Filed under: Pandemic, Predictions, Science Fiction, Society, tech, Writing stuff
Unsurprisingly, I have been thinking a lot about St. Cybi’s Well, the prequel to Communion of Dreams I have had simmering for some years. I say ‘unsurprisingly’ because more than a few folks have been asking what the next book will be and when it will be available. Some quotes from the Amazon reviews to illustrate this point:
“I’m looking forward to his next book.”
“The worst thing about buying this book is now I’m waiting for a sequel!”
“I hope Downey will return to this alternate future history and tell us more about the deeds and dreams of the people who live there.”
* * * * * * *
He got down to the main street, turned left and continued. On his side of the street were some small office buildings, then the large city park he’d noticed on the drive in. Then he came to the long, tall wall. Pausing for a moment, he pulled the uniPod out of his satchel, removed the wireless earpiece and pushed it into his left ear. Then he fiddled with the uni, tapping a series of commands on the screen, until the machine found the local hotspot and downloaded the audio tour.
“The park wall, just in front of you, was part of the effort of the 3rd Marquess of Bute, John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, to rehabilitate the old castle grounds in the late 19th century. As you move along the wall, you will see it is adorned with totems of various animals in a realistic depiction, climbing over the wall as though to escape. This was The Lord Bute’s response to being denied the creation of a zoo in this park by the city fathers at the time. As you move along the wall you’ll soon see the looming Clock Tower, a favorite of the Lord Bute. Working with his architect, the renown yet whimsical William Burges, the two men sought to bring to life a bit of what they thought the middle ages should have been.
“This is the casual tour guide. More detailed descriptions and an in-depth discussion of any and all topics related to this site are available. Just select the level of information you require.”
That’s an excerpt from Chapter 1 of St. Cybi’s Well. The book is set in 2012, the protagonist is Darnell Sidwell (the “he” in the above excerpt), and concerns the onset of the fire-flu. Obviously, all of this is part of the ‘backstory’ for Communion of Dreams.
Seems pretty straight-forward, right? Tech feels good for the present day. Why did I choose the term “uniPod” though? Just to get around Apple’s trademark or something?
Nope. It’s because I wrote that on November 29, 2005. I know that because of the “date modified” info in the WordPerfect file.
The iPad was introduced in April, 2010.
* * * * * * *
A friend posted this comment to his Facebook wall yesterday:
I’ve been thinking about So-and-so’s post and subsequent thread the other day regarding the inarguable expansion of militias. Living here in Paradise Lost, it’s sometimes easy to lose sense of the prevailing winds of sentiment sweeping across the American landscape elsewhere. But it’s apparent that there are a lot of pissed-off people on both sides of the ideological fence and that each faction is seemingly preparing itself for more – and ever escalating – confrontations. And so I have to ask: Do you think we’re heading for a civil war? (And yes, I am being serious)
I sent him a link to this blog post from two years ago: Playing with fire.
And from page one of Communion of Dreams:
The Commons had been borne of the fire-flu, with so few people left out in the great northern plains after it was finally all over that it was a relatively simple matter to just turn things back over to nature. Effectively, that happened a few short years after the flu swept around the globe. According to law, it was codified almost a decade later in the late Twenties, after the Restoration was complete and the country was once again whole — expanded, actually, to include what had been Canada, minus independent Quebec. Hard to believe that was more than twenty years ago.
* * * * * * *
This is from the end of Chapter 9 in Communion of Dreams:
Jon thought he should clarify. “Jackie’s got the gist of it, but let me try and explain a little more completely. Sometime during the chaos of the post-flu, there were two marginal groups that got together. One was the heir of something called The Order, a reactionary offshoot of the old Aryan Nation.”
“Ah, neo-Nazis. Yes, I know them.”
“Thought so. The other group was a splinter of the radical environmental organization Earthfirst!, sort of like the far-left fringe of the Greens. They managed to create a hybrid belief system: that true adherence to God’s natural law would bring man back to a state of grace, suitable to be readmitted to the Garden of Eden. To promote this belief, they want to see a complete restoration of the Earth’s biosphere to a natural state, with humans having almost no environmental impact.”
