Mike Stern's Cabin Fever

26/03/2023

Worth repeating, I think.

The subtlety of language. Did you know that prior to the Civil War, the United States was referred to as the the United States are? After the Civil War, that changed to the United States is. From the states being individual units to a unified and singular body, a country.
As I sat this morning on my thinking perch, Robert E. Lee came to mind. Many people consider him to have been a traitor. Some still think of him as a hero, a great figure in "American" history. I think of him as an enigma. As a lifelong officer, and superintendent of West Point, he was offered the top spot in the army by Lincoln. He refused, and as the saying goes, the rest is history.
I would love to talk to him and ask him about his choices, like reporters do today. He left behind valuable sources, letters, which I think show he was torn between his personal history and his allegiance to his home state of Virginia.
In context, that choice wasn't about the country, where "are" predominated. Lincoln's difficult choices included his admonition to Grant to "let them down easy" referring to negotiations to end the war, set the stage for "is." From my research, I believe that had Lincoln not died, Lee might have been a voice for reunification. I think Lincoln would have convinced Lee to be a moderating voice in the former Confederacy, rather than what emerged at the end of Reconstruction. The South lost the war, but even more, the South lost its wealth and its social fabric, the result of which we still feel today.
Throughout my Quantum Touch series, history teacher Fritz Russell explores questions like slavery, and has the opportunity to spend time with Robert E. Lee, and discuss those things I can't.

Storm Portal (Quantum Touch Book 1)

07/06/2021

A review from Readers Favorites is a milestone for Sarah and the Dragons.
5 Stars

If you love tales of dragons, dolphins, and whales, grab a copy of Sarah and the Dragons by Michael R. Stern. Sarah is a precocious young girl with a mind full of curiosity and an adventurous spirit. After getting lost in a storm, Sarah's life changes forever when she finds herself rescued by two dragons named Trevor and Sebastian. Sarah feels an instant connection with the dragons, and the three of them form a strong bond of friendship. As she introduces the dragons to the townsfolk of Brightlights, she feels a deep longing. Sarah wishes for the gift of sight. To fulfill her wish, her parents, Trevor and Sebastian, alongside the three eccentric cousins -- Margaret, Maggie, and Meg -- undertake a journey to the Dragon Island where the leader of the dragons, Silveria, awaits with her brood.

Sarah and the Dragons is a heartwarming adventure tale for children and adults alike as it touches upon the universal themes of love, friendship, family, and empathy. The characters are colorful with distinguishable quirks. You can't help but adore the relationship between Sarah, Trevor, and Sebastian. The three cousins and Mayor Fruddy Duddy also provide their share of entertainment. Author Michael R. Stern crafts a world that is inspired and wondrous and deftly captures a sense of childlike wonder and awe in the narrative. The Dragon Island felt original and creative, and I enjoyed the lore and history of the dragons. If you're itching for a feel-good adventure with dragons, Sarah and the Dragons is just the book for you.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08BDZRD7H

Sarah and the Dragons

01/06/2020

"Sarah and the Dragons" is my next book, coming shortly, like next weekend, hopefully. There is a backstory, in answer to how I got the idea for the story.
Remember back to when you HAD to read books for your English class. I'm sure you remember a few. The one that inspired this book, one that has remained on my favorites list since 10th grade, was an important book at its publication. The author wrote only one book, at a time of crisis and upheaval in America. The underlying lessons remain palpable today. That book is one you know.

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD.

17/03/2020

So I can find it and read it later

"Forget about Googling coupon codes." – Consumer Reports

21/08/2019

Recently, I was asked when I started writing. I've had some time to think back. And the answer may explain some of my thoughts on our current situation. Two things come to mind from elementary school. The first concerned an article I had read about an inmate at an Illinois prison, on death row. He had led an exemplary life as a prisoner, and had helped other inmates to survive prison life. I wrote a letter to then-Governor Otto Kerner, asking him to commute the man's sentence. Although I can't take credit, Kerner did, in fact, commute the man's sentence. The second was an essay I wrote in 6th grade, "What Democracy Means To Me." Although I had some form of childhood plague at the time, my classmates voted my essay the best in class. I still have it packed away somewhere I think.
As a writer, my time travel books have had some criticism of my perceived politics that seem to appear in the stories. I say with pride that the critics have come from both the left and the right. The books span the period from 2015 to 2017, and my main character is a history teacher, who develops a relationship with the President of the United States, beginning with barging into the Oval Office through a time portal. That initial contact becomes a friendship over the course of six books. You don't need to imagine who the president is. Just remember the dates.

