Dear Murderby4 friends,
Here is another great article by the prolific and talented author,
Stephanie Osborn. Stephanie happens to be a fellow writer from Twilight
Times Books, and has written many acclaimed titles. Please check out her
website to see all of her books.
This
week also happens to be Stephanie's book blast for her Displaced
Detective series, be sure to investigate the deals!
The Arrival is on sale for $0.99 from 16-20 Sept. then $1.99 until 15 Oct.
At Speed, The Rendlesham Incident, and Endings & Beginnings are on sale for $2.99 from 16Sept-15Oct.
Aaron Lazar
www.lazarbooks.com
How
a Rocket Scientist Becomes a Writer
copyright 2013, Stephanie Osborn
My
first published novel was a SF mystery (I seem to have a fondness for combining
those two genres) published by Twilight Times Books back in 2009. Burnout: The mystery of Space Shuttle STS-281 is a techno-thriller about a Space
Shuttle disaster that turns out to be no accident.
There's
a loooong story behind the writing of Burnout.
For one thing, it took me between 10-15 years from the conception of the idea,
and the published book.
Why?
Simple.
I
was too close to it.
Let’s
back up a couple decades.
I’d
just started working in the field when the Challenger
disaster occurred. The program I worked at the time of the disaster was to have
led to a Shuttle mission, and I would have been a Payload Specialist candidate.
Shortly thereafter, the next phase of my project was cancelled due to the
grounding of the Shuttle Fleet. So I moved into the payload flight control
area.
Over
a couple of decades I worked seven Space Shuttle missions, at least four
increments on the International Space Station, and a number of space defense
programs. You get into some interesting conversations from time to time.
The
seeds of Burnout began as a
conversation concerning certain abilities of the Shuttle. It does have an
autopilot, and a very limited remote control capability. We discussed under
what circumstances a Shuttle could be damaged on orbit and still manage a
reasonably safe descent.
Sounds
morbid. But the first step to preventing a disaster is to figure out what might
cause one, then develop preventive measures and recovery procedures. This means
talking about it, working out the details of the malfunction, then working
backwards to “fix” it.
And
yes, this required considerable knowledge of the guts of a Shuttle. Betwixt us
all, we possessed the requisite knowledge. I don't know that we ever did decide
whether it was possible.
But
that was the birth of the idea. What if I wrote a story about a Shuttle
accident, and the ensuing investigation? What sort of accident should it be?
Should it cause merely a dangerous, or a catastrophic, malfunction?
And
then the idea hit: What if it WASN’T an accident?
And
that was when Burnout was born.
My
first Shuttle mission was the first Spacelab flight after the post-Challenger Return To Flight. So my
research for Burnout included all
of the investigative reports and such for that disaster. But I didn’t want
anyone thinking I was playing off a tragedy, so I changed the scenario. Whereas
Challenger blew during the ascent
phase, I’d make my fictional disaster occur during re-entry. I started writing.
So
here I was, squarely in the middle of a career in the Shuttle program, writing
about a Shuttle disaster. The exact thing that I, as a payload flight
controller, did NOT want to see, at least in real life. Certainly not on my
watch.
It
messes with your head, that.
So
I’d write on it awhile, then put it aside when it got to me. I wouldn’t look at
it again for months. Then the “plot bunny” would bite again, and I’d pull it
out and go at it for awhile.
Somewhere
in there, my husband Darrell introduced me to Travis “Doc” Taylor, best-selling
science fiction author, TV star of National Geographic’s When Aliens Attack and Rocket
City Rednecks and at that time, my husband’s co-worker. Darrell is a
graphics artist and does all of the artwork for my book covers, and had done
some cover concepts for one of Travis’ books. So when Darrell told Travis I was
trying to get published, Travis suggested he introduce us. Darrell did, we
clicked, and I acquired a writing mentor.
With
that encouragement, I pushed on. Darrell got used to stomping up to me when I
was writing: A husband suddenly materializing at my shoulder and saying
something is apt to end up with him peeling me from the ceiling.
Eventually
I finished a rough draft and sent it to Travis, who’d promised to read it and
give me a helpful critique. When he felt it was polished enough, he’d help me
further by submitting it to one of his publisher friends. He said he’d been
helped like that, and he intended to pass it forward. I promised him I would,
too.
So
I sent him the Word file and sat back, glad I’d finally gotten the thing
finished.
And
then, the unthinkable happened.
Columbia went down. And I had a
friend aboard.
By
that time, I was into military work, or my emotional response might have been
even worse. As it was, I put the manuscript away for six months or so. I'd lost
TWO friends at one go: KC, and Columbia;
because that was the Shuttle with which I'd worked the most.
I
talked to Travis later; he said it kinda freaked him too. He went over the
whole manuscript in detail, and sent me back a list of compliments, critiques,
and suggestions. Unfortunately I wasn’t in any kind of emotional condition to
use them. And wouldn’t be for nearly a year.
I
seriously considered trashing the manuscript. I downloaded the Columbia Accident Investigation Board’s
report and studied it, looking to see if I was way off in left field with my
scenario. If I was, then I should probably trash the manuscript anyway. If I
wasn’t…
I
wasn’t. I didn’t have to change a word.
