine the doctrine that is the foundation of the Church of Enlightenment. Ten year old Henry watched as his parents were deemed heretics and violently murdered by a death squad of Church fanatics. Captured by fanatics himself, Henry is sent to a Church orphanage to be reprogrammed. After six years of captivity he manages to escape and begin a life on the run. He meets the love of his life, Annie Pearl, who shares his hatred of the oppression that has created a world of extreme wealth and extreme poverty. When Annie is murdered for her outspoken views, Henry’s life is set on a course of revenge and hatred. His mission to destroy Supreme Leader Johnson will take him all the way to the Martian deserts surrounding the new Mars colony. On Mars he hopes to find the proof his parents were seeking, the evidence that will topple an empire and exact his revenge.
Where to buy this book:
Young: What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?
T.E.: That is a tough question because I don’t really have a favorite as I love them all.
Young: How did you come up with the title?
T.E.: The title is to the book as the book is to the title. I don’t know any other way to describe it.
Young: What project are you working on now?
T.E.: I am working on my third and fourth book, Earth’s Mirror and The Ravings of a Bi-Polar Mind.
Young: Will you have a new book coming out soon?
T.E.: I am hoping to have Earths Mirror completed and ready for editing in a couple of months.
Young: Are there certain characters you would like to go back to, or is there a theme or idea you’d love to work with?
T.E.: I intend to leave the ending of Earths Mirror open for another space adventure. I have a project titled A Boy and His Dog that I want to write next.
Young: What has been the toughest criticism given to you as an author? What has been the best compliment?
T.E.: I am still waiting for that dreaded 1 star review. I know it will come they always do. But so far I have had only great reviews. My best complement is from an older lady named Rose. She is from the UK and not really a scify fan but she asked to review Alien Manifesto. So I sent her an ebook copy. She said Alien manifest was very cleverly written and she wanted to read the next one. That and I just signed my first fan copy of Alien Manifesto and the reader raved about my character development. So bring on the bad reviews I have already gotten more praise than I ever thought I would.
Young: Do you have any advice to give to aspiring writers?
T.E.: Yes I do two things, write what you love and don’t quit just because of a bad review or two. Not everyone is going to like your work that is a cold hard fact. One that all published writers will have to confront one day. We just hope it will be later rather than sooner.
Young: Is there anything that you would like to say to your readers and fans?
T.E.: If you like unexpected twists and surprise endings then please check out my work.
Alien Manifesto
(Blurb)
When orphaned ex-Navy S.E.A.L. Thomas Scott decides upon a life of crime, he does not expect to be recruited to join an elite Special Forces operation charged with stealing an alien artifact. Especially a mixed-species alien team headed by inter-galactic billionaire Snarth. The close-knit team soon becomes Tom's family in more senses than one, which complicates matters when the mysterious artifact turns out to hold secrets that may plunge the whole of the known universe into a devastating war...
Where to buy this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Alien-Manifesto...
Alien Manifesto Chapter 1
PART ONE
The Adventures of the Human, Thomas Scott
My name is Thomas Dale Scott, chief petty officer, U.S. Navy, retired. Former Navy S.E.A.L. now soldier of fortune, minus the fortune. I was not retired by either choice or mandatory retirement. My career was over the minute they ended the hostilities first in Iraq then Afghanistan. Some pencil pushing politician in D.C. decided that me, Tom Scott, or anyone like me was no longer needed in the new Special Forces. I knew too much and I had seen things those in power never wanted to become public knowledge. I was a liability, turned out like the next day’s garbage. Now if I came forward with what I knew I would just be discredited, jailed under false pretenses like a common criminal.
You see I was with S.E.A.L. team 4 for two tours in Iraq then three tours in Afghanistan fighting the Islamic radicals. I have twenty-one confirmed enemy kills to my credit, all in hand to hand or small arms combat. I even have some of those unconfirmed, long distance non-combatant kills. The ones I won’t ever talk about and will try desperately to forget for the rest of my life.
