Hello:

Figured it was about time I did something with this page.

I'm slightly atypical for a fan-fic writer.

First of all, I’m a little older than most, exactly how old is my secret, but let it suffice to say that I’m a Viet-Nam Veteran and my Father was a WWII Veteran; so go figure.

Secondly, I never even finished high school, let alone went to college. I did, however earn a GED while in the military. I can’t, in all honesty, say that if I had it to do all over again I’d do it differently. I know myself too well and I’d probably still be the same headstrong rebellious individual that I was, back when I was “young and dumb.” Every thing I've learned has been through life and reading and studying on my own. Seems to me you “internalize” what you learn better that way, but my advice to any youngsters would be to stay in school and get all the education you can. It will make things a lot easier in the long run.

Thirdly, I haven’t watched regular network broadcast TV in over 20 years. I live in a rather remote mountainous area, where airwave or cable TV is not available. I have a satellite system and subscribe to high speed internet, but from what the majority of television consists of these days, I don’t feel it’s worth subscribing to. I do have a television set, however, to watch DVD’s on.

The way I found out about “Firefly” was because one day, about two years ago, I went to town to stock up on supplies. While in a Costco store I noticed a DVD set about the “Sarah Connor Chronicles.” It aroused my curiosity so I bought it. After watching it, I became intrigued with the character “Cameron” (Played by Summer Glau) so I began searching to see if this unknown actress (to me at the time) had been in anything else. The rest is history.

I’ve always liked science fiction. As a young boy my favorite books were the Jules Vern, H.G. Wells and particularly the Edgar Rice Burroughs John Carter of Mars stories, which were written starting in 1912 and are what most all modern day Sci-Fi where in part inspired by. From Superman to Avatar. From Star Wars to Terminator. An interesting example is that “John Carter,” back in 1912 became the savior of the Martian races and nearly 70 years latter “John Connor” became the savior of the human race. In the Mars books, the name for a Martian tribal chieftain was “Jed” or “Jeddak”...Hmm, ever wonder where the term “Jedi” came from?

John Carter was a Civil War veteran that somehow got teleported to Mars (Barsoom) and because of the change in environment had super powers there. Decades latter somebody (Superman) came to Earth from another planet, with basically the same effect. I could go on and on.

My other interests, other than science fiction have been, or still are, “Figure Eight” stock car racing (when I was much younger), Motocross Racing (Also when younger), Rock Climbing, Hiking (Long 3 day or more hikes), Animals (Had a pet wolf one time, that lived to be 18 years old) and most recently (Last 10 years or so), Aviation.

I presently hold a commercial pilot certificate, with multi engine land, multi engine sea, instrument, tail wheel and CFI (Certified Flight Instructor) ratings with 8,523 hrs. logged flight time. I’ve competed in aerobatic competitions in a Pitts S-1S and have had the honor of flying in a specially built “two place” WWII North American P-51 Mustang. It cost me over ten grand to get trained and fully “checked out” in a P-51 and it may seem a bit silly, as I’ll probably never get to fly one solo (An airworthy P-51 will cost you about 1.5-2 mill and they don’t rent them), but it’s an “aviation thing.” If you don’t fly, you simply wouldn't understand.

I have a Bellanca, “Citabria” 7GCBC. It’s a fairly good “bush plane,” for operating out of back country and mountain airstrips in Colorado, Utah, Idaho and Oregon but you can also do limited aerobatics in it, plus it’s relatively economical to fly and maintain.

I’m currently endeavoring to build a fully aerobatic Pitts Model 12, that will have a 400 HP, Russian Vedeneyev M-14P Radial Engine, when I get it done, if that ever happens. Money is a lot tighter than it was and I’m starting to think that my daughter will end up inheriting it, before it ever gets completed.

Well from what I see on most other author’s profile pages, I guess I’m suppose to list all my favorite TV shows, but since I don’t watch TV, we’ll dispense with that. Back in the day, however, when I did watch the “boob tube,” I was a fanatical Star Trek fan. (The original one with William Shatner) The “Next Generation” was ok and I did watch it, but Picard and Data just never measured up to Kirk and Spock in my book. I also really liked Ba Ba Black Sheep, Twilight Zone, Mission Impossible, The Untouchables, Get Smart, I Spy and the old Science Fiction Theater, if anyone remembers that. It ran from 1955-1957.

As far as movies go, well there’s a lot of them I liked. My favorites would have to be; the Star Trek Movies, the Star Wars Series (the first ones with Carrie Fisherand Harrison Ford), Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, the Alien Movies, Time Machine (the original and the Remake), Journey to the Center of the Earth(Original and Remake), The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur, The Robe, Kelley’s Hero’s, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (the one with Kirk Douglas Sr. and James Mason), all the old Clint Eastwood westerns, the first two “Terminator” movies, Avatar, Titanic, The Wind and the Lion, Hunt for Red October, Dr. Strangelove, The Aviator, Flyboys, The Bridges at Toko-Ri, The Vikings (with Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis), Taras Bulba (the old one with Yul Brynner) anything that Bruce Dern was in, Return of the King, Conan the Barbarian (The ones with Arnold) and just for laughs, The Conqueror (John Wayne played Genghis Khan. He was so out of character and it was so bad, it was actually fun to watch).

