Tag: science fiction

Announcing Shattered Earth, a science fiction novel

Shattered Earth is my fourth novel.

What it’s about:

Advanced humans, called Terrans, leave Earth when its threatened by a massive meteor. The remaining humans on Earth fall back into primitiveness. The advanced humans, and a group of aliens, the Ragnor, involve Earth in an interstellar war. Thousands of years later, the humans of Earth decide to do something about this. Interstellar politics will never be the same again once Earth is done with their revenge.

These Terrans involve themselves throughout human history. Some play as King Arthur and Merlin. Another is a scientist, whose name is Galileo, and he gets into all sorts of trouble for challenging official orthodoxy about the sun, the Earth, and which one is revolving around the other. Then, we have Amelia Earhart, who has a very valid reason for disappearing. When an alien spaceship gets shot down over Roswell in 1947, President Truman orders the creation of Area 51, Project Blue Book and Sign, and has the United States embark on a plan that will culminate 60 years in the future. Nothing will ever be the same again when the United States gets involved in interstellar politics. But, the whole plan backfires when Earth ends up the worse for wear over it. Other species find out what Earth did, since no one else was bold enough to even try, so they want to help bring down the Ragnor once and for all. The new President of the United States imagines a galactic federation or a republic, but, none of the other species wants anything to do with it. Once they destroy the Ragnor’s technology, they leave the Ragnor to ponder why all the other species hated them enough to attack them. Will the galaxy remain at peace?

Currently can be found as an e-book on Smashwords, Barnes and Noble’s Nook, and Kindle.

New cover to Out of Time

I decided to update the paperback, and uploaded it to Createspace. The original was published through iUniverse in 2008, but, I’ve updated it since then, and its been the newer version in e-book form for a little over a year. Here is the brand new cover. Stay tuned for updates! Available for $.99 on Nook, Smashwords, and whenever Amazon gets around to updating it.

The story behind “Out of Time”

This was posted two years ago when I published Out of Time, and I thought I’d re-post it, and share it with everyone, since I’m in the process of publishing a more updated version to Createspace, with a new cover. Next after this will be Don’t Mess With Earth

So, you’re probably wondering how I came up with the story of Out of Time.

I started out with thinking the whole US government-alien UFO landing conspiracy theories would make a good story. Then, I saw the movie Titanic in 1997 and thought it would be cool if I could include it, so it turned into a time travel story. My villain, at first, was a guy who turned traitor, and sold technology secrets to a terrorist organization. I had him hijack the timeship, but he thought he was going to 1941 to help Japan attack Pearl Harbor, instead he ends up in Roswell 1947. I didn’t think this character worked too well as the main antagonist, so I created a bigger bad guy, who pulled the strings from 50 years further in the future.

This antagonist ends up going back in time himself, and impersonates J. Edgar Hoover. I have Hoover stay in control of the FBI because he knows where all the bodies are buried and what skeletons all the politicians have in their closets since he is from the future. He uses his knowledge to try and stop the time travelers, by sending teams of his own to where Hawking and the others are supposed to be. Eventually, it’s discovered that this Hoover had a hand in trying to assassinate JFK. At the end, you find out just why Hoover is determined to stop Hawking.

Other chapters deal with Anne Frank and the time travelers attempt to keep her from dying in the Concentration Camp she ends up in. I have my time travelers visit JFK because I was into the whole conspiracy about there being more than one shooter in Dallas that November day. I still think there is more to the whole assassination of the President than the government will ever let us know, but then again, maybe it was Oswald by himself who did it.

I have my time travelers even attempt to fix Apollo 13 and the Challenger shuttle. The only problem is, that when they return to their present, they discover changes they never imagined. I have them debate about whether they should fix the mistakes or just leave it alone. The message here being, should time travel ever be attempted and what about the grandfather paradox?

I’m really into American history, so that’s why I chose certain times in US history to start with. One of these days, when I’m a much better novelist, I will add more chapters or just add more to the chapters that are in the novella already, because I think it needs more meat to the story. Of course, I could just write a bunch of sequels, I don’t know yet. I just know that my next novel won’t take me ten plus years to finish, because I just nitpicked this one to death, and decided to publish it because I was just tired of looking at it and messing with it. From the various people who have read it so far, who knew how I wrote in high school, have been pleasently surprised by how well the story flows and how interesting it is. Hopefully, that translates into a lot of people wanting to buy a copy.

I’m currently working on another novel that I once submitted to the Writer’s of the Future contest as a short story. Stay tuned for that, once I have it completely written, I will post what that novel is about.

