↓
 

Sortmind Blog – Michael D. Smith

  • Home
  • Jack Commer Series
    • Jack Commer Series – Reviews
    • Jack Commer Book Covers – Drafts and Final
    • Jack Commer Trailers
    • The Original Crab Emperor Dream, March 6, 1986
  • Contact
  • About
    • Flashpoint’s Daughter – The Lists
      • Bone Titles
      • Daughter Titles
      • Duplicate Fiction Titles
  • Sortmind.com
  • Sortmind Press

Category Archives: Stories

Post navigation

<< 1 2 3 >>

The UR Jack Commer: A Look at the Childhood Beginnings of the Commer Saga

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on April 4, 2021 by Michael D. SmithDecember 25, 2024

Okay, why revisit this early stuff???? After publishing seven Jack Commer novels I felt a need to pull together Jack’s entire history starting from my first fifth-grade story about him. That was the story that electrified my nine-year-old self. Although … Continue reading →

Posted in Early Writing, Jack Commer, Marketing, Martian Marauders, Novels, Science Fiction, Sortmind Press, Stories, Trip to Mars, Writing, Writing Process | 1 Reply

Monsterville, USA

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on May 29, 2018 by Michael D. SmithDecember 25, 2024

I’ve already written about The Blue Notebook, my fifth grade stories that channeled fascinating new energy and began defining me as a writer. Recently I was compelled by author’s karma to make an eBook out of The Blue Notebook, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Akard Drearstone, Early Writing, Science Fiction, Stories, Writing, Writing Process | Leave a reply

NOW! – or – Early Marketing Efforts

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on January 15, 2015 by Michael D. SmithJanuary 15, 2015

Not long ago I was astonished to rediscover childhood Jack Commer marketing tools. As outlined elsewhere, my first Jack Commer, Supreme Commander plots unfolded in the fifth grade, and by the eighth I’d abandoned the draft of The Martian Marauders … Continue reading →

Posted in Early Writing, Jack Commer, Marketing, Martian Marauders, Novels, Science Fiction, Stories, Trip to Mars, Writing, Writing Process | 2 Replies

A Writing Biography, Part III: Unhappy Kid Interlude, Yet Two Novels, Sort Of

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on October 14, 2014 by Michael D. SmithJune 27, 2019

Or: Wandering in the Wilderness with New Discipline, the Consciousness Expansion of Adolescence, and Many To-Do Lists This is an odd period to write about, and only this year, after I made plans to write about first The Gore Book … Continue reading →

Posted in A Writing Biography, Drawing, Early Writing, Jack Commer, Martian Marauders, Novels, Science Fiction, Stories, Trip to Mars, Writing, Writing Process | Tagged A Writing Biography | 4 Replies

A Writing Biography, Part II: The Blue Notebook

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on September 28, 2014 by Michael D. SmithJuly 12, 2020

A previous post, The First Childhood Appearance of Jack Commer, covered the origin of my space hero Jack in the fall of 1962 and my elation at writing the story “Voyage to Venus” for a fifth grade spelling assignment. That … Continue reading →

Posted in A Writing Biography, Drawing, Early Writing, Jack Commer, Science Fiction, Stories, Trip to Mars, Writing, Writing Process | 4 Replies

A Writing Biography, Part I: First Efforts in The Gore Book

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on September 24, 2014 by Michael D. SmithNovember 5, 2014

I wrote my first stories in July 1960 in Fair Haven, New Jersey, around the time of my second operation for a head injury in a car accident earlier that year. I was seven years old. My friend Sabin Russell and … Continue reading →

Posted in A Writing Biography, Early Writing, Stories, Writing, Writing Process | 8 Replies

Trip to Mars, the Picture Book, or, How the Ship Became a Fantastical Theater Stage

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on March 28, 2014 by Michael D. SmithJuly 12, 2020

My first “novel,” Trip to Mars, was fifty-five penciled pages in a small yellow notebook, starring Jack Commer and outlining the horrors of a 2033 World War IV and the evacuation of Earth’s surviving population to Mars.  Was the sixth … Continue reading →

Posted in Art Process, Drawing, Early Writing, Jack Commer, Martian Marauders, Nonprofit Chronowar, Novels, Publishing, Science Fiction, Self-Publishing, Stories, Trip to Mars, Videos, Writing, Writing Process | 4 Replies

The First Childhood Appearance of Jack Commer, September 19, 1962

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on June 30, 2013 by Michael D. SmithSeptember 24, 2014

Although I began writing at age seven in July 1960, I stopped after the demise of The Gore Book in the spring or summer of 1961.  (More musing is forthcoming on the unholy Götterdämmerung of The Gore Book collaboration with … Continue reading →

Posted in Collapse and Delusion, Drawing, Early Writing, Jack Commer, Martian Marauders, Nonprofit Chronowar, Novels, Science Fiction, Stories, The Wounded Frontier, Trip to Mars, Writing, Writing Process | 7 Replies

Perpetual Starlit Night in Twisted Tails VII

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on April 7, 2013 by Michael D. SmithJuly 11, 2020

My science fiction story, “Perpetual Starlit Night” has been published in the anthology Twisted Tails VII: Irreverence, edited by J. Richard Jacobs and available from Double Dragon Publishing in eBook and paperback formats. The stories in this ongoing anthology all … Continue reading →