Via a MetaFilter thread I came across this morning, a link to this movie: END:CIV
In a quote promoting the film on that website:
“In END:CIV, Franklin López does a refreshingly thorough and well packaged job of laying out the inherently self-destructive nature of westernized civilization and the ineptitude of peaceful reform. Using Derrick Jensen’s Endgame as a lose framework, López not only identifies root causes of systemic oppression and exploitation, but also exposes the deceptive nature of reformism and green-washing, instead spotlighting examples of indigenous resistance and the Earth Liberation Front. By the end of the film, passionate viewers will no longer just be questioning not whether western civilization is justified, but what they themselves can do to help bring it down.”
-Leslie James Pickering
Former spokesman for the Earth Liberation Front
* * * * * * *
I write about this not to tout my prophetic abilities. No, just to illustrate that for anyone who is paying close attention to both technological and sociological trends, certain things seem to be pretty obvious. As I told the Tribune:
“I’ve tried to anchor the world of 2052 firmly in what our world today is really like, but extending trends we have seen operate in the last 40 years,” he said. “Toss in a few wildcard events, some unexpected discoveries, and then cross your fingers.
“And to a certain extent, this is why I don’t really think of ‘Communion of Dreams’ as a typical ‘science fiction’ book — it is solidly grounded in known science and built from the reality around us,” he added. “The people in it are all real people, not unlike folks you know or would find in any mainstream novel. In this sense, it is just another work of fiction, though one which is a bit more speculative.”
Oh, and to say that pretty much everything I had written six or seven years ago as background material for St. Cybi’s Well has to be thrown out. The fictional world I came up with for 2012 has, largely, come into being. Or seems to be pretty damned close to happening just as I foresaw. Granted, there hasn’t been a theocratic regime come to power in the US – but can you honestly look at the current Republican rhetoric and not say that we’re close to that?
Gods, I just hope I’m not right about the onset of the pandemic flu . . .
Jim Downey
Filed under: Astronomy, Babylon 5, Bad Astronomy, Carl Sagan, J. Michael Straczynski, JMS, Phil Plait, Science, Space, Writing stuff, YouTube
Via Phil Plait, this completely wonderful clip from Carl Sagan’s intellectual heir:
It *is* an excellent answer, and one I have discussed previously. Tyson does an excellent job with it, and had I been writing Communion of Dreams now, I certainly would be happy to reference him.
Perhaps for the next book . . .
Jim Downey
*Wherein I display not only my geek cred, but also my intellectual rigor. Ain’t you impressed?
Filed under: Alzheimer's, Amazon, Diane Rehm, Feedback, Kindle, Marketing, Press, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, Society, Writing stuff
Marketing a self-published book is the single biggest hurdle any author faces. Well, perhaps other than all the other hurdles such as writing the book in the first place, competently editing it, getting it put into an attractive format with a nice cover, …
Anyway, marketing is a huge problem. That’s why I did the KDP Select program, with the ability to offer special promotions. It’s why I blog & tweet and generally blow my own horn. It’s why I bug my friends and fans and ask that they help to spread the word. It’s why I leverage any connections I might have into any press outlets. It’s marketing. And you’re never sure what works or what doesn’t.
And I thought I would share one more item I’m trying: direct communication with the Diane Rehm Show. Here’s the text from a letter I am sending them with copies of Communion of Dreams and Her Final Year:
Diane Rehm Show
WAMU 88.5 American University Radio
4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20016-8082Greetings,
I’ve long been a listener of the Diane Rehm show, and know that Ms. Rehm is a fan of intelligent, thoughtful science/speculative fiction. My recently published novel is generally considered to fall into that genre, and has been generating considerable interest. I am enclosing an article from this past weekend’s local newspaper supporting this claim, and a check of the reviews on Amazon will do likewise.
I am also enclosing a memoir published last year, which deals with another issue I know Ms. Rehm has covered and seems to care about: care-giving for a loved one. In this case it was Alzheimer’s, and the memoir is a joint effort of myself and another man, along with our spouses. We were each care providers for our respective mothers-in-law, a relatively unusual role in our society, but one which is going to become increasingly common (and necessary) in the coming years. The book is based on each of our writings as we went through the multi-year experience, and includes blog posts and email communications.
I understand that Ms. Rehm, and likely the entire staff there, are probably overwhelmed with story suggestions and books to be considered. But I hope that you will find time to take a look at either or both of these books. The matter of care-giving for someone with dementia is extremely important to me, and I would like to see more people aware of the role that men play concerning this. And the novel which I wrote during my time as a care provider tells another story, one of how unexpected discoveries sometimes show us what really matters. I think it is easy to see how these two things may be connected.
Thank you for your time,
James Downey
Will it do *any* good? No idea. Maybe. If you would like to help get them to consider it, post a note on their Facebook page. Send ’em a tweet. Drop them an email through the ‘contact us’ form on their site. It might help.
It might not.
That’s marketing, at least as a small, self-published author.
If you have any other ideas or suggestions, or know other outlets/individuals which might be open to providing coverage, let me know.
Thanks.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Alzheimer's, Amazon, Art, Feedback, Kindle, Marketing, Press, Promotion, Publishing, Religion, Science Fiction, tech, Writing stuff
Anticipation no more: the day is here, the article posted. Here’s how it starts:
The future, it has been said, is unwritten.
But this really isn’t so, at least to the degree that gifted local writer Jim Downey has penned a vision of what’s to come in his recent science-fiction novel, “Communion of Dreams.”
Downey once occupied space in these very pages as a Tribune arts columnist. His versatile, incisive writing style has been applied to topics that range from handguns to the humanity seen through the creases of Alzheimer’s disease — in September, features writer Jill Renae Hicks detailed the story of “Her Final Year,” a caregiving memoir Downey co-authored with John Bourke. By approaching the fictional worlds of “Communion” with his well-rounded cadre of concerns, Downey was able to draw out themes related to psychology, religion and spirituality, reminding us that no matter how technologically advanced we might become, our future will be a human one.
There’s more, and all of it very positive (to my eyes, at least.) Take a look, share it, comment on it if you’re a subscriber to the Tribune.
But more importantly, take advantage of today’s Free Kindle Edition promotion, and go download the book. Please. Please please please.
You help me out by doing so, both by pushing up the book’s ranking, and by just reading the thing. Because most people really like it, once they get into it. And if you like it, you’ll probably tell your friends. Or maybe “rate” or “like” the book on Amazon or on Facebook. Or maybe even take the time to write a review (there’s a new review just been posted overnight!). All of these things help me, and I very much appreciate it – why I’m willing to offer the book for free.
So, thanks again! Go forth and download!
Jim Downey
Filed under: Marketing, Press, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, Writing stuff
Time to close out the question/answer series. Been an interesting experiment, but I’m unsure whether I’ll repeat it in the future, presuming that this won’t be the last time someone wants to ‘interview’ me this way.
Anyway, here’s the last one:
>6. What other projects do you have on deck? Do you intend to do something similar for your next book project or would you prefer to do something wholly different?
A number of people who have read CoD have asked this, and I consider that a good sign. For a couple of years now I’ve been thinking about a prequel, to explore a critical moment in the ‘backstory’ of the current novel. And of course, a lot of people are wondering what happens after the closing revelations of Communion of Dreams, and that’s fun to think about. Partly which direction I go will depend on what the response is to this book – of course, I’d love for it to be a huge success, and for folks to be demanding that I revisit that ‘universe’. If not, I’ll see where inspiration leads me. I certainly have no plans to stop writing.
Perhaps more later today.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Kindle, Marketing, Press, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, Writing stuff
And in the penultimate entry of the interview Q/A series:
5. Give me a sense of both the pitfalls and encouraging moments encountered in process of publishing this book – there was a bit of a false start previously, right? You embraced several means of delivery – traditional ones but also free PDF downloads and subsequent Kindle editions. What benefits have you seen from using multiple platforms and how do you feel such an approach fits with the current state of publishing and the written word?
