So after a few weeks of silence where I’m sure most of you thought I must’ve died in a space shuttle explosion, I’ve decided on something special for all of you: to regale you with the story of my experience at this year’s World Horror Convention.

The World Horror Convention (for all non-horror readers) is the annual gathering of people who work in the horror genre (authors, editors, artists, etc.) and up-and-comers (me and my ilk) who want to become better at what we’re endeavoring to do.

It’s not really a fan affair; you wont find many of the usual staples of the conventions that I’m prone to attending (cosplay, special Q&A events, etc.). It’s more along of the lines of a training camp where someone can learn more about their chosen craft.

That was all I was really expecting when I boarded my plane in the wee hours of the morning, just hoping to learn more about the horror genre and my place in it.

I really had no idea what was in store for me.

Apparently, this year the convention was going to be held in Provo, Utah… I know what you’re thinking because it was the exact same thing that I was: Where the freaking world is Provo, Utah?

Well it’s about a forty-minute drive south of Salt Lake City nestled at the base of the Rocky Mountains. This required me to request a shuttle service to the hotel where I was staying and, conveniently, where the convention was taking place.

I was picked up by the two quirkiest shuttle drivers I’d ever met, and to my everlasting regret I can’t remember their names, but we had the best conversations on the way down. We talked all about what I was doing there and what I hoped to accomplish. Before I’d left for this adventure, I had been wondering if I should rent a car, but I was glad that I didn’t because it was a wonderful conversation that I wouldn’t trade at all.

Long story short, they dropped me off at the Marriott Hotel and Convention Center, the hub of this year’s WHC and where I would be living for the next few days.

I said farewell to my shuttle drivers and walked through the doors, ready to meet others like me. In my then 25 years, I had never met another horror author before… the doors opened… I walked in with my bags and the biggest smile plastered across my face… and discovered an incredibly empty lobby devoid of everyone but the concierge.

I must’ve looked completely lost because the Concierge gave me one of those are you lost, little boy? looks as I reluctantly trudged over to the desk.

                 

                  Concierge: Name?

Me (thinking): Pen name or real name? I don’t remember which one I reserved the room under.

Concierge (A little more forcefully): Name?

Me: Connor Rice, here’s my card

Concierge: Ah yes, Mr. Rice, we have a lovely room for you.

I walked myself up to my room, looking around for any familiar faces, while my thoughts raced. Was I in the right place? They had my reservation, so I must be… but what if I had the wrong hotel?

After dropping my things off in my room (and deciding that since I was a single traveler, I would be alternating between my two queen sized beds like a crazy person) I went exploring around the Hotel and Convention center.

The conference rooms matched the room names for the convention, but still there was no one who looked official or who I recognized (or could reasonably guess was there for the convention).

Defeated but undiscouraged, I decided to venture out into the world of Provo, Utah. I took a shower, tried to look my best, and journeyed forth, intent on seeing the sights… the landmarks… maybe interact with a local or two…

Instead, I found a comic book store a few blocks away and that sucked up my allotted exploring time. Afterwards, I still had time to eat, so $100 down, I set out with my new load of comic books to find something to devour.

One place promised the best authentic TexMex that Utah could provide, and being that I’m from Texas and this was Utah, I was rather skeptical, so I chose the Italian place beside it where I managed to eat quite a bit of a pizza before claiming the rest as leftovers.

At that point I was quite done with exploring the things that Provo had to offer and decided that my best bet would be to go back to the hotel and maybe get some writing done. I knew the convention actually started the next day, but I had been hoping to meet some other writers like me and talk shop or, at the very least, make some new friends.

These are the thoughts that passed through my mind as I realized something: I was the only person wearing a different color other than white on this street. Every man wore a white button-up shirt and black pants. That was when my mind flashed to that good ole Utah stereotype: Mormonism.

Now I don’t have anything against Mormonism, far from it in fact. It was just awkward at the time because I felt like an alien in a world of normal people. My blue dress shirt and jeans undoubtedly stood out to the crowd (the pizza box and comic books probably did too but I digress). Either way, I made my way solemnly back to the hotel, an observer from a faraway place in a land full of the people who interrupt me at home on Saturdays.

