Sven Michael Davison's Blog, page 2

Science Fiction VRS. Fantasy

These two very different genres have been lumped together in bookstores, book award programs, by critics, and fans. In some cases writers have combined the two to tell a story. But genres are always combined. There are no rules. One can mix sci-fi and or fantasy with thriller, mystery, action adventure, theology, anything that makes a good story. But why are science fiction and fantasy now joined at the hip with no chance of a divorce? Is it because science has become a less desirable subject for American students and has the stigma of being stuffy and boring? Is it because the space program is officially dead and all we are left with is the legacy of a has-been super power that once put all it's resources into a dream of a greater society and the promise of space exploration? Does the subject of space travel in a novel classify that story as science fiction? Does slapping a less than pseudo scientific explanation to the origin of a comic book hero give the story the right to be called science fiction? Or has the definition of science fiction simply evolved into an explanation that no longer requires any root in plausible science? Am I just a middle aged man who's vision is hardening into the stereotypical rut of my peers? I say the answer is a little bit of all the above.

Don't get me wrong, I love fantasy and I love science fiction. I also think it is fun to combine the two, but in doing so one needs to pick which category fits the story best. Is the tale clearly science fiction or is it fantasy? Look at the new millennium version of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. The TV series is science fiction with highlights of theology. Because supreme beings are based on faith, and have no root in science whatsoever, they should be classified as fantasy (yes Thor, I'm talking to you). I'm not saying that God does not exist, but anything that cannot be proven with empirical evidence is fantasy. That's one of the pillars of science. Now, much of the technology we see in science fiction movies and in science fiction books– note that I emphasize the word science –does not exist in 2011 society, but the technology can be explained with logic based in what we know today. We all know technology is changing and that artificial intelligence is plausible science. Perhaps this artificial intelligence will become so powerful that it could be seen as a god by 21st century human standards. I just gave you a logical explanation for a version of a supreme being. This character could appear in a science fiction story.

Take the 2011 movie THOR. THOR sums up what I believe is happening in this battle of science fiction vrs. fantasy. In the film, Thor tells Padme– excuse me Jane Foster –that he "comes from a land where science and magic are one." Wow, that's the biggest copout on a logical explanation I've ever heard. And that's why comic book films are now classified as science fiction? I'm sorry, but how does a genetically engineered spider convert a boy into a spider-man? How do small evolutionary changes allow people to morph into any person they see, or read minds? It happens because the writer said so in less than five seconds with a false sense of authority. Silly. That's not science fiction, it's fantasy. Yeah, maybe humankind will evolve to have telekinetic powers, but it will take millions of years. Evolution does not work on the law of accelerating returns (see http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-law-of-... ). Technology does and that's where you can get away with big leaps in science. But when a boy sits in science class and day dreams about flying on his own will power, he's fantasizing, not figuring out how to actually fly.

I'm a comic book fan, but I don't kid myself. The majority of these stories are all fantasy. And I'm not fooled by the new category of Speculative Fiction. That was a term created because science fiction was polluted by fantasy. Now I see reviewers calling the 2011 film CAPTAIN AMERICA speculative fiction. Uhm, that's 100% fantasy. Super soldiers built in World War II? Was there a time machine involved? Did anything resembling this plot occur in the 1940s? That era has PASSED. We're dancing in fantasyland again. Now if the story uses time travel, fine. Give me some science and logic on how this world could exist and then maybe CAPTAIN AMERICA can be classified as science fiction or speculative fiction. While I'm on the subject of rewriting history, how about INGLORIOUS BASTERDS? It's a drama with a big fat fantasy ending. It was likeable on many levels, but it's pure fantasy.

Back to BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. I classify it as science fiction because 95% of the plot has solid pseudo science that can be explained based on the world we live in today. The science is plausible. How about the theological angle of the show? Given that the majority of humanity is religious and has been since the dawn of time… why not? Faith has been an ongoing debate since humankind has been debating. Did I just torpedo my argument? Douglas Adams would say yes, but I break my classification down like this:

Science Fiction – must have plausible science without leaps of faith.

Fantasy – is all leaps of faith with no regard to logically explain the fantastical element. Saying super heroes are created by gargantuan and ridiculous jumps in evolution is a poorly disguised leap of faith.

Faith – Rooted in familiar theology, faith can have a place in either genre as long as the overall plot adheres to one of the definitions above.

