Raymond Gaynor's Blog, page 47
January 21, 2021
MELODIA CRUMP AND A TALE OF TWO CITIES
MELODIA CRUMP AND A TALE OF TWO CITIES
AN admittedly thinly veiled reference to, well, you-know-who, about you-know-what, I’ll give you that. Still, there is so much meaning rolled into that imaginary name and character, who, much more than any conspiracy theories anyone has been able to come up with, no matter how outlandish, proved the greatest disappointment for me. There was a time when I thought — imagined, I’m forced to admit — wearing what seemed like a cry-for-help shirt, I imagined a female hero standing up against lies, deceit and, what has come to appear more and more like plain old organized crime. Sad to discover more recently that it was all a wishful misunderstanding. Another chapter in a tale of two cities, two realities as different from one another as night and day.
In THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor, a plausible future study of the result of a TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese, affords a peek at a “second city,” a day to the night of a Dark Age introduced in the novel and not surprisingly in our contemporary world. “Recovery,” whatever it is to be, won’t be, in my personal opinion as well as author’s story a simple “return to normal.” The present flows like a river to which one can return to a favored shore but never retouch the same water. It’s always a “brave new world” that greets us, every day, every hour, every moment, and, 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.
Set in a near future that, in many ways, closely mirrors our contemporary time and world, THE EDGE OF MADNESS explores the evolving relationships between three friends, all of whom know little to nothing about their past and even less about their futures. What they do know is that each is individually unusually gifted: Rob, an uber-conscious male with an enhanced sense of smell; Frann, an ostentatious gay male with Olympian physique; and Andry, a brilliant moon-child and professional acronymeur with a taste for magic, Wicca…and her two male friends.
THE EDGE OF MADNESS is an exploration of a possible future, where every hedonistic pleasure is available — if one can afford it. People work in order to purchase the newest technologies promising ultimate pleasure. But as in Aldous Huxley’s BRAVE NEW WORLD and George Orwell’s 1984, citizens are watched carefully by emotionless “Enforcers” who show up anytime unusual events occur.
Like Huxley and Orwell’s works, THE EDGE OF MADNESS has something to say about almost everything present and future. But it’s also a romance, bromance, love triangle and a coming-of-age story of three youths in a future where anything and everything goes. The ultimate question for them and, I suggest for us today, is: Can true love or sanity be found in such a world?
This story will make some excited about what the future may hold while others may recoil at a world of such extremes. Either way, it’s an engaging ride in a world where, for example, teachers and students appear holographically together in instructional classrooms while remaining safely at home, begging the question of what, if anything, in this future world is “real.” Put on your CandyShades, breathe in a little ContraSpray and settle back for a T-rip like never before.
The Edge of Madness
Total Meltdown: A Tripler and Clarke Adventure
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je6CC...
AN admittedly thinly veiled reference to, well, you-know-who, about you-know-what, I’ll give you that. Still, there is so much meaning rolled into that imaginary name and character, who, much more than any conspiracy theories anyone has been able to come up with, no matter how outlandish, proved the greatest disappointment for me. There was a time when I thought — imagined, I’m forced to admit — wearing what seemed like a cry-for-help shirt, I imagined a female hero standing up against lies, deceit and, what has come to appear more and more like plain old organized crime. Sad to discover more recently that it was all a wishful misunderstanding. Another chapter in a tale of two cities, two realities as different from one another as night and day.
In THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor, a plausible future study of the result of a TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese, affords a peek at a “second city,” a day to the night of a Dark Age introduced in the novel and not surprisingly in our contemporary world. “Recovery,” whatever it is to be, won’t be, in my personal opinion as well as author’s story a simple “return to normal.” The present flows like a river to which one can return to a favored shore but never retouch the same water. It’s always a “brave new world” that greets us, every day, every hour, every moment, and, 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.
Set in a near future that, in many ways, closely mirrors our contemporary time and world, THE EDGE OF MADNESS explores the evolving relationships between three friends, all of whom know little to nothing about their past and even less about their futures. What they do know is that each is individually unusually gifted: Rob, an uber-conscious male with an enhanced sense of smell; Frann, an ostentatious gay male with Olympian physique; and Andry, a brilliant moon-child and professional acronymeur with a taste for magic, Wicca…and her two male friends.
THE EDGE OF MADNESS is an exploration of a possible future, where every hedonistic pleasure is available — if one can afford it. People work in order to purchase the newest technologies promising ultimate pleasure. But as in Aldous Huxley’s BRAVE NEW WORLD and George Orwell’s 1984, citizens are watched carefully by emotionless “Enforcers” who show up anytime unusual events occur.
Like Huxley and Orwell’s works, THE EDGE OF MADNESS has something to say about almost everything present and future. But it’s also a romance, bromance, love triangle and a coming-of-age story of three youths in a future where anything and everything goes. The ultimate question for them and, I suggest for us today, is: Can true love or sanity be found in such a world?
This story will make some excited about what the future may hold while others may recoil at a world of such extremes. Either way, it’s an engaging ride in a world where, for example, teachers and students appear holographically together in instructional classrooms while remaining safely at home, begging the question of what, if anything, in this future world is “real.” Put on your CandyShades, breathe in a little ContraSpray and settle back for a T-rip like never before.
The Edge of Madness
Total Meltdown: A Tripler and Clarke Adventure
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je6CC...
January 20, 2021
CHRONIC STRESS
WE’VE all, more or less, been struggling for some time with chronic stress. You know:
irritability and impulsivity, which can be extreme.
general tiredness, malaise and fatigue.
anxiety, fear, hopelessness, depression, psychosis
headaches, often described as “migraines” though often caused by muscles in “charley horse” spasm difficult to identify and release.
muscle aches, pains, and tenseness.
inability to concentrate.
rapid, disorganized thoughts.
difficulty sleeping.
digestive upset including lack of taste, “sour stomach,” diarrhea, constipation, and nausea.
chest pain and rapid heartbeat.
decreased immunity to bacteria and viruses.
activation or reactivation of autoimmune diseases, including diabetes, bursitis, arthritis and skin diseases.
loss of sexual desire and/or ability.
It’s time to sigh with relief, let go of all that chronic stress and let the proverbial healing take place. The hardest thing, in my experience, is letting go of it. Especially when it was associated with obsession — like my own felt need to checked four different news channels and constantly truth-check anything on social media. In a Liar’s World, as lies increasingly become “truths,” the very fabric of reality falls out from underneath. Free-fall can be a terrifying place from which to try to take a stand.
In THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor, I explore how humans as a whole might plausibly react to a TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese. What results is what every generation experiences as it releases power to the next: a quixotic seeming world with new rules and morals that reflect the new generation’s experiences, hopes, needs, wants and desires. And usually the new generation inhabits and expands on that new world, making a return to the “old ways” little more than history and old folks’ memories. The point is, whether its about empathy, forgiveness, romance, love, gender roles, violation, violence or sex, it’s a new world with new and at least to some exciting possibilities. I’ve often said I want to be the one that lives what so many others have died for. And that’s exactly what my three protagonists do: Live! Boldly, with joy in their hearts as they explore the new world of their own making.
THE EDGE OF MADNESS is available as a printed book from The Publisher’s Store and all four Savant Bookstores — Atlantic, Midwest, Pacific and Honolulu — at 10% off and free shipping within the USA using “ONLINE” coupon code at checkout, as well as from the Book Depository — with free shipping worldwide, and in “instant-delivery” ebook format from Amazon and GooglePlay.
The Edge of Madness
Total Meltdown: A Tripler and Clarke Adventure
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je6CC...
irritability and impulsivity, which can be extreme.
general tiredness, malaise and fatigue.
anxiety, fear, hopelessness, depression, psychosis
headaches, often described as “migraines” though often caused by muscles in “charley horse” spasm difficult to identify and release.
muscle aches, pains, and tenseness.
inability to concentrate.
rapid, disorganized thoughts.
difficulty sleeping.
digestive upset including lack of taste, “sour stomach,” diarrhea, constipation, and nausea.
chest pain and rapid heartbeat.
decreased immunity to bacteria and viruses.
activation or reactivation of autoimmune diseases, including diabetes, bursitis, arthritis and skin diseases.
loss of sexual desire and/or ability.
It’s time to sigh with relief, let go of all that chronic stress and let the proverbial healing take place. The hardest thing, in my experience, is letting go of it. Especially when it was associated with obsession — like my own felt need to checked four different news channels and constantly truth-check anything on social media. In a Liar’s World, as lies increasingly become “truths,” the very fabric of reality falls out from underneath. Free-fall can be a terrifying place from which to try to take a stand.
In THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor, I explore how humans as a whole might plausibly react to a TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese. What results is what every generation experiences as it releases power to the next: a quixotic seeming world with new rules and morals that reflect the new generation’s experiences, hopes, needs, wants and desires. And usually the new generation inhabits and expands on that new world, making a return to the “old ways” little more than history and old folks’ memories. The point is, whether its about empathy, forgiveness, romance, love, gender roles, violation, violence or sex, it’s a new world with new and at least to some exciting possibilities. I’ve often said I want to be the one that lives what so many others have died for. And that’s exactly what my three protagonists do: Live! Boldly, with joy in their hearts as they explore the new world of their own making.
THE EDGE OF MADNESS is available as a printed book from The Publisher’s Store and all four Savant Bookstores — Atlantic, Midwest, Pacific and Honolulu — at 10% off and free shipping within the USA using “ONLINE” coupon code at checkout, as well as from the Book Depository — with free shipping worldwide, and in “instant-delivery” ebook format from Amazon and GooglePlay.
The Edge of Madness
Total Meltdown: A Tripler and Clarke Adventure
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je6CC...
January 19, 2021
WE COULD ALL USE A STIFF DRINK OF CHOCOLATE…
WITH things finally simmering down after years of fake news and a surprise assault on democracy, it’s time to let go of all the chronic stress and begin resetting our mental idle. Personally, I’m having trouble remembering what it was like PT (pre-Trump; the new system of denoting time rapidly replacing BC and BCE). I think it was somewhat boring. Most distressing, I can’t completely recall what that felt like. You know, waking up and not having to read four or more different news channels to see what might really be true, and what dastard changes might be brewing. Not doing that morning and evening feels, well, odd. Not “normally” boring, at least not yet.
So what can we mortals do about letting go of chronic stress? I make a point of smiling at my face in the mirror when I wake up and begin my morning (previously, mourning) ablutions. I repeat my mantra: “Today is just another day” over and over until I feel my inner self begin to relax. I try to maintain a positive outlook (even as my body screams, “Be careful! You never know what nefarious thing will happen next!”). I exercise even though my body seems slothfully slow and resistant. I dance with my partner at home and allow myself to feel joy at simply moving together. I get my weekly obligate massage, even though my my mind keeps warning me to save my money and not to spend it on frivolities when the future is still so uncertain. I brew some thick hot chocolate and force myself to sip it over the morning and let my body feel its effects: I do believe the Mayan and Aztec’s new something that we’re only now re-discovering. Namely, the supposed elixir of knowledge and wisdom also seems to induce “good emotions” that, it is my understanding, come from it quite possibly inducing all four major neurotransmitters: dopamine for fantasy; serotonin for experiencing; oxytocin for closeness and endorphins for just plane feeling good. And, really, I can’t think of anything I need more at this time than just plane feeling good.
Interestingly, in my newly released THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor, I posit that coffee and tea will be replaced by Japanese azuki [and by implication, its predecessor chocolate]. So, if you prefer to be more “modern,” then I recommend a stiff drink of hot, brewed, dark-roasted azuki bean. It would presumably do the same. And we could all use some of that “same old, same old” trusting feeling, couldn’t we? A little empathy, romance, love, companionship, trust and convivial sex, I believe, wouldn’t much hurt either.
The Edge of Madness
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
So what can we mortals do about letting go of chronic stress? I make a point of smiling at my face in the mirror when I wake up and begin my morning (previously, mourning) ablutions. I repeat my mantra: “Today is just another day” over and over until I feel my inner self begin to relax. I try to maintain a positive outlook (even as my body screams, “Be careful! You never know what nefarious thing will happen next!”). I exercise even though my body seems slothfully slow and resistant. I dance with my partner at home and allow myself to feel joy at simply moving together. I get my weekly obligate massage, even though my my mind keeps warning me to save my money and not to spend it on frivolities when the future is still so uncertain. I brew some thick hot chocolate and force myself to sip it over the morning and let my body feel its effects: I do believe the Mayan and Aztec’s new something that we’re only now re-discovering. Namely, the supposed elixir of knowledge and wisdom also seems to induce “good emotions” that, it is my understanding, come from it quite possibly inducing all four major neurotransmitters: dopamine for fantasy; serotonin for experiencing; oxytocin for closeness and endorphins for just plane feeling good. And, really, I can’t think of anything I need more at this time than just plane feeling good.
