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Jack Commer, Supreme Commander
Jack Commer: Supreme Commander
A series of inexplicable solar system disasters in the near future of the 2020’s, including exploding gas giants and asteroids hurled into the sun, forces a panicky acceleration of space technology, including the discovery of Star Drive which accidentally sparks a war between the remnants of Sol and the fascist, insane Alpha Centaurian Empire.
After the destruction of the Earth in 2033, humanity evacuated to Mars and fought against native Martian terrorists until Captain Jack Commer and his new bride, planetary engineer Amav Frankston, found a way to reach an understanding with them. Jack, just promoted to Supreme Commander of the United System Space Force, now leads a peace mission in his flagship Typhoon II to end the war with the Alpha Centaurians. But his marriage begins unraveling under the pressures of his new command and Amav’s discomforting presence aboard his ship. After an engine explosion strands the Typhoon four months from its destination, the crew encounters a derelict spaceship. Its insolent, uncooperative human refugees proceed to brainwash most of the crew, including Dar, Emperor of the Martians, into worship of the Alpha Centaurian Emperor.
A month and a half later, all but three have been Converted: Jack and Amav, now estranged, and the emotionally damaged twelve year-old refugee Bobby. These three, along with recently Converted ship’s engineer Phil Sperry, write their final, brutally honest diary entries just as the ship is captured by Centaurian stormtroopers and Jack and Amav are sent to be tortured on a barren planet.
After the destruction of the Earth in 2033, humanity evacuated to Mars and fought against native Martian terrorists until Captain Jack Commer and his new bride, planetary engineer Amav Frankston, found a way to reach an understanding with them. Jack, just promoted to Supreme Commander of the United System Space Force, now leads a peace mission in his flagship Typhoon II to end the war with the Alpha Centaurians. But his marriage begins unraveling under the pressures of his new command and Amav’s discomforting presence aboard his ship. After an engine explosion strands the Typhoon four months from its destination, the crew encounters a derelict spaceship. Its insolent, uncooperative human refugees proceed to brainwash most of the crew, including Dar, Emperor of the Martians, into worship of the Alpha Centaurian Emperor.
A month and a half later, all but three have been Converted: Jack and Amav, now estranged, and the emotionally damaged twelve year-old refugee Bobby. These three, along with recently Converted ship’s engineer Phil Sperry, write their final, brutally honest diary entries just as the ship is captured by Centaurian stormtroopers and Jack and Amav are sent to be tortured on a barren planet.
164 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 2, 2012
8 people want to read
About the author
Michael D. Smith
26 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 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 9, 2012
Book Two in the Jack Commer series begins with a promising if not challenging journey into the enemy territory of Alpha Centauri to end the war with the United System Space Force...or so Book One left us happily thinking.
All is not right with the crew of the Typhoon II. Space travel is getting to them, particularly Jack Commer, the newly appointed Supreme Commander of the USSF. He has issues, and many question whether he is qualified for his new title, let alone a mission to make peace with a hateful, fanatical empire. He questions himself. He has alienated his beautiful new wife Amav. The cracks are showing, driving everyone into isolated cesspools of personal angst, nasty little secrets and idiosyncrasies artfully reflected through diary entries and interactions with the Martian crew members, who are both fascinated and bemused by human behavior.
Things further deteriorate when they rescue a group of refugees who claim to have escaped Alpha Centauri clutches but are in fact being controlled by a hive mentality that forbids individuality, brainwashes its members into glassy-eyed submission, and punishes any digression from the self-proclaimed divine will of a megalomaniacal Emperor. A well-done and disturbing development happens when the crew begins to convert. This brings them down into the depths of human depravity and delusion, including the only three who have not succumbed: Jack, Amav, and a twelve-year-old refugee named Bobby whose mind has cracked.
When they are all captured by the Alpha Centaurians and sentenced to brutal torture and death, all seems lost. Here, this story triumphs through what I thought was not only an intense, visceral description of slimy aliens, messed up belief systems, and shocking threats but also a brilliantly executed series of plot twists that kept me turning the pages, none the wiser, until the end when love, cleverness, and fortitude save the day. With the help of some unexpected protagonists, Jack Commer once again shines through his opaque atmosphere of personal issues to become worthy of his stature. It's a great tale about the value of love and the universal need of living things to be conscious and free. I'll be looking forward to Book Three, Nonprofit Chronowar.
All is not right with the crew of the Typhoon II. Space travel is getting to them, particularly Jack Commer, the newly appointed Supreme Commander of the USSF. He has issues, and many question whether he is qualified for his new title, let alone a mission to make peace with a hateful, fanatical empire. He questions himself. He has alienated his beautiful new wife Amav. The cracks are showing, driving everyone into isolated cesspools of personal angst, nasty little secrets and idiosyncrasies artfully reflected through diary entries and interactions with the Martian crew members, who are both fascinated and bemused by human behavior.
Things further deteriorate when they rescue a group of refugees who claim to have escaped Alpha Centauri clutches but are in fact being controlled by a hive mentality that forbids individuality, brainwashes its members into glassy-eyed submission, and punishes any digression from the self-proclaimed divine will of a megalomaniacal Emperor. A well-done and disturbing development happens when the crew begins to convert. This brings them down into the depths of human depravity and delusion, including the only three who have not succumbed: Jack, Amav, and a twelve-year-old refugee named Bobby whose mind has cracked.
When they are all captured by the Alpha Centaurians and sentenced to brutal torture and death, all seems lost. Here, this story triumphs through what I thought was not only an intense, visceral description of slimy aliens, messed up belief systems, and shocking threats but also a brilliantly executed series of plot twists that kept me turning the pages, none the wiser, until the end when love, cleverness, and fortitude save the day. With the help of some unexpected protagonists, Jack Commer once again shines through his opaque atmosphere of personal issues to become worthy of his stature. It's a great tale about the value of love and the universal need of living things to be conscious and free. I'll be looking forward to Book Three, Nonprofit Chronowar.
January 21, 2015
In the second book in the Jack Commer series, as the title indicates, much to his sometimes dismay, Jack is now Supreme Commander of the USSF. He’s also newly-wed, and on his way to Alpha-Centauri for peace negotiations. It’s difficult enough being a surviving Commer brother. It’s even more difficult being newlywed. It’s a quadruple problem having your very intelligent bride on the same ship as you and one of your crewmembers lusting after her. It’s even worse when the Martians onboard can’t adjust to Star Drive and get violent and have to be sedated.
Jack has all five factors going against him.
When the Star Drive of the Typhoon II ship goes out and they’re having to use regular power to get them to their destination, the crew is bored and bickering, questioning themselves, each other, and their mission, until they discover an Alpha-Centuarian ship in distress. Aboard are a group of humans ostensibly escaping their massacred colony. Among them is a twelve-year-old who’s so catatonic he can only communicate through writing science fiction short stories set during Earth’s War Between the States. The adult members are, for all extents and purposes, converts to the Alpha-Centaurians, stating they are returning to Earth, not as refugees, but to convince everyone that the aliens not the villains they appear, and Earth should surrender rather than negotiate peace.
Whatever the fugitives have seems to be contagious, for one by one, the crew members succumb to their rants, raves, and prayers, and defect…even the Martians and Joe. Alone in the Typhoon II with only his wife and the boy, Bobby, Jack wonders how long he can hold out. He begins to question everything he's ever thought or believed... and then another Alpha-Centaurean ship appears…and this one isn’t seeking peace or converts…it simply wants Earth’s destruction…
I think I liked this novel better than the first. It’s full of the irreverence, satire, and whirlpool thoughts of the first but even more so. Again, it’s another which really can’t easily be summarized…it has to be read so you can see for yourself. There’s a cliffhanger, but I finished reading with the supreme confidence that Jack Commer, Supreme Commander, would prevail…as he always does…
On to the next…
June 28, 2023
Again as with the first book in the Jack Commer series, The Martian Marauders, I give my own book five stars because I think this is my best effort, and I also believe my best effort points me towards constant improvement. The cover, done by Deron Douglas, publisher at Double Dragon Publishing, is fantastic. Deron did ask me for input on this cover and I suggested Jack's estranged wife Amav be featured. It's really her! I'd also sent him an image just for grins, a crude cartoon of Jack Commer himself I drew years ago around the time of writing the rough draft of Jack Commer,--but I was pleased to see that my 1950’s spaceship in that drawing (again crude, and a ship which doesn't resemble the Typhoon II at all), made it to the cover, much more elegant in his version.
February 9, 2017
I read the first Jack Commer (Martian Marauders) and was looking forward to this book. I was not disappointed. If, and I hope there is another book, I will be in line to buy it. This book is touching in parts, and a witty space adventure, Jack facing a peace mission with his new wife, in his new position, Supreme Commander of the USSF, the latter of which he did not want. I needn't recap the blurb or inadvertently give away a plot point. Suffice to say, read the series.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews