P.C. Haring's Blog, page 15

Just a quick update

So it's the last few days before Friday's release of Cybrosis to the electronic reader market.  Things have been busy since last month's announcement, but I am pleased to say that things are moving along well and aside from a few minor technical issues things have been going very smoothly.

Keep it tuned here for news and announcements in the next few days as I put the final pieces in place ahead of Friday's launch!

#WritingWednesday – Announcement – Cybrosis Coming to Kindle!

So….things have been quiet around here lately, despite my promises to the contrary.  In fairness, I had every intention of putting up weekly writing updates as well as the occasional #CyborgFriday and #StarshipSunday article.  But as the fall wore on, I found myself caught in a dilemma – Spend time writing blog posts, or spend [...]

#WritingWednesday – Announcement – Cybrosis Coming to Kindle!

So….things have been quiet around here lately, despite my promises to the contrary.  In fairness, I had every intention of putting up weekly writing updates as well as the occasional #CyborgFriday and #StarshipSunday article.  But as the fall wore on, I found myself caught in a dilemma – Spend time writing blog posts, or spend that time working on the writing projects?  I chose the latter and I hope this announcement will help you to forgive me.

After much work over the past several months, I am very excited to announce that on Friday, December 16, 2011, Cybrosis will be available for $2.99 on the Amazon Kindle Store.

I've been talking about this on the blog and on twitter for quite a while now and it's good to finally be able to announce a date certain when I will be able to share with you this story in written form.  It's been a long road since the podcast back in 2010, quite possibly too long.  But I have no regrets and I think when you all see the finished product you'll agree it was worth the wait.

Those who listened to the podcast, might notice some minor edits and adjustments made between the forthcoming Kindle release and the podcast you remember.  These edits were put in place to clean up and expand some of the ambiguous science.  Some of the style and phrasing was adjusted to better reflect the things I've learned as a writer and a couple of the bigger "um…no…" reactions from listener feedback were addressed.  In all, less than 5% of the existing words were changed, and just under 1,100 new words were added to flesh out the universe.  But the story plot and sequence of events remains unchanged.

For the time being, Cybrosis will be exclusive to Kindle.  I intend to release ePub version through the Nook store, but I have to do more research on that aspect of things.  That said, I anticipate it going live there in January 2012.  Cybrosis will not be released via Smashwords until they complete their announced 2012 upgrade of their meatgrinder when they will start accepting ePub formatted books.  It will also be available from pcharing.net and cybrosisnovel.com for direct purchase in both Kindle and ePub formats and I'm looking into options for adding inscriptions and author signatures to the files sold directly.  Yes, it is possible to sign ebooks.  All formats will be priced at $2.99.

There is much work still to be done over the next month and as such I am turning to you all for help.  Please buy copies for yourself.  Please tell your friends, family, and anyone else who might be interested in reading this book.  It's launching just in time for the holiday season and gifting eBooks on Amazon's site is extremely easy.  If you have blogs, please discuss, if you have podcasts that take interviews I'd love to come on your show.  If you do book reviews, let me know and I'll send you an ARC.  I will NOT be coordinating an "Amazon Rush", but I do want to make things as visible as possible for the book and I will need your help to do it.  In the past, I've tried not to be one of those "Hi!  Please buy my book" people.  I don't plan to become on of those people, but I do need your support.

Thanks for reading, thanks for your support.  I'm back to work  and you can expect more updates soon!

#CyborgFriday 01 – Bionics: The Future is closer than you may think

When I was in College, I, like most other college students, had a few hangouts both on and off campus that I'd frequent with some of my friends.  One of our favorite on campus locations was the late night sandwich & pizza shop upon which this flash animation is very VERY losely based.  As with [...]

