Alien technology revealed!
One of the things I discovered, when I was shopping my books around, was that everybody says they want a series, but nobody wants a series.
The first series I ever read was The Hardy Boys. Lots of people read those, or Nancy Drew. Lots of fun. BUT…in the early sixties the publishing business was infected by psychiatry. You’d have to read The Bomber’s Story to get a good picture of that, but the books I loved were suddenly cut by 30 pages, and all the good stuff was taken out.
The Hardy Boys used to have guns, and drive motorcycles, and they were always battling big, bad bullies. No more guns, and the Hardy Boys became soft. No more fun.
The second series I read, and this is where it gets good, was The Lensman Series.’ We’re talking galactic warfare, space opera, blasters and faster than light drives and…alien bad guys.
Is there any reason to think that aliens would be fine fellows? Not if they are like Earthlings!
Anyway, that series influenced me greatly, and influenced me to put together The Monkeyland Series. The problem is that publishers won’t take a chance on a series, until you’ve written something that fits their filters.
The normal writer today is trained in schools designed by psychiatrists. As writers they follow nice, polite, corporate scripts. There are five elements to a book. The protagonist (we used to call them ‘heroes!) must have something wrong with him (drunkenness, drugs, ex-wives, etc.) and so on.
I just googled five elements and they came up with eight: Perspective. Setting. Inciting incident. The protagonist’s big goal. Obstacles in increasing intensity. The protagonist’s strengths, weaknesses, and quirks. The protagonist’s evolution. The climax.
The point is that writers are usually following a formula, they are writing by the dots, and they have forgotten the one, single, most important element that overrides ALL other elements.
It’s all about…THE STORY.
Follow the story and you don’t have to do any of those other things; they happen naturally. But only a few writers, out of all the many thousands, understand that they must not get mechanical; they must find the muse.
ABOUT THE BOOK!
The Madman has been caught and Earth is safe, except that the Madman is about to make a most fantastic jailbreak.
He’s in Texas now, in the perfect disguise, and he wants his planet back. He begins this procedure by entering politics. What he doesn’t know is that with his demise people are waking up.
Randall Davis is called upon to find and catch him.
In Montana a crazy woman and a badly scarred man suddenly leave their ranch and head for Texas.
In Texas there is a young man with amazing abilities, and the Madman is grooming him to take out Davis!
It’s all coming together in Texas, and Randall Davis is about to reap the whirlwind!
Here’s the link…
A REVIEW OF THE MONKEYLAND SERIES
Having read at least a few thousand fiction books and series in my lifetime, I can testify that the Monkeyland series by Al Case is the best fiction series I’ve ever read. It’s got everything. The characters are so well-written and real that it’s just incredible. Even with the bit characters, you will find yourself caring and wondering what will happen to them. Al Case does an excellent job of transporting you to the locale and showing you around. The plot is gripping — and fascinating — and completely original. Everything from the attitude of the press, to the complacency of government and the reality and depth of people’s thought and character, is remarkably true to life.
Want to find out about the next book in the series?