The lobby was still depressingly empty as I passed once again through the entrance and made my way up to my Fortress of Horror to type a little more on Don’t Reel In for lack of better things to do.

After that was finished, I found myself at a crossroads: sit in my room and write more (or possibly some Utah-based television?) or go downstairs and try to mingle with whoever might be down there. I decided on the latter option, but took Stephen King’s 11/22/63 just in case no one was there; always be prepared in case you have to sit in a hotel bar by yourself.

Nevertheless, I was happily surprised to see that the hotel restaurant and bar had filled up with a variety of different people, so I happily trotted my way in and looked for a place to sit. I noticed an empty seat at the bar next to two women who were chatting. One of them was a middle-aged blonde and the other an African American lady whose hair was out of this world.

                 

I had a second to think, “Ha, that lady kind of looks like Linda Addison,” as I took my seat and ordered something to drink before diving into my book, intent on blocking out the outside world.

                 

Now, it is a little known fact that I eavesdrop… oh man do I drop eaves… studied with eavesdropping masters in the mountains of the Himalayas. Well here I was reading my book in Provo, Utah and I couldn’t help but overhear these two women talking about Ridley Scott’s Alien (a fantastic masterpiece of Sci-Fi/horror).

I figured they had to be part of the convention, but due to the fact that I was obviously listening to their conversation and the fact that I’m an exceedingly private creature who doesn’t like butting into people’s business, I went back to my own little world.

                 

That was when one of the women turned to me and asked, “Are you here for the convention?” I nodded and introduced myself and got their names: Kelly and Linda Addison.

If I had been sipping my drink at the time I would’ve most definitely choked on it. Turns out my eye is better than I thought, but more importantly I was talking to Linda Addison… The Linda Addison; the first African American woman to win a Bram Stoker award for her writing, a wonderful poet and storyteller, and someone whose work you should definitely read if you haven’t.

Confident and smooth Coyote went away for a few moments as I began thinking about what I was supposed to say to that: okay Connor, you’ve got this… be cool… be cool…

So I began talking to Kelly and Linda and for some reason they took a shine to me. Maybe it was because of some funny anecdotes I’d told them or how I listened with enraptured awe as they told about their own stories and experiences. Fast friendships are made in the strangest of places.

Kelly was not a horror author, but rather an editor who had quite the list of projects under her belt and was currently in the middle of moving across the country with most of her possessions in her car.

                 

Linda asked me if I had a booth reserved and I told her no; I was just there to learn more about the Horror genre and how to fit in with it. I told them I had published two short stories and they applauded my accomplishments.

                 

I recall Linda saying something along the lines of “Usually when we talk to newbies and they say they want to be a writer, they’ve either not finished whatever they’ve written or they haven’t sent anything off.”

                 

They asked me about my influences and I rattled off those who had passed like J.F. Gonzalez and Tom Piccirilli and gave them staples like Stephen King and Dean Koontz.

                 

“But there is one horror author who inspired me to become a writer in the first place,” I said, a small embarrassed grin on my face. “I’ve read virtually everything of his and I heard he’s actually supposed to be here, though I haven’t seen him yet. His name’s Brian Keene.”

                 

Linda and Kelly both started laughing and for a moment I thought that I had said something incredibly amusing or that Brian was considered a joke or something, but then Linda said, “Shoot, we can hook you up. We knew Brian Keene before he was Brian Keene.”

                 

I might’ve melted to the chair right there as my heart stopped.

I went into full fan boy mode for a minute, talking about my love of his work, but after that settled down, I tried not to be overwhelmed by whom I was rubbing elbows with.

                 

Well that didn’t last long at all.

It might have been 30 minutes or it might have been three hours (time passes very slowly when you’re wondering if you’re in some sort of surreal fantasyland where all your heroes are at a hotel bar in Provo, Utah) but while Linda was saying something to Kelly, I noticed a small, kind of unassuming man walking towards us.

