Month: March 2012

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Seventh Age Countdown

Just over a week to go before you can download your Kindle ebook copy from the Amazon outlet near you. Be patient now, not long to go.

The Seventh Age
The Mayan clock stopped predicting events beyond 2012. Why did it not continue beyond that date?
Rebel archaeologist Nick Palmer experiences an almost unnoticed event at Stonehenge during the summer solstice celebration of 2011, which he attends along with hundreds of others, that worries him greatly. He is made aware through a blog, of a sinister organization known as the ‘Order’, that are seemingly bent on preventing his every move to discover the reason behind the worrying event.
During his voyage of discovery, Nick is tracked across the world by an enigmatic entity that has been trapped here on Earth for over twenty-five thousand years, awaiting the discovery of the event by what she refers to as a ‘surface-dweller’. Together with her and the few people he trusts implicitly, they set out to prevent the alarmingly inevitable catastrophic conclusion that will affect not only the Earth, but the whole Solar System’s very existence.
Jack’s latest science fiction novel is a tale told in the present day. Beside its topical theme concerning the dire events in 2012 predicted by the Mayan clock, it is also a story full of mystery and adventure in which the tortured love story of a human and an alien female gradually unfolds.
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A Glaring Example of the Inequality of Class

Last night I watched the first episode of a program on the BBC about the Mumbai (Bombay) railway system. One thing stood out for me, and that was the obscene poverty of the people who live in shanty’s beside the rail network (fifty percent of Mumbai’s population live there).

In this the twenty-first century, how can such inequality still be allowed to continue. India is a rich nation in more ways than one. There is absolutely no excuse in this day and age for the way it treats its population, and yet it persists – why?

The Mumbai rail system is running beyond capacity. If there were thirty hours in a day, those in charge still couldn’t cope. And so the railway has to expand, laying more track to cope with the millions who use the network round the clock, but at what cost? To make room for broadening of the tracks, the shanty towns have to be removed. The problem is that millions of people live in them.

Isn’t it time those in power did something to help India’s millions of poor, who are destined to scrape a meagre existence alongside the railway lines, and across the entire Indian subcontinent, simply because of the particular cast they were born into? 

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The Seventh Age – update

My latest sci-fi novel The Seventh Age is finally ready for publishing next month. It has been polished to within an inch of its life. It’s a funny thing about the whole polishing phase. Whether you are wide awake closely checking those words on the screen in front of you, or asleep in your bed, the story takes over completely.

For those of you who missed my earlier posts and therefore aren’t aware of Seventh, here is the teaser:

The Seventh Age
The Mayan clock stopped predicting events beyond 2012. Why did it not continue beyond that date?
Rebel archaeologist Nick Palmer experiences an almost unnoticed event at Stonehenge during the summer solstice celebration of 2011, which he attends along with hundreds of others, that worries him greatly. He is made aware through a blog, of a sinister organization known as the ‘Order’, that are seemingly bent on preventing his every move to discover the reason behind the worrying event.
During his voyage of discovery, Nick is tracked across the world by an enigmatic entity that has been trapped here on Earth for over twenty-five thousand years, awaiting the discovery of the event by what she refers to as a ‘surface-dweller’. Together with her and the few people he trusts implicitly, they set out to prevent the alarmingly inevitable catastrophic conclusion that will affect not only the Earth, but the whole Solar System’s very existence.
Jack’s latest science fiction novel is a tale told in the present day. Beside its topical theme concerning the dire events in 2012 predicted by the Mayan clock, it is also a story full of mystery and adventure in which the tortured love story of a human and an alien female gradually unfolds.
Watch out for it next month (April), at an Amazon Kindle Store near you.
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My Current Circle of Friends

With the exception of a handful of personal friends who I’ve known for years, most of my current circles of friends on the internet are all writers.
What’s wrong with that, I hear you cry? The short answer from a book sales point of view is – simply everything.
Put yourself in my shoes and think about it for a moment. You write books. Therefore you need to gain a loyal band of readers, who want to read every word you write – correct?
If your circle of friends is exclusively made up by fellow writers, how in hades do you expect to gain that readership? As a group, we writers constantly moan and groan about our sales figures or lack of them to each other, along with complaining that our works, with a few exceptions, remain buried among the thousands of others currently available, largely unread. It strikes me that unless we change our ways, our works will remain hidden from view.
Perhaps we need to organise ourselves into a collective of some sort, to advertise the products of all our hard work. Somehow or other, we have to stop what we’re currently doing, and concentrate on making friends on the internet who are not writers – but how?
Like all other groups of people with a common interest, or in our case, a vocation, we tend to seek each other out. We feel comfortable with our own kind. If anyone out there, preferably not a fellow writer, has a brilliant suggestion, please, please make it here.
One final word – no rude suggestions if you don’t mind!
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The Seventh Age

Here’s the cover for my latest sci-fi novel The Seventh Age.

