Welcome to Adventures with Chester L. Richards. Join us as we go on a pioneering adventure. Get inspired by the tale of how my pioneering great-grandfather built part of the I 5 freeway -- while he had a double hernia! You can find the full story, “Great-Grandfather’s Hernia,” the story of the Battle of The Band video -- “In the Mood” -- and many more adventures in my book, From The Potato to Star Trek and Beyond: Memoirs of a Rocket Scientist. Available in print and eBook on Amazon, Barnes and Noble. Print available everywhere online. Or ask at your favorite bookstore. We're also pleased to announce the eBook will be available at your favorite online store soon. Check our books page to find out when.

Come fly with Chester L. Richards as he reveals behind the scenes adventures of how fan fave Star Trek episode 'The Tholian Web" came about. Learn how he and his friend Judy A. Burns conceived the original story, and wrote the script for what became the on air version of "The Tholian Web," including fascinating twists and turns as the script evolved. Ah, Hollywood!

I was so pleased to receive these prestigious literary awards. Thank you to The BookFest  judges who selected my first book for these honors!

When I was invited to be a speaker at The BookFest® Fall 2022 event I had no idea I would also win these awards. 

My topic, The Adventure of a Lifetime Chat with Chester L. Richards,
was shown on Day 1.

The weekend was packed with authors who are experts in a variety of fields. Talks and panels on Day 1 was aimed at readers. Day 2 was aimed at topics of interest to writers. The weekend also focused on critical issues of our time, including climate change and book banning, with honest discussions of what is happening in the USA and around the world, and what we can all do about these challenges.

There was a plethora of authors and books of all genres to discover. Being among this distinguished group of presenters was indeed an honor for me, and I am grateful to The BookFest for inviting me to participate again. (I first appeared in Spring 2022, in a panel on memoirs, Decoding His Story -- Men Who Write Memoirs.)

If you missed it, no problem. The entire weekend will be streaming 24/7 soon. Check here for the link once it goes live. Or check the link below:

https://www.thebookfest.com/

Meet New Friends at The BookFest® Fall 2022 October 22nd and 23rd.

Join the fun and hang out with the bookish community of readers, writers, and industry experts. The BookFest® Fall 2022 has a spooky, autumnal theme. It is presented by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) and Bookstagrammers. Winners of The BookFest Awards will be announced during the two-day bookish adventure.

Highlights to look forward to on Day One of The BookFest, Oct. 22, which is geared toward readers, include the opening keynote by Beatrice Adenodi, author of Mindless Behaviors: Breaking Through Unseen Barriers. Philip Fracassi, who The New York Times calls, “terrifically scary,” will be in Conversation.

Chester L. Richards will be featured in a conversation about the importance of adventures in your life, as well as highlights from his book, From The Potato to Star Trek and Beyond: Memoirs of a Rocket Scientist. He's in marvelous company with authors from around the world throughout the day.

Also on Day 1, there are panels about climate change-themed books; science fiction, fantasy and dark fiction; a Conversation with author and speaker Neil Bockoven, PhD.; and what promises to be an insightful and poignant panel with experts discussing book bannings and challenges in the US.

Oct. 23 is Day Two of The BookFest, which as always leans to writers. The day kicks off with an opening keynote from Karla Olson of Patagonia Books. In Conversation is Angela Bole from the Independent Book Publishers Association (and soon-to-be with Firebrand Group). New York Times best-selling author David L. Robbins and Katharine Sands from the Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency return for a BookFest favorite: The Critiki Bar, which has the duo delivering page one manuscript critiques.

The BookFest streams online and is an always free-to-attend two-day event.

Join Chester and the The BookFest community! The website streams the online event, and it can be found on the Books That Make You YouTube Channel, too. You can also follow The BookFest on Instagram, Facebook Page and Facebook Group.

If you like winning books, you’re in luck: The Big Bundle of Books Giveaway is back. It is open to entries until Saturday evening of every BookFest. Winners are announced at the conclusion of the Live Author Chats. 

Become a BookFester by signing up for email alerts. You'll also get the Virtual Gift Bag, which is sent at the end of each BookFest. Packed with free downloads and special offers, it is something all booklovers gotta have.

Books That Make You is a proud presenting sponsor of The BookFest. The BookFest is produced by Black Château Enterprises.

The BookFest Fall 2022 is presented by The Horror Writers Association and by Bookstagrammers, a platform dedicated to book influencers, plus many other supporters. Visit the Virtual Booths and support the companies and organizations that support The BookFest. 

For signup and info for Chester's conversation as well as the entire weekend, check the buttons below.

Welcome back to Adventures with Chester L. Richards on our new YouTube Channel @ChesterLRichards.

