Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was born in California but grew up in Montana where I lived until graduating with my
Bachelor’s degree in Physics from Montana State University and attending graduate
school at Kent State U. in Ohio where I earned a Master’s degree in Physics. I then
moved to Santa Barbara where I worked several years in the new field of high
transition temperature, thin-film superconductors where I both conducted basic
research ad participated in product development. The first products were passive
microwave filters used in the rapidly growing cellular phone industry. I then worked
as a manufacturing engineer producing two-way text pagers, followed by fiber-optic
components. I currently live in the Northern half of the People’s Republic of California,
though not as far north as Jefferson.
I have written five science-fiction books thus far. These (in order) are the following
Sol is Not Lost
For the Ages
The Gifted
The Serendipity Factor
Treason
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is called “Treason”. I will go into as much detail as I can, but since it is
the third book of a trilogy, I hope not too much. All of my books are hitting the market
simultaneously which may or may not be the best strategy.
This question requires some background so here goes. My first book — Sol is Not Lost
— centers on Trevor Van Leeuwan who is the great-grandson of the leading character
in Treason — Marcus Aurelius Van Leeuwan. Trevor is the leading character (I would
say hero, but this evokes the ‘great-man’ problem again — he is the inspiring figure, let
us say.) Trevor’s family have been colonists in a breakaway society on the planet
Magellan, discovered by his great-grandfather Marcus, who also developed Faster-
Than-Light interstellar drive. Only a tiny few in the Earth system know about this
because the technology is deemed too dangerous to fall into the hands of
governments. In any case, Sol is Not Lost and For the Ages were my first books. I then
wanted to delve into the history or this future history (sci-fi used to be called ‘future
history’). This is where the Van Leeuwan Trilogy comes in. We all watch sci-fi, but the
origins of these future worlds just seem to pop onto the scene (I have several complaints of how history is taught). I wanted to explore just what Marcus Aurelius and his brother
Hans Hermann-Hoppe (H-cubed) went through to bring those colonies into existence.
This is fodder for a trilogy (and more?).
This third book — Treason — delves into the nature of intelligence/consciousness in
sync with the interconnectedness of a biome and its implications. As Marcus and his
compatriots start to settle into their environment, there is still no guarantee that they
can ever return to Earth. What if they introduce some tiny virus or prion that would
endanger many billions of people in the home system? Treason refers to being
endangered by a would-be colonist who may have sold them out to the powers-that-
be in the Sol System i.e. their colony, their breakaway technology and all the reasons
why they wished to snap the confines — physical and psychological — of Earth and
increasingly Mars. The ‘Mars Frontier’ or the ‘New Settlements’ as I refer to them, do
not have a government. They do not need one or want one. I will say in all honesty,
this was how I began my world building — based upon Rothbard, Marc Stevens,
Frederick Bastiat and others. Only very recently I became aware that Elon Musk in his
StarLink documentation discussed his Mars Colony very late in 2020 declaring that ‘NO
EARTH GOVERNMENT would hold sway in the colony he was building.
In Treason, of course the colony — many light years from Earth or Mars — technology,
and all are at risk just as they finally found a place to settle for the long term. Enemies
on Earth have been titillated of this possibility but have no concrete proof thus far in
their ongoing attempt to co-opt the technologies of Van Leeuwan et al. We have a
sociopathic crony capitalist — Malcolm Aldrich and later his estranged and equally
psychotic lover, an ex-POTUS and again appointed Senator waging her own private
war to annex the Mars Frontier along with anything else she can get her hands on.
There are targets for abduction or worse and creative ways of dealing with those.
There are intelligence and counter-intelligence operations. In all of this, the deeper
scientific and philosophical discussions with the latest (real world) thinking on both
injected for the reader to ponder.
A YouTube trailer for Treason: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLJej7C63Gs
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
As far as I know — since I’ve never looked into how others write — I do not have any unusual habits unless just getting up, making breakfast and sitting down to write all day is odd. I had never even tried until early in 2020 and five books just flowed out of me like they had been dying to break free. Perhaps they were. I had always wanted to try, but psyched my self out of it. This time, I just tossed out any inhibitions I had in the past and wrote what was on my mind. The odd bit is that once you have breathed life into your characters, they really do start to ‘direct the author’. That might sound a little nuts, but it is not out of line with what authors or actors have said in the past.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I don’t know that I have spent any long period of time with a specific author. One
whom I particularly enjoy currently is Thomas J. DiLorenzo. He is an honest economist
who writes history from the honest perspective demonstrating much what we know
as history is economically driven. He dispels the “Lincoln Cult” as he describes it. His
book on Alexander Hamilton is equally enlightening. He has stated, and I agree, that
historians are quite unable to write about economics, but economists are quite
capable of writing history. This may be a conceit, but reading Murray Rothbard — an
extremely prolific writer when he was with us — I still concur. Rothbard’s “Conceived in
Liberty” covers the entire Pre-War-of-Independence era which American History
courses and writers mysteriously leave out. It is this kind of honesty in writing that
attracts me and inspires me. It is writers like these who do not hold to the “Great-Man”
or “Great-Event” approach to history that has dominated over the millennia. History
has a flow with all kinds of characters influencing matters behind the scenes who are
never discussed. The so-called historical events are not matters that occur in fits and
starts or are generated by one or two minds at the time. It is the surrounding context I
am interested in that breaks through so many accounts that generally become
nothing more than myths. Winston Churchill is attributed to saying that “History will
be kind to me because I shall be writing it.”
