Friday, July 27, 2012

The Battle for Eden: Mark E. Burgess


 We have a guest on the blog today.  Mark Burgess is an author and veterinarian who works out of Portland, Oregon.  Mark’s novel is the other half of Wildside Double #25, which also includes my “Ember Star.”  I’ve never met Mark in person but we’ve corresponded via email and I can tell by his mention of Keith Laumer’s “The Last Command” in his acknowledgements that we’ve read many of the same works and have similar influences.  Below, Mark tells us a bit about his story.  I hope you’ll give him your support.
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 Hi everyone!  I thought I’d write a short note about my new novel, The Battle for Eden, which is half of a double paperback from Wildside Press, paired with Charles Gramlich’s story Under the Ember Star.  My novel is the third in a series about the human-Knacker war. The tale is set in the far future, and far from Earth, in a giant globular star cluster just outside the Milky Way galaxy. The humans who had settled numerous worlds there are unexpectedly confronted by the Knackers, an ancient nomadic race of large crustacean-like aliens. These creatures inhabit a massive armada of space-faring ships, and they live by raiding planets throughout the galaxy, both for food and raw materials. Unfortunately, the Crabs (as humans call them) see nothing wrong in harvesting other intelligent life forms for food, and humans seem to be high on their list of delectable edibles.  Hence the conflict around which the series of stories is focused, as humans struggle for survival against a technologically advanced species for which war is a way of life.

I had already read the first two books in the Knacker series prior to writing “Eden,” and was enchanted by the unexplored possibilities left open by the initial installments. The original ‘concept’ story, a short piece by Ardath Mayhar, was written long ago and never published until recently. Ardath was an accomplished writer whose career spanned decades, and she recently passed away, but she lived long enough to see her Knacker story finally come to life in print.  In “Eden,” I wanted to delve more deeply into how humans would be affected by conflict with a hostile alien species, how people would react, and how resilient could they be in the face of fear and loss.  Last (but not least!) I wrote “Eden” to be a fun ride, full of action and exotic imagery as well as characters with depth.  My wife likes this story best of all those I’ve written so far. The Battle for Eden is written as a stand-alone story, so you do not have to read the prior books in the series in order to enjoy this one. The first chapter is available to read on my Facebook page. My facebook name is authorvet.  If you go to ‘Notes’ on the left page margin you’ll find free samples of several of my stories.  If you like them, feel free to share with your friends!

I’m currently working on another Knacker story, “Dark Angels,” a somewhat darker tale which is set entirely in space, not planetside as most of “Eden” is.  After that I’ll give the Knacker series a break, and work on some other ideas I’ve got brewing.  My heartfelt thanks to Charles for consenting to having my story paired with his in this new double paperback; he’s an accomplished author and has far more published works in his resume than I, at this stage of our respective careers.  May both our stories live long and prosper!     ~Mark E. Burgess    July 26, 2012

 
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31 comments:

  1. So both stories are in the book? Must go download now...

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  2. I'll also add that I found the original "Knack" double still for sale on Amazon. And, not to undercut sales, but each of the stories have also been split into their own Kindle versions, too.

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  3. Alex, yes, they're back to back. Only in print at the moment, though. I think they will eventually be an ebook but not sure when.

    Paul, thankee. I think that might happen to these two as well down the line, but I have no idea when. I think the double is a pretty cool concept, though.

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  4. I'm going to have to track these stories down. Especially if Ardath wrote one.

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  5. Good to know someone is keeping alive the Double Aces legacy.

    Also, good to know someone is keeping alive too, the long tradition of human-eating aliens.

    Last, i read in english a lot (mostly for being impatient about translations), but i hope someday to see edited in Spain this book ;)

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  6. I like the idea of a double book. It used to work quite well in past times. Good luck!

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  7. Keith, yep, she wrote the first. Pretty good too.

    Deka, absolutely. Aliens should be eating humans. we're delicious, and full of fat and sugar.

    Bernard, thankee.

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  8. yeah, Charles, we're the fast food of the galaxy

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  9. Thank You, Guest





    Aloha from Waikiki
    Comfort Spiral
    <(-'.'-)>

    > < } } ( ° >

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  10. Interesting that there are two in one book--it seems like a good way to mutually promote.

    The Battle for Eden sounds like a fascinating story!

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  11. Cloudia, thanks for visiting.

    Golden Eagle, I hope it works out that way.

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  12. Charles, thanks for inviting Mark E. Burgess to write on your blog. I enjoyed reading his guest post, especially the reference to Ardath Mayhar who I hadn't heard of. Both of you tell fascinating stories and I'm sure Wildside Double #25 will be a terrific read.

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  13. Hi there Mark. better in your story figure a way to fix climate change or all the humans need to do is get the Knackers in the water(I know dumb ass but hey we are what we are).

    I am new to this whole fantasy genre but having been seduced by Charles and a couple of others I will most certainly be prowling for this one.

    Hmmmm Charles it seems to me that Urban can also be futuristic fantasy prose as well (hint hint)

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  14. Prashant, Ardath Mayhar was a pretty cool person. I always enjoyed her work, though she never garnered a really big name.

    Mark, happy birthday, btw. The closest things I've done to Urban fantasy are in "Midnight in Rosary." Some day I may do another, but I'm not really a city boy, my friend. ;)

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  15. Nice to meet Mark. Much success with the story. Vets are among my favorite people.

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  16. Patti, all the vets I've ever met were indeed nice folks.

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  17. Anonymous3:43 PM

    Another great post Charles. You always pick interesting authors and themes.

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  18. grats gents :)

    thx for the bg, mark... charles, thx for introducing mark....

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  19. You have a lot of interesting folks posting here, Charles... kudos! And thanks to all for the warm welcome! `:-)

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  20. Richard, thanks, man. Appreciate you dropping by.

    Laughingwolf, :)

    Mark Burgess, glad you could swing by. We have some fun.

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  21. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  22. Oh, to answer a question above: yes, the books are slated to come out in e-book format soon; I'm surprised they aren't out there yet. The e-books will be offered as single novels, not in the double format as the print versions are. :-)

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  23. I should clarify: 'soon' is a relative term lol; I would expect e-books in the next several months, barring delays. Wildside has a small staff and is handling a lot of titles; but eventually, e-book versions of Charles' story, and mine, will come available.

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  24. Good luck to both of you on your novels and congrats to Mark Burgess on is post.

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  25. Damn! supposed to read "his post."

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  26. Sounds very cool, indeed ~!

    And reminds me of two things -- knackered or in the knacker yards for a horse going to the glue factory (something like that); plus Jaibo, the Crab, in a surrealist movie I just saw. Love it!

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  27. Mark, my experience is that that 'time' can range from a couple of months to more than a year. I'm sure it will happen at some point.

    Oscar, thankee.

    Erik, yeah, I don't know where Ardath came up with the "Knacker" name. Interesting, though.

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  28. Yes, I would have loved to ask Ardath re: the naming of the aliens.

    Charles-- yes, we'll have to wait and see on the e-books; but meantime, love having the double book format! (almost disappointed that the e-books will be singles).

    Thanks, Oscar! :-)

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  29. Mark, I guess there's just no way to keep the double concept well with the ebooks. Can't flip the thing over!

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