Michael J. Bode's Blog, page 4

Knee Injury Update

Thanks to my knee breaking, my blog received the highest traffic since launch! Woohoo! But seriously, thanks for the well wishes, sympathy and support.

How bad was it?

The ER doctors told me on Friday that my kneecap had "crumbled" into a "lot of pieces". I nearly burst into tears on the spot. They quickly said that may not have been "the best choice of words"

How bad is it really?

What the ER told me was beyond a "bad choice" of language-- what seemed like an unguarded moment of brutal honesty turned out to be borderline incompetence... But that's why they sent me to a specialist.

The knee is broken into two pieces by a single v-shaped fracture.

What does that mean?

First, I won't need surgery. It should heal on its own but I need to go back in three weeks to make sure.

Second, I won't need to use two crutches. The knee can support weight as long as I wear the immobilizer. I can even walk around the apartment, do dishes, etc.

I can walk up and down the stairs to my place and take Uber until I'm able to drive which should happen in a couple weeks.

So in sum...

It's not that bad. It's an inconvenience, sure, but it could be much, much worse. Since becoming a full time author, I don't leave the house that much anyway. Groceries will be an issue but I have a wide network of people to rely on. I have Obamacare and my expenses are fine.

If I take it easy this should all heal up pretty quickly.

 

 

Misadventures! I Shattered my Kneecap in a Parking Lot

My left knee is in several pieces. My hands are covered in nasty scrapes. I am basically immobile and unable to leave my apartment without assistance. I am wearing an immobilizer. I don't know yet if I will need surgery.

What Happened?

I was drunk and tripped near a drinking establishment. I felt pretty hurt so I walked home-- I don't usually drive to the bar. So it's a little bit of (dramatic? situational?) irony that walking home messed me up.

I managed somehow to walk half a mile home and didn't really run into any issues until I hit my stairs. When I woke up the next day, I was completely unable to bend my leg. I had to crawl through my place on my back using my elbows until I found my phone and a stash of old hydrocodone I kept from some other time I did something stupid.

I called my friend Michael and he carried me on his back to his car. We went to the ER and I got in a wheelchair. My toe was bloody and I was barefoot; plus my knee was about the size of a grapefruit so everyone was really concerned and I got put on the fast track.

My nurse was a big guy who wouldn't have seemed out of place in the Hell's Angels and/or an AA meeting (There's a weird overlap there). He made a lot of really weird comments about torture, death and evil. Then he gave me morphine for the first time and I have to say I wasn't that impressed.

The nurses and attending physicians seemed surprised that I could still feel pain as they fiddled with my injury. I was surprised that anyone would deliberately hurt themselves to secure a steady supply of the stuff. But I grew up around horses and apparently inherited their drug tolerance. At least they don't shoot people when they break their knees (Sorry, horses).

It's been a few days and I am feeling a lot better, the swelling is down and I will see a knee doctor today.

So What Happens Next?

I thought about going without health insurance when I quit my job. I mean I'm young, healthy and I walk everywhere. Good thing I didn't. Get health insurance if you don't have it already.

I don't know any of the details yet on when I'll be able to function. It's my left knee so I could theoretically drive and there's always Uber, but I have to get down the fucking stairs first.

I'm able to move around on crutches with more stability and grace. However crutches are the fucking worst. I can't bend my left leg, but when I'm on crutches I can't use any part of my body. I can't carry a dirty dish to my kitchen or a microwave meal to my couch.

Every day presents new logistical challenges and six to eight weeks is a long time to wait for a recovery. In the mean time don't expect to see me out and about any time soon. I have a book coming out and being house bound will certainly cut back on the distractions.

Please pray for my swift recovery to your respective gods or if you're in the area swing by with offerings. I am electing to curtail my wine intake as my body heals (and because I totally ate it in a parking lot on my own two legs-- drinking on aluminum walking stilts just doesn't seem like a good idea.)

Musical Interlude

Here's a video of my left knee in happier times. Enjoy!

 

Mike bode is the author of The Queen of Lies, the first installment in the ongoing series, Architects of the Grand Design. His next book comes out October. Sign up for the mailing list for more info.

You can find him on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest . (You can also follow him on Goodreads and even Amazon)

Wisdom for Debut Authors from a Second Timer

So like every good aspiring novelist on the fast track to instant success, I did my research before jumping into the world of self-publishing. I read blogs, listened to what the people who make money said... all that business. I was a sponge, eager to absorb the ocean of knowledge into my body.

It wasn't all good or relevant.

