Friday, May 16, 2014

The Terra-Bravo Saga

The Terra-Bravo Saga involves a mixture of military adventure, science fiction, and alternate history. It currently consists of three books:

- Chaos on Terra-Prime
- Foothold on Terra-Bravo
- Crisis on Terra-Bravo

Chaos on Terra-Prime
Chaos on Terra-Prime is set about a decade ago on an alternate Earth (Terra). There we meet Major Kent Morgan (U.S. Air Force) and Captain Cord Morgan (U.S. Army) who are trapped in South Korea when their version of the United States of America devolves into another civil war. The Morgans and other U.S. military personnel must escape a North Korean invasion into South Korea in order to return home. But home is not what it used to be.

Foothold on Terra-Prime
Several years later, the absence of the U.S. on the world stage has allowed a growing Global Islamic Caliphate to overrun much of Terra...and the U.S. is next. Military scientist discover number of alternate worlds in parallel universes, one of which is hospitable. Terra-Bravo is a world just coming out of its last ice age. Humans never colonized the North American Continent and have only a limited presence and civilization in Europe, Asia, and Africa. A crash program is created to send teams to Terra-Bravo to build a colony for a later influx of colonists. Brigadier General Kent Morgan and his brother, Colonel Cord Morgan, lead the teams to Terra-Bravo and battle time, the elements, and the local fauna to prepare a home for the colonists.

Crisis on Terra-Prime
After being cut off from Terra-Prime, the colonists continue to expand their foothold on Terra-Bravo. As the colony grows, a hidden plot is discovered. Sleeper agents have been with the colonists since the start and try to destroy the colony from within. Once again, Brigadier General Kent Morgan and Colonel Cord Morgan and their friends must fight to survive.

Future Books
Kyle and I currently plan at least one more book in the Terra-Bravo Saga. I'll probably begin the next sequel within a month and let Kyle work on it in late Summer 2014. I have another series in mind that I would like to work on after that.

Background
I first came up with the idea for the Terra-Bravo Saga over 25 years ago. It was originally intended to be about an alternate Earth in our time period that is still inhabited by dinosaurs. In those days, I would tell my children bits and pieces and their input helped guide the early development of the storyline. I initially worked on it on a typewriter then began to use computer word processing when it became affordable.

Over the (many) years, I vacillated between making it a kids' story, a teen story, and an adult story (you know: blood, guts, death!). In recent years, the option of e-publishing made me move closer to actually getting it written AND published, I began to zero-in on setting it as an adult story. Then along came a little television series called Terra Nova complete with dinosaurs and alternate history.

Frustration is a mild word for the feelings I had over years worth of work being blocked. Fortunately, the series was short-lived (Sorry, Steven Spielberg!) and calmer heads (Thank you, Julie!) suggested some minor changes that could save the day.

In talking with Kyle, we came up with a game plan of working together on the first book and I began pulling together all of the bits and pieces I've written over the (Did I already say "many"?) years. I even rolled in some elements of a couple of other short stories I'd written over the years. Along with the writing process, Kyle and I researched e-publishing options. We initially settled on Kindle Direct Publishing and then expanded to Smashwords.com to take advantage of other e-book formats.

The idea quickly grew beyond a single book. So Kyle and I planned for at least one sequel and a prequel. We finished and e-published the first book and sequel together. Sadly, Kyle was busy when time came to write the prequel, so I went it alone on that one.

Bit by bit, we've picked up sales. I'm using a variety of digital marketing. I'm hoping to expand this advertising to science fiction magazines and other media in the future.

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Stay safe, my friends!

Jeffrey


© Jeffrey M. Fortney - 2014

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