I originally wrote a column ten years ago about SF/F writer Ed Howdershelt. Unfortunately, Ed has gone to that great SF con in the sky (see Robert A. Heinlein’s The Number of the Beast), and I’ve recently re-read all 17 of the 3rd World Products series Ed wrote starting in (I believe) 2003. It’s all science fiction with a healthy dose of adult erotica. (So it’s probably not something you want to recommend to your local teenage SF reader). But it’s a series I enjoyed, and would like to talk about.
You may be wondering why you’ve never seen any of Ed’s books in your local bookstore, whether it be Coles, Chapters or Indigo; the answer’s easy: Ed only made ebooks of his writing, and did so from when he began self-publishing back in the ‘90s (he felt that Print On Demand titles for paper books are too expensive: “I wouldn’t pay $24.00 retail for a paperback science fiction novel, so I wouldn’t ask anyone else to pay it,” he said). His books are still available on Amazon, though I don’t know who collects the royalties. Here’s the Amazon.ca link: Amazon.ca : ed howdershelt.
Ed wrote both fiction and non-fiction, plus a category he called “semi-fiction”; that is, SF books using people and incidents from his past—naturally, he changed people and place-names to “protect the innocent,” as Dragnet’s intro used to say. In books like Bitten and Smitten, a vampire novel, he incorporated fictionalized material from his tour of Viet Nam. Ed is, by the way, the main—or at least the protagonist (Point of View or POV character as well)—character in most of his books; this is often a very bad idea for an author, but in my opinion he carries it off well. A word of caution for parents—most of Ed’s fiction includes some pretty explicit erotica; there’s nothing kinky, but many parents would feel the descriptions of sex between the protagonist and some of the many women who inhabit Ed’s books might be inappropriate for YA readers. Most commercial SF/F doesn’t include explicit sex, which might be one reason Ed chose to be an “indie,” or independent writer. Most of the covers, by the way, resemble Figure 1, with only the title changed. He wrote, and published as ebooks, 34 books (now only available on Amazon.). They are no longer available from his website, or Fictionwise, as those sites appear to be gone.
Figure 2 shows Ed on one of his many motorcycles—which, like his hang-gliding, are also featured in most of the books; both the motorcycles (usually Kawasaki Vulcans, and lastly, 1600 ccs or bigger) and his hang gliders are also described. If you’re at all interested in his motorcycling, he described—in more than one book—why he used a car tire (and lately a van tire) for his motorcycle back wheel: it gave him a better “footprint,” which means more traction, for example, when it’s raining, plus he said “When I hit the brakes, it’s like I dropped an anchor. Stop times and distances are amazingly short and the back wheel doesn’t try to wander much.” He also talked (in the books) about the cooler on the back (see Figure 2) and why his hat stayed on while he rode. (Speaking of the hat, he also talked about DragonCon in Atlanta; when he went some years ago, he told me, “they overbooked by about 30%. Or vastly under-anticipated, or something like that. 63,000 paid admissions. Lines like you see at Disneyworld rides, and halfway around the block to get into the vendors building. Every panel had people at the doors to say, ‘No more seats, no more room. Sorry’.” When he attended that particular DragonCon, Tricia Helfer [Battlestar Galactica] tried his leather hat on.) Ed used to live in Florida, like his namesake protagonist, but moved to Ohio, which I assume is where he died. In Figure 2, you can see the hat he always wore and the green shirts he kept when he left the US Army; he had a lot of them and dressed casual almost all the time. Again, his dress is described in many if not most of the books, and the effect it had on people.
So what kind of SF did he write? His most popular book series—up to 17 books at this point, and he was working on number 18 when he died—is called 3rd World Products; the book titles just add the book number. Every fiction book I have read of his—I have read most of them, though maybe not all—has Ed for a protagonist (POV) character. Like Ed the writer, Ed the character served in Viet Nam (he has the Viet Nam service ribbon on the back of his motorcycle cooler), and was a civilian contractor for more than one of the “spook” agencies and/or a mercenary medic (he carried a gun only for self-protection) in various countries. Which gives Ed the character a very colourful background that has come in handy in various books. The 3rd World Products series involves extremely human aliens who come to Earth looking for a new market for various technological wonders they are selling—and they’re also looking to set up a factory in the asteroid belt to make them! These are “field devices,” that can make tangible and intangible force fields to perform various tasks; the aliens also have real AIs (Artificial Intelligences). Ed is one of the earliest contactees, as he can sense most of these fields without equipment; he also becomes one of the earliest users of field devices and invents—without knowing anything about their inner workings—a portable field device (PFM) that can be carried on the body and can generate fields in conjunction with a “core” (AI-run computer core).
