Category: Interviews

What is Military Fiction? Interview with Bullet Points Magazine

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In this article, I’m going to be having a conversation with Nathan W. Toronto, the editor of Bullet Points Magazine. This is a magazine that publishes Speculative Military Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, and Anti-War Military Science Fiction.

WHAT IS SPECULATIVE MILITARY FICTION?

Jessica: First, I wanted to ask: How do you define speculative military fiction, and what sets it apart from other speculative genres?

Nathan: Bullet Points hews to a broad definition of speculative military fiction. Most people focus on combat or tactical considerations to define the subgenre, but for Bullet Points, “military” fiction encompasses stories that explore some aspect of the organization or management of violence. Usually, war or warfare are pivotal to the setting or story. The story can revolve around someone who is affected by war or warfare and who is not actively participating in it, or it can be set in war’s aftermath, but if there is no organized application of violence, then there is no story.

Likewise, the story could revolve around insurgents or other irregular forces, but this is a matter of relative scale, since even insurgents do not operate in a state of nature; they organize their operations to some extent. The question is how this organization and management of violence matters. Being “military” doesn’t mean there has to be spit and polish, but it does mean we need to learn something new about war.

The beautiful thing about this subgenre is that it allows us to ask, given conditions that we don’t or can’t observe in our world, what would humans do in that most terrible human activity, war? There’s something powerful for me in this type of thought experiment.

Jessica: For anyone who is new to the genre, what books, stories, shows, or video games would you recommend?

Nathan: I’m not much of a gamer, at least not outside strategy board games like Risk and Axis & Allies, but there are three books that anyone new to the genre should start with: Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game, Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers, and Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War. These three books are foundational and offer different ideas about the organization of violence in society, be it through training and small group leadership (Ender’s Game), nationalistic propaganda (Starship Troopers), or isolating purveyors of violence from civilians (The Forever War). These novels go well beyond these themes, but together they paint a rich canvas for the dynamics of organizing violence for war.

These are the traditional starting point, but I wouldn’t stop there. Heinlein’s The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, Frank Herbert’s Dune, the Star Wars movie Rogue One, and the Andor series explore the political, psychological, and institutional dynamics of rebellion. Understanding rebellion and insurgency is at least as important as understanding how a highly institutionalized military force operates. Weapons, destruction, and blowing things up are still a source of excitement in insurgent stories, but the subtle and not-so-subtle differences between the organization of formal military forces versus informal or irregular forces tell us a great deal about ourselves and offer plenty of avenues for building compelling stories.

I believe that the definition of speculative military fiction should be broader than the conventional wisdom currently dictates, but it’s also about more than violence in society generally. Murder mysteries and spy thrillers are not military simply because people get hurt. Military discipline and training matter for what we expect military forces to do, and it behooves authors to demonstrate that they know why these military institutions matter. The point is that speculative military fiction can appeal to a broader demographic than it currently does while maintaining its roots in a genuine understanding of that most terrible human institution, war.

Jessica: What role does speculative military fiction play in reflecting or shaping public discourse about veterans and modern warfare? What are some concepts that you believe are important for the public to understand about these topics?

Nathan: The traditional publishing industry has pigeon-holed speculative military fiction such that it can’t shape public discourse about veterans and modern warfare in a meaningful way. The Washington Post bestseller list rarely has science fiction or fantasy titles and almost never has speculative military titles (and none in the last year). This is one reason I started Bullet Points, to expand the reach of this wonderful, powerful subgenre.

The potential of the subgenre is massive. We have had a volunteer military force for fifty years in the United States. By now, too many lifelong civilians do not really understand the military experience. I never served, but I see how critical this civil-military connection is. We need stories to help us understand the post-traumatic stress, homelessness, and substance abuse that ravage those who fight our wars. Too many of us don’t understand the human costs of war. Too many of us don’t understand the effects of war on those on the home front, or those who are refugees or displaced because of it. If speculative military fiction can enlighten us in some way about these critical societal issues, then it will have done some good.