The field of dreams is a lie. Like the literal movie premise ("build it and they will come") is a lie. If I built a baseball diamond in some cornfield the likelihood of being visited by a team of ghostly baseball players is only slightly less likely than hitting the NYT best seller list. In real life you've just fucked up a cornfield for baseball, the least interesting American sport.

No one will discover you if you don't put yourself out there. Amazon is very good at selling shit. They collect tons of data on everything. Based on my purchases they probably know who my soulmate is... But they don't share or use that for anyone's benefit. You will not get algorithm mojo until you awaken the beast with some sustained sales.

Family and friends are not an audience. Most of my friends don't read epic fantasy and the ones that do don't use social media. When I started out I thought small and focused on my social acquaintances. Now if someone seems excited about my book I give it to them if they mention cost as an issue.

I'd give a free ebook to anyone who asked me if I knew they'd tell their friends and give an honest review on Amazon. Honestly at this point in my career the review and sales rank is a better investment. In fact... if you want a copy here it is.

I love that a few of my friends have gone above and beyond to support me, (Thanks Michael and Lindy!)  but in the business world we call that scalability. I can't make a million friends and pressure them to buy my book... at least not without being a hot nerdy Asian girl with a million + viewer you tube channel. (And given the level of sexism and racial fetishization Asian women experience in white geek culture I'm not sure that popularity is entirely positive. YMMV-- you do you for the fans that matter, ladies.)

Behind every bestseller is a marketing engine. Sometimes it's the author (E.L. James) and sometimes it's the publisher (Suzanne Collins) but the bottom line is that if no one knows who you are, you have some work to do. It does not just happen. You have to know somebody important.

You need to be prepared to lose money on your first book. New big 5 ebooks are now around $11. It's the same rate for established and debut authors. It's tempting to hike prices but you will never make money as an unknown debut indie author at those rates.

 

The only way you have to draw attention is to make your book free and publicize. Unless you're a marketing genius or you know someone influential. Chances are you're not and you don't.

It's a small consolation that at 3.99 I'm probably making equal royalties to a debut big 5 author after publisher and agent expenses.

 

Misadventures! Questionable Smelling Poultry

While it is my job to dream up thrilling escapades and battles against cosmic forces that threaten the very fabric of my reality... there's not a lot of adventure in my real life.

Today I was going to make a chicken salad from Richard Blais's cookbook, which is the fanciest thing I've attempted in a while. But the chicken, which was a mere day past it's sell by had a funny smell. Not strong... but certainly a little off. Of course I don't go around smelling chicken all the time so maybe it smells like that? Anyway it was off to the internet.

A google search of "Can you cook and eat chicken if it smells" reveals a surprising wealth of queries. In absolutely ZERO cases on nine pages of comments did anyone say this was a good idea. The internet may not be able to agree the Confederate flag is a racist symbol (which it is) but it really came together in one voice when it comes to the safe handling of poultry.

You can cook the living shit out of the meat and kill the bacteria but it's the toxic substances they create that pose the health risk. You learn something new each day.

I've had food poisoning exactly once and it was traumatic. I don't remember a time in recent memory that I felt sicker. On top of the pain and nausea there is the constant flow out of both ends. It was enough that I couldn't eat sushi for a year... and even after that I only eat sushi when someone else suggests it.

I count myself lucky that the internet was there for me, so I will pay it forward by adding my journey to the path of food safety traveled by many before me. When in doubt throw it out. The human olfactory system is one of the most advanced field tests for chemicals in existence (well... besides dogs and pretty much every other animal)

Interesting random fact-- psychopaths have a poor sense of smell. How crazy is that? I mean in addition to the crazy of psychopathy.

Smell is an oft neglected sense in writing, and the English language in general. It's partially because we don't have a lot of words for smells. We usually make them by analogy-- vinegar, sulfur etc. The whole smell test for wine uses a well-defined taxonomy. When a sommelier says they catch hints of cassis on the nose, it's a fancy way of saying it smells like cat pee. But we have no articulate way to describe what cat pee smells like.

Our noses are definitely not our keenest sense and our language reflects that. We probably have more words to describe various shades of blue than all smells put together.

So as I type this on my little laptop and smell a peppery glass of Cabernet Sauvignon, I meditate on the dangers of raw poultry and my brush with misfortune. Back to the word mines... and dreams of chicken salad.

*(In the course of writing this, spell check red lined the words: Sauvignon, cassis and sommelier. What peasant programmed this dictionary?)

