Filed under: Genetic Testing, Health, Machado-Joseph | Tags: blogging, health, jim downey, predictions, Science Fiction, technology
While I’m on a bit of vacation, I have decided to re-post some items from the first year of this blog (2007). This item first ran on March 18, 2007
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There’s a very good piece in today’s New York Times titled Facing Life With a Lethal Gene about one young woman’s decision to be tested to see if she carries the gene for Huntington’s Disease.
It is a very difficult decision to be tested for a genetic disease which you may have, and for which there is no known treatment (let alone a cure). If you test positive, you know exactly the sort of future you face. And, if you test positive, it can have a significant impact on your employment and insurance possibilities, even decades before you might experience any onset of symptoms.
There is a similar disease which runs in my family called Machado-Joseph. In terms of statistics, there is about a 68% chance that I carry the gene for it, though I do not have the other familial characteristics which seem to track with the disease. So I have elected not to be tested. Besides, at nearly 50 years of age, if I did have the onset of the disease, it would be likely that it would progress so slowly that I would die of something else (the younger the age of onset, the more rapidly the disease progresses).
Anyway, I recommend you read the article. Because as the science of genetic testing develops, it is likely that at some point you will have to make a decision about whether or not you are tested for either a genetic disease or a predisposition towards some type of health problem. Better to consider the matter before being confronted with it. Trust me on this.
What does this have to do with Communion? [warning – spoilers ahead]
The book’s history is premised on a flu pandemic about 40 years prior to the story. This pandemic not only killed hundreds of millions outright (and threw the world economy into complete chaos, resulting in hundreds of millions more deaths) , it left most of the survivors sterile – and did the same to most of the resulting children born. This is a recipe for extinction.
I chose this scenario for several reasons, not the least of which is that I think we are due for a world-wide pandemic sometime in the next decade. But also my family history and personal choice came into play – long before there was a genetic test to determine whether or not I carried the MJD gene, I made the decision to be childless. I felt at the time that the risks of passing on the disease were just too great. Not having any progeny leaves one with a sense of loss, even if it was a decision made for the best of reasons. I could only surmise that the effects of imposed childlessness population-wide would be even more profound.
And, [again, spoiler alert!] the psychological impact of the transformation which comes at the end of the book, through the agency of the alien artifact, would be a very literal rebirth for the entire human race. Not only do we give birth to a subsequent species in the form of the AI/Expert Seth (who achieves true sentience, midwifed by the artifact), but the entirety of the effects of the pandemic are cleansed – meaning that humankind has a second chance, and can start afresh. The hope is, of course, that we will do better the second time around.
So, go read the article.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Alzheimer's, Amazon, Feedback, Health, Hospice, Kindle, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, Travel | Tags: Alzheimer's, Amazon, blogging, care-giving, direct publishing, free, health, hospice, jim downey, John Bourke, Kindle, literature, memoir, promotion, reviews, Science Fiction
Quick note to share two new reviews, both of them fairly short and both of them 5-star. One for Communion of Dreams:
I do not read a lot of science fiction – I just have not been drawn to it. I picked up this book for my kindle on a whim as it looked interesting. I am blown away! What a unique story! Loved all the science based info and loved the element of divine as well. Give this book a chance – you won’t be disappointed. I look forward to reading more from this author…..
And one for Her Final Year:
Excellent account for anyone facing the time with a parent going through Alzheimer’s. I bought it to read myself and got another copy for my mother who is dealing with my dad now. It really was an excellent resource.
Two other news notes:
This coming Saturday, the 14th, will be a free Kindle edition promotion for Her Final Year. Yup, that means that HFY will be free all day for anyone who wants to download the Kindle version.
And I have loaded a dozen blog posts from the first year I maintained this blog — 2007 — which most people have not seen. These will be posting about one a day while I am traveling. A little bit of this and that which I thought would be fun to revisit. If you ‘follow’ the blog, you’ll get notice of these posts, but otherwise pop by now and then to take a look.
Well, I still have a lot to get done today. Cheers!
Jim Downey
Filed under: Alzheimer's, Amazon, Feedback, Health, Hobbits, Hospice, Kindle, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, Tolkien, Travel | Tags: Alzheimer's, Amazon, birthday, care-giving, direct publishing, free, health, Hobbits, hospice, jim downey, John Bourke, JRR Tollkien, Kindle, literature, LOTR, promotion, reviews, Science Fiction, travel
“Our Sam says that everyone’s going to be invited to the party, and there’s going to be presents, mark you, presents for all — this very month as is.”
