What's going on...?!?!

There are plenty of things going on in my life right now,  a new full-time role, a recent trip to Guam and Micronesia, but the most important thing remains the upcoming release of The Technology of Dreaming.  I've had to push the release back to May 2013, due to editing and other concerns with concurrent projects, but it promises to be a significant departure from Primae Noctis for most readers. 

More details to come over the next few weeks!

Dreaming of Aboriginal characters and a future Australia

Whenever I find myself deep in the development and completion of a project, I tend to let go of secondary concerns to have single minded focus on my top-level goal.  This has been the case with my blog, as I have been completely engaged with finishing up The Technology of Dreaming over the past few weeks.  Completing this work has been particularly difficult, as the plot and subject matter center on Aboriginal Australians in a mid-21st century Australian Republic. 

My primary concern has been to develop and present a fictitious group of Indigenous people with traditions that pay homage to the many individual cultures across Aboriginal lands without causing offense.  Inference to or mention of the specific knowledge of a real group of people could be deemed offensive by some, and would go against the spirit of what I have tried to create.   Thus, the names and locations of the lands of the tribe at the core of the story are purely fictitious.  Although the Ceremony and Laws of a fictitious group of people are presented in the story, what is presented is an amalgam constructed from research across a wider group of cultures in Australia and neighboring states.  I attempt to portray these subjects with sensitivity, but with purpose.

Ceremony and custom are of paramount importance to Aboriginal identity, as is their special relationship with their lands.  These are some of things I most admire about their cultures, in addition to their resilience and willingness to share their stories with others.  As they are the protagonists in my work, I wanted to showcase these values to a wider, global audience who might not be aware of them.   Finally, it would be an understatement to say that Australia's historical relationship with Aboriginal Australians has been difficult; there are yet many serious and real issues that remain unresolved to anyone's satisfaction.  This real conflict in identities and crossed purposes is at the core of the plot.

The Technology of Dreaming contains a detailed account of the future Australia itself, with particular reference to how it arrived to its predicament in relation to the politics of today.  This is also a tricky subject to deal with, as an effective cautionary tale must be both earnest and frightful at the same time.   Having a good depth of knowledge of the true history of a place can help to develop a thematic bridge to a realistic, but bittersweet future.  Economic prosperity and illegal immigration are real themes that lend credence to this story's thesis, but also set the stage for some of other stories in future volumes of Altstralia: A Speculative Republic.

The Technology of Dreaming will be available on Amazon.com in April.

News on Primae Noctis, Tempus Belli, and The Technology of Dreaming

Primae Noctis continues to receive some pretty good reviews and sell progressively more copies, especially after the decision to discount the eBook for a limited time.  Review copies of Primae Noctis continue to be on offer to reviewers with a literary blog or other sci-fi genre related stop on the web.  It takes a while for word to get around about an independent genre author, so I need to continue to remain patient and carry on with new projects.

Groundwork continues on the next novel in The Once and Future Lords Trilogy, titled Tempus Belli.  Although a continuation of the storyline, the novel will have a substantially different tone and pace due to the events within the greater continuity of the Trilogy.  At present, the novel remains largely in outline / waypoint form.  I find myself wanting Primae Noctis to gain greater readership before I commit myself to the extended campaign of fleshing out the draft, due to the significant time investment involved.  Also, there's the need to see bills paid while concurrently pursuing my emerging vocation.  I expect that Tempus Belli will continue to see release in 2014.

I have dedicated my present writing and editing hours to a mostly-completed novella, unrelated to the world of the Trilogy, with the working title of The Technology of Dreaming.  I feel passionately about the subject matter and themes in the story, and have desired to see it published it for a while. 

The Technology of Dreaming examines the intersection of politics, technology, and traditional culture in a mid-21st century Australia.  This work was originally envisaged to be part of a larger collection of speculative fiction short stories set in Oz.  I have chosen to set aside the other stories from the collection for now to be able to get my favorite to readers on an accelerated schedule. Now seems to be the right time to move forward to get it out, with the eBook available on Amazon by the end of March / early April 2013.

Thanks again to all of the people who have kindly supported my writing so far, and I hope to bring you another update with progress soon!