 

Mike bode is the author of The Queen of Lies , the first installment in the ongoing series, Architects of the Grand Design. His next book comes out October. Sign up for the mailing list for more info.

You can find him on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest . (You can also follow him on Goodreads and even Amazon)

 

 

Zen and The Art of Computer Maintenance

So my computer shit the bed last night. We've had a contentious relationship over the years but after I upgraded every single piece of hardware save the motherboard and processor things were going great.

And then is shut off. And now it won't stay on for more than a few seconds. It took all morning but I found a leak in the water cooling system which is consistent with the behavior of shutting off randomly. Convenient tip sheet to computer problems (80% accurate):

Freezes/BSOD = Memory unless specific to software
Shuts Down=Cooling or Power
Won't turn on = Power
Windows won't start = Hard Drive
Everything Else = Software

One thing I am grateful for is technical expertise.

Many years ago I went to a scammy night school for MCSE certification because that was considered a thing anyone in their right mind would want to do for a living. I imagine in some alternate universe I'm wearing a baggy blue polo I got from Intel and grumbling about having to clean spyware off some executive's decrepit Dell Latitude.

Anyway the school was such a ripoff, there was a class action which I was not a part of, sadly. It cost twelve thousand dollars which I had to pay back to Sallie Mae. (This was before adult education programs realized they could squeeze people for a lot more money with bullshit online degrees... at least I didn't get suckered into an associates in "information Systems")

I never took the MCSE test because the courses were shitty, the tests were expensive, and certifications are for people who already do the thing they're certifying. But it was the early aughts and businesses were desperately hiring people without experience because they didn't understand the tech anymore than the people in my night school class.

Part of it may have been my fault. I was jacked up on Adderal and I would doodle in MS paint as we worked our way through our exercises and lecture. I remember one classmate asked me, "Why are you learning all this boring network stuff? You seem like you're really creative. If I had that ability I wouldn't be doing this."

As an aside-- It's a little heartbreaking to learn that people don't have the same rich imagination as I do. I couldn't live without it. It was my only refuge through a shitty adolescence. So... if you're ever jealous of creative types, remember it's usually as much a defense mechanism as it is a gift.

But at the time I pretty much hated the arts for ruining my life. I had squandered my time on writing short stories (a form of fiction that it turns out I hate) and lacked the raw talent to have any hope of being an illustrator. I just wanted to learn something useful, something practical.... something people wanted.

It's fifteen years later and I think that my night school has finally paid for itself. I've been building and fixing my own PCs for years. I've saved a shitload of money by building my computers with wholesale parts and I've never called Geek Squad.

So my sick PC has one hope before it goes out to pasture. I ordered a $50 part that will be an absolute bitch to install but it should be here in a few days. Literally, not figuratively, I will have replaced everything in this computer except the CD ROM drive (.... which could also be broken but when would I ever notice?)

In the mean time, with grave reservations, I went to Best Buy. I think of that place as a cross between Office Max and Purgatory. But...It was not a terrible shopping experience. The salesperson pointed me to exactly what I needed (some of that busted shit was running Celeron.... GROSS!). I paid $100 less than what it sells for on Amazon which blows my mind. Although to be honest...  I'm not sure Amazon is always the cheapest.

I even got a $10 gift card by telling a market researcher in the store what he wanted to hear.

I picked up a cute little Lenovo Yoga 2 with my non existent budget and marked it as a business expense. Thus far my primary source of income as an independent author is my 2015 tax return. But now I have a laptop I can write books on anywhere. (It's actually better than the first laptop I got from my last job). I think of it like camping... just me, 4 GB of memory and the wide open sky of cyberspace.

The real hero of the day however is Google... I downloaded Chrome and in seconds I was back online. All my links, my saved passwords... all there, just as if I was on my main PC. If my old PC is forever dead, its spirit lives forever in the cloud. Along with the Book 3 manuscript. This is one of thousands of reasons I think people who use typewriters are insane.

Life handed me a big lemon and I made some very expensive lemonade. I remember a time when a day like this would have been a catastrophe. When I didn't have the war chest or wherewithal to pick up a cheap laptop; where I didn't know how to fix my machine; where I would have lost years of data.... Growing old sucks but on days like today it's great because whatever bullshit life throws at me-- I'm ready* for it.

*except cancer. I'd be kind of fucked with that one.

Mike bode is the author of The Queen of Lies Opens in a new window, the first installment in the ongoing series, Architects of the Grand Design. His next book comes out October. Sign up for the mailing list for more info.

