Raymond Gaynor's Blog, page 44
February 22, 2021
FOOL OR SCHOLAR’S MATE?
IN the game of chess, there are two classical “fast” named checkmates: the three-move Fool’s Mate and the four-move Scholar’s Mate. I find their names of particular interest.
In THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor (soon to be an audiobook read by virtuoso Peter Pollock), I introduce “Fast Eddies,” individuals looking to amass money or power as fast as possible by any means at their disposal. In the world at the edge of madness, everyone, like it or not is a Fast Eddie, not because of wanting to, but by necessity — by default in a world where everyone else is one. Or at least, is assumed to be one. In the book, principal character, young Draff Rob Brie [Septican-Smite] is socially famous (or infamous depending on perspective), and given his pros, the only real “fit” for him in terms of available con billets is a government-registered “undifferentiated, short-term, sexual entertainer and companion” at Slams the pinnacle and elitist of private social clubs. Making due in Draff’s world means grabbing the golden ring, and riding it to its extreme, never letting go.
The Edge of Madness
On the other hand, that same future world is one where individuals are diploma’ed based no longer on successful acquisition of wide-ranging, in-depth information (any artificially intelligent computing entity can do that and better), but on acquired knowledge and wisdom. Scholar’s all. Life-long learning, with emphasis on knowledge (demonstrating one’s ability to apply what is learned in novel situations) and wisdom (demonstrating one’s ability to do so at the right time without hurting others). No classrooms. No residential colleges or universities. None except interactive holographic ones that is. As an adolescent, Draff Rob Brie [Septican-Smite] holds the equivalent of a de novo master’s degree in astronautics, yet he fancies himself more a student of emotional history for which he has received several additional master’s degrees and a doctoral degree. Knowledge and wisdom are power, and the amassment of power is something for which everyone is regularly diploma’ed, either privately or by the government.
In today’s world, which is more important or valuable? The Fool’s or the Scholar’s Mate? In the future at the edge of madness, it’s neither and both. The important thing is there are no longer any in-person elementary, high, vocational or academic schools or classes (there can’t easily be if much of humanity is on its way to colonize planets and there are multiple populated planets). People acquire knowledge and wisdom through interactive holographic meetings and life experience, relegating schools to grandiose experiential facades where interactive holographic “graduations” take place, the single person administrator “working from home.”
Fool or scholar, garner some life experience of your own by reading THE EDGE OF MADNESS. Go where no one has gone before, and decide for yourself if NewAmerica, NewTerra and the colonized planets are dystopian, utopian or something entirely different.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je6CC...
In THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor (soon to be an audiobook read by virtuoso Peter Pollock), I introduce “Fast Eddies,” individuals looking to amass money or power as fast as possible by any means at their disposal. In the world at the edge of madness, everyone, like it or not is a Fast Eddie, not because of wanting to, but by necessity — by default in a world where everyone else is one. Or at least, is assumed to be one. In the book, principal character, young Draff Rob Brie [Septican-Smite] is socially famous (or infamous depending on perspective), and given his pros, the only real “fit” for him in terms of available con billets is a government-registered “undifferentiated, short-term, sexual entertainer and companion” at Slams the pinnacle and elitist of private social clubs. Making due in Draff’s world means grabbing the golden ring, and riding it to its extreme, never letting go.
The Edge of Madness
On the other hand, that same future world is one where individuals are diploma’ed based no longer on successful acquisition of wide-ranging, in-depth information (any artificially intelligent computing entity can do that and better), but on acquired knowledge and wisdom. Scholar’s all. Life-long learning, with emphasis on knowledge (demonstrating one’s ability to apply what is learned in novel situations) and wisdom (demonstrating one’s ability to do so at the right time without hurting others). No classrooms. No residential colleges or universities. None except interactive holographic ones that is. As an adolescent, Draff Rob Brie [Septican-Smite] holds the equivalent of a de novo master’s degree in astronautics, yet he fancies himself more a student of emotional history for which he has received several additional master’s degrees and a doctoral degree. Knowledge and wisdom are power, and the amassment of power is something for which everyone is regularly diploma’ed, either privately or by the government.