02/08/2019

Red Adept Publishing

01/08/2019

Storm Portal (Quantum Touch Book 1)

The subtlety of language. Did you know that prior to the Civil War, the United States was referred to as the the United States are? After the Civil War, that changed to the United States is. From the states being individual units to a unified and singular body, a country.
As I sat this morning on my thinking perch, Robert E. Lee came to mind. Many people consider him to have been a traitor. Some still think of him as a hero, a great figure in "American" history. I think of him as an enigma. As a lifelong officer, and superintendent of West Point, he was offered the top spot in the army by Lincoln. He refused, and as the saying goes, the rest is history.
I would love to talk to him and ask him about his choices, like reporters do today. He left behind valuable sources, letters, which I think show he was torn between his personal history and his allegiance to his home state of Virginia.
In context, that choice wasn't about the country, where "are" predominated. Lincoln's difficult choices included his admonition to Grant to "let them down easy" referring to negotiations to end the war, set the stage for "is." From my research, I believe that had Lincoln not died, Lee might have been a voice for reunification. I think Lincoln would have convinced Lee to be a moderating voice in the former Confederacy, rather than what emerged at the end of Reconstruction. The South lost the war, but even more, the South lost its wealth and its social fabric, the result of which we still feel today.
Throughout my Quantum Touch series, history teacher Fritz Russell explores questions like slavery, and has the opportunity to spend time with Robert E. Lee, and discuss those things I can't.
http://bit.ly/Stormportalnewedition

When history teacher Fritz Russell walks through his classroom door, he finds himself in the company of General Robert E. Lee - over 150 years in the past.Fritz finds his sudden time trip to the past both a gift and a chance for great adventure. But when a portal opens to the Oval Office, he real...

11/07/2019

Books for Life

28/06/2019

Reflections on a Generous Generation

Last chance. Today. Free for Kindle and Kindle Unlimited.
"Reflections on a Generous Generation"
You've seen the commercial for the most interesting man in the world.
This man was the model.
He played classical piano, he played rugby, he played chess. He traveled to every continent except Antarctica. He coached kids in Little League baseball, and adults in chess matches.. He even walked on a glacier.
The ebook is free. Also available in paperback.
http://bit.ly/GenerousGeneration

Subtitle:Description:Heroes abound throughout the world, from generation to generation. Although unknown to us, they are men and women who have changed our lives.Reflections on a Generous Generation is a memoir, and a retrospective of the 20th Century. Shared by a generation which was confronted ...

15/06/2019

The saga continues. The first draft of a book is only the beginning. I have completed the first edit of "Sarah and the Dragons." For me, the process includes two things. The first is changing sentences from passive to active, which I call fixing my "wases", such as he was mad changed to he slapped his hand on the table, as his face turned a crimson hue. The second part is finding better verbs from a list of verbs not to use, those which "tell, don't show." I want you to see the story as you read. The next step is tedious, reading again paragraph by paragraph, looking for those places where more description is needed, or less.

Sarah and The Dragons. Coming soon.

24/05/2019

Celebrate with me. Today would be my father's 108th birthday. Student, soldier, businessman, chess master, world traveler, and participant in community life.

Today and tomorrow, May 24 and 25, free on Kindle, "Reflections on a Generous Generation." History and biography wrapped in a memoir. http://bit.ly/GenerousGeneration

15/04/2019

Reflections on a Generous Generation

Free on Kindle for a couple days more. Don't miss this.

Subtitle:Description:Heroes abound throughout the world, from generation to generation. Although unknown to us, they are men and women who have changed our lives.Reflections on a Generous Generation is a memoir, and a retrospective of the 20th Century. Shared by a generation which was confronted ...

04/04/2019

Summer will be here soon. Do you have a to-read list?

30/03/2019

Looking for a good read for the weekend? Consider this. An excerpt from Storm Portal.

Knowing I had almost made it through the day, I flipped through my notes and then picked up the book on the right side of my desk. I thumbed to the pages I had paperclipped. A Ford sign. At the bottom of the picture, inside a circle, two feet protruded from a foggy rectangle. The caption read, “This photograph taken at River Rouge that day has never been explained. Whose feet were they? And what was the strange rectangle?” I examined the shoes and lifted my right foot. They were the same. I put the book in my briefcase. Is this a coincidence? Or is that really me? If I were wearing running shoes instead of wingtips, I’d know. And the puzzle would be even bigger. What made me put on good shoes this morning?

