Tag Archives: author sean t. smith

Inside the Idea: A Glimpse Into A Crusty Writer’s Mind

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A Fascination With History

When I was a kid I was blessed to have parents who encouraged my interest in history. My folks took me to countless forts, battlefields and museums. There is something special about seeing things in person rather than just hearing about them in school. I remember standing on the battlefield at Antietam when I was twelve and trying to imagine what those boys who had died there might have felt as they faced a charge. I recall closing my eyes and seeing the flash of bayonets and there was the smell of gunpowder and the screams of the wounded and dying. Inside the farmhouse there were pictures of dead soldiers sprawled over the very ground where I stood.

I visited many revolutionary war battlefields and was privileged to explore the Smithsonian. History came alive for me. I recall being blown away by the fact that I was looking at George Washington’s sword, the one he had worn into battle. And then seeing the sword that he accepted in surrender from General Cornwallis at Yorktown. The connection between where we had come from as a nation and where we’d ended up seemed to be a tangible thing that mostly made sense to me. It gave me a deep sense of appreciation for those who’d sacrificed everything for America.

During those same years, I was devouring science fiction like a starving man at a Golden Corral, eagerly immersing myself in futuristic worlds and complex narratives. The imaginative universes created by authors like Asimov, Heinlein, and Herbert made a huge impact on me, each story weaving intricate themes of humanity, technology, and moral dilemmas that challenged my perspectives. I found myself pondering the ethical implications of artificial intelligence in Asimov’s tales, the gritty social commentary within Heinlein’s works, and the rich, intricate political landscapes of Herbert’s Dune series. Each book opened a new door to possibilities, fueling my curiosity about the universe and igniting a passion for storytelling that has stayed with me ever since.

I think my books reflect my love of history expressed through the “what if?” lens of science fiction.

A Fresh Twist on Old Themes

With the Wrath series, I explored what the aftermath of World War Three might look like. In Tears of Abraham I delved into the horrific destruction that a second Civil War would bring to the country. The Fortress America will ultimately combine those two Themes.

I am hard at work on the next novel in the series, Anvil of War. This one is centered around the defense of Taiwan against the Chinese invasion, and it picks up right after the events of Forge of Freedom. The third novel is as yet untitled but will take place probably twenty-five years in the future and will revolve a second American Revolution in the wake of the Bates authoritarian presidency.

Some Tidbits

The title Forge of Freedom was my publishers’ idea. The brothers John and Dean must endure tremendous pressure from their father. The title is meant to evoke that heat and pressure and that hardened resolve.

Fortress America is the name of a military board game I used to play with my old buddy Arthur back in high school. The premise of the game is that the United States has become extremely isolationist and is invaded. As of this writing, the global opinion of the United States has plummeted. 74% of people in Germany and 65% in the UK and Canada have unfavorable opinions of the United States. This, following the Greenland embarrassment, when Germany and France sent troops to Greenland to defend against America. If something does not change, NATO will fall apart.

I had planned and written the assassination plot line a year before Trump ran for office again. After the attempt happened, I was so discouraged by how close it felt to my novel that I quit writing.

Please leave an honest review!

I hope you enjoy my work, and will leave me an honest review on Amazon. Your thoughts and feedback are incredibly valuable not just to me but also to potential readers who are deciding whether or not to explore my writing. Reviews are really hard to come by, and they make a huge difference in helping my work reach a wider audience. A few kind words can inspire others to pick up my books and delve into the stories I’ve crafted. It would mean the world to me if you could take a moment to share your experience!

Coming Soon!

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The Angel’s Last War has found a home with World Castle Publishing! This will be released soon, probably in the summer of 2025.

What if you could live forever—but never escape the battle between good and evil?