I was very good at what I did. I have the scars to prove it too, having been shot twice, stabbed four times and hit with grenade shrapnel in my left shoulder. In addition to the scars no one could see. Now to the military brass I am just a broken down has been waiting for his shrinking government pittance at the end of each month, discarded and forgotten. In fact, if it weren’t for my meager disability pay I may not even exist at all.
So I decided to try my hand at a life of crime. I ran into a former comrade of mine a while back, who like me was out on his ear. He had been discharged by the US Army Rangers without even a thank you for killing in the name of God and country. The both of us the modern version of crusading Christian knights of old. He introduced me to some friends of his, all ex- Special Forces with no other skills except teamwork, breaking into places, killing and blowing shit up.
Trouble was we were fresh out of Johnny jihads here in the states. It would be a dishonorable thing to kill my fellow Americans for a living. Not after, I swore a sacred oath on my sacred honor, to protect them from all enemies, foreign and domestic. Even from each other if needed.
Or we could start a revolution, and teach those corrupt, greedy, self-serving politicians the true meaning of honor and patriotism. Try to bring back a government that defends the rights of the people, not dispense them to us as if we were unruly children, ignorant and unable to think for ourselves. That was however, not my idea of a good career choice. That limited our skill set to a kind of specialized teamwork, one not much in legal demand.
I figured I might as well put all that expensive training to good use now that Uncle Sam could care less about me, or my future. I mean I have no family; the sisters at the Good Shepard orphanage in Miami raised me.
Because I had bright red hair and a temper to match, I learned to fight bigger opponents early on. Much to the anger and dismay of the good Sisters, who ran the orphanage. To escape I went straight into the military on my eighteenth birthday rather than wait until I was 21 and no longer a ward of the state. It was join either the military, or a short life of crime followed by lots of jail time.
So why not a life of crime now that I have the skills, while I am still young enough to use them. It might be fun. Beats the hell out of being broke, homeless and despised like so many other of my older fellow veterans. I missed the sound of nightly gunfire and the camaraderie. I especially missed the helicopter rides in the dark, I thought. What I did not know is that tonight my whole life was about to take an abrupt turn into the holy shit I can’t believe this is happening to medirection.
My newfound associates were staging a raid on a high security warehouse, just outside the port of Miami security perimeter. To steal a shipment of recycled money being replaced by new. It was my job to stand guard over the teams secondary escape route, having drawn the short straw as its newest member. Never mind that I have more combat experience than any one of my newfound friends. However, I was the fng so I got the shit detail.
It all started, that night my life changed, when something moved into the corner of my eye, silent as a ghost from my imagination, snapping me to full alert. As I turned my head, scanning in reflex, I saw a black silhouette on the nearby street, silent, stopped, waiting. The incoming threat, if that is what it was, outlined faintly in the pallid flickering of the only working streetlight left in this deserted section of the wharf district. Probably some lost biker-getting directions from his GPS. No need to alert the others, not yet, they would just think I was a nervous rookie. They were so wrong because I was as far from a rookie as any living, breathing ex-S.E.A.L. can be.
I was in the outskirts of Miami, guarding a dock jutting out into Biscayne Bay, near the inlet and the intercostal waterway. It was hot, gusty and insufferably humid as only a south Florida night can be. My black fatigues damp with sweat, sticking to my back. It was pitch-black, not even the full moon shone through the thick, black clouds. It would rain again soon, lightning flashing in yet another oncoming thunderhead. Perfect conditions for a heist, no one would venture out voluntarily in this weather.
My team mates had already fanned out, moving into attack position, headed for the warehouse, close by, yet out of sight. We intended to escape with our loot by the speedboat I was guarding down the inter-coastal should the need arise, if an alarm were raised, or if our land route was blocked by the cops.
The silhouette suddenly vanished from the flickering light, just as silently as it had emerged from the darkness, despite the streetlights pitiful attempt at illuminating the sticky darkness. A brief glimpse of a helmeted figure on what looked like a motorcycle was all I had seen. Then whoever it was turned toward me, moving closer, raising my alert level to high. Was it a cop on a motorcycle? No, it was moving too fast, too quiet!