Discounting and awakening the Amazon giant

This week, I’ve temporarily reduced the price of Primae Noctis for a limited time to $2.99 US across all vendors.  I’ve received a few questions from fans and friends regarding the decision.  Here’s why:

This weekend is my “Big Reach” weekend.  I’m reaching out to all of my friends, colleagues, and fans who have indicated interest in the novel over the past few months and encouraging them to purchase a discounted copy of the novel on Amazon.com.  It is a matter of getting the giant to take notice of a mote of a pebble beneath its foot.

The most important thing right now is to spread word about the novel.  Without word of mouth, especially amongst genre readers, the novel is virtually invisible.  This is especially true for Amazon, as the vendor’s sales algorithms not only rate how frequently a book sells but also considers how many reviews and ratings every book receives in relation to sales.

If enough people buy discounted eBook copies on Amazon, the vendor will finally begin to recommend the book to readers that are browsing the science fiction section and the book will have a chance to sell itself.

The reviews are an ongoing part of the novel’s success as well, as they give insight into the quality of the work for potential readers.  So if you’ve read it, please consider submitting a review or at least rating the novel on Goodreads and Amazon.

Thank you for your continued support, and here's the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Primae-Noctis-Future-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00A67A93A

Calling #indie #scifi fans and backers: lend your support to Primae Noctis!

The battle to get Primae Noctis in front of a larger audience is continuing.

A number of early reviewers have gotten hold of the novel, and the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive.  The greatest challenge right now is to get larger distributors, such as Amazon, to provide much needed free promotion and recommend the novel to readers.  The finished novel is more than 650 pages in print, and has been fully edited and published using Amazon's print-on-demand, CreateSpace platform.

This is where I still need your help.  If you are able and willing, it would be immensely helpful if you would visit Amazon and purchase a copy of Primae Noctis for $5.99 USD.  Every sale of the novel helps to get the novel attention within Amazon's search and recommendation engines, as well as gets Primae Noctis to a more desirable place on the sci-fi charts to get more reviews and sales.

Here is the link:  http://www.amazon.com/Primae-Noctis-Future-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00A67A93A

Again, thank you for your support up to this point, and thank you for continuing to support this effort to bring my creative vision of the future to life.

Remembering 2012: An End to Conversation and the Rise of Personal Absolutism

As another year becomes memory, most of us look back and conduct personal assessments of what could have been.  I find myself looking forward with doubt and trepidation at 2013, in consideration of a greater pattern of social norms that seem to have taken hold of us this past year.  I believe that 2012 was the year when we stopped having as many conversations with each other, and started to withdraw to the safety of the perfection of our own ideas.  2012 saw many of us become absolutists.

The greatest problem we face as a species is a lack of care and understanding for the opinions of others: a mode of sociopathic self-interest that has presented itself in our entertainment, politics, interpersonal relations, and media.  Many of us seem to feel that we are further apart from the people that we disagree with than ever before.  We are addicted to critique without reason; we make judgements without facts.  It is as if everything has a bloody “Like” button and we shoot anything that we dislike with our unlicensed, verbal automatic weapons.

For those of us who have forgotten, friendly disagreement and negotiation of position used to be the way progress happened in previous centuries.  Even in politics, when an election was over there was a respect that came with a result that allowed for parties to compromise and agree upon imperfect solutions.  Perfection exists only in our minds, but too many of us fail to realise the difference between the real and the ideal.

People have become increasingly entrenched and polarised within indefensible positions of the personal and absolute perfection of their own ideas.  It is as if we receive programming to believe that there is only one outcome or possibility for any given scenario.  We don’t care to find out facts for ourselves, and often our supposedly perfect positions are not our own.  Why find out about the underlying factors behind someone else’s views when we can refer to a handy infographic or bar chart from an increasingly biased source?  We allow talking heads to do our thinking and speaking for us…

We now lose friends over our choice of political parties.  We now lose lovers over our taste in music and movies.  We now lose sleep over a multitude of simple choices that people used to recognise as trivial or unimportant.  Every nuanced difference between anything that can be compared becomes a cliff, impasse, divide, or gap.  Everything is presented as a zero-sum game where someone will lose, and losses will be unfathomably great and permanent.  Choose or lose!  Believe or leave!  Win or die!