I’m still working on its MS. Meantime, here is the teaser for it:

The Mayan clock stopped predicting events beyond 2012. Why did it not continue beyond that date?
Rebel archaeologist Nick Palmer experiences an almost unnoticed event at Stonehenge during the summer solstice celebration of 2011, which he attends along with hundreds of others, that worries him greatly. He is made aware through a blog, of a sinister organization known as the ‘Order’, that are seemingly bent on preventing his every move to discover the reason behind the worrying event. 
During his voyage of discovery, Nick is tracked across the world by an enigmatic entity that has been trapped here on Earth for over twenty-five thousand years, awaiting the discovery of the event by what she refers to as a ‘surface-dweller’. Together with her and the few people he trusts implicitly, they set out to prevent the alarmingly inevitable catastrophic conclusion that will affect not only the Earth, but the whole Solar System’s very existence.
Jack’s latest science fiction novel is a tale told in the present day. Beside its topical theme concerning the dire events in 2012 predicted by the Mayan clock, it is also a story full of mystery and adventure in which the tortured love story of a human and an alien female gradually unfolds.
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Writing – the hardest game in town

Ever wondered what is the hardest occupation you can take on? Brick layer, Lumberjack or Roustabout maybe? None of these. 

While the aforementioned occupations are physically dangerous, writing leaves all others in its wake. To be a writer you need a hide thicker than a rhinoceros, mixed with a grim determination to carry on despite everything. Very few of us actually make a living out of it. Most of us sit in the doldrums, fortunate indeed if just a handful of inquisitive readers wish to sample our work.

There is no magic formulae for success in the writing game, unless of course, you are a so-called celebrity. Then the public will lap up anything with your name on it, no matter how vacuous you may be, which says it all about the public’s current taste. Sadly these days well written works of fiction sit on the shelves, be they the physical or electronic kind, largely unread.

The only way things will change is when the reading public grow tired of celebrities, and want to read something worthwhile. It makes little difference what genre you write in. If you are largely unknown, given the current mania for ‘shallow’, you will remain so.

If you have an uncontrollable urge to write, do so. Just don’t delude yourself into thinking that taking up writing will bring you fame and fortune – it won’t unless you are the next Dan Brown or J.K Rowling in waiting. What it will do however, is to boost your own sense of self worth. It will give you an enormous amount of satisfaction, especially when you see the product of all your hard work finally in print.

Want my advice – go for it…

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Reading and the modern world

How often have you heard someone say – I love books, but I don’t have the time to read? What a complete load of baloney! 
In this day and age, given the number of electronic reading devices like Amazon’s Kindle, or Barnes & Noble’s Nook, not to mention applications designed for your smart phone there is no excuse.
Millions of commuters use public transport like trains and buses to travel to and from work, whether the journey takes ten minutes or an hour or more, that’s the time when they can catch up on their reading. These days, papers, periodicals and magazines as well as books are all available electronically.
When you hear someone say they haven’t got the time, call their bluff. If you prefer to hold a book, newspaper, periodical or magazine in your hand – buy one and read it!
Truth be told, they can’t be bothered reading, preferring to slob out in front of the television. If they read anything at all, it’s probably the football result on the back page of the gutter press rags.
What example are they setting their children? Get reading!
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The Seventh Age

Have you ever thought seriously about the concept of time? It got me thinking. Last year I wrote a first draft sci-fi tale about it. I had been reading all of the available material about the whole notion of time ending at the end of December this year, according to the Mayan Clock. I read both the authoritative works which say it is complete nonsense, and those written by conspiracy theorists. Yes, I know a lot of flakes out there believe it is true, but you have to admit it will make one hell of a science fiction story, especially for someone like me.

Whether it is true or not, the idea is intriguing, hence, that first draft. And so, I am now re-writing it.

More later…