Updates on what I’m writing

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, mostly because I’m concentrating on finishing up college, which will be this May if everything goes as planned. I have two stories in the works, one a sequel to Don’t Mess With Earth and the other one is a political thriller, not science fiction at all.

I take a comment made by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev back in the 1960’s about how the Soviet Union would, in so many words “Bury us.” What he meant by that was that he thought the American working class would overthrow the powers that be and install communism. Well, my take on this has him getting the KGB to recruit an American girl who is a dedicated communist and having her give birth to a son, who will be trained in all things Marxist and Lenin. Included in this is how the Soviets also have someone who the boy will marry at the appropriate time also being raised as a KGB infiltrator. The goal here is complete and total infiltration of American society from the White House on down. The boy will be tutored by American KGB agents who want to bring down the USA and they have very high positions in government and academia.

This story takes place from the 1960’s all the way to present day. When the Soviet Union collapses in the early 1990’s, the now grown man is given the choice of abandoning the plan of destroying the USA from within. He decides to go for it. He goes from State Senate, to US Senate, to the White House in less than 15 years, never giving his political position and always voting present. He has a big financial backer who in this story has taken down countries and its leaders through manipulating the financial markets, and the backer does the same thing to the USA shortly before the Presidential elections, thus turning the tide for the KGB infiltrator to become the next President of the United States. He becomes the POTUS, disbands the military and creates a Civilian Defense Force, abandons all overseas military posts and bases, enacts a Fairness Doctrine to silence mostly his critics, and begins throwing all dissenters in jail. There is one man who doesn’t keep silent, much to the Presidents’ chagrin, because he is difficult to find and silence.

The next half of the book is about a soldier who comes home from Iraq and joins this new Civilian Defense Forces, only because he has to. The very first thing they do, is try to bring the former POTUS and his family in for treason charges. The former POTUS has some back-up from loyal US military and doesn’t go down without a fight. The man in charge of the CDF unit ends up killing the ex-POTUS and his family when they’re captured. Then the soldier has to help attack Texas when the State secedes from the Union. The President orders a nuclear strike from Barksdale AFB on Dallas, but the remaining US Air Force airmen on the base decide to detonate one of the nukes, leaving Barksdale, Bossier City, and Shreveport a smoking, radioactive ruin, pretty much ruining the Presidents’ plan. So, the President orders all of the sleeper cells ran by the KGB to activate and they help.

Later on, the solider realizes he’s on the wrong side when American churches are raided, some of the congregations are killed, including his parents. He makes it his mission to stop the President. I will stop there, because I also plan on having a somewhat surprise ending.

Stay tuned!

First Review

My first review for Don’t Mess With Earth, done by Feathered Quill Book Reviews

Don’t Mess With Earth

By: Cliff Ball
Publisher: Virtualbookworm.com Publishing
Publication Date: March 2009
ISBN: 978-1602643413
Reviewed by: Will Gabbett
Review Date: June 10, 2009

In the new book, Don’t Mess With Earth, intellectually and scientifically advanced humans, as well as aliens from a distant world, have descended on Earth. They have been experimenting and meddling in the affairs of humans for the advancement of their own species for centuries. But wait! Earthlings have caught on to the devious ploys and are fighting back.

Don’t Mess With Earth begins with the President of the United States getting ready to hold a press conference to explain how Earth has been manipulated. “…it all started a few thousand years ago…” The story then jumps back to a time when Earth was populated by primitive people with the exception of the Terrans, a race of technologically advanced humans. The Terrans worked constantly to advance their society while those around them fought and scrounged for food. Eventually, the Terrans were able to build a space ship and leave Earth, and all its problems, behind.

With the help of another alien race, the Terrans exponentially advanced their technology and soon were in conflict with the Ragnor, another advanced race. While these two enemies battled each other, they both descended on Earth – the Terrans to meddle and the Ragnor to experiment.

Once the author presents the history of the Terrans and Ragnors, he then brings us back to Earth and the reader is taken on a history trip where we meet Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Michelangelo, Galileo, and King Arthur along with many other historical figures. In the U.S., we meet Amelia Earhart and Chuck Yeager. The reader sees how some famous characters from the past were actually Terrans, and how these advanced people affected history.

