UPDATE: How to Read (like and comment on) the Serial “Our Legacy, The Stars: A Tom Corbett Adventure”

Tom and Joan

Promotional image for the television show “Tom Corbett, Space Cadet” with Frankie Thomas as Tom Corbett and Patricia Ferris as Dr. Joan Dale.

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I know I just announced my space opera serial Our Legacy, The Stars: A Tom Corbett Adventure last week, but I wanted to give everyone an update.

To test the Kindle Vella platform for the story, I clicked the Follow button. So now I’m “following.” It didn’t ask me to sign up or for any money. I didn’t get any email announcements or anything. However, when I clicked the URL to the serial today (as I write this), I saw that episode 2: Flight to Freedom had been published yesterday (Saturday, April 13th).

I clicked on it expecting to get a “pay me” notice, but instead, I got the second chapter. The first chapter’s still there as well. I clicked on the second chapter and it was immediately available to read.

So far, I’m doing all this on my home computer rather than a tablet or phone but please stand by.

There are two IMPORTANT things to know if you read these stories:

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Solved: The Locked Room Murder Mystery

susan

PHOTO PROMPT © Susan Rouchard

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Stephanie’s grandfather had been murdered in his study. The police said the room had been locked from the inside. No one could have gotten in or out.

He was strangled by hand so it wasn’t a suicide. The police determined the murderer could not still be in the room.

Steph knew better. She had been part of his writing since she was six and old enough to compose her first childish mystery.

She worked through the stack of books on his desk. The one he’d received by mail just before he died; his latest novel. Grandfather’s killer was hiding inside.

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Read My Serial “Our Legacy, The Stars – A Tom Corbett Adventure” Now!

tom corbett

Promotional image by “Starry Eyed Press.”

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I am totally thrilled to announce that my 16-part serial “Our Destiny, The Stars” featuring Tom Corbett, Space Cadet is now available through Kindle Vella.

If you’re old enough, you may remember the Tom Corbett television show which ran from 1950-1955, pretty much pre-dating even me. When the fine folks at Starry Eyed Press asked me if I’d write a brand new Corbett adventure, one modernized with our current understanding of space travel and knowledge of our solar system, I was over-the-moon excited.

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“Quantum Leap” Not Renewed For Season 3

last goodbye

The cast of television’s “Quantum Leap,” (L to R) Mason Alexander Park, Ernie Hudson, Nanrisa Lee, and Caitlin Bassett.

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After watching all of season one and several episodes of season two, last November I parted ways with the modern “continuation” of Quantum Leap. It wasn’t a bad show. In fact, some of the episodes were rather compelling and they had interesting guest stars.

But in the end, like so much of entertainment “updated for modern audiences,” good writing and appealing to a wider audience took a backseat to representation, diversity, equity, inclusion, and so on.

Look, like I’ve said before, it’s not that science fiction can’t have a message. Very often it does. However, when the message and the demographics of the characters, actors, and writers are more important than the actual story, the television show, movie, novel, or whatever, becomes lost.

When I “hung up the phone” on “Quantum Leap” last Fall, I had no idea if it would be renewed for a third season. I was sort of afraid it would. That would mean everything that is wrong with shows emphasizing DEI over substance and depth was winning and the days of really great television were gone forever.

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A Rose for Amélie

bridge

PHOTO PROMPT © Sandra Crook

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His name is Alec Plisken now. Periodically, he found it convenient to change identities. That didn’t mean he could change his past.

This night he stood on the Pont de Pierre. His steady hand placed a red rose on the walkway. This was where his wife had fallen.

There was peace now, but not so in Nazi occupied Bordeaux in 1940. He had been sent to England not realizing his beloved wife would not escape France, even with a falsified Portuguese visa. This is where she was shot and killed by the fascists. Unlike him, Amélie was not an immortal.