Indeed, presents for all. This Wednesday. July 4th. My birthday, as it happens. In keeping with fine Hobbit tradition (though I am by no means a small person), I’ve scheduled that a promotion day — when everyone can download the Kindle edition of Communion of Dreams for free. My gift to you.
And if you can identify the speaker of the above quote (without cheating and looking it up) and send me an email, I’ll put your name in a drawing for a free signed paperback copy of Communion. Don’t post your answer in a comment — that’d give away the answer — just send it to me at jim@communionofdreams.com before July 5th.
If you would like to give a gift to me in return, all I ask is that you help spread the news of the promotion. I’d like to bump up awareness of Communion of Dreams before I leave on my trip. In spite of the many excellent reviews, sales and promotional efforts last month have slipped. I only managed to give away 2,351 copies of the book, and sold (or had borrowed through the KDP Select program) 259 copies. As a result, the Amazon ranking for the Kindle edition has hovered around 20,000 most of the month, and this morning was #21,932. It’d be great if we could push those numbers back into the low “a few thousand” range.
Likewise, Her Final Year only keeps plodding along, again in spite of excellent reviews. We managed to give away more copies of that book — 2,986 — but only sold 32. And consequently the Amazon ranking has largely been stuck around 200,000 most of the month. There will be a free promotion day on July 14 for HFY — in observation of the first anniversary, or ‘birthday’, of the book being published. Something else to look forward to!
So, happy July, everyone! Be sure to email your answers about the mystery quote soon!
Jim Downey
Filed under: Alzheimer's, Amazon, Art, Arthur C. Clarke, Ballistics, Connections, Failure, Feedback, Hospice, Kindle, Science Fiction, Society, Writing stuff | Tags: Alzheimer's, Amazon, art, ballistics, blogging, care-giving, direct publishing, encouragement, grad school, guns, health, hospice, jim downey, Kindle, literature, memoir, reviews, Science Fiction, writing
I got a note from a friend earlier this week. She had just started reading Communion of Dreams, and was really impressed with it, and took the time to let me know. I thanked her for telling me.
And I was thankful — getting feedback from people like that is very affirming. Every author, every artist, likes it when their work is well received.
But I was also a bit bemused.
Why?
Well, because she seemed so *surprised*.
I can’t tell you how often this happens. You wouldn’t believe me. But it’s true. People who know me — friends, family — seem to be completely caught off guard by the fact that I’ve written a book which is actually quite good.
* * * * * * *
One of my relatives is pretty “old school” in the sense that he thinks that he should be parsimonious with praise. When I told him that I was going to grad school in order to study writing and literature, he said something along the lines of “what, weren’t you paying attention in college?”
When told that I was involved in the Ballistics By The Inch project, his reaction was that it was a waste of time, because “everyone knows the answer, it’s just 25-50 feet per second.”
I haven’t talked to him in years. I would bet that he considered the care-giving “woman’s work.” No idea what he would’ve made of the subsequent memoir. And Communion of Dreams?
Who knows.
* * * * * * *
A friend of mine used to always say: “It ain’t bragging if you can actually do it.”
* * * * * * *
There’s a new review up. Here it is:
As an avid reader, I go through many books quickly. I’ve read so much sci-fi stuff over the years, I have forgotten most or all of it. This book, however, is so wonderful and complex that I am certain it will stay with me. It brings in “hard” sci-fi in the Arthur C. Clarke tradition, marries it to cultural anthropology, sociology, psychology and all the other things I love. I was lucky to get this one for free for the Kindle during a promotion. However, it is well worth obtaining at full price. Downey has a flair for story telling and a firm grasp on even the deepest, most esoteric science and theoretical underpinnings. “Communion of Dreams” has been a joy to read. Highly recommended.
* * * * * * *
I got a note from a friend earlier this week. She had just started reading Communion of Dreams, and was really impressed with it, and took the time to let me know. I thanked her for telling me.
And I was thankful — getting feedback from people like that is very affirming. Every author, every artist, likes it when their work is well received.
But I was also a bit bemused.
Why?
Well, because she seemed so *surprised*.
I can’t tell you how often this happens. You wouldn’t believe me. But it’s true. People who know me — friends, family — seem to be completely caught off guard by the fact that I’ve written a book which is actually quite good.
This isn’t just about me. To some extent we all experience this. Hell, we all do this. A friend or a relative tells us that they’re writing a book, or a play, or a movie. Or that they are creating a work of art. Or that they are going back to school. Or that they are trying to lose weight. Or whatever. If we’re decent sorts of people, we make encouraging noises.