“Linda!” he said warmly as Linda turned around, her wild hair flowing around her.

“Dallas!” she replied as they hugged. My stomach fell out immediately as I recognized him vaguely from his pictures, and Linda saying his first name all but confirmed it.

She gestured at me and said, “Dallas, this is a young writer that we’ve found and love. Connor, this is Dallas Mayr, but you probably know him…” Oh yeah I knew him, but it was still unreal… “as Jack Ketchum.”

He shook my hand, grimacing a bit at my firm southern grip (I was raised in Texas; our handshakes aren’t just polite, but project strength) and we both gave each other the usual pleasantries.

I couldn’t believe it; I was talking to Jack Ketchum, one of the most monolithic horror authors of the age, a man that Stephen King himself described as “the scariest guy in America” and one of my writing inspirations.

Okay Connor, easy, be cool, be cool, act normal. Don’t nonchalantly lick him to show your admiration.

I found Jack Ketchum to be a rather personable man who gave the best advice and didn’t turn away anyone who wanted to talk to him (I learned all of this as the convention went on, at this point I was still awestruck). He asked me about my writing, cutting me off before I could tell him anything else because he said he would like to read it someday… maybe I was imagining things or maybe he wanted to encourage me, either way such a small thing might as well have been phenomenal praise for a writer starting out like myself.

I had to return to my room for a bit to make some calls and tie up some other odds and ends, but I promised Linda, Jack, and Kelly that I would return momentarily and liked to think that I made that walk with dignity and nonchalance. As soon as I entered that elevator, though, I reached out with a hand to brace myself against the wall, my mind whirling in a vortex of amazement.

So I made it to my room and back composed and ready to mingle, and it was quite a time; Jack, Linda, and Kelly are quite the people to talk to and it was very enlightening. Eventually Jack and Linda decided that it was time to hit the hay, but the question arose: who would wait up for Brian to get there?

Yours truly volunteered, of course, and Kelly volunteered to stay up with me. In the rush of meeting Linda and Jack, I realized that I had not caught Kelly’s last name. Wouldn’t you know I felt like an idiot when her reply was “Laymon”. For those of you who don’t know, Richard Laymon was a prolific horror writer whose impact on the genre cannot be compared. He unfortunately passed in 2001, long before I would have gotten a chance to meet him.

                 

Kelly was his daughter (you could have colored me embarrassed). I might have launched into fanboy mode again, telling her how much I loved her father’s work (I remember vividly reading One Rainy Night in high school), but there is no proof that I did so unless Kelly feels the need to comment on this blog post.

We stayed up long into the night waiting for Brian and telling old tales of love and war and became good friends sitting at that bar for 3 hours in Provo, Utah. One conversation about Richard Laymon that stood out was when Kelly said “I have him with me.”

I must’ve looked really concerned, because I didn’t know that he had been cremated, so I think my subconscious mind just assumed Kelly had dug up her father and was transporting him across the nation. Sometimes I wonder if I’ve been breathing in things that make my mind work differently than other people’s… eh, what’re you going to do?

Time went slowly and I’m so grateful it did, but eventually Brian arrived. Kelly and I spotted him immediately and politely allowed him to check in and drop off his stuff at the hotel room. Kelly assured me that he would be back down soon, that he would be looking for something to drink.

Lo and behold, a few minutes later he was and Kelly introduced us…

                 

And that is a story for next week’s blog post.

                 

This has only been part one of my adventure that was WHC. It’s in the top three trips I’ve taken that’ve changed my life and I will say that every second was worth it. Before that, I was just a guy who wrote, but when I left I felt it in my heart that I was a writer.

                 

The Coyote had truly been born in that moment and I set off to chase the roadrunner with zeal.

Wile E. World News

                 

A man didn’t stand up this week during the playing of the national anthem at a football game. Time to put my offended hat on and focus in. Or I’m not, because I focus on things that have true importance in the world… *sigh* I can already hear the pitchforks and the torches of the mob outside of my door so just let me add: I think it was in poor taste that he didn’t stand up. I might not be the biggest fan of America, but I do respect the idea of it rather than our government’s rape of what it could be and so I agree that it was in bad taste.

