Here's to the stories...

Original post by Lucas Marcum at the Cannon Publishing Blog.

As a kid growing up in the desert of Northern Arizona, I used to go outside and stare into the night sky. Being so far from the lights of the cities, we could see the stars like few others can in the United States. They stretched from horizon to horizon, so close it felt like you could fall off the face of the earth to touch them.

The broadband of the Milky Way spanned the sky like a cloud of iridescent dust, and the bright stars of the constellations stood out against the dim galaxies and stars. The bright colored lights of the planets; the red of Mars, the early and late shine of Venus, and the impressive size of Jupiter were all constant companions and they enchanted me.

To me, there were stories out there. Isaac Azimov’s stories of the powerful Galactic Empire on Trantor and the resourceful Foundation as its foil. Niven’s Puppeteers, running from the exploding core. Heinlein’s Mobile Infantry, dropping from the cruisers piloted by the beautiful and brilliant women of the Navy. The canals of Mars, the jungles of Venus, the deserts of Arrakis, and the jungles of Dagobah all served as a springboard for my imagination.

The classic sci-fi books of our youth were awesome. As for the movie adaptions? Err, let’s just say some were executed better than others. But I digress, as silly as the infamous movie adaption of Heinlein’s *Starship Troopers* is, it’s obnoxiously good fun. I am almost ashamed to admit what I’m about to say, but I enjoy this ridiculous charade of a screenplay as much as the book, though obviously, they satiate different parts of my brain. And no, I don’t just mean the shower scene, though I can’t say I minded that.

I wanted to write for a long time; as long as I can remember. My first attempts came in lit classes in high school and messing around writing and sharing stories with friends. As I progressed through life starting my career, joining the military and having a family, I still enjoyed writing. I’d not seriously entertained writing for others, until I ran into other like-minded people on social media. They saw potential in what I was writing (As coarse as it was, and occasionally still is!) and encouraged me to post more.

Eventually, an established author noticed me and gave me a shot to write a story for an anthology, and away we went. This was, of course, the head of what is now Cannon Publishing, John Holmes.

It hasn’t been easy. As an editor, John has a merciless eye and the blunt mannerisms of his previous career as a noncom in the US Army. I heard and still hear (often!): “Fix this. You can do better.” I grimace and get to work because he’s usually right. I can do better but art, like medical practice, is something that is never perfect but always evolving and improving. The team here at Cannon has been instrumental in helping take me from a guy who wrote for fun to a guy who still writes for fun, but now has a published a book and three short stories!

John and the merry gang of miscreant authors over at Cannon are helping me realize a lifelong dream- To tell the stories in those stars I saw in the skies of Northern Arizona so many years ago.

So, to the team at Cannon and the Hivemind at The Command Post– Here’s to the stories!

Some other classic titles:

Their Master’s War

Farren created a chilling and mesmerizing read I still remember as clearly as when I was a kid with the tattered paperback in my hands. Think Heinlein’s Starship Troopers with a taste of Vietnam… and the suits are alien technology and humans are slaves forced to fight as shock troops in a bizarre and endless war between highly evolved interstellar empires. Their Master’s War is a classic underdog story that keeps readers breathless until the last page.

Footfall

Niven and Pournelle were star writers on their own, but every time they teamed up the resulting title was nothing short of a masterpiece and Footfall is no exception. There are many, many books about alien invasions of Earth, but Footfall stands out from the crowd for many reasons; the most compelling of which may be the beautiful depiction of the militaristic “Elephant” invaders and how they compare/contrast with the die-hard defenders of good ol’ Planet Earth

The Forever War

After Haldeman penned his manuscript, he struggled to get it in print. The editors at various publishing houses took one glance at his work and groaned “Not another Vietnam allegory!” But in the end, they would all eat crow as The Forever War became a timeless classic. Still, they weren’t wrong. The Forever War is a brazen and borderline satirical depiction of Vietnam, but nonetheless is a brilliant story, both in a fanciful sci-fi setting and the real world.