Leon Stevens's Blog
September 6, 2025
Sci-fi September: Science Fiction Influences (Part V)
The only thing I remember about reading this book was that it was long. I was probably 14 or 15 at the time and it was a book I had heard about from a friend or from the Starlog magazine:
Remember those?Almost Arthurian in tone (the book not the magazine), the story reads like a medieval tale of knights and royalty, rather than a sci-fi epic. Still there are elements of futuristic technology that clearly place it in the science fiction realm.
I never however, got into the sequels.
There have been two movies based on the book, one in the 80s directed by David Lynch (of Twin Peaks fame) starring Kyle McLaughlin (also of Twin Peaks fame) and featuring Patrick Stewart who had not yet become his most famous character.
The second iteration of the story was recently released in 2021, written and directed by Denis Villeneuve of the Blade Runner sequel. I attempted to watch it but it didn’t hook me, maybe because it had already been done and wasn’t necessary.
Probably the most famous aspect of this new film was the ill-conceived sandworm popcorn bucket, which I won’t post here because …
Well, be my guest if you want to Google it.
-Leon
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
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September 5, 2025
Sci-fi September: Science Fiction Influences (Part IV)
Battlestar Galactica came out in 1978, jumping on the science fiction craze created by Star Wars. There were some very obvious parallels in the characters:
Starbuck = Luke
Apollo = Han
Adama = Obi-Wan
Athena = Leia
Baltar = Vader
Cylons = Stormtroopers
The Vipers looked a bit like X-Wings and the Cylon Cruisers had a Tie Fighter feel:
It definitely did not have the Star Wars production feel and the writing and characters were a bit campy at times. It was a TV serial which meant the episodes were sequential, meaning that in re-runs, you might miss an important event that made the plot make sense, but during it’s original airing, we’d be glued to the set to see if they were going it make it to—
Oops, spoiler alert. Continue at your own risk.
The premise of the show was that the 12 colonies, after being attacked by the Cylons, were going to find the lost 13th colony which had settled on Earth. There was a lot of Egyptian symbols in the show giving the ancient astronaut theory a platform long before the History Channel pumped out their own series.
Oh, the Cylon base ship kinda looks like a half completed Death Star.
The series was rebooted in 2004, and true television marketing to young nerdy boys, made the Cylons look like this:
OK, not all of them looked like that. some of them looked like this:
Jeez, there she is again…
-Leon
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
Free books? Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and choose one or more!
September 4, 2025
Sci-fi September: Science Fiction Influences (Part III)
The narrator of the book meets a tattooed man at travelling carnival. Each tattoo, when stared at, tells a different tale.
This was the first science fiction book that I remember reading on my own. It has been a long time since I have read it, so give me a moment to refresh my memory of the short stories.
[sounds of flipping pages]
Interesting. A few do ring a bell. One story, Kaleidoscope, ends with an astronaut burning up in Earth’s atmosphere after having to abandon the spaceship he was in. What’s more interesting is that in my short story collection, one of my stories ends in a much similar way, but when I wrote it, I wasn’t remembering Bradbury’s story.
Another familiar story was about living on Venus which he described as a damp rainforest where people lived in domed cities. The constant rain outside was so relentless that it could drive a person insane.
I think that unconsciously I wrote a collection of stories that mimicked one of my favorite books. In the following years I read more of Bradbury’s books, Fahrenheit 451, Something Wicked this Way Comes, and The Martian Chronicles to name the obvious.
“People ask me to predict the Future, when all I want to do is prevent it.”
– Ray Bradbury (1982)
-Leon
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
Free books? Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and choose one or more!
September 3, 2025
Sci-fi September: Science Fiction Influences (Part II)
In a galaxy far, far away, or crammed into my hippie uncle’s van with six other cousins? He said he’d take us to the drive-in but he wasn’t going to pay for everyone so five of us hid in the various cupboards/nooks/crannies as he snuck us all in.
Ah, 1977. Good times.
Star wars was the first movie I remember that you had to see it more times than your other friends in order to be the coolest one. I think I got up to 7 that first year.
I won’t go into the plot because everyone has seen it, right? Um, yes. You at the back? No? You haven’t seen it? Well, go see it. We’ll wait.
[music]
Done? And? Yes, I know it is pretty damn good. Yes. There are more. Episodes IV, V, and VI are the first three, then Episodes I, II, and III came out next, but you can skip those because once you see Jar-Jar, you’ll never unsee Jar-Jar.
No. If you want, but don’t say I didn’t warn you, but take my advice and watch Episodes VII, VIII, and IX which were made after Disney bought the rights from Lucas. No I’m not going to wait for you to watch all of those, because then you’ll want to watch Rogue One, and Solo.
No, there’s a couple of series after that. Yes, Disney is milking the franchise for all it’s worth.
Anyway, back to the original. One thing that made this movie special was that I did not know any of the actors, so for me they were their characters and that is something that is rare today. There were also cool effects done way before CGI was a thing and in my opinion still stand up today.
Oh and as a side note, I always thought the stormtroopers were robots…
-Leon
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
Free books? Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and choose one or more!
September 2, 2025
Sci-fi September: Science Fiction Influences (Part I)
Space 1999: Nuclear waste is now safely stored on the moon … or is it? Well, yes, it is being stored on the moon, but as for safely? There’s not going to be much of a show unless there’s a problem and a bunch of it blows up, hurtling the moon out of Earth’s orbit and into deep space.
