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WORK TITLE: Fata Morgana
WORK NOTES: with Steven R. Boyett
PSEUDONYM(S): Mitchroney, Joseph Kenneth Jr.
BIRTHDATE: 11/28/1958
WEBSITE:
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0593838/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born November 28, 1958, in West Palm Beach, FL; married; wife’s name Beth.
EDUCATION:Studied at Di Bacco School.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Cartoonist, animator, director, and writer. Warner Bros. Animation, storyboard/layout artist, 1988-1993; Green Frog Productions, AD, 1988-1995; Last Laugh Studios, owner, 1991-1995; Pixar Animation, SR story artist, 1996-2000; Disney Toon Studios, story artist, 2000-2001; DNA Productions, head of story/director of photography, 2003-2006; Cartoon Network, supervising director, 2015-. Has also worked for Walt Disney Special Projects, Moonbot Studios, Reel FX, Evergreen Films, Brainfreeze Entertainment, Nickelodeon Animation Studios, DreamWorks Animation, and Disney Toon Studios. Has also been a professional stock-car driver, a comic book illustrator, and the mascot artist for the Oakland A’s and Baltimore Orioles baseball teams.
AVOCATIONS:Restoring vintage locomotives.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Ken Mitchroney, supervising director of Cartoon Network, has worked as a designer, director, voice-over actor, illustrator, animator, script writer, and cartoonist for Pixar, DreamWorks, and Disney Toon Studios, among others. His credits include Mighty Magiswords, The Book of Life, The Lego Movie, Toy Story 2, The Ant Bully, and Monsters, Inc. Mitchroney has also been a professional stock-car driver, a comic book illustrator, and the mascot artist for the Oakland A’s and Baltimore Orioles. He restores vintage locomotives.
With Steven R. Boyett, Mitchroney wrote Fata Morgana. Captain Joe Farley and his crew are on a bombing mission in their B-17 Flying Fortress Fata Morgana during World War II when suddenly they are flung through space and time into another world. A fata morgana—a word taken from the Italian version of the name Morgan le Fay, the sorceress of Arthurian legend—is a type of mirage seen just above the horizon. This optical illusion derives from the bending of light rays as they pass through air of different temperatures. The crew of the B-17 zero in on their target, when, according to a reviewer at the Dear Author website, “a terrifying phenomenon swallows their battered plane, it’s as if Saturday afternoon Buck Rogers serials have come to life.” The crew members find themselves traveling through a portal into a strange world where the last members of two civilizations are still at war with each other after a worldwide apocalypse.
A critic at Publishers Weekly found the writing “energetic, combining some of the gentler wit of Catch-22 with riffs on dystopian fiction cliches.” Jane Jorgenson, reviewing the book in Xpress Reviews, found “a lot to engage readers who enjoy their sf mixed with alternative history.” The critic at the What Cathy Read Next website called the novel “well-written, funny, with plenty of action” and an ending that is “touching.” Writing at Dear Author, a correspondent remarked that the “framework of the plot presents an interesting view of time and a bittersweet love found, lost and—maybe—ultimately found again.” A Citygirlscapes website contributor noted that Fata Morgana is “excellent genre-crossing adventure melding sci-fi, romance, and alt-history to create a great read.” The critic pointed to the aspects of the novel that matched Mitchroney’s and Boyett’s film work: “The authors’ experiences writing for film and television is really well-applied, as the whole book has a very cinematic quality.” N.K. Jemisin, critiquing the book for the New York Times Online, observed: “Boyett and Mitchroney have the sense to forgo Hollywood predictability, so the ending’s perfect. A worthy adventure.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, March 13, 2017, review of Fata Morgana. p. 62.
Xpress Reviews, May 26, 2017, Jane Jorgenson, review of Fata Morgana.
ONLINE
Citygirlscapes, https://citygirlscapes.com (June 13, 2017 ), review of Fata Morgana.
Dear Author, http://dearauthor.com (June 15, 2017), review of Fata Morgana.
Internet Movie Database, http://www.imdb.com (November 5, 2017), author profile.
