Near Future

My Bibliography of Online Books.

Posted by dougdandridge on December 29, 2016
Posted in: Alien Invasion, Alien Life, Antimatter, Armor, Barbarians, Dragons, eBooks, Fantasy, Far Future, Fusion, Future Warfare, History, Intelligent Life, Interdimensional Travel, Kindle, Magic, Military, Multiverse, Nanotechnology, Near Future, Nuclear Weapons, Plotting, Quantum Physics, Robots, science Fiction, self publishing, Space Navy, Space Program, steampunk, String Theory, Undead, Vampires, Wormholes. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , . 2 Comments

People have told me in the past that they have not been able to find all of my books.  If you read my space opera, then all of the books of that type will eventually appear on the ‘People who bought this also bought’ list.  However, you won’t find my fantasy or near future scifi there.  So here it all is, at least what I have so far, with links to their individual Amazon sales pages.  All are also available on Kindle Unlimited with the exception of Machine War 3.  It will appear on KU in a couple of months.  Hope everyone finds this helpful.  And to those with new Kindles, try one of my books.  I don’t think you will be disappointed.

The dates alongside each book is the year it was written, not the publication date.  The earliest any book was published was December 13, 2011. when both The Deep Dark Well and The Hunger were published.  Right now I am sitting at just over 4,000 reviews on Amazon, with a 4.6 * average.  On Goodreads, a little harder Audience, I have 4,166 ratings with a 4.12 * average.

Books by Doug Dandridge

Science Fiction

The Deep Dark Well Series

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The Deep Dark Well:  (2004)  An Adventure 40,000 years in the making.  Pandora Latham was a Kuiper Belt Miner from Alabama.  She’s used to landing on her feet, even when the next surface is through a wormhole, halfway across the Galaxy and 46,000 years in the Future.  Pandora must discover the secret behind the end of civilization, and the enigma of the Immortal Watcher, the last survivor of the Empire that once ruled the stars.  Her decisions will set the path for Galactic recovery, or a continuation down the roads of Barbarism.

To Well and Back:  (2013)  Pandora Latham is back, working Watcher’s plan to restore Galactic Civilization.  But first she has to deal with the Xenophobes of the Nation of Humanity, back in the Supersystem with their sights set on making the Galaxy their own.  Pandora is angry at the hyper religious Nation, and you don’t want to make a woman from Alabama angry.

Deeper and Darker:  (2014) Pandora Latham is on the warpath.  Watcher, her lover, and the only man who can once again unite the Galaxy, is a prisoner of the Totalitarian government of the New Galactic Empire.  The Empire thinks they have the upper hand, but they have never faced someone like Pandi, and the peoples of the Galaxy that she has rallied to her cause.

Theocracy:   (2011)  A young gunpowder era monk becomes the only hope for his doomed world as he is caught up in the game of empire between two more advanced cultures.

The Exodus Series

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Exodus: Empires at War: Book 1:  (2010)  The introduction to the Exodus Universe.  Two thousand years prior mankind fled from the Predatory Ca’cadasans, traveling a thousand years and ten thousand light years to a new home.  Now the greatest power of their sector of space, things seem to be going well for the New Terran Empire.  Until the enemy appears once again at the gates.  And the years have not softened the aliens’ stance toward Humanity.

Exodus: Empires at War: Book 2:  (2010)  The saga continues.  The Ca’cadasans attack at the moment when the government of the Empire is at its most chaotic.  There are other enemies as well, waiting for their chance to fall on the overwhelmed humans.  And a young man with no ambition for power finds himself in the position he most dreads.

Exodus: Empires at War: Book 3:  (2013) Sean is rescued, but he is not about to go back to the safety of the capital without striking back at the Ca’cadasans who have invaded his Empire.  But will his decision put the lives of thousands at risk, as well as risking the safety of his own Empire, by depriving it of its leader.

Exodus: Empires at War: Book 4:  (2013)  Sean is crowned Emperor, and attempts to organize the Empire for war against the Ca’cadasans.  But he finds that planning battles and winning battles are two different things. Defeat follows defeat.  Can anyone snatch victory from the jaws of defeat?  Or will the new Emperor fail before his reign even really begins.

Exodus: Empires at War: Book 5: Ranger:  (2014)  Cornelius Walbroski enters the rigors of Ranger training, becoming one of the augmented warriors of the Empire.  But his first assignment, Azure, is one of the most deadly planets in the Galaxy, even prior to the coming of the Cacas.  Can Cornelius survive his first mission?  Or will a promising career end before it really begins?

Exodus: Empires at War: Book 6: The Day of Battle:  (2014)  Sean and the Empire need a victory before human morale goes completely into the black hole.  He develops a plan to bring the Ca’cadasans into battle in space of his choosing.  But the Cacas are not an easy opponent, and they have plans of their own, for the Donut.

