My "Gift" to You

My gift, to you, my readers, (All, what? Five of you?), is The Gift, a short story I did several years ago before becoming the self-publishing mogul that I am today. Small children encountering extraterrestrials? Not the E.T. of our childhood.

The Gift

The children at play in the schoolyard that early Friday morning looked up in awe as the saucer descended from out of the cool azure sky. All activity ceased as the ship drew nearer and the children stared in wide-eyed wonder realizing that it was about to set down on the athletic field adjacent to their building.

The teachers on recess duty that day tried to stem the flow of curious children from racing to meet the ship as it settled to the ground so feather light it barely disturbed the dust. Like lemmings, the children rushed through the gap in the cyclone fencing, sometimes three or more wide, jamming the exit until the push of students from behind popped them through like a cork from a bottle.

They gathered all around the gleaming silver disc, not knowing what to expect. Little eyes gazing in quiet wonder at this object from the stars, wondering and waiting for something to happen.

They did not have long to wait.

A sudden pop and hiss preceded the ship splitting in half like a shelled walnut. The abrupt sound and action caused a number of children to jump. The majority of them took a cautious step back.

By the time the two aliens emerged, a lone child, a little girl, remained where she stood. All others had shied back several yards. With a curious lilt of her head, she watched the new arrivals all but unfold themselves from their craft until they stood nearly three times her height, all legs and arms, with curiously small heads and large, dark eyes.

The girl watched, not at all afraid, nor aware of the fact that all her friends, schoolmates and teachers had by now retreated to the imagined safety on the opposite side of the cyclone fence. She adjusted her glasses and took a step forward.

The aliens finished their unfolding and looked down at the lone girl, blinking their large, dark eyes inquisitively at her as she did the same. The first alien smiled at her, obviously charmed by her lack of fear. Her friends continued to remain behind the fence.

“I bring you greetings, little human. I am Zakkdahr.” It gestured to its companion, who also smiled and raised a spindly hand in recognition. “This is Grot. We come to you as visitors from the Zagnut galaxy. We have been instructed by our most esteemed Imperious Leader to come to you and present a gift to the first human we meet.”

At these words, the one called Grot produced a box of multi-colored crystal that seemed to radiate with some luminous energy from within. The young girl’s eyes grew wide at the sight of it.

Taking the box from Grot, Zakkdahr continued. “You are a most fortunate race to receive a gift like this. This gift will put an end to all your world’s troubles. Please accept it as a token of friendship from our people.”

He extended the box to the little girl who hesitated, but upon seeing the disarming smile on Zakkdahr’s face, took a tentative step forward and took it from him. She seemed momentarily surprised by the lack of weight for its size, nearly dropping it before compensating.

Zakkdahr smiled again. “I am sorry to say that we must leave you now. We have other worlds to visit upon which we wish to honor with our gifts. Please, use it wisely.”

Grot was already folding himself back into the ship as Zakkdahr turned and began walking back to the craft. Just before entering, he paused and looked back. “One thing of note.” He called back to the little girl, who was already being crowded by schoolmates now that they were leaving. All stopped and listened intently. “Please do not activate the gift before we are out of your planet’s atmosphere, as its power has a tendency to interfere with our drive systems. Once we are out of sight, feel free to activate it.”

He began that curious folding motion of his body again, and was soon in his seat next to Grot. Both waved to the crowd as it drew closer. “And now, farewell.”

The ship sealed itself again, seams melding together to form a single, flawless surface. With the barest whisper of sound, the craft lifted from the schoolyard, pivoting at an angle perpendicular to the ground once it was above the treetops, and thrust itself into the sky, disappearing from sight within seconds.

By the time the ship had vanished, the entire population of the schoolyard had gathered around the little girl with the box. As her friends egged her on, she lifted the lid, multicolored lights emanating from it like the rainbow of the Lord’s promise. Inside was a single button.

The girl looked from the button to the crowd around her, and back to the button. Smiling, she pressed it.

Zakkdahr and Grot howled with glee as they watched Earth disintegrate from a safe distance. Their ship rocked gently, like a boat bobbing on the sea, as the last of the shockwave reached them.

“Humans,” Zakkdahr crowed, wiping moist remains of tears of laughter from his eyes. “They blow up so easily!”

Beside him, Grot was a rolling mass of uncontrolled giggling, which only caused Zakkdahr to laugh more. Then the comm system sounded.

Both of them stopped laughing, sharing worried glances, holding their breath.

When the comm sounded again, Zakkdahr reached a trembling hand forward and switched on the receiver. A hologram appeared in the air before them, a being like themselves, but older. “ZAKKDAHR!!! Have you been blowing up planets again?”

Zakkdahr struggled to find words, but the older alien cut him off. “How many times have I told you not to go around blowing up lesser civilizations just because you think it’s funny?”

“But how did you…”

“It wasn’t hard to figure out it was you. I followed the debris trail. Plus, your little prank on Hargus Minor failed. The residents there pointed the two of you out.”

“But…Father…”

The elder waved his words away. “We will speak of this more when you get home. And if you think I’m upset, just wait until your mother finds out.” He turned his gaze to Grot. “As for you, Grot Maagus, I wouldn’t be surprised if your father removes your entire spleen this time, and don’t think I won’t tell him!”