Posted in Double Dragon Publishing, Novels, Perpetual Starlit Night, Publishing, Science Fiction, Stories, Twisted Tails, Wiess Cracks, Writing, Writing Process | 2 Replies

If No Internet or Word Processing

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on March 9, 2013 by Michael D. SmithMarch 29, 2023

What would my or any current writer’s career have been like if there were no Internet or word processing, no eBooks or online publishers? Even if the invention of digital computing machines was inevitable, consider that there was no guarantee … Continue reading →

Posted in Editing, Essays, Marketing, Novels, Publishing, Query Letters, Reviews, Stories, Wiess Cracks, Writing, Writing Process | Leave a reply

Post navigation

<< 1 2 3 >>

Recent Posts

  • Introducing The Benign Incursion
  • Jack Commer, Supreme Commander – The Complete Series Omnibus
  • A Blog Post from February 13, 1976
  • A Writing Biography, Part VIII: The Exoskeleton, Archiving, Publishing, The Blog, and the Long Novels, 2011-2023
  • The Major 2024 Book Energies
  • A Writing Biography, Part VII: Organization, Lost Energies, New Novels, Publishing, 1994-2011
  • Zarreich – Publication at Last
  • The Sortmind Draft One Project
  • Dreams Used in Zarreich
  • Zarreich – The Draft Covers

Links

  • Amazon author page
  • Emerging Ink
  • Goodreads author page
  • Jack Commer Series from Sortmind Press
  • Kara D. Wilson
  • LibraryThing author page
  • Linda Sprague's Astro Tips
  • Pinterest
  • Smashwords author page
  • Sortmind the novel from Sortmind Press
  • The Soul Institute from Sortmind Press
  • Where to find my novels

Archives

Categories

  • A Writing Biography (8)
  • Acrylic (14)
  • AI (2)
  • Akard Drearstone (35)
  • Art Process (27)
  • Art Shows (5)
  • Astronomy (7)
  • Asylum and Mirage (15)
  • Balloon Ship Armageddon (19)
  • Black Comedy (18)
  • Book Covers (23)
  • Book Daily (4)
  • Caspra Coronae (9)
  • Character Images (98)
  • Collapse and Delusion (37)
  • Commer of the Rebellion (10)
  • CommWealth (22)
  • Double Dragon Publishing (62)
  • Drawing (41)
  • Dreams (16)
  • Dystopia (25)
  • Early Writing (35)
  • Editing (28)
  • Essays (7)
  • Excerpts (40)
  • Fairs and Festivals (5)
  • Fantasy (3)
  • Instructions (3)
  • Interviews (25)
  • Jack Commer (119)
  • Jump Grenade (9)
  • Literary (46)
  • Man Against the Horses (5)
  • Marketing (31)
  • Martian Marauders (64)
  • Nonprofit Chronowar (45)
  • Novels (228)
  • Painting (26)
  • Perpetual Starlit Night (6)
  • Plays (5)
  • Publishing (123)
  • Query Letters (14)
  • Reviews (21)
  • Satire (17)
  • Science Fiction (147)
  • Sculpture (4)
  • Self-Publishing (34)
  • Sortmind (32)
  • Sortmind Press (52)
  • Spaceships (10)
  • Stories (30)
  • Supreme Commander Laurie (13)
  • Tarot Cards (8)
  • The Benign Incursion (2)
  • The Damage Patrol Quartet (4)
  • The First Twenty Steps (26)
  • The SolGrid Rebellion (33)
  • The Soul Institute (31)
  • The University of Mars (14)
  • The Wounded Frontier (31)
  • Trip to Mars (19)
  • Trust (7)
  • Twisted Tails (4)
  • Videos (4)
  • Wiess Cracks (4)
  • Writing (246)
  • Writing Process (156)
  • Zarreich (13)

Recent Comments

  • Introducing The Benign Incursion – Sortmind Blog – Michael D. Smith on The Unknown Ending for The Martian Marauders
  • Jack Commer, Supreme Commander – The Complete Series Omnibus – Sortmind Blog – Michael D. Smith on Trip to Mars in Paperback
  • Jack Commer, Supreme Commander – The Complete Series Omnibus – Sortmind Blog – Michael D. Smith on The First Childhood Appearance of Jack Commer, September 19, 1962
  • Jack Commer, Supreme Commander – The Complete Series Omnibus – Sortmind Blog – Michael D. Smith on The Irregular Origin of The Martian Marauders
  • Jack Commer, Supreme Commander – The Complete Series Omnibus – Sortmind Blog – Michael D. Smith on The UR Jack Commer: A Look at the Childhood Beginnings of the Commer Saga

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org
May 2025
S M T W T F S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
« Apr    

Michael's books

Why Meditate: Working with Thoughts and Emotions
4 of 5 stars
Why Meditate: Working with Thoughts and Emotions
by Matthieu Ricard
WordPress Web Design for Dummies
4 of 5 stars
WordPress Web Design for Dummies
by Lisa Sabin-Wilson
Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End...
5 of 5 stars
Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End...
by Philip Plait
Using Joomla!
3 of 5 stars
Using Joomla!
by Ron Severdia
Serpent's Tooth
5 of 5 stars
Serpent's Tooth
by Toni V. Sweeney
On a cruise Melissa bonds with an older man, Travis, who turns out to be a famous celebrity in hiding from a once successful life. But by degrees we become aware that his enormous success came at the price of bonding with demonic forces...

goodreads.com
©2025 - Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith - Weaver Xtreme Theme
↑