"See your memories." by Michael E. Gonzales

I received one of those “See your memories” notices from facebook this morning.

“Three years ago…” and it displayed one of my early “art” works I used to advertise my first published book, Dark Moon Rising.

Three years and a few months ago I was just a guy writing in his spare time. A suggestion was offered that I might find writing cathartic. I had tried my hand at writing while still on active duty in the Army. As you might imagine an Army officer has very little spare time for any pursuit outside of his normal required duties.

Additionally, I wrote by hand, on paper, with a pen. Imagine.

Needless to say, that poor attempt was worthless, but I did enjoy it.

When I started writing again, I tried writing a fictional story set in WWII, drawing heavily on my own experience which, it turned out, was not a good idea.

That partially completed eight-thousand-word manuscript still exists, but it’s on a floppy disk and so lost to the world…thank heavens.

Sometime later I took my then young son to a science-fiction movie he wanted to see. The story concept was a good one but the movie was terrible. I thought to myself as we left the theatre, I could write that story better than that!

So, I put my computer where my big mouth is and sat down and did just that. I showed the completed work to friends who are sci-fi fans, and one fellow who’s a hard core “Trekkie.”

Every one of them said they really liked it, but I had a lot of punctuation errors and more than a few spelling mistakes.

Well, I started to generate stories and commit them to digital paper.

After I’d written over twenty stories a friend suggested I submit one to a publisher. I blew that Idea off. But, it sat, fermenting in my mind.

So, I started reading up on how to get published. I read all I could about query letters. I found gobs of Sci-Fi publishers who accepted these letters from unproven writers and started sending them out to all I could identify.

A couple actually asked to see the first three chapters. However, all ended up send me nice, boilerplate, rejection letters (I’ve kept them all).

Then by a happy circumstance I met Cheryl. I was only told that she used to be an editor and perhaps she could give me some advice.

We met one lovely afternoon for lunch. And we chatted for over two hours. She did indeed have great advice for me! I wrote it all down (still have the notes).

She asked that I send her my first chapter and she’d look it over.

After a few days she sent an email suggesting I get the manuscript professionally edited then send her the complete document.

After I learned what the editing was going to cost, I almost decided to let the entire matter drop.

        It was my wife who encouraged me and pushed me over the edge.

Once the editing was done, I sent the manuscript to Cheryl, all the while hoping I’d get it back loaded with advice and suggestions on how to improve my writing.

Some two or three weeks later I received an email from Cheryl explaining that she was with Prairie Rose Publications and offered me a contract.

I can’t begin to describe the since of surrealism that engulfed me at that moment.

I had to read the email and the contract twice more, then, I ran screaming out of the den looking for my wife to show the message to her.

“Are we reading the same thing?” I asked her.

Well…three years later and I have five books on the market, and a sixth awaiting publication.

With each published book I still get the same feeling, the same butterflies, as I did with the first.

And when I pick up any of them off my bookshelf and see my name on the cover it’s still surrealistic.

Was it fate, synchronicity, luck? I don’t know, may never know. But I do know that I owe a debt to Cheryl and the lovely people at Firestar Press who rolled the dice on me.

Thank you.

My Website - http://www.mikegonzalesauthor.com/

Facebook -https://www.facebook.com/people/Michael-Gonzales/100010275572869

The other page on Facebook -https://www.facebook.com/GONZOfiction/?pnref=lhc

Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Michael-E-Gonzales/e/B01CRR80RS

Publisher -http://prairierosepublications.com/authors_2/michael-e-gonzales/

Fire Star Press Blogspot -http://firestarpress.blogspot.com/

Fantasy by Michael E. Gonzales

I recently finished a fantasy novel, my second actually, and I have been thinking about the distinctions between fantasy and fiction, specifically Science-Fiction.

In SyFy the writer must adhere to the basic tenets of science as much as possible. In HARD Sci-Fi the only thing an author can get a pass on is time travel and FTL (Faster Than Light) travel. All else must have a firm scientific foundation.