The writer and thinker who really caused the scales to fall from my eyes is Marc
Stevens who wrote “Adventures in LegalLand” and “Government: Indicted”. His use of
the basic Socratic Method demonstrates that the world around us is largely a false one
in which people are participating through the veiled threat of violence or duped by
gaslighting rather than acting on their own in their own best interest or that of their
families. “Caesar’s Messiah” by Joseph Atwill would be another fine example of
applying Occam’s Razor to history.
What are you working on now?
Currently, I am not working on anything other than my occasional inputs or comments at goodreads.com or other places. I have been spending all the last three months in an effort to launch five books at the same time. This is likely not the best marketing strategy, but I am hoping that this will convince some readers that this is a serious effort and not just a one-off attempt. I spent the time to learn Sigil to create my e-books and make them acceptable in terms of accessibility and readability on all platforms. I made audiobooks as well, which was quite time-consuming. First I had to come up to speed with Audacity — a free recording and editing program, then spend countless hours to cover all five volumes. Next, I needed a web/writing presence, so I embarked on setting up a website — https://michaelsbookcorner.com — and initially thought I would go with WordPress. I like to think I am reasonably intelligent and have built more than one website in the past, but WP stymied me. I finally gave up and went back to the tried and true.
This, of course, is not what the question was about, but I felt I needed to say why I am not writing at the moment. I do plan to get back to it. I left a lot of maneuvering room in my stories on purpose so I could revert to that ‘world’. It is very comfortable and there is much fodder for new books there. At the same time, should I try to write something completely new? Someone suggested that I try to write ‘comedy’. Thus far I am having trouble defining that. My novels are definitely satirical, and irreverent in launching direct or indirect assaults on the absurdity of the world — present and future. One list claims that ‘Catch 22’ is a comedy. In my opinion it is something of a ‘Black Comedy’ and perhaps my books are in that vein somewhat. I like to think that though they do identify those absurdities, they also highlight the brighter sides of existence and human capabilities. This has been a goal of mine.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have not determined that as it is much too early to say. I have only had my own website up for less than one month. I have established a foothold on goodreads.com with an author page/status. Again, it is a bit early to say and my navigation of that website is coming about in fits and starts. It is not exactly social media, but a close relation it seems. There are lots of distinct groups and discussions that are not nearly as fast-paced as Twitter or Facebook.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
As a new author myself, I can only say what has worked for me — in terms of writing — is just sit down and write. This does not mean a book, necessarily, every time. If you are online, there are plenty of places to write your comments both short and long. goodreads.com is a good platform for this, or social media (though it moves so fast and attention spans can be short). Don’t worry about how many people are going to read it — just express your thoughts — express yourself. I’m new, but I think expressing oneself is a major factor. If you don’t write about what interests or excites you then who else will want to read it?
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I believe it was René Descartes who said, “If you are lost in a forest, continue walking in a straight line. Eventually you will be out.”
Ponder this for a while, and you will find it is true. This is what sustained me through two degrees in Physics. I enjoyed the work, but brute force can take a person a long way past his/her fellows. Use this for writing, and you will find that writer’s block is not the dreadful foe it is portrayed to be. Get up, take a break (not often) and the direction will come. As I have alluded before, it is spooky, but once your characters come to life, THEY WILL GUIDE YOU. This also may sound weird, but I will openly admit it for the first time here. My own characters and their actions have actually made me cry! Not only that, when I come back to record the audiobooks or do other edits, THEY MAKE ME CRY AGAIN! So take note. Stephen Spielberg or Ron Howard movies are not the only stories that can stir up emotions.
What are you reading now?
I am still spending all of my time getting the promotions going.
Next on my list is ‘Chaos of Empire’ by Jon Wilson
On deck is ‘The Jesuits’ by Malachi Martin
Once the initial push of book promotion eases, I will get back to these.
What’s next for you as a writer?
This is a difficult question.
The smart thing to do would be to test myself in terms of coming up with a fully new set of characters and circumstances. All five of my books take place in similar circumstances under the same ‘world’. Some characters are recurring and that is very comfortable. I also, intentionally, made much of this ‘world’ open enough to adding another five if not more stories if I desired. Trevor Van Leeuwan is the great-grandson of Marcus Aurelius Van Leeuwan; leaving a good century of room for stuff happening in between and among the same family or related members. It could be a sci-fi ‘Michener-esque’ saga.
The challenge would be to take a leap and do something different — at least a new ‘world’ and new set of characters. I like the sci-fi realm in terms of the ideas I like to explore. One day, I would like to be up to the challenge of non-fiction. It is possible, in this day and age, to do a decent non-fiction book through only internet research. At least there is one example I know of and that would be Joseph Atwill’s ‘Caesar’s Messiah’. Granted, Atwill knows ancient Greek and, I believe, Latin. He claims he wrote it without combing the planet in research.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
One could be stranded for a long time on a desert island, but it might not be such a bad thing.
1) Government: Indicted — Marc Stevens
2) The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy — Douglas Adams
3) Conceived in Liberty — Murray Rothbard
Author Websites and Profiles
Michael Scharen Website
Michael Scharen’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile