Category Archives: The Universe of Thomas Sullivan

The Universe of Thomas Sullivan

Why The Rolling Stones?

Why The Rolling Stones? It’s 500 years in the future and this is the best Sully can come up with to listen to?

We listen to Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, and other composers from centuries past? Why wouldn’t music lovers in the future listen to the blues stylings of The World’s Greatest Rock ‘n’ Roll Band?
For one thing, the author’s favorite band, that being me, is The Rolling Stones. I’ve seen them live and they spoiled live music for me as a result. Nobody compares to the Stones live.

The Rolling Stones Live in Milwaukee, WI


Jagger and Richards are one of the best song writing teams of all time, Jagger is one of the greatest singers to ever front a live band, and Keith is, well, he’s just Keith. Charlie Watts makes the Stones swing and whether its Brian Jones, Mick Taylor, or Ronnie Woods paired with Keith, the Stones have a raw sound all their own.
Besides, how many bands have to rehearse nearly 200 original songs before they go on tour?


All propaganda aside, the Stones lend themselves to menacing stories and moods. Songs like Gimme Shelter, Paint It Black, Midnight Rambler,Ventilator Blues, and Love is Strong all have an edge to them missing in most bands. Watch the right video of a performance of Midnight Rambler and you’ll see Mick transform into the character he sings about. The same is true for the stalker who is the narrator for Love is Strong. The very mood fits in with the noir feel I hope to convey in my stories.


Then there’s the blues.


If you’ve read the prequel and all of the installments of the Inspector Thomas Sullivan Thriller Series you’d know Sully has lived the blues. It’s why the music speaks to his soul.


Even Sarah is starting to understand why Sully, Father Nathan, and Joe enjoy watching the holographic recreations of past performances Joe and Sully have in their private collections and play for appreciative audiences at Joe’s on the occasional weekend evening.


If I can figure out how to get permission and not have to sell my home, I even have a story line built around the song Ventilator Blues from Exile On Main Street.


Throw in the songs of regret, kiss off songs, songs of rebellion, political observation, country, folk, dance, Chuck Berry style rock ‘n’ roll, blues covers, and Keith’s Open G Tuning and you’ve got a huge catalog of songs that speak to nearly any mood a listener might have.

The Universe of Thomas Sullivan, Thoughts on things

If The Inspector Sullivan Series Was On Netflix

It could happen. Stranger things have happened. Of course, as part of my demands I want to be able to have a say in the casting process. So here’s my dream list of actors and the characters they would play if my stories made it on to Netflix.

Inspector Thomas Sullivan: Sully is a tough one to cast. The actual actor has to be BIG. Not fat, tall (6’6” at least) and in great shape. He has to be believable as a hardened tough guy with a hidden heart of gold. The actor also has to be enough of a heartthrob that women still find him attractive in spite of his facial scar and cybernetic eye.

I can tell you for certain who Sully won’t be played by, Tom Cruise. Not because Cruise doesn’t have the acting chops to play any male character I could come up with, but because he’s short. I love the Jack Reacher character and as far as portraying Reacher’s attitude, Cruise was fine. But Reacher is the same size as Sully and Tom Cruise physically wasn’t believable as Jack Reacher.

So, since this is my fantasy, I have three actors in mind. The best fit in my mind is Clint Eastwood. We just need to use a time machine and bring the Clint who played Dirty Harry forward in time to play Sully. Clint has the size, the stare, and best of all, the attitude to play Sully. Besides, I could write cool lines for him to say before he kills the villain.

If I can’t cast Clint, then I want Tom Selleck. He’s big enough, handsome, and while he’s best known for playing another Thomas, Thomas Magnum of Magnum P.I. fame, Selleck can play serious roles.

Since time machines aren’t currently available, I’ll settle for Clint Eastwood’s son, Scott Eastwood. He’s been paying his dues as an actor and if the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, everything should be fine. If not, I’ll give Dad a call and have him pay a visit to the set to “motivate” his son.

