Tag: United States

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.

The perfect blurb for The Usurper

I’ve been struggling with coming up with the perfect blurb for The Usurper. My other two novels, since they were science fiction, were fairly easy to come up with a description. I’ve gone through 4, maybe 5 different product descriptions/blurbs for this novel, mainly because I’m not really happy with any of them. I’m posting the ones I’ve put up, and if anyone who reads this has a suggestion, or a favorite blurb, then please leave a comment.

First Blurb, which has had three different variations of this, but is essentially the same as this one below:
Ever wonder what would happen if our worst fears were realized and we elected someone who was willing to destroy the USA, even if he was destroyed himself? The Usurper is that novel.

The Usurper is a fictional account of what would happen if the Soviet Union and KGB were given the chance to take down the United States from within. They use the American political system, education system, terrorism, and commit environmental disasters to achieve these goals.

The Soviet Union and the KGB refuse to let the purging of communists in the United States government by Senator Joe McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee deter them. Soviet Premier Khrushchev authorizes the KGB to embark on an ambitious, decades long plan to destroy the United States from within through the corruption of American politicians, the American education system, terrorism, and environmental disasters.

Gary Jackson, the main character, is the fulfillment of the KGB plan to destroy the United States from within. They raise him from birth to hate everything about the United States, indoctrinate him, and introduce him to terrorists across the world, where the KGB dictates all terrorist attacks. When Gary is a teenager, he is sent to the United States, with his fake birth certificate, to assimilate and begin his mission. Nothing will deter his goals of completely and utterly destroying the United States. When the Soviet Union dissolves, he is given a choice, and he decides to continue with the mission. A terrorist organization ends up filling in the gap left by the absent KGB, and they, together with Gary, conspire to destroy everyone in the United States who doesn’t agree with them.

2nd Blurb, which was done by http://www.conservativemonitor.com/blog/?p=220
A new novel by Cliff Ball, The Usurper has an interesting premise. What if the Soviet KGB had been undermining American society for years by destroying our education system, creating environmental disasters, and corrupting our politicians?

Sounds like communist conspiracy theory? Well, it does make good fiction. It is interesting that fiction, in order to hold our interest must have a viable, tangible plot that relates well with reality. It is kind of like the old saw that a good joke must contain a grain of truth.

Cliff Ball’s premise contains a whole lot of possibility for conjecture. There is little doubt that the Soviets were actively working for years to affect U.S. politics. Perhaps they succeeded better than they knew. Exporting communist ideology has definitely had a negative effect on Western society, undermining the work ethic and destroying free markets – resulting in a decline in prosperity for the majority. It is like the Rush used to say, the best way to defeat our economic enemies is to export liberalism to them. The Soviets did that to us.

Yes, the Soviets were defeated by the U.S. economic juggernaut. However, the old Soviets may get the last laugh yet.

3rd blurb:
The KGB and the USSR embarks on a plan to take down the US from within through the use of terrorism. No matter what the terrorists believe, as long as they have a problem with the Western powers and the United States, the KGB backs them, along with a super rich Spaniard who can’t stand the USA. Once the Soviet Union dissolves, Al Qaeda fills in that power vacuum and the inside man that the KGB has who will eventually bring down the US, sides with them, and the US ends up never being the same again. A small group of resistance fighters, led by one of the passengers of United Flight 93(who survive in this novel), aim to take down the now President of the United States.

4th blurb, and the most current version:
The USSR embarks on a plan to destroy the US through the use of terrorism, by backing anyone who has a beef with the USA. Eventually, Al Qaeda fills the power vacuum left by the disappearance of the USSR, and they help the Soviets’ inside man to completely destroy the US. A small group of resistance, led by a survivor of Flight 93, tries to bring down the now terrorist backed President of the US.

What do you think? Which one is the best? Any good suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

The Usurper and September 11

In my newest novel, The Usurper, I explore terrorism as part of the novel and who in this fictional universe is actually responsible for starting it/financing it against the United States and everyone else in the world when it begins in the late 1960’s. I decided to have the KGB train various terrorist groups to undermine the western powers, no matter which side they were on, right wing, left wing, or religious terrorism, that way the Soviet Union thinks they can win against their main enemy, the United States.

Eventually, when the Soviet Union collapses in the novel, Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden takes up the training of their own terrorists, but are financed by a trillionare who can’t stand the Americans. I have the World Trade Center attacked in 1993 like they were originally, nothing changes in that regard. Then, I have Tim McVeigh attack the Murrah Building and I explain that he tries to side with Al Qaeda(in the novel), but because he was an American they wouldn’t help him.

On September 11, 2001, I do have the exact same thing happen to the WTC and the Pentagon, but, in my novel I have United Flight 93 turn out differently. The passengers(who have different names in this universe) on board take back control and land in Pittsburgh. Eventually, the President is blamed for the attacks and is accused of making up Osama bin Laden, so that the Department of Homeland Security can be created, and he can have his way. Eventually, that President is executed by forces of the new President. A few chapters later, one of the men who helped take back control of Flight 93, helps leads the resistance against the man who sides with Al Qaeda and is trying to turn the United States into a communist utopia.

In real life, it’s the 9th anniversary of the attacks of September 11th. We should remember who our enemies are and not eat each other(Americans) alive because of some stupid disagreements. Instead of attacking each other, we should be focused on defeating the enemy, and we all know who that is. I say we drop a few nukes on those enemies, and that would be that.

My next novel(s)

I’m in the process of writing my fourth novel, this will be science fiction, starts in 1976, and diverges from the original timeline with the election of someone else as President of the United States, who declares the US will establish a moon base and Mars base before 1990.