In
the end, I went forward and dedicated the novel to Kalpana and the Columbia crew. I dug up Travis’ notes
and printed them out. I had to double the size of the manuscript, which meant
essentially writing a whole ‘nother story. So I wrote several stories, and
intertwined them in a series of subplots.
I
also wrote an afterward in which I basically swore up and down that the book
was written BEFORE the accident. I didn’t want anyone prone to conspiracy
theories thinking that, as a NASA insider, I’d written the real story of Columbia under the guise of fiction.
And
THEN… I sent it to Travis.
The first
publisher he sent it to rejected it. Not for any particular flaws in the book;
it turns out that 1) they weren’t taking on newbie authors at that time, 2) it
didn’t fit the type of book they usually published. That was hard. But I was
thankful I had a mentor, because Trav wouldn’t let me get down about it.
Instead he sent it to Twilight Times Books. I clearly remember his email going
out on a Thursday. On Sunday, the editor in chief, Lida Quillen, sent me an
email outlining the standard contract for accepting a book. By Monday, I had my
very first book contract in my hands. I was about to become a published author!
Next
came a year of reviewing, editing, honing, adding, subtracting, finding a
rather large plot hole and plugging it, galley proofs, and being asked to write
a book with another author. The Y Factor,
co-authored with Darrell Bain, the 2nd book of the Cresperia Saga
begun by Bain and Travis with the award-winning Human By Choice, came out in ebook the same day Burnout came out in ebook and print –
Tax Day, 2009. Both hit best-seller lists with various sales groups, and both
were favorably reviewed by a syndicated columnist in the New York Times.
Burnout has done rather well in the time it’s been in
publication. It’s been nominated for awards in four different genres – ebook,
science fiction, mystery, and thriller – and has garnered some interest from
Los Angeles. I already have the contract in hand for the sequel, and a
screenplay is written for a feature film project.
Burnout’s sequel, tentatively titled Escape Velocity, is in work. The master
script is nearly finished (though the shooting script isn’t even begun), and
hopefully some producers will be interested in bringing my imagination to
cinematic life in the near future. The Y
Factor’s sequel, The Cresperian
Alliance, is out; I’ve written a book with Travis titled Extraction Point. And I have an entire
series, the Displaced Detective saga,
in work, with the first story in two volumes, The
Case of the Displaced Detective: The Arrival and At Speed, just released.
I
left the space program shortly before Travis submitted Burnout for me. Now I write full time, and have 10 books,
novel and anthology, under my belt. From rocket scientist to author in a couple
of years’ time.
Not too
shabby, I suppose.
***
Check out Stephanie's Sherlock Holmes series:
The Case of the Displaced Detective: The Arrival
The Case of the Displaced Detective: At Speed
The Case of the Cosmological Killer: The Rendlesham
Incident
The Case of the Cosmological Killer: Endings and
Beginnings
Books 5-7 are in work, and are entitled:
A Case of Spontaneous
Combustion
A Little Matter of
Earthquakes
The Adventure of
Shining Mountain Lodge
Also Osborn is working on concepts for an additional 3-4
books in the series.
Stephanie OsbornInterstellar Woman of Mystery
See all her books at http://www.Stephanie-Osborn.com
Few can claim the varied background of Stephanie Osborn, the
Interstellar Woman of Mystery.
Veteran of more than 20 years in the civilian space program,
as well as various military space defense programs, she worked on numerous
space shuttle flights and the International Space Station, and counts the
training of astronauts on her resumé. Her space experience also includes
Spacelab and ISS operations, variable star astrophysics, Martian aeolian
geophysics, radiation physics, and nuclear, biological, and
chemical weapons effects.
Stephanie holds graduate and undergraduate degrees in four
sciences:
astronomy, physics, chemistry and mathematics, and she is “fluent” in several
more, including geology and anatomy.
In addition she possesses a license of ministry, has been a
duly sworn, certified police officer, and is a National Weather Service
certified storm spotter.
Her travels have taken her to the top of Pikes Peak, across
the world’s highest suspension bridge, down gold mines, in the footsteps of
dinosaurs, through groves of giant Sequoias, and even to the volcanoes of the
Cascade Range in the Pacific Northwest, where she was present for several phreatic
eruptions of Mount St. Helens.
Now retired from space work, Stephanie has trained her
sights on writing. She has authored, co-authored, or contributed to more than
20 books, including the celebrated science-fiction mystery, Burnout: The Mystery of Space Shuttle
STS-281. She is the co-author of the “Cresperian Saga,” book series, and
currently writes the critically acclaimed “Displaced Detective” series,
described as “Sherlock Holmes meets The
X-Files.” She recently released the paranormal/horror novella El Vengador, based on a true story, as
an ebook.
In addition to her writing work, the Interstellar Woman of
Mystery now happily “pays it forward,” teaching math and science through
numerous media including radio, podcasting and public speaking, as well as
working with SIGMA, the science-fiction
think tank.
The Mystery continues.
Blurb for Spirit Shapes: Ghost
hunters stumble upon a murdered teen in a haunted house. Deputy Tempe
Crabtree's investigation pulls her into a whirlwind of restless spirits, good
and evil, intertwined with the past and the present, and demons and angels at
war.
Kim Smith at the Bartlett Festival, Bartlett TN, September 28, 2013