After rereading all seventeen in a row it becomes impossible to single any one of that particular series out; I enjoyed them all. The aliens (they’re called Amarans; all of the known alien “races,” let’s call them that, are human, leading to theories about galactic “seeding”) are not in Florida to set up a factory; that will happen out in space, and the base will be in Carrington, North Dakota. They’re in Florida to mingle with the locals and acquire knowledge of Earth culture as it is, not as depicted in books, movies, etc. Since meeting Ed, who is ex-military, ex-spook (and doesn’t spook easily, forgive the pun, when he meets ETs) and knows how to keep his mouth shut. For that and various other reasons Ed is asked to become a contractor for the company the Amarans have set up, which is called “3rd World Products.” Not at all coincidentally, his ex-boss Linda (from when he was a spook)—who is in a wheelchair, having lost her legs in an auto accident—is the top person of the 3rd World troubleshooting and liaison team, as she knows how to get things done; and she is the person who secretly nominated Ed to the Amarans as a contractor. The Amarans have, from our perspective, unbelievable medical technology, using both AI doctors and medical nanobots, and can heal just about any disease or medical condition known to mankind; new legs and a new spine are part of Linda’s price for working for the Amarans.
It gets better from there; this is only part of the first book. The Amarans have “flitters” capable of flying hundreds of miles above the planet (though not to the moon or the asteroid belt); Ed becomes the only person on Earth with his own personal flitter… all others are owned by 3rd World; he acquires the ability to make and direct fields directly through implants in his brain tied to the core; through Amaran nanotechnology Ed, Linda and others working for the Amarans acquire immunity to all disease and a lengthened lifespan. And there is adventure after adventure—17 books in all, so far (the real Ed wrote part of an 18th book, but had health issues that prevented its completion before he died—both on Earth and at the Amaran station in the Asteroid Belt; enough that by the end of book seventeen, we really know Ed (at least the character) pretty well. Sure, they’re wish-fulfillment; Piers Anthony—whom the real Ed has helped by installing/connecting a computer system—says of Ed’s writing in Stardancer that “This is adventure without particular depth, compelling as it goes but I think not for the ages.” Fun, well written, but maybe wouldn’t—if they were well known outside the ebook community—win Nebula awards (but possibly might win Hugos).
Which is not to say that they’re flawless; few books are. A few things that grate on me, personally, is the fact that the character Ed never fails, as far as I can see. (Even Jack Reacher gets a concussion now and again) Ed finds a way over, through or around every obstacle thrown in his way… which is only noticeable once you’ve finished a book. Howdershelt uses certain memes over and over, too: the women (usually but not always women who are in a position of power) who insist on misunderstanding what he does or says; the way he calls every woman a “goddess” or “milady” (that gets really old really quick, in my opinion); the way he pours coffee into the hole in the lid of his travel mug and a few other somewhat minor things that are magnified if you read seventeen of the books in a row. Otherwise, you might not notice them. One of the particular things I really like about Ed the character—which I’m sure Ed the writer would do if he could—is that when he becomes master of a flitter that can use field technology, and when he becomes master of field technology himself, he is always available to help local police and fire responders with accidents or incidents simply because he can! (I was once a police and fire dispatcher, so I appreciate public-minded “civilians.”)
So I give—for older readers—a thumbs-up (but although I was mistaken about the demographics of Jack Reacher readers, saying they were probably mostly male; Candas Jane Dorsey, the Edmonton, Alberta writer, once told me in a comment that many women read Reacher as a vicarious way of not feeling powerless! Too many women SF/F readers have no way of feeling powerful—physically or mentally—when compared with men; Reacher is a way for them to feel that power as if they personally were able to right wrongs or even just intimidate people with physical presence.). Maybe Ed’s competence might also attract women for the same reason. My recommendation comes with qualifications: first, because of the descriptions—usually fairly graphic—of sex scenes, the books aren’t really suitable for YA readers, who might really enjoy the SF stuff. Secondly, this time—because Howdershelt the character doesn’t suffer fools gladly, and many of his personal conflicts are with women in power—it may actually tick off some female readers, especially younger ones. (And here I might be thinking of Sarah Silverman‘s comment that people who get upset by “PC stuff” are old!)
Ed the writer and Ed the character are also people I might not get along with myself, even though we share several character traits–like him, I tend to give an exact answer to a question… which is not necessarily a good thing. Some people tend to interpret a straight answer according to their particular personal ideology–for example, looking for subtleties in the answer, where none are intended. Ed (both) is/are also very “red” characters, meaning kind of right-wing. He name-checks, for example, Barack Obama as someone who was not good for the country. Ed also came up with a saying that caught on in the gun-loving right-wing community: the “four boxes of democracy” meme, which states: “There are four boxes to be used in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury and ammo. Please use in that order.”
Also, because the character “Ed” has sexual relations with (I haven’t counted, but) I’d guess at least a dozen women in the 17 books; although he’s a serial womanizer and never “cheats on” a woman. I have no idea about the real Ed–this is probably one of his fantasies. That might turn some readers off; I just ignore it because I like the action. That action, and Ed’s facility with fields, grows from book to book as a character arc, though the character Ed seems more taciturn from start(#1) to finish (#17). He also had strong opinions on food (“No Mexican, no sushi” and Africa (“a hellhole”), and I assume Ed the person agreed with Ed the character.