Twice this book was almost published in the conventional sense. The first time it made it through the submissions process for a large publishing house, to the imprint which handled some offbeat science fiction. At the very end of that process the executive editor told me she liked the book, but that they had decided to “go a different direction” in the coming year. I found out later that that meant the imprint had been shut down as part of the conglomeration which owned the publishing house consolidating the whole business in reaction to market conditions. The second time a small start-up “geek fiction” press wanted to publish the book, and just as we were wrapping up contract negotiations the publisher stopped communicating with me. Well, they went under – and the book before mine was the last one they published. In both those cases, I was elated to think that Communion of Dreams was going to be in print, and went through the whole process of preparing the manuscript and getting it ready, making changes requested by the publisher – only to have it fall through at the last moment through no fault of mine. That was hugely disappointing.
After the second instance, I just couldn’t face going through the whole process again of trying to get a conventional publisher. It’s a slog, with little or no predictability and huge delays. But we’d been through the experience of getting Her Final Year self-published, and I knew what was involved with that. I decided that since I had a manuscript ready which had been prepped for publication, that I might as well just publish it myself. I could not do any worse than the two previous near-publication experiences had been.
The free PDF downloads were a way to build a base of readers, and there were in total some 35,000 downloads of that version. Whether or not that would help or hurt sales of the Kindle edition (or the paperback one) is pure speculation. I guess we’ll see.
I don’t have a lot to add to that, but do want to note that the local paper is tentatively planning on running some kind of story related to this series of questions on March 11. It might just be a mention, or part of a larger piece, or possibly even a review or feature – we’ll just have to wait and see. When it runs, I will be offering another “promotional day” when people can download the Kindle version of Communion of Dreams for free – so keep your eyes open!
Jim Downey
Filed under: Firefly, Joss Whedon, movies, Press, Promotion, Science Fiction, Writing stuff
The title seemed an appropriate reference for how science fiction can have an impact on culture, if only a minor/temporary linguistic one. Which is the topic of today’s entry in the ongoing series of interview questions:
4. In 2012, we can easily look back at previous science fiction works and poke fun at how we’ve yet to receive our flying car or develop certain technologies we were “promised.” When crafting a world that hasn’t come into being, and may never, how have you viewed the balance between letting your imagination run wild and still trying to create a future that rings true in some form or fashion?
Yeah, that’s one of the big dangers in writing about what the world will be like in just 40 years. I mean, I’m 53 – I *remember* what the world was like in 1972. So I tried to turn that around, and think back to how small changes and unexpected events have shaped the world in the last 40 years, and then tried to use those insights in looking forward. I’ve tried to anchor the world of 2052 firmly in what our world today is really like, but extending trends we have seen operate in the last 40 years. Toss in a few wildcard events, some unexpected discoveries, and then cross your fingers.
And to a certain extent, this is why I don’t really think of Communion of Dreams as a typical ‘science fiction’ book – it is solidly grounded in known science and built from the reality around us. The people in it are all real people, not unlike folks you know or would find in any mainstream novel. In this sense, it is just another work of fiction, though one which is a bit more speculative.
That said, while we can all grumble about not having jet-packs or flying cars, a lot of science fiction did help inspire and influence technological development. Arthur C. Clarke is arguably the first person to have suggested geostationary satellite communications. Our tablet computers and smartphones can be traced back to countless “electronic readers” and “communicators” described in science fiction back as far as the 1930s. And just a year ago the X-Prize Foundation announced a $10 million competition to build a Star Trek ‘tricorder’. I can’t say that there’s anything in Communion of Dreams which will have that kind of impact, but who knows?
Part of my ambivalence there at the end is just due to the unpredictability of these things, and how they can pop up long after you think whatever impact has long-since faded. I mean, look at the appeal of the Air Mags. Who would have predicted that those sneakers from a movie made in the 80s would suddenly be popular again? And with Hollywood seeming to be stuck in an endless cycle of remakes of classic science fiction movies/shows, it is entirely possible that I will live to see Joss Whedon (or someone else) get another crack at the Firefly universe, perhaps reviving interest in some small bit of his future tech/lingo. Stranger things have happened.
Jim Downey
*From here, of course.