Interestingly, in my newly released THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor, I posit that coffee and tea will be replaced by Japanese azuki [and by implication, its predecessor chocolate]. So, if you prefer to be more “modern,” then I recommend a stiff drink of hot, brewed, dark-roasted azuki bean. It would presumably do the same. And we could all use some of that “same old, same old” trusting feeling, couldn’t we? A little empathy, romance, love, companionship, trust and convivial sex, I believe, wouldn’t much hurt either.
The Edge of Madness
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
January 18, 2021
ROMANCE
WHEN I began my authoring career, my first editor said, “Raymond, if you want to be a mainstream author, you need to know how to write violence and sex,” meaning, they might be exceptionally challenging to write about. In fact, violence and sex are everywhere, often together these days. What I found easiest was writing about violence and sex, and most challenging writing romance. Okay, you might say, that’s because Raymond’s a he. However, to be honest, I find most men and women I know equally romantic. Again, you might retort, that’s because Raymond’s bi. That one’s a bit harder to discount, but irrespective of inclination, I find romance everywhere alongside the more in-your-face violence and occasionally ribald sex.
For more clarity, I turned to my trusty dictionary, to find that romance (definition one) is “a feeling of excitement and mystery associated with love.” Okay, I get it. Romance is supposed to lead to that elusive state of being called love, which is assumed to lead to lust and ultimately sex, which, if you take the position that people are inherently dangerous, means at least the possibility of violence, or, if nothing else, violation. Or, if neither, then the issue of trust. But there’s also definition two: “a quality or feeling of mystery, excitement, and remoteness from everyday life.” Now that one I can wrap my heart and mind around. As an author, I’ve always loved writing about mystery and excitement, and from my bio (and I quote) “the multi-award-winning, reclusive writer-artist-photographer-videographer, who, in his own words, ‘lives and breathes’ San Francisco” — surely implying a well-established remoteness from everyday life. So, I am a romantic!
In fact, I’ve always held that it’s the third part of definition two that more than anything else categorizes romance, if you, like me, are of the opinion that romance is a situation outside everyday life. That is to a large extent what makes it exciting and mysterious, whether associated with actual lust, love and sex or not. A torn bodice may be just that. It doesn’t necessarily lead to lust, love and sex, but there is that ever-present, deep-seated desire, hope, expectation — whatever you want to call it — of something more that makes it romantic. Romance is a nether world, or maybe better, simply an exception to everyday life, holding within it the faint but heart-wrenching promise of something even more exciting and mysterious.
Call me existential, but I think that’s a pretty good way of viewing and authoring romance. It’s all about tapping into that basic human need, want and desire to not be alone in this world, given that much of the “everyday life” is mostly alone. While we were being born, we were overwhelmingly alone, though once born it was generally into warm human arms. When we die, everyone knows in their deepest of hearts that we die alone. It’s romance that gives us that much needed feeling of companionship, with the possibility of something even more exciting, mysterious and comforting that gives meaning to life. I tried to convey this in my newly released novel, THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor, that begins with being born from a baby’s unique perspective and unfolds through childhood, adolescence and young adulthood in a future world, not unlike our dis-integrating current world — “a challenging and dangerous future place for three young firebrands to live.” Call it danger or romance or both, it’s all about our deepest hopes, fears and desires — the very fabric of life that clothes our everyday mundane existence and makes life worth living.
The Edge of Madness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je6CC...
For more clarity, I turned to my trusty dictionary, to find that romance (definition one) is “a feeling of excitement and mystery associated with love.” Okay, I get it. Romance is supposed to lead to that elusive state of being called love, which is assumed to lead to lust and ultimately sex, which, if you take the position that people are inherently dangerous, means at least the possibility of violence, or, if nothing else, violation. Or, if neither, then the issue of trust. But there’s also definition two: “a quality or feeling of mystery, excitement, and remoteness from everyday life.” Now that one I can wrap my heart and mind around. As an author, I’ve always loved writing about mystery and excitement, and from my bio (and I quote) “the multi-award-winning, reclusive writer-artist-photographer-videographer, who, in his own words, ‘lives and breathes’ San Francisco” — surely implying a well-established remoteness from everyday life. So, I am a romantic!
In fact, I’ve always held that it’s the third part of definition two that more than anything else categorizes romance, if you, like me, are of the opinion that romance is a situation outside everyday life. That is to a large extent what makes it exciting and mysterious, whether associated with actual lust, love and sex or not. A torn bodice may be just that. It doesn’t necessarily lead to lust, love and sex, but there is that ever-present, deep-seated desire, hope, expectation — whatever you want to call it — of something more that makes it romantic. Romance is a nether world, or maybe better, simply an exception to everyday life, holding within it the faint but heart-wrenching promise of something even more exciting and mysterious.
Call me existential, but I think that’s a pretty good way of viewing and authoring romance. It’s all about tapping into that basic human need, want and desire to not be alone in this world, given that much of the “everyday life” is mostly alone. While we were being born, we were overwhelmingly alone, though once born it was generally into warm human arms. When we die, everyone knows in their deepest of hearts that we die alone. It’s romance that gives us that much needed feeling of companionship, with the possibility of something even more exciting, mysterious and comforting that gives meaning to life. I tried to convey this in my newly released novel, THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor, that begins with being born from a baby’s unique perspective and unfolds through childhood, adolescence and young adulthood in a future world, not unlike our dis-integrating current world — “a challenging and dangerous future place for three young firebrands to live.” Call it danger or romance or both, it’s all about our deepest hopes, fears and desires — the very fabric of life that clothes our everyday mundane existence and makes life worth living.
The Edge of Madness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je6CC...
January 16, 2021
THE SECOND PASSOVER
OKAY now, everyone has heard of the Passover, right? Passover marks the exodus of the Children of Israel from slavery, when God “passed over” their houses during the last and deadliest of the ten plagues. By second passover (notedly uncapitalized), I mean the exodus of readers, passing over reading for something else. This second passover may be equally or even more pervasive than the first.