In the 1920s, Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front was pivotal in changing the way the public understood and viewed war. Total war, with entire societies mobilized for violence, has gradually receded in prominence over the last hundred years. Wars are still vile and deadly, but the scope and scale of destruction has decreased. More and more people around the world work to lessen the terrible effects of war and to reduce the political viability of war. Ultimately, speculative military fiction can help make war less deadly and less likely.

Jessica: Are there any trends you’ve noticed in speculative military fiction that are influencing what readers want?

I see two main trends. First, military technology is changing dramatically. Innovations in drones, hypersonic missiles, electronic warfare, information technology, and artificial intelligence are changing the battlefield. In Ukraine, for example, it is a lot harder for combatants to hide on the battlefield than it used to be, making it easier to find, fix, and destroy targets. The so-called “storm of steel” is no longer the most lethal aspect of the battlefield. Mobilizing soldiers for war and justifying violence politically has changed in the information age.

Readers are much more nuanced today than they used to be because of these changes, so speculative military fiction authors need to adapt in response. Second, interest in speculative military fiction is expanding significantly beyond the traditional core demographic of those who played with army men and read military history when they were boys. I am in this core demographic and I’ve seen a larger number of women and those who think about war differently demonstrate interest in the subgenre. I am pleasantly surprised by the diversity of stories that I find in the Bullet Points slush pile. This suggests that the subgenre is on the cusp of dramatically increasing its reach.

BULLET POINTS MAGAZINE:

Jessica: Can you share the origin story of Bullet Points magazine? What inspired its focus on speculative military fiction?

For years I submitted my work to traditional science fiction outlets. I was starting to develop a bit of an inferiority complex, but I knew I wasn’t that bad of a writer. I looked high and low but couldn’t find outlets for my short military science fiction, so I started asking around for stories and published the first annual anthology in 2021, with only seven stories. Over time, the pipeline grew and 2024 was the first year with quarterly issues. While the website has evolved over time, becoming more of a database and less of a blog, I have created print issues from the beginning. I’ve learned a LOT about this process, from using Canva to create covers and LaTeX to typeset interiors to navigating Kindle Direct Publishing and IngramSpark. I’m still pretty bad at marketing, but I’m here, right?

I feel like authors and readers are inspired by the mission of Bullet Points, which is to build appreciation for the military experience through short speculative military fiction. I’ve always been a war geek, reading military history and playing with GI Joes from a young age. I earned a PhD in international relations and wrote my dissertation on how militaries become professional, a critically important trend in human history. I have taught military operations and strategic decision-making to dozens of military officers over the years and I wrote an academic book called How Militaries Learn. When I was in grad school, I read Ender’s Game, which sucked me irretrievably into space. I’ve been a military science fiction addict ever since. I’ve written three military science fiction novels but still work full-time in a field I’m passionate about. Frankly, I have to work pretty hard to support my writing addiction.

Jessica: What themes or perspectives are you most interested in showcasing in the magazine?

Stories in Bullet Points must have both a speculative and a military element. Military fiction stories that do not have a speculative element? No dice. Science fiction stories without a military element? Nope. Stories that appear in this magazine must have both, and they must do it well. Bullet Points commits to being thoughtful: stories must teach us something about war. If prospective authors are in doubt about what this means, they can read a few of the 61 stories in the Bullet Points database (which has over 100 stories) that are open-access. I received 147 submissions last year and accepted 27; the most common reason for a story being rejected was that it lacked either a military or a speculative element (and sometimes both), so I clarified in the annual report what “military” and “speculative” mean for Bullet Points.

By far the most important characteristic of stories in Bullet Points is that they say something novel about war or warfare. “War,” in this case, refers to violent political struggle (why we fight) and “warfare” to tactical or operational considerations (how we fight). This is a pretty broad range of human activity for authors to work with, and in my mind, this could include the effects of war on civilians and the role of military members in combat support or rear echelon roles.

Jessica: Are there any standout pieces or authors in the magazine’s history that you feel represent its vision?

