L.M. Whitaker's Blog, page 2

A New Thrill Ride

The thriller magazine you've been waiting for has launched on Kickstarter! Quarterly issues, exciting themes--adventure, betrayal, and more, including yours truly.

Check it out http://ks.Thrillridemag.com

My story, Panama Gap, follows a young woman as she travels alone through Panama. But with fifty original stories from thirty authors across five countries, there will be something to love for everyone.

Titanium Web Pre-Release Giveaway!

I'm giving away 100 PRE-RELEASE Kindle copies of Titanium Web.

Enter now at Goodreads to get your copy!

Technology will drive the next leap in human evolution…if it doesn’t kill you first.

Fans of Blake Crouch, AG Riddle, and Douglas E. Richards will love this exciting sequel to the award-winning The Crucible of Steele.

Brilliant Georgia Steele is one in a billion, the product of a secret society’s 150-year experiment to create the perfect human. Since learning of her origin and the Guardians’ sinister plans for the rest of humanity, Georgia’s been obsessed with exposing and taking them down.

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Drew Conner has waited years to take his rightful place. He just needs to prove his technology – one that marries humans and computers to produce something entirely new – before the Guardians will help him become one of the most powerful men on the planet.

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Though no human has yet to survive the process, the Guardians have picked their test subject for Conner’s technology: the troublesome black sheep of the family, Georgia Steele.

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But Georgia has no plans to go down quietly. She must untangle the secret of the technology implanted inside her before it takes her mind…and her life.

Could Doomsday Bunkers Become the New Normal?

What happens when paranoia meets pandemic? Don't just stay inside, go underground.

One company meeting these apocalyptic requests is Northeast Bunkers, based in Pittsfield, Maine, and specializing in the design and construction of underground bunkers. About two-thirds of their business comes from consumers who pay approximately $25,000 for an underground livable dwelling. Buyers of these kinds of underground dwellings say that they simply want to protect their families from an increasingly turbulent world.

“I’m just a businessman who deals with paranoid people,” Frank Woodworth, the owner of Northeast Bunkers said, “and it seems like the parameters of paranoia are changing every day.”

Read the full article about Northeast and other bunker builders in the New York Times, June 26,2020.

Why So Many Steps?

It's been almost two years since publication of my first novel, The Crucible of Steele.

Days later, in July 2020, I wrote down my first thoughts for the second Georgia Steele Thriller. Nearly two years later, I'm three full drafts in. It's finally getting to a state where I can show it to folks outside my small reading group. So, almost done, right?

Wrong.

Here's my schedule so far....

If you are a glutton for punishment - here are the details:

Beta Readers/Subject Matter Experts/Developmental Editing - May 15 - June 30

Beta Readers provide critical feedback on plot, characters, pacing, and enjoyment. Subject Matter Experts help me with technological and medical concepts to make sure my science is factual or at least plausible.

Update based upon Feedback – July 1 - August 15

Feedback from Beta Readers, Subject Matter Experts, and my Developmental Editing (shout out to my sister, Heather!) will influence and change the story, often dramatically.

Title/Front Cover Design- July 1 - July 30

I need a title before I can start the cover design. BOLO for request for help here.

Editing - Line and Copy Edit - August 15-Sept 30

Line and Copy Editors work at a more micro level, correcting spelling, grammar, punctuation and improving style. I'll use at least 3 editors, working sequentially.

Back Jacket Content/Descriptions/Promotional Packages – Sept 15 - Oct 15

The back jacket has one description, but others may also be needed for Amazon, promotions, blog posts, etc.

Formatting/Final Cover Design - Oct 1 - Oct 15

Once the words are all there, the book still needs formatting. Chapter titles, headers and footers, scene breaks, orphaned lines (you never want a page consumed by just a few words), ISBNs, introductions, disclaimers, author's notes, it all has to be added. The final hard cover jacket can't be completed until the book is formatted, so it can be exactly the right size for printing.

Advance Copies/Early Readers - Oct 15 -30

Early readers are critical to a successful launch. They read books just prior to publication/launch. They act as evangelists, telling friends and writing reviews. They also help spot any last minute typos or formatting issues.

Fix Issues/Publish/MISC - Nov 1-15

Fix any last minute typos, and do other things that I've forgotten about until now.

