Sunday, October 26, 2014

O Canada, We Stand on Guard Alongside Thee



On Wednesday October 22, there was no Canadian team present, but my Pittsburgh Penguins opened their NHL hockey game against the Philadelphia Flyers with the singing of “O Canada” following the terrible deadly shooting in Ottawa and the storming of Parliament Hill earlier in the day.



Very classy gesture, Pens, I thought. Then I watched as the dreaded Flyers beat up on the Pens. My publisher is in the Philly area, so I’m sure he loved the game. I won’t hold it against you, Gio.

To be honest, I didn’t think any more about the game or national anthem until the next day when a groundswell of Canadian gratitude started flowing back.   

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

When the Characters in Your Story Whisper to You



Let me start out with a disclaimer and then an announcement. First the disclaimer: I am not crazy . . . I think. Announcement? Well, I’m excited to announce that my latest installment in the Colony Zero series is out on Amazon! I hope you will check it out.


For the Children was the most challenging story I'd ever written. The author before me in the series, Mark Carver, wrote a terrific story, Hammerfall. Only one problem: Mark ended his story with my character, Christopher Ransom, storming Colony Zero with a platoon of soldiers. I envisioned Chris escaping to Earth and wrote my draft story accordingly. There's a little scientific law that states a person (or character in my case) can not be on two different worlds at the same time! I had TWO WEEKS to rewrite my entire story before my deadline. The clock was ticking and I was totally stumped. It literally took me three days to write the first page of the new story. I could hear the wind whistling in the space between my ears. Then Lieutenant Lisa Clarke appeared on the pages of my story and she took my hand. 
Okay, admittedly this sounds freaky. I don't know the name of the young lady in the pic, but that is the image of my Lisa in every way. She guided me, showed me things through her eyes. She told me she knew the beautiful Zero, Althana. She revealed her past to me and shared her pain that helped shape the outcome of my story. Without her, I would never have delivered the story on time.

I hope you will take the time to meet Lisa. I’m very proud of For the Children. I could never have written it without her.

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Helping Hands Press Blogtalk Thursday 10/9 - Come hear me mumble

Hey all! Man it's been a hectic couple of months. There's a Huge Helping Hands Press blogtalk Thursday, 10/9 starting at 7:30 p.m. EST with several authors, including MOI at 9:15 p.m.

Come join us and listen to me mumble and fumble and discuss my next installment in the Colony Zero SciFi series, "For the Children."
 
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Mark