Please forgive me if I’ve offended anyone with my of-beat humor. However, the fact, or issue, is a real one, at least to authors, who, like me, are wondering where all the readers are these days. At several times in his (or her)story, books were banned and those recalcitrant individuals that held they would read them anyway were likewise vilified. In FAHRENHEIT 451, books were burned outright, and readers had to flee for their lives. But these days, books aren’t being banned or burnt (in general at least) so where are all the avid readers of yesteryear?
I’ve visited numerous social media sites, some of which claim to have “millions” of dedicated readers, but when I’ve participated — like checking to see how many reader comments resulted from a particularly cogent post — I’m surprised to often see not one. More than often, actually. My sensitivity surrounding this issue began when ebooks first appeared. I noticed with chagrin that people who bought my ebooks, unlike those who purchased a printed copy, hardly ever posted a review. Hardly ever mentioned the work anywhere even. It made me inquire of some of my younger friends enamored with ebooks, only to find some, maybe the majority, “collecting” works found at bargain prices “for future reading.” Interesting. So at least some of the elusive “readers” exist in the future rather than present…
Okay, so I have to admit that it might just be that my works aren’t for everyone. Toddlers wouldn’t likely find THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor very interesting, except to maybe chew a page. And readers with a penchant for the “good old days” might find this and some of my other Sci-Fu (science-based futuring) works a bit too “out there.” Still, there must be some readers, somewhere who would appreciate an “enduring literary work ‘with a twist’ that expands one’s point-of-view.” Actually, many ‘twists’ rather than one. But who, I keep wondering hasn’t ever wanted to peek into the not-just-probable, but fully plausible future?
So what am I saying? Where are all those perported readers? Hey, I just recalled: I’M A READER! So where am I? Certainly not searching the advertisement-saturated internet for the next great promotional read. I’m here, hunkered down, re-reading my favorite books already in hand, hoping the plague won’t get past my lintel.
Sincerely, Raymond Gaynor — Author of THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020); Co-author with A. G. Hayes of QUANTUM DEATH (Savant 2016) and with William Maltese of TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009).
Author website at https://garymartine.yolasite.com/raym...
Author Facebook site at https://www.facebook.com/raymond.gayn...
Author Twitter site at https://www.savantbooksandpublication...
Amazon Author page at https://www.amazon.com/Raymond-Gaynor...
Amazon Goodreads author page at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Savant Books and Publications | Aignos Publishing author page at https://www.savantbooksandpublication...
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
Please forgive me if I’ve offended anyone with my of-beat humor. However, the fact, or issue, is a real one, at least to authors, who, like me, are wondering where all the readers are these days. At several times in his (or her)story, books were banned and those recalcitrant individuals that held they would read them anyway were likewise vilified. In FAHRENHEIT 451, books were burned outright, and readers had to flee for their lives. But these days, books aren’t being banned or burnt (in general at least) so where are all the avid readers of yesteryear?
I’ve visited numerous social media sites, some of which claim to have “millions” of dedicated readers, but when I’ve participated — like checking to see how many reader comments resulted from a particularly cogent post — I’m surprised to often see not one. More than often, actually. My sensitivity surrounding this issue began when ebooks first appeared. I noticed with chagrin that people who bought my ebooks, unlike those who purchased a printed copy, hardly ever posted a review. Hardly ever mentioned the work anywhere even. It made me inquire of some of my younger friends enamored with ebooks, only to find some, maybe the majority, “collecting” works found at bargain prices “for future reading.” Interesting. So at least some of the elusive “readers” exist in the future rather than present…
Okay, so I have to admit that it might just be that my works aren’t for everyone. Toddlers wouldn’t likely find THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor very interesting, except to maybe chew a page. And readers with a penchant for the “good old days” might find this and some of my other Sci-Fu (science-based futuring) works a bit too “out there.” Still, there must be some readers, somewhere who would appreciate an “enduring literary work ‘with a twist’ that expands one’s point-of-view.” Actually, many ‘twists’ rather than one. But who, I keep wondering hasn’t ever wanted to peek into the not-just-probable, but fully plausible future?
So what am I saying? Where are all those perported readers? Hey, I just recalled: I’M A READER! So where am I? Certainly not searching the advertisement-saturated internet for the next great promotional read. I’m here, hunkered down, re-reading my favorite books already in hand, hoping the plague won’t get past my lintel.
Sincerely, Raymond Gaynor — Author of THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020); Co-author with A. G. Hayes of QUANTUM DEATH (Savant 2016) and with William Maltese of TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009).
Author website at https://garymartine.yolasite.com/raym...
Author Facebook site at https://www.facebook.com/raymond.gayn...
Author Twitter site at https://www.savantbooksandpublication...
Amazon Author page at https://www.amazon.com/Raymond-Gaynor...
Amazon Goodreads author page at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Savant Books and Publications | Aignos Publishing author page at https://www.savantbooksandpublication...
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
January 15, 2021
THE WRITE STUFF
I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of — exhausted really by — all the political going’s on, and as an author, I miss talking about literary topics. In fact, I sorely miss conversing with readers and other authors, and so this post will NOT be about anything political. Or social. Or ethical. Or patriotic. I want to talk about a topic close to my literary heart: The “Write” Stuff. Okay. It’s a cute phrase. But to me it signifies the challenges that one must face when moving from writing to authoring.
Writing for me is about putting ideas into sentences onto a digital written format FOR ME. Moi. Purely for my own enjoyment. Be it a diary (an excellent way to begin writing), poems (the very heart of prose), blog posts (the modern writer’s usual arena of choice), or musings on social media platforms (supposedly the “common person’s” medium), in the end, it’s all about the writer, in some cases, one’s most stringent critic. I like to think of writing as the practical way to get to “know thyself,” and a practical college or vocational school for want-to-be authors. I’m often reminded that “Many are called, but few are chosen” to make the move to authorship.