Now, I'm not saying that faith based science fiction should be full of flying angels in space ships that harvest the souls of dying people. Now we're into fantasy. I'll use BSG again (spoiler alert!). Starbuck was explained as an angel. However, she did not have super powers… well she did rise from the dead and have visions of earth, but that was about the extent of it. And we saw there was something theological moving both cylon and humans at the end. But the theology was very vague and could be explained away by chance instead of divine order. For instance Starbuck could have been an alien. The writers left enough ambiguity for our own interpretation. And if flying angels are explained as aliens, or have some modicum of science to explain them, then fine. But as soon as you say "I come from a land where science and magic are one" you've crossed the line into pure fantasy. That statement is a leap of faith. The writer did not attempt to explain this fantastical universe. It just is, and that is lazy science fiction story telling. However, it is perfectly suitable for fantasy.

As I stated before, maybe science fiction has no audience because an audience that wants evidence and explanation is dying out. The majority of today's media consumers don't want to have facts, they just want to close their eyes, click their heels together, and their dream will manifest itself. After all fantasy means you don't have to work for it, it just comes to you (yes Harry Potter faces conflict, but he has a magic wand and spell-wielding friends to help him). So in order for science fiction to survive in this current environment, it needs the element of fantasy. After all, wizards, vampires and werewolves sell more books and movies than any other characters types. All of those are characters of fantasy. If you infuse them into familiar historical or futuristic contexts, then you have breathed new life into the tired genre of science fiction.

Or Not.

Personally, I don't think sci-fi is tired. INCEPTION proved that. INCEPTION was 100% science fiction with a plausible logic. Nolan gave a pseudo scientific explanation to his world. In the case of I AM LEGEND there was a science behind the zombie/vampires Will Smith had to face. So I.A.L. can retain its science fiction status. On the other hand ADJUSTMENT BUREAU was fantasy as it was 100% theological leaps of faith with no attempt to explain the science behind what was happening. TRANSFORMERS? Uhm, yeah the future might have machines that change into other machines but the logic behind that entire universe is pure pre-adolescent fantasy.

Bottom line: all these genres are fun to escape in. I enjoy them all. This is not a bash against fantasy. However, we should properly classify them. Stop muddying the water by calling fantasy sci-fi. Are fantasy fans so afraid that their genre sounds childish that they have to legitimize their stories by calling them science fiction? I don't want my book to compete with a story about Jack and the Beanstalk told from the point of view of the giant. That's like AVATAR competing with CUROIUS GEORGE for best sci-fi story. These stories are not the same genre. If people want to lump genres together then put everything under fiction or non-fiction. Don't bother creating subgenres if you don't understand what the subgenre represents.

Then again given the bigger political and social issues we face in our real world, I will understand if most people simply ignore this soapbox. Thank you for reading.

Book Cover Coaching

Susan Kendrick, President and Co-Founder of Write to Your Market, Inc. used State of Mind as an example of a great Ebook cover. Check out her blog at http://www.bookcovercoaching.blogspot...

Friday, July 1, 2011

Creating Ebook Covers – How to Choose and Use Testimonials

Profile #3

What's Great About this Ebook Cover?

By Susan Kendrick

My partner, Graham Van Dixhorn, and I are judges for the Ebook Cover Award category in Dan Poynter's Global Ebook Awards program. To give these authors and experts more visibility for their ebooks, and to use these covers to share the strategies we teach and use in our own work creating book covers, we're featuring many cover entries right here on our Book Cover Coaching blog.

State of Mind

Sven Michael Davison

Visit Sven Michael Davison's website. The Kindle edition

and print version are also available on Amazon.

There are two primary components of the State of Mind ebook we want to emphasize. One is obviously Sven's powerful front cover. The second is his use of back cover testimonials.

Ebook Title

We love Sven's title, in part because. It is a great use of a book title strategy we use and recommend often. Sven does a great job with it:

Use a Twist on a Familiar Phrase*

This strategy works so well because it combines something already familiar to people–a well-known phrase–with a fresh twist that makes it unique, memorable, and best of all, something that people now associate with you and your ebook.

* Excerpted from our "10 Steps to Ebook Covers That Sell" – see below.

In this case, the familiar phrase is "state of mind," which in this novel can refer both the psychological state of an individual and what happens when you risk coming under control of the state or the powers that be. Both meanings work for this techno-thriller. This book title strategy adds a level of complexity that immediately sets the pace for the novel itself.

Ebook Cover Design

Sven nails it with his front cover design. This one image hits you in the gut … or somewhere. It is arresting and even slightly off-putting. With a cover like this you may risk driving a few people away, but you will surely draw in your target audience. In Sven's case he makes a major shout-out to people looking for the best in bold techno-thriller fiction. And, that takes us to an important point about the back cover.

Ebook "Back Cover" Sales Copy

Again, even if your ebook does not have a physical back cover, you still develop that marketing message for use on your website and anywhere else you market and sell your ebook.

Testimonials are an important part of that message and your credibility.

Testimonials

Having the right people endorse your ebook adds valuable credibility to it. Aim high: What a testimonial says is less important that who says it. Potential buyers look at the endorser's name, title, company, affiliation, etc.

* Excerpted from our "10 Steps to Ebook Covers That Sell" – see below.

Think a few steps ahead

What do you want your book or ebook to do for you? Whose attention do you want to get and who do you want to influence, besides your potential reader? Your testimonials influence potential readers, yes, but they also influence potential partners who will also judge you by who else has already aligned themselves with you and your work. This is true in any field.

In Sven's case, his high-tech thriller seems to have all the makings of a movie. Sven already has extensive experience in the movie industry and consults for entertainment technology companies. You can see that the sources for two of his quotes are well-known in the movie and digital movie business. His trailer, or "P-Chip infomercial," is also much more than a typical book or ebook trailer. It crosses over into more of a movie short.

By getting his particular endorsers involved with his book, he continues to gain credibility with people who look to these experts for their take on this kind of story or content–in books, movies, digital movies on the web, and other media.

Think very strategically about what testimonials you want for your book and from whom. Too often we see authors and experts start this process too late to get the endorsements they want, or they simply are unaware of how much a well-chosen endorsement can do for them and their books.

What music inspires you?

What music inspires you?

I confess that my dream job would be performing as a famous rock star. I'm guessing I share this fantasy with many, otherwise Guitar Hero and Rock Band would not have sold so well. However I was realistic about my talents in this area and chose never to pursue a career in it.

I receive a lot of inspiration from music. Depending on what I'm writing I may listen to classical, world, classic rock, punk, or pretty much anything that fits the story I want to tell.

I cannot listen to music when I write. But after a four-hour or six-hour session, I love to crank the tunes, close my eyes, and let the music help me visualize the scenes and characters in my story. The following is a list of songs and albums that helped me the most in visualizing State of Mind.

Do you listen to music when you write? What type of music inspires you?

2 Pak Shakur – California Love

Alice in Chains – Man In the Box, Rooster, Check My Brain

The Average White Band – Got the Love

"Animatrix" Soundtrack

Audio Slave – Cochise, Show Me How to Live, Your Time Has Come, Out Of Exile, The Worm, Yesterday To Tomorrow

Black Sabbath – N.I.B., The Wizard, The Warning, Sweet Leaf, Lord Of This World, Paranoid, Iron Man, War Pigs, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Hole in the Sky, Snow Blind

Bitter:Sweet – The Mating Game, Heaven

Bono & Gavin Friday – In the Name of the Father

The Bravery – An Honest Mistake, Unconditional

BT – Madskilllz, Circles, Movement in Still Life, Smartbomb

Carpenter, John – Romero and the President, "Escape from New York" original sound track

Cee-Lo – Closet Freak

Coldplay – Lost!

The Crystal Method – Badass, The Name of the Game, Trip Like I Do, Busy Child, Keep Hope Alive

Cypress Hill – (Rock) Superstar

Daddy Yankee – Gasolina, Lo Que Paso, Santifica Tus Escapularios,

Depeche Mode – Dream On, I Feel You, Barrel Of A Gun, In Your Room, It's No Good

Dr. Dre – Xxplosive

Fat Boy Slim – Right Here Now

Foo Fighters – Hey, Johnny Park!

Gabriel, Peter – Moodoo's Secret "Long Walk Home" soundtrack, Ngankarrparni "Long Walk Home" Soundtrack

Galactic Caravan – Om Om

Gustavo Santaolalla – Iguazu

"The Island" Soundtrack

J-Walk – Soul Vibration

Johnny Cash – Get Rhythm (Philip Steir Remix)

Joy Division – She's Lost Control, Transmission, Twenty Four Hours

Judas Priest – You've Got Another Thing Commin'

King Crimson – The ConstruKction of Light (part 2)

LL Cool J – Momma Said Knock You Out

Linkin Park – Faint

Lo Fidelity Allstars – Battle Flag

Cliff Martinez – "Solaris" Soundtrack

Massive Attack – Angel, Teardrop, Man Next Door

"The Matrix" Soundtrack

Moby – Porcelain, Bodyrock, Where You End

Nasty Nardo – Let's Get A Room

New Order – Brutal

Nine Inch Nails – Closer, Ruiner, Head Like A Hole, Kinda I Want To, The Hand That Feeds

The Notorioius B.I.G. – Hypnotize

Out Kast – The Way You Move

Paul Oakenfold – Mortal, The Way I Feel, Ready Steady Go

Pink Floyd – Fearless (Interpolating 'You'll Never Walk Alone')

Portishead – Sour Times

Public Enemy – Brothas Gonna Work It Out, Night of the Living Baseheads

Siouxsie & The Banshees – Overground, Cities In Dust, Kiss Them For Me

The Sisters of Mercy – Flood I, Lucretia My Reflection, This Corrosion, Flood II, Never Land

Skinny Puppy – Antagonism

The Stone Temple Pilots – Dead And Bloated, Sex Type Thing, Plush, Vaseline

Tapping the Vein – The Ledge (club remix)

Ted Nugent – Stranglehold

The The – Sweet Bird Of Truth, Out of the Blue

Tool – Schism, Parabola, Sober, Gone

U2 – Crumbs From Your Table, Magnificent, Stand Up Comedy, Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car

White Zombie – More Human Than Human, Bl

State of Mind makes book club selection for May

Dear friends,

Now that the royal honeymoon is underway, I am pleased to announce you can follow something else when Harry and Kate are off screen. STATE OF MIND has been elected the book club selection for the Bloggers Unite Book Club for the entire month of May 2011. I'd like to thank Bobbie Crawford McCoy at Nurture Your Books for her tireless marketing efforts and getting this book recommended.

So, when you want some excitement and intrigue outside of the House of Windsor, pick up STATE OF MIND for a roller-coaster read.

I'd like to mention that I sent autographed copies to the royal wedding party to be placed under the chairs at the reception banquet. My inside man (or woman in this case) assured me they were fixed in their designated places before the big event. Whether or not the announcement was made to look for the surprise gifts has not been confirmed.

If you believe the previous statement I have beachfront property in Montana I'd like to sell you as well.

link to the book club

All the best,

Sven

April's blog book tour comes to an end… not quite

Dear reader,

The blog book tour for State of Mind went very well. I wanted to thank the following (in order of the tour dates) for their kind support and helping to expose my novel to a larger audience.

Ant of sfbookcom

Alice Bola of girlsjustreading.blogspot.com

Jennifer Shaw of booknoise411.blogspot.com

John DeNardo of sfsignal.com

Wenj of blacklagoonreviews.blogspot.com

Angela Kay of soapboxinmymind.blogspot.com

There's more to come including a pod cast on Attention Deficit Delirium and other fun posts so please check in again!

Thank you for your patronage.

Sven

A vote to make SOM into a film…

Q – Which of the titles you've read would you like to see made into a movie?

Recently I read one entitled STATE OF MIND by Sven Davison. It's an amazing novel about a society ruled by technology. It's edgy, smart, and thought evoking with lots of action and subterfuge that is perfectly suited to the silver screen. Another one I feel is wonderfully suited to being made into a movie is THE PASSAGE by Justin Cronin. I know a lot of people have mixed feelings about this novel, but I adored it. Lots of great themes and wonderful characters that I would love to see brought to life.

Black Lagoon Guest Post #2

http://blacklagoonreviews.blogspot.com/

April 25, 2011

Q&A with Jake Travissi

1) Can you begin by telling us a little bit about yourself prior to implantation?

I was cocky and overly confident. I had been successful at an early age and that created a false sense of security. People said I had anger issues and I thought they were full of crap. Even when my anger killed my career, I continued to ignore my real problems. Like most people I wanted to fix the symptoms and avoid confronting the cause at all costs. The P-Chip was the perfect answer. I was scared of it, but at the same time I saw it as a Godsend.

2) After receiving the P-Chip, can you tell us a bit about your initial thoughts? What did it feel like having all that power at your disposal?

