Thing: First Contact – Cover Reveal Blitz and Giveaway

What’s the story behind the story? What inspired you to write this book?

The story or stories behind the story involve my own experiences, some miraculous and unfathomable, some tragic, and some full of hope…and all wanting to come out! Using the notion of an alien encounter and the story as an allegory of our times, I realized that I could offer readers something that would make them better for having read the story. And I always wanted to travel back in time to rewrite history!

What’s your favorite genre to read? Is it the same as your favorite genre to write?

Plenty of fiction novels, sci-fi of course, lots of history and the classic “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu,” ever at the ready. But geopolitics has been a passion and quantum physics, psychology, and philosophy, especially Plato. In sci-fi everything is relevant and when realism is needed…a must!

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

Well, that’s interesting… Years ago when I was deep into mountaineering, I wrote an article about a 43 day expedition on Mt. Denali in Alaska. For years, I’ve entertained with stories of my 8 month hitchhiking journey across Africa and many other adventures, so you could say I was already steeped in the oral tradition and people enjoyed my stories. Along the way for my various construction projects, I wrote lots of contracts and in the not too distant past, I was writing White Papers for several high tech startups. The technical background was there. So I guess the answer is that though I never gave it any thought…I’ve been a writer for a while, but when on April Fools Day, 2020, I started in on FIRST CONTACT, and began to bring all that oral story telling to bear, I crossed some sort of threshold and was now an author!

Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in Thing FIRST CONTACT?

Well, there’s amateur astronomer Jason Hall, protagonist and first person narrator, so we see everything through his eyes. He’s a regular guy who finds himself in extraordinary circumstances, challenged to the very core of his being. He falls for Becky Sorensen, post doc, grad student anthropologist. She grapples with her uncertain self, but he loves her all the same. When Jason returns and tells his story about being on this thing called the Ark, with Arkan, the alien, and being sent back in time…she doubts his story as do many others, but President James Orr believes him and so does NASA’s top scientist, as do his attorneys in Boston, at Brewster, Brewster & Cohen, LLP. When the Ark goes into orbit around Earth…enter the Digital Catatonia, the mind virus, infecting humanity, and enter Susan Lange, PHD Psychologist who is also an undercover Secret Service Agent tapped to keep an eye on Jason. You can guess where that’s going to go! And then there’s Janet Reese, middle aged and stalwart, brought up on a ranch, she’s Jason’s housekeeper. She will do anything for Jason. And then of course there’s Arkan, the alien intelligence “of” the Ark. He manifests in the minds of humans and with unbelievable powers, is the main driver of the story. These characters stay with us through all 3 books of The THING Trilogy.

What scene in your book was your favorite to write?

Many favorites, but this one puts Jason with Arkan in a congressional hearing in the capital building. I like it because it gives some idea of Arkan, the alien, and pokes fun at the politicos in Washington:

As far as I could see it was all political maneuvering and had nothing to do with learning about Arkan and the Ark. I had not been asked one question. I was pondering this when I looked up at the ceiling. There intermingled with the light from the chandelier was the familiar glow.

“Arkan!” I said under my breath.

“It is I,” echoed from the chandelier.

There were exclamations from the public gallery. People were now pointing at the chandelier. The Chairman was pounding his gavel.

“Order…order…we will have order in this Committee Room…order…”

I knew I had to do something. No one was paying attention to me. I decided to act. I envisioned Arkan sitting in the seat beside me. He was there. I stood up.

“Mr. Chairman, I…”

“The witness will take his seat!”

I sat down. Now people were pointing again. The DNI was pushing away from the table. Arkan was in the chair smiling his familiar smile, but I understood that as yet no one else in the room was seeing him. They were seeing the glow.

“Mr. Chairman, Arkan is here!” I said, but the Chairman was confused.

“The witness will be in order,” he shouted as he banged the gavel.” 

There was a commotion in the Gallery and then a Congresswoman from New York fainted. I pushed back from the table and stood up.

“Everyone,” I raised my voice, “everyone look at the monitors. Look at the image of Arkan on the monitor…look at it and fix that image in your mind. DO IT NOW,” I shouted. The Chairman pounded the gavel but no one paid attention. People were pointing again and I could hear people saying, “I see him,” and “There…look he’s sitting there!” and other exclamations.

I was motioning for everyone to quiet down. “Please, please everyone…hold that image from the monitors in your mind, and let me explain.”

The Chairman was mumbling, “Order…order…order…”

The room was silent.

“Please everyone,” I was pleading. “I have tried to explain this so many times. When I talk to Arkan I talk to the image that I have of him in my mind, because that is what he sees in my mind. It is the same with you who are seeing him as the image you see on the monitors. He is in your minds seeing that image.”

There were some gasps. I looked at the Chairman. He was white as a sheet, his eyes bulging, his lips moving with nothing coming out. The Ranking Member was talking to him and pointing at one of the monitors. General Proteus was carefully extending his hand to Arkan. I introduced Nelson who stood up and came forward. Felix reached over as well. We were creating a sense of normalcy whether those participating knew it or not. I looked up at the dais. Several Committee Members were trying to revive the Congresswoman from New York. The Ranking Member was talking sideways to the Chairman who was staring straight ahead, but was now nodding his head. I looked around at David. He smiled and gave me a barely perceptible thumbs up. I turned back to Arkan.

“You made one hell of an entrance,” I said.

What kind of research do you do before you begin writing a book?

I do lots of research, but the research takes place as I am writing…as backup. I want things to be true to form and I want to inform the reader. There’s no reason why real things can’t inform sci-fi or fantasy…where reality becomes unreality and asks the big questions. Then of course there are the “what ifs” that launch us into whole new realms. And the characters…what if this happened to Jason, or what if Susan did this? So you see, I like to put my characters in situations and watch how they work their way out of them. I am the observer and let what happens happen. And it’s like that with the research…provide the research to back up the characters in the situation.

You’ve talked about your writing process. Do you do an outline first? Do you do the chapters first?

I do write a basic outline of the ideas, the main themes, and the dilemmas facing the characters, but there are underlying themes that are the foundation of the trilogy. I don’t need to remind myself of those, but some structure is needed. Certain things need to happen early on…so they can develop later on…now the protagonist faces his first challenge…now he’s in real trouble…then it’s decision time… Like that. You gotta move the story. You gotta keep the reader engaged. What could possibly happen next? The chapters come along naturally where the story needs to break to someone else or some thing else…another developing situation. You can’t leave your characters hanging too long. But sometimes I’ll have to rewrite a chapter or cut and paste part of a chapter into another. I like to surprise my readers! And sometimes my characters surprise me.

Do you have any quirky writing habits; lucky mugs, cats on laps, etc.?

No pets, but I do have a favorite mug. Sometimes, late at night I’ll wake up after intensely dreaming. That’s when the magic happens! I let it come and write it down…and then sit back, and take another sip of herbal tea from my favorite mug!

Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?

“Your mind is a place, it is not you!” That’s from the book, but here’s one from Richard Feynman, Physicist: “I would rather have questions that can’t be answered than answers that can’t be questioned.”

If you could choose one thing for readers to remember after reading your book, what would it be?

That if you trust the universe you may be surprised where you wind up and what you could be!