But when was the last time you actually considered engaging with that person? Actually *encouraging* them? I’m not talking about some bullshit “work hard, and anything is possible” line. I’m talking about asking about their project, their goal, their plans to bring it into reality?
I’m old enough, crusty enough, that I have pushed on to do things even in spite of lack of encouragement. Maybe that’s just because I’m a self-centered bastard who cares more about meeting my own goals than meeting the goals of others.
But think about how much better a world it could be if we really listened to one another’s dreams & plans, shared our enthusiasm, and our encouragement.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Connections, Flu, Government, Health, NPR, Pandemic, Predictions, Science, Science Fiction, Society, Survival, tech, Writing stuff | Tags: avian flu, flu, H5N1, health, influenza, jim downey, NPR, pandemic, predictions, science, Science Fiction, technology
From the first page of Chapter 17:
“Sorry.” She looked over at him, the dread in her eye replaced by something else. “The 1918 flu was recreated in the early part of this century, as there was a growing concern about Avian flu. The scientists at the time discovered that the prevailing form of Avian Flu, the H5N1 virus, was surprisingly related to the 1918 pandemic virus. Almost identical RNA structure, similar DNA.”
“But you say this one is different.”
“Yeah. Ignis was such a nasty bug because it spread by aerosol, but it also had a very short incubation period, just a couple of days. Then the disease itself was very swift, and victims died within hours of onset. Like it was all time- compressed, hyper-virulent. This is one of the reasons that people thought then, and still debate now, whether it was a weaponized version of Avian flu.”
From yesterday’s All Things Considered:
Anyone and everyone can now look in the journal Science and read about how to make lab-altered bird flu viruses that have been at the center of a controversy that’s raged for months.
But in the eyes of some critics, the details of these experiments are effectively the recipe for a dangerous flu pandemic.
The H5N1 bird flu virus isn’t normally contagious between people, but these mutants most likely are. They were created with the best of intentions by a lab that’s trying to understand how flu viruses might change in the wild and start spreading in humans.
But as word of the experiments got out, scary headlines warned of a “doomsday” virus and a “super-flu.” Scientists, public health officials and security experts debated what to do in closed-door meetings, as others made their arguments in op-eds and at public meetings.
Remember when the “fire-flu” (Latin name: Ignis) was supposed to happen?
Yeah, 2012.
Draw your own conclusions.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Alzheimer's, Amazon, Feedback, Health, Hospice, Kindle, Marketing, Privacy, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, Society | Tags: Alzheimer's, Amazon, blogging, care-giving, direct publishing, free, friendship, health, hospice, jim downey, John Bourke, Kindle, literature, memoir, reviews, Science Fiction
This man beside us also has a hard fight with an unfavouring world, with strong temptations, with doubts and fears, with wounds of the past which have skinned over, but which smart when they are touched. It is a fact, however surprising. And when this occurs to us we are moved to deal kindly with him, to bid him be of good cheer, to let him understand that we are also fighting a battle; we are bound not to irritate him, nor press hardly upon him nor help his lower self.
* * * * * * *
I tend to not be shy about what is going on in my life. I’m probably a little more open and honest about my emotional states, about the trials and tribulations, than most folks are. To a certain extent, it goes with the territory of being a writer. And it is one of the things which gives power to Her Final Year, as I keep seeing in the reviews and feedback on that book. People welcome the honest emotion, even if the rawness of it sometimes makes them uncomfortable.
It makes them uncomfortable because most people don’t wear their heart so much on their sleeve. I was rather forcefully reminded of this by something which happened with a friend. A friend who was in a great deal of emotional turmoil and pain, but who had been hiding their struggle until it almost consumed them.
* * * * * * *
This man beside us also has a hard fight with an unfavouring world, with strong temptations, with doubts and fears, with wounds of the past which have skinned over, but which smart when they are touched. It is a fact, however surprising. And when this occurs to us we are moved to deal kindly with him, to bid him be of good cheer, to let him understand that we are also fighting a battle; we are bound not to irritate him, nor press hardly upon him nor help his lower self.
That’s probably more familiar as this aphorism:
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
Yeah. It also pays to remember that you don’t have to fight those battles alone. If you’re hurting, if you feel lost, confused, reach out to a friend. Let them know. My recent experience has reminded me just how much of a compliment it is to be a friend to someone who needs it.
Jim Downey
(Oh, yeah, the Kindle editions of Her Final Year and Communion of Dreams are both free today. Be kind to yourself, and me, and go download them. Thanks.)