#CyborgFriday 01 – Bionics: The Future is closer than you may think

When I was in College, I, like most other college students, had a few hangouts both on and off campus that I'd frequent with some of my friends.  One of our favorite on campus locations was the late night sandwich & pizza shop upon which this flash animation is very VERY losely based.  As with all of our on campus eateries the shop was managed and staffed by an outside food service company and their employees and one of their regular food servers was a young man who had lost an arm.  How he lost it, I never knew nor did I feel it my place to ask.  But what always struck me was that his prosthetic, a device very similar to the one shown here, was very…clunky.  The hook/clamp device that served as a hand was manipulated (badly) by a small metal cable and the best this man was ever able to do with the attachment was to slip the hook into the next plastic bag in the pack propped upright, and pull towards him to give himself enough of a mouth of the bag that he could put our sandwiches inside.  I eventually grew used to the sight of this, but I never was truly comfortable with it even to the day I graduated and I frequently wondered why he didn't have a better device.  We lived in the 21st century dammit!

Whether this gentleman's case influenced the premise of Cybrosis or not is something I had not considered until this moment as I sit here and write this entry.  But, if you've listened to the novel, you know (and if you haven't…this isn't much of a spoiler), that the story is set in a world where cybernetic devices serve primarily as medical prosthesis.   Oh what I think my friendly sandwich-bagging guy would have done to have Agent Chen's arm.  But he may not have to wait for much longer….

Perhaps it's a serendipitous sense of timing but in January 2010 at the same time the early episodes of Cybrosis were dropping, National Geographic ran an article entitled "bi-on-ics".  I didn't get a chance actually read this article until earlier this year and what I found in this piece made me squee.  The article highlights new advances in prosthetic technology and the development of real world bionics.  Highlights include the development of choclear implants that allow a small boy who has no natural hearing to hear.  The article also touches on the early generation of devices implanted in the eye that allow those who have lost their sight to see once more and the development of new powered leg prosthetics being used to return freedom of movement to active duty soldiers who lost legs to IEDs in Iraq and Afghanistan.  There are also graphics and diagrams on how we may one day create synthetic skin, and connect neural pathways directly to electronic components.

But the main crux of this article is the development of new prosthetic arm devices.   I'll let the details of the article speak for themselves but I'm very impressed by what the future holds.  One of the measures of prostesis is how many "degrees of movement" a device does or does not have.  According to this article, the natural human arm, from the shoulder down to the fingertips has more than 22 separate and independent movements.  That may sound like a lot, but remember that your hand holds 17 of those and of those 17, there are 3 in each of your five fingers.  By comparison, the 'standard' prosthetic used today has only 3.

Yes.  Three….and to get some of those three one must find a way to pull and release a metal cable.

But at the focus of this article is the development of two new devices, one that returns 7 movements to the patient, and one that really has me excited because it returns a full 22 movements to the patient.  This might seem like a crazy jumble of wires and cables and the like, but researchers are using the mapping of our neural system to interface with computer and use it to map which neurons fire when the brain tries to move the phantom limb.  Apparently, the brain does not forget which neurons do what, but when we can find and map them, surgeons are then able to go in and 're-wire' the patient so those neural pathways are rerouted in such a way that these advanced bionic limbs can be manipulated by using the exact same neuromuscular process that a full bodied individual would use.  Most of this is still in the early prototyping phase and it's being researched at several well known institutions in Chicago, Cleveland, and Maryland.

Again, the article ran in the January 2010 issue of National Geographic and is still available online here.  For the most part it is Save for work in terms of discussion, but I do caution that one of the images, specifically of the eye surgery is a bit graphic and might run afoul of sensitive stomachs.  So as with all things, use your own judgment.  Still, I found it a fascinating read that shows the genesis of what envisioned in Cybrosis and I highly recommend it.

Until next time!

#WritingWednesday – Weekly Roundup 8

For the week of September 26 through October 2, 2011. I write this as my train returning from Archon 35 pulls into the Springfield Illinois station and there is much to discuss over this past week of events.  I am going to be writing these on Sunday and posting them on Wednesday to see if [...]

#WritingWednesday – Weekly Roundup 8

For the week of September 26 through October 2, 2011.

I write this as my train returning from Archon 35 pulls into the Springfield Illinois station and there is much to discuss over this past week of events.  I am going to be writing these on Sunday and posting them on Wednesday to see if that helps me post on a more frequent basis, hence the reason for the dates I've started to include in at the top of these blog posts.  I'll get to Archon in a little bit, but first the writing update -

With the trip in and out, the read through and notes creation for Slipspace has not been as productive this week as I might have liked.  I did bring chapters with me and as of this writing  I've gone through between five and seven chapters, though I've honestly lost count with everything going on.  But I have come across the first major section of re-writes and as it turned out, I left the necessary research at home.  That said, I am very much looking forward to tackling this challenge over the next few days as I read on and make sure I know what I need to make sure the job is done right.

The last of my first readers finished reading the draft of the third book and challenged me to write an epilogue.  He'll argue that he requested it, did not challenge.  But I took it as a bit of a challenge and spun one out during the train ride into St. Louis late last week.  I'm very proud of it and can't wait to share it with all of you.

And that's about where the writing news stops.  But there is more after the break.

 In other news, the episode of The Shared Desk that I recorded with Tee Morris and Philippa Ballantine during my Washington DC visit a few weeks ago has gone live.  You can find it here.  In that, the fourth episode  (FOUR, Pip!), we discuss the experience of writing in other people's universes.  Specifically we discussed the collaborative process and how to interact with characters that are not necessarily your own in a world that is not your own.  Then we go on and discussed the addictive video game crack that is Batman Arkham Asylum and Portal.  The show runs a little long in their format, just under an hour.  I highly recommend you head over and check it out.  We had an absolute blast.

And finally, I attended Archon 35 in St. Louis this past weekend.  To be honest I was a little disappointed in the con's programming, but the highlight certainly had to be sitting in on the recording of the upcoming 200th episode of The Backseat Producers and finally meeting Tony Mast in person.  If I had to be honest with myself Archon was always intended as a side effect  of the trip as a whole which, at it's origin, was to visit an old friend of mine from my high school years.  Instead of flying or driving from Chicago to St. Louis (GO CUBS!), I chose to take the train.  I haven't done this in a while but as I sit here, watching the scenery go by, my laptop plugged into the outlet and my phone serving as a mobile internet hotspot I find myself lamenting the general under use of our rail system.  These days, even an upgraded seat on this train cost me less than the gas would have for my car, and certainly less than what it would have cost to fly.  If you ever have the opportunity to travel and can make a train ride a part of that trip, I strongly recommend it.

In any event we are now just outside Lincoln Illinois and it's time for me to head into the cafe car and grab some grub.  On the schedule for the next seven days will be to dive a little deeper in to the research I need to be doing for the Slipspace edits, work through more chapters, and get some work done on upcoming #cyborgfriday and #starshipsunday blog posts I have in mind.

Until next time!

#WritingWednesday – Weekly Roundup 7

For the Week of September 19 through September 25, 2011 Hmmm…I don't even know if I can (or should) call this one a Writing Wednesday given how late this posting is..again… Regardless, this week has been a productive one.  Another ten chapters of edit notes for Slipspace have been made and while I expect things [...]

#WritingWednesday – Weekly Roundup 7

For the Week of September 19 through September 25, 2011

Hmmm…I don't even know if I can (or should) call this one a Writing Wednesday given how late this posting is..again…

Regardless, this week has been a productive one.  Another ten chapters of edit notes for Slipspace have been made and while I expect things are going to slow down now that I'm into the book's second act I'm very happy with the momentum I've generated and I should be on track to complete these notes by Mid-October, which should put me on track to complete the implementation by the end of November.  That's the plan…we'll see what happen.

In other news, The Seven is now available for sale as a 99 Penny Dreadful for either your Amazon Kindle or Barnes and Noble Nook.

And that's really been it for me.  I'm writing this blog post from St. Louis where I'm visiting this weekend for Archon 35.  Did something different in getting here and took the train…yes the train.  I'll have more on that in next week's roundup as well as a recap of Archon, a couple of guest appearances and a few other more…meta discussions.

Until then!

The Seven

Agent Brandon Hill is on assignment in South America, enjoying the local culture and women, when a mystery that could lead to El Dorado falls into his lap. Before the intrepid agent knows it, he is the jungle uncovering a plot but the devilish Illuminati. He will need all his monkey knife fighting skills to survive this one.

This short story is available as a part of Volume 2 of Tales from the Archives short story anthology.