In the seat next to Zakkdahr, Grot fainted dead away.

***

This was one of those silly little stories that just seem to pop up out of nowhere. Staring at the skyline through the window of my local library’s reading room on a bright, sunny January day, I suddenly wondered what effect the arrival of a UFO would have on our small city. Then I wondered who would be their first point of contact. I liked the idea of a young girl, old enough to be wary, but still young enough as to not be threatening to the new visitors, and in my mind, my daughter MacKenzie, then in fourth grade, fit the bill nicely. It is she that I pictured when writing this tale, and we can firmly lay blame for the destruction of Earth at her feet.

My wife said she was “appalled” upon reading this. I knew then that I had gotten this one right.

The Gift, along with several other of my short stories, can now be found in Other Worlds: A Collection of Science Fiction and Fantasy, available now in e-book, and soon paperback and audio(?) from Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00L0R7D1G

 #scifiwriter #scifiblog #amwritingscifi #aliens #ufo #firstcontact #otherworlds #thestarhawkchronicles

Resurrection of Evil: The Star Wars Novel You Will Never Read

Knowing my love and adoration for a certain space saga set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, a lot of people ask me why I simply don't write a Star Wars novel of my own? 

Firstly, one cannot simply write a Star Wars novel (Or any other franchise for that matter. Star Trek, Supernatural, etc) and just offer it up to publishers for consideration,  Lucasfilm decides on the type of story they want and then select an author (or authors) that they want to do the writing.

In addition, in talking to X-Wing Rogue Squadron author Michael Stackpole, I learned that even though you are the author, you have little to no control as to the future fate of your novel. Bestseller though it may be, if the greater powers-that-be decide it's time to pull your book from shelves (or, in certain cases are no longer canon, but Legends) the author has little to say about it. Having a best-selling Star Wars novel is not a guarantee of fame and fortune. Granted, just being known as a best-selling Star Wars author certainly doesn't hurt your prospects of lucrative contracts with big publishers for some of your other works.

I was blissfully unaware of all this at the time (To be honest, I was unaware of it until meeting Mike Stackpole at the Milwaukee Comic-con this past summer) but I digress.

So with all this in mind, let's set the WABAC machine and travel back to a simpler time. Before the internet. Before toxic fanbases. Before midichlorians and Jar Jar Binks.

The time is early 1990. Star Wars is nowhere to be found. Aside from West End Games' role-playing game and Disney's Star Tours attraction, there was nothing to sate our hunger. No movies. No comic books. No novels. Nada! Fanboys like myself are hurting big time. Much as we love Episodes IV, V, and VI, we want more. George Lucas had promised more movies, otherwise why would he have numbered them the way he had? Something needed to be done. Soon!

Then, one day it hit me. I love to write. I love Star Wars. Why not write the next chapter in the saga myself? I could both kickstart my career as a writer into hyperdrive and revive the franchise, earning the praise and adulation of millions of fans worldwide.

I set about my task with a fervor second only to religious zealotry. I re-watched the films, read the novelizations, the spin-off novels, all 107 issues of the Marvel Comics series. I even bought a copy of The Star Wars Holiday Special at a convention. As I researched, my tale began to take shape. I invented characters or incorporated some from the (at that time) Expanded Universe. I worked out scenes and action sequences, even going so far as to storyboard some as though I were planning this as a cinematic feature. This was going to be EPIC! With all the elements in place, I began writing the first chapter.

Jump to spring 1990. I find this on the shelf of a bookstore I frequent:

Curses! Foiled again! Not only did Timothy Zahn beat me to the punch, but he did it brilliantly, setting the bar so high that only a few of the many novels to follow would even come remotely close.

Resurrection of Evil not only failed to get near that bar, it missed it entirely. I wasn't even in the same solar system. In a deep funk, I decided it was best not to try playing in the big kids' yard. I went on to other things.

But now, here for the first time, is the plot for my vision of Episode VII. I no longer have any of the notes that I made, so this is all coming from memory.

Episode VII begins with it's own title crawl, the first line of which borrowed from the blurb on the back of the Return of the Jedi video cassette, stating that The Galactic Empire has been brought to its knees. As with the original trilogy, and Zahn's novels, we start with a Star Destroyer on the run from a Rebel hunter-killer task force that stumbles across an abandoned space station, on which a lost apprentice of Darth Vader's lurks. Commandeering the Star Destroyer, the apprentice sets out to avenge his master's death.

On Endor, Luke is continuing to hone his mastery of the Force. He receives a vision of Obi Wan that warns him that a new dark force is rising. He learns that his friend Halla, keeper of the Kaiburr (Khyber? Kyber?) Crystal, which enhances one's mastery of the Force, has gone missing. (Both Halla and the Khyber crystal first appeared in Alan Dean Foster's novel Splinter of the Mind's Eye.)