                 

But he has the right to do so and not be crucified for it, and I understand his reasons for doing so. Protest has taken all manner of forms over the years, so let’s just be glad that this man has chosen to protest in a nonviolent, peaceful way rather than through violence.

Last time I checked, this was a country where you were free to follow your own conscious; let’s see how long that lasts in the next two decades or so… The best way to deny freedom to people is to divide them and then build the fence around them while they aren’t looking.

That’s why we need people who truly respect us and truly respect and love the people who elected them.

Which is why I formally endorse Duke…

Duke is a seven-year-old Great Pyrenees who was recently re-elected as mayor of Cormorant, Minnesota. He even managed to beat out a human candidate!

Obviously this dog is doing something right and all he asks from us in return is kibble… A small sacrifice, I know, but what wouldn’t you give for political stability?

#DukeforPresident2016, Slogan: Rolling Over For A Better Tomorrow!

Quote of the Week

Gr8tstorm: Did Batman find that out by asking a chair?

Due to the length of this blog post, I will not be posting a review of a book or film. I know, I know it’s sad, but dry your tears for salvation is at hand. I will write a review of a book and film that I have recently read and watched this week to be posted before the onset of next Thursday.

Joy and rapture all around and something for all of you to look forward to in the dismal abyss that is the workweek.

Wile E. Young signing off and chasing the Roadrunner over the abyss. Good thing I brought a jetpack.

Exclusive Interview with Author Seth Eaves.

This week has been a Science Fiction oriented week for me with my recent viewing of Star Trek Beyond ringing in my mind. With the Enterprise warping through my brain I decided to sit down with Science Fiction author Seth Eaves and ask him about not only his progress but what draws him to write in this genre.

1.       Wile E. Young: Hi Seth, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself and your background?

Seth Eaves: Thank you for inviting me to do this, it is a huge honor. I am a writer looking to make an impact in the literary world. My preferred genre in just about anything (writing, reading, tv, movie, video game) is science fiction. I am a huge nerd who fell in love with science, philosophy, psychology, history, and space exploration at a young age. All my life I have looked up at the stars and always wondered how many other races were looking down on me. I’ve always enjoyed writing throughout my entire life and have been writing off and on since I was in elementary school.

 

2.       Wile E. Young: When did you decide to become a writer?

Seth Eaves: I can’t really think of any specific time when I made that decision. Subconsciously, I’ve always known that I want to write. I’ve always enjoyed entertaining people and I’ve always enjoyed the art of storytelling, be it in written form or oral. So, I don’t really have a moment in time where I had that ‘Aha! I want to be a writer!” moment. There was just a moment when I was 22 when I suddenly told myself “Well, you’ve wasted enough time. If you’re going to become a writer you need to get on the ball.”

 

3.       Wile E. Young: What genre are your books?

Seth Eaves: My books are mainly in the science fiction genre. For a brief moment near the beginning of my fledgling career, I told myself I wanted to be one of those writers who wasn’t held down in one genre but as I’ve grown as a writer and as a person I’ve realized that I love being known as a ‘science fiction writer.’ Now, different stories reach into different ends of the sci-fi spectrum. I have military sci-fi, I have science fiction/psychological horror, I have cyberpunk, I have steampunk, I have space western. My main goal is, if it falls under the sci-fi umbrella, then I’m going to write in it.