Maybe we should all agree that it is time for all of us to stop losing, and to recoup the stupid losses that we gave up last year.  Not every division that we can perceive is provably grave, nor is every decision that we take going to result in the end of an age.  Let’s back down from the cliff, step away from the divide, and take the overpass across the impasse.

It would be nice to have a blog headline at the end of 2013 that read: “2013: A Year of Well-Reasoned Thought and Genuine Negotiation”.

I realise that it might be a bit unlikely.   I would be willing to negotiate my personal desires down to: “2013: A Year of Frank and Honest Conversation”.

My own apocalypse is finally here: the paperback edition of Primae Noctis

I am very excited to report that my paperbacks have finally arrived on the slow boat from the States, and wouldn't you know it, just in time for the unpocalypse!

Here are some fun, celebratory photos taken in Sydney's Royal Botanical Gardens:

I am very pleased with the typesetting and the quality of the finished product, and it makes the ordeal of getting it out there entirely worth it. 

The paperback of Primae Noctis is available HERE.

Now available everywhere!* The Primae Noctis distribution roundup.

After many weeks of hard work, my new sci-fi novel is finally available in all major, global channels of English-language eBook distribution, and hopefully, will soon begin to make its way into the hands of even more e-readers.  Currently, the novel is available via the following distribution points:

• Amazon / Kindle Store
• Apple iStore (via iTunes / iBooks apps)
• Sony eBookstore
• Barnes & Noble Online Store
• Kobo
• Diesel
• Page Foundry
• Smashwords

Having worked tirelessly to get the distribution channels right, I need to reinvigorate my effort and focus on getting reviews and  more people to read the novel. 

Of course, the print version of the novel is already available via Amazon / CreateSpace.

*(it seems like everywhere)

Effort, exhaustion, and expectations

So I’ve finally completed and released Primae Noctis and the long period of waiting begins.  Everyone I know who has ever penned a novel has tried to prepare me for this step, and I’m coming to terms with their sage advice every day.  They tell me to keep a cool head, and in the end, eventually your efforts will reach some point of public acknowledgement: for better or for worse.  

Criticism and reviews don’t frighten me.  It doesn’t bother me if people find things about it that they don’t like or if the novel simply does not appeal to them.  My greatest fear is that the book will remain undiscoverable in the constant and uninterrupted flows of media that makes its way to market.  

My greatest fear is that no one will ever know that the novel is out there.

Aside from sending scores of ‘Request for Review’ emails and regular postings on Twitter and Facebook about the novel, I feel as though there is little else I can do except wait and hope.  Primae Noctis is not a quick read, and I know that it could take more than a month for most people to get through the nearly 700 pages of dialogue and story.  Critical reviews and word-of-mouth are what I need more than anything else.  Not that a few more sales would hurt.

I hope that I have performed due diligence and done everything I could to ensure the quality of the finished eBook and paperback.  I hope that I have not been overly ambitious or hopeful in expecting adult readers to embrace a new, independent sci-fi author in a market that teems with the hormone-laden angst of Young Adult offerings.  At 40 years old, I hope I have not waited too long to try to launch a career as an author, and hope that my optimism is tempered enough to deal with potential rejection by the market.

Primae Noctis has been an all-encompassing dream that has taken every active, available measure of energy out of my life for the past two years.  It broke my bones, sucked the marrow dry, and discarded me with nary an afterthought.  I know that I need to keep strong and to persist in my efforts to market and spread the word about the novel, but strength is lacking and resolve has faded somewhat.  Not because I lack in hope, but because I am truly exhausted.

Of course the entire effort is equally exhausting for friends and family.  They have watched me go through the rollercoaster of upbeat and downswing throughout the entire process of writing.  Now that I’ve passed the finish line, many are wondering if I will stop running, or if the marathon that they’ve just witnessed is infinite.  They want to know if the race will ever end.  

I tell them “I don’t know”, and continue running.

So if you’re out there in cyberspace reading this weary blog, perhaps putting together your own novel or just having a look at what’s going on with one new author, I hope that you will choose to persist and to follow your own creative visions to their ultimate endpoints.  Exhaustion or not, I would still have produced Primae Noctis and spent my energies to get it to market, even if I had the option of revisiting the decisions along the way.  

