#188:  Interview on “Phalanges.”  Gina Fava, also an author of thrillers, interviewed me for the Q/A section of her blog called “Phalanges.”  I will review her here shortly.  I also look forward to having her write a guest post for this blog on various topics.  Meanwhile, check out her website. (www.ginafava.com)  [Also, see my interview policy on my “Join the Conversation” webpage.]

#189:  Try a book.  I will soon have ten books (see below).  Maybe it’s time to try one.  They are all sci-fi thrillers, although some are more sci-fi than thriller, or vice versa.  There are three series:  “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco,”  “Clones and Mutants,” and “The Chaos Chronicles.”  The first books in each series are The Midas Bomb, Full Medical, and Survivors of the Chaos.  Try one of these.  Or, introduce yourself to my fiction with the YA novel The Secret Lab (for young adults and young-at-heart adults) or the short story collection Pop Two Antacids and Have Some Java—both are only $0.99.  [See “Books and Short Stories.” ]

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[I needed to deliver a message to Santa Claus recently.  I finally found him on an undisclosed and clothes-optional Caribbean island with the help of Rudolph, who has a big mouth as well as that well-known drunkard’s nose.  Santa hadn’t told his elves where he was going and didn’t take his iPhone 4S.  He had wi-fi in his beach hut, though, so I talked to him via Skype.]

Steve:  Santa, I wanted to tell you I finally finished editing that trilogy and it will be released soon.  You can put it on Christmas lists.

Santa:  It’s about time.  I hope it’s not like those Fifty Shades books.  [Pops his speedo as if to cool his privates.]  I gave the first one to Mrs. Claus.  Her list of toys she wants for Christmas is now ten pages long.  I hope that’s not going to be the norm this next Christmas!

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Among the world’s five great religions, Islam is the youngest.  It shows.  Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, and Jews have generally matured enough to get beyond fanatical and savage protests in reaction to perceived insults to their religion and they punish those who participate in such protests—not so Muslims.  People in the other religions shrug off the intolerance, turn their backs on it, and go on with their lives—not so Muslims.  If Islamic believers who have matured beyond fanatical responses still can’t control their savage and fanatical brethren, something is wrong.

A Muslim quoted in the NY Times yesterday said something like, “I respect Moses, Jesus, and the other prophets.  Why can’t the U.S. respect the Prophet Mohammed.”  This is an example of the myopic thinking of many Muslims, not just fanatics.  How dare they presume to dictate to me or anyone else how I feel about the prophets or anything else?  This kind of ignorance and arrogance is precisely what stands in the way of any solution for Middle East peace.  It’s like trying to reason with your five-year-old about world-shaking issues after he’s caught raiding the cookie jar.  You can’t have a mature discussion with people who are driven to deadly tantrums by their emotions.

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(J. Elder, Entity, MuseItUp Publishing, B008QWRL9M)

This novel is the sequel to the author’s Spectra, which I also reviewed.  Consider this review a sequel to the first.  In that review, I introduced the idea of sci-fi thriller, a sub-genre of science fiction.  My definition differs from Hollywood’s, where “thriller” often signifies an over-abundance of action to the detriment of the thrills and suspense.  Both Spectra and Entity are fine examples of sci-fi thrillers:  they are Goldilocks books where the author gets the balance just right.

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I write sci-fi thrillers.  Readers and writers have preconceived notions about what that means.  The sci-fi part is well understood—or is it?  The whole Star Wars juggernaut was fantasy, not sci-fi, for example—or, at best, a fantasized rendering of Asimov’s Foundation series souped up with language from Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter series (Jedi warriors, the white beast on the ice planet, etc).  Still, I’ll give you that sci-fi writing is well defined, even if Hollywood doesn’t know the definition.

Hollywood has also played fast and loose with the concept of thriller.  A modern movie thriller has a protagonist who faces unspeakable adversity and violence, suffers through interminable car chases or escapes from murderous robots, zombies, vampires, or werewolves, and saves one or two unnaturally slim and buxom women in the process.  Compare Ludlum’s The Bourne Identity with the movie version.  If the movie is a sci-fi thriller, the women become super smart scientists as well (the movie version of I, Robot comes to mind).  It’s hard to find a few cinematic seconds that are devoid of sex, violence, or other intense action.

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