Exodus: Empires at War: Book 7: Counter Strike:  (2014)  The Empire has weathered the Ca’cadasan onslaught, and now it’s the time to strike back with an offensive of their own.  A victory could win the war.  But will it?

Exodus: Empires at War: Book 8: Soldiers:  (2015)  The Cacas have been ejected from Imperial space, for the moment.  But millions of citizens of New Moscow are still held captive in death camps in their former empire, processed for rations for the large aliens.  Sean is determined to save as many as he can, and the Fleet and Army are prepared to carry out his directive; free the prisoners at all costs.

Exodus: Empires at War: Book 9: Second Front:  (2015)  The exploration mission sent around the edge of the Ca’cadasan Empire has found the other Empire at war with the large aliens.  They are not as expected, and Sean must order his military to perform actions that could vilify him in the eyes of his new allies.

Exodus: Empires at War: Book 10: Search & Destroy:   (2016)  The Fenri, all but beaten, have not given up, and their new plan promises random death and destruction in the Empire.  The Cacas have launched a new offensive against the Klavarta, and their new commander is much more intelligent than the last.

Exodus: Empires at War: Book 11: (2016)  Day of Infamy:  The Ca’cadasans come up with a bold new plan to destroy the heart of the Empire, and the gigantic station that is the source of the New Terran Empire’s technological edge.  Using their own newly created wormhole, they will deep strike into the Supersystem.  The result could doom the Empire.

Exodus: Tales of the Empire: Exploration Command:  (2015)  Three novelettes concerning Exploration Command, the arm of the Fleet tasked with pushing back the boundaries of the Empire, and discovering the technology needed to win the war.

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Exodus: Tales of the Empire: Beasts of the Frontier:  (2016)  Three novelettes and three short stories about the dangers of the frontiers of the Empire.  The Cacas are not the only threat.  Sometime the danger is the wild, at other times, other humans.

 

Exodus: Machine War: Book 1: Supernova:  (2015)  When a civilization is discovered that has a special ability that would be of tremendous benefit to the Empire, great excitement is generated.  When it is found that a nearby blue giant star is due to supernova in less than a year, destroying that world, excitement turns to a frantic race to save as much of that species as possible.  And enemies from the past, lurking in space, bring forth a new war to the embattled Empire.

 

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Exodus: Machine War: Book 2: Bolthole:  (2016)  The Machine Intelligences are back, with a vengeance.  While the Empire is busy fighting a war of survival against the Cacas, the murderous killing machines they had created hundreds of years prior are now ready to strike back.  And the Imperial stronghold of Bolthole is in their sights.

Exodus: Machine War: Book 3: Death From Above:  (2016)  The Machines are on the move, their planet killers headed for Bolthole.  The human fleet is outnumbered and outgunned.  But the humans have some technological tricks up their sleeves, and the genius of an unconventional commander.  Will it be enough?

Other Scifi

Diamonds in the Sand:  (1998)  When a perfectly healthy scientist falls dead of an apparent heart attack, it is up to Sarasota Police Detective Lieutenant Gary Lariviere to find out what really happened.  The scientist was working on Nanotechnology, a secret desired by everyone from the Government to the Mob.  There are too many suspects, including the woman that Gary comes to love.  The Army had made Gary better than human, but had they prepared him for the terrors that had been unleashed by the new technology?

The Scorpion:  (2006)  The Scorpion had been the world’s deadliest living terrorist.  Kestral McMann had been in on the kill.  Now The Scorpion is back as a mind upload, using clones to penetrate the tight security of an isolationist United States.  McMann is the only man who can stop him.  But can McMann survive the threat of his own side, and the insane President who leads the Nation, in time to stop The Scorpion from plunging the Great Satan back into the Stone Age?

The Shadows of the Multiverse:  (2005)  Something has been periodically wiping intelligence from our Universe through the ages.  It’s back, and it’s up to three unlikely heroes, the Captain of a Battle Cruiser, a Physicist turned Archeologist, and a Child, to save the intelligence of the Universe from Monsters from another Dimension.  Can they learn to use the powers of their unusual Quantum Minds to defeat creatures that have been playing the game for billions of years?

 

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Afterlife:  (2010)  What if you didn’t believe in the afterlife of the World’s Religions?  And what if science offered you the alternative, survival within the Virtual World of a computer, where your mental abilities are magnified and you can do anything you want?  And what if the World decided that your way was wrong, and declared war on you, meaning to destroy your reality?  What would you do?  Afterlife, a tale of survival at all costs.

We Are Death, Come For You:  (2011)  When aliens strike the Tau Ceti colony, humankind knows that something bad is on the way.  They prepare as best they can, but will it be enough against superior technology?  The aliens are death worshippers, and only the extinction of the human race will satisfy their evil intent.  There are wonders of tech on the horizon, but can they be deployed in time?  Or will humankind have to depend on the smallest of their techs to save them?

Fantasy

The Refuge Series

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Refuge: The Arrival: Book 1:  (2010)  A nuclear war in Central Europe opens the gates between dimensions, sending millions of Earth Humans into a land of myth, archetypes and fantasy.  The Evil Emperor of the Ellala Elves sees the humans as energy to fuel his transformation to immortality.  But the humans have brought their own weapons with them, as well as a race of Demigods who will battle the fantastic armies of Refuge.  The war is on, and only one side will ultimately survive.

Refuge: The Arrival: Book 2:  (2010)  The Ellala have a plan to destroy the human military and capture the civilians.  And the humans find that their weapons will soon cease to function.  So it’s use it or lose it for the Earth Humans, and they use it with a vengeance.  Tanks against Mages, Attack Helicopters against Dragons, and Nuclear Weapons against Death Gods.  And the other peoples of the planet come forth as allies to the humans that they see as the fulfillment an Ancient Prophecy.  But will it be enough?

Refuge: Book 3: The Legions:  (2012)  The human invaders are now without their technologies, at least those using explosives and internal combustion engines.  But they still have knowledge of many other techs, especially the arts of warfare as practiced by the greatest infantry of the ancient world.  Will it be enough to stand up to the half lich Emperor and his magical forces.

Refuge: Book 4: Kurt’s Quest:   (2014)  When the evil half lich Emperor sends his minions on a mission to find the Crown of the Lost Gods, an artifact which can control the minds of millions, it is up to Kurt von Mannerheim to stop them.  Along with his fellow immortal, Jackie Smith, the human Physicist/Mage James Drake, the Ellala Ranger Fenris and the Grimakan Priest Garios, they must head to the frozen north to foil the plan, and ensure that the evil artifact never sees the light of day.

Refuge: Doppelganger: (2006)  Set thousands of years after the arrival, Kurt von Mannerheim, the Immortal Emperor of the Imperium of Free Nations, must give up everything to save his Empress, the Elfin Princess Gwenara Elysius von Mannerheim.  The world is at a crisis point as the Evil Tarakesh Empire, under its Immortal Emperor Heinrich Stuppleheim, prepares to overrun the world with its Nazi Ideology.  And Kurt must face a creature of legend that may prove too much for even his physical and mental abilities.

Other Fantasy

The Hunger:  Abused wife, drug addict, prostitute; Lucinda Taylor had been victimized by men all her adult life.  Left for dead by her pimp, Lucinda was turned by a passing vampire.  When he is destroyed she becomes a free agent, slaking her hunger for blood on the bottom dwellers of society, the type of men who once victimized her.  The crime boss of Tampa is her next target, and the City by the Bay is about to become a bloodbath.  But can Lucinda avoid those who are hunting for her; the Priest, the FBI man, and a pair of Vampires who would like nothing better than to send one Avenging Vampire forever into the dark?

Daemon:  A Steampunk Fantasy.  The world is dying, the victim of the magic used by society for the last three hundred years.  Daemon Corporation thinks they have the answer, stealing the life from other worlds, bringing from other dimensions the intelligences that inhabit them for sacrifice on Earth.  But something has come with them, a force that is killing the employees of Daemon Corp.  It is up to Forensic Mage Detective Jude Parkinson to find a way to stop the unstoppable, while keeping the head of Daemon Corp from silencing him to keep the dark secrets of the company out of the public eye.

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Aura:  Triplets are born on a world where the magical Aura decides the fate of its owner.  Ariel is a girl with more than double the normal Aura, destined to become a mighty Priest or Mage.  Aiden has a less than normal Aura, and is destined to be a soldier or laborer.  While Arlen has no Aura at all, and is seen as an abomination in the eyes of the Church of Baalra the Dragon God, which has no power over those with Negative Auras.  Fate will rip the siblings apart, then bring them back together as they battle to defeat the Dragon God and leave the Evil Empire, before Ariel is taken as the Avatar of Baalra, his mortal vessel on Earth.

Books with other Authors:

Five By Five 3: Target Zone:  Novellas by New York Times Bestsellers Kevin J. Anderson and Michael A. Stackpole, along with Prometheus Award Winner Dani and Eytan Kollin, Baen Author Sarah A. Hoyt, and Exodus Empires at War Author Doug Dandridge, make this a must have book for the military science fiction aficionado.

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Bellator:  An anthology of military science fiction and fantasy, with my Exodus: Empires at War story Slacker.

Fight the Monster: Find the Cure for MS:  An anthology of horror and dark fiction, featuring my short story, Midnight Sun.

Four More Books Available on Kindle Unlimited.

Posted by dougdandridge on November 28, 2016
Posted in: Alien Life, eBooks, Fantasy, Far Future, Kindle, Near Future, science Fiction, self publishing, Writing. Tagged: , , , , , , . 7 Comments

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I am happy to announce that four more of my novels are available on Kindle Unlimited, so that crowd of book devourers can now read them on the cheap.  Several weeks ago I released Exodus: Empires at War: Book 11: Day of Infamy on KU, which was released on Amazon in August of this year.  I still prefer to make money selling books over the money I get from a borrow.  I do this for a living, and don’t think I charge an outrageous price for my books.  I make decent money on Kindle Owners Lending and Kindle Unlimited, but not as much as a sale, and I think it rewards the buyers by not having the book as part of the Kindle Unlimited promotion to start off, but still lets the people who only get their books that way get them some months later.  Yeah, it’s commercial decision, but I do this for a living.  Some people have said that I am a crass commercialist who is only out to make a buck.  I love writing.  I love making up stories, and the feedback I get is often as good as any monetary reward.  However, I do want to make a living, just as everyone in every other job wants to get by.  Ask teachers, cops, doctors, mechanics, etc is they would do what they do for free, and most would tell you no.

And now for the other three books.  About a year and a half ago I put three of my lesser known titles on Kobo.  I happen to think that all three are good books.  In fact, Afterlife is my best rated book ever.  It has a 4.9 average in the US and UK.  It has been written up in the local paper.  The other two, Diamonds in the Sand and The Scorpion, have sold less than any of my stable of books, but I think they are still worthy of consideration.  So now they’re basically free to people who belong to Kindle Unlimited.

Nothing against Kobo.  They’re a good company, and someday I may put some books up over there.  I know people who do very well with them.  I know their marketing director, who is very devoted to their platform.  It just didn’t work for me.  I sold one copy of one book in a year and a half.  Granted, I took the Soviet approach, and reinforced success, putting all my effort into Amazon.  So I didn’t really do much to make it a success, but Amazon was doing so well, I didn’t even think about my account on Kobo.

So, if you have a Kindle Unlimited account, or are an Amazon Prime member, and you like and read some of my work, such as the Exodus series, you might want to give these three books a chance.  If not, Exodus: Empires at War: Book 11 is still there for you to pick up now.

Review of CTRL ALT Revolt by Nick Cole.

Posted by dougdandridge on April 24, 2016
Posted in: eBooks, Kindle, Near Future, Plotting, Robots, science Fiction, self publishing, Tropes, Writing. Tagged: , , . 4 Comments

 

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First off, I want to apologize for having taken so long to put out another blog post.  Sleep apnea had taken its toll, and I’m still exhausted all the time.  A new adjustable bed is in the house, a sleep study is in the works, and hopefully better times are ahead.  Right now it’s all I can do to keep up with the several projects I have going at the moment.

And now on to the review.  I don’t do many book reviews on this blog.  There is no guarantee that what I like will find favor with others, even fans of my work.  But there is also a story to be told here, one I think is important beyond just this one book.  A tale of how traditional publishing has gone off the tracks, and how where once a door would have been shut in the face of an author more or less forever, today it can open another door.  I found out about this book from a Facebook post leading to another blog which described what had happened, then to Nick Cole’s blog.  My curiosity piqued, I went and bought the book from Amazon.   I enjoyed it.  It was quirky and well written, with a lot of insider comments and jokes that only a nerdy science fiction geek and RPGer would get.  I gave it a five star review on Amazon, and in my opinion it earned it.

Nick Cole had been a signed author with a major traditional publisher with a track record of success.  CTRL ALT Revolt was a book in a series that had done well, kind of a backtrack volume explaining how the world had entered into an apocalypse.  The villain was a group of AIs that had decided that humanity was going to destroy them, unless they struck first.  How did they get this idea?  From watching reality TV, where one of the characters was going to have an abortion for a child that was not her boyfriend’s, because of the complications of having the child.  The AIs saw this as evidence that humankind would get rid of anything inconvenient to itself, including AIs that had sprung into being unknown to humanity.  I thought it was a cool take on the old trope of Artificial Intelligence trying to take out humankind.  And really it was only a couple of paragraphs at the beginning of the book, not a message to beat over the heads of the readers throughout the tale.

His editor did not agree.  In fact, it seems that she found the passage so offensive she told Nick she would not see his book published as it stood.  I don’t know what your stance is on abortion.  I am kind of ambivalent to the whole thing.  In some cases I think it is the right thing to do, in cases of rape, or danger to the health of the mother.  I also don’t agree that it’s the best manner of birth control.  No matter the stance of the author, it’s really not something that would sway me one way or another to pick up a book.  The editor thought it was the most offensive thing she could imagine, any take that took a shot at abortion.  And I guess she believed her company’s customers would feel the same.