Malak’s first memory is of the Crucifixion. From that moment, he is cursed—or perhaps chosen—to die and rise again, century after century, witnessing the rise and fall of empires, the birth of religions, and the unrelenting cycle of human suffering. From the burning of Rome to the Crusades, from the Inquisition to the Black Death, from the battlefields of the American Revolution to the war-torn present, Malak searches for meaning, haunted by a beautiful and enigmatic woman who seems to follow him across time.

Now, in the modern world, Malak leads a clandestine organization dedicated to preventing humanity from spiraling into chaos. But his latest mission—assassinating a Saudi prince funding global terror—has put him in the crosshairs of the CIA. Worse, a greater enemy lurks in the shadows. Lucifer himself has been waiting for Malak, and at Megiddo, the prophesied site of Armageddon, he will offer him an agonizing choice.

Spanning two thousand years of history, faith, and violence, The Angel’s Last War is an electrifying, thought-provoking epic that will keep you riveted until the final, fateful choice.

This is the best book I’ve written thus far, I think. It took me years to write and I did a tremendous amount of research. Because it spans two thousand years, there was a lot to learn that wasn’t covered in my history classes!

While this is not a specifically Christian book, it is written from a place of faith, and I tried very hard not to directly contradict anything in the Bible or what we know of history. My personal belief is that God exists, but he’s so far beyond human comprehension that we cannot adequately describe Him. There is certainly a difference between religion and faith, and great evil has been perpetrated by organized religion through the ages, as men subvert goodness to their own desires. The Crusades and the Inquisition were a nasty bit of business.

A side note that some readers may find interesting:

I’ve never seen a demon or anything supernatural, but, while researching one particular demon for this book, I experienced a migraine headache, the only one I’ve ever had in my life, and I had to leave the house. There was a palpable sense of evil around me, a heavy, sticky weight that lasted for hours. It was bad enough that I tabled the book for a while.

The cover art depicted here is not final, just conceptual. I’ll have a final cover reveal when my publisher approves it.

Rediscovering Love After 50: A Gentle Journey

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The sun hangs low over the water, casting long shadows across the bar. She laughs at one of my bad jokes and Buffet plays on the Bluetooth. We are talking about the wedding, and she catches me grinning like a sly old fox. Admiring her, appreciating her. It wasn’t a firecracker kind of love anymore. Not the kind that explodes and leaves you wondering where all the noise came from. This love was steady, like the tide rolling in, quiet but certain.

You don’t chase it when you’re older. You don’t run after it with wild eyes and a pounding heart. Love, after fifty, is something you recognize when it’s there, like the smell of rain or the way a good whiskey feels going down. You know it because you’ve known what it isn’t. You’ve been through the wars—divorces, funerals, long nights when the bed was too big and too cold.

At fifty, you’ve made mistakes. Too many, maybe. You’ve said things you regret and left things unsaid that still hang in the air, decades later. But love now isn’t about regrets. It’s about knowing the weight of them and choosing to stay anyway and not repeat the same mistakes. Now love is about making the very most of the finite time you’ve got left together.

When you’re twenty and in love, the world is an open road with seemingly limitless entrances and exit ramps. The future is wide open and you haven’t been wrecked by bad lane changes. You haven’t had to make those broad detours from your plan where you wind up in a shithole town you never meant to go. There’s an innocence to it. Most of us squander it.

You’ve played the dating game, and even if you got good at it, you know it was never for you. The online chats, the fake profiles, deceptions and illusion of limitless choice gave way to the understanding of just how polluted the dating pool is.

She doesn’t wear perfume. Not like the others. Before, it was all jasmine and rose, too much of it sprayed on wrists and necks. Now, it was soap and clean skin and the faint scent of coffee. It was better this way. Real. No illusions, no pretending to be something you’re not.

You don’t need grand gestures at this age. A shared silence can say everything. The way her hand lingers on yours when she passes you the glass. The way he still looks at you, even when your hair is gray and your laugh lines run deep.

It isn’t the love of poets and songs. It’s the love of mornings spent lounging in bed, the love of knowing how they like their coffee, the love of enduring things together: losses, small triumphs, the soft rhythm of days that blend into years.

It different now because we appreciate it more. It’s precious, fleeting, rare, and not to be squandered. This is the person, your person, that you want to spend the rest of your time on the road with. You want to make them happy and you do everything in your power to make it so and it’s mutual, reciprocated. It’s easy when it’s like that, but you don’t take it for granted.

Love after fifty doesn’t hit like a thunderstorm. It’s a slow rain that waters the roots. It’s the kind of love you can stand under and feel whole.

Christian Beliefs vs. Trump’s Actions

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LAS VEGAS, NV – APRIL 28: Chairman and President of the Trump Organization Donald Trump yells ‘you’re fired’ after speaking to several GOP women’s group at the Treasure Island Hotel & Casino April 28,

What are Christians supposed to believe?

Being Christian means following the teachings of Jesus Christ, who emphasized love, compassion, humility, and forgiveness. It involves faith in Christ as the Son of God and Savior, a commitment to live according to His example, and adherence to the principles of the Bible. Central to Christianity is the belief in salvation through grace, the call to love God and neighbors, and the pursuit of a life marked by integrity, service, and the hope of eternal life.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

What Does Donald Trump Believe?

Let’s cut right to the point. Donald Trump embodies the opposite of what Christ taught. Jesus taught love. The only thing Trump seems to love is power. Compassion, humility and forgiveness? Trump has made fun of everyone from veterans, POWs, and handicapped people to essentially all women.

Jesus taught humility, while Trump is perhaps the most arrogant person in the world today. Forgiveness is certainly not in his wheelhouse, either, as he has promised to seek prosecution for those that disagreed with him; he is vengeful in the way of a child.

Trump’s lack of integrity has been on display to the world since the eighties, as he plundered New York with multiple bankruptcies, refused to pay contractors, cheated on multiple wives and paid for sex with a porn star.

So why do Christians support Trump?

I really cannot understand the mental gymnastics behind the overwhelming support for a man who appears to contradict everything that Jesus taught. It appears that Supreme Court nominations play a big role in the decision-making process, as Trump latched onto the abortion issue, which was essentially manufactured by the Falwell crew back in the 70’s as a way to snatch Dixiecrats into the Republican fold. How this singular issue is enough to overcome his other flaws is beyond me.

Get Vaxxed! I wish I had before I came down with COVID.

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My symptoms hit like a ton of bricks a little under two weeks ago. I’d finished with a Zoom call for work, made lunch for my youngest child, and we watched the last episode of Loki. That’s when the fever started.

Next came chills.

Then full on delirium and fatigue so deep and abiding that I could not move to even grab the remote control. I got tested for COVID the next day.

My chest tightened, the dreaded dry cough settled in, and the fever and fatigue continued for roughly 7 days. In the middle of the night on night 7, I will admit that I was fairly worried. Coughing up blood, having a hard time breathing, I considered going into the ER.

The fear factor is one of the worst things about COVID. You’re sitting there wheezing, considering the real possibility that you might wind up on a vent. Hotel Covid— you can check in any time you like, but you can’t never leave. Had I not known that I had COVID, I wouldn’t have been so afraid, but that dark cloud hangs thick, especially at 3 AM. I forced myself to calm down, slow my breathing, and think happy thoughts.

Day 8 I started to feel a little better, and improved each day. Upon writing, it’s day 12 since my symptoms began, and I feel normal. And lucky. No cough, no fever for four days. I’m not contagious now.

I was reluctant to run right out and get the vaccine after two healthy people I know were hospitalized due to complications. I kept putting it off because I didn’t want to be down for a day or two and miss work. Obviously, that didn’t go so well.

The point of getting the vaccine is to give your body the roadmap to fight this thing. You can still get and spread the disease, but your chances of winding up in the hospital are extremely low if you’re vaxxed.