At first it was incredibly disorienting. Having multiple images appear in my brain. The ability to retain 100% of all information I absorbed. I could ingest a mountain of knowledge in a few seconds, which would take a normal person a month to learn. Someone speaking inside my head was… bizarre, but then it began to sound just like a conversation flowing through my physical ears. There was a twenty-four-hour period there where I was beginning to love it. I was superman. If I hadn't had the memory bleeds I would have been addicted in a matter of days.

3) When did you initially begin to think that something may be wrong?

From the start I had headaches which would not go away. I was surprised because the P-Chip was supposed to be the miracle cure for everything biological. Then my first day on the job I began to have shocking visions of my actions at a crime scene. I brushed it off because I believed having the chip was my chance to stay on the force. I was enjoying the benefits of the chip, and felt that my visions had to be an integration issue. I also had an emotional outburst at Parks, the rookie on our team. It was a ridiculous overreaction on my part and something I had never done before. My actions did not seem like I was the cause… it was a creepy feeling.

4) Can you describe to us the feelings you experienced when you finally realized what was going on?

I was scared shitless. I had no idea what was real and what was fake. I could not trust anything I saw, felt, tasted– even thought. It was the ultimate identity theft. I was basically a prisoner in my own mind. My fear turned to anger and determination. I had to act fast in order to get the God Heads out of my mind, otherwise the Jake I knew would be dead and I would be trapped in my brain, a prisoner in a chamber of horrors, watching myself carry out crimes. Or perhaps I would just cease to exist… it would have been a better alternative to the former scenario.

5) After having it removed, can you tell us a bit about your actual experiences versus the false illusions implanted into your mind? Whey do you think that the God Heads couldn't control you?

I spent a very long time trying to sort out what was real and what was not. How many crimes had I actually committed under their influence? I'm still uncertain but I can say I didn't kill anyone innocent. My moral fiber—better angels of my nature—what have you, won out. The God Heads could not access and destroy my core self. That was what gave me power over the hacking and the physical chip in my brain. I'm happy to know I'm innately a good guy. Then again… maybe I'm still chipped and we're not really having this conversation.

6) After all the trauma you've experienced, would you ever consider re-joining the police force? Why?

I don't belong on the police force. I feel I can do more good for this world in another capacity. I was originally going to be a lawyer before I felt I could have more direct impact on crime as a cop. Now I'm thinking it's better to be farther up the food chain and influencing policy– Who the hell am I kidding? I'm no politician, I'm a soldier at heart… I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I've got a few offers, but I need to work out my strategy. I would also like my nightmares to stop.

7) How are you coping with learning to trust your memories?

I'm not sure I do. One of the reasons I'm lying low and remaining relatively inactive is to prove that I'm not doing anything crazy. Then again, maybe the God Heads have won. Maybe I'm living out this fantasy life in some corner of my brain while my body is out assassinating people and exhibiting the personality of a God Head… but I'm having that thought less and less now. I do "feel" like I'm locked in reality. Funny, I used to take this feeling for granted.

Does this experience make you more hesitant to trust authority figures?

I was never much on authority figures because I thought I could do it better myself. After The Chip, I don't trust anyone. I see conspiracies everywhere. It's not a good thing– being paranoid. I find my faith in leaders is dead. When I regain trust in myself, I hope I'll take a chance on others.

9) After everything that's happened, what are your thoughts about putting so much faith in technology?

I'd like to think I had a healthy skepticism of most things before this happened. Now I'm even more skeptical. You really can't believe everything you read, hear, or even witness. Question everything. Find your own facts. Challenge those facts then make a decision. I am absolutely against joining or enhancing our intelligence with machines. If we do so, we cease to be human and become something else.

Sometimes I think about the world my grandparents grew up in. There were no Omnis, PDAs, e-mail, personal computers, Internet, ATMs– and life was slower. They had no choice but to wait for things. Sure, it was more inefficient, but it forced their generation to stop and really be in the moment. They experienced their physical environment. The day was segmented between work, family, and friends. Today it's all tossed in a blender and everything is out of focus. No wonder people want the escape into the arms of the P-Chip.

10) Now that everything has come to light, what's next for Jake "The Jackhammer" Travissi?

I've discovered some demons in my past and I want to face them. Then again I can't ignore my core nature. The more I see where society is going the more I want to do something about it. Yet I long for simplicity. I could apply to work at one of the extractions sites on the moon before they replace everyone with robots. Of course they'd have to allow pets. I'd like the view from 370 thousand kilometers. It would make all my problems seem small.