Do you have kids? That’s like asking me who my favorite children are. I love all the stories in Bullet Points. That said, there are a few stories that stick with me long after having read them, mostly because they are brutally honest about the complexity of the human condition at war. These are listed below with bullet points (of course) and in alphabetical order by author last name:

Jessica: Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions and give such in-depth, thoughtful answers! That was all very informative. The most impactful sentence in this interview for me was, “Too many of us don’t understand the human costs of war.” I think that’s very true. It’s interesting to consider the ways in which military fiction could change the public consciousness about war and promote peace.

Readers, if you enjoyed this interview and want to read some military fiction, check out Bullet Points Magazine here! Also, subscribe to enjoy and support the genre.

 

Interview With Citizen Orlov Author, Jonathan Payne 

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In an unnamed central European country after the Great War, a humble fishmonger gets caught up in a world of espionage and intrigue when he answers the wrong phone call.

This thriller meets absurd comedy of errors is currently on Apple Book’s Best Books of May list. They call it “the most fun spy thriller we’ve read in ages.” And Publishers Weekly calls it “a stellar debut.”

I had the pleasure of discussing this novel with the author himself and have included our chat below. Not only did we talk about the book, but we also discussed the process of writing and publishing with an independent publisher.

Jessica: What inspired you to write Citizen Orlov?

Jonathan: I caught COVID-19 and had some weird fever dreams. In one dream, I was back in my government days and they sent me on an assignment to a strange, foreign country. Somehow I managed to get there without knowing where I was. Anything is possible in dreams, of course. As soon as I arrived, someone started shooting at me. I remember a sense of indignation about this. I was only following orders. Who was trying to kill me and why? In the morning, I wrote down the dream and it became the kernel of CITIZEN ORLOV.

Jessica: What is your process as a writer? When do you find time to write? How long did it take you to write the novel? What was your editing process like?

Jonathan: I’m not an x-words-every-single-day sort of writer. I do a lot of pondering and planning before I get into drafting. On my masters course they called this pre-writing. I like that concept. Once I get into the first draft, then I write every day, but I need to know where I’m going first. CITIZEN ORLOV began life as a novella, but my writing group encouraged me to expand it into a novel. So, the writing process was a little on and off, over about a year.

I was nervous about the editing process because I thought: what if my editor doesn’t ‘get it’? What if they don’t understand what I’m trying to do? Luckily, my editor, Elana Gibson, absolutely got it. It was clear to me in our first meeting that she understood what I was going for and could help me get there. On that first call we spent ages talking about Wes Anderson and Coen Brothers movies and I immediately relaxed. After that, the process was a pleasure. Elana had some great ideas for drawing out and clarifying the themes and tone of the story.

Jessica: Describe the experience of publishing a book through an independent publisher. What made you decide to go indie? How do you think the process might have been different than publishing with one of the big 5 publishers?

Jonathan: I started out pitching agents for a few months but I was getting no feedback aside from some rote rejections. I still don’t know if any of those agents read a single word of my work versus my query letter. So, I switched to pitching small presses and got an offer almost immediately from CamCat Books, an independent publisher based in Nashville, TN.

I was drawn to CamCat because their submission process was way more onerous than most; it was like an exam. I really liked that because I thought: at last, there’s a chance someone is actually going to read my stuff. They loved it and made me an offer. It was an easy decision, because they were so enthusiastic about the novel.

This is my debut novel, so I don’t really know how to compare my experience with the Big 5 process. Of course if you go via an agent there’s an extra step where the book is out on submission. I imagine the editing process is similar, but the marketing process is probably different, given that the Big 5 have bigger budgets.

Jessica: What were some of your favorite moments?

Jonathan: Honestly, the process has mostly been a pleasure. I’m learning new things about publishing every day. Although CamCat is a small team, they have a ton of experience in publishing and so it’s been like a crash course for me in how the industry works.

Jessica: What have been some of your challenges in this process?

Jonathan: One of the most nerve-wracking moments was when they sent me five cover concepts and asked me to make detailed comments about them. I’m not really a visual person, but luckily I’m married to a professional artist and former graphic designer, so I asked my wife to take a look and that was a big help. The concepts were all so different and it felt like a big decision.

Jessica: What was the marketing process like for your book?

