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 →
To keep Jack Commer’s kidnapped son sane aboard Alpha Centaurian flagship N8J’rallifh-hhu42jdnh, Captain Clopt of the Imperial Guard sent time-traveling agents to Sol to obtain first a robot companion, then a puppy, for five-year-old Jonathan James Commer. The mission to … Continue reading →
If anyone had paid attention to Jack Commer’s son before this day, it was to jeer that the kid had emerged non compos mentis from his stunt in Alpha Centauri, that he was an egomaniacal fool and that it served … Continue reading →
I’ve always thought of the characters in CommWealth as an ensemble cast in a movie, where accomplished actors divide the plot between them and no one actor has the lead role. I didn’t intend this approach from the beginning, but … Continue reading →
This summer’s Draft 7 of Sortmind completely changed the old library-centric plot of the original novel, and it was only after a small amount of grief that I finally knew I had to let go of the following mini-chapter from … Continue reading →
Fantasy author F. T. McKinstry offers a 2016 second edition of The Hunter’s Rede, now available from Amazon. The Hunters’ Rede, Book One of The Chronicles of Ealiron, offers an absorbing look into the psyche of a hired assassin with … Continue reading →
I’m not sure this is the protagonist, Harry Allen, but I drew him or someone today and there he possibly is. The novella chronicling his first day out of prison, The First Twenty Steps, is now available in paperback from … Continue reading →
Recently an episode of relentless plowing through a novel I didn’t really want to read sparked a happy realization. I’m always open to abandoning a book I’m not enjoying–after all, there are millions of great books out there, so why … Continue reading →
Yellow light flooded the cell. Before them stood an obese man in gray uniform, his nametag reading McBoerland–Service Level 3. He also had a round green pin: Serving His Majesty the Emperor With a Trouble-Free Smile! But McBoerland’s expression was … Continue reading →
1. The Hospital I’m not sure which copy of The Tower Treasure I read in the hospital in late February or early March 1960. The lower one pictured is the 1927 edition, the middle the 1959 revised book, and the … Continue reading →