18/03/2019

An excerpt from The Portal at the End of the Storm, Book 6 of Quantum Touch

Chapter 1
FRITZ

EIGHT YEARS. All that time, I’ve waited. When would that day come, the day they find me? A couple of times the cops must have seen the heels of my shoes on the way out. I’ve been lucky, so far. Working off the books, working hard and keeping my head down has kept me out of trouble, or the electric chair. The two men in the corner are paying too much attention.
Not many students leave college with a back-up marketable skill, or a need to work to get through the four years. I did. The demand for short order cooks has kept me in a position to rabbit when the walls closed in. Still, I wonder what’s happening in the real world, my real world.
“Hey, Kraut, you got that order yet?”
“Scotch-Irish on my mother’s side, and hybrid English on my father’s. And who are you calling a Kraut, Ms. Frankfurt.”
“Hey, as***le. Does that work better?”
“If it works for you.” Cindy Frankfurt has been a pain for the past year. But she pays me on time and other than regular insults, she knows, or rather suspects that I’m not on the up and up with her. Need to know, Cindy, and you don’t.
Eight years is a long time to be gone, from family and friends, from a comfortable life, a job teaching history that I looked forward to after I found the portal. In that life, I had a son. And in that life, the last thing my wife, Linda, said to me was “I don’t love you anymore.” In that life, I even had a different name. I had a friend. Ashley. I’m sure Ash and Jane are married by now. Eight years is a long time for a time traveler to be stuck in one place, but I never thought I’d be stranded in an alternate dimension. Believe me when I say that time travel can be unpredictable.

20/02/2019

B&N to Sell Self-Published Books In Stores

B&N to Sell Self-Published Books In Stores

In its latest effort to reclaim lost territory from Amazon, Barnes & Noble will sell self-published books, in print, in its stores.

01/02/2019

The Portal At The End Of The Storm (Quantum Touch Book 6)

Michael R Stern

Another weekend. Do you have a book ready?
Try this one.

One reader said, "Each episode in this series was better than the one before as the author fine tuned his world building. This final book is the best."

Fritz Russell has disappeared into the portal, leaving an impossible trail.Both history and the future have changed. Undaunted, Ashley Gilbert enters the portal to search for Fritz, and bring him home. He soon discovers that Fritz has not only changed history, but also crossed the bridge that con...

30/01/2019

Book Lovers: Michael R. Stern

Book Lovers: Michael R. Stern

“I’ve been telling stories since childhood. I still love a good story, no matter the source.” Michael R. Stern , Author, Quantum Touch

28/10/2018

Donald Trump Is Not My President

Sharing this so I can have it around for a while. The suffering under Obama for 8 years is a strange description when considering he was RE-ELECTED.

"The day Obama took office, the Dow closed at 7,949 points. Eight years later, the Dow had almost tripled, closing at 21,414.

General Motors and Chrysler were on the brink of bankruptcy, with Ford not far behind, and their failure, along with their supply chains, would have meant the loss of millions of jobs. Obama pushed through a controversial, $8o billion bailout to save the car industry. The U.S. car industry survived, started making money again, and the entire $80 billion was paid back, with interest.

While we remain vulnerable to lone-wolf attacks, no foreign terrorist organization has successfully executed a mass attack here since 9/11.

Obama ordered the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden.

He drew down the number of troops from 180,000 in Iraq and Afghanistan to just 15,000, and increased funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

He launched a program called Opening Doors which, since 2010, has led to a 47 percent decline in the number of homeless veterans.

He set a record 73 straight months of private-sector job growth.

Due to Obama’s regulatory policies, greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 12%, production of renewable energy more than doubled, and our dependence on foreign oil was cut in half.

He signed The Lilly Ledbetter Act, making it easier for women to sue employers for unequal pay.

His Omnibus Public Lands Management Act designated more than 2 million acres as wilderness, creating thousands of miles of trails and protecting over 1,000 miles of rivers.

He reduced the federal deficit from 9.8 percent of GDP in 2009 to 3.2 percent in 2016.

For all the inadequacies of the Affordable Care Act, we seem to have forgotten that, before the ACA, you could be denied coverage for a pre-existing condition and kids could not stay on their parents’ policies up to age 26.

Obama approved a $14.5 billion system to rebuild the levees in New Orleans.

All this, even as our own Mitch McConnell famously asserted that his singular mission would be to block anything President Obama tried to do.

While Obama failed on his campaign pledge to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, that prison’s population decreased from 242 to around 50.

He expanded funding for embryonic stem cell research, supporting groundbreaking advancement in areas like spinal injury treatment and cancer.

Credit card companies can no longer charge hidden fees or raise interest rates without advance notice.

