The Great War of the Worlds
What happened after the Martian Attack chronicled in War of the Worlds ended?
The aliens succumbed to Earth's microbes, but left their weapons and war machines scattered across the globe.
Governments worked hard to assert control over these deadly technologies, so they could keep it out of the hands of the wrong people, while taking advantage of it for themselves.
Sometimes they failed.
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It's 1915, twenty years after the Martian invasion chronicled in H.G. Wells War of the Worlds failed. The aliens left behind advanced technology and weapons, and now humanity is on the brink of a catastrophic war. Caught in the middle of the chaos are two unlikely heroes: Emil Zimmerman, a young German soldier, and James Brogan, an introverted radio engineer.
Shadows of the Past is a science fiction, alternate history, survival adventure. Do you love War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells? Then this thrilling journey of humanity grappling with the legacy of Martian technology is the thrilling ride you're looking for.
Sometimes It’s Best to Move On
I just came across Scalzi’s review of Godzilla Minus One for Uncanny Magazine. He, unsurprisingly, nails what makes it one of the best Godzilla movies made since 1954:
Godzilla Minus One is terrific in no small part because its Godzilla is not a friend, it is a force, violent, implacable, unable to be reasoned with or controlled in any meaningful way.
Godzilla works best a metaphor. For nuclear weapons in the original and Minus One, for Fukushima in Shin Godzilla.
The problem is, as Scalzi points out, that only works a few times.
Godzilla got domesticated because he became a star. Being an unknowable terror is fine for one film, and possibly for a sequel or two. But apparently the thinking is, if you want to keep people coming back film after film, eventually you have to make your monster someone the audience roots for, even if the monster is still nominally a bad guy.
After a while, you gotta move on.
That’s where Legendary is. Their Godzilla fought the MUTOS, played hero against Ghidorah, fought Kong, teamed up with Kong to fight, um, more Kongs…
Yeah, time to move on.
April 8, 2024
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Just finished The Day of the Martians by H.E. Wilburson.
The terror of the coming of the Martians is all but a distant memory, a bad dream that has faded with time — until the shocking discovery years later, of an unopened Martian cylinder….
After gaining five awards at the 2020 Los Angeles Science Fiction Film Festival (Audio Drama category) The Martian Diaries series, continuing The War Of The Worlds, is now available as ebooks and audiobooks.
If you’re a fan of the H.G. Wells alien invasion book, start this award-winning 3-part sequel today, because you won’t want to miss this story!
Day of the Martians is a different take on a sequel to H.G. Wells War of the Worlds from Shadows of The Past. It’s written in a style close to Wells, starts sooner after the attack, and has the Martians attempting another direct attack. You could picture it being a sequel written by the original author.
More critically, it has the survivors outright avoiding Martian technology, rather than working to harness it like they do in my version.
It’s a quick read, and I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series soon. Check it out!
April 1, 2024
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On Deck: Plotting and outlining Clouds in the Future. Got a good idea of where it’s going, just need to map out the story beats and fleshing out my dastardly villian. More revisions on a short story for email list subscribers, too. Potential bike ride up to the dojo tonight.
Listening: The Black Keys.
Reading: The Days of the Martians. Another War of the Worlds sequel.
See you tomorrow.
March 26, 2024
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Productive weekend, with significant progress on outlining Clouds in the Future, including character sketches on the various villains and frenemies our intrepiod hero will meet.
Also approved a draft cover!
There’s a wide assortment of trivial tasks waiting for me. That’s what Mondays are for!
That’s it. See you tomorrow.
March 24, 2024
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Shadows of the Past is now available for sale in both eBook and paperback!
If you’re a Kindle user, or want to buy the paperback, you can buy Shadows here (The paperback will be available at Barnes and Noble’s website in a few days if you prefer to buy it there. They can be a little slow.)
Google reader? Walk this way.
Apple person? It’s over here.
If you prefer another store, there’s a universal book page with just about every store you can think of.
Also, the sequel is available for pre-order now, too! Here’s the universal link.
March 15, 2024
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Souvenir map of Paris circa 1915
Starting to collect my various ideas into an outline for Clouds in the Future: The Great War of the Worlds Book #2. A big part of the story is set in a Paris already devastated by the return of the Martians.
On Deck: Outlining. Plotting. Saving the cat, if you know what I mean.
Inbox: Largely ignored.
Listening: Marillion’s Clutching at Straws. The rising tension in that album suits what I’m trying to do in the story.
Reading: Embers of War
Image credit: Unknown illustrator, Museums Victoria
https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/381865
March 12, 2024
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