The story chronicles various historical events around the world, including the well-known alien spaceship crash in New Mexico in the late 40s. In Don’t Mess With Earth, the crash is real. When a Ragnor space vessel crashes on Earth, one alien is captured alive and taken to a secret research area known only as ‘Area 51.’ By using the Ragnor captive’s knowledge and studying the spaceship, humans, particularly the U.S. military, advance their own knowledge. Soon, they are able to launch an attack of their own.

Don’t Mess With Earth has a great premise and the way the author weaves historical fact with creative alien mischief is clever and intriguing. There are a bit too many background chapters that present historical figures which, although fun to read, eventually drag the story to a halt. They are really mini vignettes that prevent the plot from getting into the meat of the story until about halfway through the book when the Ragnor ship crashes and ‘Area 51’ is established.
The writing in Don’t Mess With Earth is a bit strained in places as is the dialog. For example, when Amelia Earhart is having problems, we read, “She was beginning to suspect that her radio was being jammed by the Terrans, so she waited for whatever that was about to happen, go ahead and happen.” There are also several holes in the plot, such as how the Terrans became so much more sophisticated than their primitive neighbors. When the military captures a Ragnor, they force him to cooperate. How could one Ragnor’s reluctant assistance, the technology his ship offers, along with human ingenuity be enough to launch a strike against a much more advanced civilization? This idea may strain believability and evoke questions from the reader. Still, the unexpected twist at the end of the story, plus the creative storyline, will keep many readers hooked.

Quill says: A good attempt at showing what might happen when aliens think they know more than their human subjects.

What I’m writing next

I just thought I’d take the time to post what I’m writing about next, since I don’t blog as much as I should. I’m currently working on a re-write of my novella Out of Time. Since I published it last year, after working on it for what seemed like an eternity, so I had it published even though it wasn’t what it should have been. After about a year or so, I realize it needs more in depth characterization of more than one character, and a lot more details. Those that have read it have told me it’s a good story, but, I it could be so much more. So, watch for a re-release some day after I write the next two that I’m also working on.

The next novel I working on is a sequel to my science fiction novel Don’t Mess With Earth. I always intended Don’t Mess With Earth to have a sequel, because I intentionally made a misleading title because while you’re reading this current novel, you think Earth is going to win in the end. Once you get to the ending, I hope everyone wonders what happens next, so the next title is tentatively called Shattered Earth . *Spoilers ahead* So far, those survivors on Earth who the Ragnor didn’t find, decide to build a fleet of starships with Area 51 technology, armed to the teeth with every conceivable weapon available. They also get aided by another alien species who have tried to stay out of the conflict between the Terrans, Ragnor, and Earthlings, but the remaining Ragnor go on a rampage throughout the Milky Way. An epic battle will ensue, but, who remains standing will be currently undecided.

The third novel I’m writing isn’t science fiction at all. It’s about the United States being taken over by a dictator(I leave the political persuasion up to the reader), who dissolves the military, creates a Civilian Defense Force, has them assassinate the previous president, try to silence through the Fairness Doctrine and then try to kill the main opposition who happens to be a talk radio show host. The president decides that Christians, the 3+ day a week kind, are also the enemy(along with members of the opposition party), and he creates “Re-Education Centers.” States like Texas and Oklahoma secede, taking over the old military bases and the weapons on those bases, while the President tries to force those States back into the Union, causing a civil war in the process. The main character is part of the CDF, is really apathetic about politics and everything in general, that is until his family is rounded up and sent to re-education centers. Once he learns the truth, he makes it his mission to stop the President. Will it be too late?

Author’s Gathering place

I just thought I’d let everyone out there know about an author’s gathering place called Polkadotbanner.com. You can post your profile, sites to where your books can be found, links to your important websites, how you can be contacted and whether or not you can be contacted for signings or online chats. They even randomly list your book if you become a star author. If you click on an authors’ book cover, they can become the featured author for that month. Please help me out by clicking on my Polkadotbanner Profile

Check out the website owners’ blog: http://polkadotbanner.blogspot.com/2007/11/authors-website-to-promote-increased.html to find out what her thought process were for creating the website.

Galileo in Don’t Mess with Earth

In my novel, “Don’t Mess With Earth,” Galileo Galilei is a Terran astronomer who decides to go to to Earth to convince the powers-that-be that the Earth revolves around the sun and not the other way around. In real life, he was a normal human who tried the exact same thing and was punished for his opposing views to official doctrine from the “Church.” My story goes almost the same way….

In this, Galileo meets Michelangelo who is painting the Sistine Chapel, but had also somehow gotten his hands on drawings for a glider. This interests Galileo, so he helps Michelangelo build the glider. They build it, and decide to present the glider flying to the Pope and the powers-that-be. The flight is successful, but the Pope comes to Galileo and tells him that if “men were supposed to fly, he would’ve given us wings.” Galileo tells the Pope what he thinks of him the Swiss guards then beat down the scientist, and then they burn the glider and tell Michelangelo that he is in danger of being a heretic, but, if he creates something new for the Church, he may be forgiven, so the artist caring only about his name in history, agrees and creates the Statue of David.

Galileo gets dragged down to a dungeon and beaten by the Swiss guards. Word reaches Terra that their scientist is in trouble, so a covert team is sent in to extract him. They extract him, blow up the building housing the dungeon/prison, causing a massive fire that sweeps up most of Rome, and the Pope vows to find him, even if they have to search all over the New World for the scientist. On Terra, Galileo is banned from ever leaving the planet again.

My new novel now available

My second novel, “Don’t Mess With Earth” is now available for purchase. Can be found here: Amazon or here: Barnes and Noble. Here is a quick summary:

Advanced humans, calling themselves Terrans, leave a highly corrupt and mostly primitive Earth to search out a new planet to inhabit. Once on a new planet, they begin exploring the rest of the galaxy and begin watching over their more primitive human cousins back on Earth. Some Terrans are well known in human history, people such as King Arthur, Galileo, Genghis Khan, and Amelia Earhart. The Terrans come across an alien species, called the Ragnor, that experiment on other species for no reason other than that they can. The Ragnor discover Earth by accident and start their abductions and experiments on the first set of humans they come across, the colonists on Roanoke Island. The Ragnor continue to cause mayhem and mischief on Earth, eventually getting shot down over Roswell, New Mexico. Once the humans on Earth figure out they’re being manipulated by both sides, President Truman has the United States embark on a plan to pay back both the Terrans and the Ragnor with the technology created by Area 51. Once the plan is initiated, will Earth succeed in its payback or fail gloriously?

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Why I wrote Out of Time: a Time Travel Novel

So, you’re probably wondering how I came up with the story of Out of Time, at least that’s what I’m hoping you’re thinking ha ha.

I started out with thinking the whole US government-alien UFO landing conspiracy theories would make a good story. Then, I saw the movie Titanic in 1997 and thought it would be cool if I could include it, so it turned into a time travel story.  My villain, at first, was a guy who turned traitor and sold technology secrets to a terrorist organization. I had him hijack the timeship, but he thought he was going to 1941 to help Japan attack Pearl Harbor, instead he ends up in Roswell 1947. I didn’t think this character worked too well as the main antagonist, so I created a bigger bad guy, who pulled the strings from 50 years further in the future.

This antagonist ends up going back in time himself and impersonates J. Edgar Hoover. I have Hoover stay in control of the FBI because he knows where all the bodies are buried and what skeletons all the politicians have in their closets since he is from the future. He uses his knowledge to try and stop the time travelers, by sending teams of his own to where Hawking and the others are supposed to be. Eventually, it’s discovered that this Hoover had a hand in trying to assassinate JFK. At the end, you find out just why Hoover is determined to stop Hawking.

Other chapters deal with Anne Frank and the time travelers attempt to keep her from dying in the Concentration Camp she ends up in. I have my time travelers visit JFK because I was into the whole conspiracy about there being more than one shooter in Dallas that November day. I still think there is more to the whole assassination of the President than the government will ever let us know, but then again, maybe it was Oswald by himself who did it.

I have my time travelers even attempt to fix Apollo 13 and the Challenger shuttle. The only problem is, that when they return to their present, they discover changes they never imagined. I have them debate about whether they should fix the mistakes or just leave it alone. The message here being, should time travel ever be attempted and what about the grandfather paradox?

I’m really into American history, so that’s why I chose certain times in US history to start with. One of these days, when I’m a much better novelist, I will add more chapters or just add more to the chapters that are in the novella already, because I think it needs more meat to the story. Of course, I could just write a bunch of sequels, I don’t know yet. I just know that my next novel won’t take me ten plus years to finish, because I just nitpicked this one to death, and decided to publish it because I was just tired of looking at it and messing with it.  From the various people who have read it so far, who knew how I wrote in high school, have been pleasently surprised by how well the story flows and how interesting it is. Hopefully, that translates into a lot of people wanting to buy a copy.

I’m currently working on another novel that I once submitted to the Writer’s of the Future contest as a short story. Stay tuned for that, once I have it completely written, I will post what that novel is about.