Jonathan: Well, the marketing process is still ongoing. I’ve been working with CamCat’s marketing team and also an external publicist. I think the most important part of that process has been the team sending the book out for reviews, which mostly hasn’t involved me as the author. My inputs have been doing interviews with magazines and in some cases writing articles about the books that have influenced my work, and so on.

My publicist is going to continue working with me for about a month after publication, and we’re expecting reviews to keep coming in over that period.

I’m also looking forward to attending ThrillerFest in NYC for the first time. I’m in the International Thriller Writers debut authors program, which means I’ll get the chance to pitch my book to the whole conference, just a week after it’s published.

Jessica: What did you learn in this process of publishing your first book?

Jonathan: The biggest single lesson I’ve learned so far is that publishing a book is a team sport. Writing often feels solitary, but publishing is definitely not. I can’t count the number of people who’ve had a hand in bringing CITIZEN ORLOV to the market, but the process has involved lawyers, finance folks, editors, designers, marketeers, a production coordinator, a publicist, a printing company and a distribution company, as well as reviewers, and the bookstore that’s agreed to host the launch event.

Jessica: What advice would you give other people looking to publish a book?

Jonathan: For those looking to get traditionally published, my advice is: make your work stand out. Find ways to make your work different. And, of course, make sure the quality is good enough to publish. From what I’ve seen so far, it seems that everyone in the publishing industry is awash with manuscripts. No surprise there. So, there’s not much point in pitching work that’s not ready for prime time or—dare I say it—work that’s boring. Publishing folks are run off their feet. Send them something that will stop them in their tracks and make them take notice.

Jessica: Thanks for your time, Jonathan Payne! I highly appreciate your deep dive into the process of publishing with an independent publisher.

For the rest of you, be sure to check out CITIZEN ORLOV. It’s a fun novel and a page turner to be sure.

It is available for pre-order on Amazon right now, and will be published May 23rd.

Citizen Orlov Links:

Order Citizen Orlov on Amazon

Order Citizen Orlov on Barnes and Noble

Citizen Orlov on Good Reads

Citizen Orlov on Book Bub

Absurdist Spy Thriller Giveaway

Camcat Books

Related Content:

Mango Publishing Interview – Starting an Independent Book Publisher

Interview with Tannhauser Press – How to Start an Independent Book Publisher?

Interview with Space Squid – How to Start a Fiction Magazine

Mango Publishing Interview – Starting an Independent Book Publisher

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Mango Publishing has been listed as one of the top ten independent book publishers in the U.S. by NY Book Editors.

In their sixth year of existence, Mango Publishing is one of the fastest-growing publishers in the country, and was a finalist for Publisher of the Year at Digital Book World 2019.

So I am very grateful that they were willing to talk with me in my continuing series of articles on independent publishing. The interview below was held with Mango’s Director of Logistics, Hugo. He has been with the company since the very beginning. I would also like to give a shout out to Geena El-Haj (Mango’s Marketing Communications Coordinator) for helping me to facilitate the interview.

JBJ: Why was Mango Publishing created?

Hugo: I don’t know if we had a very intentional start. Mango Media, the original incarnation, and parent company, was formed with the idea of being a modern, data-driven media company that explored the intersection of books and smartphone apps. Through that journey of mistakes, we stumbled upon a consistent theme: Gut. “My gut tells me,” “I have a gut feeling,” “I think I should listen to my gut…”

Nearly every project we created in the media days revolved around a lot of gut instinct. Something that was diametrically opposed to the mission of being data-driven. So we reevaluated our process of creating content and identified a hole in the market: books published for consumers, ignoring the “gut” of buyers, agents and traditional public relations, and instead focusing on the analytics on consumer trends.

JBJ: For other people who are interested in doing the same thing, what were the steps your publishing company took starting out?

Hugo: It’ll sound repetitive, but the data was our focal point. Once we understood how outdated the publishing landscape was, we began to reinvent it by following the success of content creators. Bloggers, journalists, podcasters, YouTubers, chefs and artists who were creating content for a specific audience. We didn’t (and still don’t) care how large their audience was or even how engaged they were. We were more interested in their expertise in the field and their authentic relationship with their audience.