Black Lagoon Reviews Guest post #1

April 21, 2011

JAKE TRAVISSI: PROBABLE OR PURE FICTION?

When I first approached the character of Jake Travissi I thought of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, and E.E. "Doc" Smith's Kimball Kinnison, They were heroes from my childhood reading but rather two-dimensional and could not work with contemporary audiences. Then I thought Orson Scott Card's Ender Wiggin and Frank Herbert's Paul Atriedes. I liked the idea of a loner coming into his own, but Jake would be older and his evolution in the story would be around the time of his second coming of age, aka 30.

From here I thought of qualities that I admired in most heroes. I like nonconformists who have a solid moral compass and a rooted sense of self. I like common sense and people who analyze a problem before they act. But all heroes, real or fiction have flaws. The best ones face them. Sometimes they even overcome them.

Jake is a workaholic (I know people who see this as a positive trait) who has anger issues. Jake is intelligent and has common sense, so he does not buy into the advertising that a P-Chip in the brain will make his life better. However, Jake made a major blunder in his career. In a moment of emotional blindness, he lost control and did something colossally stupid. Two events in Jake's past influence much of his behavior. The first was Jake's fickle screenwriting father leaving when Jake was two. The second was the murder of Jake's friend and neighbor at the hands of an abusive father. When it comes to child abuse and men/fathers who do not measure up, Jake's ability to stay rational evaporates. His core rage explodes. Jake's history has been to suppresses and shrug off these core issues. Because his emotional baggage manipulates him at a subconscious level, he was chosen as a good candidate for P-Chip implantation.

When the book begins, Jake has been chipped. Chapter Two establishes with his two best friends, Lakshmi his Husky, and the recently retired (but regretting it) Regina Chilcot. Jake on his way to be implanted and has trepidations. I do not say whether or not this is a flashback because one of the properties of the chip is that the subject can't tell real memories from doctored ones. I want to keep the audience bouncing around between scenes and points of view to give a sense of disorientation. I want the pieces to fall together over time. This created some challenges for me. First, my hero was going to be doing things that weren't real, but might turn a reader off… until they found out that the action or thought was a false memory or impulse created by a God Head. Some actions might even seem like Hollywood cliché stuff. One of Jake's God Heads is an adolescent minded individual who tends to think in these terms. I will admit, the climactic action scene has Jake performing some superhuman feats, but I've established that the P-Chip can amp up adrenaline, and the will to survive cannot be underestimated.

Is Jake pure fiction or probable? Before implantation, I believe he's complex enough to be a person. He's driven, smart, nonconforming, and knows his place in the world, but he suppresses his core issues and they tend to bite him in the ass. I know plenty of folks like this including myself. After implantation, Jake becomes a tad superhuman, but as long as you buy into the science and laws of the P-Chip, Jake is still plausible as a real person. However, the novel is in your hands now. You be the judge.

http://blacklagoonreviews.blogspot.com/

sfsignal guest blog for April 15

Here's the April 15th guest blog post featured on sfsignal.com

INSPIRATION FOR STATE OF MIND AND RELATED EVENTS

I've always loved science fiction. As a kid and a teen my favorite authors were Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, E.E. "Doc" Smith, Frank Herbert, Douglas Adams, and Samuel Youd (aka John Christopher). In college and beyond I gravitated towards Robert Heinlein, Orson Scott Card, Harlan Ellison, Gregg Bear and Richard Paul Russo. I had always dabbled in science fiction short stories and shot short films with scifi plots.

In 2000 I read an article in Popular Science, which covered chipping pets with subcutaneous identification tags. I thought about a world where we could all interface with computers through chips in our minds. I had read Arthur C. Clarke's Lion of Comarre when I was a kid and the plot of people living out their lives plugged into a virtual world stuck with me. I also thought of The Matrix, which was the best contemporary example I had at the time. Then I thought of a world where we could be emotionally and physically enhanced by chip implants. Part of my job at Fox was helping to enforce anti-piracy on digital media. But if one person invents secure code another person can hack it. Ultimately I thought: What it would be like to hack into someone's mind, place them in a coma and force their body to do anything? That's when I started writing.