 

4.       Wile E. Young: What draws you to this genre?

Seth Eaves: The main thing that draws me to sci-fi is how fantastical it all is. A sci-fi writer isn’t bound by the confines of what is real and possible. If I want to write a future were an entire continent no longer exists, I can do it. If I want to write an alternate future where the Allies lost World War 2, it’s all good because science fiction gives you the ability to alter history. It also gives you the ability to project your hopes or concerns of what the future will look like. Will we achieve a utopic future like we see in Star Trek, a world devoid of sickness, money, starvation and homelessness? Or will we see a dark, bleak future full of lawlessness, war and strife? It’s a perfect conduit into the mind of the writer, their imagination, their creativity, their fears, their dreams, their likes and their dislikes. Sci-fi is also the perfect marriage of science and fiction. It’s even in the name. You can write a story that delves deep into science, a story that heavily relies on science, but in the same vein is also fictional. I also like the fact that, if I goof something up, I can just so “Eh, its science fiction. I can change that according to my narrative and nobody can say anything about it.”

 

5.       Wile E. Young:  So, what have you written?

Seth Eaves: I wrote two novellas that I self-published on Amazon’s Kindle. They are called ‘Within the Walls of Chaos’ and ‘Operation: Empty Orchestra’ I have since removed them with the intentions of getting them picked up by a magazine but I still leave open the option for any friend who wants to read them to receive a free copy by email. My number one intentions with them and the following shorts was for publicity and spreading my name, not money. They are the building block of my ‘Dark Legacy’ series, my magnum opus, the story line that I spent the most amount of my life creating.

 

6.       Wile E. Young: What are you working on at the minute?

Seth Eaves: I have many irons in the fire at the moment. I am finishing the shorts that go along with my two previous mentioned novellas to form my ‘Prelude to War’ book that opens up my ‘Dark Legacy’ series. I am also working on a few other stories, some shorts hopefully for magazines, and three full length novels that I alternate my attention on. One is a science fiction/psychological horror story called ‘The Quiet Room’, another is a sci-fi story called ‘Imaginations From the Looking Glass’ and the third is a still untitled space western. There is also the collaborative project we are working on ‘The Thirteenth Sign.’ I also have various other projects planned and lined up. One thing I am not lacking is ideas.

 

7.       Wile E. Young: Give us an insight into your main character. What does he/she do that is so special?

Seth Eaves: I think, one of the things that makes my main characters special is they are completely broken individuals. Never will you find a person in my stories who has it all together, there is always something flawed about my characters. But they don’t let those flaws hold them back from their purpose. My characters are always a huge testament to the indomitable human will. Regardless of what is causing them to be broken, they always struggle to do the right thing, even at the cost of their own lives. Now, that doesn’t mean that all of my main characters possess moral compasses that always point due north. A lot of them exist in a morally grey area but usually out of a necessity, never out of wickedness. Because they act questionably out of a personal need they still have that chance at redemption and at the heart of it all, that is what many of my stories are about: the human will and our chances at redemption. Plus, a lot of my main characters have very dry, wicked, sarcastic senses of humor and I think that is a nice draw.

 

8.       Wile E. Young: Which actor/actress would you like to see playing the lead character from your most recent book?

Seth Eaves: I think, if I ever had the opportunity to have one of my books turned into a movie, I would want to take a chance on a relatively unknown and try to give him his big break. It only seems fair if I had been given a chance to live out my dream that I turn around and give someone else the chance to live out theirs.

 

9.       Wile E. Young: How do you think you’ve evolved creatively?

Seth Eaves: I believe my writing has become more focused. I use to be pretty bad about rambling on, still can be at times both in writing and in real life. Since the beginning though, I’ve become much better at keeping myself on track, having a clear goal and endgame to work toward and making sure that absolutely nothing is in my story that isn’t necessary. I’ve also become better at questioning myself and ensuring that what I am putting out is quality work to be proud of instead of just settling for whatever my end product is. I have also learned to take the time to develop every inch of my story and the world it takes place in beforehand instead of just throwing the ideas in the air and letting them rest wherever they lay.

 

10.   Wile E. Young: What is the hardest thing about writing?

Seth Eaves: For me, the two hardest things about writing are: 1.) Settling on what to write. I have writers ADD. One day I want to work on this story, the next day I want to work on that story. It can be frustrating at times because it hinders my productivity. 2.) Balancing the time in my days. Unfortunately, writing isn’t paying the bills just yet so I have to balance a regular, 40 hour work week along with spending time with my wife and kids and my various responsibilities at church.

 

11.   Wile E. Young: Do you have a special time to write or how is your day structured?

Seth Eaves: During the school year I have a window from the time I get home from work to the time the kids get home from school and that is usually my time when I can sit down and focus on nothing but writing. I try to do about an hour of writing before I go to sleep as well. Thankfully, my family is real good about when they see me at my computer with my headphones on, they don’t disturb me unless it is an emergency. Once I get in my zone and really get to cranking, I won’t stop until I type a couple thousand words or type for a couple hours. Then I take a break, depending on if I feel I accomplished enough, maybe come back and write more or not. Then the next day I start off by going over what I wrote the day before and ensuring it fits right in the story and making minor adjustments here or there before starting the process over again.

 

12.   Wile E. Young: Do you write every day, 5 days a week or just when you are able?

Seth Eaves: I would love to say I write everyday but sadly, this is not the case. I strive to write everyday but that doesn’t always happen. I generally manage about 4-5 days a week, on a good day.

 

13.   Wile E. Young: Which writers inspire you?

Seth Eaves: 13. I’m going to go ahead and start by saying you of course. Your imagination just blows me away at times, not to mention your outspokenness and confidence. Those are two characteristics I try to emulate personally. I’m also largely inspired by some of the sci-fi greats like Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Orson Scott Card. I am a HUGE fan of Timothy Zahn, Kevin J Anderson, David Weber, Stephen Baxter, Greg Bear. Outside of sci-fi, my two biggest influences are Stephen King and Tom Clancy. The list can go on but those are the names of the greats that influence me and cause me to want to better myself as a writer on a daily basis.

14.   Wile E. Young: What advice would you give to your younger self?

Seth Eaves: First thing I would say to my younger self is ‘Get your crap together. Stop playing around and get more serious about writing.’ Then I would work with me about being more outspoken and confident and to learn to trust my instincts more.

 

15.   Wile E. Young: How can readers discover more about you and you work?

Seth Eaves: Really, the main way to learn more about me is on Facebook. I have my main profile where I rarely post much but I have my author page where….I rarely post much either but I focus on my writing projects on there. My main goal is to spread my name and get more notice and attention so those are the best places to interact with me and, if interest is shown, gain access to some free stories.

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/setheaves87/?fref=ts

 

A huge thank you to Seth Eaves for being my first Interviewee on my blog and for allowing me to pick his brain apart for his views on the Science Fiction Genre, it was much appreciated.

 

So from Seth Eaves and myself “See y’all somewhere far beyond.”

The Coyote Goes to Space.

When I was young pup growing up in the backwater woods of East Texas, I had three primary forms of escapism that I indulged in: fantasy, horror, and sci-fi… and cartoons… and building forts in the woods… and you know what lets just say that I was an incredibly imaginative child with many creative outlets.

One day I was a gallant knight fighting a dragon (neighbor’s incredibly ugly buick), another day I was a monster stalking my prey through the park (a city water mutated squirrel) and my personal favorite, Lord High Commander of my Space Soldiers of Doom ruling over the stars from my nigh impregnable asteroid fortress (a particularly large rock in my front yard).

Science fiction, like Horror, has always fascinated me. I grew up on a healthy diet of Star Wars, Star Trek, and Stargate: the sci-fi trifecta (Battlestar Galactica is our red headed stepchild that I would discover later) and thought each new installment was simply the most amazing spectacle of exploding lasers and incomprehensible technobabble that ever graced cinemas. And yes, this included: Star Trek the Motionless Picture, Star Trek 4: Save the Whales, Star Trek 5: They Shot God in the Face, Star Trek Generations: Dropped a Bridge on Him, Star Trek: I wish they had made a good movie instead of Insurrection, Star Trek Nemesis: Tom Hardy’s Near Career Suicide… and every Star Wars prequel.

