Why I Love Halloween

Halloween is very nearly my favorite holiday of the year – it’s closest rival is Christmas which I think I give the edge to because of the giving of presents.  It used to be the receiving of presents (and don’t get me wrong, I still like to get presents), but I love seeing the look in someone’s eyes when I get them the right Christmas present.

But Halloween is the next biggest holiday in our household.  And it started from when I first had my own place. That year, my (now) wife and I threw a Halloween costume party for our friends which was an annual occurrence until our son was about two years old. When we moved to our current house (a century plus old Carpenter Gothic style house), we created treasure hunts that went to scary themed rooms through out the house.  Once our son started to trick or or treat, the parties ended, but we still decorated.  For a couple of years, we had a graveyard of terror for kids to explore if they dared.

Why do I love Halloween so much?  I blame it on two things: a love of theatre and a love of horror.  Before my son was born, my wife and I participated in two – three community theatre shows each year.  I have to say, I love costumes…not that I ever got really great costumes.  But costumes do contribute greatly to character. And as an outgrowth of that, I have an interest in makeup. I honestly think that one of the worst things for my makeup interest was watching the SyFy show Face Off, as it only wants to make me do more things with makeup.

My love of horror probably goes back to my childhood to Monster Movie Matinee.  Every Saturday, starting at 1:00 PM when the cartoons were over, we travelled to the mansion on the hill (actually, a well crafted model), to see long fingers of Dr. E. Nick Witty, the host, with occasional appearances of Epal, his assistant. We never saw our host’s face, only his hand with the long fingers and dagger long nails.  The host would introduce the movie of the day which ranged from the classic Universal Monster movies (Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolf Man, Creature From The Black Lagoon), to all manner of 50’s and 60’s horror movies including The Blob. I sat transfixed every Saturday afternoon that I could watching those movies. I think at one point, I even had put together one of those plastic models of Frankenstein with the glow in the dark gravestones (like in the original movie Fright Night)

In many ways, I was really lucky to grow up at the end of the Baby Boom era (I fit the generally accepted criteria for Gen X, but just barely).  At the height of the Baby Boom era, shows like Monster Movie Matinee could be found many places across the country as movies were used to fill time on the channels and I’m sure that many of the movies could be broadcast cheaply.  Shows like Monster Movie Matinee just don’t exist anymore and it’s damn hard to find a channel with the classic monster movies.  TMC is usually a good bet (like they were much of Halloween this year) to see the 1950’s and 1960’s Hammer Studio remakes of the classic monster movies with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee seemingly changing place as the monster du jour.  I find it sad that we don’t get to appreciate these old movies very often.  They aren’t scary in what we would consider scary according to modern sensibilities, but they have such great atmosphere. And they have defined the tone of many horror genres since.

This has been a great Halloween for me as I’ve been able to reconnect to my love of the old horror movies. I got to watch two Hammer Studio productions of Dracula, Prince of Darkness and Dracula 1972 (sort of Dracula meets Austin Powers). In addition, I watched two horror classics that I’ve never seen before; The Exorcist (yes, I’m ashamed that I’ve never seen it until now) and The Evil Dead. This will probably keep me sated for horror movies until next Fall (Walking Dead  not included in that statement).

So here are some pictures of the Tefft House of Terror.  We went with the ever popular Frankenstein theme with my wife Colleen as the mad scientist and yours truly as the monster. I went with an interpretation similar to the Peter Cushing Frankenstein of Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed because I thought it made more sense than the green, block-headed shape of the Karloff Frankenstein.

So what does all of this have to do with my writing? My love of horror will be evident in my next book. Without giving away too many spoilers, the book will drift more into the supernatural and horror genre. Malcolm and friends will find themselves confronting horrors that they are not necessarily prepared to fight.  I don’t want to say too much more because: a) I don’t want to spoil anything, and b) it’s not written yet so everything is subject to change.

Until this time next year, creepy dreams!

Mike

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A Martian, An Airship Captain, and a Star Fleet Engineer Walk Out of a Book…

I just finished reading The Martian by Andy Weir and I really loved it.  You can see how much by checking out my review on GoodReads. I have to say that I am extremely glad that I didn’t read this book before I wrote my own because I might have given up. The reason? Our main characters, Mark Watney from The Martian and Malcolm Robertson from The Reluctant Captain are defined as world class problem solvers. Andy Weir did such a good job with Mark Watney, I might very well have been afraid of creating Malcolm.