New York Times Online, https://www.nytimes.com (July 14, 2017), N.K. Jemisin, review of Fata Morgana.
What Cathy Read Next, https://whatcathyreadnext.wordpress.com (May 30, 2017), review of Fata Morgana.
Ken Mitchroney's film and television credits include director, head of story, director of photography, and storyboard artist on Storks, The Lego Movie, The Ant Bully, Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc., The Annoying Orange Show, Mighty Magiswords, and more. His comic illustration includes Ren & Stimpy, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Myth Conceptions, and creating the influential Space Ark. He is an official artist for the Ed ''Big Daddy'' Roth estate, and official illustrator for the Oakland Athletics and at one time the Baltimore Orioles. Mitchroney has been a professional race-car driver and pinstriper, and restores and runs vintage locomotives. He is currently involved with the restoration of the Ward Kimball collection at the Southern California Railway Museum in Perris, California. He lives and works in the San Francisco Bay area and Los Angeles.
Overview (4)
Born November 28, 1958 in West Palm Beach, Florida, USA
Birth Name Joseph Kenneth Mitchroney Jr.
Nickname Mitch
Height 5' 11" (1.8 m)
Mini Bio (1)
Ken Mitchroney was born on November 28, 1958 in West Palm Beach, Florida, USA as Joseph Kenneth Mitchroney Jr. He is known for his work on Toy Story 2 (1999), Mighty Magiswords (2015) and Monsters, Inc. (2001). He has been married to Beth Mitchroney since 1984.
Spouse (1)
Beth Mitchroney (1984 - present)
Ken Mitchroney
Ken Mitchroney
3rd degree connection3rd
Supervising Director at Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network Di Bacco School. Lake Worth Florida
San Francisco Bay Area 500+ 500+ connections
Send InMail Send an InMail to Ken Mitchroney More actions
Live action, animation, illustration, design and voice over. Specialties: Animation and Live action Director, Director of
photography, Head of story, Designer, Story Artist for live action and animation, Comic book Illustrator, Mascot artist for the Oakland A's and Baltimore Orioles, Voice over artist, script writer, Cartoonist, custom painter, hot rod builder, stock car racer.
See more See more of Ken’s summary
Experience
Cartoon Network
Supervising Director
Company NameCartoon Network
Dates EmployedOct 2015 – Present Employment Duration2 yrs 2 mos
LocationBurbank
Supervising director and studio irritant on " Mighty Magiswords."
Walt Disney Special Projects
Story Artist, Writer
Company NameWalt Disney Special Projects
Dates EmployedAug 2015 – Sep 2015 Employment Duration2 mos
LocationBurbank California
Created a Micky Mouse short for Shanghai Disneyland.
Cartoon Network
Story Artist
Company NameCartoon Network
Dates EmployedMar 2015 – Aug 2015 Employment Duration6 mos
LocationBurbank
Storyboarded and wrote a series of web shorts for "Mighty Magiswords."
Walt Disney Special Products
Writer/ Story Artist
Company NameWalt Disney Special Products
Dates EmployedMar 2015 – Mar 2015 Employment Duration1 mo
Conceived and boarded to opening and closing titles for the " Micky Mouse Club".
Moonbot Studios
Storyartist
Company NameMoonbot Studios
Dates EmployedMar 2015 – Mar 2015 Employment Duration1 mo
Borded and revised " American Flyer" short.
Warner Bros. Animation
Storyboard Artist
Company NameWarner Bros. Animation
Dates EmployedMay 2014 – Feb 2015 Employment Duration10 mos
LocationBurbank
Working on the lot at WAG on the movie, " Storks."
DreamWorks Animation
Storyboard Artist
Company NameDreamWorks Animation
Dates EmployedOct 2013 – Dec 2013 Employment Duration3 mos
LocationSherman Oaks California
Story Artist on the " How to Train Your Dragon" Special.
Reel FX
Story Artist
Company NameReel FX
Dates EmployedAug 2013 – Aug 2013 Employment Duration1 mo
Story artist on "Book of Life."