In so called “soft” SyFy the Author is allowed considerably more latitude, but the hard-Sci-Fi fans will not look sideways at your stories. Nevertheless, in all SyFy there are certain rules that must be followed. I have not found these rules restrictive of my imagination, however. They just insure you remain in the genre.

Not that these rules can’t or haven’t been bent. In my novel, Across a Sea of Stars, I have blended SyFy and fantasy in a rather seamless manner, if I do say so myself, and I’m far from the first to do so.

Fantasy, on the other hand, presents the author a limitless canvas upon which to allow his imagination to explode, to explore its own vast depths.

Having said that, there are a few rubrics an author should operate within. In the world of fantasy, as in every genre, there are canon one should, generally adhere to, i.e.:  should you bring a dragon into your story the reader will expect you to present that dragon as he exists in popular thought. 

Oh, don’t get me wrong, you can take considerable license, but should you describe a mouse with bat wings who is able to spit ice cold rainbows he’s not going to be generally accepted as a dragon, accept in children’s book, of course.

I have discovered  there is a very large segment of the fantasy readership out there who are dragon devotees.  They will seldom accept anything short of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Smaug as a dragon. Unless of course you are very, very good with your winged mouse.

And there is also sacred canon to be observed. If you should invoke any part of the Arthur myth into your story be prepared to plunge in to vast amounts of research long before you even open Word, or prepare to burned on the spit of public rejection.

In fantasy there are certain “must haves” such as magic, wizards and witches (in some form or another) and creatures from legend, or from the legends you create.

So, it would appear that the limitless canvas has its signposts, its roads and paths, some seldom trod. Regardless, fantasy writing, for me, has been a great deal of fun. I will linger in this genre a while, I think.

I do hope those who have read my SyFy stories will follow me...down the yellow brick road.

Please visit my Web Site:  http://www.mikegonzalesauthor.com/home.html

And follow me on Face Book:  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010275572869

* * * * * *

Dark Moon Rising, Battle of Broken Moon, Across a Sea of Star, The Vampires of Antyllus, The Blue of Antyllus, Action, Action Adventure, Alien worlds, Aliens, battle, Dark Moon Rising, FireStarPress, Michael E. Gonzales, mikegonzalesauthor.com, NewRelease, Romance,science fiction, syfy

Experience By Michael E. Gonzales

I started writing a new story that takes place back in 1899, and not because I’m infatuated with 1899 but because it places by characters in the time I need them in to match both historical events and events as written by another, and very famous, writer of science fiction from the genre’s early beginnings.

Next, I have to get them to a very specific location. This will by necessity require me to write about travel. I’m fortunate in that in my life I have traveled a great deal. This provides me some insight. And better yet I have traveled on a ship, which if your traveling about the world in 1899 there is pretty much only horses, trains, and ships to get around on (there were a few automobiles but very, very few).

My characters will have to traverse rugged mountainous terrain as well and dense forests in rolling hills. Yup, you guessed it…I’ve been there, done that.

“Okay, Mike, nuf bragg’n what’s yer point?”

Point is, every writer must draw on what they know and what they have experienced. Does this mean if you haven’t walked twenty-five miles in a day through a forest where the temperature is twenty-two degrees that you can’t write about it? Well, of course not.

First, what I do, is remember a time when I was once bone tired but knew I had to push on. After a hard day at the office ya got one last stop at the store, drag yourself through the isles to get what you need to go home and cook dinner!

Remember when you were last out in very cold weather for a longish time, remember shivering against the cold, pulling your collar up, burying your hand deep in your pockets.

Remember strolling through a fairy tale forest (or seeing a movie set in a fairy tale forest).

Next, I roll up all those memories, extrapolate (a highfalutin word meaning to deduce or guess) and then, here’s the hard part, see yourself dead tired in a freezing wood with miles to go before you sleep.

Again, I realize I’m preaching to the choir here and I know that very likely every one of you has a different method to achieve this same goal. And I am also aware that there are some of you who when describing walking dead tired in a freezing wood with miles of path ahead―have actually done that (you poor thing, you!).

It can be even more difficult if your having to describe events on an alien world, or in the weightless environment of space (and no, I’ve not been into space―yet).

It’s been said countless time, “there is no substitute for experience,” and that is so true, particularly for writers. The big difference is that for everyone else experience is something to draw on to improve some aspect of your life, but a writer has to have the ability to describe that experience in the most vivid and emotional manner possible.

You write about the death of a beloved character in your story. As painful as it might be, recall the death of a friend, a parent, a loved one. Bring up all the pain that you spent years suppressing and pour your tears onto the page. Hold nothing back.

If it doesn’t make you cry, neither will it your reader.

One of the most difficult things I have experienced about writing is the pain of vomiting up old memories, and the struggle to put that pain on paper.

If done well, you will know the joy of having written something people, hopefully, will want to read while at the same time experiencing your own cathartic event.
                                   Just keep writing! 

Please visit my Web Site:  http://www.mikegonzalesauthor.com/home.html

And follow me on Face Book:  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010275572869

Dark Moon Rising, Battle of Broken Moon, Across a Sea of Star, The Vampires of Antyllus, Action, Action Adventure, Alien worlds, Aliens, battle, Dark Moon Rising, FireStarPress, Michael E. Gonzales, mikegonzalesauthor.com, NewRelease, Romance,science fiction, syfy

Conflict, by Michael E. Gonzales

The one common denominator in all fiction stories, regardless of genre, is conflict.

Whether it is the conflict brewing within the hearts of lovers, or the international conflict between nations, or even worlds, it is conflict that drives our stories.

It has been said that there are really only two stories; someone enters town, someone leaves town. Whichever your story starts with there must eventually (and rapidly) be conflict.

Why? Because it is conflict and its ultimate resolution that the reader craves.

The key is to invent a unique conflict and an even more unique resolution. In between the story must titillate, entice, direct and misdirect the reader. He must be entertained, amused, and often scared senseless. 

How hard can that be?

This is the job of the fiction writer.

Additionally, the more conflict in your story the better. A band of unlikely heroes departs on a desperate journey to save their world from a villainous despot. Among them are two whose races have hated each other since beyond the reach of memory, record, or tradition. A man and a woman who despise one another. Another who holds all with him in low regard.

So, in addition to the obvious bad guy, the villainous despot, you have all that lovely conflict between the heroes. (The lord of the Ring comes to mind).

With so many characters in conflict it is imperative you keep meticulous records on each. A detailed description of the character physically, a list of his strengths and his weaknesses, and a bio detailing who she is, where she has been, what she has done and of course, her antecedents.

You must also map out each conflict to its end. And keep in mind not all resolutions have to be happy endings. “Death come to us all.” I have read stories where the hero fails and dies in the end, but recent events in my literary life have proven to me that the timing of such deaths is of paramount concern.

In conclusion I submit that the conflict in our stories is our story.

“Nonsense!”

“Who said that?”

“I did! You could not be more wrong! I have enjoyed several novels that contained no conflict!”

“Name one.”

“The Mezzanine, by Nicholson Baker.”

“Okay, you may be right there. It’s a story entirely without a plot. It relates the thoughts of a man over the course of his lunch break. He snaps a shoelace, and by the end of the story, he manages to buy a new pair. That's about it. And even then, it could be argued, the conflict was between the man and his shoes.”

“Hmm…a man and his shoes?”

“Conflict. Learn it, embrace it, love it.” 

 Please visit my Web Site:  http://www.mikegonzalesauthor.com/home.html

And follow me on Face Book:  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010275572869

Thank you!

 Dark Moon Rising, Battle of Broken Moon, Across a Sea of Star, The Vampires of Antyllus, Action, Action Adventure, Alien worlds, Aliens, battle, Dark Moon Rising, FireStarPress, Michael E. Gonzales, mikegonzalesauthor.com, NewRelease, Romance,science fiction, syfy

Across a Sea of Stars by Michael Gonzales

Across a Sea of Stars by Michael E. Gonzales – February, 2018 #blogabookscene #Spaceopera #PrairieRosePub @PrairieRosePub #FireStarPress

I sat editing another story the other day when I stopped to consider just how many times I have read, reread, and read this story again and again (was that redundant? It was meant to be.) Then it dawned on me, I will never know what it is to read any of my stories for the first time. And no, I don’t count all the work that went into creating the story as the first time.

I have literally spent a week writing a single paragraph, to get it just the way I want it. A paragraph that a reader will gloss over in a second or two.

I’ll never know the reaction of hitting that first plot twist, never know the feeling of tension that I worked so hard to build.

And the climax, as well as the ending. What did if feel like for them?

Book sales and reviews are a measure of how well I’ve written, but I will never know the feeling of that first-time reader.

Makes me a little sad. What better way to judge your own work than to read it for the first time?

Across a Sea of Stars

From an inexplicable anomaly on the surface of the Moon, an astronaut, Captain Cris Salazar, is mysteriously conveyed to a distant planetary system halfway across the galaxy. At the insistence of a strange old man, he departs on a trek across the planet thinking he is seeking someone with the ability to send him home, but he is being manipulated, and soon his strange situation becomes immensely complicated.

His epic quest sees him ally with an alien woman, a near giant, and a robotic intelligence.

With these three he must face a vast army with no fear of pain or death, an enemy with supernatural powers, a madman with a vast armada, and a dark secret. How can Cris possibly hope to return home…Across a Sea of Stars?

EXCERPT:

Tattie simultaneously hit the launch button and the violent detonation threw Cris against the padded wall just under the hatch. The escape pod hurtled away from the ship. Instantly, Tattie saw that they were about to collide with the rear of the spinning ship. "Brace yourself!" she called back to Cris, and then fired her engine at full throttle. In her monitor, she saw the stern coming closer. The great ship appeared to be ablaze as the friction with the atmosphere increased. The G-forces on their bodies climbed to incredible proportions as Tattie pushed the little pod to get out of the way. It looked as if she were not going to make it. They had cleared the hull, but one of the extended engine housings was now headed right for them, a collision was inevitable. There were only seconds remaining. Tattie shouted over her shoulder, "I love you, Cris!"

The moment Tattie looked back at her monitor, the heat from the reentry melted through the engine's support, and the entire housing broke loose and was pulled down into the planet's atmosphere. The escape pod then bolted free and into open space.

"Cris—Cris, we are free!" Tattie screamed.

"We made it? We're still alive?"

Now Tattie's voice was much more serious, "Cris, come here and look at this."

Across a Sea of Stars is available on Amazon.

 

Images by Mike Gonzales.

Order Across a Sea of Stars here:

https://www.amazon.com/Across-Sea-Stars-Unborn-Galaxy/dp/1984038060/ref=as_sl_pc_as_ss_li_til?tag=httpliviajwac-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=b14117cef21e9d34ec121910787c5d19&creativeASIN=1984038060

https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Moon-Rising-Unborn-Galaxy-ebook/dp/B01CBNSAEG/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

https://www.amazon.com/Battle-Broken-Moon-Unborn-Galaxy/dp/1540645681/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Web site:  http://www.mikegonzalesauthor.com/home.html

Follow me on Face Book:  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010275572869

Labels: Across a Sea of Star, Action, Action Adventure, Alien worlds, Aliens, battle, Dark Moon Rising, Michael E. Gonzales, mikegonzalesauthor.com, Romance, science fiction, syfy

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