2022 - 10/2022 Meeting

Page Created: 09/16/22. Last Updated: 10/18/22.

MARK ALPERT

ONLINE

Website: https://www.markalpert.com/

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkAlpertWriter/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/alpertmark

BOOKS

Science Thrillers

.....The Doomsday Show

.....St Joan of New York

.....The Coming Storm

.....The Furies

.....The Orion Plan

.....Extinction

.....The Omega Theory (Smith & Reynolds # 2)

.....Final Theory (Swift & Reynolds # 1)

Young Adult Science Thrillers

.....The Six (Book One)

.....The Siege (Book Two)

.....The Silence (Book Three)

Meeting Date: October 8, 2022.

Meeting Site: Barnes & Noble Booksellers . Paramus, New Jersey.

Attendance: 26.

Meeting Program: Talk, Q & A with Film Score Composer / Musician.

Notes:

Newsletter Account:

The October 8, 2022 General Meeting of the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County was held at Barnes & Noble in Paramus, New Jersey. Pamela Webber hosted the Ice Nine Pre-Meeting Discussion. Science thriller writer Mark Alpert spoke and answered questions at the meeting proper.

Mr Alpert is the author of eight works for adults and three for teens. His adult thrillers are THE DOOMSDAY SHOW, SAINT JOAN OF NEW YORK, THE COMING STORM, THE FURIES, THE ORION PLAN, EXTINCTION, THE OMEGA THEORY, and FINAL THEORY. His YA trilogy consists of THE SIX (# 1), THE SIEGE (# 2), and THE SILENCE (# 3). Our speaker has also producted a smattering of short works, a number of science articles, and was a science editor for SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN.

Our speaker loved science fiction growing up, particularly authors like Isaac Asimov. He attended Princeton as an undergraduate with a Bachelar's in Pyhysics specializing in Relativity-a concentration he would tap into with his first published novel. With a dregree in Physics under his belt, our guest made the logical progression to ... Poetry. Upon graduation he embarked in a career in journalism, moving from place to place in search of work (Alabama was like being in a foreign country).

All this time Mr Alpert continued to write. He has four unsold novels filled really weird characters. His wife suggested writing a book with more normal characters. That became FINAL THEORY, his first published book.

The plot of the work revolves around Einstein's unsuccessful attempt to reconcile Relativity with Quantum Physics. It is a secret history in which Einstein succeeded in his efforts and then realized that the equations would permit the construction of weapons that would make nuclear weapons look like firecrackers by comparison.

The book was followed by THE OMEGA THEORY, another science thriller featuring the same heroes, Smith and Reynolds. His newfound literary success was not simply because he focused on more normal characters. He had learned more about writing with each unsuccessful book and still had to rewrite the final third of the novel for his agent before it was ready to be shopped to publishers.

After a string of adult science thrillers, Mark Alpert decided to explore the YA marketplace. THE SIX is the first in a trilogy about a group of teens who are uploaded into cybernetic bodies because only young people have minds which are biologically flexible enough to undergo the procedure and not go insane. Each of them had a terminal disease or other reason for the upload.

Our speaker stated that Young Adult affords the author a lot of flexibility in the writing, but that one must address the issues that teens experience. He was thrilled to learn of a school in Florida which chose THE SIX as their annual school-wide read. "Can you video conference with us?" "Are you kidding! I'm coming down there in person!" Mr Alpert said he was treated like a rock star. He was particularly touched by the teens with disabilities who told him how much they appreciated his imperfect heroes.

His latest book is THE DOOMSDAY SHOW. This is an ecological thriller concerned with climate change. An extremist group compiles a list of companies most responsible for global warming and starts assassinating their corporate officers. The hero is an environmentalist who believes this is the wrong apporach to resolving this problem. This led to a discussion about some of the consequences of global warming and the observation that it is generally the poorest countries which are being hurt the most by the crisis.

Mr Alpert spoke about some general issues facing writers. It is always hard to find time to write, particularly when one has a job and small children. He discovered his most productive time was at children's parties when he could keep oe eye on the kids and the other on his laptop. It got the other parents wondering why he was taking so many notes on the youngster's play time. He was later able to quit his day job and write full time.

Our speaker stated that villains should not be cardboard characters. The bad guy needs to be interesting. He sees himself as the hero of the piece. Mr Alpert said that it is a myth that thriller readers love infodumps and that they should be avoided as much as possible. He concluded that science and science thrillers are important because the universe is, at its most basic, mathematical.

Notes for Newsletter Account:

Sold a couple of non-genre pieces including an experimental literary piece to Playboy in 1990. Another was in a climate change anthology.

A couple of his books were optioned but nothing ever became of them.

When you finish one book start working on the next one.

You learn things with every book you write, so you should be getting better

Has four unsold novels. All four books had really weird characters. His wife suggested using more normal characters. He tried it with his next book and sold Final Theory,

Loved science fiction growing up.

Bachelors in Physics specializing in Relativity from Princeton.

Masters in Poetry.

Worked in journalism and moved from place to place depending on where the jobs were.

One job was in Alabama, which was like living in a foreign country.

After the sale of several books he was able to quit his day job.

Science thriller readers don't want to be infodumped. Incorporated the information into the action.

Write the slow parts fast (travel) and the fast parts slow (fights).

Villains need to be interesting, not cardboard characters. The villain thinks of himself as the hero.

The universe is at its most basic, mathematical.

THE DOOMSDAY SHOW

Deals with extremists killing polluters for damaging the ecology.

Climate change hits different areas differently, but mostly it's the poorer countries which get shafted.

FINAL THEORY

First published novel.

Plot: What if Einstein discovered the Unified Field Theory and did not publish it because it would allow for devastating new weapons, so he gave each of his students a portion of the theorem to hide until the world was mature enough to handle it? Now his students are turning up dead.

2004 was the 100th anniversary of Einstein's Golden Year.

Agent had him rewrite the last third of the book before shopping it.

He was married with children when he wrote it and struggled to find time to write. His most productive writing sessions were at children's parties where he could write while they played, but the other parents asked why he was writing about the kids, so he would have to explain.

THE SIX

Start of a YA trilogy about teens uploaded into cybernetic / robotic bodies by the military.

Only young people's minds were flexible enough to not go crazy from the process.

The six had terminal disease or other severe problems before being uploaded.

When writing YA, you must address issues the teens are experiencing.

YA affords the author a lot of flexibility.

A school in Florida selects one title per year for the whole school to read. It chose The Six. They asked it he could video conference with them on their book celebration day. Hell, I'm flying down. It was like being a rock star.

Teens with problems gushed at how they could still be heroes despite their limitations.

THE FURIES

Super long-lived people are secretly among us.

They have a matriarchal society

SAINT JOAN OF NEW YORK

Quasi YA about string theory and belief.

Ambiguous if Joan is being guide or figuring it out on her own.