Evergreen Films
Storyboard Artist
Company NameEvergreen Films
Dates EmployedJul 2013 – Jul 2013 Employment Duration1 mo
LocationCulver City California
Story Artist on the " Walking with Dinosaurs 3D " Movie.
Cardboard house productions
Consulting director
Company NameCardboard house productions
Dates EmployedApr 2013 – Jun 2013 Employment Duration3 mos
LocationSan Francisco Bay Area
Consulting director on "The Guzman Show."
Brain Freeze Entertainment
Story Artist
Company NameBrain Freeze Entertainment
Dates EmployedMay 2013 – May 2013 Employment Duration1 mo
Storyboarded a "Veggie Tails" dvd.
Reel FX
Story Artist
Company NameReel FX
Dates EmployedOct 2012 – Dec 2012 Employment Duration3 mos
LocationSanta Monica
Back to board the final battle sequence on the film "Free Birds" formally "Time Turkeys."
14 hour productions
Series Director. Live action / Animation
Company Name14 hour productions
Dates EmployedMar 2012 – Oct 2012 Employment Duration8 mos
LocationBurbank Calfornia
Live action and animation director on 'The Annoying Orange" television series.
Animalogic
Story Artist
Company NameAnimalogic
Dates EmployedOct 2011 – Mar 2012 Employment Duration6 mos
LocationSanta Monica
Story artist on the "LEGO" movie.
Nickelodeon Animation Studios
Animation Series Director
Company NameNickelodeon Animation Studios
Dates Employed2010 – Aug 2011 Employment Duration1 yr
LocationBurbank
Series director on, "Fanboy and Chum Chum."
Reelfx
Story Artist
Company NameReelfx
Dates EmployedAug 2010 – Oct 2010 Employment Duration3 mos
Brought on for key action sequences on the film "Time Turkeys" that needed a live action flair.
Walt Disney Animation Studios
Story Artist
Company NameWalt Disney Animation Studios
Dates EmployedJun 2010 – Aug 2010 Employment Duration3 mos
Story Artist on "Planes" at Toon Disney Studios.
Omation
Director / Story lead on "Planet Sheen"
Company NameOmation
Dates EmployedJun 2009 – Mar 2010 Employment Duration10 mos
Ran story team and directed
Warner Brothers Pictures
Story Artist on " Jonah Hex"
Company NameWarner Brothers Pictures
Dates EmployedFeb 2010 – Feb 2010 Employment Duration1 mo
Boarded live action sequences for the film.
Laika
Sr story artist
Company NameLaika
Dates EmployedJun 2008 – Dec 2008 Employment Duration7 mos
SR story artist on " Jack and Ben"
DNA Productions
Head of story/ Director of Photography
Company NameDNA Productions
Dates EmployedJun 2003 – Aug 2006 Employment Duration3 yrs 3 mos
Head of story..Working with The director editorial and the story artists to put the script into a visual language.
DP.., Staging and crafting the shots in the film.
final season
Story artist
Company Namefinal season
Dates EmployedJun 2005 – Jun 2005 Employment Duration1 mo
Worked with Director, Dave Mickey Evans, and the crew, on baseball sequences for the film.
Wilder Days
Story artist
Company NameWilder Days
Dates EmployedOct 2002 – Oct 2002 Employment Duration1 mo
Worked with Director, Dave Mickey Evans and crew on action sequences for the film.
DreamWorks Animation
story and development artist
Company NameDreamWorks Animation
Dates EmployedFeb 2002 – Aug 2002 Employment Duration7 mos
Split duties on Shrek 2 and Dreamworks development department on the film "The Wonderer."
Disney Toon Studios
Story Artist
Company NameDisney Toon Studios
Dates Employed2000 – 2001 Employment Duration1 yr
Brought on to do Story on " Mickey and the three Musketeers."
Pixar Animation Studios
SR story artist
Company NamePixar Animation Studios
Dates Employed1996 – 2000 Employment Duration4 yrs
SR story artist on Toy Story 2. Provided character designs for Zurg, Jessie, Al and Bullseye. Was creative consultant for " Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin" ride at Disneyland and also provided the voice of Zurg for the same ride. Was art consutant for Pixar's first few Toy Story 2 childen's books and was story artist on "Monsters Inc".