In today’s world, which is more important or valuable? The Fool’s or the Scholar’s Mate? In the future at the edge of madness, it’s neither and both. The important thing is there are no longer any in-person elementary, high, vocational or academic schools or classes (there can’t easily be if much of humanity is on its way to colonize planets and there are multiple populated planets). People acquire knowledge and wisdom through interactive holographic meetings and life experience, relegating schools to grandiose experiential facades where interactive holographic “graduations” take place, the single person administrator “working from home.”
Fool or scholar, garner some life experience of your own by reading THE EDGE OF MADNESS. Go where no one has gone before, and decide for yourself if NewAmerica, NewTerra and the colonized planets are dystopian, utopian or something entirely different.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je6CC...
February 21, 2021
MANY WAYS TO SAY, “MORE!”
I love writing the whole gamut. I recall my first editor telling me to be a good author I needed to learn to write love, violence and sex, and write it in such a way that it’s never quite enough. Just enough to pique the appetite, and enjoy a first, long, satisfying taste. Just but never enough. I’ve spent years learning how to do just that and follow that advice religiously. Not in terms of a common template, mind you, but with infinite diversity in application.
To see an example, one has only to read the techno-political thriller QUANTUM DEATH (Savant 2016) by A. G. Hayes with Raymond Gaynor, the fifth in the riveting, multi-award-winning Koski and Falk Series in which agents Susan Koski and Joseph Falk come up against what very well may prove to be their most complex and dangerous antagonist yet: The Quantum Death Machine. For the first time, Koski and Falk must separate during a mission, each facing mortal peril, while, at the same time, their smoldering relationship begins to heat up.
Quantum Death
I used a similar approach in the doubly naughty political thriller TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese: President-Elect Mathias “Alexander the Great” Jackson learns on election eve that the current President has resigned with over a trillion dollars in petroleum securities, leaving the US leaderless and facing an economic crisis of unparalleled proportions. President Jackson, wrongly accused of manufacturing the crisis, turns to his two must trusted political aides, Adelphous Tripler and Shawn Clarke. Committed lovers, Tripler and Clarke must reluctantly separate to carry out a series of incredibly challenging tasks for their discredited leader that takes them around the globe. With murder and mayhem facing them every step of the way, will they manage to get back to each other alive?
Total Meltdown: A Tripler and Clarke Adventure
While THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor, the sequel to TOTAL MELTDOWN, was deliberately written as a SciFu (Science-based Future Studies) novel, I once again followed my basic prescription of utilizing several ways for readers to say “More!” Taking up where TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese left off, NewAmerica, a shadow of its former United States of America, provides a challenging and dangerous future place for three young firebrands to live.
The Edge of Madness
All my works are gender equitable, LGBTQ, erotically intriguing and romantic. Love, violence, sex. Designed for the reader to want, “MORE!” And, yes, I’m already working now on the sequel to THE EDGE OF MADNESS tentatively called “Prophesy.”
https://i.postimg.cc/7hY14JPS/Raymond...
To see an example, one has only to read the techno-political thriller QUANTUM DEATH (Savant 2016) by A. G. Hayes with Raymond Gaynor, the fifth in the riveting, multi-award-winning Koski and Falk Series in which agents Susan Koski and Joseph Falk come up against what very well may prove to be their most complex and dangerous antagonist yet: The Quantum Death Machine. For the first time, Koski and Falk must separate during a mission, each facing mortal peril, while, at the same time, their smoldering relationship begins to heat up.
Quantum Death
I used a similar approach in the doubly naughty political thriller TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese: President-Elect Mathias “Alexander the Great” Jackson learns on election eve that the current President has resigned with over a trillion dollars in petroleum securities, leaving the US leaderless and facing an economic crisis of unparalleled proportions. President Jackson, wrongly accused of manufacturing the crisis, turns to his two must trusted political aides, Adelphous Tripler and Shawn Clarke. Committed lovers, Tripler and Clarke must reluctantly separate to carry out a series of incredibly challenging tasks for their discredited leader that takes them around the globe. With murder and mayhem facing them every step of the way, will they manage to get back to each other alive?
Total Meltdown: A Tripler and Clarke Adventure
While THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor, the sequel to TOTAL MELTDOWN, was deliberately written as a SciFu (Science-based Future Studies) novel, I once again followed my basic prescription of utilizing several ways for readers to say “More!” Taking up where TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese left off, NewAmerica, a shadow of its former United States of America, provides a challenging and dangerous future place for three young firebrands to live.
The Edge of Madness
All my works are gender equitable, LGBTQ, erotically intriguing and romantic. Love, violence, sex. Designed for the reader to want, “MORE!” And, yes, I’m already working now on the sequel to THE EDGE OF MADNESS tentatively called “Prophesy.”
https://i.postimg.cc/7hY14JPS/Raymond...
February 20, 2021
THE ART OR THE DEAL?
COMPOSING whether for oneself (writing) or a target readership (authoring), has long been considered an art. Writing, for example, comes under the heading of Humanities, Arts and/or Letters. It is considered a creative endeavor. The business of getting authored works into the hands of the targeted readers, however, is a business and pretty much always has been considered such up to present. Business is both an art and a science, though it typically falls under a third category, namely business, in university. Publishing is widely regarded as a business, or a varying combination of art and science. This was true until self-publishing. So is self-publishing and art, business or science? I believe that self-publishing is more an entrepreneurship, that is, a means to an end, and being neither art, business nor science it probably fits more as a vocation, as might writing, in the end. On the other hand, who cares?
An artist typically receives royalties based on sales more in the nature of a “gig” or independent contractor, with benefits left to the individual to obtain. Businesspersons typically demand and receive a salary with benefits. Self-publishers typically pay fees-for-services and take what they wish or can from what’s left from product sales royalties. But the core issue is much greater.
First, without artists, few advances will occur. Without self-publishers, many advances that would be completely overlooked by society and business will be noticed. Without businesses and the trusted “machinery” of service and sales that drives local, regional, national or international economies, measured growth and consistence would be largely absent.
Second, in this increasingly AI-oriented technological age, where combined “app” machinery is slowly replacing artistry, entreneurship and business, it’s possible that distinctions between the three will not just continue to blur but disappear entirely, as the adverts are wont to say, “to free humanity from the clutches of mental and physical drudgery.” But for what purpose if not art, business or science?
The SciFu world of THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor mirrors for the reader just such a world, answering that question in its own unique way. Love or hate it, I would hold that for most readers, it’s impossible to be indifferent, and in choosing, not reflect on what each individual in today’s world is doing to enable or disable that new world whether it’s in relation to sally (salary), comp (compensation), sex and gender rights, personal freedom, joi de vivre, romance, love, sex, self-actualization, cooperation, recovery or violence. It’s all there to see and experience. One has only to look.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
An artist typically receives royalties based on sales more in the nature of a “gig” or independent contractor, with benefits left to the individual to obtain. Businesspersons typically demand and receive a salary with benefits. Self-publishers typically pay fees-for-services and take what they wish or can from what’s left from product sales royalties. But the core issue is much greater.
First, without artists, few advances will occur. Without self-publishers, many advances that would be completely overlooked by society and business will be noticed. Without businesses and the trusted “machinery” of service and sales that drives local, regional, national or international economies, measured growth and consistence would be largely absent.
Second, in this increasingly AI-oriented technological age, where combined “app” machinery is slowly replacing artistry, entreneurship and business, it’s possible that distinctions between the three will not just continue to blur but disappear entirely, as the adverts are wont to say, “to free humanity from the clutches of mental and physical drudgery.” But for what purpose if not art, business or science?
The SciFu world of THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor mirrors for the reader just such a world, answering that question in its own unique way. Love or hate it, I would hold that for most readers, it’s impossible to be indifferent, and in choosing, not reflect on what each individual in today’s world is doing to enable or disable that new world whether it’s in relation to sally (salary), comp (compensation), sex and gender rights, personal freedom, joi de vivre, romance, love, sex, self-actualization, cooperation, recovery or violence. It’s all there to see and experience. One has only to look.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
February 19, 2021
WHAT’S REALLY IN A GRAIN OF SAND
CALIFORNIA beaches are known all over the world for sun, sand and surf, though these particular winter pandemic days, I would have to say cold sun, sand and surf. Still, I recall sitting on a boulder on a favorite beach south of SanFran, reveling in the momentary warmth of the afternoon sun and pondering an errant grain of sand sticking to the palm of my hand.
