Monthly Archives: November 2015

November 12, 2015 · 5:45 pm

Depicting historical figures in alt-history or historical fantasy

I’m proud to call Scott Reintgen a fan of my work, prouder still to have talked to his high school English class about writing, and even prouder to call him an authorial colleague now that his YA trilogy has found a home. Scott is good people.

So when he asks me a question, I do my best to answer. Over on Twitter this morning, Scott asked me:

@mikemartinez72 Did you have any rules for depicting historical figures in alternative universes? About to dabble and I'm double-checking.

— Scott Reintgen (@Scott_Thought) November 12, 2015

I gave some thoughts off the top of my head on Twitter (while riding into work on the beautiful New Jersey Turnpike), but I thought the topic was a good one, and worthy of more than 140-character answers. So here we go.

First off, I’m not a fan of rules, per se, when it comes to writing. If you can make it work, do it, with the caveat that any rule-breaking you do is hard, and you’ll fail many times before you find your way. But that said, when I wrote the Daedalus trilogy and MJ-12: Inception, I certainly had some guardrails keeping me on a certain path when it came to historical figures.

These worked for me, maybe they’ll work for you. Maybe they won’t. It’s all good. Continue reading →

MJ-12: Inception slated for Sept. 2016…in hardcover!

Some MAJESTIC-12 news to pass along. Night Shade Books has tentatively slated MJ-12: Inception, the first volume in my Cold War spy-fi series, for a September 2016 release. And what’s more — it’s coming out in hardcover!

I’ll admit to a little trepidation with regards to a hardcover launch, because they’re generally more expensive — and thus the ebooks will be a few bucks more, too. But the fine, upstanding sales folks at Night Shade believe hardcover will give the book the best shot to succeed, and they’re the experts.

So I’m just gonna be sure this sucker is very much worth your money. And I’ll also admit, I’m kind of stoked to see a book of mine in hardcover, with a dust jacket and everything. It’s all so very literary.

I’m putting the “tentative” next to the September 2016 release date because these things tend to be in flux at this stage. I can tell you with certainty that MJ-12: Inception will be Night Shade’s lead title for Fall 2016, though, and that’s pretty exciting. Having it as the lead title, and in hardcover, is a big deal for them, and me.

Right now, MJ-12: Inception is in the hands of my awesome editor Cory Allyn, who’s hunkering down with it in his Maine editing bunker as we speak. I’ve asked him to pull no punches — we have the time to make this book rock, and he’s a great editor who I know will make it better. (Pro tip: That’s what editors do. Listen to them.)

I feel like there’s a point of clarification that needs to be made about the series. The real-life MAJESTIC-12 conspiracy theory deals with the alleged government cover-up of extraterrestrial activity on Earth, starting with the Roswell incident in 1947. From what you’ve seen thus far, especially here, there’s very little mention of aliens or Roswell. This is not a mistake. Doing a straight-up “MAJESTIC-12 is aliens” take would be boring. So if you’re looking for the Greys and flying saucers, they won’t be there.

But what will be there is pretty cool, if I may be immodest for a moment. I’m suborning the MAJESTIC-12 mythos, and many of the historical figures involved, for my own ends. I promise, we’re gonna make it a fun ride.

Finally, you may have noticed that MJ-12.net no longer directs back to this site, but to a different one altogether. For now, what you’re seeing there is a placeholder. Come spring, we’ll be putting some teasers and samplers up there to whet your appetites.

The Variants are coming. And the Cold War will never be the same.

#SFWApro

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Filed under Books, Publishing

Tagged as MAJESTIC-12, MJ-12: Inception

November 10, 2015 · 5:47 pm

Some upcoming charity stuff I hope you’ll check out

This holiday season, think of the geeks in your life and donate!

There’s a lot of good things that happen when you become an author — you get to see your book in bookstores, you get lovely emails from fans, and of course there’s the advance and royalty checks. For me, the opportunity to leverage this whole author gig for charity ranks right up there, and I have a couple things coming up that I hope you’ll consider.