Last Laugh Studio
Owner
Company NameLast Laugh Studio
Dates EmployedJan 1991 – Nov 1995 Employment Duration4 yrs 11 mos
Owned and ran my own animation studio in DeLand Florida. Doing animation contract work for Califorina studios, Local television commercials, Design and concept for advertising and studio clients. Closed studio after excepting offer from Pixar.
Green Frog Productions
AD
Company NameGreen Frog Productions
Dates Employed1988 – 1995 Employment Duration7 yrs
Universal Studios
Storyartist. Designer. Concept artist
Company NameUniversal Studios
Dates EmployedFeb 1991 – Oct 1993 Employment Duration2 yrs 9 mos
Story artist for Shelly Duvoll's Bedtime story's. Storyartist and Layout for "Back to the Future the Animated series." Designed the Stunt Dawg's" for Hal Needham ( This series went to DIC later.) And did animation pitch packages with story concept and designs for Universal on "Oswald the Rabbit" and "The Munsters."
Warner Bros. Animation
Layout / Storyboard artist
Company NameWarner Bros. Animation
Dates Employed1988 – 1993 Employment Duration5 yrs
Layout artist, Story artist on Tiny Toons Adventures, Tazmania and Animaniacs, Development Director for Tazmania.
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Education
Di Bacco School. Lake Worth Florida
Di Bacco School. Lake Worth Florida
Degree NameFilm Scholarship Field Of StudyArt, Film study, Animation and photography
Dates attended or expected graduation 1972 – 1976
DiBacco School
DiBacco School
Degree Name" Filmmaking Scholarship" Field Of StudyCinematography and Film/Video Production
Dates attended or expected graduation 1972 – 1976
Received 4 years of film making
Fata Morgana
264.11 (Mar. 13, 2017): p62.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Fata Morgana
Steven R. Boyett and Ken Mitchroney. Blackstone, $26.99 (416p) ISBN 978-1-50475744-7
Writer Boyett and film director Mitchroney team up for this fast-paced alternate-world tale that opens at the height of WWII. Capt. Joe Farley and the crew of Fata Morgana, a B-17 "flying fortress," are in the midst of a harrowing bombing mission when they're hurled across time and space into a strange new world. Once there, they must adapt to their environment while fighting off villains wielding centuries-old destructive technology. The prose is energetic, combining some of the gentler wit of Catch-22 with riffs on dystopian fiction cliches. Boyett and Mitchroney elevate the pulpy vibe with unusual and fully developed protagonists. The fated-romance plotline is familiar to the point of triteness, but it only drags the rest of the story down a bit. Fans of fun SF will enjoy this tale in the tradition of Forstchen and Morrison's Crystal Warriors books and Taylor Anderson's Destroyermen series. Agent: Richard Curtis, Richard Curtis Associates. (June)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Fata Morgana." Publishers Weekly, 13 Mar. 2017, p. 62+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA485971638&it=r&asid=b08645bd05fbd67616c0984747985c3d. Accessed 8 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A485971638
Boyett, Steven R. & Ken Mitchroney. Fata Morgana
Jane Jorgenson
(May 26, 2017):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Library Journals, LLC
http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/reviews/xpress/884170-289/xpress_reviews-first_look_at_new.html.csp
Boyett, Steven R. & Ken Mitchroney. Fata Morgana. Blackstone. Jun. 2017. 416p. ISBN 9781504757447. $26.99; ebk. ISBN 9781470852658. SF
Writer Boyett (Ariel) and film and TV director Mitchroney have coauthored a war story and a romance that spans space and time. Capt. Joe Farley and his crew are flying a bombing mission over eastern Germany in 1943 when they are sucked into a vortex that lands them on another world that has also been devastated by wars of its own. Farley and his men are caught between the two remaining civilizations, both of which want his bomber to help them in their military efforts. As the team struggle to find a footing, they're also still determined to make it back to their own universe. Farley's quest is complicated by Wennda, daughter of a powerful commander and the woman he's destined to love.