Authoring is about putting ideas into sentences onto a digital written format, yes, but FOR A TARGET AUDIENCE. It’s not enough to “know thyself” (in and of itself difficult), but one must “know thy readership.” Publishers know this. Each has a specific (and typically different) target readership, which is why it can be so frustrating for a new author to “get a publisher” which, I think, better stated, would say to bond with a publisher who believes that publishing company has the right readership for a prospective author’s work. Rejections, I’ve learned to take as admissions that my manuscript simply doesn’t fit in well with the publisher’s readership. Notwithstanding, years ago when one hand-typed manuscripts in quadruplicate (OMG I don’t ever want to go back to that pre-COVID “normal”), I papered one wall of my bedroom with pink [rejection] slips. Back then, I took each rejection personally, as another strike against my quality of writing, but eventually I learned it was more about finding the right publishing “home.”
But that’s only the beginning. Once accepted, one has to learn to control one’s new found hubris sufficiently to work effectively with an editor. In my experience, there are few Mozart-manuscripts, written so perfectly that it is simply not open to editing, or, said another way, after all my own pre-submission editing, yet another edit, especially one of significance (usually to make the work fit the publisher’s readership better) seemed simply unbearable. I’ve learned to accept a publisher editor’s edits 95% of the time, and often find that I wish I had taken the editor’s advice the other 5% of the time.
Then there’s the entirely new and incredibly complex world of publicity and marketing. In the “old world” (yesterday?), the publisher did or at least organized and paid for most if not all of the publicity and marketing. In today’s world, that may still be true for a confirmed million-copy, bestselling author working with a large publishing company, but more and more I find readers taking any company “advertising” with larger and larger grains (mountains?) of salt. Why spend oodles of money advertising, if a work is so good it will acutally “sell itself?” Or, by another way of thinking, if the ad says the car is like new, it’s most likely not. These days, many authors like myself find ourselves having to use the tried and true method of publicizing: Do it yourself with those you know and know you. The problem is that publicizing methods aside from sending out emails to those you already know and know you, are quickly becoming jammed with paid political and social ads. Think Trump and Twitter. It’s hard to get a tweet in. An author with a small to medium sized publisher must become his or her own master of direct publicity and marketing, leaving one to wonder where to find the time to author another work.
There’s also the bug-a-boo about sales and royalties. In the past, publishers, and to some extent authors, had a good idea of how well a printed book was selling in order to decide what part- or full-time other occupation would be necessary to pay the bills. These days, with eBooks coming of age, very few publishers can know for certain how many times a work is read, and authors, in my experience, increasingly rarely develop an income stream sufficient to count on to pay the bills, much less so if one has a vanity publisher or self-publishes. In addition, I’ve heard said over and over that one in a hundred good books, p- or e-, ever “hits it big.” I’ve decided therefore that I’ll plan to keep my second job at least until I’ve published a hundred books. Get my meaning?
It’s also often said that encouraging a writer to become an author is a bit like encouraging a good doodler to think of him or herself as another Picasso or Rembrandt. Not “like” another Picasso or Rembrandt, but an artist (yes, author’s are word artists) of equally outstanding stature and popularity. It’s not easy being an author. But for those crazy enough to want desperately enough to be one, and willing to commit to learning and developing the creativity, discipline and business skills of authorship, well, no one like that would ever listen to discouraging advice anyway.
Raymond Gaynor is the pen-name of the multi-award-winning, reclusive writer-artist-photographer-videographer, who, in his own words, “lives and breathes” San Francisco. He co-authored with William Maltese on the Tripler and Clarke naughty gay political thriller, TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) and with A. G. Hayes on the fifth Koski & Falk adventure, QUANTUM DEATH (Savant 2016). He is the author of numerous fiction and non-fiction works published under a variety of different pseudonyms. THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) is Raymond’s first wholly authored work.
Total Meltdown: A Tripler and Clarke Adventure
Quantum Death
The Edge of Madness
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
Writing for me is about putting ideas into sentences onto a digital written format FOR ME. Moi. Purely for my own enjoyment. Be it a diary (an excellent way to begin writing), poems (the very heart of prose), blog posts (the modern writer’s usual arena of choice), or musings on social media platforms (supposedly the “common person’s” medium), in the end, it’s all about the writer, in some cases, one’s most stringent critic. I like to think of writing as the practical way to get to “know thyself,” and a practical college or vocational school for want-to-be authors. I’m often reminded that “Many are called, but few are chosen” to make the move to authorship.
Authoring is about putting ideas into sentences onto a digital written format, yes, but FOR A TARGET AUDIENCE. It’s not enough to “know thyself” (in and of itself difficult), but one must “know thy readership.” Publishers know this. Each has a specific (and typically different) target readership, which is why it can be so frustrating for a new author to “get a publisher” which, I think, better stated, would say to bond with a publisher who believes that publishing company has the right readership for a prospective author’s work. Rejections, I’ve learned to take as admissions that my manuscript simply doesn’t fit in well with the publisher’s readership. Notwithstanding, years ago when one hand-typed manuscripts in quadruplicate (OMG I don’t ever want to go back to that pre-COVID “normal”), I papered one wall of my bedroom with pink [rejection] slips. Back then, I took each rejection personally, as another strike against my quality of writing, but eventually I learned it was more about finding the right publishing “home.”
But that’s only the beginning. Once accepted, one has to learn to control one’s new found hubris sufficiently to work effectively with an editor. In my experience, there are few Mozart-manuscripts, written so perfectly that it is simply not open to editing, or, said another way, after all my own pre-submission editing, yet another edit, especially one of significance (usually to make the work fit the publisher’s readership better) seemed simply unbearable. I’ve learned to accept a publisher editor’s edits 95% of the time, and often find that I wish I had taken the editor’s advice the other 5% of the time.
Then there’s the entirely new and incredibly complex world of publicity and marketing. In the “old world” (yesterday?), the publisher did or at least organized and paid for most if not all of the publicity and marketing. In today’s world, that may still be true for a confirmed million-copy, bestselling author working with a large publishing company, but more and more I find readers taking any company “advertising” with larger and larger grains (mountains?) of salt. Why spend oodles of money advertising, if a work is so good it will acutally “sell itself?” Or, by another way of thinking, if the ad says the car is like new, it’s most likely not. These days, many authors like myself find ourselves having to use the tried and true method of publicizing: Do it yourself with those you know and know you. The problem is that publicizing methods aside from sending out emails to those you already know and know you, are quickly becoming jammed with paid political and social ads. Think Trump and Twitter. It’s hard to get a tweet in. An author with a small to medium sized publisher must become his or her own master of direct publicity and marketing, leaving one to wonder where to find the time to author another work.
