Behind It All
Recently I was asked why I decided to write a book. In all honesty there are two reasons, both equally motivating. 1- When I was a kid my imagination ran on hyperdrive and I liked to write down stories that I conjured up. From a very early age I developed a great love for reading; one of the first books I ever ordered through the Scholastic Book program was Ray Bradbury’s “The Golden Apples of the Sun.” I hardly understood a word. But, the cover was really cool and the title story I found enjoyable! During the early 1970’s NASA’s Skylab was a big deal and the idea of rocket ships, space travel, and alien worlds further fired my imagination. My friends and I frequently were found writing and illustrating books we made and learning about science and other interesting pursuits. I drew many sketches of spaceships and aliens—complete with all the appropriate sound effects… which caused my ejection from class on more than one occasion—and writing my own science fiction stories. Later in grade school I was always forced… no, that’s too strong a word… strongly encouraged to write papers in stuff I wasn’t excited about.
After a while I grew to hate writing. Junior High and High School really did me in. In high school I had an English teacher that was one of the most disgusting person’s I had ever met. He even regularly bragged in front of his class about the “steamy” movies he was planning to watch that night. Ugh! Today this clown would have been fired and locked up. Boy, times have changed! But I digress. The really disappointing thing about English in school is that I was never really taught English.
It wasn’t until I was in college later in life—because I really wanted to be there and was footing the bill myself—I found enjoyment in writing… as long as I could be creative and write what I wanted.
2- After trying to read an award winning nationally acclaimed SF novel and throwing it down in disgust I thought, I can write more interesting stories than this crap! I could also eliminate offensive foul language and gratuitous sex, not to mention all the political correctness and environmental messages that are such staples of most science fiction these days. Plus, most SF stories I had read were ultimately depressing. Where were the heros? Where were the great battles of good and evil? So, rather than complain that there was nothing good to read I started to write. I am now within a month of publishing my last book in my epic SF series. If you like dastardly villains, true heros, romance, epic scenes and worlds, nail-biting action, and engaging characters this is the best SF story you’ll ever read— at least until I write another book!