When I was maybe 12 or 13 years old, one of the first stories I ever wrote was about an old man wandering the streets in a dystopian future. He was so old and forgotten that he couldn’t even remember his name, going by the initials RDB. Those initials, of course, stood for Raymond Douglas Bradbury, and the man at the time was my literary hero. My very obvious stylistic mimicry of him back then, in that and many other proto-stories, was excruciating yet necessary; all part of a writer’s journey. But it’s no exaggeration to say I almost certainly wouldn’t have been a writer had it not been for Ray Bradbury and his short stories in particular. Up until the time I opened a well-pawed library copy of The Illustrated Man, I knew I loved stories (what kid doesn’t?), but I’d never realised until that moment how those stories could be presented, enclosed in beauty, garnished with lyricism and beauty. Not just the tale but the telling. That was Bradbury’s gift to me and countless other readers who, thanks to his example, began to dream of also being writers. Continue reading “Build Your Wings”
Tag: science fiction
Sneak Peek: Trophy: Rescue by Paul Schofield
Today we have a sneak peek from the second book author Paul Schofield’s science fiction Trophy series: Rescue.
Imagine an Earth restored to perfection under the care of ten women Guardians, who answer only to a governing computer. Imagine a peaceful, colonized Solar System. This is what the New Victorian Empire has accomplished in the 476 years of its existence. Now mankind faces extinction because of a genetic mutation caused by the catastrophic collapse of Earth’s environment in 2065 A.D., the year the Empire began. The Keyhole anomaly, a wormhole in space, offers a solution; time travel to transport genetically sound humans from the past. A powerful underground organization is rapidly building their forces to eliminate the Empire and gain control of the Keyhole and the Solar System. Only the Planetary Control Corps (PCC) under the leadership of Star-Commander Abigail VanDevere and the dynamic team of Lieutenant Janet Rogerton, Pilot Kolanna, Martin, and Panther stand in the rebels’ way. Will the strength and determination of the PCC be enough? Will they have time to succeed?
Trophy: Rescue is available from Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. Continue reading “Sneak Peek: Trophy: Rescue by Paul Schofield”
Meet the Author: Rachel Rossano
Rachel Rossano is an an avid reader and lover of books, as well as an an author of clean romantic fiction. She usually writes fantasy novels that masquerade as historical, but she recently expanded into the science fiction genre.
She says her greatest writing strength is in her ability to write palpably real characters and relationships. “People intrigue me. Their decisions, interactions, and stories fascinate me. Running errands, I listen to the people around me and glean character and story ideas for later.”
The area she finds most challenging is plotting character conflict. “I tend to avoid conflict in my daily life. It takes work to force it into my plots, but without it, my books would be boring reads.” Continue reading “Meet the Author: Rachel Rossano”