JBJ: What are the important services you have to pay for when running an independent publisher?

Hugo: Everything. Mitchell Kaplan of Books and Books loves to tell people, “If you want to make one million dollars selling books, start with two million dollars.” You won’t find many people in publishing that are in it for the money, regardless of how Hollywood likes to present it. Publishing, indie publishing, is a world filled with constant minor expenses, thin margins and incredible people. You can’t skimp on design, or editing, or printing or sustainability and expect to have a book that delivers on the promise their author made when announcing the book.

JBJ: Do you mind giving me a figure for a starting budget?

Hugo: It’s too vague to give a number because, at least for us, we build our list on every title carrying its weight. So they all get their financial support in the same capacity (in direct marketing, advertising, design costs, editing, etc.). P&Ls play a role in our commissioning process, but more than that, it’s the mission of the book, the authenticity of the author and the potential of the data.

JBJ: Would you especially recommend anyone or any website for the following services: legal, production, editing?

Hugo: No. Everyone’s purpose for those services is different, so there’s no way to outright recommend people or services in a general sense.

JBJ: What is Mango Publishing’s greatest challenge?

Hugo: Pre-pandemic I would have said time. Mainly time for commissioning. We have endless data helping us identify authors, categories, trends and more. Yet the time that goes into building the trust and relationship with your authors is incalculable and not something that can be skipped or ignored. In a post-covid world, print production is probably our biggest hurdle. Supply chain issues, paper shortages, sustainability limitations and limited warehouse workers all add chaos to a highly delicate system.

JBJ: What is the most rewarding aspect of what Mango Publishing does?

Hugo: Publishing under-represented voices from marginalized or ignored communities.

JBJ: You guys are listed as one of the top ten independent book publishers by NY Book Editors. What is the secret to your success?

Hugo: Getting unimaginably lucky with our hiring. Having the mission of reinventing publishing and publishing underrepresented authors is nice and all, but without the insane luck of the people we’ve been able to hire and work with buying into it, we would have folded up years ago.

JBJ: What steps would you recommend to an author who is submitting a query to you? What is the best way for a prospective author to get published at your publishing house?

Hugo: Know your audience. I don’t care if you have a massive platform with eight million subscribers or a new podcast with 3,000 downloads a month. Those are both fantastic and reaches we can work with, but in order for them to work, we need the author to understand their audience: who they are, why they follow them, what they’re looking for, and more.

JBJ: What are your plans for the future?

Hugo: Partner with incredible authors, design and print beautiful books and continue to push forward with the idea of borderless publishing.

For more information, check out Mango Publishing here.

Interview with Space Squid – How to Start a Fiction Magazine

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About ten years ago, there were six big publishers for books. Now there are five. And soon there may only be four. Combined with the competition introduced by self-publishing, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for authors to get traditionally published. This is on top of the supply problems introduced by Covid, and the fact that there was a massive exodus from the publishing industry back in March of 2022. About 1% of people in the publishing industry quit.

With all of these factors in play, some people are now more interested in creating their own independent platforms, or at least are interested in learning how they work.

I decided to interview some of the staff on various speculative fiction magazines along with indie publishers to see how that works. The first people I interviewed were the staff of the humor sci-fi magazine, Space Squid.

JBJ: Thank you so much for your help. Let’s say I started a free online blog—which I could hopefully to turn into a literary magazine or publisher later. Would I need to make a contract with the people submitting to the blog?

SS: I wouldn’t bother for blog entries. You might want to keep the email thread in which they agree to write for you; we’re a little more formal since we’re publishing stories.

JBJ: What inspired you to create an online magazine?

SS: We’re frustrated writers. Also there’s not a lot of spaces for funny scifi/speculative.

JBJ: For other people who are interested in doing the same thing, what were the steps you took starting out?

SS: Hmm… well we published on paper first, using some old photocopiers. That was more work than it was worth. Today we’d either go digital right away or send it to a printer for better quality and less hassle. We do publish one paper issue per year for Armadillocon.org.