Most years, Obama threw a 4th of July party for military families. He held babies, played games with children, served barbecue, and led the singing of “Happy Birthday” to his daughter Malia, who was born on July 4.

Welfare spending is down: for every 100 poor families, just 24 receive cash assistance, compared with 64 in 1996.

Obama comforted families and communities following more than a dozen mass shootings. After Sandy Hook, he said, “The majority of those who died today were children, beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old.”

Yet, he never took away anyone’s guns.

He sang Amazing Grace, spontaneously, at the altar.

He was the first president since Eisenhower to serve two terms without personal or political scandal.

He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

President Obama was not perfect, as no man and no president is, and you can certainly disagree with his political ideologies. But to say we suffered?"

Want more? The COMPLETE list of accomplishments? Then read this:

https://www.facebook.com/DJTNotMyPresident/posts/1959335521002822

02/10/2018

I have once again been asked what my series is about.

Quantum Touch is a six-book series of stories about a history teacher whose classroom door opens a portal into the space-time continuum. Fritz Russell is a veteran teacher whose discovery affects not only his classroom, but his family and friends, as well as the President of the United States.
The portal is a mystery, both curious and fascinating, and as Fritz comes to realize, dangerous. Throughout the stories, the solutions to the mystery reveal themselves, as each entry poses new questions. The adventures that Fritz and friends pursue include visiting historical figures, being part of historical events, and working with the President to make the world a better place.

But the story is also about how a person reacts when confronted by a unique circumstance. Fritz is not a remarkable, heroic figure. He is an everyday guy, who faces the many choices offered to him with his newfound ability. Joined by his best friend, English teacher Ashley Gilbert, and his wife, Linda, the challenges that affect their lives grow as the portal becomes more pronounced.

The story is about romance and love, loss and redemption, friendship and loyalty. The series combines the mystery of the portal, and the portal adventures, with the history and current events of a classroom, the personal lives of the characters, and their interaction with historical figures, a political conspiracy, and the science fiction of time travel.

Interspersed through the stories, contact and conversation with historical figures are part of the experience of the portal. They include Robert E. Lee, Benjamin Franklin, Orville and Wilbur Wright, William Shakespeare, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Winston Churchill, Adolf Hi**er, Ernest Hemingway, and Albert Einstein.

Historical sites and events are also part of the story. Fritz and Ashley, together or separately, visit the McLean house at Appomattox, the Union lines at Gettysburg during Pickett’s Charge, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, a Yankees-Red Sox game with Wh**ey Ford pitching to Ted Williams, Ford’s Theater the night Lincoln is assassinated, the Wright Brothers bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio, as well as Kill Devil Hills, to see the first flights, Shakespeare’s rooms in 16th Century London, Ben Franklin’s home and the Pennsylvania State House, now Independence Hall, Dealey Plaza in Dallas, the day JFK is shot, Churchill Downs to witness Secretariat’s victory at the Kentucky Derby, the pre-World War II Shakespeare and Co. book store in Paris. And of course, the White House.

The story has been written to be appropriate for young adults and older, and intentionally contains little objectionable language, no gratuitous s*xual scenes, and little out-of-bounds violence.

14/05/2018

Origins Of An Idea

I often just sit on my front porch in the evening. My neighborhood is comfortably quiet, and lends itself to matching thoughts—the quiet kind. Sometimes I read, sometimes I write while the quiet allows. And sometimes, I just let the soft breeze waft the thoughts of the universe to me.

The part of my life I call writing is as changeable as the weather, and the longer I've pursued the story I'm writing, the more ideas seem to visit.

And so we reach the point. When I began writing the Quantum Touch series, I intended to write one book, just to see if I could tell the story I wanted. My target audience, or so I thought, was younger readers who liked Dr. Who and time travel stories. I gave my original manuscript of 300 pages to my nephew and asked him to tell me what he thought. His mom told me that he read it in one night. His response surprised me. He said he liked it, but. That "but" led to more books. He said that he didn't like the ending, but that if I changed it, I could keep the story going.

Because the first book was going to be the only one, I rewrote it. Still focused on my anticipated audience, the new story became a time travel mystery—how does the portal work? And for a little excitement, the answer needed to be found quickly. The first day of the portal's discovery took Fritz Russell, a history teacher, into the Oval Office, so the safety of the president, and the security of the country needed protection in case the portal fell into the wrong hands.

A funny thing happened on the journey to the fifth book. My target audience didn't read them. Although I am optimistic that will change, the readers are older. Comments I received have said that readers have appreciated my lack of foul language, no gratuitous s*x or violence, which I found both unnecessary for the story and for the audience. Well, as I wrote the fifth book, Storm Surge, that idea machine told me that my original targets were no longer high school kids, they had graduated, and that i could ratchet up the tone, make the story more adult in theme.
Initial responses say that I haven't lost readers because of it.

I think that a writer walks a fine line, and should, when writing for a younger audience. When the true audience emerges, the time for the idea machine to go to work begins.

14/05/2018

Mike Stern's Cabin Fever's cover photo

04/05/2018

ORIGINS Of An IDEA
Where did the idea for Storm Portal come from?

I have studied the Civil War since childhood. One morning, I had a vision of Robert E. Lee and thought how interesting meeting him would be. But since he died in 1870, only travelling back in time would make that possible. So my first sojourn into the world of fiction writing began.

Who better to lead a journey into the past than a history teacher?

Here is where Fritz Russell came into existence. Fritz was inspired by the man who taught Creative Writing many years ago in Junior High School. Strangely, his name was Russell Fritz. I envisioned him standing in a school hallway, talking to a fellow teacher between classes.

The relationship with Ashley Gilbert, an English teacher, began on Ashley's first day in Riverboro High. And they've been friends ever since. When Fritz asked Ashley why he came to Riverboro, Ash said, "To suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune." They were off and running. Ashley was inspired by another teacher from those days, long ago. His real name—Gilbert Ashley. I'll bet you guessed that. Gil Ashley taught social studies, which was called Citizenship Education in my school. He made learning fun.

Both Mr. Fritz and Mr. Ashley have passed on, but they have never been forgotten. It's been more than a half century, but they left a lasting impression. I hope my story has reminded you just how important teachers are today, and how important they were to you.

27/04/2018

With the release of Storm Surge, I thought some of you would like to know some of the background. As I consider the plot and characters, I'll have some new information for you.
Most of Quantum Touch feels more like I've been reporting what the characters do and say, than writing it myself. They react and respond to whatever is going on in their lives, and I can see and hear all of it. I just write what happens. The characters made it easy.

28/02/2018

Writing a series, as I have said before, is a challenge. In this third part of my discussion, the decision on how to proceed is the topic. Consider how many authors you have read. If you're like me, you wait for the next book and read it. Sometimes, it's an entirely new story, new characters etc. and sometimes, the protagonists return for a new adventure. The difference with a series is that the story continues from book to book, the characters become familiar, and the author puts them in new situations. And the author's creative abilities are tested by their readers.

The author's job is to make the reader want to put down whatever they are doing (or reading) and pick up where they left off in the series. The author wants the reader excited about the next adventure, so much so that the reader procrastinates with anything else they planned to do, and sits down with your new book. And when they are done, can't wait for the next one.

How many of us stood in line waiting for the latest Harry Potter release? I remember many years ago, picking up the fifth book of John Jakes, "Kent Family Chronicles" at a supermarket checkout, and after reading it, bought the first four, read them and then waited for years for the series to be complete. Or Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time"? And of course, George R.R. Martin's books that have become Game of Thrones. HBO will finish before he does.

How does an author pull the reader from book to book, when we have so much competition not only of other books but life itself. How many times have you said, life got in the way?
The obvious answer is to make the story so dramatic and compelling that the reader has no choice. Not so easy even for the best writers. One idea that I picked up from a writer friend was to give the reader a peek at what was coming next at the end of the book. That of course requires the writer to have gone that far. But here's a secret in this age of instant publishing. Go back and add the material to already available stories.

Another means of drawing the reader through a series is backstory. Either by a separate publication, a blog, a FB conversation like this, tell your audience or potential audience about the plot, the characters, your creative process. Engage.
And expect nothing. That way, you won't be disappointed.

I am now completing the final edits on the sixth book of my series. The fifth book will be out soon. The pull through has been slow in coming. Book 1 has now had 60+ reviews. Book 2 has 20. Book 3—13. Book 4 has only 9 thus far. You can see the pattern as well as I. I'm still building a fan base, very slowly. But that next book, number 5, is where I discovered John Jakes. And I've been his fan ever since.

If you can't NOT write, if the calling is just part of you, be prepared to wait. Learn the craft, find your voice (which takes a while), and keep on plugging. Happy writing.

16/02/2018

Top Ten Publishing Trends Every Author Needs to Know in 2018 - Written Word Media

Writers, this could be your year.

https://www.writtenwordmedia.com/2018/01/08/publishing-trends-indie-publishing/

2018 Publishing Trends Every Author Needs to Know