The Omniverse is Moving...

Hello all.

I have decided to move my weblogs, both Kspace and The Omniverse directly to the Facebook page for the series.

You can get there from here with this link:http://on.fb.me/grrweY

This blog will remain up and you will be able to read all the previous entries.

Thanks all,

Steve Karmazenuk

THIRD REQUEST TO AMAZON...

I have sent request number three to Amazon that they deal with Peter Michelsen's theft of The Unearthing. They'd already previously assured me this was dealt with; it hasn't been. I'm giving them until the end of the week, then I'm getting a lawyer.

An Essay on Star Trek: FUCK Rick Berman

I just have to write this, because right now over on their Facebook page, Star Trek are currently paying homage to the worst thing to happen to the brand, Rick Berman. I shared it with them, but I don't expect it to remain up for very long over there. So here then is my essay, Fuck Rick Berman:

Fuck Rick Berman. Fuck Rick Berman in the ear.

The man turned TNG's final seasons into an uneven mess of "restart-by-closing-credits" melodramas and Rubber Forehead Theatre.

The inability to stick to established Star Trek lore or maintain an even portrayal of characters (or for that matter, DEVELOPING the characters beyond the 2 dimensional), as well as ripping off an idea originally pitched to Paramount by J Michael Straczyinski (The big, blue rotating elephant in the room) to create DS9 only cheapened TNG's already-tarnished legacy.

The movies only ruined things further by taking the Borg completely off the rails, (Creating plot holes the size of which you could fly a planet-eater through), allowing William Shatner a hammish and extended death scene, prostituting the TNG cast to inferior scripts and direction and pointlessly and inelegantly killed off one of the franchise's most beloved characters. The net result? TNG died of terminal suck.

Shall we enumerate the sins of Voyager, of which there are many? Start with the wasted potential to tell REAL "Strange New Worlds" stories, assembling a crew of caricatures instead of characters, spending no time on developing a coherent story arc, completely bollocksing up the Borg, Shoe-horning good, old-fashioned cheezy 1980s Three's Company eye-candy Jeri Ryan into the story (and then not even being able to pull of T&A properly) to distract the horny fanboys who couldn't jerk it to Janeway because she reminded them of their moms, not even ATTEMPTING to formulate any kind of direction for the show...

Enterprise? Purile, outdated garbage. The show would have been great-had it come out 20 years before, when Genre audiences weren't as demanding of intelligent, thoughtful storytelling. And the weekly dose of Vulcan camel-toe (Pon-T'ang, I believe it's called) just wasn't enough to make the show tolerable. Nevermind the Xindi fiasco and the one-again pointless killing off of a beloved character in the finale.

The best thing to happen to Star Trek since "All Good Things" aired was the 2009 alternate-history reboot by JJ Abrams. And even there, we need an extended director's cut to really get the most out of that one, I think.

Rick Berman? Should do to him what the Klingons did to Worf: Turn our backs on him and exile him in shame.

AMAZON Replies...and I write them back...

News as follows: Amazon replied regarding Peter Michelsen's theft of my work. What follows is their reply (in blue); beneath that, my reply to their latest.

Dear Mr. Karmazenuk,

Thank you for your message.  Please be advised that we are in the process of removing the following Kindle titles from Amazon.com:

The Unearthing [Kindle Edition] ASIN: B004JF4NUK

It typically takes 2-3 days for a listing to disappear once it has been removed from our catalog. We trust this will bring this matter to a close.

Adrian Garver

Copyright/Trademark Agent
Amazon.com

Thank you for tending to this matter.

However, merely removing Mr Michelsen's plagiaristic entry from your webpage is insufficient. I intend to pursue all legal avenues available to me against Mr Michelsen, and to that end will need the details of Mr Michelsen's account: specifically, the number of sales of ebooks he has completed for The Unearthing, as well as his full legal name and contact/mailing information.

Likewise, I have discovered that another of my eBooks, Through Darkness And Stars, is being sold through your site - purportedly by me.

The link is here:

http://www.amazon.com/Through-Darkness-and-Stars-ebook/dp/B004KPM2KW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AZC9TZ4UC9CFC&s=digital-text&qid=1297217004&sr=8-1

Needless to say, the person selling this book is NOT me; I'm shocked that you would allow anyone to sell an eBook through your site without verifying they are in fact the copyright owners of the work in question. Especially considering that the book lists itself as "The Sequel to the Unearthing" and it is not on the same "Steve Karmazenuk" author account as "The Unearthing". Along with the removal of "Through Darkness and Stars" from your listings I will need the details of the bogus Steve Karmazenuk as I've requested for Peter Michelsen.

