Mike Shepherd Moscoe: Expert Tracker, Caring Guide

Cold Raked Launa's bare skin, but it was the fear clutching her heart that made her shiver. Beside her in the darkness, Star nickered and yanked on his primitive halter. When Launa asked what would happen if one of the animals bolted from the energy capsule, the scientists shrugged. They had built the time transport, but that didn't mean they understood it.

So begins First Dawn, the introductory novel of Mike Moscoe's Lost Millennium trilogy, and the first novel he published. It concerns Jack and Launa, two people from a contemporary Earth ravaged by a designer plague. A time machine has been developed, but returning is not in Jack and Launa's plans. Instead, these two people are sent by the United States government with one mission: to prevent a peaceful society that lived six thousand years ago from being slaughtered. 

Beautiful artwork (sadly uncredited)
adorns all three volumes of
Mike Moscoe's Lost Millennium trilogy.

It's a radical solution, one that allows no hope for those currently suffering or dying from the plague. But the hope is that Jack and Launa, by preserving this ancient society, can divert the evolution of the Human race onto a more peaceful track. Instead of nation fighting against nation, and terrorists plotting to destroy any aspect of society they disagree with, might it be possible to engineer a modern utopia in this manner? Well, there's always hope, right?

While preparing to attend a science fiction convention, I noticed that Mike Moscoe, a newly published author, would be attended. I attended a panel on which he participated, and afterward approached him with a few questions about his publishing experience. He told me that these were complex questions, and motioned me out of the room. To my surprise, he found us a comfortable and quiet area in which to sit, and proceeded to answer all my questions in the most exacting detail. 

For, believe it or not, one entire hour!

Never in the years since has a published author opened up to me like that, and explained the nuts and bolts of his or her publishing experience in such minute detail. Later, I realized that I wasn't ready to be published yet, but the guiding light Mike shone down the publication path gave me hope. In the meantime, I would go on to enjoy all three installments in his first trilogy, three space operas, and several installments of the Kris Longknife saga (published as Mike Shepherd). And as I read each one, I derived pleasure not only from Mike's prose, but from the memory of the time he lavished upon me. 

Someday, I hope to read more novels about Jack and Launa. Beyond that, I hope to have my own books published. Should the latter event occur, it will in no small way be due to people like Mike Moscoe, who took the time to sit down with an unformed, naive writer, and guide him along, for a few steps, down the narrow, difficult-to-follow deer track through the writing wilderness, that may eventually lead toward the primitive wood-and-thatch hut of publication. You know, the one you could walk around through the forest forever, passing by it time and again, but never spot it through the trees.

Happy Birthday, and eternal thanks, Mike (Shepherd) Moscoe. 

Dragon Dave

Our Need For Interdependence

In Dr. Gregory Benford’s novel, The Stars in Shroud, Ling is the captain of a starship.  Like Mattim Abeeb in Mike Moscoe’s novel The First Casualty, his ship has been converted to serve in humanity’s war against the Quarm.  Not much is known about this alien race, except that they have recently begun invading the colony worlds of Earth.  After a recent attack on Regeln, Ling travels there to rescue survivors.

Understandably, his formerly civilian crew is uneasy about heading into a warzone.  In order to foster calm and a sense of unity, Ling summons everyone to a session of Sabal.  In combination with their personal altars, this game not only addresses a spiritual need, but also reminds players of their individual and collective worth.   

When they reach Regeln, Ling takes a ground team down to the planet.   A colony town seems completely deserted, but they find a hole dug in the auditorium floor.  Climbing into it, Ling and his party discover a labyrinth of tunnels, mauled bodies, and individual holes which the city’s inhabitants have dug for themselves.  These people have taken food and water with them, and are living in their own waste.  They grow violent when Ling and his crew try to pull them from their holes.  

As a second wave is heading their way, there is no possibility of finding, let alone forcibly extracting all the colonists.  They manage to get three thousand back to the ship, but never reach the majority of the world’s inhabitants.  Then they race back toward Earth.  While Tonji, his second-in-command, exults that they have escaped the Quarm, Ling’s concerns are confirmed when members of his crew begin missing meals and locking themselves away in their cabins.

I would like to say that I merely find this story entertaining, but whether I like it or not, this aspect of Dr. Benford’s story resonates with me.  I know what happens to me when Winter approaches and the days shorten.  Like one of Earth’s smaller mammals, I tend to retreat inside my comfortable home.  In the comfort of the central heating, I can read my books and watch my favorite TV shows and movies until Spring arrives.  When the days begin to lengthen, and the temperature rises, only then am I inclined to end my hibernation.