Verdict The mix of sf, action, and romance is all there, but the characterizations are a bit thin and the pacing sometimes uneven. Still, there's a lot to engage readers who enjoy their sf mixed with alternative history.--Jane Jorgenson, Madison P.L., WI
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Jorgenson, Jane. "Boyett, Steven R. & Ken Mitchroney. Fata Morgana." Xpress Reviews, 26 May 2017. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA498199962&it=r&asid=c96217cd72455e231a5cded3166aeba1. Accessed 8 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A498199962
June 15, 2017
REVIEW: Fata Morgana by Steven R. Boyett and Ken Mitchroney
JayneB Reviews / Book Reviews / C+ ReviewsHistorical / Science Fiction / War / Military / World War II1 Comments
At the height of the air war in Europe, Captain Joe Farley and the baseball-loving, wisecracking crew of the B-17 Flying Fortress Fata Morgana are in the middle of a harrowing bombing mission over East Germany when everything goes sideways. The bombs are still falling and flak is still exploding all around the 20-ton bomber as it is knocked like a bathtub duck into another world.
Suddenly stranded with the final outcasts of a desolated world, Captain Farley navigates a maze of treachery and wonder – and finds a love seemingly decreed by fate – as his bomber becomes a pawn in a centuries-old conflict between remnants of advanced but decaying civilizations. Caught among these bitter enemies, a vast power that has brought them here for its own purposes, and a terrifying living weapon bent on their destruction, the crew must use every bit of their formidable inventiveness and courage to survive. Climb aboard and hold on tight for this cinematic, meticulously researched adventure that’s part Band of Brothers, part James Cameron movie, part Casablanca, and 100% edge-of-the-seat breakout thriller.
A Fata Morgana is an unusual and complex form of superior mirage that is seen in a narrow band right above the horizon. It is the Italian name for the Arthurian sorceress Morgan le Fay, from a belief that these mirages, often seen in the Strait of Messina, were fairy castles in the air or false land created by her witchcraft to lure sailors to their deaths.
Spoiler (Violence): Show
Gentlemen,
Sometimes a cover or a blurb will grab my attention. With this book, it’s the title that snared me. I will admit to not knowing what a fata morgana is so of course I had to find out. Though SciFi isn’t my usual genre, mixing it with WWII, some romance and tossing in some alternate reality sounded intriguing.
The start of the book seemed very plain old historical. It begins with the end of a disastrous mission for the crew aboard their shot up and doomed B17 bomber. With their old plane now a hulk on the shore of England, Captain Joe Farley and his men get a brand new one. Named “Fata Morgana” and with nose art done to the captain’s specifications by the artistic radio operator, they take off the next day on their first raid in it.
The mission is tense and as dangerous as all of them were above the skies of Germany in 1943. Flying in tight formation, the bombers only have fighter escort for a portion of the journey before facing the Luftwaffe on their own. Their Norden bombsights give them better accuracy but the price is paid in blood as they must stay on the bomb run and endure lethal flak from the ground and punishing attacks by German fighter planes. Deliberate wisecracking banter pushes their fears away enough to allow them to function and deliver their payload but when a terrifying phenomenon swallows their battered plane, it’s as if Saturday afternoon Buck Rogers serials have come to life.
Finally we get to the SciFi stuff. The crew have no idea where they are or what has happened to them. Stranded in a desolate and dead landscape, they are rescued by the members of one of a pair of warring peoples (The reason for the enmity is never explained). Or is it a rescue? Farley and his men know their only hope of getting home is to get back to their abandoned plane but can they trust the inhabitants of the Dome or are they going to be turned into game pieces in a fight not their own? And if they do get home, will it be the one they left?
The speculative aspects of the book are interesting. The description of this world sounds like a cross between what the people of the 1930s thought the future would look like and what the actual world of the 1950s turned out to be. Then toss in some glimpses of what our own tech might be leading us to and – voila. Then there are parallels to “Planet of the Apes.” Okay without the talking apes but with a horrific view of what might have happened if WWII had ended differently.
Some things pop up that usually annoy me in these types of SciFi/fantasy worlds. Everyone the bomber crew encounters speaks English and they have coffee! I could have accepted these people speaking another language (I won’t say which to avoid spoilers) but not English. It makes no sense. I also hate it when the bomber crew insists on using their slang even after it has to be laboriously translated multiple times. We get the standard culture clashes with the supposedly tech backwards crew trying to repair the broken but more sophisticated things of this world. Just how many times can the crews’ plain ol’ common sense fix the day? I did like that the crew is faced with their 1940s prejudicial views of women and minorities and that these are basically shot down in flames.
Our bomber crew plus a few who see the truth of the world in which they live must make a stand and fight for truth, justice, motherhood and apple pie. The ultimate Reveal of who caused what that lead to this world does make sense given the mindset behind the people who caused the wasteland. This bombshell leads Farley to give the “what can one man do to alter his fate and everyone else’s” speech. Still he has to try and his girl won’t let him give up now.
For most of the book, the romance is pretty ‘eh. Farley and Wennda do the standard “two people from different backgrounds who instinctively understand each other stuff” which avoids having to spend a lot of time developing their relationship. I’m not wild about how independent Wennda gets all girly as she reacts to Farley making her feel like a woman and pretty.
Okay so the world is saved from a horrific weapon and I’m thinking “there’s still a lot of book left.” And this, coupled with the initial routine war stuff, is where it finally soared for me: the new reality the crew faces and how they live with it. It’s poignant and not all pretty or pain free.
Readers need to know that this will not be the type of HEA romance we enjoy reading here. Instead my rec of this book would be more for the military aspects. The framework of the plot presents an interesting view of time and a bittersweet love found, lost and – maybe – ultimately found again. The last paragraphs of Farley as an older man thinking back on his crew, the woman whose memory he’s loved for seventy years and this adventure did have me in tears. B/C+
~Jayne
Because time’s not an arrow. It’s a shock wave. It spreads out in all directions at once. From every possible past to every possible future. Someone I’ve loved all my life told me as much. Will live to say as much. Because she’s waiting out there, somewhere. Somewhen. There is out there a hub around which all times turn.
Beyond the windshield the overcast was finally burning off and what remained of day was clearing. In some other future up ahead a bright soul’s beacon shone. It would be beautiful at sixteen thousand feet.
He could hear the voices in his headset now. Boney and Plavitz and Shorty and Wen, Everett and Garrett and Martin and Francis.
“Wheels up,” the old man whispered.
He felt the cockpit tremble as the Fata Morgana began to pick up speed. Slowly at first, then in a rush. The daylight brightening to a blinding white as the world he knew all dropped away.
Book Review: Fata Morgana by Steven R Boyett & Ken Mitchroney
Posted on May 30, 2017
by whatcathyreadnext
Love, war and duty across the reach of time
About the Book
At the height of the air war in Europe, Captain Joe Farley and the baseball-loving, wisecracking crew of the B-17 Flying Fortress Fata Morgana are in the middle of a harrowing bombing mission over East Germany when everything goes sideways. The bombs are still falling and flak is still exploding all around the 20-ton bomber as it is knocked like a bathtub duck into another world. Suddenly stranded with the final outcasts of a desolated world, Captain Farley navigates a maze of treachery and wonder – and finds a love seemingly decreed by fate – as his bomber becomes a pawn in a centuries-old conflict between remnants of advanced but decaying civilizations. Caught among these bitter enemies, a vast power that has brought them here for its own purposes, and a terrifying living weapon bent on their destruction, the crew must use every bit of their formidable inventiveness and courage to survive.
Book Facts
Format: Hardback
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Publication date: 13th June 2017
Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Historical Fiction
To purchase Fata Morgana from Amazon.co.uk, click here (link provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme)
Find Fata Morgana on Goodreads
My Review
The first section of the book is a terrifically exciting account of a B17 bomber raid over Germany in World War 2 that has a real sense of authenticity. It’s here we are first introduced to the wise-cracking but close-knit crew of the Fata Morgana, led by Captain Joe Farley. Suddenly, however, from WW2 historical fiction, the book mutates into science fiction as the aircraft and its crew is transported through some kind of vortex into a seemingly alien world.
They find themselves and their stricken plane in a bleak, desolate landscape where two competing cities are all that remains after a global apocalypse. Given shelter by one of the cities, the crew are introduced to the inhabitants’ advanced technology but, in a nice twist, they are still able to use their 20th century skills to solve some problems. The world they encounter has an unfamiliar social structure where, from necessity, both sexes perform equal roles, including combat. This is just one of the nods (sometimes rather signposted) to the changes brought about by WW2 in the real world.
Conveniently the inhabitants of the new world speak English although there are some amusing exchanges as they are introduced to the crew’s American idioms. For example this conversation between Farley and Wennda, the woman he finds himself attracted to and senses some strange connection with.
Farley scratched beneath his crush cap. “Look, I’ll level with you, okay?”
“Okay”, she said. “Whatever levelling with me means.”
“It means I’ll be honest.”
“Have you not been?”
“No, I’ve been straight with you.”
“Is that the same as being level?”
“You’re making my head hurt.”
I won’t spoil it by explaining much more of what happens but the whole thing is a glorious mash-up of The Twilight Zone, The Flight of the Phoenix and The Time Machine (not so much the H G Wells book as the 1960 film starring Rod Taylor).
It’s well-written, funny, with plenty of action and I really enjoyed it. I found the ending quite touching.
I received an advance reader copy courtesy of NetGalley and publishers, Blackstone Publishing, in return for an honest review.
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In three words: Exciting, original, entertaining
Try something similar…The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
About the Authors
Steven R. Boyett is the author of Ariel, Elegy Beach, Mortality Bridge, Fata Morgana (with Ken Mitchroney) & numerous stories, articles, comic books and screenplays. As a DJ he’s played clubs, conventions, parties, Burning Man, and sporting events, and produces two of the world’s most popular music podcasts: Podrunner & Groovelectric. Steve’s also been a martial arts instructor, professional paper marbler, advertising copywriter, proofreader, typesetter, writing teacher and Website designer and editor. He also plays the didgeridoo and composes electronic music.
Ken Mitchroney’s film and television credits include director, head of story, director of photography, and storyboard artist on Storks, The Lego Movie, The Ant Bully, Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc., The Annoying Orange Show, Mighty Magiswords, and more. His comic illustration includes Ren & Stimpy, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Myth Conceptions, and creating the influential Space Ark. He is an official artist for the Ed “Big Daddy” Roth estate, and official illustrator for the Oakland Athletics and at one time the Baltimore Orioles. He is currently involved with the restoration of the Ward Kimball collection at the Southern California Railway Museum in Perris, California. Mitchroney has been a professional race-car driver and pinstriper, and restores and runs vintage locomotives. He lives and works in the San Francisco Bay area and Los Angeles.
Connect with Steven & Ken
Steven’s website http://www.steveboy.com/
Ken’s Goodreads author page https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/301072.Ken_Mitchroney
ARC Book Review: Fata Morgana by Steven R. Boyett and Ken Mitchroney
June 13, 2017
angela | At the height of the air war in Europe, Captain Joe Farley and the baseball-loving, wisecracking crew of the B-17 Flying Fortress Fata Morgana are in the middle of a harrowing bombing mission over East Germany when everything goes sideways. The bombs are still falling and flak is still exploding all around the 20-ton bomber as it is knocked like a bathtub duck into another world.
Suddenly stranded with the final outcasts of a desolated world, Captain Farley navigates a maze of treachery and wonder – and finds a love seemingly decreed by fate – as his bomber becomes a pawn in a centuries-old conflict between remnants of advanced but decaying civilizations. Caught among these bitter enemies, a vast power that has brought them here for its own purposes, and a terrifying living weapon bent on their destruction, the crew must use every bit of their formidable inventiveness and courage to survive. Climb aboard and hold on tight for this cinematic, meticulously researched adventure that’s part Band of Brothers, part James Cameron movie, part Casablanca, and 100% edge-of-the-seat breakout thriller.
Steven R. Boyett and Ken Mitchroney’s Fata Morgana is an excellent genre-crossing adventure melding sci-fi, romance, and alt-history to create a great read. We meet our crew in the prologue as they crash land their damaged bomber on the shores of England after a harrowing bombing run, after which they receive their new plane: The B-17 Flying Fortess named “Fata Morgana”. Emblazoned with the image of a mysterious woman who haunts the dreams of Captain Joe Farley, the Fata Morgana is the epitome of technology for the time, designed to barrel through flak and anti-aircraft shots on its mission to bomb a Nazi weapons base. However, during their maiden flight, a mysterious interference causes them to be transported to a desolate world, where the survivors of a truly global war eke out a stark existence, battling each other and hiding from a war-machine called the Typhon.
I really enjoyed how the perspective moves between the crew members of the Fata Morgana, creating an almost 3 dimensional view around the plane as they maneuver through incredibly harrowing battle scenes! The depiction of aerial warfare is thrilling, edge-of-your seat stuff.
The authors use brief interjections to really emphasize and reorient impactful moments experienced by the crew members. This creates interesting tableaus, but are sometimes a little disruptive to the flow of the story. The authors’ experiences writing for film and television is really well-applied, as the whole book has a very cinematic quality. However, after digesting the book for a while, certain elements felt a little shallow. For example, depictions of the mysterious device the Typhon guards didn’t really hit home for me, as the descriptive elements overwhelmed the point of what it was actually supposed to be. As well, the romantic plot, though emotional, didn’t really have much depth, but relied instead on the (albeit clever) shorthand of the painted plane to lend it significance (not to give too much away).
These few shortcomings are nothing in the overall scheme of the book though. If you want a rollicking fun read with just enough romance and loss to create an emotional impact, then you’ve got that plus a really unique addition to the science fiction genre full of action, twists and turns! I give it 4.5 glasses of wine, because it packs a punch and made me want to keep reading!
Pirates, Drugs and Time Travel: The Best of New Science Fiction and Fantasy
By N. K. JEMISINJULY 14, 2017
The first 20 percent of Steven R. Boyett and Ken Mitchroney’s unusual new portal fantasy, FATA MORGANA (Blackstone, $26.99), feels a bit like the movie “Stand by Me,” except starring grown men who only talk like pubescent boys and set during World War II instead of the 1950s. Amid harrowing yet realistic descriptions of flak fields and how to successfully arm 8,000-pound bombs, readers are treated to a loving character study of the crew of the Fata Morgana, a B-17 bomber about to face its first combat mission. There’s Farley, the captain, a no-nonsense fellow who is nevertheless haunted by visions of a mysterious woman; he has her painted onto the bomber, pinup style. There’s also Broben, the chain-smoking co-pilot; Boney, the nimble bombardier; Martin Proud Horse, the Lakota ball gunner; and more — all of them wisecracking, scared young soldiers just hoping to make it through the Big One intact. The story’s pace between missions is as leisurely as a coming-of-age journey. There’s even a lengthy digression for the tale of Martin’s previous, fateful posting aboard the Ill Wind, whose namers clearly never heard of an omen. It’s a good campfire story.
And then the whole thing pulls a one-eighty. During a run over Zennhausen, the bomber passes through a strange portal in the air. Germany is gone; World War II is gone; the world as they know it is gone. The crew finds that they’ve been hurtled hundreds of years into the future, long after their war spiraled into a planet-wide conflagration that wiped out all life except within an enormous impact crater. At the bottom of this crater, two high-tech societies remain, eking out a doomed existence — and here Farley meets the literal woman of his dreams, a perfect match for the cheesecake image drawn on the nose of his bomber. Even the writing style changes for these chapters, becoming less nostalgic and more didactic. It’s all a bit schizoid. And for a time, what had been a beautiful story teeters on the brink of H. G. Wellsian cliché, with Farley falling in love and the Fata Morgana somehow becoming the key to defeating far more advanced technology.
Fortunately this segment of the story turns out to be a clever feint. Boyett and Mitchroney have the sense to forgo Hollywood predictability, so the ending’s perfect. A worthy adventure.