Filed under: Art, Book Conservation, Failure, Publishing, Science Fiction | Tags: bookbinding, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, jim downey, Science Fiction
Well, *that’s* annoying.
Printer called, said that the job was done and we could pick it up, a bit earlier than we expected. So we decided to pop over to Sedalia (about 75 miles) to get it. First, there was an error on the bill, which took them a while to sort out. We did a quick check of the print run, saw that the paper was correct, the grain running the right way. Then, when we got home we discovered that they managed to screw up the pagination – even though it was correct on the proofs they sent us. So I now have $904.70 worth of scrap paper sitting in the bindery.
We’ll get it sorted out in the morning when they re-open. But it’s damned annoying.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Art, Book Conservation, Comics, Connections, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, Writing stuff | Tags: art, blogging, bookbinding, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, jim downey, promotion, Science Fiction, writing
Wow — this hits close to home: Making Things.
We should pick up the printed sheets for the special edition of Communion of Dreams tomorrow. I’ll post pix!
Now, back to work for me.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Augmented Reality, Bipolar, Brave New World, Connections, Feedback, Predictions, Psychic abilities, Science, Science Fiction, Society, tech, Wired, Writing stuff | Tags: bipolar, blogging, jim downey, Kevin Dutton, literature, predictions, science, Science Fiction, Scrivener, St. Cybi's Well, technology, writing
As I’ve noted before, writing a long work of fiction is a strange thing, at least for me. I spend a lot of time intensely chewing over ideas, doing research, starting to conceptualize a narrative theory for the book, outlining various relationships between images and characters, sorting out what it is I really want to say more than the actual words to use.
Betwixt & between all of this, some honest to goodness writing gets done, then reorganized and shuffled, with plans and outlines changing. More research, more thinking, more feeling my way through the darkness with the only illumination occasional flashes of lightning.
This morning, after a lot of consideration, I downloaded Scrivener. Over the next week or so I’ll play around with it a bit, see whether it will be a useful tool.
And over lunch, some research & reading. It might be interesting, or even telling, what it was that I found. Here’s an excerpt:
The effects aren’t entirely dissimilar. An easy, airy confidence. A transcendental loosening of inhibition. The inchoate stirrings of a subjective moral swagger: the encroaching, and somehow strangely spiritual, realization that hell, who gives a s—, anyway?
There is, however, one notable exception. One glaring, unmistakable difference between this and the effects of alcohol. That’s the lack of attendant sluggishness. The enhancement of attentional acuity and sharpness. An insuperable feeling of heightened, polished awareness. Sure, my conscience certainly feels like it’s on ice, and my anxieties drowned with a half-dozen shots of transcranial magnetic Jack Daniel’s. But, at the same time, my whole way of being feels as if it’s been sumptuously spring-cleaned with light. My soul, or whatever you want to call it, immersed in a spiritual dishwasher.
So this, I think to myself, is how it feels to be a psychopath. To cruise through life knowing that no matter what you say or do, guilt, remorse, shame, pity, fear—all those familiar, everyday warning signals that might normally light up on your psychological dashboard—no longer trouble you.
Interesting, indeed.
And not unlike the high which comes with creating. Or entering a manic phase in my mild bipolar cycle.
Yes, interesting. Quite.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Connections, Pandemic, Predictions, Psychic abilities, Science, Science Fiction, tech, Writing stuff | Tags: Communion of Dreams, jim downey, predictions, science, Science Fiction, technology
From page one of Communion of Dreams:
>click<
>click<
With a slight sigh, he lightly pressed the small wafer under the skin between his left ear and jaw. He spoke out loud, though his voice was just above a whisper. “What do you want, Seth?”
And then closing that scene on page two:
>click<
He paused there at the railing, right hand manipulating the thin-film controls under the skin on the back of his left hand. Looking out over the herd of slowly moving animals, a see-through display came up before him. Nothing new on the nets. So, whatever the emergency was, it wasn’t public knowledge yet. He turned, opened the door to the station, and stepped inside.