You can find him on Facebook Opens in a new window, Twitter Opens in a new windowand Pinterest Opens in a new window. (You can also follow him on Goodreads Opens in a new windowand even Amazon Opens in a new window)

 

 

How Dark is too Dark for Fiction?

There's a big trend toward dark and gritty in fantasy and prestige drama in general. Salon's Imran Siddiquee wrote this:

Dramas like “Thrones” or “True Detective” offer extreme violence, misogyny and white supremacy as thoughtful entertainment, but have little intention of showing audiences an alternative. A deathly winter is always on the horizon, because bleakness is more “realistic” (and badass) than hope.

 

As an author who's inspired by George R. R. Martin writing in a genre of dark fantasy, I think these are valid critiques. It's very easy to present the ills of the world as they happen. But I also struggle to see how presenting an alternative as Siddiqee suggests would look in the context of a gritty fantasy world. Mainly because we don't really have the answers for them in our modern society.

I don't typically like stories with a well defined good vs. evil philosophy. Anti heroes, grey areas... that's just more my speed. In part because I don't see the world in terms of any black or white morality so I love when things get messy and ambiguous.

But there's a fine line between moral ambiguity and nihilism. This last season of Thrones was pretty bleak and difficult to defend in many parts. It's also the first that's deliberately not like the books. It's Hollywood and there's a ton of nuance that gets missed in a ten episode season. Case in point-- the people who suffer the most tragedy in the books are the nameless peasants and farmers who are helpless victims in a war that leaves their homes and settlements destroyed. We don't see their POV but it's mentioned often enough.

It should also be noted that all of the violence and heart-wrenching death is something much of the fantasy genre has for a very long time simply ignored. You have benevolent kings and happy princesses and nothing about misogyny, racism, the horrors of war or the dangers of concentrating power in a small segment of the population. We are headed to a return of rule by aristocratic dynasties-- it's not really a coincidence  we might see Clinton vs. Bush in 2016.

So I think showing realism is an important part of telling a story that informs the world of the readers. But you're also there to entertain. And heavy-handed lecturing about social justice is generally not considered good reading. Hunger Games has a strong political message-- but it's never front and center to Katniss's goals.

Writers don't have to answer all of life's problems in a fictional story. For one, we probably don't know the answer anyway. There are better sources for ideas about change than fiction. That said we can always strive to make the world a better place through little acts of awareness in our writing.

A big area for fantasy in particular, is diversity. We need fewer white people. We need more people of different genders and sexual orientations. Another thing is to ask the hard questions in the books-- why does this terrible stuff need to happen? You can't convince anyone of anything. The best you can do is make people care and hopefully think about something they haven't considered.

Mike bode is the author of The Queen of Lies, the first installment in the ongoing series, Architects of the Grand Design. His next book comes out October. Sign up for the mailing list for more info.

You can find him on Facebook, Twitterand Pinterest . (You can also follow him on Goodreadsand even Amazon)

 

What Will Fantasy Be Like In 100 Years?

It's easy to imagine how science fiction will change over time. As new frontiers of technology are explored, what used to be fiction becomes reality and new possibilities emerge. Fantasy, generally, looks toward feudal Europe for inspiration-- swords, knights, dragons and mythical creatures.

Fantasy, for better or worse, is a language of archetypes inspired by mythology. But nothing is timeless in the creative arts. We read new books because they speak to contemporary issues or help us escape from them.

In a hundred years Urban/Paranormal fantasy will be regular fantasy. The times we're living in will be in the realm of historical fiction.

Our mistakes will haunt our legacy. How will history judge us? The world will be very different in terms of climate and resources-- this century will be something of a golden age, yet also blamed for the problematic ecological conditions over the 21st century. I think themes of environmental destruction will be prominent in literature.

Overpopulation will have an impact on writing. I think it's already starting. Our fascination with zombies reflects our fear of populations reproducing out of control. Not sure what this means for fantasy per se, but writers will have to address it in some way (if not to describe worlds where there is undeveloped woodlands).

People will look to fantasy as a means to reconnect to nature. There will be less unspoiled natural landscapes but people will still desire a connection to it.

Games will be a primary medium for fantasy. It may not be a huge genre in literature but it is pretty much every major MMO. AI, virtual reality and computer functionality will make designing interactive stories much easier. Games will be cool with immersive graphics..

People will still read books. I don't see them going away. Not even print books. 3d printing could make on demand publishing super simple at home. Or there could be a book like e-reader device that looks like a book with on demand content.