I look forward to your prompt reply.

Regards,

Steve Karmazenuk

The Fight Against Plagiarism Continues...

Well, in the last week I've sent 2 notices to Amazon.com about the plagiarism of my book, The Unearthing, by one vile little thief, Peter Michelsen.

Well, Amazon has yet to get back to me about taking this down and doing something to block this piece of shit, Michelsen.

Today, I discovered someone is also selling - at $4.00 a pop, no less - the eBook for Through Darkness and Stars on Amazon, as well.

Needless to say, I'm vigorously pursuing all legal avenues open to me; and at this point I'm not only considering action not only against Michelsen and whoever this other fuckwit selling Darkness is, but against Amazon as well.

I released both of these novels as FREE downloadable eBooks a while back. The Creative Commons license stipulated that the eBooks were allowed to be read and FREELY redistributed...I did this because it was more important to me to be read than to be remunerated. But to find out that some opportunistic parasites out there are making profit off of my work - blatantly and flagrantly STEALING from me - and violating the Creative Commons license - I'm outraged.

What astounds me is the utter lack of effort on the part of Amazon.com to ensure that the products they are selling on behalf of these people are in fact their legally copyrighted work. Peter Michelsen has literally dozens of titles for sale, all of which are obviously stolen from other authors. This other person posing as me, again, is not only using my work but MY OWN FUCKING NAME to steal from me.

I'm shocked at the lackadaisical effort Amazon has put into verifying ownership of work. I'm offended by their lack of response to my repeated requests to fix this matter.

It's one thing to share a file for free that an author has put out there for that express purpose. It's a whole other kettle of fish to take that same work and try to make a buck off of it at the author's expense.

I'm also pretty sure I'm done giving away my shit for free.

Copyright infringement news...

In the interests of keeping this legal and visible, I present the following:

Noticed the following item for sale thru your site:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Unearthing-ebook/dp/B004JF4NUK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AZC9TZ4UC9CFC&s=digital-text&qid=1296328931&sr=8-1

It is in fact a total plagiarism of this item, also for sale thru your site, these last 4 & 1/2 years:

http://www.amazon.com/Unearthing-Steve-Karmazenuk/dp/1424131642/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1296328978&sr=8-1-spell

In short, Peter Michelsen is selling a kindle version of what is in fact my novel, The Unearthing. I am the sole owner of the electronic rights of The Unearthing. While it is published physically through Publish America, my contract specifies ownership of the electronic rights. This Kindle eBook Mr Michelsen is selling is in fact a verbatim copy of my book, which he claims as his own, down to the last typo.

I have never authorised Mr Michelsen, nor anyone else, to sell this work or to sell it on my behalf. I have no agreement with Mr Michelsen, nor have I ever had any contact with him or anyone representing him. I have not been remunerated for any sales of this work.

I hereby declare under penalty of perjury, that the above information is accurate and that I am the sole copyright owner for The Unearthing.

Wikileaks leads to the spread of Propaganda...

And this is just one of many examples to come of why what Assange did will ultimately prove to have been more harmful than good. It will likewise allow governments to justify further clampdowns on freedom of the Press.

I said it. I said this was irresponsible. I said it was an abuse of Journalistic freedom. I said that no legitimate journalist should defend Julian Assange.

I was right. Again.

Wikileaks is not responsible journalism.

I don't post often enough. And lately, I've had little to say even when I do.

Tonight, as I chase sleep, my thoughts turn to Wikileaks, instead of to the tenth chapter of the Aeons War, which while fully realized in my noggin, is not yet down on paper.

Wikileaks just published an assload more stolen secret documents. If you care enough you can find the news about it all over teh internetz.

What astounds me, is that so many journalists are rushing to defend Julian Assange, Wikileaks' founder and chief muckymuck.

Wikileaks is itself evidence of what happens when freedom is not balanced with responsibility. Freedom of the press is not absolute. It has the freedom to publish whatever it wishes but has the responsibility to consider the consequences of what it divulges.

It seems as though Wikileaks and Assange deny that the government operatives, the soldiers, diplomats, agents, aid workers and attaches' lives might possibly be worth more than the public's right to know. These people aren't all working in secret, or trying to oppress foreign countries. Some of them are just trying to do their jobs, provide for their loved ones, protect their country or serve it somehow.

It is arrogant, irresponsible, reprehensible and criminal of mister Assange to endanger these peoples' lives, as well as the fragile diplomatic relations that the United States has. It is irresponsible and reprehensible of legitimate journalists everywhere to defend Mr Assange and Wikileaks. The net result of the leaking of these documents could be nothing. Or it could plunge the war-stricken corners of the world into further chaos. For Julian Assange to commit this act of cavalier, sanctimonious hubris is disgusting. For the so-called legitimate journalists of the world to condone and / or defend him for doing it is even more disgusting, for they are in fact colluding with a criminal, and are aiding and abetting the suffering of every person who may be endangered by these leaks.

Wikileaks was founded on the idea of providing whistle-blowers with the means to report criminal activities. Certainly in the past with regards to the workings of the United States government, Wikileaks has indeed reported on criminal wrongdoings of past administrations. But to call the sensationalist garbage of printing secret reports on diplomatic and consular operational intelligence, to endanger the lives of America's and America's allies' lives in the fields of operations, trade, aid, diplomacy and war is the vile, criminal and cynical act of an arrogant coward.

Julian Assange is as much a war criminal as Usama Bin Laden, George W. Bush, Saddam Hussein, or any other countless autocrats, dictators and butchers out there.

It's time that journalists started treating him as such.

Freedom is not absolute. It MUST be tempered with responsibility.

Could Chinese Lunar Exploration Touch Off a New Cold War?

I'm sorry...I'm sorry...I'm sorry...it's been a hectic...year...

Recently, the Chinese have sent out some awesome images from their lunar probe, and spoken enthusiastic about further missions in 2013 and beyond - including manned missions in our lifetimes!

As exciting this is from the Geek point of view, though, it raises some troubling questions.

The exploration and exploitation of the resources on the Moon was unimagined when the US went there. They collected rocks and dirt, drove around, played golf, planted the American flag…it was a pissing match with the Soviets, nothing more.

China, with its near absolute control of industry and science and remorseless determinism of the Chinese Communist system of government can devote whatever resources it wishes to the exploitation of the Moon’s stores, including water ice and untold mineral wealth.

The Moon’s a logical jumping off point to Mars and the potentially mineral-rich asteroid field. Whether you believe in the romantic notions of deep space exploration or not, the questions you should ask yourself are these:

Who do you want to see reach the stars first? Communist Chinese imperialists or an international coalition of American, British, European and Asian space explorers?

Who should have the best access to the riches and knowledge to be found in the solar system – and beyond?

If there is life out there, who should represent Mankind when and if we encounter them?

Micropost Omniverse News

Okay, first an apology: Sorry I've dropped off the face of the Earth. I was doing so well in my resolution to post regularly & keep content active. Well, that didn't work out for several reasons which may or may not remedy themselves in the near future.

Second, I am studying the feasibility of moving up the pitch-launch for Oh Well, Whatever, Nevermind. Why? Because I feel the need to strike while the iron is hot. I do not, however, intend to be foolhardy about it.

And on the Omniverse front, The Aeons War is coming along nicely, the first 7 chapters now put to bed. Looking at the outline for the story I see several points of departure from the script, just as I had with Unearthing and Darkness. I'm actually going to dig up and post those outlines for you soon, so you can see just how the story changed from the original draft.

Finally, with the launch this week of a practical, linked-to-a-smart-device augmented reality headset, I've added another gadget to the long list of gizmos predicted when I first wrote The Unearthing, back in 1997:

The Augmented Reality Windshield
The Portable Console Computer
Headset Computing
Galileo Navigation System (Down to the friggin' NAME!)

So...not for nothing, but it might be a good time to start digging around in Northwest New Mexico...all I'm saying...

Okay, well that's about it for this time; I promise I'll try and update again, soon!

New Download Statistics

New Stats for the Omniverse: The Unearthing has been downloaded over 18 000 times & Through Darkness and Stars almost 7400 times since being posted online.

THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO HAS READ & ENJOYED (my apologies to those who didn't like it) THESE NOVELS! MORE TO COME!