That tiny grain, I supposed, had to have come from somewhere other than where I was sitting. My first thought was that it probably came from the Sierra Nevada Mountains, moving through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, washing into the Bay and ending up here. That would make the bit on my hand a tiny eroded part of a rock, which means mostly silica. It could, however, have come from the ocean from ground up sea shells which would make it mostly calcium carbonate. Either way, it’s the end result of ages of slow erosion whether collected at the ocean’s edge or in the inland deserts formed by inland oceans. There was a certain romantic feeling, holding in my hand something that took eons of time to form. A tiny piece of a much greater whole, a planet upon which we live and are solely dependent. In that moment, that single grain felt like a part of a Higher Power or Spirit infusing the very rock upon which I was sitting — a rock flying through the void of space at a reckless 60,000 mph (100,000 km/h), going fast somewhere yet nowhere in particular.
That evening, I surfed the internet to find that the “famous white-sand beaches of Hawaii…actually come from the poop of parrotfish. The fish bite and scrape algae off of rocks and dead corals with their parrot-like beaks, grind up the inedible calcium-carbonate reef material (made mostly of coral skeletons) in their guts, and then excrete it as sand.” I might be holding a fleck of fish poop. So much for romance.
And yet…there’s something about the complex diversity of everything that exists that truly IS romantic, and in much the same way as that felt between two persons who suddenly become acutely aware of each other and a spark of attraction. This greater romance is something I specifically explore and share in my newly released novel THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor. It’s the pleasure one derives from being a complex part of a greater, diverse whole. Taking up where TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese left off, NewAmerica, a shadow of its former United States of America, provides a challenging and dangerous future place for three young firebrands to live.
Total Meltdown: A Tripler and Clarke Adventure
The Edge of Madness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je6CC...
That tiny grain, I supposed, had to have come from somewhere other than where I was sitting. My first thought was that it probably came from the Sierra Nevada Mountains, moving through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, washing into the Bay and ending up here. That would make the bit on my hand a tiny eroded part of a rock, which means mostly silica. It could, however, have come from the ocean from ground up sea shells which would make it mostly calcium carbonate. Either way, it’s the end result of ages of slow erosion whether collected at the ocean’s edge or in the inland deserts formed by inland oceans. There was a certain romantic feeling, holding in my hand something that took eons of time to form. A tiny piece of a much greater whole, a planet upon which we live and are solely dependent. In that moment, that single grain felt like a part of a Higher Power or Spirit infusing the very rock upon which I was sitting — a rock flying through the void of space at a reckless 60,000 mph (100,000 km/h), going fast somewhere yet nowhere in particular.
That evening, I surfed the internet to find that the “famous white-sand beaches of Hawaii…actually come from the poop of parrotfish. The fish bite and scrape algae off of rocks and dead corals with their parrot-like beaks, grind up the inedible calcium-carbonate reef material (made mostly of coral skeletons) in their guts, and then excrete it as sand.” I might be holding a fleck of fish poop. So much for romance.
And yet…there’s something about the complex diversity of everything that exists that truly IS romantic, and in much the same way as that felt between two persons who suddenly become acutely aware of each other and a spark of attraction. This greater romance is something I specifically explore and share in my newly released novel THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor. It’s the pleasure one derives from being a complex part of a greater, diverse whole. Taking up where TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese left off, NewAmerica, a shadow of its former United States of America, provides a challenging and dangerous future place for three young firebrands to live.
Total Meltdown: A Tripler and Clarke Adventure
The Edge of Madness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je6CC...