Filed under: Alzheimer's, Amazon, Astronomy, Augmented Reality, Fermi's Paradox, Government, Hospice, Man Conquers Space, Marketing, Music, NASA, New Horizons, Predictions, Promotion, Publishing, Science, Science Fiction, SETI, Space, tech, Travel, Violence, YouTube | Tags: Alzheimer's, Amazon, care-giving, direct publishing, free, health, hospice, jim downey, John Bourke, Kindle, literature, memoir, music, NASA, politics, predictions, science, Science Fiction, space, technology, travel, Voyager, www youtube
Major “spoiler” warning further down in this post. Skip the rest of the section after the [] warning if you haven’t read the book. It’s OK to watch the video or read the concluding section.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tomorrow, with a little luck, we’ll break 20,000 downloads of the Kindle edition of Communion of Dreams, and could also break 10,000 downloads of the Kindle edition of Her Final Year.
* * * * * * *
This has been making the news the last few days:
Voyager 1 About to Become Interstellar Emissary?
NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft may be getting its first taste of interstellar waters beyond our sun’s familiar shores and, like the pioneers that first took to the oceans to explore seas unknown, the 34-year-old robotic spacecraft is about to make history as the first man-made object to venture beyond the known horizon.
This historic announcement was made on Thursday by the team keeping a careful eye on Voyager 1’s particle detectors who noticed an uptick in interstellar cosmic ray counts in recent years. That can mean only one thing: the mission is beginning to leave the outermost regions of the heliosphere — the farthest extent of the sun’s influence.
* * * * * * *
From Chapter 18: [MAJOR SPOILER WARNING.]
“Well, the two of them have been going over all the data coming down from the ship. In addition to the telemetry about the condition of the ship, they’ve had a flood of data about the communications broadcasts that the ship has been receiving since stopping.”
“Communications? I thought your report summary said that we couldn’t broadcast to the ship, that it was on the other side of some kind of barrier?”
“Correct. But on that other side is ample evidence that the universe is teeming with technological civilizations. Klee hasn’t been able to decipher any of the communications yet, but is certain that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of sources. Seems that we’ve been kept in the dark about all of them by this shell of artifacts that surrounds our system.”
* * * * * * *
Yeah, me too.
* * * * * * *
Tomorrow, with a little luck, we’ll break 20,000 downloads of the Kindle edition of Communion of Dreams, and could also break 10,000 downloads of the Kindle edition of Her Final Year. Downloads all day will be free to one and all.
Help spread the word if you can. It’s not like sharing it with an alien civilization or anything, but still it will be appreciated.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Alzheimer's, Amazon, Art, Astronomy, Bad Astronomy, Feedback, Hospice, Kindle, Marketing, NASA, Phil Plait, Predictions, Promotion, Publishing, Science, Science Fiction, Space, tech, Writing stuff | Tags: Alzheimer's, Amazon, BBC, care-giving, direct publishing, free, health, hospice, jim downey, John Bourke, Kindle, literature, memoir, Moon, NASA, predictions, reviews, science, Science Fiction, space, technology, travel, writing
First, a reminder: Sunday, Father’s Day, will be a Kindle promotional day for both Communion of Dreams and Her Final Year. Both books will be free to download in the Kindle edition, and I would invite everyone to please do so! We’ve had some new reviews up of both books, and the word continues to spread about them.
Second, Phil Plait has an excellent (though too short) item up on the BBC site about prospects for human colonization of the Moon. Correctly, I think, he explains the likely reason that this will eventually happen, and why it’ll be essential for our future in space:
A critical aspect of this is being able to mine asteroidal material and process it, which Nasa and its contractors are studying. One line of thinking is that mined metals can be used to build structures in space that would be very difficult and pricey to construct on Earth and launch. Examples abound, including big spacecraft to use for crewed exploration of the planets, giant telescopes in orbit, space stations, and more. While the cost of the International Space Station (ISS) is estimated to be $100bn, much of that was simply getting previously-built components into space in the first place. If you already have those pieces in space, the cost is far less.
Smelting material in the near-weightless environment of an asteroid is one thing, but creating complex components of spacecraft is another. Manufacturing is likely to be easier in gravity, and the Moon is a perfect compromise for this.
Getting the materials to the Moon is not hard from an asteroid mining operation. And once built, getting even massive components off the Moon’s surface is far, far easier than it would be from Earth due to lower gravity and lack of air (it took a tremendous Saturn V rocket full of fuel to get to the Moon, but only the tiny Apollo ascent module to get back off). Building vehicles and other space-based structures on the Moon is vastly easier and less expensive than it would be here on Earth. From there, the rest of the solar system is an easy trip.