Sarah: There is only one actress who could possibly play the role of Sarah and that’s scifi geek/nerd Summer Glau. Sarah has a bit of the childish imp of River Tam in her. She also has the cold standoffish nature of Cameron from TSCC. Glau herself is oft described as “adorkable” in person which is the endearing side of Sarah very few people get to see.

Casting Summer would at least generate immediate interest for the series as Summer has an extremely loyal following of fans based on her performances in Firefly (River Tam), Serenity (River Tam), TSCC (Cameron), and other shows.

Summer can handle firearms, is a martial artist, and is a former prima ballerina, all of which are skills and attributes necessary to portray Sarah. Glau has proven she can convey a lot of emotion and information without using a lot of words, another skill necessary to play Sarah. She moves with the grace needed to slip in and out of view as well as the actual athleticism to roam the city rooftops of Capital City.

Father Nathan: This one is a lot tougher. The actor has to be big, like Sully. He has to be cheerful, approachable, and friendly one moment and menacing and deadly the next. While pleasant and funny most of the time, Father Nathan is the character who serves as the conscience of his friends and is the only person who will stand up to Sully every single time when Sully needs to be taken down a peg or two.

I could see Tom Selleck as Father Nathan but I’m not sold on the idea. So at this particular time, I can’t pin down one actor specifically that I would insist on having cast to play Father Nathan.

Just for the fun of it, I’d love to hear suggestion from readers as to who would make a great Father Nathan. My only limiting factor is I insist the actor be tall and in shape.

Markeson: The bent cop and on going villain who is Sully’s nemesis of sorts is a hard one to cast. I finally decided on Ed Harris because he can play the good guy and the dark villain. Markeson may be bent, but he’s not all evil, like real life, he’s neither black nor white, but grey. At times he’s as deadly as any serial killer. If the right circumstances present themselves, Markeson is as effective a cop as Sully. His motivation is usually wrong, but the results are good.

Since the budget is not part of the equation, the production can afford Mr. Harris along with the other stars mentioned.

If Ed Harris is not available, my second choice is Liam Neeson. Neeson is more than capable of playing the killer and has the looks that would appeal to Markeson’s string of bimbos as Sarah likes to call them.

Josephson:  I’m open for suggestions. The actor needs to be able to convey competency and naiveté at the same time. The kid hero worships Sully but needs to be able to grow with the character as the series progresses. He also has to be able to bicker with Sarah like a sibling when appropriate.

Bones: As I mentioned earlier, cost is not a factor since the producers have wisely opened their purses and have a whatever it costs mindset to make sure the show succeeds.

Bones as I see him can only be played by Morgan Freeman. He’s got the voice, the grizzled aged looks of a man who’s seen too much, and he can definitely play the role of a crusty, paranoid medical examiner.

Ralph the cab driver: Steve Buscemi is the only actor I can envision playing Ralph, the ex-con cab driver who is the husband of Alice, the waitress and matriarch of Joe’s Place. Buscemi is the ultimate character actor and is able to add great depth to supporting characters.

Who would you like to see cast in a role in the Netflix (I can only wish) version of The Inspector Thomas Sullivan Thriller Series?

Drop me an e-mail at SciFiThriller@kcsivils.com and make your suggestions. I’ll share them with my readers. Feel free to make suggestions for characters I haven’t covered yet like Alice or Joe Maynard.

Beta Prime, The Universe of Thomas Sullivan

THe Real Capital city

I grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The local refineries, rail yards, and blues dives all serve as a bit of the inspiration for the mythical Capital City on Beta Prime. Drive to the southeast on I-10 and you’ll be in one of the oldest cities in  the United States and North America, New Orleans.

Baton Rouge may be the state capital of Louisiana, but New Orleans certainly sets the tone for the rest of the state when it comes to the state motto: Let The Good Times Roll!