Why did I create Malcolm and love The Martian so much? I blame Star Trek.  I’ve been a fan every since I can remember. Star Trek  and I are the same age. I remember spending Sunday afternoons watching the original series in syndication on one of the three channels we got with our antenna (for my young readers, those are those funny things you still see on houses that you used to get TV channels before cable existed – you know, when dinosaurs ruled the earth).  I wanted to be an astronaut growing up and wanted to become a fighter pilot as a first step. I then found out you have to have perfect eyesight and that dream crashed quickly.   But a few scant years later, I found computers. And found I really liked them.  But I didn’t think I wanted to just program, so I went to school for Electrical and Computer Engineering.

That’s when I reconnected with Star Trek and began my affinity for Star Fleet’s greatest engineer, Montgomery “Scotty” Scott. The reason he appealed to me was the fact that he solved critical issues not with his fists, but with his brain. Here was someone who looked at every problem and found a solution. Even when he “couldnae change the laws of physics”, he found ways to bend them to his purpose. I’ve always tried to model my career and work ethic after him.

And why is that? Because engineers, in the end, are problem solvers. They take their knowledge of science and math and apply it in a practical way to solve a problem. Scientists discover scientific principles; engineers turn them into practical solutions to real problems. And that’s always appealed to me.  It’s an act of creation – not unlike writing a book or composing a song.  You’ve taken abstract principles and turned them into something.

The love of engineering and Scotty, in particular, drove me to write The Reluctant Captain. The premise was: what if the chief engineer were in charge? Malcolm, being Scottish, is obviously an homage to Scotty, but I tried hard to make him his very own character.  He’s a problem solver, although most of his problems now are dealing with people instead of equipment.  But that problem solving mentality is what drove me to write him.

Which brings me full circle to The Martian. I love the same thing about Mark Watney as I do the other engineers: he never gives up and figures that almost any problem can be solved with the right thinking and maybe a little luck. As I said in my review, he’s a sarcastic, tireless,  problem solver without peer; he’s who I want to be when I grow up.

So here’s to engineers as heroes! Too often, they are portrayed as dorks or nerds of the highest degree (and trust me, there is much of a basis to that stereotype – and I include myself in that). It’s great that knowledge of science and math are celebrated as are the people who can wield them. I, for one, will do my part to keep the “engineer as hero” theme going!

Until next time, happy journeys!

Mike

PS: If, like me, you like to read the exploits of a problem solving engineer, check out my book The Reluctant Captain!

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A Confluence of Weirdness (Almost)

A bunch of totally unrelated events have happened and it moved me to finally write something here.

First – (mini) Book Review

Earlier in August, I read Felicia Day’s bestselling book “You’re Never Weird on The Internet (almost)”. It’s easy to say “Of course you love it; you love everything she does” (and that would be true). She certainly doesn’t need my endorsement to help her sell her book, but I’m giving it because it’s a fascinating look into her creative process and (without giving away spoilers) could be a cautionary tale about the price of success and losing who you are.  I highly recommend it.

Second – Work Sucks

Yes, I know everyone’s work sucks (It’s why it’s called work and not fun, right?). But this week has really pushed me to the brink. I won’t go into gory details, because no one really cares, but suffice it to say, I felt like I was five minutes away from just getting up and walking out (with no particular plan). Fortunately, the rational part of my mind stopped me.

Third – One of those Stupid Facebook Personality Tests

Last night, I took one of those stupid Facebook Personality Tests.  Here’s what I got:

 

Do You Have A Point, Mike?

So because work has kicked me down, all I could think of last night was “If I’m such an overachiever, why do I feel like such an <expletive> loser ? (yes, I could use the real word and I often do in my own speech, particularly my internal monologue, but I guess I’m too hung up about putting it in print.  At some point, I’m just going to have to do a blog post whose complete content is the f-bomb – we all have our hang ups). I hate my job, it’s demanding more time so I can’t write, my books sales are non-existent, my new book sucks…and from there it just generates into the whole “living in a van down by the river, dying alone and being eaten by cats” riff (even though I don’t own a van or a cat).

Enough Already; GET TO THE POINT!

I decided after reading Felicia’s book (I’m hoping it’s OK we’re on a first name basis, Felicia. I know you don’t know me – but you did respond to one of my tweets once!), that I wanted to write about what it meant to me. So tonight, I start skimming the book again for probably the fourth or fifth time.

And BAM!