News For Nevermind - And The Omniverse!

So, this update was to have been written over the weekend...unfortunately, owing to circumstances beyond my control it's being written now.

That being said, I met with the artists' program coordinator over at YES Montreal the other day, to discuss my plans for Nevermind.

Granted, that's not always gone according to plan. The Unearthing, the first volume of The Omniverse was successfully published back in 2006 (Ironically almost a year to the day since I started this blog) I still blame the fact that I was laid off from Bell Canada so Michael Sabia could take a five hundred per cent pay rise on Unearthing's commercial failure.

See, I would have had a minor fortune in stocks and options by the end of the year if my employment hadn't been terminated when it was (those stocks, of course, very conveniently reverted back to Bell upon my being declared "surplus"), and I had hoped to use those stocks to finance Unerthing's promotion.

Anyway...moving on.

They say God never closes a door without opening a window...I say that means God's got some really bad obsessive compulsive disorder issues to work out. In any case, after wallowing for longer than I should have, I decided to release Unearthing and later her followup Through Darkness and Stars electronically, and for free. With nearly 20 000 total downloads of the two novels, I'd say I found some of the success I've been looking for.

Remuneration, however, has evaded thusfar me.

Which brings us to Oh Well, Whatever, Nevermind.

When I started writing Nevermind, back in 2002, it was an experiment; an exercise in which I just kept asking myself "I wonder if..."; questions included: "I wonder if I can write a non-genre story?" "I wonder if I can write a book without any actual plot?""I wonder if I can convincingly write a gay sex scene?" "I wonder if I can tell one story from six different points of view?" "I wonder if I can let these characters tell THEIR OWN story?" "I wonder if?" "I wonder if?"

I also thought the "I wonder ifs?" were done when the writing of the story was done, as well. When the initial couple of drafts were done, I put the story aside to write the first and second drafts of Through Darkness and Stars, as well as outline the final three stories of The Omniverse. When I turned my attention back to Nevermind, it was to put the first dozen chapters up on the now-closed PHYTE Magazine website. Nevermind quickly became the second-most popular feature on the site, after the still-going-strong feature, Anterockstar.

Who am I to complain about being #2?

But...where Nevermind had never been intended to be more than an elaborate writing exercise to improve my characterizations and individual character "voices", I realized I had something else on my hands. Suddenly, new "I wonder ifs" came up: "I wonder if I can accomplish something ELSE with this?" and so I started thinking things through.

Come 2008, I decided to launch The Unearthing as a free downloadable novel. When it was launched and gaining steam, I completed work on Through Darkness and Stars, and, figuring I would eventually launch Nevermind as an eBook. To that end, I decided to take Nevermind and Darkness for a spin through the fabulous rewrite machine.

Somewhere between launching the eBook versions of The Unearthing in 2008 and Through Darkness and Stars in 2010, it occurred to me to ask another "I wonder if": this time, it was I wonder if Oh Well, Whatever, Nevermind could actually SELL?

Well last week I had my first meeting at YES Montreal to see about doing just that. I'm now looking into compiling a list of publishers and agents to whom I would like to pitch Nevermind, and my councilor is also having me brainstorm about what I want to accomplish/what I need to do to accomplish it...eww...homework.

But, I'm on track right now to eventually sell this puppy!

...and if it doesn't sell? Well then I'll release it as a free eBook just the same!

Some of you might wonder what me publishing a book will mean for The Omniverse and any future free eBook prospects. Well, I intend to keep releasing the novels of The Omniverse as free eBooks...you people, my readers, have made them a success; as much as I wish SOME of you would have donated a little something to my PayPal account, I'll let that slide. While I might, when the five novels are done, decide to release a print edition of the quintology, the eBooks for The Omniverse series themselves will always remain free.

As to my other writing? As much as I would like to make a living as an author, I see no reason not to at least release SOME work as free downloadables, though for obvious reasons the stuff I publish will likely not see the light of day as freebies...unless I can REALLY negotiate the fuck out of a publishing contract.

OMNIVERSE STATS!

So this week I've been doing prep work to build the pitch for Oh Well, Whatever, Nevermind. In order to demonstrate my marketability to my potential new publishers, I started digging up the download stats for the novels of The Omniverse, namely The Unearthing and Through Darkness and Stars.

Based on preliminary numbers (I'm still waiting on a couple of websites to report in) both novels are doing better than I'd anticipated!

Unearthing has been fully downloaded more than 12 000 times and Darkness some 5600 times.

Does that translate into as many unique readers? That's where the numbers get a little fuzzy, but at the very least my work has been checked out nearly 20 000 times since I've made it available online.

And for that, I can only say THANK YOU to everyone who's read these novels; you made this happen!

Earth-Shaking News!

Well okay, no, but after the first big regional quake since I was in high school, this Blog post kind of has to take note of it.

Anyway, this week marks the completion of all post-writing work on the manuscript for Oh Well, Whatever, Nevermind.

Now comes the real challenge: I've decided that unlike my more famous (and free) eBooks, The Unearthing and its follow-up Through Darkness and Stars, I intend to either release Oh Well, Whatever, Nevermind as a paid downloadable eBook or I'll be shopping it around for publication.

This means that my creative writing time is now absolutely rededicated to The Omniverse's third volume, The Aeons War. This is fun, because the story has been screaming at me for months now, but I've wanted to finish the push for Nevermind.

I must once again report feeling both overwhelmed and intimidated as I approach Nevermind's publication. See, being non-genre, I know the novel will be a little bit easier to sell. Likewise, we're just hitting the pop-culture phase where the 1990s Grunge scene will become retro and therefore back in style, so the novel, being set in the era, will be that much more marketable. Plus the mature content and adult situations rife through the book is sure to boost readership, as pervy readers abound.

So basically, I don't want to fuck up the publication of this one, like I did The Unearthing.

But I'm also completely unsure of myself or what to do next.

Bugger.

I'll figger it out, I suppose.

Anyway, our attention now turns back to The Omniverse and The Aeons War. The story takes place more than 1500 years after events of Through Darkness and Stars. Jack Benedict returns, as does the ever-changing Allison McQuire, now known as the Shekhina.

Stay tuned!

Updates

Okay, so it's been a while since I updated, hasn't it? This fatherhood gig gets very busy very quickly. Not that I mind in the least! Okay, I could use a bit more time asleep and maybe a couple of hours a week at the cafe, but besides that, who's complaining? The baby...got to change a diaper...

...okay, we're BACK! The good news is in spite of my lack of blog updates I have been busy working! The Aeons War is progressing; Oh Well, Whatever, Nevermind is on track, though I've revised the launch window for Fall 2010. There's a bit more work that needs to be done to get this one ready; I'm working with the original illustrator, Nicole DeCaria on cover art ideas and finishing the eBook compile.

I've been spending a lot of time networking with writers, publishers and other creative types as well, so while I've done as much actual writing as I normally enjoy (though I still squeeze in at least a couple of hours a day!) I'm becoming more involved in the writing community.

Fatherhood isn't a topic I'd expected to blog about; there's far more entertaining and informative blogs on parenthood out there, and I want to keep this site as focused on my writing as possible. However, I must say that these first six weeks with Eva-Madeleine have been among the most frightening, rewarding, overwhelming, enjoyable and unbelievably happy days of my life. While Angel gave birth to Eva, I really do feel as though Eva gave birth to me.

Granted, this has little to do with the Omniverse...

...Very little, other than it's by the same author (ME!), but I'd like a little input on the eBook cover design below.

My next novel, "Oh Well, Whatever, Nevermind" is basically about friends involved in or with a college bar band in the 1990s...so, yeah...going for a concert-poster kind of feel for the cover. Any readers out there who'd care to comment, you're more than welcome (Comments are moderated but there's little I won't publish)

Thanks!

Words Lost

The other day I'd really kicked some ass through the eBook revision of "Nevermind". Key scenes that I hadn't quite liked were easily and properly rewritten, and I'd advanced through a full four chapters of the story.

Because I'd been without my laptop I was operating with files on a USB key.

I guess you can see where I'm going with this.

Boom! Lost the key. Files gone.

It really burns me that I'd made so much bloody progress with the eBook to that point. It bugs me because now I have to start back from my previous filesave. It bugs me because I'm trying to get "Oh Well, Whatever, Nevermind" out before summer, and I still have to figure out some marketing and distribution details, as well.

The idea of having to completely do-over everything that I just lost is completely discouraging, and right now I don't feel the motivation to do it. I'm going to toy with Aeon's War for a while, now. I might also start building the "Nevermind" eBook site a bit, put out some character biographies, etc.