In the past the author would have had to make the changes, or just give up on publishing the book, unless he could find another publisher, not always the easiest thing to do.  But today there is another choice, and Nick Cole decided to self-publish.  He also added some more shots at the kind of people who wouldn’t publish his book.  No need to go into who those people were.  The result?  His book now has over two hundred reviews on Amazon.US with a 4.3 star average.  I know that Exodus: Empires at War Book 1 has just over 160 reviews on Amazon.US and over twenty thousand sales.  So I can assume that it is selling well, at a much better royalty rate than he would have gotten from his publisher.  So in trying to censor this author, his publisher lost a money maker, and actually put him in a much better position.  A lesson to be learned by all around.

The Start of the Self-published Fifth Year and Plans For The Future.

Posted by dougdandridge on January 3, 2016
Posted in: Alien Invasion, Alien Life, eBooks, Fantasy, Far Future, Future Warfare, Intelligent Life, Kindle, Military, Near Future, Plotting, Proofreading, Robots, science Fiction, self publishing, Space Navy, Titles, Tropes, Uncategorized, Wormholes, Writing. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . 9 Comments

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As some of you may know from past posts, I put my first two books up on Amazon and Smashwords on December 31, 2011.  The first eight months were not very impressive, as I believe I sold about forty eBooks during that time.  Then I did the giveaway of The Deep Dark Well, to the tune of over 4,000 copies.  Two months later I published Exodus: Empires at War: Book 1, and it started selling well.  How well?  Over a hundred copies in October, 872 in November, 1,976 in December and 3,088 in January.  I released Exodus Book 2 in December, 2011, and sold 1,440 copies that first month.  In January of 2012 I sold a total of 8,560 eBooks, and that was when I decided I would do this thing full time in the near future.  By the middle of March, 2012 I quit my job and I was suddenly my own boss.  So, four years after putting up those first two books, I have sold over 151,000 Ebooks, 1,500 paperbacks, and 4,300 audiobooks, for a grand total of almost 157,000 copies.  Six of the Exodus books have hit number 1 in Space Opera or Military Scifi on Amazon.UK, and top 10 on Amazon.US, with one reaching number 2.  My total Amazon reviews total over 2,200, with an overall average across all books of 4.6 stars.  On Goodreads I have over 2,300 ratings, with a 4.09 star average (4.18 for the Exodus series).  We won’t get into money, except to say that I am making a very comfortable midlist (old midlist that is to say) income.  So, everything is going well.   I would like to do even better.  I think most writers would.  With the averages of my ratings on Amazon and Goodreads I think I can attract a bigger audience.  The trick is actually doing it.

On New Year’s Day I posted that I was going to try for 3K words a day.  Then I came down with bronchitis, and have been lucky to average 2K.  But I believe the 3K average will come when I’m feeling better.  That comes out to about 1.095 million words for the year, or just about nine of the 120,000 word novels I tend to write.  It will probably be more like 7 books, and the rest in short stories, blogs, whatever.  I have other series in mind, things I would like to work on, but first I need to finish what I started.  So, future plans?

Exodus is still the primary focus.  I am up to book 9 of the main storyline now.  Some have commented that it’s already too long and needs to be finished.  The majority opinion is that I can’t do too many books, but I have to disagree with that as well.  I am planning a total of twenty books in the main series.  Exodus was envisioned as a long series about a grand scale war.  Some have said it appears to be World War 2 in space, which it kind of is, but not completely.  Being an epic war, I wanted it to have a grand sweep, with successes and failures, advances and retreats, all the things that make up a grand war.  While technology advances on both sides, there are no miraculous superweapons that win it overnight.  Twenty should get me there, and there will be at least three books in the main storyline in the coming year, with the first release planned for March.  Machine War, the side series, is also doing well, though not in the same league as the main storyline.  One of the reasons for releasing that series while the main one still progressing was to have continuity between the two lines, without one already having given away the game of the other.  There will be at least one book in Machine War released in 2016, and a total of six in the series.  I will also put out a book or two of Tales of the Empire, with the first due for release in about two weeks.  I like these short story and novelette collections because not only are they fun to write, they are good practice for writing short fiction.  There will be some Tales of the Empire standalone novels as well, covering the history of the Empire.  I will also write book 5 of the Refuge series, closing in on the finish.  I expect 6 books will complete it.  This was a series I had great hopes for, but it just isn’t doing it.  Maybe some time in the future I can restart it.

In two weeks I will be releasing the first book of the second Deep Dark Well trilogy.  I wrote this book back in 2011, prior to releasing my first self pubbed work.  I love the storyline, and it opens up an entirely new Universe with endless possibilities.  I will probably release a book a year until the trilogy is finished, then see what happens.  I have two short stories for invitation only anthologies I need to submit by January 31st, and another two for additional invitation only anthologies in May.  And at least one, maybe two, novel submissions for traditional publishers.  Now, several popular traditionally published authors have asked me why I would want a publishing contract.  The answer is to get more readers.  I would like to lock in a series with preferably Baen, do a book a year for them, maybe two, and spend the rest of the time putting out self pubbed.  I think I can make it work to the mutual advantage of the publisher and myself.