I had this idea back when I was in high school, which was 20 years ago, and I wrote a whole novel, but it was total crap. I go back and read it now, and I can’t make heads or tails of it. So, I decided that now was the time to re-visit the concept. Of course, it WILL be written to make sense! lol

When I wrote the original version, the Soviet Union was still in existence, for the most part, so I had them competing with the United States when it came to leaving the solar system for the first time, but this was centuries from now. They had a couple wars over it, and nobody would have been considered the winner. The two countries continue their battle in space with their starships, both crash land on a planet, and find a lost colony of humans. Of course, the humans from Earth try to involve the colonists in their little spate, but are not successful. That was about as far as I would get before stopping and tossing the notebook into the nearest storage box.

In my new and improved version, history diverges around 1972. Nixon doesn’t have Watergate, the US actually beats the communists in Vietnam and wins, and the moon missions are not stopped. Up comes the 1976 Presidential Elections, and Ronald Reagan faces Jimmy Carter. Reagan makes a bold statement declaring that the US will have a Moon Base by 1979 and a Mars Base by 1989. Reagan wins the election, mostly because the voters see Carter as too depressing. The new President begins the push for the new space shuttle program to being delivering supplies to the moon.

The Soviet Union, under the leadership of Leonid Brezhnev, sees this bold new direction the US is taking and decides he wants to have the USSR do something even bolder. He visits Star City, and his scientists and engineers declare that they can build an interstellar, nuclear powered starship that will leave the solar system before the US can finish the Moon Base. The race is on.

Stay tuned for more updates for this novel.

The other novel will be a sequel to Don’t Mess With Earth. I’ve been pondering the direction of this novel for the past year, and I’m still not sure where to go with it. Having had some really good constructive feedback from some of my readers, I could just go back and re-write Don’t Mess With Earth, and just add what I’m considering for the sequel. However, I would prefer to write a sequel, since I already have the major characters figured out, most of whom were introduced at the end of the novel, assuming everyone who read it got that far, they’ll know which characters I’m talking about. As with the other story idea, stay tuned for news.

The Usurper, my newest novel

The Soviet Union and the KGB refuse to let the purging of communists in the United States government by Senator Joe McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee deter them. Soviet Premier Khrushchev authorizes the KGB to embark on an ambitious, decades long plan to destroy the United States from within through the corruption of American politicians and the American education system.

Gary Jackson is the fulfillment of the KGB plan to destroy the United States from within. They raise him from birth to hate everything about the United States, indoctrinate him, and introduce him to terrorists across the world, where the KGB dictates all terrorist attacks. When Gary is a teenager, he is sent to the United States to assimilate and begin his mission. Nothing will deter his goals of completely and utterly destroying the United States. When the Soviet Union dissolves, he is given a choice, and he decides to continue with the mission.

Find out what happens next, as a select few try to stop Gary Jackson.

Paperback, $5 off of $9.99. Use code JKJLG2YW

E-book on Smashwords, 57% off of $3.99, use coupon code SWS75

Kindle for $3.99

Poland’s leadership and Russia

As a writer, when something happens in the world, I tend to see possibilities of what might actually be happening behind the scenes. Well, the top brass of Poland was on an airplane, a Tupelov, approaching a Russian airstrip in the fog when it crashed and their were no survivors. Here is a list of leadership and what their equivalent is in US leadership:

The President and his wife
The Chief of Staff
A former President
The Secretary of State
The Secretary of the Interior
The Secretary of the Homeland Security
13 congressmen, including the Majority Leader
3 senators, one of whom is the president pro tempore
Army and Navy chiefs of staff
Chairman of the Federal Reserve
President of the US Olympic Committee
and a number of associated staff.

Since Russia is helping de-stabilize Kyrgyzstan, it makes one wonder if Vladimir Putin had Polands’ leadership taken out, with the convenient excuse of fog making landing difficult. Now, I won’t comment on our own leadership, but, lets just say that in my previous post about my next novel, KGB infiltrating American leadership doesn’t seem that far fetched, even if the USSR no longer exists in its former form. Of course, that is just the writer in me, so I’m just exploring possibilities.


The link to CNN story

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!

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?

Opening scene of next novel

I’m going to post the opening scene to my next novel, and I’m not sure if its weak or what. So, if a reader of this has an opinion on how it needs fixed or if it works, then please post! Anyway, the jist of my novel is about advanced humans leaving Earth around the time of Noah’s Flood and coming back a thousand years later, leaving, then coming back a few thousand years more, because they need help fighting aliens. Some of the “Terrans” take the place of actual humans in history and have adventures of their own, sort of inline with what actually happened. Anyway, the aliens, called the Ragnor, cause chaos at Roanoke, Salem, and Roswell, and abduct humans and experiment on them. The US government spends the next 60 years figuring out the alien technology after the crash at Roswell, then decide to pay back both sides. This is the President introducing the story to the world….

The President was not looking forward to this press conference, especially in the White House Press Room in front of all those scowling reporters. He had wanted to do it in the safety of the Oval Office, sitting behind his desk, with no one around but the TV people and the Secret Service. In the end, he felt it was necessary and the right thing to give this press conference in person, because he was the one who ordered the strike on the planet. What he was about to tell the people of not only the United States, but also the rest of the world, filled him with anxiety, mostly because it could anger enough people to get him impeached. The United States government had kept this secret now for more than sixty years, and now was time to tell the world. The President walked into the Press Room as his press secretary was introducing him, feeling as if the whole world was on his shoulders. He stationed himself behind the podium, took a deep breath, and began, “Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen of the Press and those of you at home watching on TV or the Internet. I am here to inform you of an action we, the United States, have taken no other government on eArth would have known about until shortly before this press conference. I suggest all of you sit back, relax, and listen to the whole story, because this may take a while. It all started a few thousand years ago….”