At the same time, Han and Leia are sent on a mission somewhere (Sorry for the vagueness. Remember, working from memory.) to bring in an operative from the rebel base there. They find the base under attack by a group of Imperial AT-ST walkers, remotely controlled by a master AT-AT. Using a commandeered landspeeder and Leia's newly acquired lightsaber, they manage to thwart the attack by cutting the lead walker's front legs off, effectively killing the drone AT-ST's in the process.

Boba Fett returns as well, having escaped from the Sarlacc and journeying on foot across the Tatooine wastes, fighting a band of Tusken Raiders along the way, to Jabba's palace, where his ship is docked. He then sets off on a vengeance quest for our heroes.

Numerous incidents occur within the middle of the text, none of which, I confess, really stand out in my memory.

The story ends with a climax on two fronts. Han, Chewie and Leia in the Falcon square off against Fett’s Slave I. Fett is kicking the snot out of the Falcon and taunting Han for his decision to run. Enraged, Han turns the Falcon around and charges Fett, both ships firing wildly as they play a space-based game of chicken. Wanna guess who wins?

As for Luke, he has tracked Halla back to Mimban (Again from Splinter of the Minds Eye, and not the one that appears in the early battle scene in Solo), where the Kaiburr Crystal was first discovered. She had been trying to return the crystal back to where it belongs, dying in the process at the hands of Vader's apprentice. Luke and the apprentice duel, during the course of which the crystal is smashed upon the ground. A huge vortex erupts from the shards, destroying the apprentice. Luke barely gets clear in his X-wing as the vortex grows larger, eventually reaching to space and destroying the orbiting Star Destroyer as well.

Heroes reunite, all is well, and as John Williams' music swells in our heads, we fade to end credits.

Not exactly as epic-sounding now as it was in my head some twenty-plus years ago, but there are still a lot of elements in it that I still like, and through the wonder of recycling, will be reused in future tales.

And who knows? Maybe now that this is out there for the general public to read, maybe I'll get a call from Disney/Lucasfilm about writing and directing a trilogy of my own?

Yeah. Not gonna lie awake at night waiting for that call.

#starwars #heirtotheempire #scifiwriter #scifiblog #lucasfilm #disney #georgelucas

Can't We All Just Get Along?

I must have been living under a rock for the past thirty or so years. This can be the only explanation. How else could I have missed out on such a heated debate amongst fanboys (and girls) over which is superior - Star Wars or Star Trek?

 I have been a fan of science fiction my entire life and never realized that I might have to make a choice between two such beloved franchises. It is really only since the advent of social media (re: Facebook) that the conflict has truly come to my attention. I will not advocate for either side on this matter. My intention is to simply state where I stand and let members of either camp decide whether to come after me lynch-mob style.

I will confess that my first love is Star Wars, mainly because I experienced it first. I was seven years old when I saw the original film in the theaters (Back before episode numbers, when A New Hope was simply known as Star Wars.) Like every other child of similar age at this time, I was blown away by the original film (Much as Greedo was blown away by Han Solo who -say it with me- shot first!) I had never had much exposure to science fiction before this, but afterward I began to take in as much as I could. This lead, logically (No pun intended) to my first, and almost last, encounter with Star Trek.

January 1979, my parents take me out for my birthday to see Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The television ads got me very excited for this film, with images of the newly refurbished Enterprise, and Klingon ships battling. My excitement lasted about fifteen minutes, right after those battling Klingons and newly refurbished Enterprise flashed across the screen. Star Trek: The Motion Picture quickly became the Motionless Picture. I was bored, my parents were bored. My father would continually lean over and ask if I wanted to leave. For some odd reason, despite my boredom, I kept saying no, I wanted to see how it turned out. I left the theater despising the movie, but intrigued enough to start watching the series. (For the record, in recent years I have come to a new appreciation for the first film, since the Directors Edition edit on DVD, but it is still probably my least favorite.) On occasion, while flipping through channels, and if nothing else was on, I would check out that week's adventures of Kirk, Spock, and crew, but it had yet to take with me. It wasn't until The Wrath of Khan that I began to follow wholeheartedly, and by The Search for Spock, I was a true convert.

For many years, Trek filled the void left behind by the lack of any adventures set in that galaxy far, far away, but I always wanted more Star Wars. And even when George Lucas decided to finally grace us with more Wars, whether in books, comics, games or the special editions or prequel films, I never lost my enthusiasm for Trek.

What I am getting at is that I have a deep love and respect for both franchises and will not choose sides. I do not care if Worf could beat up Chewbacca. I have no intention of traveling to Riverside, Iowa, wearing my Darth Maul t-shirt, blasting the Star Wars theme from my car stereo, and urinating on the placard indicating the spot that is marked as the future birthplace of Captain Kirk (Seriously, that's a thing.) A face-off between the Enterprise and a Star Destroyer? Who cares?

Star Trek or Star Wars? Apples and oranges people! Enjoy them both for what they are. Two diverse, but equally entertaining science fiction franchises. Go to Comic-con dressed in your best Klingon warrior garb and go hug a Wookie! When Trek was at its best, it celebrated that kind of diversity. It's a lesson that we should all take to heart.

#starwars #scifiwriter #scifiblog #lucasfilm #disney #georgelucas #generoddenberry #startrek #fandom