Cover of “Before Plan 9: Plans 1-8 From Outer Space” revealed!

A while back, I had the opportunity to write a story for a new anthology based on an old movie.  Let me correct myself.  It was an old, bad movie.  Not just any bad movie, but THE bad movie.  The one that is so bad it has gotten awards for being the worst movie ever made, and because of that, has become a cult classic in the minds of people everywhere.  Heck, they made a movie about the guy who made this movie because this movie was so bad, and this guy was so good at making bad movies and THAT movie even won an academy award.  Strange, huh?  A movie about a movie that is bad winning an academy award.  Go figure.

Well, I’m not trying to keep any secrets here, since everyone can guess based on the title of this post what movie I’m talking about.  It is Ed Wood Jr.’s classic Plan 9 from Outer Space.  Tony Schaab, who runs Twinstar Media, as a huge fan of the movie and someone who is involved in the novelization of the script as well as a remake of the movie, came up with an intriguing question: if the movie shows what Plan 9 was from the aliens, which failed so miserably, what were their first 8 plans to conquer earth?  Well, maybe not to conquer earth, but to prevent us from making a solarnite bomb.  And if you don’t know what a solarnite bomb is, go look for Plan 9 on Youtube-you can watch the entire movie in all its wretched glory free of charge.

Thus was born the idea behind Before Plan 9: Plans 1-8 From Outer Space.  I’m proud to be a part of this project and to have the chance to pay homage to one of the worst movies of all time with what I hope isn’t one of the worst short stories of all time, heh.  My little story has the honor of being Plan 1, if you can believe it!  It is entitled: Plan 1 from the Lesser-Heralded Parts of The Odyssey.  Yep, these aliens have been bugging us humans since the days of Greek heroes like Odysseus.

Here is the full table of contents:

• Plan Zero from the Mesozoic Era by Tony Schaab
• Plan 1 from the Lesser-Heralded Parts of The Odyssey by Patrick D’Orazio
• Plan 2 from Ancient Egypt by D.A. Chaney
• Plan 3 from the Middle Ages of Hamelin by Greg Carter
• Plan 4 from the Clockwork Country by Tonia Brown
• Plan 5 from the Depressing Depression by David Dunwoody
• Plan 6 from the Nazi Regime by Rob Silvera
• Plan 7 from Sin City by Jonathan Maberry
• Plan 8 from the Fantastic Fifties, Phase 1 by Craig DiLouie
• Plan 8 from the Fantastic Fifties, Phase 2 by Joe McKinney and Michael McCarty