As frustrated writers, we know a lot of other frustrated or semi-successful writers, and some of them were willing to send us material for our first issues. We reached out to some local bookstores and got some shelf space that way. But really, we’re marginally successful and we just kept doing it and publishing stuff we liked.

JBJ: What kind of services do you have to pay for to run a literary magazine?

SS: When publishing digitally, not much. We run our own WordPress site on a shared server. So the main costs are 1) the server and domain, 2) payments to writers, 3) the annual paper issue, and 4) time. 3 and 4 are the most expensive.

JBJ: Do you mind giving me a figure for a starting budget?

SS: Hmmm… maybe $200/yr for a digital-only publication?

JBJ: Would you especially recommend anyone or any website for the following services: legal, production, editing.

SS: I think we wrote our own writer contract. It’s clear enough to stand up in court, and that’s all we care about. Editing is our responsibility and kind of the core competency we bring to the table. For webhosting, we like hawkhost.com; shared hosting is less than $3/month. Use our referral code, https://my.hawkhost.com/aff.php?aff=1430!

JBJ: What was your greatest challenge?

SS: Just keeping it going. It’s a tough time for writers and publishers. There’s a lot of apathy and we don’t get the kind of readership we’d like. Reading submissions and editing stories takes a lot of time and love.

JBJ: What is the most rewarding aspect of what you do?

SS: We do have a few dedicated fans who love our stories and style, and some writers like yourself who understand what we like. Occasionally we get a bit of acclaim or press. And of course we get energy from great stories and publishing first-time or enthusiastic writers.

JBJ: Is there anything else you would recommend for those who are just starting out?

SS: It’s good to have a clear niche picked out — some angle that you can cover better than anyone else because of your skills or POV or because it’s under served. It also helps a ton to have at least one other person onboard who’s as motivated as you are.

JBJ: What are your plans for the future?

SS: We’ve got plans for a premium membership plan that will deliver a lot of fun, useful services to our dedicated readers and writers. It’s called Squid Plus and we’ve got high hopes for it.

JBJ: Great. Thanks for the interview. Have a great day.

STORIES ON SPACE SQUID:

Bob and Beastman’s Honeymoon

Downloading Brunch

Historical Fiction on Argentina’s Dirty War

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One of the things I love about historical fiction is the genre’s capacity to teleport you back to a particular era of history. Mark Whittle’s The Jacarandas does precisely that with Argentina’s Dirty War, which took place between 1976-1983. This was a time when the country was ruled by a military dictatorship and right-wing death squads hunted down political dissidents believed to be associated with socialist, communist or anti government thought. 9,000-30,000 People were killed or “disappeared.”

Mark Whittle does a great job of depicting the confusion and moral ambiguity of this time. The story follows Daniel, a university student who joined the federal police force in order to serve his country and stop left-wing terrorism in Buenos Aires. Yet Daniel soon discovers that the moral boundaries of this conflict are much murkier than he originally thought. And that besides fitness and hate, the military regime requires loyalty, batons, and electric prods.

The novel is also based off a true story!

Below I have included an interview with Mark Whittle about his process for writing this book. I also have asked him about the self publishing process, for anyone who may be interested in pursuing that road.

JBJ: I see that The Jacarandas is a true story. How did you learn of this story?

MW: I met the real “Daniel” over 10 years ago when he was a guest speaker at a charity event focused on marginalized and underserved communities. Daniel works with prisoners and their families in Argentina. He told his story of joining the federal police as a young man during the Dirty War, and how he became extremely violent and just this whole awful experience he went through. His story haunted me for years. We became friends and have been so ever since. I had once lived in Argentina and knew quite well all about Argentina’s tragic history in the 1970s.

JBJ: Did the real Daniel get to read the book? What did he think?

MW: Great question! Well, the real Daniel speaks very poor English, but I wanted him to read a draft. So I knew it would be way too much work to translate the draft myself so I tried various automated translators and, in the end, selected Google Translate. I painfully entered page by page, copied it out and formatted it to send to him. He did read it. Even today, almost 50 years later, there are still some sensitive issues so he was looking out for that. But he enjoyed it a lot. It’s worth noting that The Jacarandas is not a biography but rather historical fiction where the real Daniel is the protagonist, but I wanted to include some other historical events and themes that were not part of his experience, but absolutely part of the Dirty War.