Both cities are filled with historic buildings, New Orleans in particular. The food is great, the people are friendly, and if you love blues or jazz, then you’ve come to the right cities

While different culturally, the people of both towns like to work hard. Both are oil cities and have extensive refining complexes and shipping facilities

Inspiration for Capital City is also drawn from the film Blade Runner. Instead of rain and total darkness as found in Ridley Scott’s version of the future, Capital City is cold, windblown, and at times covered in snow and ice

The weather can be pleasant, well, at least sunny, in Capital City, but the dangerous blue fog is never far away

In terms of architecture the city ranges from modern, clean designs that are pleasing to the eye and are the domain of the wealthy and elite of Beta Prime. The working class live in neighborhoods built via prefab construction materials. The oldest neighborhoods, such as the one Sully and company live and work were often built using shipping containers, a practice used for construction in current times.

Construction on Beta Prime

It’s not pretty, but it’s fast and apparently fairly easy. In my vision of the future, the initial containers used to ship supplies and equipment to Beta Prime were at the end of their useful lifespan as shipping containers.

Construction using shipping containers

Rather than cut the containers up for scrap, they were used to serve as the basis for living quarters and retail areas. With a facade applied, nobody knows what the building materials were until upon closer examination from the inside of the building.

Not all buildings were built from containers. The large open eating area in Joe’s, which doubles for the night club seating at night, was built in a more traditional method, using different prefab construction methods.

I currently reside in Texas, in a suburb of Houston, another energy city with a wide variety of people, transportation facilities, architecture, and industry. My wife Lisa calls Houston a concrete nightmare. I don’t have to travel far for inspiration for my version of Capital City.

The city itself in most hardboiled noir stories can be viewed as a character. I hope as the series continues that readers who follow Sully and his adventures began to recognize Capital City as such, a unique character in its own right. One that plays an important role in the development of the story.

Beta Prime, History and Characteristics of Crime Noir, The Universe of Thomas Sullivan

The City as a Character

Have you read a hard boiled detective story set in the countryside? Watched a classic crime noir film set in a rural area?

Probably not.

Crime noir stories are set in a city. Not just any city, a large, crowded, gritty city. It’s inhabitants range from the innocent to the most evil criminals an author can imagine.

Not just any city will do.

Most often the cities used in these stories are Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, London, and sometimes Chicago. Sometimes the city is fictional, often bearing no name.

A well written noir makes the come alive for the reader. So much so the city itself can seem to be one of the characters.

Capital City on Beta Prime is meant to be a character of sorts. It is a cold and inhospitable place, dangerous, dirty, and crowded.

It is also a diverse city. It’s humble beginnings were that of a mining colony using the shipping containers used to bring necessary supplies to the planet. In the better parts of town the architecture is modern and elegant. Suburbs for the middle class have sprouted up. Bad neighborhoods can be found adjacent to middle and working class areas.

Transportation is a mess. Just what you would expect from any large urban city. It ranges from individual hovercars to old fashioned but modern subways. Taxis can be found to take you anywhere.

What makes Capital City unique is the people. Spread throughout the millions who inhabit the futuristic city are characters who make the city what it is.

Joe Maynard for example. The proprietor of Joe’s Place, an Old Earth comfort food joint with great ambiance and music. A place to eat, relax, and do business, legal usually but not always.

There’s the crooked (bent) cop Markeson. A strange duck if you ask me. Markeson’s as bent as they come but he’s a skilled detective who periodically takes great offense to other criminals breaking the law in his city.

Weather makes a city unique. Chicago is the Windy City. It rains in San Francisco and the fog rolls in. Capital City is the frozen city. The fog in Capital City is a bit different though. When it’s a bluish green, evil lurks.

Everything necessary for a thriller can be found in Capital City. Transportation to get away, goods and property to steal or smuggle. Innocent people to be murdered and plenty of not so innocent people to do the killing. Corruption is everywhere and so are people who hate it. Most of all, there are plenty of people who just want to take care of their families and live their lives.

Capital City is also home to many who wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. It is more than just the backdrop for a story. It’s integral to it.

Inspector Thomas Sullivan, The Universe of Thomas Sullivan

The Inspector’s Eye

E-mail from readers can be interesting for an author. I particularly like e-mails that ask specific questions about why a character did this or why did your story line take this twist, etc. I’d like to use this newsletter to answer one reader’s question in particular.

Why did you give Sully a cybernetic eye?

It’s a good question. At least I think so.

Once I made the decision for the Inspector to not be completely human, to have a few parts that aren’t human attached, I could have given Sully just about anything. Legs that would allow him to run super fast or jump over buildings. Arms that have multiple types of weapons built in. Armor beneath his skin to protect his vital organs. The sky was the limit.

But I chose to give Sully a cybernetic eye.

I based my decision on two primary reasons. Not that I intend to fill my stories with deeply profound hidden meanings, but there are things I build in for readers to catch and ponder. If a reader doesn’t pick up on it, it’s not a big deal. If a reader sees the hidden gem, great!

Sully sees the universe differently. Using his robot eye and not a human one to tell that part of the story brings attention to what Sully sees and thinks. He’s a damaged individual who sees things differently. Being a cynic, he trusts little of what he sees and hears. Actions and motives are what Sully looks to see.

More important than a story telling device is the fact I love the first two Terminator films! My kids and I also loved the short lived television franchise Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

I am convinced the show’s short run was due to the fact the writers and producers did not understand one very important fact. Sarah and John Connor are key elements of any Terminator story. But let’s make one point clear. They are NOT the stars

The Terminator is!

Summer Glau, who brought Cameron to life in the TV show, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, who brought the first Terminator and Uncle Bob to life, were the stars of the franchise. Miss Glau did a wonderful job as Cameron and the show would have been better served had the story line evolved around Cameron more.

I digress.

One of the features I found fascinating was the HUD Terminators used within their cybernetic eye, or optics if you prefer. Terminators can replay old memories, access data files, call up protocols, identify objects and individuals, and most importantly, select whether not to terminate a human.

In one episode of TSCC Cameron dressed up in an enticing outfit and visited a bar frequented by employees of a nuclear power plant in order to obtain the bar codes the Connor’s needed to gain access to key parts of the plant. Acting like a naive and unknowing young woman, she flirted with a pair of males from the plant who happened to be playing pool.

It didn’t take Cameron long to get invited to play a game she “didn’t know how to play” and wager money. Like fools the men let Cameron break. She promptly pulled up her HUD, used her targeting software, calculated the optimal break point, and sank four or five balls in the break.

I follow developments in robotics and artificial intelligence. Both technologies are coming whether we like it or not. In some ways these new technologies will be of great benefit to mankind. I can also see the potential for evil and great harm to society. All too often we as humans never stop to ask the question should we. We just plunge ahead and focus on “how do we?”

Given how fast technology advances, I don’t think it’s far fetched for Sully to have a cybernetic eye. I’d even venture to say within a hundred years humans will have the ability to replace a damaged biological eye with a cybernetic eye with some of the same features Sully possesses in his replacement eye.

So now you know.

If you have any questions about any of my characters that you would like to ask, please do! Just drop me an e-mail (SciFiThriller@kcsivils.com) and ask. I might even include the answer in a future issue of The Inspector’s Report.

This was first published in The Inspector’s Report, Volume Two, Number Eight.

Beta Prime, The Universe of Thomas Sullivan

Why Is The World of Beta Prime Not As Futuristic As Most SciFi Worlds?

If the movie or TV rights to The Predator and The Prey were purchased, would Capital City look like some fantastic, futuristic vision of urban life?

Probably not.

Parts of the Capital City would certainly appear as if they came from the wildest dreams of architectural fantasy. Certainly the Northwest Quadrant, where the wealthy and politicians make their homes, would appear to be futuristic. The Northeast Quadrant, with its industry, upper middle class and the SpacePort terminal would look futuristic.

But what about the Southern Quadrants? Where the poor and working class live?

Picture the tenements of North American industrial cities, where instead of brick and mortar, the buildings are converted containers left over from colonization with plastisteel facades. Buildings would have the same design and construction as the poured concrete buildings built in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Ugly, cheap to build and made for those considered beneath the ruling elite.

Hovercars require some type of fixed path to travel on requiring roads to be constructed. Perhaps the only advantage of a hovercraft over a wheeled vehicle is the roads will last longer.

There is very little that is truly new. Ideas are recycled all the time. Joe’s Restaurant, with its cliche neon lights, Classic Rock decor and North American comfort food, plus whatever the locals consider solid fare, is an example of retro styling and architecture some 500 years in the future.

Besides, Joe’s is home away from home. It’s an interesting place like Rick’s Cafe American of Casablanca fame is. The locals gather at Joe’s as do all sorts of interesting denizens of Capital City.

Old technology that works fine will be used on many Alliance worlds. As they say, if isn’t broken, there is no need to fix it. Railroads as we know them today, steel wheels on steel rails, are still used on many worlds where issues of climate and expense of construction and maintenance prevent the successful use of more “modern” technologies like Maglev Trains.

On a world like Beta Prime, a visitor would find a curious mix of the old, albeit updated, technology with the new. Soldiers and police would carry modern energy weapons with a variety of capabilities. Some soldiers and police prefer old school projectile weapons. As Inspector Sullivan constantly tells the pup Josephson, “a big exit wound is one way to make sure the perp stops shooting back.”

Fashion is one area where futuristic designs do make sense on a world like Beta Prime. But then again, what has come before often makes its way back through the fashion world. A tourist could expect to see the miners and industrial workers to be dressed in typical coveralls, designed both to protect the worker and keep the worker warm in the freezing environment of Beta Prime.

White collar workers, particularly the so-called elite and politicians would be those more inclined to wear the more daring fashion designs. Middle and working class fashions on Beta Prime tend to resemble those found in the 1940s and 50s with updates in materials. Life is dreary for many on the planet and the dark browns, blacks and blues of clothing reflect this aspect of life.

Classic styles, such as pin stripe suits, tailored to fit perfectly, never go out of style, regardless of the century, planet or city.

Other worlds, with different climate or life support needs, will have different levels of technology. Life on a moon, such as the two moons of Beta Prime, Serenity and Persephone, with no atmosphere, requires a more futuristic vision of the structures. The same is true of a colony on an asteroid of the space station serving as the terminal for large starliners and space freighters.

Why is the world I created for Inspector Sullivan and his companions to inhabit a mix of such commonly found items from today and the hoped and dreamed for technology of tomorrow? Because it is the way man does things.

We still make furniture from wood don’t we?

Still, if you look around, there is plenty to find that is not what one would expect to see in a city today.

Take Sarah. When was the last time you saw a human clone?

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The Universe of Thomas Sullivan

Why Crime Fiction on an Alien Planet?

My late mentor Don Meyer liked to say “there is nothing as difficult as original thought.” Life experience has taught me he was right. Another concept he liked was “there is nothing original under the sun.” Finally, he liked to say “you can get all the good ideas, you just can’t use them all.”
So what does this have to do with writing stories about a crime fighter who lives on an alien planet? It means I like crime fiction, science fiction and film noir movies. I’m not smart enough to come up with a totally original universe or story concept. But I can get good ideas from what has been done in the past and come up with something that is a slight variation of what has been done before.
Not that science fiction thrillers or futuristic crime stories are anything new. Bladerunner and Outland come to mind as a couple of my favorites. Then I ran across the quirky but delightful Firefly series that lasted for an all too short run on TV. A space western? What an idea!
Throw in the fact that I’m a fan of classic noir detective novels by writers like Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler and you can see where this is headed. So why not send my hero to fight crime and corruption on a frozen planet sometime in the future?
If Joss Whedon could create the universe for space westerns in the stories told in Firefly and Serenity, then I can certainly have Clint “Dirty Harry” Eastwood and Humphrey “Sam Spade” Bogart serve as inspiration for my own Thomas Sullivan.
Not original and perhaps a bit risky since cross genre stories don’t always do well. I mean, what niche does the story fall in? How do you attract a reading audience? Sci-fi fans might not think the story has enough futuristic elements. Crime fiction and noir fans might think the story is not gritty enough.
But they’re my stories and its what my imagination has come up with. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
The first of in my Thomas Sullivan: Lawman of Beta Prime series should be in print, I hope, no later than February of 2017. With a working title of The Predator and the The Prey I hope readers enjoy the story and look forward to reading more about the adventures and struggles of one Thomas Sullivan.