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Book Review of “The Andromeda Evolution” (2019)

AS3

© James Pyles

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I heard about Daniel H. Wilson’s novel The Andromeda Evolution almost by accident and found that my local public library had a copy.

I read Michael Crichton’s 1971 novel The Andromeda Strain way, way back in the day and I’ve seen the 1971 movie adaptation a number of times and enjoyed them both.

But fifty years later and written by another author, even with the Crichton family’s blessing, how would this turn out?

A lot better than I expected.

The book started out very slowly and I was afraid it would be a hard slog all the way through. On top of that, Wilson sometimes decided to lecture the reader on the evils of colonialism and how bad white people and civilization is for indigenous people (the main action takes place in a protected reserve in the Amazon). I thought if this was going to be the tone of the book, it would be tedious and I almost stopped reading it once or twice.

Fortunately, Wilson didn’t belabor the point too much and then things began to pick up.

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No Dancing For Me

door

PHOTO PROMPT © Dale Rogerson

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Jeffrey stood at the bottom of the steps confronted by a barrier and closed doors.

“The bloody thing’s closed. Dodged that one,” he said aloud.

He was turning to leave when he felt a hand on his shoulder and heard her say, “Where do you think you’re going?”

He gritted his teeth behind his lips, then choked out, “It’s closed, Marcia”

“Keeps folks from sleeping on the landing. I can unlatch it and have a key.” She pulled him up the steps.

“I don’t want to dance,” he complained.

“Come on. It’s fun.” The gleam in her eye was evil.

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Book Review of “Cobra” (1986) by Timothy Zahn

cobra

Original cover art for “Cobra” by Timothy Zahn

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When I first read Timothy Zahn’s Cobra back in the 1980s and I liked it. Decades later, I still had that feeling but only vague memory of the book’s contents.

So I downloaded it onto my Kindle Fire and finally got around to reading it.

The novel holds up well. It’s really the “hero’s journey” of Jonny Moreau, a young boy from a backward frontier planet, who volunteers to undergo surgical procedures and specialized training to become an augmented soldier, a cyborg known as Cobra.

His idealism is stripped away when he and his fellow Cobras are sent to another world in their Dominion to fight the alien enemy known as Trofts. He sees destruction, death, and loss. He also first experiences distrust from his own allies. Cobras are highly dangerous. They were created that way. But because there was always the possibility they could turn on those they were helping, no one wanted to get too close.

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Get “Spring Into SciFi 2024” Today!

2024

Cover art for “Spring Into SciFi 2024.”

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It’s here!

Spring Into SciFi 2024 from Cloaked Press is available TODAY!

Download it from Amazon onto your Kindle device and start reading right now. The price is very reasonable.

If you’d rather have the paperback, that’s available too for $15.99 USD.

This anthology features my short story “I Don’t Want To Be Human.”

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Movie Review of “The Marvels” (2023)

marvels

Blu-Ray case for the 2023 film “The Marvels”

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I went to my public library’s local branch yesterday (as I write this) to pick up a few books I had on hold. Lo and behold, in the new movies section, I found a Blu-Ray of The Marvels (2023). If you’re aware of this film at all, you probably know about the controversy surrounding it.

The movie didn’t do well at the box office. This was attributed either to the sexist, racist, white supremist, patriarchal attitudes of (male) audiences or to the overdose of “wokeness” in combination with bad writing of the Disney-made movie.

When the movie was released on Disney+, there was a power surge of positivity for it on social media combined with harsh criticism for anyone daring not to like the movie for any reason (reasons being listed again as sexism, racism, white supremacy, and the patriarchy).

I dithered when I saw the Blu-Ray case. Did I want to avoid wasting one hour and forty-five minutes watching a movie that was probably a turkey or did I want to give it a fair chance? In the end, I settled for “fair chance.” I’ve viewed films before that were generally panned in the reviews but turned out to be, if not great movies, more or less “okay.” That’s what I thought about Captain Marvel (2019). Maybe “The Marvels” was just a victim of bad press.

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