But I just can't face starting back on everything I lost in my revision right now.

Through Darkness and Stars News & The Long Awaited Nevermind Playlist

So the downloads for Through Darkness and Stars have crept past 1000, though I don't have a full accounting yet. The eBook's also migrated to a bunch more eBook hosts; I'm looking to swell those ranks even more.

With roughly 10 000 downloads since March of 2008, The Unearthing, the precursor for Darkness, is still way out in front. What that tells me is that a butt-load of people who read the first part of the story haven't yet heard about the second part. I've gotta suss out what to do about that, as well...

While Googling the book's title this week, I discovered two rather interesting things.

The first, is some dumb son of a bitch named Richar dirwin (presumably a username for someone either named Richard Irwin or Irwin Richard) was trying to sell Through Darkness and Stars for almost $60 a copy, through lulu.com, with his name on the fucking cover!

Needless to say I've informed the good folks at lulu.com of the plagiarism, and they are taking action. Meanwhile, I'm contemplating legal action against this idiot.

What kind of half-wit plagiarist tries to SELL something that the original author has already given away for free? And what kind of moron tries to steal verbatim an established work that has already garnered a not-insignificant following?

I almost feel sorry for this imbecile.

On the brighter side, that same Google session I also discovered Darkness and Stars, a really awesome, ball-breaking Metal song, by a band called Sternenstaub. Needless to say, I'll be checking out their music soon!

The song in question is, uncannily, just about the sort of music I was listening to as I first visualized the Zohor swarm sequence in Through Darkness and Stars so many long years before its writing. Though when I finally wrote that sequence and the balance of the novel I did so listening to John Murphy's In the House In a Heartbeat from the awesome film 28 Days Later, listening to Sternenstaub's Darkness and Stars made me recall the original conception of that scene.

Speaking of music, it is at last time for the long-awaited post about the music behind Oh Well, Whatever, Nevermind!

So yes, as befits a novel set during the first half of the last decade of the twentieth century, the music I listened to while writing Oh Well, Whatever, Nevermind is almost exclusively Grunge-era. There are a couple of anachronistic choices; a couple of songs from the 1960s and 1970s, a couple that came out after 1995. But overall the music that inspired the writing of Nevermind is music I, myself listened to during those years.

My contemporaries will be pleased to know that Hootie and the Blowfish are not among the list.

All in all there's some 53 songs on the playlist; without further adieu, then, here it is - listed sequentially within the context of the story. I recommend you go to one music sharing site or another to download these tracks, as they are generally awesome, anyway:

01 - Tones of Home - Blind Melon
02 - Mellow Yellow - Donovan
03 - Dancing Days - Led Zeppelin
04 - Hunger Strike - Temple of the Dog
05 - Little Wing - Jimi Hendrix
06 - So What - Ministry
07 - Head Like A Hole - Nine Inch Nails
08 - Dominion / Mother Russia - The Sisters of Mercy
09 - Are You Gonna Go My Way - Lenny Kravitz
10 - Rooster - Alice in Chains
11 - Interstate Love Song - Stone Temple Pilots
12 - Hard to Handle - The Black Crowes
13 - Get Here - Oleta Adams
14 - Hole Hearted - Extreme
15 - Detachable Penis - King Missile
16 - Riders on the Storm - The Doors
17 - Sweet Child O' Mine - Guns N Roses
18 - Orange Crush - REM
19 - Love Buzz - Nirvana
20 - Drug Buddies (Acoustic) - The Lemonheads
21 - Kid Fears - The Indigo Girls
22 - Man In The Box - Alice in Chains
23 - About a Girl - Nirvana
24 - Take a Walk on the Wild Side - Lou Reed
25 - I'm Still Alive - Pearl Jam
26 - Into Temptation - Crowded House
27 - Evenflow - Pearl Jam
28 - Push - Stone Temple Pilots
29 - Kitchen - The Lemonheads
30 - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - U2
31 - Breaking the Girl - Red Hot Chili Peppers
32 - Locked in the Trunk of a Car - The Tragically Hip
33 - Summertime Rolls - Jane's Addiction
34 - You Give Love a Bad Name - Bon Jovi
35 - Unbelievable - EMF
36 - Been Caught Stealing - Jane's Addiction
37 - I Will Never Be the Same - Melissa Etheridge
38 - Cult of Personality - In Living Color
39 - Hey Jealousy - Gin Blossoms
40 - Bullet in Your Head - Rage Against the Machine
41 - Here's Where the Story Ends - The Sundays
42 - Confusion (Pump Panel Reconstruction Mix) - New Order
43 - Runaway Train - Soul Asylum
44 - Old Woman Behind the Counter - Pearl Jam
45 - Loser - Beck
46 - What's Up - 4 Non Blondes
47 - Head Over Feet - Alanis Morrissette
48 - Round Here - Counting Crows
49 - Think About You - Radiohead
50 - Time After Time - Everything but the Girl
51 - Smells Like Teen Spirit - Tori Amos
52 - Closer to Fine - The Indigo Girls
53 - No Excuses - Alice in Chains

