They are here! They are hidden among us! They will stop at
nothing to destroy us!
That’s right! After much anticipation, SILENT INVASION is
live and available for sale! If you’ve read DREAM TRAVELER or INSECTLAND, this
is the book that started the series. I had release the sequels first, but now
the full storyline will all come together. SILENT INVASION took fifteen years
to finish. Not write, but finish. Here’s the history. The first draft was
completed in September 1997 as a single, stand-alone novel. In November 1997 I
got my first agent, Ann Luster of Luster Lit. She spent six months “shopping”
the manuscript with no result. A few months after that, her phone got
disconnected and I never heard from her again. Turns out, she was part of a
huge author scam in the mid-nineties; anyone remember Edit Ink, and the six
million dollar lawsuit against them? The only good thing is I never sent her
any money, which is why I guess I was never even given a chance. Anyway, I
rewrote SILENT INVASION, thinking the manuscript had flaws and decide to turn
it into a series. I envisioned three books, each singularly a story, yet all
three would have a grander meaning. I wanted these books to be wholly different
from anything out there; wild, mind-bending novels for middle school through
adult readers. In spring of 1998, I had started work on INSECTLAND, when I got
offered representation again. This was a shady agency that did have a few legit
sales. I had to pre-pay $300 for printing of manuscripts and materials or I
could do it myself. I opted to do it myself (which probably put them off to me
right away). It cost about $150 to get everything done and shipped to them.
Again, many months went by without a word. Finally, I got a small plain
envelope with a photocopied list of all the publishers they’d claimed to have sent
it to and then a kind “wish we could do more and good luck with your life”
note. By that time, I’d finished INSECTLAND and had completed a first draft of
DREAM TRAVELER. I continued my quest for agents, but also started querying
publishers. I wrote more novels, switching genres to noir thrillers and then
back to sci-fi, on a yearly basis. On average, once a month I’d get a request
for a read from either agent or publisher. Most all wrote me back detailing
reasons why they didn’t take the book on and suggestions for change. I
incorporated those changes and in June of 2006, I got a phone call that would
change my life. Gary Heidt of Signature Lit in NY wanted to represent me. I
went through the roof. This was a top agent, with huge sales, in a top NY
agency. The high of that call lasted days. And in the months that followed, we
had moments of sheer excitement as editors and publishers decide if they wanted
to take the book on. We tweaked my other novels as an agent-author team and got
so close to getting large advances that it hurt. Then, all of a sudden the
publishing environment changed and competition for shelf space at the bookstore
became overwhelming. Requests for my novels became less and less and then
finally in August of 2009 Gary
SILENT INVASION
Thirteen-year-old Tim Madison’s life turns upside
down when a strange visitor takes him aboard a magnificent spaceship to train
for a future alien invasion. Returned home with new skills and this terrible
knowledge, he confides in his two best friends about his experience. Now,
they’re in a race against time to prevent an all-out attack on Earth. Can they
stop the ruthless, spider-like creatures from constructing a massive
extermination army deep inside our planet? Or will we all perish?
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