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Ambush at Galaxy Gulch (late 2019)
The following is from John Bowers.
Third Editor of The Painful Truth.
James,
I first dreamed of becoming a novelist when I was about 13 years old. I was still in 8th grade when I started writing short stories. That summer I was paid $4 a day for irrigating cotton, and I used the money to buy a typewriter. The day I got it home, I started work on my first "novel". Nine months later, I finished it. It wasn't much of a novel, only 120 typewritten pages, double-spaced, but I finished it (and it's still in my garage).
My high school teachers raved over my writing ability. I didn't know it was any big deal...I just liked to write stories. I didn't realize right away that I had a serious talent, even though I had written five more (somewhat longer) books by the time I graduated high school. One of my English teachers said to my mother, "If he was my son, I'd take him out of school before I'd let him stop writing".
Right around the time I first started writing, my mom joined WCG (RCG at that time). I was writing stories all the time, and I shared them with some of the kids at church. Not surprisingly (knowing what I know now), a ton of shit came down on my head. Mr. Armstrong had said fiction is a waste of time, just "ready-made daydreams". And I was writing daydreams of my own.
To make a very long story short, I was sneered at, snickered at, insulted, and condemned. I finally surrendered. I gave up my dream of becoming a famous novelist because “God's ministers” disapproved of the idea.
Fast forward to 1992. I left WCG on May 29. A couple of months later I saw an ad in a magazine for people to write children's books. I knew it was a rip-off and I didn't bite, but it got me thinking. I sat down at the keyboard and banged out a 31,000-word kid's novel featuring my son Joe (now a professional animator with six years at Disney Animation and four at DreamWorks) and his friend Howard (also a professional artist who now does my book covers). It only took me two weeks, writing a couple of chapters each night, and the boys loved it. They shared it with their friends. It was a hit.
I was 44 years old. I had figured, back when I was a kid, that by the time I was 44 I would be world-famous for my novels. (That was a kid's dream, but it does happen to some people.) But in 1992, I was a complete unknown as a writer. Hell, I wasn't even writing. But I decided it wasn't too late. I wasn't dead yet, and I still had time to go after my dream.
I hadn't written much in a long time. The talent was there, but like a diamond in the rough, it needed polishing. I wrote several novels that didn’t sell, and in 1997 I joined an online workshop for science fiction writers, where I learned a lot of techniques that I hadn't known before (or had forgotten).
So...why am I telling you all this?
Because I now have 16 novels on Amazon, and by the end of 2019 I’ll have 21 (five are in final stages of edit as I write this).
I almost let my dream get away, thanks to HWA and his Gestapo, and it’s too late to ever be famous, but at least I won't die unpublished. Would I have ever become famous? Maybe not. Is my writing any good? You be the judge.
Check out the list below and tell me what you think.
John Bowers
Series Recap
After four years in the Star Marines and two in the UFM Academy, Nick Walker receives his first assignment as a United Federation Marshal. Posted to Ceres, which some consider the anus of the Solar System, Nick is confident that he is ready to kick some serious asteroid. Youth and idealism are wonderful things, but they don’t prepare you for the real universe…it never occurs to Nick that the asteroid might kick back.
After two years on Ceres, Nick is posted to a small town on Sirius 1 called Kline Corners. The resident marshal there has been murdered and Nick has a dual mandate—take over the local office and find the killer. Sounds simple enough, right? But within hours of his arrival, Nick discovers evidence of not just murder, but racism, slavery, and human trafficking. How can a lone lawman hope to survive all that, let alone complete his mission?
Eighteen months after his arrival on Sirius, Nick is reposted again, this time to Trimmer Springs, a small mountain town on Alpha Centauri 2. It should be a quiet posting with nothing much to do. But when his deputy is killed by a sniper who was gunning for Nick, things quickly turn anything but quiet.
Victoria Cross is Nick Walker’s ex-girlfriend. They were in the Star Marines together, fell in love, then she broke his heart. Nick has never forgiven her, nor can she forgive herself. Now a Federation prosecutor on Alpha Centauri 2, Victoria knows her path and Nick’s will eventually cross…and that will be awkward. In the meantime, she has a job to do, prosecuting the people Nick has arrested. But it isn’t as easy as it sounds…one of them may be innocent.
Still posted at Trimmer Springs, Nick is called 2000 miles south to investigate a threat to a colonial senator who has received a wanted poster with his name on it. At first glance, the poster appears to be a hoax, but Nick can’t put it to bed without proof. The evidence leads him into uncharted territory at a place called Binary Flats. Here he finds all the proof he needs, but the proof will do him no good unless he can get out alive.
For nearly five years, Nick Walker has been enforcing the law on the Final Frontier, but in so doing has racked up an impressive body count. Now, assistant U.F. Attorney Brian Godney wants him investigated for using excessive force, and Nick finds himself in a courtroom facing not only Godney, but Godney’s assistant, U.F. Attorney Victoria Cross—Nick’s old girlfriend. The timing couldn’t be worse—with his career on the line, Nick still has to hunt down an interstellar terrorist whose body count is in the thousands…before he strikes again. It will be a tossup which will get him first, Godney or the terrorist.
Two years after the shootout on the Alpha Centauri Express, Nick Walker has hit bottom. He’s lost his fiancée, his best friend, and his job…and the terrorist got away. Nick hunted him across the galaxy, but came up empty. Now he’s stuck in a dingy saloon in the Martian badlands, drinking himself into oblivion. But Victoria Cross hasn’t given up on him. She tracks him down and tries to coax him back home He isn’t having it, but then she plays her hole card, the only thing likely to get his attention—she knows where to find the terrorist.
Barely six months after his return from Tau Ceti 4, Nick Walker is handed a mission that he seems unlikely to survive. Federation President Vivian White Wolf personally requests Nick to infiltrate the Rukranian mob on Alpha Centauri B. The mob controls the BC government, which is on the verge of allying with Sirius, which poses a deadly threat to the entire galaxy. It’s Nick’s first undercover job, and he’s going in not only alone…but unarmed. Even if he survives, an assassin is waiting for him at home.
Flash back thirteen years. Nick Walker is a Star Marine, just 20 years old. While he was in training, the cult revolution began on Alpha Centauri 2, steamrolled over the Colonial Defense Force, badly bloodied the Federation Infantry, and captured 80% of the planet. If anything is to be salvaged, it’s up to the Star Marines, and Nick Walker is about to get his feet wet. The day after he arrives on the planet, he gets news that his father has died of a stroke. The timing couldn’t be worse, because he needs every wit at his command just to stay alive…and things will only get worse.
Someone is hijacking starships. Four, so far, with no end in sight, and all the passengers have disappeared. Nick Walker is assigned to find out who is behind the attacks and, if possible, stop them. He learns that one man had booked passage on all the missing ships, and when the same man books a fifth ship, Nick does the same. He suspects, but can’t prove, that Sirius is behind the attacks; his only hope is to remain flexible and somehow intercept the attackers before another 2000 passengers disappear into the black hole of slavery. If he succeeds, he’ll be a hero, but if he fails…well, the Sirians have been hunting him for years. The ending won’t be pretty.
Once a Federation prosecutor, Victoria Cross is now a defense attorney. When Nick Walker takes down a pair of bank robbers who claim they stole the money in self-defense, she faces the challenge of proving their claim. It won’t be easy, but Nick believes in her and helps investigate the crime. The real culprit turns out to be a former Star Marine who has turned to the dark side…and has no intention of going to prison. Neither Nick, Victoria, nor her clients will be safe until this man is taken down. But he has cops on his payroll, and taking him down could be deadly.
In nine years of law enforcement, Nick Walker has never taken a real vacation.
When his favorite western hero, Yancy West, invites him to visit a movie set, Nick takes thirty days off for rest and relaxation. Watching the actors record the vid is fun, and he might even be used as an extra. But things turn sour in a hurry when stuntmen begin using real bullets. Someone is out to sabotage the flick, and Nick suddenly finds himself back on the job.
Starport Series Recap
13 Starport
The first female president of the planet Askelon is up for reelection, but she’s in for a fight. Most of Askelon’s energy supplies come from Environ in a nearby star system, but the hydroleum fields have been captured by rebel forces financed by trillionaire Jorge Sorres. If President Enza doesn’t solve the crisis, she’ll be booted from office, and the only way to recapture those fuel supplies seems to be military action…which the Senate opposes.
But it gets worse—her opponent, Senator Barry Boyd, is blaming her for the energy crisis, claiming that the job of President is just too stressful for a woman to handle. Add to that the ravings of crazy holo-evangelist Colin McNair and a self-serving union boss on Starport 1, and the odds of winning the election seem remote.
Sixteen-year-old Terra LaFirma is from a mountain village on the planet Tropicon. She has been taught to hate Askelon because of its history of colonialism. With no future for a girl in her mountain village, she sets out to join the local regiment in the hopes of one day fighting Askelon and freeing her planet of its influence.
When she finally does get into battle, it isn’t what she imagined. Nor is the enemy as evil as she thought. When her life is saved by a young Askeloni soldier, Tyler Unruh, things become confusing…and she has to question everything she has ever been taught.
Now 18, Terra LaFirma has joined the Army of Askelon and hopes to be reunited with the man she loves, Tyler Unruh. But another crisis is brewing on the planet Agricor, where once again the trillionaire, Jorge Sorres, has sponsored a revolution. This one could bring Askelon to its knees, because Agricor is a farming planet that produces 60% of Askelon’s food, as well as food for sixteen other worlds beyond the nebula.
Terra LaFirma is heading into battle again, this time in defense of Askelon…and it will be the fight of her life.
The war on Agricor didn’t go well. With victory in its grasp, the Army of Askelon was blindsided by forces from the aggressive planet of Eroak from beyond the Nebula. Fifty thousand Askelonis were taken captive, and Michael Marco, the newly-elected President of Askelon, shows little interest in getting them back. If the prisoners are to ever get home again, or even survive, they will have to free themselves.
Twelve thousand Askeloni prisoners have escaped captivity on Eroak, but still have little chance of returning home. Led by Col. Oliver West, their only hope is to free the remaining Askeloni prisoners and mount a guerrilla campaign against Eroak’s home army. Fortunately, the commonist government of Eroak has alienated many of its own people through terror and intimidation, so local allies are available.
Even so, taking down the oppressive, top-down government will be no easy task. It will require effort and sacrifice, and no one is coming to help.
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