I was barely a teenager when I watched these, and had no idea about concepts like story, plot symmetry, and characterization. All I could see was Yoda jumping around and having a lightsaber battle with the Emperor. I didn’t care if Anakin’s fall to the dark side took place over the course of three seconds, or that the Force was “revealed” to be microscopic doodads living in bloodstreams, or even that dreaded attempt at comic relief that will forever live in the annals of worst decisions ever made: JAR JAR BINKS. I just wanted to see Jedi fights and ships get blown up in spectacular CGI.

I’m older and wiser now and my tastes have gotten more refined when it comes to science fiction. Not only have I dabbled in writing a few stories myself, but also my exploration of this genre has split off into realms that don’t have the prefix of “Star” before the rest of the title. It is through my examination of several different helpings of science fiction that I’ve noticed a wonderful thing about this genre… its variance.

You have your traditional space operas (Star Wars, Dune, and the Expanse), massive sweeping tales on far-flung worlds that don’t even necessarily have anything to do with us on little old Earth. There’s military science fiction (Starship Troopers, Ender’s Game, Independence Day), stories that are focused entirely on the military and their war on whatever the designated enemies are. Space Western’s (Firefly, Cowboys and Aliens, Defiance) take the trappings and themes of the wild west and apply them metaphorically or literally to the story at hand.

I could go on and on about the variance and that’s the beauty of it… sci-fi can be added to virtually any genre.

A wonderful time for Science Fiction, to be sure, because I believe that we are beginning to enter into a Sci-Fi Renaissance. Star Wars has swooped back into theaters along with a new helping of Star Trek (may the eternal war between Trekkies and Lucas Hounds forever be waged), but that’s just tradition at work. If you want a good science fiction movie specifically tuned the space opera section of things, look no further than the recent Marvel helping: Guardians of the Galaxy.

It had everything that a Star Wars movie had, just with Marvel’s traditional style— aliens, spaceships, and an intergalactic war. It’s less a superhero film than it was a space opera and it showed. I was entertained throughout the entire and my only criticism lay with the bland villain and even he had a moment where I choked on my drink in the theater from laughter.

Of course these are all space opera examples. Sci-fi doesn’t always have to be aliens, space battles, and strange mysterious worlds. It can take place right here on good old planet Earth and run the gamut on concepts.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline is one of the more recent science fiction novels that I’ve read and I have to say it might just go on my list of top ten best books I’ve ever read. It was engaging, the characters were sympathetic, and it left me on the edge of my seat while reading it. The best way to describe the plot is Willy Wonka meets the Matrix (This is the blurb on the back and what can I say it is accurate), and follows a teenager named Wade Watts who exists in a world where the Oil Reserves are next to gone and the subsequent world has gone to hell. The only pleasure can be found in a massive simulation called the Oasis that has absorbed every aspect of digital society from Video games to the Internet itself. In this world the designer of the Oasis left a prize called the Egg (named after the popular video game term Easter Egg) which will give ownership of the Oasis to whoever finds it… a race against time for control of the only thing that makes life in the world bearable. This is only one example with the Matrix itself along with such offerings as Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Stephen Spielberg’s masterpiece), 11/22/63 (Stephen King’s Time Travel story), Blade Runner (arguably one of the pioneers of the Cyberpunk genre), and the list just goes on.

Of course science fiction is not just about what stories it can give us, but about what concepts it can give us. Science fiction has been pushing forward concepts that at the time seem impossible but give or take a few decades and an impressive amount of saying “that’s cool, I want to make it happen”, it has often given society the very things that at the time they were conceived would have seemed impossible. You need look no further for proof of this than the cell phone you hold in your hand (especially you Mom, since I know you’re reading this on your phone).

Star Trek premiered in 1966 and most of the time its vision of the future was hilariously camp and inaccurate. That is until you look at the Communicator, which looked freakishly like an early 2000’s cell phone including that cover that flipped open. You all remember the flip cellphones… mine was a black Razor and I thought it was the coolest improvement of technology since satellite TV. That little black phone survived a pool, my car tires, and a fall off a balcony with little more than a cracked screen to show for it.