Launch Book - Nov 15!

Run promotions, have early readers start to download official copies and post reviews.

Thank a lot of people.

Sigh with relief.

Drink Champagne.

Sleep in.

Start All Over - Nov 16

Book 3 Awaits!

New Brain Implant Turns Visualized Letters into Text

The next Georgia Steele book will come out at the end of 2022. I thought it might be fun to start sharing the scientific research behind this book.

In May 2021, ,Scientific American published a summary of a longer article in ,Nature which describes a brain implant that could let individuals with impaired limb movement create text using the mind, and compared that to literal texting. In summary ...

Brain-computer interfaces under development can restore movement and communication to people who have paralysis. A new study in Nature describes a brain implant that could let individuals with impaired limb movement create text using the mind. The researchers combined artificial-intelligence software with electrodes implanted in the brain of a man with full-body paralysis. Their technique allowed the study subject to mentally type 90 characters per minute with high accuracy.

Such technology could potentially benefit millions of people worldwide who cannot type or speak because of impaired limbs or vocal muscles.

Find the entire article here.

Implant gives rats sixth sense for infrared light

The next Georgia Steele book will come out at the end of 2022. I thought it might be fun to start sharing the scientific research behind this book.

So, naturally, we start with rats.

Wired magazine published an article on Feb 14, 2013 describing a study published in the Nature Communications journal. In summary -

A neural implant gives rats the ability to detect infrared light -- part of the electromagnetic spectrum normally invisible to them. The implant takes the form of an infrared detector on the rat's forehead which is wired to a set of microscopic electrodes in a region of the animal's brain normally associated with touch. At first the rats appeared to confuse the sensation with actual touch but over a month came to be able to use the augmentation to scan for and identify infrared light sources. The technology could be expanded to include other areas of electromagnetic spectrum.

Find the entire article ,here.

The implications of this, I hope you can see (pun intended), are vast. The scientists have, in essence, given the rats a brand new sense.

A Ghost Story

Here's mine:

In 1998 we moved to Christiansted, St. Croix, starting what would be a decade of island living and the start of many close friendships.

Our first apartment was in an old building in a historic property, next to the Pink Fancy Hotel. Thanks to Thia (and George!) Tyler and for giving us this introduction to the island.

We rented a one bedroom apartment in a building in the back, which we found out was the original slave quarters.

The property is an amazing place, and the main buildings have been lovingly restored and furnished to museum quality (you can see more on Google, where I found these pictures). It was also known to be haunted, with a lady in white being seen by multiple guests. I never saw her.

But, the only ghosts I've ever seen and felt in my entire life were here on this property.

On multiple occasions I woke in the night and saw, under the haze of half sleep, a West Indian man standing in the doorway staring into the room. Our bed was positioned on the opposite wall, so his attention was not on us. I like to think he was looking over his family, making sure they were safe. I never felt threatened or even noticed.

My second "sighting" occurred after we had moved back to the states and had returned to visit St. Croix. We stayed in the building adjacent to where we had previously lived. I happened to take a nap one afternoon, and felt, without any doubt, a woman slam both of her hands down hard on the bed, on either side of my legs. Anger permeated the room, but when I opened my eyes, no one was there. I think it was probably the lady in white, but some things will for ever remain a mystery and a secret. And so, for the most part, was my ghost story, until I decided to tell you today.

Why tell? I'm not sure. After all, I'm a data scientist. While I write fiction, I live fact. But as you get older, you become less fearful of what people say. Or think. Mostly, after trying to learn all I can every day, the most important thing I've learned is that there is SO much we humans don't know. And I'm okay with that. In fact, the thought makes me downright delirious.

So, what's your story?

The Healing Tree

How far would you go to save the life of a loved one? To keep your lover from finding your dark past? To become rich beyond your dreams?

The Healing Tree is author Darryl Bollinger’s 7th novel – all medical thrillers. However, most, if not all, of the others take place in Florida while this one is set in the mountains of Western North Carolina, not so far from where I live myself. So naturally, I'm interested.

The premise of Darryl Bollinger’s 7th novel, The Healing Tree, seems straightforward enough. The main character, Justin Reeve, is a medical research scientist who finds a tree thought to be extinct and believed to have healing powers. His sister is dying with cancer, and he figures there is nothing to lose and gives her an extract he made from the tree. There is nothing to lose, right?