Instinctively I retreated deeper into the shadows, trying to melt into the darkness. I reached for the com-link to warn the others. My gut told me it was too late. Damn it! I am better than this. I had been spotted by whoever was riding that bike.
He must have night vision, ruling out the local cops. That meant a different kind of trouble. Closer the bike came, straight at me now, silently, deliberately, without slowing. Then breaking suddenly, stopping about one hundred feet directly in front of me, smashing all of my remaining hopes of escape.
With my back to the water, the only place to retreat was down the dock, a trap. Or into the shallow water around the dock to escape, abandoning the speedboat and my teammates. It meant a long swim in the dark. It wouldn’t be my first long, dark swim. That would be my emergency escape. I would make my stand here; there was only one of them. If it wasn’t the cops then who and why.
As I tensed for the bike riders’ move, my fighting knife drawn in my left hand, held low along my leg. It would have to be a quiet kill. Suddenly a flick of very bright light stunned my eyes, completely disorienting me for a couple of seconds. My warning unsent, forgotten in the changing of the situation.
Suddenly the bike was much closer than it had been. As my eyes struggled to regain focus, I heard a deep almost mechanical male voice hiss in perfect english, “Tom, I have been watching you for quite sssome time my boy and I must sssay I am very impressssed.” He knows who I am! That strange voice caused a cold chill to run down my spine .What the hell is going on here!
Slowly the stranger dismounted his bike, swinging his left leg up and back over the seat, leaving the bike between us. He removed his helmet once his feet were on the ground, tucking it under his left arm. He remained in the darker shadows of the two huge oak trees that guarded the entrance to the dock. He was right-handed. I crouched, tensing, preparing my attack, waiting for his, remembering my S.E.A.L. hand-to-hand and small arms combat training. But Who? And Why?
“You sssee”, he hissed softly as he began moving toward the front of the bike, getting closer “I saw you get your asss kicked by ssShorty in the sssecond grade.” “And I sssaw you covering for that girl they caught sssmoking on the playground, after ssschool”. “What wasss her name?” “Jill? Jan? No matter, He hissed, what isss important isss that you ssstood up for sssomeone weaker than you.” “I doubt you thought the whole thing thru at that age.” “But you ssstuck to your gunsss and never told what really happened, no matter how hard the nunsss punissshed you.” “They forced the church’s twissssted version of right and wrong on you for all those years.” “Thossse church run orphanagesss can be ssso dehumanizing if you are not a believer or at leassst pretend to be one.” “Then, High ssschool,” he continued, as I was still speechless to say the least, “Good at sssports but not good enough to go pro.” “Then a little trouble with the law and it wasss the military or jail.” “Followed by 2 toursss in Iraq then 3 toursss in Afghanissstan with the ssS.E.A.L.s “You have become quite the bad-asss, my boy.” “You will however be very sssorry you fell in with this group of losssers sssoon enough.” “That bringsss usss to why I am here,” he hissed.
He knows all about me! How could he? No one knows me that well!Regaining my voice I growled, “Who are you and what do you want.” “Tell me quickly, I no patience for this kind of game.”
By now, my eyes had completely regained their night vision. I could make out what could only be described as an alien, not the kind from Mexico either. The shadowy voice had stepped in front of the cycle’s headlight revealing the identity of the mysterious stranger, who knew all about me.
It or should I say he, was well over six feet tall. Complete with small, slender tentacles surrounding a very large mouth full of long, needle sharp teeth. His bulging, muscular arms had hands with claws on the end of the fingers. His equally muscular legs ended into bare, clawed feet. His skin was leather like, a dark, dull green, almost reptilian.
He was wearing a plain, black, short-sleeved fabric tunic, much like the fighting ghee used in Earth martial arts. Around his waist was some sort of equipment or weapons belt. He wore a small square metal device on his neck, at its function I could only guess. His voice seemed to emanate from it. Equally strange was his bike, it had no wheels, made no sound and it was suspended somehow in mid-air, seemingly floating.