There’s also the bug-a-boo about sales and royalties. In the past, publishers, and to some extent authors, had a good idea of how well a printed book was selling in order to decide what part- or full-time other occupation would be necessary to pay the bills. These days, with eBooks coming of age, very few publishers can know for certain how many times a work is read, and authors, in my experience, increasingly rarely develop an income stream sufficient to count on to pay the bills, much less so if one has a vanity publisher or self-publishes. In addition, I’ve heard said over and over that one in a hundred good books, p- or e-, ever “hits it big.” I’ve decided therefore that I’ll plan to keep my second job at least until I’ve published a hundred books. Get my meaning?
It’s also often said that encouraging a writer to become an author is a bit like encouraging a good doodler to think of him or herself as another Picasso or Rembrandt. Not “like” another Picasso or Rembrandt, but an artist (yes, author’s are word artists) of equally outstanding stature and popularity. It’s not easy being an author. But for those crazy enough to want desperately enough to be one, and willing to commit to learning and developing the creativity, discipline and business skills of authorship, well, no one like that would ever listen to discouraging advice anyway.
Raymond Gaynor is the pen-name of the multi-award-winning, reclusive writer-artist-photographer-videographer, who, in his own words, “lives and breathes” San Francisco. He co-authored with William Maltese on the Tripler and Clarke naughty gay political thriller, TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) and with A. G. Hayes on the fifth Koski & Falk adventure, QUANTUM DEATH (Savant 2016). He is the author of numerous fiction and non-fiction works published under a variety of different pseudonyms. THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) is Raymond’s first wholly authored work.
Total Meltdown: A Tripler and Clarke Adventure
Quantum Death
The Edge of Madness
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
January 14, 2021
THE PASSING OF LEGENDS
PERHAPS one attribute of the COVID-19 pandemic world that is impossible to ignore is “hurrying on” of the passing of a generation of older iconic individuals. What brought this to my personal attention was the passing of Sigfried of Sigfried and Roy, Roy having passed earlier this year of, yes, you guessed it, COVID-19. I was an avid fan of their shows at Las Vegas having attended four times, the third time being seated in the far back, to my utter surprise, underneath where one of their famous white tigers appears seemingly out of nowhere. They say smart people are particularly attracted to magic, maybe in a detectivish sort of way, always trying to figure out how the “magic” is done. But for me, with Sigfried and Roy, it was never about second-guessing, just kicking back and being amazed.
Not being a celebrity, my knowledge of celebrity passings is limited to those whose names became household words during my generation: Roy Horn of Sigfried and Roy, Dawn Wells of Gilligan’s Island, Kenzo Takada of the Kenzo Design, Tommy DeVito of the Four Seasons, Bruce Williamson of the Temptations, Ken Shimura of Hachijidayo Zeninshugo! (It’s 8 O’clock, Assemble Everyone!), Alan Merrill songwriter of “I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll,” pop singer Trini Lopez to name just a few (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of... for a lengthy partial listing).
As of October 2020, the USA experienced over 300,000 excess deaths due to COVID-19 and that figure continues to rise. Some predict that in the USA by the “end” of the pandemic half to one million people may lose their lives due primarily to COVID-19 (https://www.healio.com/news/pediatric...), the lower number anticipating more effective vaccine rollout and no emergence of a vaccine resistant strain. Statistics are helpful, as are future projections, but they can’t begin to convey the loss of creativity to humankind or the hundreds of thousands of personal loses and tragedies.
When William Maltese and I wrote the naughty prequel to THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor in 2008, I posited a national disaster, in this case the abdication of a vengeful president during the election transition period. The result was profound, though I didn’t figure in the multiplying effect of a coincident pandemic. As I’ve watched the effects of the pandemic enfold, I’ve come to the conclusion that COVID-19 is more like the fuse than the spark or powder, affording us the opportunity of addressing the infrastructure shortcomings that made our current meltdown both unique and so destructive. Whether you call it Sci-Fi, Cli-Fi or Sci-Fu, the results would likely be similar irrespective of the disaster, given the one common denominator: Failing infrastructure demand our attention if we are to return to a state where we can once again kick back and be amazed at the magic.
Total Meltdown: A Tripler and Clarke Adventure
The Edge of Madness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je6CC...
Not being a celebrity, my knowledge of celebrity passings is limited to those whose names became household words during my generation: Roy Horn of Sigfried and Roy, Dawn Wells of Gilligan’s Island, Kenzo Takada of the Kenzo Design, Tommy DeVito of the Four Seasons, Bruce Williamson of the Temptations, Ken Shimura of Hachijidayo Zeninshugo! (It’s 8 O’clock, Assemble Everyone!), Alan Merrill songwriter of “I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll,” pop singer Trini Lopez to name just a few (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of... for a lengthy partial listing).
As of October 2020, the USA experienced over 300,000 excess deaths due to COVID-19 and that figure continues to rise. Some predict that in the USA by the “end” of the pandemic half to one million people may lose their lives due primarily to COVID-19 (https://www.healio.com/news/pediatric...), the lower number anticipating more effective vaccine rollout and no emergence of a vaccine resistant strain. Statistics are helpful, as are future projections, but they can’t begin to convey the loss of creativity to humankind or the hundreds of thousands of personal loses and tragedies.
When William Maltese and I wrote the naughty prequel to THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor in 2008, I posited a national disaster, in this case the abdication of a vengeful president during the election transition period. The result was profound, though I didn’t figure in the multiplying effect of a coincident pandemic. As I’ve watched the effects of the pandemic enfold, I’ve come to the conclusion that COVID-19 is more like the fuse than the spark or powder, affording us the opportunity of addressing the infrastructure shortcomings that made our current meltdown both unique and so destructive. Whether you call it Sci-Fi, Cli-Fi or Sci-Fu, the results would likely be similar irrespective of the disaster, given the one common denominator: Failing infrastructure demand our attention if we are to return to a state where we can once again kick back and be amazed at the magic.
Total Meltdown: A Tripler and Clarke Adventure
The Edge of Madness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je6CC...
January 13, 2021
THE NEXT PANDEMIC?