New Creations in the Omniverse!

Wow...so much for my New Year's Resolution about posting more often, eh?

But, I have a really, really, really, REALLY great excuse for not posting sooner.

Her name is Eva, and she was born last week.

Caring for a newborn and helping my wife out around the house has been one of the most taxing, exhausting, frightening, stressful and difficult jobs I've ever had. And I've never known anything more rewarding, gratifying or enjoyable.

So I've not done much by way of writing lately; I'm not sorry about that. It's picking up again; The Aeon's War is insisting upon some attention while Oh Well, Whatever, Nevermind is content to stew and wait it's turn (Coming soon!).

Little teaser: Through Darkness and Stars begins 18 months after the Ship leaves Earth, at the end of The Unearthing. The balance of Aeon's War happens some 1500 years after the events of Darkness, and involves time travel - though not used in any way, shape or form you've probably seen before. At least, I like to think it's an original take...

Anyway, getting back onto the topic of Nevermind, I've been promising the "Music At Work" for that one to you for a while, now. That'll be the next post, I promise!

Nevermind the Aeon's War

So for the past few weeks I've been compelled to work on Oh Well, Whatever, Nevermind. The story's been pulling me in, in a big way. The story's not connected to The Omniverse in any way, shape or form; in fact, it's a one-off, and the only non-genre story I've ever written.

Of course the drawback to working on Nevermind is that it pulls me away - as the title of this post suggests - from working on The Aeon's War, the third installment in The Omniverse series. And as much as I wish I could flit between the two projects, the truth is that doing so hurts the writing. So while at any given time I have at least a couple of works going at the same time, I can only ever focus on one at a time. And much like children in need of attention, it is the stories themselves that dictate which gets worked on.

I've talked a lot about this story over the years, but I don't think I've ever really gone into great detail. Well, as I'm planning on launching it in the coming months, perhaps it's best that I do so. So starting this week and off and on leading up to its launch, I'll be using this space to talk about Oh Well, Whatever, Nevermind a little more.

I first started work on Nevermind in 2002, though I'd had the idea kicking around for a couple of years already, by that point. I wanted to tell a story set in and around college life in the early 1990s, and my goal really was to see if I could write something outside of the fantasy/science fiction genre.

My focus shifted back to The Omniverse when I landed the original publishing deal for The Unearthing, and Nevermind sort of languished as I concentrated on writing Through Darkness and Stars and reviewing the outline for the subsequent volumes of the story, including the aforementioned Aeon's War, which, I promise I will work on again soon!

For Nevermind, I came up with six characters, all of whom began to "speak" to me in the first person. This led to the concept that each chapter should be told from a different character's point of view, relating their own experiences and opinions as the story progressed. In one form or another I've been writing and rewriting it ever since; chapters from the earliest version of the novel appeared online at PHYTE.ca, where they were quite popular. Though the site seems unavailable now, those chapters are likely still out there, somewhere, if you can find them.

What started as a writing exercise and thought experiment (Nevermind was written without a traditional story arc or plotline, creating a more fluid, character-driven piece) became a story I obsessed over, feeling the characters' lives as if they were the lives of friends and loved ones.

I think that, despite its setting in the early 1990s, that the story, situation and characters have a universal appeal, and if not, there's plenty of frank depictions of sex and drug use to drive up marketability. In any case, Nevermind remains one of my favorite stories to have worked on.

Next time, I'll talk about the enormous musical playlist that, for me, is associated with the story.