Wrong.

Dark secrets, hidden agendas, and greed all conspire to pit friends, lovers and colleagues against each other. Not to mention the lies.

Bollinger does a great job of keeping his character’s actions and responses genuine. You’ll find yourself alternately rooting for them and then screaming at them -- “Stop! Don’t do that!”

The result is a tension filled ride that feels all too real.

Here's a link to buy ,The Healing Tree.

The Darwin Letters

While I was doing a few book launch events, folks remarked about the preface and the opening chapter. The former is an actual quote from the Introduction to Hereditary Genius, by Sir Francis Galton. The latter is a fictional letter, written in 1863 by a colleague of Charles Darwin and Sir Francis Galton.

I received compliments that the writing style of the letter seemed authentic to the period, reinforced by comparison to the preface (written in 1869).

I shared with them two resources. First, you can read actual correspondence to and from Charles Darwin at this amazing site:

Second, Hereditary Genius is available to read and download. Sir Francis Galton was a pioneer of statistics and the first person to apply statistical methods of testing to differentiate humans. He also coined the term "nature versus nurture."

You can find all his works here - galton.org

These first hand accounts of early scientists and their thought processes are really amazing. They were developing and uncovering core scientific principles using only their own powers of observation.

I think we've lost some of that creative ability today, with too much information spoon fed to us with the click of a button.

Anyway, I'll stop ranting and let you get on with it.

What I'm Reading - Still Life

“Life is change. If you aren't growing and evolving you're standing still, and the rest of the world is surging ahead. Most [immature] people...lead "still" lives, waiting.”

Still Life is Louise Penny's first book, published in 2007. I only discovered Louise Penny a few years ago, recommended by a friend. I'd call this book a literary cozy. This is the first in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, set in the small town of Three Pines, Quebec, near the American border. She has now 21! books in this series. I can't imagine writing more than 1 book a year it makes me tired thinking of it.

I recently re-read Still Life, and recommend reading them in order, if possible.

So, you can read a zillion reviews and plot summaries on goodreads -- over 12,000 reiews and 130,00 rating for Still Life -- so I'm just going to tell you why I think Louise Penny is worth reading and studying.

Let's get started.

First, Ms. Penny can write beautifully. But she does not take the high brow route of unending flowery description, she uses her words to delight. She is smart, yet her writing feels so approachable. Words that are precisely delivered, that make you pause, may even pull you right out of the story with their perfection. (The below bold is mine, I love that sentence.)

"Rummaging through the cupboard like a wartime surgeon frantically searching for the right bandage, Peter swept aside Yogi Tea and Harmony Herbal Blend, though he hesitated for a second over chamomile. But no. Stay focused, he admonished himself. He knew it was there, that opiate of the Anglos. And his hand clutched the box just as the kettle whistled. Violent death demanded Earl Grey."

Second, she lets her characters live and grow over the course of her books. They face significant life events, their relationships change, sometimes for better, sometimes for the worse. She addresses the world in which they live in, brings in topical issues like homophobia, racism, opiate addiction, police corruption and brutality and French/English tensions.

Third, her characters are campy. But it works. She built the town to which every disillusioned liberal wants to escape. Inhabited by a famous old crusty poet, black psychiatrist turned book seller, multiple artists, the gay couple who runs the B&B and bistro (with fantastic food, of course)...you get the picture. In her book the murdered artist, Jane Neal, paints her local villagers as exaggerated stick-figures, and I think that is an apt description, they are caricatures.

Finally, it's written in third-person omniscient narrative. What, you say? Yep. For those not obsessed with writing like I am, this means the narrator is all-seeing and all-knowing, and can access the consciousness or characters at will. In Ms. Penny's books this is limited to the primary characters, but this means at least 10 for any book.

What to take away from that? In writing classes this is often seen as a cop-out, taking the easy way out. After all, people communicate with each other using words and gestures and facial expressions, not telepathy. But her characters are so quirky, their internal monologues, well, just make me smile, if not laugh out loud.

Overall, her writing is outstanding, and the books are fun, and the audiobooks are a joy. If you don't expect them to feel real -- be honest, can't you use a little escapism right now? -- then just sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.