Realization set in. I probably am an overachiever – much like Felicia, I’m driven by making adults/teachers/bosses happy. I did very well in high school, pretty well in college, and I’ve mostly had very good performance reviews at work. I’m very competitive,  as my family can attest when we play Monopoly. When I’ve completed something, it’s usually because there’s a goal or challenge involved. I wrote my novel because I wanted to “win” Na-No-Wri-Mo (don’t know what I’m talking about? Check this out), I’ve been walking like a mad man because we’re having a 10,000 Steps a Day Challenge at work (this is one part that doesn’t suck). I work hard all summer so that I play well in the local summer bands and am then very critical of myself.

And you know what? That’s fine. It really doesn’t matter if I’m “successful”. What is that anyways?  I think that success is defined by how you measure it.  If you set a goal and achieve it, celebrate it! So what if only fifty people read your book? If those fifty people really liked it, you’ve done something valuable. (Aside, I just deleted a then in that statement because I remember hearing that you can tell when a programmer is writing because he/she always uses “If….., then” – it’s true – I work very hard not to do that).

I’ve done many things in my life that I’m proud of that might not have been deemed a success, but I’ve done them. For three years, I had my software company and I wrote software that someone actually paid money to own. Me, the tubby kid who hated gym in school, ran/walked a 5K race. I’ve been paid to play trumpet. I’ve written a novel.  I have a wonderful wife and a great son. Maybe none of these have been successes in the financial sense, but they are personal accomplishments that mean a great deal to me.

And I was reminded of that tonight because of your book, Felicia.  Thanks again so much for everything you do!

(OK, I feel weird keep calling you by your first name because we haven’t met, but Ms. Day just seems really stuffy and formal).

(NOTE: Just because I said that I feel like a success because I’ve written a novel doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t buy my book! Please buy it and tell all of your friends to buy it!)

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The Writer’s Equivalent of Winning the Lottery

I’m sure many of you out there, like me, have fantasized about what you would do if you won the lottery – particularly a staggeringly large amount of money. I know my fantasy involves telling upper management at my day job exactly what I think of them and walking out with my head held high, with Aretha Franklin singing R.E.S.P.E.C.T. in the background.

I was watching/listening to the coverage from San Diego ComicCon last week and it set me on my own little fantasy of what it would be like to hit the “writer’s lottery”. First, my book becomes a major best seller and I make more than enough money to quit my day job so I could write full time. I’d be asked to do book signings all over (instead of begging someone to let me do a signing). My book would be made into a movie – a good movie that actually resembled the plot of my book. And in that deal, my wife and I would get to appear in small roles in the film. I don’t have a role for my wife picked out yet, but I know that I’d like to be playing in the military band that welcomes the Daedalus back to the UK.  And finally, I would be asked to be on a panel at some kind of convention with other writers whose work I respect.

That’s not too much to ask, is it?

Now let me come back to reality.

Did you hear that thud? That was my dream falling like the proverbial lead balloon.

I hold no illusions that my book will become a bestseller. I’m not saying that it can’t or won’t. I’m just realistic that as an independent writer, it makes it very difficult to stand out from the crowd. The fact that you’re reading this means you are interested in either my book, me, or Google was having a particularly off day.  The one thing I’m counting on is word of mouth. I’ve been fortunate that everyone I know who has read my book seems to like it – even people who I thought would have no interest in the subject matter at all.  I would encourage any of you who have read my book to review it – on whatever site you bought the book or Goodreads. I hope that the more people review it, it will interest more people in the book, which will generate more reviews, and so on, and so on.

And who knows? Maybe some of it might happen. I did send a copy of my book to Felicia Day not long after I published it. Maybe she’ll read it and like it so much, she’ll show it to Joss Whedon who will immediately love it and want to make the movie. Hey, I figure I’ve got a slightly better chance of that happening than winning the lottery because at least I sent the book. So step one of my plan is complete.

C’mon, Felicia, the rest of it’s up to you!

And speaking of winning…On Goodreads.com, I have a giveaway running for the whole month of July where I’m giving away a copy of my novel signed by me and Emilee Jayne Smith, the very talented cover illustrator, to ten lucky readers. I encourage you to enter and spread the word!

Until next time, happy journeys!

Mike

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When Life Gets in the Way…

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while – my wife is recovering from surgery and while she’s recuperating, I am chief cook and bottle wash at the Tefft household while also holding down my full time job. So that pretty much means that the chunks of time I have for writing (and posting) have become REALLY tiny.

I was fortunate when I wrote The Reluctant Captain in that I had pretty much re-arranged my life around writing because I was determined to complete the NaNoWriMo challenge. I took the first day of the month off so I could get a good start (and it was a nice rest after Halloween which is a big deal at our house), and I took an extra day off at the end of the month. I kept social events to a minimum and used every speck of time for writing. I also had the added advantage of having done a bunch of research on my novel before I started.

