Category: science fiction

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Five Times Art Imitated Life

Some readers mistake a fictional character’s opinion for that of the author. Were that true, I’d be in prison by now. My plots are full of characters living on the edge of society…okay, that much is me. Let’s start again: Not every thought a character espouses reflects my values. However, some books strike closer to home than others.

My mission is to entertain. I’m not trying to predict the future. I do extrapolate plenty, and in the last few years, reflecting reality has become more unsettling. Inevitably, my political views slip in where appropriate. No apologies or regrets on that front.

“I don’t try to predict the future. All I want to do is prevent it.”

~ Ray Bradbury

Here are five times my work reflected reality closer than I expected:

In Our Alien Hours, the alien threat rises from ocean. Seen the news lately? Nobody seems to care, but I’m prescient!

The Night Man cover

In The Night Man, the dad is a drug smuggler, but he’s just trying to get cheap Canadian drugs to Americans who are in need. The protagonist is a wounded veteran with few choices after he is medically discharged.

The genesis of Endemic is a virus that kills billions. Many of the survivors suffer cognitive impairment. Long-COVID (and repeated infection) gives some people brain fog, and since the disease is now endemic, we will continue to see such ill-effects to brain health.

In This Plague of Days, paramedical professionals were recruited to make do and join the fight against a pandemic. Long ago, I sat in a meeting about pandemic preparedness. This was part of the plan. I informed those in charge that this was a terrible idea and gave multiple reasons why. I was fired for it. In This Plague of Days, a non-medical person works in a hospital. She and her baby are infected because of that ill-conceived strategy.

Citizen Second Class is unfolding now. The uncaring elite are building bunkers and fortifying their islands, while the lower classes worry about providing for their families.

Then, of course, there’s my upcoming thriller, Vengeance Is Hers.

Given all that’s happening in the news and the many failures of the justice system, I predict there will be an appetite for vigilante justice thrillers.

Coming in 2025. Buckle up!

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Guess which apocalypse will kill you

There is an apocalypse coming no one talks about. Try to guess which end of the world scenario I’m not writing about before you get to the end of this post. My books will help you with the process of elimination.

  • Endemic (coming soon) is a nerdy and neurotic person combatting sociopaths while trying to survive a viral apocalypse.
  • Citizen Second Class is about poverty and starvation amid a climate catastrophe and greed.
  • AFTER Life is about artificial intelligence weaponizing medical technology to take over the world.
  • This Plague of Days is a zombie apocalypse (and other species evolving to take over the world).
  • The Night Man is about PTSD, societal failure, family drama, war, poverty, and regret.
  • Wallflower is a time travel novel about second chances after a lot of bad decisions.
  • The Dimension War Series is a coming-of-age story amid a war story.
  • Amid Mortal Words is about the loss of control and taking chances on a better future.
  • Brooklyn in the Mean Time is about vengeance, absolution, and redemption.
  • Robot Planet is about technological revolution and failure versus the human spirit.
  • The Hit Man Series is about violence, vengeance, and escape amid a broken America.
  • All Empires Fall is an anthology of five end-of-the-world stories and the common denominator is dealing with other people while everything falls apart.

Have you guessed the missing apocalypse yet?

Climate wars are a big deal, but I touched on that in Citizen Second Class. We could talk about the Misinformation War or new civil war scenarios, but Endemic has that covered. I dealt with extinction by killer asteroid in All Empires Fall. If you guessed the nuclear threat, Amid Mortal Words has that, too. You might have guessed the looming threat of antibiotic resistance. But, no, I’m thinking of something utterly devastating to the future of humanity. It’s close and almost no one ever talks about even beginning to deal with this extinction-level event.

The apocalypse that haunts me is this: In 60 years, Earth will have insufficient viable topsoil to grow 95% of all crops.

Read that last sentence again and ponder its significance. My kids will be alive for this. Coffee, bananas, and almonds will disappear first. Then everything else.

Sixty years and we aren’t dealing with the threat. There are no massive contingency plans. Unless helpful aliens are waiting to swoop in, no one is coming to rescue us. We’ll probably run out of soil before we run out of usable water, but it feels like it’s all a race to the end, doesn’t it?

So…call me Mr. Sunshine and read my books now, while you still can.

COMING THIS MONTH!

What happens when a pandemic never ends? Find out in Endemic.

Neurotic and nerdy, former book editor Ovid Fairweather is trapped in New York as everything falls apart.

All her life, she’s been a nail. To survive the viral apocalypse, she’ll have to become a hammer.

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Were old SF movies better?