In Communion of Dreams I have references to Lunar colonies, and in St. Cybi’s Well, the prequel I am currently working on, the first colony is in the process of being built (as I’ve mentioned recently).
What I haven’t mentioned here much is another book which would also be a prequel to Communion of Dreams, set sometime in the 2030s, which would take place largely in such a colony. I don’t have a title for that book, and my thoughts on it are still very sketchy, but I think that it would be a really interesting one to write for exactly the reasons that Plait outlines. I don’t want to give too much else away about that (or commit myself to something I may decide to completely change later), but I am really interested in some of the artistic possibilities which working in a 1/6th Earth-normal gravity field would present.
Anyway, TGIF and all that. Remember to share the news of CoD and HFY being free this coming Sunday.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Alzheimer's, Amazon, Book Conservation, Feedback, Hospice, Kindle, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, Society, tech | Tags: Alzheimer's, Amazon, blogging, care-giving, direct publishing, free, health, hospice, jim downey, John Bourke, Kindle, literature, memoir, Mother's Day, Science Fiction, technology
There’s been a lot of chatter about this, and several people have mentioned it to me:
Amazon’s markup of digital delivery to indie authors is ~129,000%
It’s a good article, all in all, as it goes into some of the nuts & bolts of being an independent writer trying to make a living self-publishing in some of the different electronic formats. And yes, according to his numbers, Amazon (through their Kindle program) is making a chunk of money for the transfer of his digital files.
Because of this, as I said, a couple of people have mentioned this to me, and have wondered whether it meant we were getting screwed the same way.
Nope.
The main thing is file size. I just checked again, and the cost to transfer the digital file for Communion of Dreams is a whopping 9 cents. And for Her Final Year it’s 17 cents. That’s because there are very few images in either book — they’re primarily just text.
And yeah, that does come out of our royalties for each book. But as you can see, it’s a small amount, and just a cost of doing business. I honestly haven’t given it a second thought since we set up to self publish these books, since I knew about the charges, knew they were going to be pretty small, and was used to having such expenses from having been in business for myself for 20 years now.
One more thing — we don’t have to pay these digital transfer fees for the promotional copies which are given away. Which is good, because if so I’d still be in the hole for the cost of giving away both books. All that it costs is a potential sale — but I think of this as just a form of advertising, necessary to promote awareness of the book. Yeah, sure, it’s a potential lost sale/royalty, and if that bugs you feel free to either go ahead and buy the book or send me a small donation, if it’ll make you feel better.
And speaking of free Kindle edition promotions, this Sunday — Father’s Day (here in the US, anyway) — will be another promotional day for both Communion of Dreams and Her Final Year, and both books will be free to download that day. Hey, we did it for Mother’s Day, and we don’t want to short-shrift the Dads out there. So even though we just had a successful promotion, we’re going to do it again this Sunday! If you’re someone who got a copy of either book last weekend, and you’ve been enjoying it, please tell others about this upcoming promotion!
Am I a nice guy, or what?
Jim Downey
Filed under: Alzheimer's, Amazon, Health, Kindle, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction | Tags: Alzheimer's, Amazon, blogging, care-giving, direct publishing, free, health, hospice, jim downey, John Bourke, Kindle, memoir, Science Fiction
Quick recap of yesterday’s Kindle promotion…
Again, Her Final Year beat out Communion of Dreams, but this time the difference wasn’t as great.
There were a total of 2,757 downloads of Her Final Year, and the best ranking I saw in the course of the day was it hitting #41 overall in the free Kindle store. In addition, it sat at #1 in a number of categories related to aging and care-giving. Excellent!
Communion of Dreams also had a good day. A total of 1,993 downloads, hitting #144 in the overall ranking as well as #4 in “High Tech Science Fiction”. I’m going to have to go back and get a total count, but I think that puts us within spitting distance of 19,000 copies of this edition of the book being out there. Combine that with approximately 35,000 downloads of the earlier .pdf, and I think it is quite impressive. What’s really cool is that the 35,000 number was reached in about 5 years, whereas the Kindle edition number is for just 5 months.
I’m currently planning on doing another promotional weekend soon — details will be forthcoming. But in the meantime, please feel free to go ahead and promote the book to friends and forums — at $4.95, it’s still a real bargain.
As always, thanks to one and all who helped make this another successful promotion!
Jim Downey
(Cross posted to the HFY blog.)
Communion Of Dreams 