As a kid, I didn’t question any of the inconstancies and unbelievable events. It didn’t take long (one episode) for them to find an alien race, so they must have been travelling really fast, a speed that would have killed them all, but then we wouldn’t have a show, would we? And every alien they met spoke English—with a British accent of course.
Their uniforms were a bland beige with a zipper down the left arm sleeve which to my recollection were never used.
Their commlocks, a communicator and door unlocker all in one, with a little video screen in the top (not shown) were bulky and looked oddly like the first cellphone called the brick. The stun gun was nothing like I have ever seen before, but that’s not surprising since I was only 8 at the time, so I really had no frame of reference. I did have one that shot water, not lasers.
The best part of the show? The Eagle Transporter. The ultimate SUV. That’s Space Utility Vehicle. When we get back to the moon for real, I really hope they build these things.
Wait. That wasn’t the best part of the show. They were a close second only to being able to sit on the couch with my dad every Saturday to watch it.
In book news:
#1?
Yes, it is in the free category, but “Yay!” I just hope that those downloaded copies don’t sit unread on people’s Kindles, and of course, they choose to read the whole trilogy.
(Free for one more day, Sept. 2nd) Get it on Amazon
-Leon
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
Free books? Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and choose one or more!
September 1, 2025
Monday Musings: Free Book
Free you say?
I gave away one of my poetry books for free a few years back hoping that I would get some reviews and that readers might purchase my other poetry collection. The result? 140 downloads, no reviews and no sales.
I suspect that some of those downloads are still sitting unread.
So, why try it again? I got a good deal from a promo company that I have used in the past and I thought I’d give it a shot again. If the result is the same, I’ll probably put the free book marketing onto the “do not use” list.
Get The View from Here for free!-Leon
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
Free books? Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and choose one or more!
August 31, 2025
Songs for a Sunday: Big Crime
‘Nuff said.
-Leon
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
Free books? Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and choose one or more!
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My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
Free books? Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and choose one or more!
Weekend Wrap-up Aug 31: ‘Tis the Season(ing)
It’s still summer. Meteorological autumn starts tomorrow, though, but if you’d rather wait till astronomical autumn, that’s on September 22nd.
For me, fall felt like it started when we went back to school and that hasn’t changed even though I’ve been out for … well, let’s just say a while.
Which brings us closer to the W word: Winter. When astronomical winter begins (December 21st) I feel I have already gone through at least two months of it. November here can be chilly, and snowy. So can October but let’s give autumn at least two months, shall we?
We could also start the seasons depending on when stores put out the seasonal displays which would mean autumn starts when you see the Halloween decorations in August, and the Christmas stuff in October.
But most people consider the beginning of Autumn when they can order this vile beverage:
-Leon
In case you missed it:Songs for a Sunday: Big CrimeWeekend Wrap-up Aug 31: ‘Tis the Season(ing)Not so Fun Friday: Waste(ing away) in MargaritavilleWeird Wednesday: Crazy CrazesTuesday Tidbits: Are you afraid of the clowns?Hope you enjoyed the recap! Feel free to share it with others.
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
Free books? Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and choose one or more!
August 29, 2025
Not so Fun Friday: Waste(ing away) in Margaritaville
OK. Margaritaville isn’t in Florida. But I’m sure the drink is enjoyed somewhere in the state. Anyway …
What can you do with 250 million dollars?
You can build a detention center in the middle of the Florida Everglades and let it run for a couple of months before it is ordered to be scuttled.
Or…
You could build 8000 tiny homes to house the houselessFeed a quarter of a million kids meals at school for a year Fund mental health supportsHire more police for Washington DC so you don’t have to pay the National Guard a million dollars a day to pick up garbage (Yes, that’s what they have been doing)I could go on but I won’t.
-Leon
Last chance before price increase.
Euphrates Vanished (Kindle/KU)A Matter of Sabotage (Kindle/KU)Don’t feel like buying the book? How about reviewing for free?
Sign up to review Euphrates VanishedSign to review A Matter of SabotageSci-fi not your thing?
Try my two poetry collections: Lines by Leon and A Wonder of Words
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
Free books? Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and choose one or more!
August 27, 2025
Weird Wednesday: Crazy Crazes
I remember pet rocks. Flat round rocks, mine was painted with eyes that I could have made at home for about twenty-five cents. In hind site, it was probably a counterfeit. I often wonder what happened to mine. Did it get tossed in the trash or buried in the garden or did I break it apart searching for the guts?
Cabbage Patch Dolls, Beanie Babies, Smurfs, Tamagotchi, Pokemon, Bratz, Trollz. I could go on, but the key element to the most successful of the toy/doll fads is scarcity. Riots broke out to get a one of a kind doll, or a limited run issue.
So what’s the next craze? If you are a parent, I’m sure you have already said Labubu.
Brief history: In 2015, artist Kasing Lung released a book called “The Monsters” featuring the Labubu, “kind-hearted and eager to help — though their good intentions can sometimes lead to chaos.”
A toy version was released but it wasn’t until the toy company Pop Mart took over did sales explode. It was also helped by Lisa from BLACKPINK (a K-pop group) who sported one which launched it’s visibility.
Part of the marketing are blind packages, so you don’t know what you are getting. So yeah, you have to buy a lot of packages to get the rare ones. If that sounds familiar, you might remember buying hockey cards trying to get the Gretzky or the Lemieux or the Crosby.
So, have fun this school year as your kids complain that “All the other kids have one” becomes a familiar refrain in your home.
-Leon
Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words, and his latest sci-fi mystery, Euphrates Vanished.
My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/
Free books? Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and choose one or more!
