Hi Everyone!
I am excited to be here today to bring you a guest post from author, Hank Quense. Please help me give him a warm welcome to the blog.
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What inspired the book?
Years ago, I had just published my Tales From Gundarland, an anthology of short stories and novellas. Gundarland is the world I invented for my fantasy (and human) characters to romp around in.
Prior to that I had written a few short stories in which a zaftan alien showed up in New York City. Zaftans are huge, squid-like creatures whose stench makes humans sick. They are also quite vicious.
Around that time, something triggered a thought in my mind about First Contact stories. I recall thinking most stories in this genre took themselves quite serious and it was time someone wrote a satiric First Contact story.
I volunteered to be that someone. It seemed a natural development to combine the zaftans and the gundies, as the folks in Gundarland are called (by the zaftans) The results were Books 1 to 4 of the Zaftan Troubles. The books are filled with military and political satire.
I had so much fun writing the First Contact story I continued it with Books 5 to 7. This second set is a Space Opera satire that occurs 300 years after the conclusion of the first adventure. It includes more military and political satire.
I’m currently writing a continuation of the second adventure and that will be in Books 8 to 10 of the Zaftan Troubles. Guess what? I will have military and political satire in it.
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Thanks Hank for the post!
Lucky for you all, I also have a Short Synopsis:
ZAFTAN TROUBLES: BOOKS 1 TO 4: SYNOPSIS
This novel takes place in a fantasy country that has reached the early Industrial Age of technology and recently instituted a democratic government. An alien space ship arrives over the planet. The ship is owned by a mining corporation and searches for exotic mineral deposits to mine and bring back to its home planet, Zaftan 31B where rare elements are extracted from the minerals and sold
The two main characters are MACDRAKIN GEMSEEKER, a dwarf miner and LESLIE HIGGINBOTTOM, a half-dwarf, half human constable in the small town of Skensfirth where the two have a budding romance. The alien captain, YUNTA, orders her second-in-command, SHTAP, to negotiate an agreement with the president of the country, ALBERT WEBLEY, a human. Webley agrees to allow the aliens to mine the minerals if they can find them, provided the aliens respect property rights and don't harm folks.
Yunta faces a time limit, the ship's supply situation dictates they start the return voyage in less than two weeks, and has no intention of slowing down the exploration and mining to protect property. Explorations are carried out by robots who cause considerable damage to property as they follow their search programs. MacDrakin destroys a robot when it trespasses on his land. After a few other robots are destroyed, Shtap demands that Webley take steps to protect the expensive robots and Higginbottom gets a telegram to that effect. Upset that she must protect the robots rather than the property, she learns that MacDrakin has destroyed yet another robot. Despite their mutual attraction, the alien presence and the telegrams are straining their relationship. The strain becomes acute when MacDrakin declares war on the aliens and Higginbottom gets another telegram ordering her to arrest anyone who damages or destroys a robot. Meanwhile, Webley's staff get reports the folks in Skensfirth are on the verge of revolt.
The robots discover two major mineral deposits. One is on MacDrakin's land, the other is beneath the town of Skensfirth. On their first attempt to mine MacDrakin's land, he and several hunter friends destroy all the robots who operate the mining machinery. Yunta, with the deadline approaching, is outraged by the truculent natives and sends reinforcements to get the mining operation back on track. Faced with more aliens, MacDrakin abandons his land and sets out to prevent the aliens from entering Skensfirth. A group of retired dwarf soldiers answer his call and join him. He is also joined by several government officials sent by Webley to solve the Skensfirth problems.
In the ensuing battle, the aliens are thwarted by weather problems, mutinous crew members and the MacDrakin's determination. After many machines are destroyed, Shtap, the alien commander of the ground operation, calls for a truce and tells Drakin that he admits defeat and that the aliens will leave. The aliens abandon the remaining mining machines, damaged robots, weapons, and a damaged cargo pod. Engineers and scientists are ordered to examine these artifacts and decipher their secrets.
With the departure of the aliens, the reason for Higginbottom's and MacDrakin's feud disappears and they resume their romantic interest.************
Curious to learn more about the author or how to get a copy for yourself?
Author bio:Hank Quense writes satirical fantasy and sci-fi. Early in his writing career, he was strongly influenced by two authors: Douglas Adams and his Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Joseph Heller’s Catch-22. Happily, Hank has never quite recovered from those experiences. He lives with his wife in northern New Jersey, a mere 20 miles from Manhattan, the center of the galaxy (according to those who live in Manhattan). They have two daughters and five grandchildren all of whom live nearby. For vacations, Hank and Pat usually visit distant parts of the galaxy. Occasionally, they also time-travel.