The classics will be replaced by new classics. Maybe Tolkein will still be around along with some seminal works. For speculative fiction it's almost impossible to tell what will last.

How about you? Any thoughts on the future?

Mike bode is the author of The Queen of Lies Opens in a new windowOpens in a new windowOpens in a new windowOpens in a new window, the first installment in the ongoing series, Architects of the Grand Design. His next book comes out October. Sign up for themailing list for more info.

You can find him on Facebook Opens in a new windowOpens in a new windowOpens in a new windowOpens in a new window, Twitter Opens in a new windowOpens in a new windowOpens in a new windowOpens in a new windowand Pinterest Opens in a new windowOpens in a new windowOpens in a new windowOpens in a new window. (You can also follow him on Goodreads Opens in a new windowOpens in a new windowOpens in a new windowOpens in a new windowand even Amazon Opens in a new windowOpens in a new windowOpens in a new windowOpens in a new window)

Quitting my Day Job Part 5

It's been three months since I started on this epic journey to become a full time author. I had thought to regale everyone with tales from the trenches but... it is a surprisingly uneventful life for an interesting job title.

Most days I write and do a little social media. I hang out with friends, polish off some wine and think about my books. I've been on a Netflix couch potato binge and I'm waaay behind on my reading. I make my rounds to see how the book is selling and what the new reviews say. For the most part the business is a game of patience.

That's... kind of all I do now. Every day. I'm not being taken on a whirlwind book tour or talking on Ellen. It's quiet, peaceful and relaxing. In short there isn't much to report.

It's not all boring. Having a book out is a great opportunity to connect with other writers. Those who are still working on theirs think you've accomplished a miracle and those with books on the market can talk shop. I've never met a quirkier group of people than writers. You have these totally normal looking Midwestern moms who are making a killing writing gay werewolf erotica. It's insane the level of passion and creativity that you run into.

Seriously you need to have at least one of us at every dinner party. (Seriously... Since I canceled my plated.com subscription, I've been living off Trader Joe's microwaved food).

I interviewed with a company last week. Just to come in a couple days a week and do some Microstrategy stuff. The money's helpful but it also wouldn't hurt to have something else to do. I'm not ready to settle down but I'm open to taking an odd gig or two.

 

Mike bode is the author of The Queen of Lies Opens in a new windowOpens in a new windowOpens in a new window, the first installment in the ongoing series, Architects of the Grand Design. His next book comes out October. Sign up for themailing list for more info.

You can find him on Facebook Opens in a new windowOpens in a new windowOpens in a new window, Twitter Opens in a new windowOpens in a new windowOpens in a new windowand Pinterest Opens in a new windowOpens in a new windowOpens in a new window. (You can also follow him on Goodreads Opens in a new windowOpens in a new windowOpens in a new windowand even Amazon Opens in a new windowOpens in a new windowOpens in a new window)

Writing Like the Wind

I am three chapters in to book 3. It doesn't have a title yet but it's at about 4,000 words since I started on it today. I've been procrastinating for weeks so it feels good to get the pages done. 5k is a good day for me, but it's not uncommon either. I've started entertaining the idea of working on two books at once.

Compared to many other writers I speak to, this is pretty prolific progress. The Mirrored City was finished in about three and a half months. If I keep my speed up, book 3 will be out in late 2015/early 2016.

So what's my secret? I don't know. I've always been fast at things.

Some things spring to mind though...

Trust yourself. I think self-doubt is the biggest obstacle to productivity. This is very hard, especially with a first book. Now that I've been through an editing process and gotten some feedback, I'm much more confident in what I put down on the page.

It doesn't have to be perfect. There are bad parts of even great books. (Harry Potter is a great read but Hermione's whole thing with S.P.E.W.? Yeah whatever.) People look at the whole story, remember the parts they liked and hopefully put up with the parts they don't. My goal is to be "good enough".

Give your first book permission to suck. Just write it like no one will ever read it. It's a liberating experience and you can feel free to try new things.

Write. You do not become a better writer by revising and editing. That's a whole other skill set and ideally done by someone who isn't the author of the original work. I spend the majority of my time on a book putting down new words, rather than reworking old ones.

Writers Block. This is usually a sign that I don't want to tell a story a certain way or that I've gotten off track. I may have painted myself into a corner or spent too much time on something irrelevant. Usually if I back up and delete some stuff then I find the writing flows much smoother.

Part of it helps that I have nothing else to do. When I write it's for multi hour stretches. When I don't write it's for multiple days, but I'm always thinking about the book. The Queen of Lies final draft took me six months when I had a full time job.