JBJ: Do you think Argentina today is still affected by the events of the Dirty War?

MW: Yes, it is. It’s a black stain on their past that they just never seem able to get away from. Argentina has had difficulty recovering and seems almost condemned to lurch from crisis to crisis. It’s the political class has failed Argentina. It’s such a rich nation in culture, intellect, education, and natural resources but politics have been ruinous. They just can’t find a good healthy balance.

JBJ: Tell me about your experience in Self-Publishing:

MW: Well, I don’t know any other kind, so I don’t know if it’s good or bad. The Jacarandas is the first novel I’ve written. I thought I would try to traditional route but after querying about 100 agents and getting little traction, I started exploring other options. I read about writers like Andy Weir (The Martian) who published on Amazon KDP. My writers’ critique group had a guest speaker who has made a living publishing on Amazon KDP. And then hearing the experience of some writers who have had less-than-optimal experiences with agents, I decided to give it a try. I found Amazon KDP extremely easy to use. I’ve been super happy with the process and the control I have.

JBJ: What have been your greatest challenges?

MW: Probably the whole marketing of my book. I don’t do a good job of social media presence. My advertising has been limited to trying KDP’s advertising, which I am still trying to learn and perfect. There’s been good word-of-mouth spreading of The Jacarandas, for sure, but getting it to the next level is a challenge with self-publishing. I’ve been told that the best marketing of your book is to write another book. Get that read-through rate. I would say a second challenge is getting those initial reviews on Amazon. Don’t underestimate the work involved with getting a core group of readers to read your book and post a review.

JBJ: What was the most rewarding about this experience?

MW: Definitely it’s having people tell you they loved your book – either through an email or social media or in person, or simply seeing a new review pop up on Amazon. Having people say how they’ve been impacted by what you wrote, and how they liked this scene or character or how I handled x or y. Very satisfying, to be honest.

JBJ: What would you tell other people who are looking to self publish?

MW: Read everything you can about it before deciding. And if you are going to do it, do it the best you possibly can. For example hire an editor. Hire a professional cover design artist. Polish and polish and polish your manuscript so it’s perfect.

Thank you, Mark Whittle!

For those interested in checking out his novel, buy it on Amazon at the link below.

The Jacarandas – Mark Whittle (Amazon)

Fan Opinions on New Star Trek (Reddit Edition)

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As a fan of the older Star Trek shows, I was curious to hear what fans thought about the newest stuff. I’m talking about Discovery (2017), Picard (2020), and Lower Decks (2020). So I went to r/scifi to investigate.

See the Reddit thread here!

I’m not saying Reddit is representative of what all people everywhere think. People on the internet tend to be more critical than people in person (as I know being a fan in random communities). But Reddit offers a good way to get the opinions of a sample size of random fans of a particular subject, especially when I’m stuck in quarantine and can’t exactly go interview a hundred random people in person and hope that they watch Star Trek. With Reddit’s system of upvoting, you get to see which comments resonated with people more than others. So I find it a more valuable medium for opinion gathering than Facebook (where I’m limited to people who are my friends) and Twitter (for the same reason).

So let’s get down to it! What did the hundred+ random Star Trek fans I interviewed on Reddit think about the new Star Trek? 

The top-voted comments on the Reddit thread disliked both Picard and Discovery overall. And the most downvoted comments were the ones that voiced approval.

I decided to take a tally of the comments and break it down into like, dislike and neutral (for people who had mixed reviews). This is my count as of now (8/11/20 11:03am), it doesn’t account for new comments added after this. I also only counted the parent comments. This does not follow the nested comments of those parent comments (because those are discussions that involve the OG commenter elaborating on their point).

