Monthly Archives: November 2011

Mike Smith

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Over the past several weeks, I’ve talked about the characters in Blood Trade, Women of Power, and finally Astrid Maxxim and her Amazing Hoverbike.  Now it’s time to move on to His Robot Girlfriend and His Robot Wife.

The story that became His Robot Girlfriend consisted originally of some short flash fiction and the characters were not very well developed. When I decided to turn it into a book, I completely rewrote it, adding an ending. I had to turn some cardboard people into real characters. In the case of Mike Smith, I just decided to make him– me. He was a school teacher, about five years older than me, when I started, and instead of being happily married with two kids, he was a widower with two surviving children. Personality-wise, language-wise, and description-wise, he’s about as close to me as I could get. As I neared the end, I started feeling a little uncomfortable that he was so much like me, and I began working in little things that made him at least somewhat different. In the end, physically at least, Mike changes quite a bit. Patience really gets him into shape. I just started at the gym two months ago (though I don’t have a Daffodil pushing me along), so this might be a case of life imitating art.

By His Robot Wife, Mike has become a fairly sharp-dressed, in shape retired fellow.  This was a natural progression from the end of the first book.  He’s still pretty snarky.

These two books have been reviewed hundreds of times by readers posting to the net, running the gammut from over the top praise to well… the opposite of that.  I get regular fan mail about them and they are by far the most read of my books.  I have to say though, that as a reader, these are my two least favorite of my books.  The don’t have as much of ME in them as say, Voyage of the Minotaur or Tesla’s Stepdaughters.  That being said, I am certainly very proud when someone else tells me they love them.  In the coming days, I’ll talk about the other characters.  Next up: Patience.

Rachel Carson High School

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Part of the setting for Astrid Maxxim and her Amazing Hoverbike is Rachel Carson High School.  It actually went through several different name changes.  I wanted a female scientist and I didn’t want to go with the obvious Marie Curie.  She should also be an American.  I think Rachel Carson is the most important woman (maybe person) that most people don’t know.

Being a teacher, one of the things I enjoyed was playing with the school environment.  All of the meals at Rachel Carson are gourmet meals.  Every child is dedicated to learning.  The students stay after to maintain the school and keep it clean.  Every student is on a specific program– designed to lead them in a different direction in life.  What are the programs?  That will be revealed in a future book.

Now in the Premium Catalog

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Well, Astrid and friends have made it through the vetting process and are now in the premium catalog at Smashwords.  In addition, it’s already shown up on iTunes, so it’s available now there at 99 cents.  I’ll let you know when it’s available at other ebook outlets.

Update: The Young Sorceress

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I am currently in the middle of chapter seven of The Young Sorceress.  I think I have been working on this book longer than anything I’ve ever done beside Princess of Amathar (which was in the works for years and years).  I am determined to finish it as soon as possible.  It won’t be before the end of the year, but hopefully before summer.

The book is ostensibly about Senta Bly, the fifteen year old sorceress, though it follows several other characters– some of them new– through adventures in Senta’s fantasy world.  The story is in fact less important for Senta than the others– Isaak Wissinger, a writer who was hinted at in previous books, Kieran Baxter, who was a minor character in book one and hasn’t been seen again until now, and of course our usual band of suspects: Yuah Korlann, Iolanthe Dechantagne, Saba Colbshallow, and Bessemer the Steel Dragon.

This book will be about the same lenght as the Dark and Forbidding Land, in other words about two thirds the length of The Voyage of the Minotaur and The Drache Girl.  I’ll let you know when I reach the next milestone– say when I finish chapter ten.

Still Waiting on Premium Catolog Vetting

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For those of you not familiar with Smashwords, it is an online publishing/distribution system for ebooks.  When an author publishes an ebook on Smashwords, as I have done with Astrid Maxxim and her Amazing Hoverbike, it is available for imediate download from their site.  Of course most of the sales do not occur on their site, but rather through their distribution channels to Kobo, Barnes and Noble, Diesel Books, Sony, and iBooks.  To get to those distribution channels though, the book has to be approved by the vetting team for the Premium Catalog.  Unfortunately, they are quite backlogged at Smashwords and they haven’t gotten to my book yet.  So it’s going to be at least a couple of weeks before it appears at the above ebook stores.  I hope they get to it soon.  I’m really counting on all those kids with new Nooks, Kindles, and iPads to buy it after Christmas.

Austin Tretower

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Austin Tretower is the new kid at school and the latest addition to Astrid’s gang.  He came to live with his grandmother in Maxxim City when his parents were killed in a car wreck.  Austin is a little on the ungainly side and he is frequently distracted, losing his possessions and getting lost.  He is very excited to have a friend who is a real live Maxxim, as his grandmother, a former Maxxim employee, has told him many tales of Astrid’s father when he was a boy.

Christopher Harris

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Christopher Harris is Toby’s best friend and is the only student at Rachel Carson High School who’s grades and test scores match Astrid’s.  They both expect to contend with each other for valedictorian.  Christopher, like Toby is also a licensed pilot. 

Christopher, who doesn’t like to be called Chris, is an African American with short dark hair.  Both his parents work at Maxxim Industries– his father as an engineer and his mother as a chemist.

Valerie Diaz

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Valerie Diaz is the third girl in Astrid’s gang.  Her father Sergio Diaz is head of Maxxim Industries Security and a former FBI agent.  Her mother is a feisty woman who is an immigrant from Mexico.  Despite her parents’ formidable personalities, Valerie tends to be afraid of just about everything.  Part of this is understandable, since she frequently falls victim to Astrid’s experiments or adventures.  Valerie and Denise share most of the same classes at school and are closer than Astrid and Valerie, who share no classes.  Valerie has long wavy hair and flashing eyes.

Denise Brown

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Astrid’s best friend is Denise Brown.  This despite the fact that Denise is never really all that impressed with Astrid’s “mad science.”  Denise has an older brother named Dennis, who is a senior, head of the debating team, football quarterback, and overall star of the whole high school.  She and Dennis have two dads.  Dad number one is Dennis Brown Sr., head model-maker at Maxxim Industries.  Dad number two is Jeffrey Richards, who owns and operates the Maxxim City Malt Shop.

Toby Bundersmith

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Toby Bundersmith is the boy who has lived next door to Astrid Maxxim since they were both born.  He, like Astrid, is in ninth grade at Rachel Carson High School.  Though not technically her boyfriend, Astrid has spent many hours picturing herself as the future Astrid Bundersmith, and she thinks Toby is just about perfect.

Toby is one of only a few students in school to have his pilot’s license, so he spends most of his Saturdays at the airfield trying to qualify on as many planes as he can.  He is a frequent participant in Astrid’s adventures and when not actively involved himself, encourages her.  Toby hates to see anyone bullied and frequently sticks up for other kids, an act which always impresses Astrid.

Toby lives with his dad, who is an engineer for Maxxim industries, and his Great Aunt Gerta, who came to live with them after Toby’s mother died of cancer.