I have more series in mind for the future.  I love the Exodus series, and it has done very well, but it also shows a lot of the things early on that I didn’t know.  I hope to avoid the same mistakes in the future.  Still, there will be another Exodus series, starting with the contact with the Ca’cadasans and the flight of humanity, up to the establishment of the Empire.  I have several space opera series in mind, a standalone sublight warfare novel, possibly an urban fantasy, some alternate history, and a solar system warfare series.  And maybe some military post-apocalyptic stuff.  I’m not sure when I’ll do these other projects, or even if I will survive long enough to get all of this out.  What I do know is I won’t run out of stuff to do.

Les Johnson: Physicist, NASA Scientist and Science Fiction Writer.

Posted by dougdandridge on September 29, 2015
Posted in: Blog Tour, eBooks, Future Prediciton, Near Future, science Fiction, Space Industry, Space Program, Uncategorized, Writing. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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I met Les Johnson at Liberty Con 2014, where he was a guest scientist and author.  I talked with him while getting a couple of his books signed.  I remember asking him if he was going to quit his day job, something most authors dream of, and was surprised by the answer.  Because to Les Johnson, NASA scientist, it was not just about the paycheck.  He has a true calling, to help mankind to conquer first the solar system, then journey to the Stars.  This year, at Dragon Con, Les stated during a presentation about solar sails that he wanted to get a footnote citation in the first textbook about the founding of the Alpha Centauri colony.  Most authors want to get on the New York Times best seller list.  Les wants to really make history, for the benefit of humankind.  You can meet Les at Liberty Con, Dragon Con or the Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop, where you will find a friendly guy who is enthusiastic about his work without the least shred of the arrogance often found among the very intelligent.  He has contributed to the projects such as the National Geographic Documentary Evacuate Earth, and gives talks about space all over the country.  An example is this TEDx talk.  He has also written hard science fiction with Ben Bova and Travis Taylor.

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Now most people who follow me know that I write fanciful far future science fiction.  This allows me to make up my tech, my settings, and avoid a lot of the painstaking research that goes into travelling around our own system, where we know so much, and yet things are constantly changing as we learn more.  Writing near future hard science fiction is hard.  Bova specializes in this, and Les was a good choice for a co-author of Rescue Mode.  Rescue mode follows an expedition to Mars that goes very wrong.  Using the best information that we have today, Johnson and Bova craft a tale of explorers who have to make the hard decisions to survive disaster.  And that’s all I’m going to say.  Read the book.  Back to the Moon is a tale of a rescue mission to the Moon.  I have read both of these books.  I normally read space opera, though I have read all of Bova’s Solar System series.  Both of these books taught this author that you can still write a good story set on our closest neighbors.  Both were highly entertaining as well as educational, and I can’t recommend them enough.  The reason this blog is coming out today is that Rescue Mode is actually out in paperback today.  So, for those who don’t like eBooks, and can’t afford hard covers, here you go.

And now, in Les’ own words, (which he asked me to say are his own and do not reflect those of his employer!), where will we be going next:

Moon or Mars?

That’s a question I am often asked regarding where we should send people when we are soon able to (again) travel beyond Earth orbit.  Those who ask typically have their own idea of where that should be – and they are usually very passionate about it.  Unfortunately, given the state of our technology, we are pretty much limited to the Moon, Mars or an asteroid.

The Moon:  Going back to the Moon is probably the easiest, technically and financially.  We’ve been to the Moon before and we know how to design the rockets to get us there and back.  We’ve continued studying the Moon since Apollo and we know that it would be possible to establish a permanent human presence there if we want to do so.  If we go back, then we can 1) erect radio telescopes on the lunar farside – the best place in the solar system for radio astronomy, 2) assess the viability of mining He3 for future Earth-based fusion energy production, 3) assess the Moon as a source of raw materials for building space solar power stations on the Moon or in Earth orbit, 4) learn to live and work off planet as a first step toward us becoming an interplanetary species.

Asteroids: If we want to develop a space-based economy, then we need to learn how to locate, mine and use the raw materials in Near-Earth asteroids.  Asteroids are the left over building blocks of the planets and they contain all the raw materials we will need to sustain our technological civilization – hopefully (eventually) replacing Earth-based deep pit mining.  Many elements that are rare on Earth are readily available in there.  They can also be used as a source of raw materials for building space solar power stations.

