Guest Post: Michael J. Foy - The Usefulness of a Dream Life + giveaway

The Usefulness of a Dream Life

When I was just out of college I stayed at home for a few years to build up some savings. As an alleged adult I wasn’t quite as subject to the ‘not under my roof’ rules that my parents wielded when I was younger. Given free rein to go out and drink and carouse I took full advantage.

Many a night during the wee hours, I’d find myself at the front door of the house fumbling for keys as quietly as I could. One of those nights I happened to look up. I don’t know why I did other than I had a feeling. Gazing upward I spied a colorfully lit disc shaped UFO partially obscured by low hanging clouds. Oh my god, I thought, in spite of being a non-believer. I’ve actually seen a UFO.

Slowly, majestically it descended shedding the remnants of the wispy clouds that had obscured it. It looked sort of like the mother ship from Close Encounters but smaller and flatter. Before I could decide if I should be fascinated or afraid… I woke up.

I suffer from an excess of imagination. Or, as my teacher once told my parents during open house, I’m a day dreamer. This earned me a slap later that day. But truth be told I only zoned out when I was in class as a kid or driving past my exit as an adult. Anyway, I believe I’ve learned to harness this gift for good not evil.

Anything I dream up I make an effort to understand and consider as material for my writing. Indeed, my first book, Future Perfect, is directly attributable to a night dream. But I day dream too. Walter Mitty and I have something in common that way.

Did you ever see the Arena episode of the original series of Star Trek? To save his ship, Captain Kirk had to fight an immensely strong yet slow, part humanoid, part reptilian alien known as a Gorn. A third party forcibly placed him on a distant planet and promised that he could find weapons to fight his battle. He eventually won the day by collecting the ingredients for gun powder and blasting the Gorn away by shooting diamonds at him.

I studied that episode because I imagined that I could find myself in that situation someday and I’d better be prepared. Potassium nitrate, charcoal and sulfur are the ingredients. Consider that a public service announcement just in case you… well, you know.

So in addition to being a dreamer, I am also pre-occupied with Star Trek. I share that affliction with Cord Devlin, the hero I dreamed up to occupy the version of present day Earth I also dreamed up in Ghosts of Forgotten Empires. Now as it happens I never had to face the Gorn in hand to hand combat (at least not yet anyway). I never had to use the lessons I learned from that iconic TV show in that way. However, in the world I created for Cord, he does get to draw on those lessons for his job as an intelligence freelancer. They come in handy when humanity is threatened by an otherworldly foe.

Cord is living my fantasy. Or am I vicariously experiencing it through him? In either case I’ll accept your judgment as to whether or not I should turn in my membership card in the adult club. But in conclusion, I think a dream life can be useful in practical ways. Wouldn’t you say?

Ghosts of Forgotten Empires Vol l: A Cord Devlin Adventure 

by Michael J. Foy

February 1, 2013
Print Length: 250 pages

Telemachus Press, LLC

Ancient artifacts like nothing ever discovered before are uncovered in Egypt. They are manufactured by a technique unknown to man and defy all attempts at analysis. A few individuals acquire these items including two top intelligence operatives from Russia and the United States. They are instantly endowed with god-like abilities. But as everyone knows absolute power corrupts absolutely and even with strong national loyalties how will these men react? The American intelligence freelancer, Cord Devlin, is susceptible to temptation at least in the estimation of his friend and handler, Paul McMaster, at the CIA. Still when one is fighting a war against a gifted opponent one cannot afford to be picky about using one’s own assets. Thus a new cold war is born with men and weapons that make a nuclear deterrent look quaint. The one thing that gives Cord an edge is also the thing that makes him immature in Paul’s eyes. Cord’s deep and abiding love of all things Star Trek and the lessons it inspired will also help him deal with an otherworldly threat whose sole purpose is to indefinitely continue the conflict.

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About the Author:
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Michael J. Foy was born to Irish immigrants in upstate New York and lived in London for a year on two different occasions as a child. He graduated Northeastern University in 1979 with an engineering degree. In 1993 he changed careers to become a recruiter servicing the publishing industry. In essence, his literary career has spanned two other careers but has always been his first love.

In 1991 he sold an option for his first novel, False Gods, as a screenplay to Timothy Bogart the nephew of Peter Guber, Producer of Batman. Michael has since published Future Perfect, a Science Fiction novel and local bestseller, and The Kennedy Effect which weaves the story of JFK with parallel reality themes.

He was also an early pioneer in publishing short stories over the internet including the Solar Winds of Change, The Adventure of the Moonstone and A Land to Call Our Own. He lives in Massachusetts where he enjoys kayaking, bicycling and exploring a wide array of literary subjects.

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