Ed never published paper books, so what did that mean in terms of what he would consider success? (At least one of his 3rd World Products books was on the Fictionwise list of all-time best-sellers, the “Fictionwise Top 50.”)
I put the question to Ed: “What—in terms of sales—has worked out best for you: your Abintra Press website, your Amazon.com sales, or Fictionwise?” He said, “Fictionwise was the absolute best sales venue before BN bought it. Now I sell more from my website than Amazon and Amazon sells much more than Barnes & Noble.” (Of course now, both of them are no longer available.)
“And without getting into information that’s not really our business,” I asked, “how much would you say your writing ebooks only has garnered you over the last decade or so? Has it really been worth the time and energy you put into it?”
“Well, Piers Anthony told me,” Ed said, “that I made more in my first year of selling through Fictionwise than most new authors received as advances. Added benefit: no publisher chargebacks. When I put my first 4 titles on Fictionwise (2001), quarterly checks ran around $2,000. Adding a couple of titles a year kept the numbers high for almost a decade. Fictionwise knew how to market indie ebooks. Barnes & Noble does NOT.” I assume Amazon does, as that’s the only place you can find Ed’s books now.
I might add here that according to Publishers Weekly (in a story published on September 11), the Authors Guild surveyed their members about how much they make from full-time writing. (The survey, conducted this spring by the Codex Group, is based on responses from 1,674 Guild members, 1,406 of whom identified either as a full-time author, or a part-time one. The majority of respondents also lean older—89% are over the age of 50—and toward the traditionally published end [64%].) The unsurprising result was that most full-time writers in the U.S. would be living below the Federal Poverty Level if they relied solely on income from their writing.
Ed continued: “I can, however, list some things paid for by ebooks:
- A new roof on a 3 bedroom home in Florida. Not just a re-shingle; much of the wood was replaced.
- A 60-foot screen porch behind the same home.
- Cataract surgery on both eyes in 2007, roughly $5000 total.
- A 2007 Ford Focus Station Wagon in 2009.
- My last 3 motorcycles, all Kawasaki Vulcans. I went from 750cc to 1600cc in 3 bikes, selling the old ones myself rather than trading them in.
- Some of the money paid off various debts between 2003 and 2006. Other than what’s left of a home mortgage, I’ve been debt-free ever since.
If becoming debt-free isn’t enough encouragement, I don’t know what would qualify. :)”
So there you have it. Want to write books? Maybe you can take a page from Ed’s book(s) and self-publish; just remember that because ebook authors number in the many thousands, you will need to have a marketing scheme in order to make your books stand out, whether you publish paper books (like Joseph Picard) or ebooks like Ed, or a combination of the two.
Just remember that before you self-publish, you MUST get someone—preferably someone with an English degree, and not a friend or family—to edit your book. It’s not enough just to have a good plot, tell a good story or have involving characters or situations: you need to have a readable book. Because—let’s say you self-publish an ebook and get it on Amazon, which will have a sample chapter available—if a prospective buyer looks into your book and it’s badly written, the writing is what will show up before the buyer gets into plot or character, and then you are sunk! I’ve read too many self-published books lately where, had it not been my tablet or computer, I would have screamed in frustration and thrown the book across the room! (I can’t afford to do that with a tablet or computer, where I have done so with paper books.) Once a reader thinks you are a bad writer, you will probably never get that reader back. Think about it. I may do a whole column on how to edit your own book, but it’s better if someone else checks your writing.
Would you like to comment on this week’s column? I’d love it! Here’s how: if you haven’t already registered—it’s free, and just takes a moment—go ahead and register here, then you can comment. Or you can comment on my Facebook page, or in the several Facebook groups where I publish a link to this column. Whether I agree with your comments or not, they’re all welcome. And please—don’t think you have to agree with me to post a comment. My opinion is, as always, my own, and doesn’t necessarily reflect the views of Amazing Stories or its owner, editor, publisher or other bloggers. Until next time!
Steve has been an active fan since the 1970s, when he founded the Palouse Empire Science Fiction Association and the more-or-less late MosCon in Pullman, WA and Moscow, ID, though he started reading SF/F in the early-to-mid 1950s, when he was just a sprat. He moved to Canada in 1985 and quickly became involved with Canadian cons, including ConText (’89 and ’81) and VCON. He’s published a couple of books and a number of short stories, and has collaborated with his two-time Aurora-winning wife Lynne Taylor Fahnestalk on a number of art projects. As of this writing he’s the proofreader for R. Graeme Cameron’s Polar Borealis and Polar Starlight publications. He’s been writing for Amazing Stories off and on since the early 1980s. His column can be found on Amazing Stories most Fridays.
