I've been suffering from a bad case of Writer's Block working on these...the first story in particular. Most of the stories for this collection have been ideas I've tinkered with over the years and kept putting aside. By making them short stories and combining them into a collection, I'd hoped to move forward with them.
Nope! I just ain't feeling it!
It reminds me of my meeting with G. Harry Stine. He asked me which of his stories was my least favorite and I said "The Abode of Life", a Star Trek novel he wrote under his Lee Correy pseudonym. It was an okay story, but not great Lee Correy or great Star Trek...to which he readily agreed. Then he told me the story...of that story.
Back in the late 1950s, he'd come up with a story idea that he just couldn't get to work. He'd work on it for a time, then toss it up on the shelf for a few months before trying again. This went on for years! Then Bantam Books and Paramount offered him "an obscene amount of money" (his words) to write a Star Trek novel. So he signed the contract and sat down to write...nada! What to do? What to do? He leaned back in his chair and saw that old story up on the shelf. He pulled it down, "plugged in Kirk, Spock, Uhura, and the Enterprise" and danged if it didn't work! (Turned out to be his best seller AND Star Trek's best seller for a while!)
So...what to do?
For now, the older story ideas are "on the shelf" until later. I WILL work on one of the new ideas however...the murder mystery in space that Jimmie Badgett asked me to write. It's an intriguing challenge and I want to get it done for Jimmie. I've even come up with some interesting ideas in the last few days I want to try in it. More to follow!
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November roared in like a lion with book sales then crept out like a scaredy cat. So, starting tomorrow night, I'm going to do extensive online advertising leading up to Christmas. E-books can be a wonderful Christmas gift and the major e-bookstores provide a means to gift e-books to others.
So brace yourselves for an onslaught of Facebook and e-mail ads over the new few weeks for the Terra-Bravo Saga and the Arizona State Guard e-novels. Each of you has family and friends who are science fiction/adventure/action fans and now is the time to get them something new and exciting to read!
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As we head into the Holiday Season, I hope your Thanksgiving was filling and fun, your Christmas merry and bright, and your New Years safe and exciting!
Jeffrey
© Jeffrey M. Fortney - 2014
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