The trouble with this attitude is that, as physically comfortable as I make myself, my thoughts necessarily turn inward.  To combat this similar crisis, Ling orders another Sabal game.  But instead of engendering cooperation and ushering everyone into a sense of Phase, tensions only increase during the game.  Individual fears are augmented, and players pursue strategies that reward themselves at the expense of others.  As the game is designed to simulate the structure of their society, Ling halts the ship until he can discover how to counteract whatever has affected the colonists (and now his crew).  But Tonji manifests this loss of Phase by sending a counter-argument to Earth, whose leaders consequently order Ling to return immediately.  When the ship reaches Earth, this desire for isolation infects nearly the entire population of Earth.

Society often teaches that each individual's goal should be to become independent.  I agree that it is a worthy goal to not feel as if one is dependent upon others (or situations, or things) for one’s happiness and fulfillment.  But I suspect that this desired state is neither an attainable, nor a desirable goal.  Otherwise, how do we explain the tremendous popularity of Facebook and Twitter, as well as the explosion in cell phone usage and texting.  How can we declare that we do not need each other, when our daily activities only emphasize our craving for interdependence?  

In part, this blog represents my own attempt to push back the desire for isolation that strikes me every Winter.  But I recognize that it is not enough to merely connect with others in a virtual manner.  It is all too easy, in seclusion, to focus merely upon my own needs and desires.  When I leave my comfortable home, I am confronted by the needs of those around me.  By focusing upon the latter, by being in community with others, I participate in the reality that a game like Sabal can only simulate.  Through interacting with my fellow humans, not only can I contribute to my individual wellbeing, but that of all around me. 

Related Dragon Cache entries:

More on Mike Moscoe’s novel The First Casualty

The first of several entries on Dr. Benford’s novel Jupiter Project

My first entry on Dr. Benford and Gordon Eklund’s novel If The Stars Are Gods

Related Internet Links:

Mike Moscoe’s Website

Dr. Gregory Benford’s Website

  

Controlled By Chaos

Occasionally, we all feel like pawns on the chessboard of life.  Those who constrain our options and actions may do so by exerting emotional, physical, or legal power over us.  Alternatively, we may find ourselves in the grip of situations from which, whatever we try, we cannot break free.  That which limits us may even reside inside our very beings.  Either way, we tell ourselves that if we just soldier on, eventually we will push through whatever bars us from accomplishing our goals.

So why do we often fail so miserably?

Two books that exemplify this constant battle are Downbelow Station and The First Casualty.   In C. J. Cherryh’s story, the inhabitants of the Pell Space Station find themselves caught up in a battle between the Earth Company that once dominated the stars, and the rebel Union intent upon driving their former masters back to humanity’s home planet.  In Mike Moscoe’s novel, asteroid miners find themselves drafted into military service by the Society of Humanity, while on the opposing Unity side, Ray Longknife sees his new society’s glorious ideals being twisted by a repressive dictator.  Both books feature great characters: Cherryh’s Signy Mallory and Moscoe’s Mattim Abeeb are both capable star ship captains who have earned the respect of their crews and fight for the causes they believe in.  In each story, characters cannot avoid the conflict, and soon find themselves so overwhelmed that most of us, were we in their shoes, might concede the fight and accept defeat.  Yet these people find the strength and the determination to soldier on.

Both novels are exciting and entertaining.  Both provided the essential basis for later stories by their authors.  Both were purchased by business-savvy editors, and published by major publishing houses.  Yet Downbelow Station went on to win numerous awards, as well as critical and commercial success, while The First Casualty failed to catch fire with critics or readers, and has since gone out of print. 

Thankfully, Ace Books and Mike Moscoe decided to soldier on together.  Although he had to change his pen name to Mike Shepherd, he has gone on to achieve success with his Kris Longknife series.  As of this writing, Ace Books has published nine novels (based on the characters, situations, and universe created in The First Casualty), with a tenth due out next year. 

Whatever enabled C. J. Cherryh’s success, and whatever cost Mike Moscoe the ability to sell books under his name, both authors soldiered on.  Because of their perseverance and their determination, both have found a lasting place in the hearts of their readerships.

While my life often seems controlled by external chaos and constrained by internal forces beyond my conscious control, I gain inspiration not only from the structured-reality great Fiction provides, but also from the stories of authors who created the stories I cherish.  Either way, these models help me battle on.  I offer them to you in the hope that they will likewise inspire you.  

Other recent Dragon Cache stories about Authors worth discovering

Roger Zelazny

Robert Silverberg

Jane Linskold

Websites Worth Perusing
C. J. Cherryh
Mike (Shepherd) Moscoe