It simply needed to happen, and it found a way into existence. 

Want to have a free preview of my novel Primae Noctis? 
Visit http://www.amazon.com/Primae-Noctis-Future-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00A67A93A

and select "Look inside the Book".

New look cover for Primae Noctis

Have a look at the final draft cover art for the novel.  I'm both pleased and relieved at settling on a semi-expository cover that tells a story without spoiling the plot. 

Comments?  Let me know what you think!

Update on Primae Noctis and the November release

Primae Noctis is a few short weeks away from its public debut in November, and I couldn’t be more thankful the hard yards and months of rewriting the novel have finally come to an end.   The mental exhaustion from the completion of a large novel or any creative endeavour is overwhelming, at least for a time.  I haven’t had the time or willpower to post many new blogs for a while, but I intend to get back into the saddle soon.

I am extremely nervous.  I have no idea how such a long and relatively complex novel will be received by the public, but I know some people will find it to be intriguing.  A final readers’ circle is currently underway over the next two weeks, before Primae Noctis is submitted for final editing and typesetting.  Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Primae Noctis will be available via Amazon.com and through Smashwords distribution, initially as an eBook, but will also be available in print by the end of 2012.  There’s much work left to be accomplished, and I will be swapping my creative hat for my marketing hat (the one I cringe at if I look in the mirror).  I apologise in advance if my normally, more socially-interested discourse takes a back seat for a while.

Initial pricing for the novel will be set between $5.99 and $7.99 USD, as Primae Noctis is more than double the length of an average, $2.99 to $3.99 release novel of 100K words or less.  I will soon make an announcement for bonafide reviewers to submit a request for a review copy via the website.

What’s the point of postmodern partisanship?

I remember many years ago in 1998, back when I was a political science student at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, James Carville came to campus to speak to us.  I eagerly waited until the question and answer segment of the program came up and I asked him what I thought would be an absolute bombshell of a question.  More or less, I asked him “what’s the point in having political parties if they continuously argue about non-substantive issues and don’t have clear values?”  Needless to say, the clever political strategist that Carville was hemmed and hawed about the stage with his Southern charm and the well-rehearsed sidebar, but didn’t really answer my question.  Silly me.

As the November elections in the United States loom closer, something that strikes me is the lack of genuine dialogue on the issues that matter from either the Democratic or Republican parties.  Sure, both parties are very competent at convincing potential voters that the other party is either wrong at best or insane at worst, but where is the vision for America that will propel the nation out of the doldrums and into the latter half of this century?  

As an expatriate American currently residing in Australia, I have the privilege of being able to compare and contrast what’s going on in the US with the similar state of party politics here.  Both the Labour and the Liberal parties seem to go around in circles with the same litany of issues as their American counterparts: illegal immigrants, small business owners, a diminishing middle class, a near-dominant China, and perpetual fear of economic slowdown.

You might immediately say, “Well that’s easy.  Social issues are the principal difference between the main parties.”  Are they?  If that were true, the allegedly left-leaning Labor party in Australia and the Democratic party in America would have already taken the federal lead on giving homosexual partners the equivalent of marriage, would have fought harder against xenophobic views toward immigrants, and sought to make vast improvements to the state of education and child care in both countries.  For the purposes of this intellectual exercise, imagine social issues as ‘window dressing’ so that we can get to the heart of the matter.  Patriotic rhetoric will not aid in this quest for truth, either.

I won’t be the first or the last person to tackle this question, but what do political parties really mean anymore, and moreover, what’s the point of political parties?  In both the United States and Australia, both pairs of major political parties take contributions from the same principal types of donors.  Politically astute corporations and wealthy individuals hedge their bets and back every ‘horse’ in the race.  Alas, individuals don’t have such a luxury as we get only one vote.  Studies generally show that we have a strong tendency to be heavily influenced on our choice of our political party by our parents and relatives, although a few of us switch as we change our level of income, education, and lot in life.  

What are the real differences between the Democrats and Republicans if they both take a similar tact in assertively supporting the extremely wealthy and big business over small business owners and workers?  As a big donor, you have the ear of your Representative, Senator, or even President.  If you give enough money or garner enough support, you earn a seat at the party’s table, an Ambassadorship, or a night in the Lincoln Bedroom at the White House.  