OKAY, I hear you: "What!? A next pandemic? More dystopian Sci-Fi? I just want things to get back to normal..." Unfortunately (1) this pandemic will plausibly be followed by another (...and another, and...); (2) based on what I like to call Sci-Fu, or science-based futuring rather than dystopian or utopian Sci-Fi; (3) things will never likely return to pre-COVID-19 days. Don't believe (or want to believe)? Would you believe Bill Gates (at https://www.pcma.org/bill-gates-7-pre...)?
If you are convinced, as I am, that COVID-19 was the "shot across the bow" giving us a chance to face socially crippling issues that we've come to learn can accompany a pandemic including financial disruption, large-scale unemployment, social upheaval and political unrest. But, in my opinion, the "lesson" we still haven't learned is the need to update our myriad out-of-date infrastructures be they in government, business, transportation, education, internet or health care. So what is meant by "infrastructures" and how exactly are they outdated?
One of the biggest disruptions from COVID-19 is the need for a shift from large-scale, face-to-face public gatherings to safer individual, socially distant or digital interactions. I beleive this is true of all areas mentioned above. This new infrastructure could be a financial burden but could equally well foster broad technological innovation (my hope). In THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor I propose, for example, in the area of education, the development and implementation of a technologically advanced "interactive holographic" form of distance learning where both learners and mentors at home interact socially in a digital classroom.
The Edge of Madness
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
In the area of transportation, I propose, early on, the development and implementation of public forms of transportation, e.g. airplanes, ships, trains, buses and cars that incorporate new and unique technologies designed to physically protect passengers from airborne and object-borne diseases as well as harm from accidents. Later, I propose replacing cars and trucks with an individualized transportation system utilizing the strangeness of Quantum teleportation to move objects and later plants, animals and humans. Highways could provide walkways and bicyclist pathways, where participants who elect to "sponsor" and finance the care of plants and animals along the way would be recognized among citizens for their efforts. I could go on, but I think you get the idea. Most of the infrastructures upon which we currently depend, and some, unfortunately hope to "return to" are neither appropriate nor viable. We as a nation, and arguably world, have maximally monitized out-dated infrastructures that call out for attention.
COVID-19 was the warning shot. It's up to youthful generations coming-of-age and young to middle age adult citizens to face these issues, address them, update our infrastructures and implement them nationally and world-wide. What could be more thrilling, romantic, erotic or salacious than that?
If you are convinced, as I am, that COVID-19 was the "shot across the bow" giving us a chance to face socially crippling issues that we've come to learn can accompany a pandemic including financial disruption, large-scale unemployment, social upheaval and political unrest. But, in my opinion, the "lesson" we still haven't learned is the need to update our myriad out-of-date infrastructures be they in government, business, transportation, education, internet or health care. So what is meant by "infrastructures" and how exactly are they outdated?
One of the biggest disruptions from COVID-19 is the need for a shift from large-scale, face-to-face public gatherings to safer individual, socially distant or digital interactions. I beleive this is true of all areas mentioned above. This new infrastructure could be a financial burden but could equally well foster broad technological innovation (my hope). In THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor I propose, for example, in the area of education, the development and implementation of a technologically advanced "interactive holographic" form of distance learning where both learners and mentors at home interact socially in a digital classroom.
The Edge of Madness
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
In the area of transportation, I propose, early on, the development and implementation of public forms of transportation, e.g. airplanes, ships, trains, buses and cars that incorporate new and unique technologies designed to physically protect passengers from airborne and object-borne diseases as well as harm from accidents. Later, I propose replacing cars and trucks with an individualized transportation system utilizing the strangeness of Quantum teleportation to move objects and later plants, animals and humans. Highways could provide walkways and bicyclist pathways, where participants who elect to "sponsor" and finance the care of plants and animals along the way would be recognized among citizens for their efforts. I could go on, but I think you get the idea. Most of the infrastructures upon which we currently depend, and some, unfortunately hope to "return to" are neither appropriate nor viable. We as a nation, and arguably world, have maximally monitized out-dated infrastructures that call out for attention.
COVID-19 was the warning shot. It's up to youthful generations coming-of-age and young to middle age adult citizens to face these issues, address them, update our infrastructures and implement them nationally and world-wide. What could be more thrilling, romantic, erotic or salacious than that?
January 12, 2021
WHAT DOES RECOVERY MEAN IN A POST-TRUMP LITERARY WORLD
IF that doesn’t seem paradoxical, or at least incongruous, then I don’t know what would. Why “recover” from a “post-Trump literary world,” and what does that mean, anyway?
Violence, I hold, can be expressed in many ways, in this case, with words, phrases, and that sin qua non of literature, sentences where expression becomes meaningful flesh and blood. After four years of daily literary violence, or at least literary violation if you so prefer, we’re suddenly confronted with…nothing. Nada. Nichego. Méiyǒu. La shayy. And what that means to a thoroughly indoctrinated and addicted readership is WITHDRAWAL, that monster that, like a first cousin to the four horsemen of the apocalypse, is always lurking behind the chronic stress induced by years of daily, even morning and evening, toxic rhetoric.
Trump-withdrawl. It is said that “Coming down from drugs can be similar to feeling hungover after drinking too much alcohol.” That’s of course “physician-speak.” Withdrawal is more typically hell on steroids. It has been described by addicts as the closest thing to a drawn-out, tortured death, to the point where one would do anything to stop the withdrawal pain. As Trump Tweet addicts, what we desperately need right now is an active Trumpanon campaign, replete with “Hi. I’m *** and I’m a Trumpaholic,” followed by long periods of polite, uninterrupted listening by other Trumpaholics in order to slowly release the rage at having been so completely duped, used and then abandoned. It takes time to throttle one’s political carburetor back to idle. So much for the ideal of a fully participatory democracy. I, for one, really hadn’t imagined, even in my most grievous nightmares, anything like the rage I’m seeing today. Yet it demonstrates a trait that perhaps best defines humans over other animals: Hubris, that inherently human arrogance that leads one to believe that he or she can do no wrong in a terribly wronged world.
I have to admit to feeling of pain of withdrawal at not having any more outrageous “Trumps Tweets” waiting for me. What I need is some stroking. Long gentle strokes, with occasional fluffs of my hair and loving gestures to allow my chronic stress to work its way out of my system. And to what can I turn during this difficult transition period if there is no one there to comfort me? Literature. Books. They are always there for me when I most need them. Like a faithful dog, they offer distraction and, in the case of the best, solace, while my body slowly works through the chronic stress, rage and hurt.