Since getting Roku, I’m getting the opportunity to see some old sci-fi movies. Most are pretty bad but one stands out as so good, firing on all cylinders, that I encourage you to check it out. It is The Day the Earth Caught Fire. What’s so striking about this film is how many parallels there are to our response to disasters generally and climate change in particular. As a writer of apocalyptic epics, I’m addicted to sci-fi about the end of the world. This is not one to miss.

The movie starts with a slow burn (no pun intended) in which a failed journalist walks through London. The city is ravaged by drought. The dry ground is cracked and the sun beats down on the city in a way we have never seen. Then we fade back 19 days to find out how things went so bad so quickly.

Released in 1961, this is SF with a conscience. The nuclear arms race is front of mind. Eventually, it comes out that simultaneous testing of atomic bombs has screwed up the planet. The Earth tilts eleven degrees and the equator has moved. Earthquakes, typhoons, fires and meteorological chaos ensues. First comes denial and things seem fairly okay for a while as the population is assured that all they have to do is cope and wait out the disaster. The initial mild reaction to things falling apart reminds me of On the Beach (1959). As things get worse, water shortages spread. The bloom of black markets and typhus follows. Then comes the civil unrest.

It’s a fascinating study in societal decay as seen through the eyes of journalists trying to report on the end of the world. To avoid panic, the world’s governments attempt to downplay the destruction of civilization as long as they can. Watching this movie I was disturbed by several of the bits of propaganda that felt eerily familiar in contemporary times. Though the science is a bit off and it feels a bit dated here and there, much of the dialogue is snappy. That helps the story move along quite well. I have a theory that old movies have better dialogue because they can’t rely on CGI as much as today’s movies do. Scripts were longer and the exchange of words was generally sharper then. Many of today’s movies seem to be made for an Instagram audience. (There’s only one Aaron Sorkin. People make fun of Sorkin’s affection for the “walk and talk” but the dialogue always sizzles with urgency.)

Finally, I can’t write about this movie without mentioning the accomplished English actress Janet Munro. She is a stunner who steals every scene she’s in. As the low-level whistleblower, it’s easy to imagine this is how the awful truth seeps out. I have an odd hobby when I watch old movies. I always look up the actors to see how they died. Janet Munro passed away at the age of only 38 of heart failure. I don’t mean to be morbid but to see how people so fit and fabulous knock off is a grim memento mori so, hey, carpe diem. Sad and true.

Check The Day the Earth Caught Fire* if you get the chance. Do not confuse it with The Day the Sky Exploded (1958) because WOW! That sucked. Also, if you haven’t already seen The Day the Earth Stood Still, stop reading this and go check it out immediately. (I mean the genre’s classic from 1951, not the 2008 remake with Keanu Reeves.) Add Logan’s Run (1976) and Silent Running (1972) while you’re at it.

I love old sci-fi. The special effects might seem quaint but there were many fun (and sometimes great) science fiction films that were made before CGI could do all the images justice.

*There sure were a lot of The Day the Blah Blah Did Something movies, weren’t there?

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All Empires Fall: New Cover Reveal

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JNSRJT4/

Note: This anthology will be fan-priced this Sunday, January 20. (Hint: that means free.)

The new cover reflects my favorite story of the collection: a planet-killing meteor striking the Earth. This new design take reminds me of a bunch of SF covers so -4 for originality, +8 for SF reader appeal. (Numbers are approximate.)

I liked the old cover very much but it wasn’t as clear as it could be as a thumbnail image. Also, it reflected multiple disasters befalling Earth instead of one big one. This new one should have more punch and attract SF readers.

The story behind the stories

I’ve written several big apocalyptic epics with long story arcs. Here’s the weirdo rundown:

This Plague of Days is a paranormal on the spectrum zombie/vampire/good versus evil apocalypse.

AFTER Life is the nanotech-zombie apocalypse/invasion of America from Canada.

Robot Planet is the humans versus the Singularity war.

The Dimension War is a New Adult alien invasion/ghost fantasy series written with Holly Papandreas.

For a while there, I swore off writing shorter fiction. Then my friend Armand Rosamilia asked for a short story as part of a promotion for the Project Entertainment Network. When Armand said short, he meant just 750 words. I figured I could accomplish that, no problem. It didn’t quite work out that way. I knocked out a story that was much longer than what Armand was looking for. Then I wrote another, and another, and…suddenly I had a little anthology.

It occured to me then that I’d been a little too precious about writing shorter fiction. I remembered that I loved a format where anybody could have a quick read they could enjoy on a long commute or over their lunch hour. All Empires Fall hits on several apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic scenarios and I had a really good time writing it.


~ RCC