 As an ‘average Joe American’ donor, your political seat is in the nosebleed section, high above one of the goalposts at the stadium next to the urinal block, or at best, a YouTube video, flyer, or a cleverly constructed infographic emailed to you because of your demographic profile… along with a heartfelt request for your lesser money.  Possibly a t-shirt, but it probably won't be 'Made in the USA'.  Most of us will never be so politically connected to be invited to attend a fundraising dinner at a crusading Hollywood celeb’s house, at a digital baron’s social club, or at the private ranch of a party power broker.  

Australia’s not much different from the US in this regard, except that the Australian constitution is brilliant enough to have the foresight to make voting compulsory for all citizens over the age of 18.  That's right Americans, over here you must vote or expect to be fined.  Anyway, there are the same relative levels of prizes for the big donors, but nix that bit about the Lincoln Bedroom, unless rooms in Sydney's Kiribilli House are being pimped out without the Aussie public's knowledge.   

For those of you who weren’t aware, about two years ago, the current Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, superseded her predecessor Kevin Rudd, also of the Labor Party, in a backroom, internal party preference vote.  Many observers questioned the legitimacy of this strange, secret coup. Some might argue that the Australian parliamentary system allows for this eventuality, and that this was not somehow distasteful.  But when Australians were given the opportunity to go the polls the next time, they returned a parliamentary tie between the parties, also known as a “hung parliament”, that forced both major parties to court the votes of independents that represent a range of special interests and views that were inconsistent with their own.  In the end, Labor and Gillard came out on top, but the politics of the party have become increasingly centric and beholden to the interests of the independents ever since.  Some argue that the Labor party is being torn apart from the inside by conflicting interests, as well.

Centrism is the fundamental flaw with party politics today.  In both countries, the major parties serve their wealthier constituents and interests without question, because the need for campaign contributions and the support of the power elite overwhelms the parties’ need to satisfice the wider body of their constituents.  In the US, the Democrats used to be the party that steadfastly supported workers and labor unionism before many of its other interests.  In Australia, the Labor party ostensibly still has strong ties with the unions as well.  Why is it that in both countries, labor unions are continuously finding themselves reduced and resolved to increasingly smaller stature and effectiveness, despite the ongoing federal-level presence of two governments that should logically do everything that they can to support unions?

Not to ignore the right of the spectrum, Republicans in the US used to be the party of smaller and more efficient government, and wide spectrum support for entrepreneurship.  The Australian Liberal party has a similar, traditional core agenda.  But how does creating private sector, pseudo-government services through outsourcing constitute smaller or more efficient government?  If it sounds like a shell game, that's because it is: except that elite interests win all the nutty contracts.

Both conservative parties are facing increasingly hostile ultra-conservatism that holds them hostage to radical viewpoints that dilute their principal agendas.  More than a decade ago in Australia, the Liberal party had to form a coalition with the National party, of principally rural interests, for their lengthy last go at rule under former PM John Howard.  American Republicans are now similarly being forced to stomach the reactionary tastes of the Tea Party caucus, even though many strongly disagree with their views.  And everyone knows that red-blooded Americans prefer coffee.

For most people, we proudly support our choice of political party until the choice becomes too confusing and murky.  This is why some Americans don't bother to vote, and Australians take the "donkey vote" or join the Australian Sex Party (not kidding).  I cringe whenever any of my friends begins to talk about the next election in the US.  To them it is fairly obvious who I will vote for, but it pains me to do so because I am not substantively satisfied with the answers proposed by either of our parties.  What point is there in having political parties in our postmodern world, when in terms of real vision and ingenuity, they are less substantively different than brands of soda pop?  If parties have no vision, then there is no point.  More so if they serve the same elite interests.

Political parties, especially in countries with two dominant, centric parties, need to be especially wary of not losing sight of having a clear message or real values.  Because in the histories of both American and Australian politics, a major party can find themselves increasingly less relevant and replaced by a party with new vision before they even realize it.  Have you ever heard of the Whigs?  Probably not.  But you might have heard of the Reform Party or the Greens...