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The First Twenty Steps
An ex-convict finds himself mixed up in a motorcycle gang's plan to heist a hyperspatial supercomputer.
Just released from six years in prison and unsure how to meet basic needs, Harry finds a kindred spirit in Roberta, in thrall to a depraved motorcycle gang. The two decide to infiltrate Harry into the gang so that he can eventually free her from it. But Alexander, the passive-aggressive leader of the Cerberean Knights, leads them into a major crime this evening as he seeks to pay back favors from the corrupt city council of One-West. As the motorcycle attack on the Dataflux computer building turns terrifying and surreal, Harry and Roberta find themselves outgunned by another biker gang belonging to the mysterious billionaire Richard Mullein, who intervenes to protect the top secret navigational equipment for his Cathedral Spaceship.
Just released from six years in prison and unsure how to meet basic needs, Harry finds a kindred spirit in Roberta, in thrall to a depraved motorcycle gang. The two decide to infiltrate Harry into the gang so that he can eventually free her from it. But Alexander, the passive-aggressive leader of the Cerberean Knights, leads them into a major crime this evening as he seeks to pay back favors from the corrupt city council of One-West. As the motorcycle attack on the Dataflux computer building turns terrifying and surreal, Harry and Roberta find themselves outgunned by another biker gang belonging to the mysterious billionaire Richard Mullein, who intervenes to protect the top secret navigational equipment for his Cathedral Spaceship.
60 pages, Nook
First published January 22, 2011
6 people want to read
About the author
Michael D. Smith
24 books25 followersMichael D. Smith was raised in the Northeast and the Chicago area, then moved to Texas to attend Rice University, where he began developing as a writer and visual artist. His Jack Commer, Supreme Commander science fiction series is available from Sortmind Press.
Sortmind Press also publishes his literary novels Asylum and Mirage, Sortmind, CommWealth, The Soul Institute, Akard Drearstone, The University of Mars, and Zarreich, as well as his picture book, Trip to Mars. At blog.sortmind.com, Smith explores art and writing processes, and his web site, sortmind.com, contains further examples of his writing and art.
Supreme Commander Laurie, 2024
Before he suicidally blasts his spaceship into a star to confront a dangerous cosmic irregularity, Jack Commer elevates genius physician/engineer Laurie Lachrer to lead the United System Space Force. Supreme Commander Laurie, Book One in a series of the same title, follows her new challenges, beginning with the overthrow of the United System by fascists who hunt her down as a traitor.
The Jack Commer Series:
1. The Martian Marauders, 2020
After the Final War and the evacuation of the Earth’s population to Mars, Typhoon I Captain Jack Commer fights native Martians led by their traitorous new human Emperor.
2. Jack Commer, Supreme Commander, 2020
Newly-promoted Jack Commer brings poor negotiating skills to the war with the fascist Alpha Centaurian Empire.
3. Nonprofit Chronowar, 2020
Jack’s younger brother Joe time travels from 2036 to lecture complacent nonprofit ladies about the coming destruction of the planet.
4. Collapse and Delusion, 2020
Supreme Commander Jack Commer and his wife Amav journey to the paradise planet Andertwin for a painful visit with their reclusive son Jonathan James, author of a bestselling novel about the collapse of the Centaurian empire.
5. The Wounded Frontier, 2020
Jack Commer pushes for exploration far beyond Sol in the untested Typhoon V when a star thirty-four light years away abruptly vanishes, leaving the infrared signature of a Dyson sphere apparently built within one week.
6. The SolGrid Rebellion, 2020
When the solar system adopts the buggy SolGrid telepathic network designed by former Space Force officer Patrick James, Jack Commer’s charismatic but impudent son Jonathan James instigates a rebellion against fascist brainwashing.
7. Balloon Ship Armageddon, 2021
Eight hundred years after his death as a human, Jack Commer’s rebellious son Jonathan James rises as a Wounded bio-robot to captain Balloon Ship Armageddon on a toxic waterworld in the Large Magellanic Cloud, 163,000 light-years from Sol.
Literary novels:
Zarreich, 2025
An adolescent sent to live with his grandmother finds his memory wiped out. He panics and commits a murder, then becomes a member of a mystical commune beneath the ruined city of Zarreich.
The University of Mars, 2024
In a dysfunctional 2065 where religious zealots restrict the world to obsolete technology, eighteen-year-old Zeke Venan seeks comrades dedicated to the further evolution of humanity.
Asylum and Mirage, 2023
A naïve and disconnected artist gives a party to celebrate his success, only to find himself drafted that same night into a mindless war against the Reunion, an unstoppable army of hallucinatory consciousness.
CommWealth, 2020
When the Forensic Squad theatrical troupe breaks CommWealth's Four Rules of property sharing, several actors lead a suicidal revolution against the government.
The Soul Institute, 2020
Himal Steina fulfills his dreams of sanctuary when he becomes Writer in Residence at The Soul Institute and falls in love with one of its numerous faculty goddesses.