With this novel, because I started over, I’m clawing my way through the opening. I think it’s good, but the setting for the opening has required all new research so I feel like I’m making no progress at all. That coupled with the huge decrease in available time has led to slow progress on the novel. But, the New York Rangers apparently decided I needed to get back to writing and decided to help by losing the Eastern Conference Finals; now I have all that time I would have spent watching them play for the Stanley Cup. That was very nice of them, but I think given the choice, I’d rather they had won and were competing for the Cup.

So, I make do with whatever time I have to write and try to make some kind of forward progress – even if it’s just writing an overdue post. Writing is important to me, but there are other things in life equally important like my family. If sometimes it means I have to give up  time for writing, I do with the hope that when the time comes, I will eventually get the time to write.

Father’s Day

And now the shameless self-promotion pitch….Father’s Day is coming and The Reluctant Author would make an excellent gift for the father-figure in your life. Coincidentally, you can purchase it by using the links over there on the right…I’m just saying….

Until next time…

Happy Journeys,

Mike

 

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How I Write

I was checking out my author page on Goodreads.com the other day (which you can find here – shameless self-promotion plug) and I had previously enabled the “Ask me questions”. The good folks at Goodreads were kind enough to send me a number of questions.  One of them was “How do you get inspired to write?”

The answer is…I don’t. As a person with a family and a full time job, the author gig gets fit into very specific slices of time during the week. If I want to make any progress at all, I have to show up at that time and start typing, even if I don’t feel like it. The one thing I’ve found is that waiting to be inspired means you miss opportunities to do something.  Woody Allen famously said, ” 80 percent of success is showing up.” I firmly believe that.

There are many days that I come home from an awful day at work and that night is one of my scheduled writing times and I think I just can’t face it. But after dinner, I force myself to go to the computer and just start typing. It probably isn’t very good and I’ll probably end up rewriting it later, but I keep hammering away, word by word, sentence by sentence. Those nights can be such  drudgery but I have put words to paper (or at least digitized them) and I can call myself a writer. And usually I find that everything is very slow and taxing in the begin, the words eventually start to break out of my head a little quicker and I get on a roll.

Of course, the best days are those rare days that my fingers can’t keep up with ideas spilling out of my head. Those days are precious and should be treasured. But I think it’s just as important to honor the days that you didn’t give up and just kept writing. Just like the old joke: How do you eat a whale? One bite at a time.  The answer to “How do write a novel? One word at a time”

And now for more shameless self-promotion: If you’ve read The Reluctant Captain, please leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads, or wherever you purchased the book.  If you’ve borrowed it from the library (there are two copies in the Four County Library System), likewise, please leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads. Reviews help me learn what people like and didn’t like and also (here’s the self-promotion part) make it more intriguing for other people to read my book.

Thanks again and Happy Journeys!

Mike

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The Next Voyage of the Daedalus and Other Random Tidbits

I’ve received excellent feedback from people who have read The Reluctant Captain and I’d like to thank everyone for their kind words. When you’re in the middle of writing something, you have no idea if anyone else other than you will like the story. I received good feedback from people I trust, but even then, I kept saying to myself, “They’re too nice – they don’t want to tell me how horrible it is.” But I’ve since received more and more feedback, I’m beginning to feel like Sally Fields: “You like me! You really like me!” I’ve had feedback from people who I thought might not be interested in it who have found they really liked it. And that is very heartening!

One of the most common questions I’ve received is “When are you going to write the next book?” The good news is that I have started on the yet unnamed sequel to The Reluctant Captain. Actually, I had started the sequel sometime ago and although I loved many of the chapters I wrote, I set it aside and I’m starting over. Part of the problem with the original sequel was that I set it too far away from the events of The Reluctant Captain that I was having problems making it work logically. My aborted attempt would have started seven years after the events of The Reluctant Captain right in the middle of World War I; there was too much of a gap to fill in and keep the story line plausible. Perhaps I’ll be able to use pieces of that down the road; that remains to be seen. Maybe I’ll publish them as a Book Extra – Deleted Scenes once I’ve finished the second book.

The new sequel will take place roughly a year and half to two years after the first book. Malcolm has become more accustomed to his role as Captain. I can’t tell you much more than that as I have barely finished two chapters. But the journey has begun and there will be a sequel, likely not available until sometime in 2016 (unless I get very lucky and find myself with huge periods of writing time!).

If you’ve enjoyed my book, I invite you to share your review on Amazon or Goodreads.com. I’m interested in hearing what you have to say, warts and all!

Happy Journeys,
Mike

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