M.A. Harris

Biography

Born in England in the mid years of the socialist experiment I moved to the US with my parents (economic refugees of a sort with three boys in a country where 1+ was more the norm) I have lived in the US ever since. I am a third generation engineer, a mechanical engineer who has worked for the government, myself, a tech start up and a foreign owned defense middle weight. I have experience in manufacturing, detail design, concept design, product development, and research in both government and corporate environments (in other words I've lived in Dilbert’s world). I usually love my job, (when its not driving me nuts) and have had the luck to work on a broad range of programs, developing concepts and proposals for systems from electromagnetic guns to nuclear electric space probes and remote monitoring systems for long term hospitalized children.

Reading came late for a child who had some issues with a form of Dyslexia, but when I got the hang of it I went from having a hard time with Dick and Jane to reading Zane Grey, G.Heyer, Heinlein and Clark with the book hidden in my desk during class in less than six months. As soon as I learnt the wonders of reading and the wonders of the inner mind I wanted to write.

In high school and college Arthur C. Clark was my muse (I still re read Rendezvous with Rama every few years) along with L.L’amour, J.Pournelle and L.Niven plus dozens of authors writing on the history of weapons and warfare like Ian Hogg and Keegan. Favorite contemporary authors are, Clancy, Weber, Francis, Ringo, Flint, Correia, etc.

I started writing in high school, I was one of the few guys to take typing, convinced that it was a skill I would need for both computers and writing (though my early computer projects were on punch cards or tape.) In several advanced English courses in High School I wrote short stories that got me through on pure bravado if not technical skill.

Then life and a career got in the way, I continued to see computers as the wave of the future for writing, and was almost always tinkering with something but time passed and all I did was tinker. Then a bit more than a decade ago I decided that I wanted to write professionally and took the advice of J.Pournelle and S.King on writing, both advising that in the end its about work and some luck, but mostly its about writing lots of words getting lots of critiques and doing more edits. But timing has never been my best skill and I got to the point of actually trying to sell my work just as the old publishing model began to implode.

After more than five years of frustration (and having several full length novels at the point of at least being ready for a professional scrub) I discovered Smashwords. I bought my wife a Nook and then we began to acquire and read free and low cost eBooks, many of which were published by this strangely named company, Smashwords.

And that’s how we come to meet....I hope you like the stuff I write, I actually enjoy writing it though like all jobs it has its down side (edits and critques) and it bad days (I really need to grow up and stop dreaming.) As I get into this I hope to be able to get to know more of you and get your opinions on the job I’m doing.

Books

Imperial Slave
Price: $1.99 USD. Words: 285,110. Language: English. Published: December 5, 2015 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » Adventure, Fiction » Fantasy » Epic
Tina is a girl on the edge of womanhood in a world on the edge of sliding back into barbarism. Born in a distant province of the Empire she never expects to travel to its heart in distant Cholon. But she is a girl with a brave heart and stronger mind, who follows the route she thinks is right. With friends and luck Tina finds herself at the fulcrum of the world. Will she choose wisely?
Exotic Contraband: The Road Past Home
Price: $1.99 USD. Words: 167,850. Language: English. Published: October 19, 2012 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » Adventure, Fiction » Science fiction » High tech
We are not alone but we are remote and poorly armed in a larger universe that’s one part utopia, one part adventure and one part nightmare. Unfortunatly the good guys don’t know we’re here and the bad guys are just fine exploiting exotic contraband from Earth. Now the survivors of a lost Air Force jet and an ancient soldier have to find a way home while saving it from itself and the alien menace
Exotic Contraband - Lost Among The Stars
Price: $1.99 USD. Words: 132,940. Language: English. Published: June 5, 2012 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » Hard sci-fi
The Aliens are real and they're here. Unfortunately they aren't here for intellectual stimulation, they're here to make cold hard cash. And they aren't interested in letting the authorities, theirs or ours, in on their racket. This is the story of survivors lost in a universe that they hadn't imagined, and the story of their survival and return.
Elgin
Price: $1.99 USD. Words: 124,030. Language: English. Published: November 13, 2011 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » General, Fiction » Fantasy » Urban
(4.00 from 1 review)
NaNoWriMo 2011 book. Last updated 2011-11-23 18:23:03
Goal reached!
An adventure set in a world at a slight angle from ours. Modern day Cowboy Elgin Chalmer’s finds that man eating lizard girls, spider monsters, Were’s and Vamp’s are far harder to deal with than steers. This isn’t SteamPunk or UrbanFantasy it’s QuantPunk SciFi and first of many stories mixing ‘quantum’ scifi and fantasy. This is a ‘cleaned up’ edition of my NaNoWriMo Submission Nov ‘12
Under Siege
Price: $1.99 USD. Words: 226,880. Language: English. Published: October 27, 2011 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » Adventure, Fiction » Science fiction » High tech
(5.00 from 3 reviews)
The human race reached the stars millenia ago only to fall into a new dark age. The Corporation of Man returned civilzation to a vast volume of the galaxy, but is now threatened from within, and if it falls so may human civilization. Artur Daltork, a warrior aristocrat in training finds himself and his family enmeshed in the plot that could spell the end of his civilization...and humanity
Moon Dreams
Price: $2.99 USD. Words: 180,010. Language: English. Published: August 19, 2011 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » High tech, Fiction » Science fiction » Military
(4.50 from 6 reviews)
In the third decade of the twenty first century stagnation is driving the world to the brink. Into this world a pair of idealistic inventors introduce a technology that will give mankind the solar system, but will the forces of good or the powers of repression take hold of the technology and shape the future to their desires.

M.A. Harris' favorite authors on Smashwords

C.L. Bevill
Latest book: Bubba and the Dead Guy.
Published August 31, 2023.

Smashwords book reviews by M.A. Harris

  • Bubba and the Dead Woman on Sep. 02, 2011

    I've liked almost everything of her's that I've read since this got me hooked, a rollicking good read, and it hooked me on Smashwords.