It was eight o’clock. All was well, except that the Animals had somehow crept into the Selector Box and short-circuited the entire Darwin Building. As the Selector, it was my duty to investigate. Yet, at eight o’clock, I’d just finished … Continue reading →
With the shocking suicide of spaceship Typhoon I, the four Commer brothers are reduced to two. After the Final War, the evacuation of Earth, and battle with Martian terrorists, is eldest brother Jack fit to lead the United System Space … Continue reading →
I completed my seventeenth novel on October 6. This is the first draft of Balloon Ship Armageddon, the seventh and last Jack Commer, Supreme Commander novel, a statement I make with crossed fingers because who knows whether I might ever … Continue reading →
The idea for CommWealth came from the first part of these notes from a dream (“Their Satanic Majesties Computer Software Guide”), although successive revisions changed much of the plot. The second part, “The Tremendous Romance,” wasn’t used in the novel. … Continue reading →
“Back away from the novel and slowly put your hands on top of the Internet. Keep your mind where I can see it.” Sooner or later you come to this point. The time has finally arrived to push the novel … Continue reading →
As I did with my previous University of Mars post, I culled this essay from its original sortmind.com page. With the advantage of further perspective, I’m editing it considerably from the 2006 musings I made after scanning and editing the … Continue reading →
I culled this post from the sortmind.com University of Mars page. I’ve always enjoyed this essay as a solid analysis of an unpublishable old novel, but it’s really a blog post, lost on a bazillion pages on sortmind.com, so I’m … Continue reading →
Novel publication by a royalty-paying publisher is a major milestone, and feels a hundred times better than self-publishing. It means a lot that Double Dragon Publishing has acknowledged my potential. I’ve also enjoyed learning much more about this entire process … Continue reading →
The First Twenty Steps a novella by Michael D. Smith available as an eBook for $1.00 from barnesandnoble.com Placing this novella for sale on Barnes and Noble’s PubIt site is an experiment. I want to see how e-publishing works and … Continue reading →
On a cold morning I visit the second floor of an art store and I see folks I’ve been out of touch with for years. They are passionate, hearty, close to the world, not given to cynicism or hip irony. … Continue reading →
