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Category Archives: Trip to Mars

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A Writing Biography, Part VIII: The Exoskeleton, Archiving, Publishing, The Blog, and the Long Novels, 2011-2023

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on January 16, 2025 by Michael D. SmithJanuary 16, 2025

The period from March 2011, when The Martian Marauders was accepted for publication, to January 2023, retirement from the library, already finds expression in the blog, but I hope to pull together more insight here. It’s tempting to just narrate … Continue reading →

Posted in A Writing Biography, Akard Drearstone, Asylum and Mirage, Balloon Ship Armageddon, Book Covers, Book Daily, Collapse and Delusion, CommWealth, Double Dragon Publishing, Editing, Interviews, Jack Commer, Jump Grenade, Literary, Man Against the Horses, Marketing, Martian Marauders, Nonprofit Chronowar, Novels, Perpetual Starlit Night, Publishing, Science Fiction, Self-Publishing, Sortmind, Sortmind Press, Stories, Supreme Commander Laurie, The Damage Patrol Quartet, The First Twenty Steps, The SolGrid Rebellion, The Soul Institute, The Wounded Frontier, Trip to Mars, Twisted Tails, Writing, Writing Process | Leave a reply

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

The SolGrid Rebellion in Paperback

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on September 17, 2018 by Michael D. SmithJuly 11, 2020

The SolGrid Rebellion, Book Six of the Jack Commer, Supreme Commander series, is now out in paperback at Amazon. The novel expands a theme introduced in the previous books, the possibilities of telepathic understanding shared among an entire race, versus … Continue reading →

Posted in Akard Drearstone, Balloon Ship Armageddon, Collapse and Delusion, CommWealth, Double Dragon Publishing, Fairs and Festivals, Jack Commer, Marketing, Martian Marauders, Nonprofit Chronowar, Novels, Publishing, Science Fiction, Sortmind Press, The First Twenty Steps, The SolGrid Rebellion, The Soul Institute, The Wounded Frontier, Trip to Mars, Writing | Leave a reply

Draft and Final Covers: The Wounded Frontier

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on July 11, 2018 by Michael D. SmithJuly 22, 2023

Still working on the second draft of The Wounded Frontier in June 2013, I again wanted a fast image to plaster to the beginning of a draft EPUB version.  But this time I knew I could do better than the … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Covers, Character Images, Collapse and Delusion, Double Dragon Publishing, Drawing, Jack Commer, Nonprofit Chronowar, Novels, Publishing, Science Fiction, The First Twenty Steps, Trip to Mars, Writing | Leave a reply

Draft and Final Covers: Nonprofit Chronowar

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on July 6, 2018 by Michael D. SmithJuly 22, 2023

The first time it occurred to me to make an alternate Jack Commer series cover was a year before Nonprofit Chronowar’s 2013 publication, when I wanted to proof a late stage of the novel for errors. Colorized from one of … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Covers, Character Images, Double Dragon Publishing, Jack Commer, Nonprofit Chronowar, Novels, Publishing, Science Fiction, Spaceships, Trip to Mars, Writing | Leave a reply

The Alpha Centaurian Stars

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on March 19, 2018 by Michael D. SmithMarch 19, 2018

I’d gotten through several Jack Commer novels before I realized that simply referring to the “seventeen suns of the Alpha Centaurian Empire” wouldn’t hack it for future works if I had no idea which stars the Centaurians had conquered. Although … Continue reading →

Posted in Collapse and Delusion, Double Dragon Publishing, Early Writing, Jack Commer, Martian Marauders, Nonprofit Chronowar, Novels, Science Fiction, The SolGrid Rebellion, The Wounded Frontier, Trip to Mars, Writing | 1 Reply

Trip to Mars in Paperback

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on March 16, 2017 by Michael D. SmithApril 16, 2025

A few years ago I resurrected my first attempt at a novel, Trip to Mars, fifty-five penciled pages in a small yellow notebook with numerous crude illustrations. The 2,646-word story I produced as a sixth grader in the spring of … Continue reading →

Posted in Drawing, Early Writing, Jack Commer, Martian Marauders, Nonprofit Chronowar, Novels, Publishing, Science Fiction, Self-Publishing, Sortmind Press, Spaceships, Trip to Mars, Writing | 2 Replies

The Soul Institute is Published

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on December 16, 2015 by Michael D. SmithMay 16, 2020

“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 →

Posted in Character Images, Collapse and Delusion, CommWealth, Double Dragon Publishing, Dreams, Editing, Excerpts, Jack Commer, Literary, Novels, Publishing, Self-Publishing, Sortmind, Sortmind Press, The First Twenty Steps, The Soul Institute, The University of Mars, Trip to Mars, Writing, Writing Process | 1 Reply

At the North Texas Book Festival, April 11, 2015

Sortmind Blog - Michael D. Smith Posted on April 8, 2015 by Michael D. SmithJune 27, 2019

I will represent Double Dragon Publishing as well as my own fledgling invention, Sortmind Press, at the North Texas Book Festival in Denton, Texas, on Saturday, April 11. The festival takes place at the Patterson-Appleton Center for the Visual Arts, … Continue reading →

Posted in Double Dragon Publishing, Fairs and Festivals, Jack Commer, Martian Marauders, Nonprofit Chronowar, Novels, Publishing, Science Fiction, Self-Publishing, Sortmind, The First Twenty Steps, Trip to Mars, Writing | 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

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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

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Archives

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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

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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...

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