Remember, Communion of Dreams is set in 2052 (albeit after major societal disruptions would have messed with the pace of technological development). Looks like we might get to this point a lot sooner. From a Science News article titled “Beginnings of Bionic: Flexible, stretchable electronics could launch cyborg era“:
McAlpine belongs to a growing pack of tech-savvy scientists figuring out how to merge the rigid, brittle materials of conventional electronics with the soft, curving surfaces of human tissues. Their goal: To create products that have the high performance of silicon wafers — the crystalline material used in computer chips — while still moving with the body.
* * *
In the last two years, another team, led by Zhenan Bao of Stanford University, has been working toward making stretchy, artificial skins from rubber and carbon nanotubes. The skins will feel like the real thing to the touch — and they will have a sense of touch too, electronically detecting changes in strain and pressure from a stretch or a pinch.
* * *
“We went from a computer that fit in a room, to a computer that goes on your desk, to a computer that can go in your pocket,” McAlpine says. Joining computers to the body, he says, is “the next logical step.”
Indeed, I’m reasonably sure such technology will become widespread. All the trends are already in place indicating so.
Unless some … thing … happens to either prevent or reverse such a trend. Those who have read Communion of Dreams will know what I’m alluding to, and I won’t spoil it for anyone who hasn’t yet read the book. Heh.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Art, Book Conservation, Publishing, tech, U of Iowa Ctr for the Book | Tags: art, bookbinding, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, jim downey
Typically, there are many ways to accomplish a given task. Usually, some are better than others. Maybe they’re more efficient. Or less expensive. Or just work better.
And usually it seems like I always manage to find all the worst ways before finally stumbling on one of the better ones.
* * * * * * *
* * * * * * *
We got the proofs back from the printer! Here’s some pix:
Cover sheet.
Text pages.
* * * * * * *
grain [grān]
(materials)
- The appearance and texture of wood due to the arrangement of constituent fibers.
- The woodlike appearance or texture of a rock, metal, or other material.
- The direction in which most fibers lie in a sample of paper, which corresponds with the way the paper was made on the manufacturing machine.
* * * * * * *
Typically, there are many ways to accomplish a given task. Usually, some are better than others. Maybe they’re more efficient. Or less expensive. Or just work better.
And usually it seems like I always manage to find all the worst ways before finally stumbling on one of the better ones.
But fortunately, I was taught early on at the University of Iowa Center for the Book about the “grain” of paper, and how it makes a crucial difference in how a book works. This was something which actually took papermakers and printers a while to figure out, back when new mechanized papermaking techniques were developed. That’s because typical western hand-papermaking didn’t really impart much of a ‘grain’ to paper used in printing presses for the first several centuries.
But back in the middle of the 19th century papermaking was mechanized, and this left a distinct alignment of the paper fibers. And that changes how this paper behaves. Simply put, you have to make sure that the grain is aligned with the spine of the book, or the paper doesn’t drape or move properly, leading to the book being mechanically ‘unfriendly’ to the hand. Most printers these days know about this and pay attention to it, but every once in a while someone will try and cut corners and use paper stock with the wrong grain orientation, and the consumer will wind up with a book which feels very stiff and hard to open/turn the page. As a bookbinder, this is something I *very* much have to pay attention to for small edition binding, and I always caution clients about it, since most normal people don’t have any idea that paper grain matters at all.
So the first thing I noticed when I took the proof sheets out of the box was that the grain ran the wrong way.
Oops.
Turns out it was just a small miscommunication with the printer, and they’ll make sure to have the actual printed sheets for the book with the grain running the right way. My Good Lady Wife just talked with them, confirming that and giving final approval for the print run. The sheets should be ready for us to pick up the end of next week. Exciting!