If you’re on the fence- get it done. It beats that sense of being a fool combined with terror at 3 in the morning, the thought that you may leave your children defenseless in this world.

New Release!

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Rose Colored Glasses is now available in ebook and paperback.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0888T4RWP/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

For my fans, I’m sorry this took so long. I know some of you have sent me messages asking why I haven’t released any books in a few years.

There were two big factors. First, this was a very difficult book to write. It’s ultimately a love story as much as it is a thriller, and it centers around a failed marriage… something I’ve had intimate experience with. I struggled with how the book needed to end, writing many different versions of the last third of the book. I’m satisfied that it ended the way it needed to.

Second, I’ve been very busy with my day job as a solar consultant and my family. It’s been difficult for me to find the right balance of work, writing, and family. It’s a personality flaw— I tend to focus on only one of those things at a time, and when I do, other things suffer.

About the book—

My previous novels have been in some measure military thrillers, while this one revolves around only a few characters. This one also has some pretty graphic sex scenes and profanity, whereas the Wrath trilogy was squeaky clean.

I poured myself into this one, and there are certain things that cut close to the bone. I wrote large chunks of it while my wife and I were separated, so while the details of the book are vastly different from reality, there is a brutal honesty in the emotion.

What’s next?

I’m currently about 1/3 of the way through my next novel, the first in a planned trilogy. This one is more akin to the Wrath series. It will follow a family through three generations dealing with global wars sparked by climate change and pandemic, and in the final book, an American Revolution against what has become an autocratic, new-fascist government.

Thank you for reading!

I hope you’ll buy my book, leave me a review, and let me know what you think. I truly enjoy interacting with readers and discussing my books.

Where Are Our Heroes?

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Every generation has its heroes, and while they have looked different, they share one essential trait- they are, by definition, heroic. At the moment, our pop-culture is dominated by super-heroes. Captain America and Ironman along with the MCU have captured our collective imagination. Back in the 80’s it was ripped men like Arnold and Stallone. Before that it was John Wayne. Those fictional heroes were all willing to sacrifice themselves to protect others, or to protect the greater good.

What about real heroes?

Audie Murphy, the most decorated American soldier in World War Two, was wounded multiple times throughout the war, putting himself under direct fire to save his men. He received the Medal of Honor for mounting a burning tank-destroyer and laying down .50 caliber machine-gun fire on advancing German troops and tanks for over an hour. He was wounded and only ceased when he ran out of ammunition. He killed over fifty attackers in that one assault. If Stallone acted the scene in a movie, it would be hard to believe.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was the hero of the civil rights movement, risking his life to march and speak out against codified racism and inequality, and he was ultimately killed for his stand.

John McCain, former prisoner of war, Presidential candidate, and Senator, became a hero in my own eyes, when he famously cast the deciding vote against repealing the Affordable Care Act. He bucked his own party, and chose to vote with his conscience for the good of the nation. He died shortly thereafter of brain cancer.

We desperately need real heroes now.

The United States of America is in the midst of a crisis. The executive branch is grossly over extending its power, largely unchecked by congress. From the war on science, the media, and the truth to the ongoing denial of Russian interference in our elections, the Trump administration is proving to be a real threat to our democracy.

Congress must begin the impeachment process, regardless of the political calculus, because it is Congress’s duty to be a check upon the executive branch. There are certain threats which transcend politics, and an administration which displays disregard for the rule of law is one.

It seems that Speaker Pelosi is intent upon running out the clock because she fears, understandably, that the Senate will not convict, no matter what. Where are the heroes and patriots in the Senate?

It’s time for our elected leaders to actually lead. There must be consequences for a President who obstructs justice and colludes with foreign powers to steal an election. History will remember.

Great Expectations

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My favorite opening line in literature is from David Copperfield: Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station shall be held by anybody else, these pages must show.”

I love Dickens.