It's not impossible to write two or three books a year. But not everyone has the same process. There's no "right way" to write a book. This process works pretty well for me. I'm not a perfectionist to start out with and I have a talent for creating scenes in my mind.

The biggest way to not write a book is to let yourself stress out over all the little things. (That's what editors are for).

 

Mike bode is the author of The Queen of Lies Opens in a new windowOpens in a new window, the first installment in the ongoing series, Architects of the Grand Design. His next book comes out October. Sign up for themailing list for more info.

You can find him on Facebook Opens in a new windowOpens in a new window, Twitter Opens in a new windowOpens in a new windowand Pinterest Opens in a new windowOpens in a new window. (You can also follow him on Goodreads Opens in a new windowOpens in a new windowand even Amazon Opens in a new windowOpens in a new window)

 

Writing Immortal Characters

 

Immortality is one of the things I explore in my books. I've always been fascinated with the idea of living forever.

But how do I parlay that into writing in a way that's interesting? Immortality is one of the hallmarks of a fantasy Mary Sue character. If a character literally cannot die, how do you get the reader invested in their struggle? A lot of writers avoid this, or leverage caveats, for exactly this reason.

Captain Jack Harkness in Torchwood had that ability with a nice twist-- he could die, he'd just come back a little while later. It's a much more interesting, and tactile approach. He's not invulnerable and does feel pain, so there are stakes in the conflicts he faces. I take a similar approach in my book.

One thing that's helpful in writing is to imagine myself, or a relatively ordinary person I can relate to, with that ability. What if every time I died I came back to life the next day, no different than I was yesterday? What would change? How would the world react? What would I do?

If I can't truly die, a lot of pressing concerns become trivial. I certainly don't have to worry about fitness or smoking or alcohol abuse. Safety in general would be less of a concern although since I could still feel pain. That might be enough to keep me from running into burning buildings, but I'd be pretty calm during airplane turbulence.

Since, in this example, I live in a non-magic world it would be a much bigger deal if I came back from the dead publicly-- which given our legal system is almost guaranteed. Religions have started over less.

I could also end up in some government laboratory... but I truly don't believe that the government actually has that kind of laboratory. And though the military is open minded about the paranormal I doubt that anyone in those divisions has any experience dealing with it.

The laboratory I'd probably end up in would be pharmaceutical. I could fast track human trials for a boatload of prescription drugs and experimental procedures. My organs could also be harvested safely and I would just resurrect the next day perfectly intact. Suffice it to say I could make money pretty easily. Not to mention that I'm immortal, which would be advantageous to study in itself.

Which is good because... Immortality is expensive. The only reason human beings retire is because there's an end to life. I would need to think on a much longer term scale. I would technically live long enough to see every dollar I have turn into a million.

But that's assuming there's even going to be banks that far in the future. Suddenly I'm less concerned with having a sixth glass of wine with dinner and more about the continuity of Western Civilization. And that global warming? That's a problem.

There could be mass extinction and ecological collapse. I don't see all of humanity dying out. They say roaches will survive a nuclear holocaust-- so will humans in some form or another. We're too well adapted and genetically diverse to be wiped out by anything short of a global event that rendered the earth uninhabitable to any life.

As a hypothetical immortal, that's the next worry on my mind. I may only be able to live for a fraction of a second when the sun burns the Earth's atmosphere off, but for me all those seconds will be contiguous. It would be like being burned alive for all eternity. Not fun.

Some time between now and then I'd need to figure out a way to get off the planet or concoct some crazy scheme worthy of a James Bond villain-- start a religious cult to fund my private space program. Dangle the carrot of eternal life and possibly build a new race of immortals (but if they were like me could I trust them forever?) At least I'd have time to work out the details.

But the point is changing how one thing works, changes the fundamental ways a human mind could work. It alters priorities and things that sound silly, suddenly become very serious.

I think the trick in writing about things that could easily be wish fulfillment is to look at them from as many angles as possible.

Obviously the ideal case would give you an out at some point. If you could stay young and healthy for as long as you wanted, what point would you call it quits?

Mike bode is the author of The Queen of Lies Opens in a new window, the first installment in the ongoing series, Architects of the Grand Design. His next book comes out October. Sign up for the mailing list for more info.

You can find him on Facebook Opens in a new window, Twitter Opens in a new windowand Pinterest Opens in a new window. (You can also follow him on Goodreads Opens in a new windowand even Amazon Opens in a new window)