10 Mar

Posted at 23:43h in Stories

https://youtu.be/GGXRKsRavRc Although many of us will be celebrating St. Patty's Day indoors this year (dubbed St. Padlock's Day for any sadists out there), I want to quickly talk about Deepfake: the continuation of Datapocalypse.  I toiled through the Canadian winter, locked in by snow and viruses, nearly sleeping the whole thing through. But this story somehow got onto paper. Now, the manuscript for Deepfake has been drafted, the building-swallowing AI has more power than ever, and new characters will help the old ones to try and save humanity from data overload.   My highly appreciated alpha, beta or gamma readers (whatever we call them at this stage of the editing process) are hard at work reading through the manuscript, dissecting my thoughts and telling me if they're cohesive, let alone entertaining, and let more alone, thought-provoking. Once that feedback comes in I get to decide how to unleash this thing to the world. I trust it will bring more of the same soft, science fiction lewdness about buildings (and now art works and people, maybe) disappearing out of thin air and only a few people knowing why, along with twists of mystery, humor, travel, romance and my usual brand of tongue-in-cheekness. But in...

27 Feb

Posted at 20:16h in Stories

A social mind in an antisocial place A social place with an antisocial face I'm new to this place, this place without a face It's cold and I'm getting old Not lesser determined, not lesser bold But in need of a friend Let's hold hands till the end This season of life came by storm Unsuspecting weathermen, forlorn It must pass by and let us be friends again Whether here or there, it must refrain  Smiles on our faces must be regained The mind is not antisocial, not without force Embodiment of spirits walk hand in hand This must be the eternal promise Mind's can overcome foreign lands with grace Setting up a new place to embrace Never forgetting the ones, the ones with a social face ...

20 Feb

Posted at 19:52h in Stories

Libraries Rock! That may not be the most appealing statement among those trying to make money selling books, but there's more to it than that. There's saving trees, saving ink, and test driving a book before buying it. That last one must surely irk large publishers. But what about walking into a library—back when we could (remember?)—and that smell of old paper and tired flatulence; sharing a public refuge with scholars and homeless alike. Rooms full of knowledge! I always have at least a borrowed book or two going at a time. My five year-old daughter, many more. Right now I have Epictetus's Discourses, Kafka short stories and Michael Pollan's How to Change Your Mind on my bedside table. Two of them, I'll admit, are purchased, but the third is borrowed. The irony is the one I'm borrowing is the only author of the three still alive and trying to make a buck writing. So unfair. I wondered what I'd prefer from an author's standpoint, to either sell 1,000 books on my own or to have my book in just 100 libraries AND solicited to readers by 100 librarians. Thinking only a tad further about this, it becomes quite obvious the latter is...

08 Feb

Posted at 19:52h in Stories

It's been exactly 13 months since the official release of the Datapocalypse book trailer. And yes, it's cheesy! I'm allowed to say so because I made it myself—with help from my wonderful wife (she may not admit to helping me though, hehe) and then five-year old daughter (on backup vocals for the title soundtrack). My forte clearly doesn't lie in video production. Granted. But there's still some production quality worth gleaning from it. Check it out for yourself and let me know what you think. At the very least it'll give you an insight into how Datapocalypse came to be. Who knows, maybe I'll get another 50 views over the next 13 months. Ha! Otherwise, I'll just stick to writing and playing guitar. https://youtu.be/tyv8l_IuYdg ...