My reach has always exceeded my grasp. For artists, I think this is norm. It’s next to impossible to make a good living with words and rhyme, melody or canvas. Somehow, we keep striving, because we must. And part of that is the belief that somehow, some way, we will succeed, and hit something out of the park. I’ve clung to that belief all my adult life, perhaps foolishly. I’ve worked towards that goal, too, sacrificed time and memories and relationships at the altar of words. Sometimes I am plagued by doubt, brought to my knees by my innate selfishness and the thought of the tens of thousands of hours I’ve spent over a notebook, a guitar, a computer.

I remember the times I came so damn close, only to have things evaporate. The songs “on hold” by huge artists. The books that seemed poised to take off, only to wind up at the discount bin. I get my hopes up, and crash and burn, and it’s painful. At this point, I’m jaded. I still believe, though. I really do, deep down.

Yesterday, I got news that would have made my younger, less jaded self, dance naked in the streets. A major television network is very interested in my books. They want a meeting. Twenty years ago, I’d have lost my mind. Hell, twenty years ago, I’d never have believed I’d have books published, in stores. I was a songwriter, not an author. Life is funny.

I still have great expectations. This may fall through, and if so, it’s on to the next network, the next book, the next script, the next article. I can’t stop writing.

And if I never hit it out of the park, at least I can look myself in the mirror at the end, gray and worn out and full of regrets, but not that one.

So to my fellow creatives, keep writing, keep singing, painting and smiling. Keep believing.

Let’s be heroes.

WRATH goes to Hollywood 

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I recall those early heady days when Permuted Press offered me a contract for Objects of Wrath . They signed me to a trilogy, and paid me for two books I hadn’t even written yet. I got the advance within three weeks of signing, just days before Christmas. And, let me tell you,  it saved Christmas for my family. I had visions of family vacations in Jackson Hole and delusions of movies made. That was before reality set in, and I realized that a) the books weren’t going to sell themselves and b) Hollywood sure as hell wasn’t going to be kicking down my door.

Since then, I’ve finished four novels. Tears of Abraham, a stand-alone novel about the next Civil War, went into bookstores all over the country last year. Once again, I thought, “okay this is it.” Alas, the book died on the vine, after zero promotion and being miscategorized as science fiction (despite my vehement objections). So, after getting my hopes crushed many times, I’m jaded.
Still…

I signed an agreement last week with Council Tree Productions, a Hollywood based film and television production company helmed by veteran producer Joel Eisenberg. It’s a new company, but Joel has some juice in Hollywood, and he’s also a writer. I really look forward to working with him. The other partner in the company (also a writer) is the founder of a successful private equity firm. They invested $180 million in Telemundo, and have conducted billions in transactions. These are serious people.
What now?

After my initial dance in the street, I’m looking at more waiting, hoping, and work. Just signing with a producer is a big deal, a tremendous opportunity, but it’s far from the end of the journey.  The producer will come up with marketing materials and shop the idea to various studios. We’re hoping for a televison series with one of the streaming services like Netflix, or with cable. I’m busy writing scripts for episodes, which may or may not ever see the light of day. Once the series has the attention of a studio, things start to get interesting. The producer will attach a director, and secure financing for the project. I’m hoping for a “direct to series” deal, which is the best possible scenario. That means the first season (13 episodes) gets picked up by the studio. What’s more likely, though still statistically improbable, is that we get signed to shoot a pilot. If the show gets green-lit, that’s when the real celebration begins.

I’m anticipating something of a roller-coaster ride. Highs and lows, some near misses and dashed expectations. Hopefully, by the end of the year the project will be in development, somewhere. Even then, I won’t know until the studio green lights the series.

I’m quietly optimistic, and very grateful for this chance. My work will be in front of people who can change the trajectory of my life with a phone call, and that’s exciting. The thing is to enjoy the journey, to embrace it. Even if things don’t play out the way I hope they will, it’ll be quite the ride. And other doors may open that I can’t foresee now. I’m learning how to write for film, and that’s a fun process, a very different beast from novels.