Do come with us this time as we go on a racing adventure: “Ford vs Ferrari.”  Learn fascinating facts about the genius behind the legendary Ford GT engine that defeated Ferrari in the 1966 Le Mans, as depicted in the widely acclaimed film starring Matt Damon and Christian Bale, "Ford v Ferrari." Nominated for Best Picture, the film lost to Parasite, but did capture two Oscars: Best Film Editing and Best Sound Editing.

#YouTube #FordVFerrari #LeMans #Adventures #BobPons #ChesterLRichards #RocketScience #Memoirs #Oscars

Richards explains why the most critical step in your success lies in your willingness to go on adventures

Immediate Release
 
Los Angeles, California--From The Potato to Star Trek and Beyond: Memoirs of a Rocket Scientist is releasing June 21, 2022. Author and Star Trek contributor Chester L. Richards tells his life’s adventures as a rocket scientist, screenwriter, musician and world traveler in this action-packed memoir. Drawing inspiration from his late wife Sarah, Chester is baring all in his debut book release.

A man of grand adventures, Chester relates why taking the plunge into voluntary adventures is so enriching — they’ll change you forever, and sculpt your life’s story.

From The Potato To Star Trek and Beyond reveals his passion, his most exciting journeys and brushes with death. Chester believes one must view all that comes your way – the good, the terrifying, and the ugly – as a series of adventures. He shares an almost fatal encounter with a potato (yes, a potato), his experience as co-writer of one of the most iconic episodes of the original Star Trek, several wild African adventures, and more.
 
Says Steve Pastis (author, and writer/editor of The Good Life publication for seniors):
“I would highly recommend From the Potato to Star Trek and Beyond. The book is informative, even educational, but author Chester Richards maintains a friendly, conversational tone throughout. The stories were a definite surprise. Who knew that this mild-mannered, soft-spoken gentleman I’ve known for years had so many harrowing adventures, and was so accomplished in the scientific community? If there is a lesson to be learned from these pages, it’s that everyone should get to know the people in their lives on a deep level, especially the mild-mannered, soft-spoken ones.” 
 
From The Potato to Star Trek and Beyond: Memoirs of a Rocket Scientist by Chester L. Richards is available for pre-order on Amazon
 
Publisher: Pawpress
ISBN: 978-1880882306
Pages: 334
Available in Paperback, Hardcopy and Ebook
 
About the Author 
 
Chester L. Richards, a retired aerospace engineer and inventor with 19 patents, recently turned 80. With a number of odd close encounters with the grim reaper under his belt, he has always boldly gone where few have dared.
 
Chester’s mantra — view all that comes your way, the good, the terrifying and the ugly, as a series of adventures —took shape early. After narrowly escaping mortal injury from The Great Potato as a lad, a few years later, in college, Chester and friend Judy Burns co-authored a spec script for Star Trek on a lark. The story they were brought in to write, “The Tholian Web,” became one of the original series’ most popular episodes.
 
A veteran writer advised the young man, “You should write. Write your passions.” But I have nothing to say, Chester thought. That was the moment he decided the real message was to fill his life with adventures. And he did — adventures in surfing, learning and performing music, traveling to exotic places for river rafting, and his work as a rocket scientist. But it was the loss of Sarah, the love of his life, that caused Chester to write his first book of stories. At the house in Thousand Oaks they once shared, the hair-raising adventures Sarah loved continue to occur, though, as the author says, he no longer has much hair.

To book Mr. Richards for interviews or to speak, please contact Desiree Duffy at Black Chateau Enterprises.

Excerpt from my story, "Land of Troubles," in From The Potato to Star Trek and Beyond

September 1976, Heathrow Airport, London: A pair of five fingered spiders skittered lightly up and down my body, quickly probing every crevice, searching for contraband. Briefly, delicately, the fingers traced the outline of the Swiss Army Knife nestled in my pocket. This guy was a pro, quite unlike the clumsy TSA searchers of today. He knew about the knife, but I didn't fit the profile. I passed inspection and proceeded through the boarding gate. I was on my way to Ethiopia and an expedition down the wild and still unexplored Omo River.

My friend had warned me. Don't do this. It's far more dangerous than you can possibly imagine. I didn't listen. He was right.

The flight from London to Addis Abba was long delayed. At last it was time for my bags to be examined. Every single item was removed, unraveled and looked at closely, then remarkably, precisely repacked. I went through the body inspection and was allowed to board.

The passenger cabin of the airliner was near empty on the long flight. All but one of the few passengers were fellow members of our expedition. The outsider proved to be the president of Ethiopian Airlines. During a friendly conversation he mentioned the long delay resulted from a warning — a bomb had been placed aboard.