As he moved even closer, I moved my right hand, reaching to bring the Beretta .40 cal. on my right thigh to bear on mister mysterious. He was getting too close. In a blur of motion, I was facing a similarly fashioned hand weapon. I had not even seen him begin his reach for his weapon. Frozen, poised to draw, I waited. I would have never drawn my weapon in time I realized. “Now, Tom, I am jussst here to talk, I have sssomething for you”, he hissed softly, carefully.
“What could you possibly have that I might want?” I growled, fully tensed, intending to strike, and just waiting for an opening, my hand right hand gripping the still holstered Beretta. “My name is ssSnarth and I have a job offer for you”, he hissed ever so gently.
“What kind of job?” “Why should I trust you?” I asked, relaxing my stance ever so slightly, sheathing my knife. “Becaussse if I wanted you dead dear boy, I would have just disssintegrated you long ago, and sssaved myself consssiderable time and expenssse,” Snarth hissed louder confidently, relaxing his stance in kind, holstering his weapon with a twirling flourish. “Keeping tabsss on sssomeone from acrossss the galaxy getsss expensssive, no matter what planet you are from.”
I relaxed my combat stance completely now and stood facing the alien, Snarth he called himself. Having been raised in an orphanage I was not one to let opportunities pass me by no matter how strange they may be. “Where might that be?” I asked, releasing my grip on the Beretta, yet not letting my hand stray too far. “Where issss what, dear boy? Snarth hissed, confused. “The planet you are from!” I said evenly, trying not to let the strangeness of this encounter show in my voice, yet unable to stop the sharp edged answer. “Oh that, noticed did you, sssuffice it to sssay it is a very long way from here,” Snarth hissed with a guttural chuckle and a casual wave of the hand opposite his weapon. As if this happened to him all the time, meeting an alien for the first time and who is to say he did not., “To dessscribe it to you would be an exercissse in futility asss you have no frame of reference to understand it in.” “It would be a sssafe bet to sssay that I am not from Earth,” Snarth hissed casually.
Young: I'm going to ask you some fun and silly questions:
* Have you ever gone out in public with your shirt on backwards, or your slippers on, and when realizing it, just said screw it?
T.E.: Yes more than once
* Do you prefer fuzzy or tub socks?
T.E.: I prefer bare feet as I am a Florida boy
* Are you a person who makes their bed in the morning, or do you not see much point?
T.E.: What is the point of making the bed? Who is going to see it or even care? If they do then they probably will not be invited back to my house unless they are family and I know they could care less if I make the bed or not.
* Be honest, how often do you wash your hair?
T.E.: Almost every day. However some days are just lump around the house who cares what I look like kind of days
* Do you get road rage? What pisses you off the most about other drivers?
T.E.: I do much to my regret later anger is so self destructive. I hate the me first asswipes in their Mercedes who speed past a traffic slow down then force their way in just daring me to side swipe them. If I wasn’t afraid of going to jail I surely would.
* Do you go out of your way to kill bugs? Are there any that make you screech and hide?
T.E.: No I do not. The only ones I fear are hornets, wasps and very large spiders. Small spiders are cool but I have my limits.
* What's the most blatant lie you've ever told?
T.E.: Now that is a loaded question for sure. When I was in the first grade I told my teacher that I had a pet leopard living in my tree house at home. I must have been very convincing as she called my mom to ask if I would bring it to show and tell.
* Are there any occupational hazards to being a novelist?
T.E.: Other than being sedentary not a lot that I can think of. In fact My doctor encourages my writing as a coping mechanism to this reality.
* If you were going to commit the perfect murder, how would you go about it?
T.E.: I know I could do it. I am just too pretty for jail so that saves at least one person a week. It would have to be a completely random victim far away from my normal habitat and routines. Meticulous planning for the escape and the establishment of a solid alibi are where most murders make their mistakes and get caught. Then you have to defeat the forensic evidence, dna and fingerprints and fibers and what not. I think that these are not to hard to overcome you would just have to be careful and through in your execution and clean up after yourself.