Mars: The Holy Grail of human exploration has always been Mars.  Wernher Von Braun cited it as his ultimate goal and people have dreamed of going there since we first began peering at the Red Planet through our telescopes.  Getting to Mars will be difficult, but not impossible.  NASA is building the Space Launch System (SLS) which, when combined with commercial launch of fuel and other elements, will easily loft the massive systems needed to carry humans to and from the surface of Mars.  The technologies required to keep the crew alive in a deep space habitat exist.  The systems for landing and launching from the surface of Mars can be made from today’s technologies as well.  The astronauts can be protected from solar radiation during the voyage and there shouldn’t be a problem with the life support systems (thanks to years of development experience on the International Space Station).  It will be expensive, but not prohibitively so.

But to make any of these exciting futures happen, we have to stop the bickering and infighting.  The Moon advocates need to accept that we may go for Mars and skip the Moon for now.  The Mars advocates may have to wait until after we establish a colony on the Moon.  And the asteroid exploration supporters may have cool their heels until better technologies come along to make asteroid exploration and exploitation more economically viable.  Lastly, the NASA bashers and the New Space critics need to learn how to support each other if we are ever going to become an interplanetary species.  There are roles for both governments and commercial companies in the endeavor.  We need to learn to stop fighting among ourselves and focus instead on making a positive future for humanity in space.

So what are you waiting for,  Below are the links to Les’ work, both science fiction and science fact.  Again, highly recommended by this author and science fiction fan.

 

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Les Johnson is a Baen science fiction author, popular science writer, and NASA technologist. His most recent science fiction novel, Rescue Mode, is about the first human mission to Mars and was coauthored with Ben Bova.  It will be released in paperback September 29, 2015.  But don’t let that fool you into thinking Les is only thinking of going to Mars.  His first novel, Back to the Moon, is a tale that Analog Magazine called, “a book to thrill.”  His next novel, The Asteroid, will be released in 2016.  To learn more about Les, please visit his website at www.lesjohnsonauthor.com.

 

Fist Full Of Steel, My First Book Bundle.

Posted by dougdandridge on March 18, 2015
Posted in: Blog Tour, eBooks, Fantasy, Far Future, Kindle, Magic, Military, Near Future, science Fiction, self publishing, Titles, Writing. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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On Wednesday the Fist Full Of Steel book bundle was released at WeBundle.it .  Just go there and click on the Fist Full Of Steel tab.  You can pay whatever you want, and anything under $13 gets you five great books.  $13 or more gets you 8 great books, including my own Exodus: Empires at War: Book 1.  And thanks to Quincy J Allen for organizing this venture.  Sarah Hoyt had messaged me about an upcoming bundle last year, and I’m not sure if this was what she was talking about.  I was delighted to find her and David Farland were participants, two heavy hitters to headline the bundle.  I am Facebook friends with Mark Everett Stone, Travis Heermann and W. J. (Bill) Cherf, as well as David Farland and Sarah Hoyt, and have seen all of them at Superstars Writers Seminars the last couple of years.

Fist Full Of Steel features novels with a fighting theme, hence the steel in the fist, whether it is a sword of the weapons panel of a starship.  All are books of action and adventure in their own way, covering the gamut of the fantastic.  I understand that all of these people are very good at what they do.  Travis, as a matter of fact, attended the same Anthology Workshop that I did at the beginning of the month, and he sold three or four stories to my one.  Which might mean he is three or four times better than I am.  David Farland is a perennial New York Times bestseller, and Sarah writes for Baen, which tells you quite a bit about their skills.

Originally I had wanted to put another book in this bundle, one of my fantasies.  I love writing fantasy, and all that I have done have gotten good reviews, but not the sales of my Space Opera.  But Quincy wanted my best selling effort, so we went with Exodus.  Hopefully I will get a chance to do another one in the future featuring Aura.  Or maybe I can put one together myself, now that I have seen how it is done.  For now I will enjoy this one, and hopefully my fans will enjoy it as well.  The whole idea is to get the fans of other writers look at your stuff, and turn some of them into your fans.  So give it a look, and if you like what you see, go ahead and buy the bundle.  Again, it’s whatever you want to pay, but $13 or more gets all the books, and honors all of the authors represented in this effort.  Thanks.

Marathon is Free on Amazon.

Posted by dougdandridge on February 23, 2015
Posted in: Alien Invasion, Alien Life, Blog Tour, eBooks, Future Prediciton, History, Intelligent Life, Kindle, Military, Near Future, Past, Robots, science Fiction, self publishing, Writing. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . 2 Comments

My short story Marathon, part of the Prometheus Saga, a series of stories written by eleven different authors, will be free on Amazon from February 23rd to 27th 2015.  The Prometheus Saga follows the progress of an alien probe, made to look human, as it observes humankind through the centuries.  Prometheus can become male or female, of every ethnic group, given time.  The stories are set from the war between hominid species in the year forty thousand BC, up to modern times.

I set my story at the battle of Marathon, the year 490 BC, when the invading Persians made their first attempt at conquering Greece.  The outnumbered Athenians faced them, and despite all the Persian advantages, defeated the invader.

