Mars Attacks
August 1965: When he stumbles upon a Martian’s plot to ignite World War III, FBI agent Nate Tanner must defy orders to get to the truth.
Determined to stop a ruthless undercover invader from taking Earth to the brink of oblivion, Tanner engages in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse to unravel alien’s diabolical plans. With the help of a daring and beautiful reporter with secrets of her own, Nate will race against the clock to outwit a monster from outer space and save the world from total annihilation!
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Last fall, I was contacted by editor Rich Young over at Joe Books, who had partnered with the good folks over at Topps to do some fun stuff with that company’s venerable Mars Attacks property. The classic trading card set celebrated its 50th anniversary back in 2012, and that milestone came with all sorts of new products and even a “rebooted” storyline featured in a new set of cards that updates the classic alien invasion tale. I took a renewed interested in the property thanks to comics from IDW, as well as this epic little tome that showcases the original 1962 card set.
Though the “new” Mars Attacks storyline has reset the clock so that the invasion now takes place in the modern day, The Armageddon Directive is actually set during the 1960s, decades before the full-blown attack when the Martian Empire had “sleeper agents” running around on Earth, trying to make humanity dork things up enough so that the actual invasion will be met with limited or no resistance.
As I’ve told people, I imagined this story as something of a “spiritual cousin” to my Star Trek novel from 2013, From History’s Shadow. I definitely had the same kind of fun writing both stories.
This post will act as the novella’s official “Q&A” thread, so feel free to drop any questions in the comments section. Because of that, folks should be aware that spoilers are a definite possibility from this point forward. You’ve been warned!
The Fog of Ward. 
I only know the Mars Attacks imagery and had no idea about the trading cards, etc. It all looks like great fun, and I’m looking forward to the novella, but how well does the Burton film fit in?
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An easy way to experience the original 1962 set is via the book I have linked up above. It’s a great tribute, with anecdotes/etc. from one of the set’s creators.
The Burton film is kind of its own thing, especially now that the storyline has been “rebooted” to a large extent.
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