February 18, 2021
THE GREAT THAW
I don’t know about you, but I feel a thaw in the offing. During the last four years, as business constraints were thrown aside, instead of heat, I felt a coldness, a sort of inhumane coldness begin to permeate everything from business to book to society to government. I was an unpleasant “stuck” feeling that I for one had begun to “adjust” to as if this were the new “normal.” Now I’m feeling, for the first time in years, The Thawing. And it feels so good. I much prefer a humane world where we are challenged to act like stewards of the earth rather than raiders of the most lucre. I sensed a change in business way back in 2009 when, with my friend and author colleague, William Maltese, together wrote the racy LGBTQ novel TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009). It had to do with a tangible national change in emphasis from human service to product sales. In my case, I “felt” the total meltdown of things scientific and/or humanitarian to an avid, national pursuit of money and power. I liken the latter to destructive “games” created by humans to a seething mob hysteria avoid dealing with personal shortcomings and our species inevitable mortality. The thing is, money and power still can’t “save” a person from his or her mortal death. The only immortality humans really have is history or herstory in the form of a literary work.
Total Meltdown: A Tripler and Clarke Adventure
Be it simple happiness at being alive, attraction, romance, love, sex or that feeling of being part of something greater than oneself, literature still offers us an escape from mortal death, whether author or reader. And that’s what THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor is. My contribution to humanity. A vision of a future that humans can like, accept and grow into, or dislike, reject and remake. And it’s mystory as well. Oh, yes. The challenges that the three protagonists — two male, one female — face are challenges I’ve had to face and overcome as best I can in my own life. That’s, I hope, what makes the futuristic storyline “feel” so surprisingly contemporary and “real.” And I do have the privilege of having created and offering a new genre — that of SciFu or Sci-Fu, essentially science-based future studies — that will contribute directly to the future of my species, the world, my universe and the multiverse.
The Edge of Madness
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
Total Meltdown: A Tripler and Clarke Adventure
Be it simple happiness at being alive, attraction, romance, love, sex or that feeling of being part of something greater than oneself, literature still offers us an escape from mortal death, whether author or reader. And that’s what THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor is. My contribution to humanity. A vision of a future that humans can like, accept and grow into, or dislike, reject and remake. And it’s mystory as well. Oh, yes. The challenges that the three protagonists — two male, one female — face are challenges I’ve had to face and overcome as best I can in my own life. That’s, I hope, what makes the futuristic storyline “feel” so surprisingly contemporary and “real.” And I do have the privilege of having created and offering a new genre — that of SciFu or Sci-Fu, essentially science-based future studies — that will contribute directly to the future of my species, the world, my universe and the multiverse.
The Edge of Madness
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
February 17, 2021
THE BLACK HOLE AT THE CENTER OF ALL LITERATURE
I WAS reading theories about the Ninth/Tenth planet today. You know, that heretofore missing or perhaps even invisible something that seems to be effecting many smaller planetoids in the distant fringes of our solar system. The newest idea is that it might be a black hole. Not the usual stellar or supermassive type, but a primordial black hole. A little guy or gal maybe the size of an orange? Why not? “There are more [and weirder] things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy” as Shakespeare’s Hamlet is wont to say.
The latest emerging idea is that black holes may be what holds our universe together in thrall. No one’s yet “seen” a primordial black hole, but I like the thought of our universe being manipulated and possibly constrained by an orange-sized black hole. It fits with my own literary observation that one prerequisite of a great published work is the exceptional cohesiveness of a well-ordered storyline. Think for a moment on what makes the Harry Potter series so enthralling. I think it’s that little tiny black hole at its center that singularly binds the plot together and ultimately makes it seem “real.” A little far-fetched? Maybe, but I do believe it to be there, if not formally observable, and that one of an author’s jobs is to somehow create that little black hole that binds together and brings the story to life.
In THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor, I’ve always felt it is its calling out of a new genre: that of Sci-Fu or science-based future studies. Sci-Fu, by being science-based and casting working science into a plausible future, provides readers with more than just fiction or fantasy. It provides a future mirror for readers to look into and see how the world will likely be if science, society, politics and individuals proceed as they have in the past. Not alt-history (or alt-herstory) as Sci-Fu hasn’t yet happened so there can be no alternative as such. But it is a scientifically plausible projection of what we know today into the future. It’s power, if written with an orange-sized primordial black hole at it’s center “bringing it to life,” is that it provides readers more than just entertainment. It brings to light real choices to affect our collective and individual future that might otherwise be missed.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
The latest emerging idea is that black holes may be what holds our universe together in thrall. No one’s yet “seen” a primordial black hole, but I like the thought of our universe being manipulated and possibly constrained by an orange-sized black hole. It fits with my own literary observation that one prerequisite of a great published work is the exceptional cohesiveness of a well-ordered storyline. Think for a moment on what makes the Harry Potter series so enthralling. I think it’s that little tiny black hole at its center that singularly binds the plot together and ultimately makes it seem “real.” A little far-fetched? Maybe, but I do believe it to be there, if not formally observable, and that one of an author’s jobs is to somehow create that little black hole that binds together and brings the story to life.
In THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor, I’ve always felt it is its calling out of a new genre: that of Sci-Fu or science-based future studies. Sci-Fu, by being science-based and casting working science into a plausible future, provides readers with more than just fiction or fantasy. It provides a future mirror for readers to look into and see how the world will likely be if science, society, politics and individuals proceed as they have in the past. Not alt-history (or alt-herstory) as Sci-Fu hasn’t yet happened so there can be no alternative as such. But it is a scientifically plausible projection of what we know today into the future. It’s power, if written with an orange-sized primordial black hole at it’s center “bringing it to life,” is that it provides readers more than just entertainment. It brings to light real choices to affect our collective and individual future that might otherwise be missed.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
February 16, 2021
THE MOST IMPORTANT ELEMENT OF AN OUTSTANDING BOOK
SURELY in the course of authoring and reading, the question has come to you as to what makes a book truly outstanding irrespective of genre. Be it a romance, bodice ripper, science fiction/fantasy/futuring, love, war, viiolence, social or political treatise, autobiography, biography, thriller, action/adventure — doesn’t matter. What is it that elevated a book to an outstanding work? My answer: tenderness.
Tenderness is a mark of empathy. Walking in another’s shoes. It’s the start of forgiveness and a step towards reclaiming life and the future that life holds. Doesn’t matter when (past, present, future or alt history), where in the universe or even another universe entirely, or who (human, animal, plant, spirit or even inanimate object). The element that transforms a mere bound sheaf of pages or digital file into something great is tenderness. It’s at the very heart of being. We can live without just about everything except some tenderness.
THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor is a lot of unique elements, but most important of all it isn’t dystopian (or utopian either), it simply includes wholly transformative moments of tenderness, that, I believe, also make it seem 3-D real. It’s what brings the reader to hope and cheer for the protagonists irrespective of how dangerous or uncertain their world. I invite readers to respond to this post with one of several moments of tenderness found in my new book and whether it made, as I suggest and hope, the book a great read.
The Edge of Madness
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
Tenderness is a mark of empathy. Walking in another’s shoes. It’s the start of forgiveness and a step towards reclaiming life and the future that life holds. Doesn’t matter when (past, present, future or alt history), where in the universe or even another universe entirely, or who (human, animal, plant, spirit or even inanimate object). The element that transforms a mere bound sheaf of pages or digital file into something great is tenderness. It’s at the very heart of being. We can live without just about everything except some tenderness.
THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor is a lot of unique elements, but most important of all it isn’t dystopian (or utopian either), it simply includes wholly transformative moments of tenderness, that, I believe, also make it seem 3-D real. It’s what brings the reader to hope and cheer for the protagonists irrespective of how dangerous or uncertain their world. I invite readers to respond to this post with one of several moments of tenderness found in my new book and whether it made, as I suggest and hope, the book a great read.
The Edge of Madness
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
February 14, 2021
ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE?
AS an avid student of M-Superstring and Multiverse Theory (MSMT) I have a great personal as well as literary interest in whether this fourth attempted “proof” of truth within the potential Unified Field Theory it constructs is legitimate, the other three being authority (the oldest), science (repeatabilty) and statistics. All three “classical” proofs have caveats. Will MSMT be the one without caveats? Will it provide the final explanations of our reality as we live within and experience it?
If there’s one thing I can state without equivocation, THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor is my literary attempt at exploring exactly those questions, not just within the world of theoretical cosmic-and-quantum physics, but within the realms of affection, romance, love, sex and, yes, anxiety and death. A big task, admittedly, but I’ve taken my leap into the cold, rushing waters and I think you will agree with me successfully swum against the current and reached the other side. And, that other side is “Prophesy,” the sequel, that delves ever further into the core of MSMT and its implications, manifestations and intrusions in “everyday” reality. But don’t just take my word for it, join me at the very edge of madness and let’s peer together into the abyss. Scary? Maybe, but every good thriller should evoke a little anxiety and fear.
My newest MSMT explorations are in the areas of birth, psychosis, the soul and death, all three of which take on a uniquely new meaning bordering on something like Hindu/Buddhist reincarnation but into different, quite “real” universes, and it’s these issues that will be tackled in “Prophesy.” How’s it coming? The work is rapidly evolving into four seemingly disparate stories that, in the end, prove to be one story that helps the three protagonists in THE EDGE OF MADNESS resolve an otherwise seeming unresolvable problem. Sorry, don’t believe in spoilers, so you’ll just have to enjoy reading the querulous, LGBT “naughty” first book, TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese and the second, yet again “naughty” LGBT book, THE EDGE OF MADNESS, while waiting patiently for “Prophesy.”
Total Meltdown: A Tripler and Clarke Adventure
The Edge of Madness
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
If there’s one thing I can state without equivocation, THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor is my literary attempt at exploring exactly those questions, not just within the world of theoretical cosmic-and-quantum physics, but within the realms of affection, romance, love, sex and, yes, anxiety and death. A big task, admittedly, but I’ve taken my leap into the cold, rushing waters and I think you will agree with me successfully swum against the current and reached the other side. And, that other side is “Prophesy,” the sequel, that delves ever further into the core of MSMT and its implications, manifestations and intrusions in “everyday” reality. But don’t just take my word for it, join me at the very edge of madness and let’s peer together into the abyss. Scary? Maybe, but every good thriller should evoke a little anxiety and fear.
My newest MSMT explorations are in the areas of birth, psychosis, the soul and death, all three of which take on a uniquely new meaning bordering on something like Hindu/Buddhist reincarnation but into different, quite “real” universes, and it’s these issues that will be tackled in “Prophesy.” How’s it coming? The work is rapidly evolving into four seemingly disparate stories that, in the end, prove to be one story that helps the three protagonists in THE EDGE OF MADNESS resolve an otherwise seeming unresolvable problem. Sorry, don’t believe in spoilers, so you’ll just have to enjoy reading the querulous, LGBT “naughty” first book, TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese and the second, yet again “naughty” LGBT book, THE EDGE OF MADNESS, while waiting patiently for “Prophesy.”
Total Meltdown: A Tripler and Clarke Adventure
The Edge of Madness
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
February 13, 2021
I WOULD HAVE NEVER GUESSED…
THERE’S something about a good thriller that keeps me on edge to the end. Alfred Hitchcock once said, “Mystery is when the spectator knows less than the characters…Suspense is when the spectator knows more…” So which would my new thriller, THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor be? Mystery, suspense…or both? I’m going to make the case for both. Initially it’s a mystery novel, but quickly changes into a suspense novel featuring hot bromance, romance and drama. Place all that against a backdrop of socio-political unrest, move the capital to Chicago, and you have a LGBTQ-spiked work that, well, aside from the backdrop will sound surprisingly contemporary to some and uncomfortably futuristic to others. Either way, THE EDGE OF MADNESS will keep you on the edge to the end. Try it, you’ll like it!
The Edge of Madness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je6CC...
The Edge of Madness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je6CC...
February 12, 2021
AS YET UNWRITTEN
I’M often asked how to write a novel. That is, how does one go about it? Is it all about planning, using the right writer program or software, going to college and taking creative writing courses, kibitizing with readers, writers and authors, participating in writers’ conferences…in short, from whence does a story come? From literally decades of authoring, I’ve come to realize that my best stories come from “inside” but only when they’re ready. All the “tricks” people often tout to encourage the story to “come out,” are exactly that. And they generally don’t result in the quality story to which I continually aspire. While waiting, I do research. Sometimes a couple weeks as with QUANTUM DEATH (Savant 2016) with A. G. Hayes, sometimes years of research as with “The Sword of Kamehameha” manuscript that I’ve begun and am eager to finish. Either way, my “job” as an author of books is to continuously explore life with unbounded eagerness, relax and let my unconscious mind “do its thing.” No wine before its time.
Having said that, when ready, the stories come to me mostly in “off” moments, like when I’m awaking (I keep a pen and pad at my bedside) or during the twilight hours of a day. My job is to write (these days type) as fast as I can to capture all of what my subconscious is “dumping” me before my conscious mind takes over. My friend and colleague A. G. Hayes says his characters “talk to him” when they’re ready to be recorded on paper. Ready to assume a digital life, so to speak. In a spiritual sort of way, it’s all about when the story is ready to become reality. The impetus for me always comes from inside, but only when it’s ready. And that takes a lot of patience on my part, something some authors have called “writer’s block,” and I have never experienced with my approach.
While the creative moment is mostly intrinsic, once it’s on paper, everything becomes conscious. I’m no Mozart. My stories aren’t perfect from the start. I’ve been known to edit my initial manuscripts ten or even twenty times, moving from content to sentence to word level until I think I’ve crafted a perfect manuscript. Samuel Clemens (“Mark Twain”) once said ““The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter. ’tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” Only when a manuscript is perfect down to the word level, do I work on a synopsis, pitch and submit it to a couple publishers whom I’ve identified as being the “right home” in terms of readership. It’s all about making certain the submitted manuscript is a totally engaging, “easy read” like an unobstructed stream flowing down a hillside.
One caveat: I do sometimes write short works, relying fully on my conscious abilities, mainly when I’m targeting a particular readership right from the beginning. For example, a blog post, magazine article or short story. But my novels aren’t consciously directed at a particular readership, despite the fact that many well-known professional novelists begin with a targeted readership. What I find is that my style of creativity often cuts across or defines new genres, which may or may not be good for sales. Certainly THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor is an example of the latter, a socio-techno-political Sci-Fu (science-based future study) thriller with all the human accoutrements of emotionally-laden romance, love, lust and sex. Go figure.
Quantum Death
The Edge of Madness
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
Having said that, when ready, the stories come to me mostly in “off” moments, like when I’m awaking (I keep a pen and pad at my bedside) or during the twilight hours of a day. My job is to write (these days type) as fast as I can to capture all of what my subconscious is “dumping” me before my conscious mind takes over. My friend and colleague A. G. Hayes says his characters “talk to him” when they’re ready to be recorded on paper. Ready to assume a digital life, so to speak. In a spiritual sort of way, it’s all about when the story is ready to become reality. The impetus for me always comes from inside, but only when it’s ready. And that takes a lot of patience on my part, something some authors have called “writer’s block,” and I have never experienced with my approach.
While the creative moment is mostly intrinsic, once it’s on paper, everything becomes conscious. I’m no Mozart. My stories aren’t perfect from the start. I’ve been known to edit my initial manuscripts ten or even twenty times, moving from content to sentence to word level until I think I’ve crafted a perfect manuscript. Samuel Clemens (“Mark Twain”) once said ““The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter. ’tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” Only when a manuscript is perfect down to the word level, do I work on a synopsis, pitch and submit it to a couple publishers whom I’ve identified as being the “right home” in terms of readership. It’s all about making certain the submitted manuscript is a totally engaging, “easy read” like an unobstructed stream flowing down a hillside.
One caveat: I do sometimes write short works, relying fully on my conscious abilities, mainly when I’m targeting a particular readership right from the beginning. For example, a blog post, magazine article or short story. But my novels aren’t consciously directed at a particular readership, despite the fact that many well-known professional novelists begin with a targeted readership. What I find is that my style of creativity often cuts across or defines new genres, which may or may not be good for sales. Certainly THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor is an example of the latter, a socio-techno-political Sci-Fu (science-based future study) thriller with all the human accoutrements of emotionally-laden romance, love, lust and sex. Go figure.
Quantum Death
The Edge of Madness
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