We refueled in Rome and headed out over the Mediterranean. After a long and restless night, dawn found me gazing down at Khartoum spread along the pointed tongue between the merging streams of the Blue and White Nile. We flew on.

The next day I opened my journal and began to write. What follows is based on those journal entries.
 
The plane began its sag towards the high plateau of the central Ethiopian massif. It was clear from the outset Addis Ababa was a different city from most I had seen. On flights into many cities around the U.S. and, on this trip, into London and Rome, I had observed each is certainly different in its own way. But they are all variations on a pattern — a western pattern. Addis was a completely unfamiliar world. On the approach to the metropolis, small farms, scattered about the landscape, broke up the countryside into unlikely patches. The farm buildings themselves were small and densely clustered, making compounds which were surprisingly large. Each farm center appeared to be a small village. But these villages were not laid out along streets and blocks. The pattern of the cluster was rectangular but the buildings were irregularly spaced.

There was no edge to the city proper. Farms became smaller and closer together as we approached the airport until they fused together. Fields diminished in size, gradually becoming backyards.
Occasionally a large structure would appear — almost invariably in these outskirts this would emerge as the gleaming golden dome of a church whose architecture was a legacy from the Age of Justinian.

Eventually we were on the final approach to the mile high capital city. And finally, we were down.

The long walk across the runway apron from the plane to the small terminal building gave plenty of time to soak in the atmosphere. The air of the high mountain plateau was crisp and a gentle breeze carried aromas of a subtle alien quality. The land was verdant with the growth of the rainy season. The margins of the runway held back charging legions of golden blossomed bushes. I was reminded of California Mustard in the spring. But spring and California were two seasons and half a world away. Here it was Meskel, the holy day of the true cross, in the season of the yellow flowers, and of rain.

Things became unpleasant in the terminal. The few of us who were from the plane jammed into a line that had piled up long before. One of my companions for this expedition, Kathy, was plucked from the milling confusion by a matron and hustled into a tiny cubical to be strip searched. She was seething on her return. My problems came later.

I collected my baggage from the cart and hauled it over to the custom inspector's table. The official, in a slightly disheveled uniform, poked around in the innards of my pack and suitcase without much enthusiasm. Turning his attention to the tightly sealed carton I had carried from California, he asked me to open it for inspection in fractured English. No way! That box had factory packed tents. Once opened it would be impossible to put everything back together. The inspector got stubborn. I changed my tack. Okay, I would let the inspector open the box, but he was going to have to repack it. I assured him this was going to take several hours. The message got across, and rather glumly the bureaucrat passed me through, box undisturbed.

I discovered how narrowly I’d escaped real trouble later. The new "Socialist" government had, a few days before, ordered all the currency of the country be turned in and replaced with a new issue. Of course the new money would be worth less than the old, with higher denominations redeemed at a lower rate of exchange. Soak the rich, as usual. Since the new government had declared it, ex post facto, to be illegal to take money out of the country they were searching travelers for money being smuggled back in. This was the critical day because the deadline for turning in the old currency was on the morrow. No wonder a sealed carton of the right size attracted so much attention.

Outside the terminal the straggling survivors of the customs inquisition were gradually collected by a tall, bronzed, boatman type. He introduced himself as John Yost and said he would be one of the guides on the trip. The trip leader, Jim Slade, was on his way from the city and would pick us up in a few minutes. Sure enough, Slade cruised in, driving a battered old car and leading a squadron of colorful taxi cabs. We sorted ourselves out and I found myself seated next to Slade for the drive to the city.

We approached Addis Ababa — the Little Flower — along a broad boulevard. Scattered at random along its margins were buildings of an amazing variety of architectural styles. Italian Baroque dominated — the legacy of Italy's long, sometimes unfriendly, association with the country. Otherwise there was no obvious organizing principle. The pavilions were plunked down wherever a patron's fancy chose. Orientations of the various structures were also random. One was as likely to see a back porch as a front door. Many of the structures were large and elegant. Jim said much of the Capital's diplomatic community was housed along this highway.

Presently we passed a low cluster of solid but unkempt structures. To one side was a tall flag pole. As we drew abreast a gust of wind ruffled the limp rag at the top and it briefly snapped to attention. Its insignia was a dark gray ball on tattered gray background. The frayed edges of the cloth were like decorative ribbons, signifying ages of dutiful service. It was the embassy of Japan, literally at the end of the world for the poor, devoted folk within.

A few miles further and the scattered structures thickened into city. Traffic picked up. It was time for the game.

Photo of Awash Falls by Chester L. Richards. Photo and story excerpt copyright @ 2022 Chester L. Richards. Full story, including scene of gun pointed at Chet's belly in From The Potato to Star Trek and Beyond: Memoirs of a Rocket Scientist