After Dinner Conversation : Philosophy | Ethics Short Story Literary Magazine (By: Geoffrey Hart,Jenean McBrearty,Tyler W. Kurt,Julie Sondra Decker,Ville V. Kokko,Richard A. Shury)
Joe Vasicek is a Science Fiction & Fantasy, Space Opera, Science Fiction Romance, Space Opera, fantasy, and science fiction author. Joe got into fantasy and science fiction when he read “The Neverending Story” and “A Wrinkle in Time” when he was a child. As a high schooler, he wrote several manuscripts though he never finished them. As a teen, he went to Brigham Young University, where he took Sanderson Brandon’s creative writing class. He introduced himself to the writing world with the publishing of “Genesis Earth” his debut novel in 2011. Since that time, he has penned more than twenty novellas and novels include the “Genesis Earth Trilogy,” “Gaia Nova,” “Star Wanderers,” “Sons of the Starfarers,” “Gunslinger Trilogy,” “Twelfth Sword Trilogy,” and the “Star Wanderers: Outworld Trilogy” among several single standing novels. His stories have been published on “Leading Edge,” “Perehilion,” “Uprising Review,” “Mirror Dance,” and “Sci Phi Journal.” As a young adult, he traveled across the Caucasus Mountains and the Middle East while he studied Arabic. He has also lived in Iowa, Texas, Washington DC, Illinois, Utah, Massachusetts, and California and also traveled across the US. He has said that he always writes wherever he goes.
In 2008, Joe Vasicek went to Jordan in the Middle East under the Brigham Young University’s study abroad program. As a college student, he had studied Arabic and Middle Eastern studies and the main reason for visiting the country was to undertake practicals in Arabic, which was a requirement for her major. While it was a study trip, he had a lot of fun and a great cultural experience as he traveled all over Jordan and made a lot of friends with the locals. His debut novel is for the most part inspired by the experiences he had in the country which he immortalized in his blogs. Since he graduated in 2010, he spent the following several years traveling across the world but particularly in the Middle East and the Caucasus where he taught English in Georgia. Other countries in the Middle East that he wants to visit include Egypt and one or two gulf counties. He has also not ruled out Eastern Europe as he wants to explore the roots of his family.
For the most part, Joe writes speculative fiction and concerns himself with fantasy and science fiction. He got into science fiction as a twelve-year-old, when he watched Star Wars for the first time and has been hooked since then. During this time, he read Kevin J Anderson and Timothy Zahn before he discovered Roger MacBride Allen’s “Corellian Trilogy.” MacBride’s descriptions of the evolution of the universe, its age, and the enormity of space was fascinating to the budding author. He was also interested in astronomy and this soon led him to study the works of the likes of Ursula K Le Guin, Orson Scott Card, Arthur C Clarke, Frank Herbert Robert A Heinlein, and Isaac Asimov. However, it was “A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeline L’Engle that made him realize that she was destined to become an author. He is drawn to speculative fiction since it gives him a sense of possibility and wonder. For Joe Vasicek, authorship is an exercise of imagination. He has asserted that he finds it almost impossible to pen anything that transpires in the real world given that he has a brain that flourishes on the spectacular. He is also drawn to the depth of character that characterizes the genre. Given that these stories are often set in completely alien settings, he loves that he has to make believable character reactions to ground the reader.
Joe Vasicek’s “Bringing Stella Home” opens to the crumbling of the New Gaian Empire. The empire is faced with a seemingly invincible enemy from outer space that has been causing devastation on the frontier stars, sowing chaos and slagging worlds. An attack at the heart of the most advanced civilization is imminent and James who believed he would never have to be involved in the Hemeji wars has reason to be very afraid. He is the son of a merchant and all he wants is the same level of respect granted his sister and brother. But then the Hemeji war is at their doorstep and his homeworld is conquered and he has no place to call home which means all his dreams are shattered. The Hemeji have a reputation for never letting any of their prisoners get away but James s determined to be the first. He is single-minded in his resolve to save his loved ones, even if he may lose everything he holds dear in the process.
“Desert Stars” the second novel of the “Gaia Nova” series of novels by Joe Vasicek is the story of the heir apparent to the Najmi camp. The story he was told about his origins was that he had fallen from his home in the stars onto the desert where he had been picked up by his benefactors. Since then, he had fallen in love with the most beautiful daughter of the sheik who was promised his hand if she managed to make him change his mind about leaving. Together, they will travel to a faraway land where the sky is covered with glass and men move between the stars as easily as the Tuaregs traverse the Sahara. It is there at the ancient shrine that had been built in honor of the Earth that they believe they will find a sign and most of the answers they need to find the way home. But when honor and love clash, will they confront destiny even when it portends danger. It is a tale set on the edges of the interstellar empire which had for eons discarded their most critical legend.
Vasicek’s “Stars of Blood and Glory” is the story of the princess of Shinihon that has run away at the worst time. The Hemeji had assembled the largest battle fleet in history and are now threatening to take over the last of the free galaxies. What is even worse is that there is a rogue assassin who has robbed the Federation of leadership by killing the high admiral. If they cannot find someone to replace her, the war may just as well be over. It seems like a lost cause but Danica Nova and her band of mercenaries known as the Tajji have never been known to give up. They are no strangers to the Hameji as they have fought them before and they are ready to face them again for glory, honor, or just for pay. Since they left their homeworld, war has been their portion in life. Roman Kirkoyan is one of a dying breed of mercenaries that still has a memory of the homeworld. But his humanity is fading away given that he is an old cyborg. Still, mercy is very uncommon in his world and he does not expect any. Their mission is complicated by the fact that there are several parties with varied motives looking for the princess. With a federation in disarray, some of the warriors may face a bloody end before it is all over.
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