I always liked movies about War, Cowboys & Indians, Aviation, Knights and old Barbarian type stuff with swords and such. Never really cared for stuff about magic and fantasy, although I really liked all the Hobbit movies, cause they were so well done. I can’t stand all the “Super Cop” stuff, Like “Dirty Harry” etc, with the exception of the old “Untouchables” TV series.

Science Fiction, however was always my favorite and always took precedence.

I’m still wanting to do a short story about Mal taking River to get her teeth fixed. (after Brian, one of Niska’s goons, knocked her two front ones out in “Hero Complex.”) As of the end of “Perfect Sunset,” it’s going on two months (story time) since they were knocked out, but I can’t seem to get past the idea of her just having a total meltdown, from having to sit in a dentist’s chair. That, combined with my lack of time, might compel me to just make mention, in the main story, that it has been taken care of, off screen. But I’ll still keep it in mind; I can always add it in later, as it would be a separate story.

My Stories: As of 10/04/11

The Story of a Life:

This was my first attempt at anything. While I think I was doing ok with, it was poorly planed and I ended up "writing myself into a corner" so to speak. Also there were several elements in the story that I was not happy with. The story is not actually abandoned, but I really don’t know when I will be able to start back up with it. When I do, it will require a major overhaul, of many parts.

It will be basically the same and all of my major OC’s will still be there, in their respective roles. Sgt. Mc Cook, the mysterious Freyja Björnsdóttir and Allison’s pet wolves. Young Future John will still have his short lived high school romance with Tammy Woodward, but there needs to be a lot of changes.

Firefly Season one:

Yes, I’m still working on it, but demands on my time have reached the level of absolute absurdity. The good news is that I don’t think it can get any worse; I’ve hit "rock bottom," in that respect, and things can only get better, eventually.

Like I mentioned, in the authors notes, I do not intend to post a single chapter, until they are all ready to go. That way I can give a better guarantee that the updates will come in a more timely manner, without any ridiculously long delays in the middle of an episode. Also, like I mentioned before, the individual chapters will be much shorter but there will be more per episode. (Anywhere from 1,500 to 5,000 words, as opposed to 10,000, like before).

The next episode is about 85% complete (Nine chapters done, with only one or two more to go), but I can’t give any guarantees as to how long that will take.

Recompense:

A supplemental story to "Firefly Season One." While it is based on events from the first 3 episodes from the afore mentioned story, it can be read independent of it, but it’s better to read the other one first.(first three episodes.) Its basically a short story (2 Chapters) about Jayne buying Kaylee a new dress, to replace the famous "Pink Layercake" one that got ruined as a result of one of his indiscretions. Also a few flashbacks to Simon and River’s life prior to her going to the Academy.

Public Health Message, Shadow 2504:

This is not actually a "story," per-sei, but a reproduction of a public awareness health pamphlet, that one might find in a doctor’s office waiting room, on the planet Shadow in the year 2504. It describes a hideous and fatal affliction, from Shadow’s past, that was thought to be extinct, but could be making a comeback. It is also intended as a supplement to "Firefly Season One," but you might find it interesting reading, even if you have not read the latter.

The Mars stories:

These are simply a posting of the first four books of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ "Barsoom Series;" A Princess of Mars, The Gods of Mars, Warlord of Mars and "Thuvia, Maid of Mars." All four book exist within the public domain, so no copyright infringement is possible.

Last spring I had the opportunity to see the Walt Disney movie "John Carter." I liked the movie, but it was a far cry from the books it was based on. The basic storyline and the basic character, of the main characters, was a lot different than in the books. Disney took a lot of liberties with the original story, that I didn’t particularly care for. It was far too "Disneyfied" for my tastes.

So I decided to post the original stories, for the benefit of those that saw the movie but have never read the original ERB version.

The number of "hits" and "visitors" I was getting on the first three (The Dejah Thoris/John Carter trilogy) was pretty high, considering the small size of that particular fan site, but dropped off considerably with "Thuvia, Maid of Mars," as this book had very little to do with the movie and centered around John Carter’s half Martian son, Carthoris and Thuvia of Ptarth. I was thinking of posting the next book in the series and the last one that’s public domain; "Chessmen of Mars," but as the response to Thuvia was so poor, I’m not sure if I will bother with it. It’s only copying and posting another work, but still somewhat time consuming, of what precious little time I have available.