My newest work, THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor may seem on the surface as just another science fiction distraction, but, in fact, follows a very plausible course of action after, in this case, the TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese of American society following the abdication of a president who duped, used and then abandoned his followers. Solace comes in many forms, just as recovery is accessible via many diverse pathways. But a good book is always there for the looking.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
The Edge of Madness
Total Meltdown: A Tripler and Clarke Adventure
Violence, I hold, can be expressed in many ways, in this case, with words, phrases, and that sin qua non of literature, sentences where expression becomes meaningful flesh and blood. After four years of daily literary violence, or at least literary violation if you so prefer, we’re suddenly confronted with…nothing. Nada. Nichego. Méiyǒu. La shayy. And what that means to a thoroughly indoctrinated and addicted readership is WITHDRAWAL, that monster that, like a first cousin to the four horsemen of the apocalypse, is always lurking behind the chronic stress induced by years of daily, even morning and evening, toxic rhetoric.
Trump-withdrawl. It is said that “Coming down from drugs can be similar to feeling hungover after drinking too much alcohol.” That’s of course “physician-speak.” Withdrawal is more typically hell on steroids. It has been described by addicts as the closest thing to a drawn-out, tortured death, to the point where one would do anything to stop the withdrawal pain. As Trump Tweet addicts, what we desperately need right now is an active Trumpanon campaign, replete with “Hi. I’m *** and I’m a Trumpaholic,” followed by long periods of polite, uninterrupted listening by other Trumpaholics in order to slowly release the rage at having been so completely duped, used and then abandoned. It takes time to throttle one’s political carburetor back to idle. So much for the ideal of a fully participatory democracy. I, for one, really hadn’t imagined, even in my most grievous nightmares, anything like the rage I’m seeing today. Yet it demonstrates a trait that perhaps best defines humans over other animals: Hubris, that inherently human arrogance that leads one to believe that he or she can do no wrong in a terribly wronged world.
I have to admit to feeling of pain of withdrawal at not having any more outrageous “Trumps Tweets” waiting for me. What I need is some stroking. Long gentle strokes, with occasional fluffs of my hair and loving gestures to allow my chronic stress to work its way out of my system. And to what can I turn during this difficult transition period if there is no one there to comfort me? Literature. Books. They are always there for me when I most need them. Like a faithful dog, they offer distraction and, in the case of the best, solace, while my body slowly works through the chronic stress, rage and hurt.
My newest work, THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor may seem on the surface as just another science fiction distraction, but, in fact, follows a very plausible course of action after, in this case, the TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese of American society following the abdication of a president who duped, used and then abandoned his followers. Solace comes in many forms, just as recovery is accessible via many diverse pathways. But a good book is always there for the looking.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
The Edge of Madness
Total Meltdown: A Tripler and Clarke Adventure
January 11, 2021
TODAY’S WORD-OF-THE-DAY: SALACIOUS
BEING an author, I’m fully aware that to the five ancient Greek appeals (logos, pathos, ethos, keiros and numos/nomos) one must of necessity add violence and sex. Violence being a particularly loathsome subject given the extent it has been purveyed over the last quadrennium and, more recently, the particularly violent American political attempt at a nothing less than a coup d’etat. That leaves, well, sex and its attendant love, romance, tenderness, empathy, warmth, intimacy, vulnerability. Namely salacious authorship and readership.
I completely understand the social revulsion surrounding violence. What I can’t comprehend is the social revulsion I often hear surrounding sex. Non-violent sex is, as many social scientists continually try to point out, what we were made for and do best. So why the schizophrenic public revulsion but personal delight and obsession with sex? For the moment, I’ll leave that question for the social scientists and internet influencers. That should make for a lively debate.
It is my opinion that salaciousness is not an attribute of a few, but the prime motivating factor for most. We live, work, argue, help, read and die for sex, so why not let it out of the bag a moment and simply rejoice in being sexual creatures? A little delight in these dark times seems in order to me.
In my recently released novel, THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor, I’ve tried to address these issues, while balancing the important role of sexuality and our specie’s obsessive interest in it, with the political, social and technological events (powered by sex if you agree with my basic premise) that inevitably affect its expression. Starting from a science-based futuring studies point-of-view, I present for my readers’ consideration the Sweet Sixteen Sexcapade, a very public coming-of-age ritual that I believe we are relentlessly approaching and need to consider rather than fear and revulse. I envision its existence as building on society’s unending interest in sex, replacing, for example, sex magazines and movies. No need when billions of youth are enacting Sweet Sixteen Sexcapades throughout NewAmerica and, well, the eventually populated universe.
But I digress. It is for you, dear reader, to decide the future BY DIRECTLY OBSERVING IT in what I consider an admittedly titillating work of particular importance, since our species has, in my opinion, been unerringly moving in the direction it has for as long as humans have existed.
The Edge of Madness
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
I completely understand the social revulsion surrounding violence. What I can’t comprehend is the social revulsion I often hear surrounding sex. Non-violent sex is, as many social scientists continually try to point out, what we were made for and do best. So why the schizophrenic public revulsion but personal delight and obsession with sex? For the moment, I’ll leave that question for the social scientists and internet influencers. That should make for a lively debate.
It is my opinion that salaciousness is not an attribute of a few, but the prime motivating factor for most. We live, work, argue, help, read and die for sex, so why not let it out of the bag a moment and simply rejoice in being sexual creatures? A little delight in these dark times seems in order to me.
In my recently released novel, THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor, I’ve tried to address these issues, while balancing the important role of sexuality and our specie’s obsessive interest in it, with the political, social and technological events (powered by sex if you agree with my basic premise) that inevitably affect its expression. Starting from a science-based futuring studies point-of-view, I present for my readers’ consideration the Sweet Sixteen Sexcapade, a very public coming-of-age ritual that I believe we are relentlessly approaching and need to consider rather than fear and revulse. I envision its existence as building on society’s unending interest in sex, replacing, for example, sex magazines and movies. No need when billions of youth are enacting Sweet Sixteen Sexcapades throughout NewAmerica and, well, the eventually populated universe.
But I digress. It is for you, dear reader, to decide the future BY DIRECTLY OBSERVING IT in what I consider an admittedly titillating work of particular importance, since our species has, in my opinion, been unerringly moving in the direction it has for as long as humans have existed.
The Edge of Madness
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