* Where is he perfect place to hide a body?
T.E.: The incinerator at a crematorium, or perhaps a meat grinder and a feeding frenzy of sharks far out at sea. Burying the body leaves open the possibility of discovery eventually then the questions start and it is downhill from there. Of course leaving body parts scattered in remote area across several states would be effective until they identified the parts that is. But that means transporting them and the possibility of a traffic stop by an inquisitive cop. So I guess there really is no perfect place. It would depend more on what clues you left behind.
* If you had a time machine, what time would you want to live in?
T.E.: That is an excellent question. I think the American frontier before the white man arrived. But only if I could take modern medicine with me, and a few creature comforts that is.
* Do you have any late night snacks that others would find strange?
T.E.: I like roasted cinnamon pumpkin seeds
* If you were a kid in a candy store, and could have a life time supply of anything, what would it be?
T.E.: Dark chocolate, Is there anything else?
* Do you have any weird writing rituals?
T.E.: I like to outline by candle light, like in the old days
* Do you have a favorite place?
T.E.: Yes there is a place along the banks of the Kissimmee river where a grove of 500 year old live oaks lives. I consider these trees to be my oldest friends. Unfortunately the state of Florida decided to reroute the river and I am not sure that place exista anymore. The last time I was there I saw stakes marking the new course of the river and it ran through the grove of live oaks. I haven’t had the courage to return.
* Do you wear matching socks?
T.E.: Sometimes, sometimes not
* Any strange things on your desk?
T.E.: I am a star wars nut so I have several Yoda’s and Darth Vaders on my desk
* Do you like bubble wrap?
T.E.: Only for the first minute or two, I get bored easily
* Laces or Velcro?
T.E.: Laces cause that’s how I roll
* Do you like scary movies? Do you have a favorite?
T.E.: I do like scary movies but not the blood fests that pass for scary. Anybody can make a blood fest it takes a master to make a suspenseful movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat. The Serpent and the Rainbow is one of the best scary movies I have seen.
* What is your most embarrassing moment?
T.E.: There have been so many I couldn’t choose a favorite.
Young: Thank you Todd for being such a good sport in answering these faux pas questions. LOL! Nice having you on my blog. I wish you all the success with your books.
T.W Embry
(Bio)
Todd was born a navy brat in Sasabo Japan in 1962. After living in many different places, his family finally settled down in the small town of Fort Pierce Florida, where his father taught physics at the local college. A bit of a wild and rebellious youth, Todd graduated high school, just barley. Following in his father’s footsteps he also joined the navy.
After a knee injury ended his naval career early, Todd returned to Ft Pierce resuming his wild ways. In desperation his parents sent him to stay with his Grandmother in Scotts Corner Kentucky, hoping some of the local values, hard work, unconditional love of family among them, would rub off.
It did, Todd returned to his family in Ft Pierce, found a job with Bellsouth as a telephone operator and 15 years passed. During which Todd met the love of his life Linda at his 31st birthday party. After an intense romance, they were married 1 year later. However, Linda came as a package deal, she had a daughter Corri whom Todd came to love as his own daughter and by mutual consent, Todd adopted Corri making them one happy family at last.
Todd and Linda took out a second mortgage on their house and bought a flower shop, Linda’s lifelong dream. And a good thing they did for after 15 years of service and 3,000,000 successfully answered calls with a 98% accuracy rating Bellsouth downsized and closed the office Todd worked in. After recovering from back surgery to correct, a ruptured disc Todd tried his hand at the culinary arts, graduating from Le Cordon Bleu in Miami in 2005. This culminated with a chef’s position at the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, a 5 star resort.
During his time at culinary school his English professor a former college level creative writing teacher gave Todd some advice, “You should try writing a book” he said. It was some time later that he began his first book Revenge from Mars.
Todd now works part time at the flower shop with his wife Linda and their daughter Corri and is close to finishing his third novel Earths Mirror, a sequel to his second novel Alien Manifesto.