Jump Grenade, 2019
Berserk at missing his five hundredth point in a row, psychopathic Junior Dropout Basketball League star Billy Bolamme kills a taunting radio announcer with hand grenades, then blows up an entire sports arena to erase all witnesses to his crime.
Sortmind, 2019
Sortmind Press also publishes his literary novels Asylum and Mirage, Sortmind, CommWealth, The Soul Institute, Akard Drearstone, The University of Mars, and Zarreich, as well as his picture book, Trip to Mars. At blog.sortmind.com, Smith explores art and writing processes, and his web site, sortmind.com, contains further examples of his writing and art.
Supreme Commander Laurie, 2024
Before he suicidally blasts his spaceship into a star to confront a dangerous cosmic irregularity, Jack Commer elevates genius physician/engineer Laurie Lachrer to lead the United System Space Force. Supreme Commander Laurie, Book One in a series of the same title, follows her new challenges, beginning with the overthrow of the United System by fascists who hunt her down as a traitor.
The Jack Commer Series:
1. The Martian Marauders, 2020
After the Final War and the evacuation of the Earth’s population to Mars, Typhoon I Captain Jack Commer fights native Martians led by their traitorous new human Emperor.
2. Jack Commer, Supreme Commander, 2020
Newly-promoted Jack Commer brings poor negotiating skills to the war with the fascist Alpha Centaurian Empire.
3. Nonprofit Chronowar, 2020
Jack’s younger brother Joe time travels from 2036 to lecture complacent nonprofit ladies about the coming destruction of the planet.
4. Collapse and Delusion, 2020
Supreme Commander Jack Commer and his wife Amav journey to the paradise planet Andertwin for a painful visit with their reclusive son Jonathan James, author of a bestselling novel about the collapse of the Centaurian empire.
5. The Wounded Frontier, 2020
Jack Commer pushes for exploration far beyond Sol in the untested Typhoon V when a star thirty-four light years away abruptly vanishes, leaving the infrared signature of a Dyson sphere apparently built within one week.
6. The SolGrid Rebellion, 2020
When the solar system adopts the buggy SolGrid telepathic network designed by former Space Force officer Patrick James, Jack Commer’s charismatic but impudent son Jonathan James instigates a rebellion against fascist brainwashing.
7. Balloon Ship Armageddon, 2021
Eight hundred years after his death as a human, Jack Commer’s rebellious son Jonathan James rises as a Wounded bio-robot to captain Balloon Ship Armageddon on a toxic waterworld in the Large Magellanic Cloud, 163,000 light-years from Sol.
Literary novels:
Zarreich, 2025
An adolescent sent to live with his grandmother finds his memory wiped out. He panics and commits a murder, then becomes a member of a mystical commune beneath the ruined city of Zarreich.
The University of Mars, 2024
In a dysfunctional 2065 where religious zealots restrict the world to obsolete technology, eighteen-year-old Zeke Venan seeks comrades dedicated to the further evolution of humanity.
Asylum and Mirage, 2023
A naïve and disconnected artist gives a party to celebrate his success, only to find himself drafted that same night into a mindless war against the Reunion, an unstoppable army of hallucinatory consciousness.
CommWealth, 2020
When the Forensic Squad theatrical troupe breaks CommWealth's Four Rules of property sharing, several actors lead a suicidal revolution against the government.
The Soul Institute, 2020
Himal Steina fulfills his dreams of sanctuary when he becomes Writer in Residence at The Soul Institute and falls in love with one of its numerous faculty goddesses.
Jump Grenade, 2019
Berserk at missing his five hundredth point in a row, psychopathic Junior Dropout Basketball League star Billy Bolamme kills a taunting radio announcer with hand grenades, then blows up an entire sports arena to erase all witnesses to his crime.
Sortmind, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 13, 2011
This is not my genre of choice, but read it because the author is a friend and fellow librarian. It's a novella and his first published work. Harry is a guy who is just out of prison after serving 6 years for a cyber crime. He gets caught up with a motorcycle gang and dragged into a big "heist". It takes off on a sci-fi trail in the end. If you want to try it out it's an e-book published for the Nook by B&N. Only $2.00 for the download.
October 3, 2012
I read this using the Android mobile app for Nook. It was my first experiment with an e-book and I was motivated to try an e-book as I know the author and this was his first publication. The medium, a cell phone, is not a very good way to read a book I now know. When I obtain a real e-book reader I will try reading it again.
August 9, 2012
I placed this novella on both Barnes and Noble’s PubIt site and on amazon.com’s Kindle Direct Publishing in order to offer some sample work and to experiment with e-publishing processes. Along the way I had to invent the name of a publishing house, so I chose Sortmind Publishing (after my web site sortmind.com and my 2009 novel Sortmind. The whole effort was extremely educational and now I have the tools to, if I wish, offer more works in this self-publishing manner. The First Twenty Steps begins with a motorcycle gang, moves through cybercrime, and ends up on a hyperspatial starship. Along the way my hero Harry struggles with his personal honor and has to make some difficult ethical decisions.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews