The Secret Dream of a Sci-Fi Storyteller
- 212denver2
- Jan 4
- 4 min read
I’m Denver Marshall Lane. I’m a Sci-Fi author, a dreamer, a geek, a bacon lover, just a regular guy.
I have always had a secret dream - one that I never shared with anyone.
I was afraid to dream it or even admit it to myself. It was just too big - out of reach for a guy like me.
I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth. As kids, my siblings and I had to measure our cereal and milk in the morning. Yes, we were lucky to have what little we did, but coming from little imprints a little mindset. So, even though I was constantly told how smart I was and how creative, there was always that little voice condemning me to a life much smaller than my dreams.
Science and science fiction have been my escapes since childhood. While other kids were playing outside, I was reading the encyclopedia, fascinated by concepts and possibilities. I devoured every sci-fi book, movie, and TV show I could find. It didn't matter how low-budget or cheesy they were - even the worst sci-fi sparked something in my imagination.
To this day, I subject my wonderful wife to "Crappy Movie Night" where I pick a sci-fi film I've never seen (if I can find one) and cross my fingers that it's not too ridiculous. (My wife is a saint, by the way.) Sometimes, we strike gold and find a hidden gem. More often, we end up laughing at questionable special effects and plots that are more about some unknown actress’s boobs than good science fiction. But even the crappiest sci-fi has value to me. Each one contains at least one small spark of imagination, some "what if" that makes my mind race with possibilities.
Before I found my path, I wasted years job-hopping through a misspent youth filled with depression, drugs, alcohol, intermittent homelessness, failures, and failed relationships. I was a truly pathetic waste of human flesh – Just a meat sack jumping from one painkiller to another.
Then a friend turned me onto some personal development tapes that I embraced wholeheartedly. The message was inspiring and made me believe I could be more. (Thank you, Tony "Big Teeth.") Though it took time, those lessons changed my life. I couldn't have made it this far without growing my mindset, but I was still afraid to dream that biggest dream.
You see, the world in my head has always been filled with stories - fanciful futures of wonder and tribulation. Entire universes of possibility swirling around in my noggin, begging to be shared. But who was I to think I could be a science fiction author? That was for "real" writers.
Finally, at the age of 54, I chose to stop letting fear win. I decided to record my stories, starting with the biggest one in my head: Threshold, a far-future story about the nature of mankind. It explores our never-ending cycle of destruction, rebirth, and greed-driven growth that brings us once again to destruction. It's about our inability to learn from the past and our future doom. Yeah, it's a little dark, but life is.
The book is everything I hoped it would be. It's not just a vision of a possible far future - it sets up the foundation for a larger story and an entire universe full of possibilities.
As a marketer who's produced hundreds of thousands of leads for clients and employers across various industries, I thought I knew what I was doing. But speaking as someone who just spent two years writing and publishing their first sci-fi novel, I can tell you the marketing was a shock. Silly me thought I could just write a book and people would want to read it … but ask any first-time fiction author, regardless of genre, and they'll tell you that marketing is the hardest part.
Unfortunately, I've discovered that marketing fiction is nothing like marketing cars, in-home care, or laser eye surgery. And honestly? I don't want to spend my time marketing. I want to create.
That's the real dream I've been afraid to admit all these years - not just to write stories, but to see them come alive on screen. I want to write books and make movies that show others what I see. I want to inspire others to dream as richly as I do.
So, instead of marketing the book, I’m going to continue to create both stories and videos.
Threshold, I gonna release here on this blog, one chapter at a time. You’ll see other stories in future books (I’m currently on Chapter 10 of Emancipation, the second in the Threshold series.) and videos I release through my social channels.
Follow my journey, see the vision, and create new visions of your own, and most importantly, Let me know if I inspire you!
You can get the first Threshold book on Amazon. It's not incredibly popular yet so it's tough to find without a link or putting the entire title and my name in Amazon's search engine.
So, search for "Threshold Book 1: Revelation by Denver Marshall Lane" OR you can find it through the link below.
If you have the Kindle app, it’s only 99 cents!
Dare to dream!
I’ll see you next time.
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