First off, I’ll be doing critiques as part of the Worldbuilders auctions, which should be coming up later this week or early next. This is my third year running with Worldbuilders, Patrick Rothfuss’ non-profit organization that benefits Heifer International. The deal with the critiques is that we put them up on eBay, you bid, and I read the auction winner’s writing and offer up ideas, suggestions and edits. This year, I’m doing two critiques, so if you miss the one, you could still have a shot at the other.

Then there’s Geeky Giving, a very cool effort to raise money for the Barrow Neurological Institute in Arizona so the researchers there can continue the fight against Parkinson’s, brain tumors, Alzheimer’s, ALS and traumatic brain injuries. Starting early next year, Geeky Giving is offering up $5 bundles of original short fiction each month for six months, and then putting out an anthology on top of that. I’m contributing an original short story to the effort, alongside such awesome scribes as Karina Cooper, Mary Robinette Kowal and Cat Rambo, among others.

My original story is untitled at the moment, but it’s well underway and is probably the hardest “hard science fiction” I’ve ever written. In the spirit of the Barrow folks, it’s focused on the brain, no less. And flying. There may be nanotech. I’m actually really excited about it, because it’s turning out to be one of the better things I’ve written. I really hope you’ll consider donating to read it. I mean, you’ve spent just as much on a latte. I’m much more entertaining than a latte. Right? RIGHT?

Oh, and in both cases, I’m hoping to offer up signed copies of the Daedalus trilogy for donors or bidders if the books get shipped out to me in time. In the case of Geeky Giving, there may very well be an ARC of MJ-12: Inception involved if schedules align. We’ll see.

There’ll be more details over the next several days/weeks/months, but I wanted to throw this out there now because the holidays are coming and money’s gonna get tight fast. (Speaking of, the Worldbuilders’ auctions invariably feature awesome geeky things you could give to your geeky loved ones this season. Just saying.) So if you can spare some of that holiday cash for the auctions and stories and whatnot, you’ll be helping a whole lot of people who need it, and that’s the kind of karma everyone could use.

Thanks, y’all.

#SFWApro

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Filed under Charity

Tagged as Geeky Giving, Worldbuilders

November 5, 2015 · 5:45 pm

NFL GeekPicks: Week 9

I have a theory about Peyton Manning.

I think for the past six weeks, he was trapped in an alternate dimension or an oubliette of some kind, and a body decoy/Mirror Universe version/Zygon was playing in his stead. Then, just before the Packers game, Manning somehow escaped, killed his body double, took the field and put Green Bay in it’s place.

To wit: 21 of 29 passing for 340 yards (39 yards above his average in prior games) with an average of 11.7 yards per completion — a full 4.7 yards better than he’d been doing. No TDs and one pick, but I assume that’s rust from not having thrown for six weeks while his impostor was playing.

I watched a good chunk of this game, and it was noticeable just how much more zing he put on the ball. He managed the game well, of course, and relied on his running backs to good effect. His passes were on target. He was just…good again. Combine that with a ferocious Denver defense, and I’m a lot more confident about the Broncos in the playoffs.

So the rest of you NFL quarterbacks…watch out for Zygons.

On with the picks. (Winners in italics.) Continue reading →

Fourteen things successful people could not possibly fit in before breakfast

I’m not sure why the World Economic Forum — a gathering of the allegedly brightest minds in academia, politics and business — would even bother to create a seemingly arbitrary and nonsensical listicle like “14 Things Successful People Do Before Breakfast.” With all the problems income inequality, a lack of business ethics and impending environmental collapse could bring to the world, I really could not care less what Successful People are doing before breakfast, unless it directly involves doing something about those aforementioned issues.

But it doesn’t. It’s just…God, it’s not even funny. It’s just a list of boring platitudes. Even The New York Times’ Modern Man thing at least tried to be amusing.

Let’s make it better! The original list is in bold, and the rest is my attempt at humor. Continue reading →