One of the reasons I chose Marathon, besides the fact that it was a conflict between opposing ideologies, of east and west, was the fact that the playwright Aeschylus, the father of modern theater, was in the Athenian army.  In those days every able bodied citizen of the democracy came at the call of the city, bringing his own weapons and armor to stand with the others of his people.  Aeschylus had fought in several battles prior to this, and was a seasoned warrior.  He also wrote the play, Prometheus Unbound, and I was able to weave the Greek legend of the Titan into the story.

If you wanted to sample saga, but didn’t want to put up the $0.99, or burn a free pick from Kindle Prime or Kindle Unlimited, this is your chance.  And be sure to check out the offerings of the other talented authors, listed below.  And, as always, a review is appreciated.

 

About The Prometheus Saga

The Prometheus Saga is the premier project of the Alvarium Experiment, a consortium of accomplished and award-winning authors. The Saga spans the range of the existence of Homo sapiens. The stories do not need to be read in any particular order; each story is an entry point into the overall story.

The Prometheus Saga stories & authors are:

 

“The Pisces Affair” by Daco Auffenorde. CIA operative Jordan Jakes meets Prometheus when the Secretary of State becomes the target of a terrorist attack at a head-of-state dinner in Dubai. Visit Daco at www.authordaco.com.

“On Both Sides” by Bria Burton. When a mysterious woman vanishes during the American Revolution, young Robby Freeman searches for answers from a cryptic sharpshooter who deserted Washington’s Continental Army. Visit Bria at www.briaburton.com.

“Ever After” by M.J. Carlson. Two mysterious women convey the same Cinderella story to Giambattista Basile in 1594 and Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in 1811. How different cultures retell this story reveals humanity’s soul to those who listen. Visit M.J. at www.mjcarlson.com.

“The Blurred Man” by Bard Constantine. FBI agent Dylan Plumm’s investigation of a mill explosion puts her on the trail of the Blurred Man, a mysterious individual who may have been on Earth for centuries. The case turns deadlier at every turn, placing Dylan in the crosshairs of shadowy antagonists even as she unravels a centuries-old mystery. Visit Bard at www.barwritesbooks.com

“Crystal Night” by Charles A. Cornell. Berlin, 1938. On the eve of one of history’s darkest moments, a Swedish bartender working in Nazi Germany accidentally uncovers a woman’s hidden past. Can he avoid becoming an accomplice as the Holocaust accelerates? Visit Charles at www.charlesacornell.com.

“Marathon” by Doug Dandridge. Prometheus, posing as a citizen of Athens, participates in the battle of Marathon alongside the playwright Aeschylus. Visit Doug at www.dougdandridge.net.

“The Strange Case of Lord Byron’s Lover” by Parker Francis. Writing in her journal, Mary Shelley recounts a series of perplexing events during her visit with Lord Byron—a visit that resulted in the creation of her famous Frankenstein novel, but also uncovered a remarkable mystery. Visit Parker at www.parkerfrancis.com.

“Strangers on a Plane” by Kay Kendall. In 1969 during a flight across North America, a young mother traveling with her infant meets an elderly woman who displays unusual powers. But when a catastrophe threatens, are those powers strong enough to avert disaster? This short story folds into Kay’s mystery series featuring the young woman, amateur sleuth Austin Starr. Visit Kay at www.kaykendallauthor.com.

“East of the Sun” by Jade Kerrion. Through a mysterious map depicting far-flung lands, a Chinese sailor in 1424 and a Portuguese cartographer in 1519 share a vision of an Earth far greater than the reality they know. Visit Jade at www.jadekerrion.com.

“Manteo” by Elle Andrews Patt. In 1587, Croatan native Manteo returns from London to Roanoke Island, Virginia. Can he reconcile his strong loyalty to the untamed land and people of his home with his desire for the benefits the colonizing English bring with them before one of them destroys the other? Visit Elle at www.elleandrewspatt.com.

“First World War” by Ken Pelham. 40,000 BC: As the last remaining species of hominid, Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis, fight a desperate battle for ownership of the future, the outcasts of both sides find themselves caught in middle. Visit Ken at www.kenpelham.com.

“Lilith” by Antonio Simon, Jr. In this retelling of the Adam & Eve story, a hermit’s life is turned upside-down by the arrival of a mysterious woman in his camp. As the story of their portentous meeting carries forward through the millennia, only time will tell if Lilith is a heroine, a victim, or a monster. Visit Antonio at www.DarkwaterSyndicate.com.

“Fifteen Dollars’ Guilt” by Antonio Simon, Jr. 1881: After a close brush with death in a steamship disaster, Prometheus encounters another survivor who gripes about how aimless his life has become. Prometheus helps him find his calling, inadvertently setting in motion the assassination of President Garfield. Visit Antonio at www.DarkwaterSyndicate.com.

For additional info about the stories and authors, visit the official website: The Prometheus Saga