It was eerily accurate even down to “no reception” zones that prevented the intrepid crew from calling the Enterprise to beam them away when something went wrong and that’s not even getting into Star Trek the Next Generation which gave their crew a freaking iPad about twenty years before that was a thing.

This concept has been going back since the beginnings of science fiction such as H.G. Wells’ book The World Set Fire that predicts the atomic bomb and was written in 1914, more or less accurately describing a nuclear explosion and coining the term “atomic bomb”.

And then there was legendary science fiction pioneer Jules Verne, whose novels 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (published in 1869) and From the Earth To the Moon (1869) predicted diesel electric submarines and the moon landing before either of them were even conceived of as reality.

This gives me hope for Godzilla as a reality… it’s been 60 years since his first movie. Any day now a giant radioactive lizard is going to come and defeat the terrorists and stomp his way to victory as the G-Party’s candidate for the Presidential Election.

                                                                                      

#GodzillaforPresident2016, Slogan: Ain’t no party like a Nuclear Party.

I digress but only a little.

As for myself and my own forays into science fiction writing, it has been a journey in and of itself. I’ve had a series called the Last Aspect that I’ve worked on and off on for years; a dark gritty universe full of existential terror and chock full of more space Nazis than you could shake a finger at. You can take the writer out of horror but you can’t take the horror out of the writer. Still I’m little more than a journeyman apprentice in science fiction compared to author Seth Eaves. I met Seth a few years ago and we grew from fellow colleagues into great friends, both slaves to the muse.

He is primarily a military science fiction writer and I have to say that his style is suspenseful and keeps you invested. We discovered that our two styles of writing meshed incredibly well, one of the reasons we decided to co-write a story entitled the Thirteenth Sign, a space opera set in the future that answers the question that Seth and I asked each other… what if the Zodiac Constellations each harbored an alien race and what if there was a way to get to them… it gets worse. (Seth I promise my chapters are coming I’ve been busy).

This brings me to my quote of the week that involved both Seth and I discussing what we had come up with when we had one of our all to infrequent meetings. We had each decided on taking 6 of the 12 zodiac signs and making alien races out of them… it was then that we really discovered the distinctions in our writing styles.

Wile E. Young: So what’ve you got?

Seth Eaves: I call them Rhynocs they are from the Aries constellation, I thought they would have a Meritocratic society based on how many people they had killed in combat, the more kills under their belt the higher they are in their society. I imagined them fairly reptilian like, but maybe crossed with some goat features considering that the Aries Constellation is a Ram… what did you come up with?

Wile E. Young : Ummm I call them Viriloc, they’re from the Virgo constellation…

Seth Eaves: What do they look like?

Wile E. Young: (nearly manic with glee) Floating black bug things with the bodies of women fused to where a head would be but instead of a lady face on the woman’s body, it’s a baby face crying black goo that gives religious epiphanies…

Seth Eaves: I worry about your mind sometimes.

We’ve had quite the adventure fusing our minds together for this little experiment.

I was able to sit down with Seth and get him to answer some interview questions so that you would be able to get know his writing and views on the subject as well. It will be posted along with this blog post as an exclusive interview. Go over there and check it out because every time you skip an exclusive interview a small child is forced to sit through an M. Night Shyamalan marathon.

I sit looking out the window at the coming evening, the first of the stars beginning to wrench places for themselves in the Heavens, and it has me musing on the concept of infinity. As I’ve hopefully explained and shown to you, science fiction is practically infinite… ironic because I consider science fiction the exploration of the future, the potential for humanity, application of pioneered concepts, and understanding of existence itself— a direct comparison to the concept of infinity.

Because after all, what is as infinite as the universe?

So tonight when you forsake the sun because the stars burn brighter and you see a meteorite, send me a wave because that’s me streaking through the night chasing the Roadrunner and its race across the infinite.

And as my friend Seth Eaves says, “See y’all somewhere far beyond.”

Bonus Wile E. World News

So this past week was the Democratic National Convention, if you’ve read my feelings regarding Trump on last week’s blog post, then you’ve read my feelings regarding Hillary.

We need a true candidate to believe in…