Jim Downey
PS: Just a note – the usual convention with paper is to mark it “grain long” or “grain short” on the wrapping for a ream. Sometimes this is also indicated by underlining one of the numbers in the dimensions.
Filed under: Civil Rights, Connections, Constitution, Failure, Government, Politics, Predictions, Preparedness, Society | Tags: Abraham Lincoln, election, jim downey, politics, predictions
This seems timely:
With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.
I fear we have forgotten some hard-earned lessons.
Worse, I fear that an entire industry now exists which is premised on making us forget those lessons.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Amazon, Art, Connections, Humor, Kindle, Publishing, Science, Science Fiction, Synesthesia, Writing stuff | Tags: Amazon, art, blogging, bookbinding, chaos theory, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, jim downey, Kickstarter, Kindle, literature, mathematics, science, Science Fiction, synesthesia, writing
Sometimes I feel like this bit from Chapter 17 of Communion of Dreams:
“It’s all right, Jon, I’m awake,” said the scientist, still not opening his eyes.
“Tops says . . . ”
“Probably that I’m acting a little strange. It’s true. I came to a little while ago, but my head has been spinning. Not with any sense of vertigo, but with ideas. Like some kind of wild holographic sculpture of equations, moving and changing, solving themselves and giving rise to new ones, flowing, growing, gleaming from within. It’s easier for me to keep my eyes closed, so I can follow all that they’re doing, I hope you don’t mind.” All of this came pouring from the small man at a pace so quick that Jon almost missed some of it. He continued, “I’m going to have to discuss with Duc whether this is how he perceives his artwork before translating it into a form that the rest of us can see. For me it is like for the first time having direct, conscious access to my subconscious. You know that the human brain is capable of truly phenomenal computational power, but it usually happens below the threshold of awareness. I feel like right now, for this time, I can witness the full glory of the mind at work. No matter. I wanted to see you because I have come to realize what was bothering me before.”
We just placed the order for the special edition printing of Communion of Dreams. And yesterday I ordered several hundred dollars of archival bookbinding materials to execute the cloth hardcover bindings. Exciting — I love these kinds of beginnings!
Jim Downey
*Chaos theory. The ‘scientist’ in the quote above is Robert Gish, a central character in the book, and something of an alter-ego for me.
Filed under: Amazon, Art, Connections, Feedback, Kindle, Marketing, Predictions, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction, Writing stuff | Tags: Amazon, art, blogging, book art, bookbinding, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, feedback, free, jim downey, Kickstarter, Kindle, literature, predictions, promotion, Science Fiction, St. Cybi's Well, writing
So, yesterday’s promotion was a moderate success. Nothing stunning, but certainly not disappointing. We had a total of right at 700 downloads, all told, including 49 from Britain and one each in France & Germany. I’m still waiting for the first download in Japan …
Anyway. Those downloads pushed Communion of Dreams to #3 in the “High Tech SF” subcategory, to #13 in overall Science Fiction, and to #327 on the entire free Kindle store rankings. It may have even done a bit better, since there were another 100 downloads after I crashed last night.
Not bad. Not bad, at all. Thanks everyone!
Last month also saw a decent uptick in overall visits to the Communion of Dreams site, to some 1,200. That’s about a 30% increase over what is typical.
This afternoon I’m mailing off the bulk of the signed paperback copies of CoD from the Kickstarter rewards, and we’re waiting to hear back from the printer about the final tally on the Limited Edition copies. I haven’t made too big a deal out of that special edition here yet, because right now we’ve just got generic examples of my book arts work on the page — but once we have the actual pages, I’ll make up some examples of what the finished book will look like, so people will have a better idea of what they’ll be getting. However, it is not too early if you want to reserve your copy — there are at present only 44 copies remaining available.
And yes, I am now shifting the bulk of my creative energy over to thinking about St. Cybi’s Well, to exactly how I want to lay out the plot and all the characters/scenes/themes. As I noted last week, this is all really exciting.
Cheers!
Jim Downey
Filed under: Amazon, Feedback, Heinlein, Kindle, Kurt Vonnegut, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing, Robert A. Heinlein, Science Fiction | Tags: Amazon, blogging, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, free, jim downey, Kindle, literature, promotion, reviews, Science Fiction
As I write this at mid-day, Communion of Dreams sits at #5 in the ‘High Tech’ subcategory of Science Fiction, at #33 overall in Science Fiction, and at #919 in the Kindle rankings (all for “free Kindle store”). Yeah, today’s Trick or Treat promotion is going well. And if you haven’t gotten a copy of the book downloaded yet, you should be sure to do so.
But don’t take my word for it — there’s also a new review been posted this morning:
When I picked up this book, I had no idea what a treat I was in for. From the early chapters I was hooked, like when I was younger and first discovered Heinlein or Vonnegut. Futuristic high-tech gadgets combine with elements of mysticism and other worldly wonder in a sci-fi book that matches up with the best of them. Highly recommended!
Always nice to be favorably compared to some of my favorite authors.
So, don’t delay — go now, and get your copy!
Happy Hallowe’en!
Jim Downey
Filed under: Humor, tech | Tags: blogging, GoDaddy, humor, jim downey, technology
…we’ve had a pretty good relationship, but something has come up that we need to not talk about.
Yeah, with a heavy emphasis on the NOT.
A week or so ago I got your nice reminder that I needed to update my credit card info, since I hadn’t done so recently and would have some automatic billing charges at the end of November. That was considerate of you. No, really, it was very thoughtful. I appreciate a short note about such things.
And I took care of it.
But then one of your helpful assistants called me.
Now, I was busy, and so a little more curt than courteous. I’ll admit to that. But I wasn’t rude, just told the person not to call me, and that I had taken care of the update.
That was Thursday or Friday, I think. Yeah, I know, it’s thoughtless of me to not remember such details. I’ll work on that.
But then someone else from GoDaddy called me on Monday. Nah, it wasn’t too early. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was that they again wanted to “help” me with the upcoming automatic renewal. ‘To see if we can save you some money!’ he said, in his most upbeat sales-person voice.
Again, I said that I would take care of it myself. And specifically I asked him to NOT CALL ME.
See, I don’t like talking on the phone. Not unless I know the person well.
Sorry. I didn’t mean for that to come across quite so harsh. Yeah, I know we’ve known each other for a long time, and I’ve been pretty happy with the relationship. But I really *don’t* like calls. It’s a quirk of mine. No, seriously, this isn’t about you.
Well, maybe it is a little.
Anyway, sorry. But I thought that would settle the matter.
Then this morning, while I was in the shower, someone from your place called me again. Now, I’m not sayin’ it was you. But it *was* your number. I’ve got it right there in my phone.
And, honestly, that kinda ticked me off.
Now, just to make sure I went the extra mile, so to speak, I just jumped through the hassle of getting into my account and finding the “Contact Preferences” page buried in the site. I gotta say, you might think about making it a little easier to find such things. But yeah, I did find it, and made the necessary change on the question: “May we contact you via phone with support for recent purchases, renewal reminders, or product information?”
So yeah, some of this is on me. I admit that. Though I’ll be honest and say that I don’t think I ever saw that page in the account settings before. Still, it was there, and the default setting was still set to “yes”.
But seriously, I twice asked your helpful assistants to not call me. I thought that was pretty clear. I mean, I didn’t want to scream or curse at them or anything. You know that’s not really my style.
But c’mon, it’s such a little thing. I’m not asking you to change, just to consider my preferences in this relationship.
Cause, you know, there *are* other hosting services out there …
Jim Downey
Edited to add: I tweeted this post, got a quick response from @GoDaddy with an apology and confirmation that the account settings were changed. Good on them — that’s decent & courteous customer service.
Communion Of Dreams 