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A general theme I noted is that people in r/scifi felt that the new Star Treks lacked continuity with the older Star Treks. They felt that the science in Discovery was not as robust as it was in previous generations (with the questionable Spore Drive). Some people said Discovery and Picard would have been good if they were a completely separate scifi series that wasn’t connected to the Star Trek universe (because of the consistency issues and departure from canon). Other people had issues with the writing and felt that these series focused on explosions and action while missing out on the deeper philosophical questions that originally made Star Trek great (so basically becoming Transformers?). A lot of people felt that the mood of Discovery didn’t match the optimism of Star Trek in general, that it was cynical and filled with betrayal.

There weren’t many comments on the animated series Lower Decks (2020), mainly because people either hadn’t watched it or were focused on discussing Discovery and Picard.

Here are some of the top comments on the thread: 

“They are very disappointing as a long term mega-fan since childhood. Seems the essence and spirit of the trek series is basically gone…I’ve lost complete interest in the franchise.”

“The problem with Picard, and all of nuTrek, is that it doesn’t seem to feel like it has to respect any of the rules that the existing canon created, and then on top of that it doesn’t even seem interesting in respecting the new rules they have created even within a season. That is just top to bottom bad writing.”

“They completely lack what made ST unique. Picard might as well be a gritty FX drama and Discovery some generic sci-fi show with Marvel elements thrown in. There’s no imagination, no wonder, no optimism for the future. Teamwork, bonding, shared experiences and friendships are almost non-existent. We’re left with betrayal, backstabbing, and general mean-spiritedness. The futuristic setting has been abandoned. The characters all wear what looks like 20th century clothing and have 20th century problems and use 20th century slang. Everyone’s bitter, depressed, addicted, cynical. I find it hard to watch just based on this.”

How about the people who liked it…or at least liked some of it?

“Just to be a contrarian against the one other post, I loved Picard and am very lukewarm on Discovery. Picard certainly deviated from canon and had a few story beats I didn’t agree with (I really dislike bitter, cynical starfleet), but the core of Picard’s optimism, his ability to inspire and get people to follow him loyally, and his core belief in the goodness of people is there. I enjoyed it a lot. Plus the fully HD re-render of the Galaxy-class was worth the price of admission. Discovery does not feel like Star Trek at all to me. It’s not optimistic. It’s bitter and combative, full of betrayal, horrible outcomes, fighting, insults. It’s also heavily serialized which makes one-off episode watching feel pretty pointless. That’s also true of Picard, to be fair.”

“They were enjoyable. Could have used more Star Trek flavor, but still good enough to watch.”

“I like them. I was actually growing tired of episodic format and prefer short seasons with one big story arc. Some of the best Trek episodes are two/three part episodes, so I’d rather see more of this. Sure, Discovery and Picard have flaws, but the production is so different, writers are squeezing so many easter eggs into every episode, I honestly don’t care if they make another movie based on Jar Jar Abrams universe, Simon Pegg can’t fuck right off.”

So some people liked it and some people didn’t. But a majority of the comments seemed to dislike the newer Star Treks, while those who did like them were downvoted into the basement.

On Rotten Tomatoes for Picard, critics gave it an 87% while the audience gave it a 57%.  If you add the Picard likes to the Picard neutral comments of the scifi reddit thread, you get a similar percentage, that 51% of the people who commented didn’t hate it.

On Rotten Tomatoes for Discovery, critics gave it an 81% while the audience gave it a 42%. If you add the Discovery likes to the Discovery neutral comments on the scifi reddit, you get a similar percentage, that 48% of the people who commented didn’t hate it.

On Rotten Tomatoes for Lower Decks, critics gave it a 63% while the audience gave it a 31%.

Now what’s interesting, is if you look up Orville (Seth MacFarlane’s parody of Star Trek) on Rotten Tomatoes, you’ll see that critics gave it a 65% while the audience gave it a whopping 94%!

One reddit comment stated: “The spirit of Star Trek is alive and well in The Orville.”

What’s interesting to me is that critic scores are completely different from audience scores. Are they right? Are they wrong? Art is subjective. So that’s not for me to decide. I simply set out to find out what a sample size of people on r/scifi thought about the newer Star Trek, and it seemed that their opinions were fairly consistent with the audience’s views on Rotten Tomatoes.

But of course, if you want to find out what you really think about the newer Star Trek, watch it yourself on CBS All Access.