Filed under: Amazon, Feedback, Press, Promotion, Religion, Science, Science Fiction, Society, Space, Writing stuff
As part of the ongoing series, here is today’s entry. The referenced review by ‘writercop’ is new, and if you’d take a moment to go rate it on Amazon, I’d appreciate it very much.
3. In writing about the book, you’ve discussed ways in which you’ve approached psychological, spiritual and religious issues within the narrative. You said you hope “Communion of Dreams” appeals to a wide variety of readers. If someone doesn’t see themselves as “the science-fiction type,” what do you feel like the book still has to offer them? How can a story divorced from our present world sometimes illumine current tensions or concerns better than something set in modern times?
Well, that’s what all fiction does, isn’t it? Through a story we get to see with the eyes of others, live their lives, maybe even learn things we may not otherwise know. That’s true whether the stories are from another culture or another time, whether it is historical fiction or Greek mythology. Science fiction does the same thing, though perhaps it gives us a little more distance for perspective. The world of Communion of Dreams is just 40 years away, putting it considerably closer than the world of Jane Austen or even F. Scott Fitzgerald. Just putting a label on a book that calls it ‘science fiction’ doesn’t necessarily mean that only those who are fans of that genre will enjoy the book. Quite the contrary, as you can see in this review by ‘writercop’ on Amazon’s page for Communion of Dreams:
As someone who hasn’t frequented the science fiction genre for some years, I would be hard-pressed to consider myself an enthusiast. Jim Downey might have single-handedly changed that; at the very least, he has re-introduced me to the possibilities of the genre away from the tropes of Geo. Lucas and company. The narrative of Downey’s “Communion of Dreams” is suffused with with a variety of concerns. At one level, it is the story of a group of explorers investigating a deep space artifact whose unknown origins carry grave implications for mankind. On another, it touches upon the ethical concerns of science – both contemporary and not; both real and imagined – and explores the sometimes unanticipated paths our knowledge takes us.
I should hear later today whether CoD made the cut for the next round of judging for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, and will post something here one way or the other.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Press, Promotion, Religion, Science, Science Fiction, Writing stuff
Following up to yesterday’s post, here’s the second question/answer:
2. Give me the old chicken-egg breakdown as it applies here. Which threads came first with this novel – characters, concept, something else?
The concept of what would happen if we just found something completely alien is what came to me first. It’s at the heart of science, as well as science fiction: how do we make sense of the world and new discoveries? That is such a human question, that it may very well define us. It certainly defines much of our culture throughout human history.
Another one tomorrow!
Jim Downey
Filed under: Art, Guns, Heinlein, Press, Promotion, Robert A. Heinlein, Science Fiction, Writing stuff
So, last week I got a series of questions from a reporter for the local paper, who is working on a story about Communion of Dreams. I spent a lot of time thinking about my answers on my drive to and from Iowa last weekend, and have been working on writing my responses in the last day or so. And I thought that it might be fun to share both the questions, and my answers, over the next several days.
Here’s the first question/answer:
1. First off, just clue me in to the first pieces of science fiction writing that really captivated your attention. Obviously, you’ve written in quite a few different contexts – how prominent a place does science fiction writing occupy in your heart? Do you feel as if you’ve applied any of the tools or ideas gleaned from this genre to other writing projects or pursuits (or vice versa)?
I very much think that good writing is good writing, whatever the venue. As writers, we’re always looking for clarity, insight, information – to convey something we know or feel to the reader. That holds true whether I am writing about a local artist (as I did when I was writing for the Tribune), or discussing my opinion of the quality of a given firearm (as I do for Guns.com), or sharing the emotional truth of caring for a loved one (Her Final Year), or opening up the possible reality I envision in fiction. So, in essence, all of my writing is related, though perhaps my imagination has been given greater play due to my reading/writing science fiction.
In terms of what science fiction grabbed my attention when I was young . . . well, that’s really hard to say. It’s been a long time, with a lot of life in-between. I know I liked the Heinlein ‘juveniles’. Dune was an early favorite. But by the time I was in early adolescence I was voraciously reading everything in the ‘science fiction’ section of my local library, hungrily devouring book after book.
More tomorrow!
Jim Downey
Communion Of Dreams 