Ages 12 to 99+
Who’s your target market?
I always answered that questions saying, “Star” fans (Star Trek, Star Wars, Stargate, Battlestar Galactica, etc). I found out this is called Soft Science Fiction. Specifically:
Star Trek fans will love General Jones. He might remind you of a Vulcan as he is very logical.
Star Wars fans will love “The Force” like influences, primarily in hunches, intuition, and gut feelings. This will progress as the series does.
Stargate fans will love the secret government organization.
Who else might like your stories?
Sherlock Holmes fans. Deductive reasoning is often used.
Students and Teachers might find the things the aliens learn about Earth interesting.
People who like diversity and underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. The ensemble cast includes aliens, people of color, Christians, Jews, and strong female leads. Note that like Star Wars, religion is only mentioned in passing. This is NOT a religious story.
What ages do you write for?
All ages! Specifically, if you know the difference between a vegetarian and a carnivore, you’re old enough to read these stories.
Who is it NOT written for?
Purists: Those who only like Star Trek or Star Wars probably won’t like my story.
Conspiracy theorists and Historians: While I tried to keep to historical facts, and the facts of the “Roswell Incident”, some things were sacrificed for entertainment. Believe me I didn’t take this subject lightly, but when it comes to subjects like racism, people want to be entertained not reminded. So racism is present, but not the focus.
Hard Science Fiction fans. Many have told me that it’s not practical that aliens would look humanoid, have the same gestures, and/or cultural references. But, in Stargate, everyone in the universe speaks English (even on Earth). Soft Science Fiction focuses on social problems, and often ignores that aliens might not look or react that way.
From Roswell to Area 51
The novel is now broken into 5 parts, each part is one of the original novellas, that has it’s own conclusion. The later parts overlap in time a little, as new characters are introduced, or head out into space and prepare for battle.
The first part of the novel is almost a total rewrite of “Roswell: First Contact”. In writing the screenplay, I had to create a sidekick for Malcolm to explain his thoughts to. Adam has a way of getting into trouble, and Malcolm has to rescue him often.
Charlotte Baker is a new twelve-year-old reporter in a wheelchair, who likes to be called Charlie. Her story flows through the whole novel (maybe because she thinks she wrote the it ;-).
Hopefully, the novel will be out in a few months. Stay tuned for updates.
Screenplays
One day I received an email saying “Just making sure… We’re gearing up for our … Screenplay Competition…” so I converted the novel into 6 (or more) TV episodes, or 5 feature movies and submitted them to various competitions.
It was a really good experience, because I had to rewrite my story to be more visual. When I was done, I copied the changes back to the novel. Every time I changed format, the story kept getting better and better! 🙂
Personal Stuff
Have you heard of “Polymyalgia Rheumatica” (PMR)? My wife has it, and it got so bad that she was completely immobile last September. I was out of vacation days, family responsibility days, even sick days and was forced to retire so that I could take care of her. We had lost all hope, and went to the doctor expecting him to put her into a care home or something. But, much to our surprise, he knew what it was and gave her a prescription, and it worked! Temporarily…
My wife’s mobility is currently unpredictable. I do as much as I can to help, and so does she when she is able, but it’s nice when we work together. The good news is that since I retired I also have more time to work on the novel.
Beta Readers
Beta copies are going out soon. If you are interested in giving feedback, please let me know.
Advanced Review Copies
ARC copies will probably be going out in a couple of months. If you are willing to review the book on Amazon, Goodreads, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X or any other platform (like your blog), please let me know which ones and how many followers you have (if appropriate).