Besides writing novels, Hank lectures on fiction writing, publishing and book marketing. He is most proud of his talk showing grammar school kids how to create a short story. He used these lectures to create an advanced ebook with embedded videos to coach the students on how to create characters, plots, and setting. The target audience is 4th to 7th graders. The book's title is Fiction Writing Workshop for Kids.
Purchase Links: Amazon Barnes & Noble iBooks Kobo Smashwords
Social Media Links: FaceBook Twitter LinkedIn Youtube Channel
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Thanks Hank for the post!
Lucky for you all, I also have a Short Synopsis:
ZAFTAN TROUBLES: BOOKS 1 TO 4: SYNOPSIS
This novel takes place in a fantasy country that has reached the early Industrial Age of technology and recently instituted a democratic government. An alien space ship arrives over the planet. The ship is owned by a mining corporation and searches for exotic mineral deposits to mine and bring back to its home planet, Zaftan 31B where rare elements are extracted from the minerals and sold
The two main characters are MACDRAKIN GEMSEEKER, a dwarf miner and LESLIE HIGGINBOTTOM, a half-dwarf, half human constable in the small town of Skensfirth where the two have a budding romance. The alien captain, YUNTA, orders her second-in-command, SHTAP, to negotiate an agreement with the president of the country, ALBERT WEBLEY, a human. Webley agrees to allow the aliens to mine the minerals if they can find them, provided the aliens respect property rights and don't harm folks.
Yunta faces a time limit, the ship's supply situation dictates they start the return voyage in less than two weeks, and has no intention of slowing down the exploration and mining to protect property. Explorations are carried out by robots who cause considerable damage to property as they follow their search programs. MacDrakin destroys a robot when it trespasses on his land. After a few other robots are destroyed, Shtap demands that Webley take steps to protect the expensive robots and Higginbottom gets a telegram to that effect. Upset that she must protect the robots rather than the property, she learns that MacDrakin has destroyed yet another robot. Despite their mutual attraction, the alien presence and the telegrams are straining their relationship. The strain becomes acute when MacDrakin declares war on the aliens and Higginbottom gets another telegram ordering her to arrest anyone who damages or destroys a robot. Meanwhile, Webley's staff get reports the folks in Skensfirth are on the verge of revolt.
The robots discover two major mineral deposits. One is on MacDrakin's land, the other is beneath the town of Skensfirth. On their first attempt to mine MacDrakin's land, he and several hunter friends destroy all the robots who operate the mining machinery. Yunta, with the deadline approaching, is outraged by the truculent natives and sends reinforcements to get the mining operation back on track. Faced with more aliens, MacDrakin abandons his land and sets out to prevent the aliens from entering Skensfirth. A group of retired dwarf soldiers answer his call and join him. He is also joined by several government officials sent by Webley to solve the Skensfirth problems.
In the ensuing battle, the aliens are thwarted by weather problems, mutinous crew members and the MacDrakin's determination. After many machines are destroyed, Shtap, the alien commander of the ground operation, calls for a truce and tells Drakin that he admits defeat and that the aliens will leave. The aliens abandon the remaining mining machines, damaged robots, weapons, and a damaged cargo pod. Engineers and scientists are ordered to examine these artifacts and decipher their secrets.
With the departure of the aliens, the reason for Higginbottom's and MacDrakin's feud disappears and they resume their romantic interest.************
Curious to learn more about the author or how to get a copy for yourself?
Author bio:Hank Quense writes satirical fantasy and sci-fi. Early in his writing career, he was strongly influenced by two authors: Douglas Adams and his Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Joseph Heller’s Catch-22. Happily, Hank has never quite recovered from those experiences. He lives with his wife in northern New Jersey, a mere 20 miles from Manhattan, the center of the galaxy (according to those who live in Manhattan). They have two daughters and five grandchildren all of whom live nearby. For vacations, Hank and Pat usually visit distant parts of the galaxy. Occasionally, they also time-travel.
Besides writing novels, Hank lectures on fiction writing, publishing and book marketing. He is most proud of his talk showing grammar school kids how to create a short story. He used these lectures to create an advanced ebook with embedded videos to coach the students on how to create characters, plots, and setting. The target audience is 4th to 7th graders. The book's title is Fiction Writing Workshop for Kids.
Purchase Links: Amazon Barnes & Noble iBooks Kobo Smashwords
Social Media Links: FaceBook Twitter LinkedIn Youtube Channel
Happy Reading!
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