As I wrote I thought about how our society was looking more and more to medical technology to solve deeper issues. Got a hyperactive kid? Give him Ritalin. Overweight? Get a lap band. Addressing a symptom is far easier than confronting a cause. I thought the technology of the P-Chip should take this idea to the nth degree. If the P-Chip encouraged irresponsible behavior, people would ignore the pitfalls and sign up for implantation. I agree that there are always exceptions to every rule, so I'm not trying to generalize, but I do believe the psychology I present effects a majority.

After my first draft, the iPhone came to market and it bolstered my confidence in the plausibility of the P-Chip. If you apply Moore's Law (the quantity of transistors that can be placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit will double every two years) to technology in general, then what was the next leap from the iPhone? I felt it could very well be a PDA implanted in the brain.

I was unaware of Ray Kurzweil and the Singularitarians until the book was close to its publication date in March 2011. Steve Moore referenced them in review of my book and I looked them up. According to the Time Cover article published on February 21, 2011 by Lev Grossman, Singularitarians feel that by 2045 humankind will be joined with artificial intelligence and our consciousness will live forever inside a machine. My only argument against this is if AI comes to life and it evolves according to Moore's Law then it won't take long for this new intelligence to surpass our level of comprehension. In a short time it will see us as a lower life form, as we would a monkey, or even a paramecium. Why would this new intelligence have a need to integrate us into its consciousness? I should think this new intellect would move on to the next phase of existence and leave us to deal with our human issues by ourselves (Blood Music anyone?). To quote Douglas Adams, "So long and thanks for all the fish."

On a more immediate note, I recently came across an article in Popular Science about an NYU art professor who had a camera surgically implanted in his brain. I couldn't help but think the world of the P-Chip was getting closer.

Time article

http://www.time.com/time/health/artic...

Popular Science

http://www.popsci.com/technology/arti...

Re-imagining State of Mind as a Steampunk thriller with Vampires

Greetings, this is the guest post I made on http://booknoise411.blogspot.com/ on April 8, 2011. Thank you Jennifer!

When I shopped State of Mind around I had several agents tell me, "We only take SciFi if it's Steampunk in an urban setting with wizards and or vampires. Or it has to be military."

When this became the prevailing response I thought to myself: As a kid I was a fan of Wild Wild West and thought Vampire Lestat was bad ass. I was a big fan of Doctor Who starting with Tom Baker and the reboot had several episodes with Steampunk settings. The new-ish Sherlock Holmes film was Steampunk as well. As for wizards, I love the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter (the books far more than the films), so why not?

Here's my pitch for State of Mind given the parameters most agents are clamoring for.

The year is 1867. Jake Travissi is a Warlock who's down on his luck. He had been part of Pinkerton's spy ring during the Civil War. Pinkerton had a secret order that hunted down vampires who were southern sympathizers, many of whom were plantation owners (vampires always have money and capes are befitting southern gentlemen). Despite growing up in the south, Jake had felt the Union cause was just so he stayed with the government of the north when the war broke out.

Jake lived in New York at a Masonic Temple near Washington Square Park. Pinkerton ran an elite school of wizardry there where men and women who had a knack for magic were trained to hone their skills. When the riots broke out over the draft proposal Jake led a squad of Wizards to save many from the mob.

Jake's wife stayed on her mother's plantation in the south as the school did not allow families. Jake and his wife felt that the plantation would be a perfectly safe place to wait out the war. In 1865 Jake received heart breaking news that his wife and daughter had been killed eight months prior by Union soldiers when Sherman's army laid waste to the southern farms.

Jake was so upset by the news that he shot Sherman in the chest during a victory parade in New York. Jake was thrown in jail and would never be allowed to work in the service again.

1867: the remaining vampires under the direction of Sandoval Sanchez, cast spells on key figures in the government. Their ultimate goal is to enslave the human race through mind control. Humans would be mindless cattle for the vampires. Vampire Sanchez's first mind control was on a man named John Wilkes Booth. Sanchez had been the one behind Booth's assassination of Lincoln.

Jake was still serving time when the new crisis was uncovered. His reputation as the best Warlock in Pinkerton's school had reached President Johnson. Johnson gave Jake a pardon. Pinkerton asked Jake back to combat the Vampire order. However, Jake would be under the influence of a new mind-control device. It was the size of an apple and attached to his cape. The device was steam-powered and it would give Jake a shock if he was caught stepping out of line.

Sanchez commanded his vampire legion from his giant dirigible that cruised over America at night. It was Jake's mission to find Sanchez and bring his ring of Vampires to justice. Jake is given a steam-powered horseless carriage that converts into a desert sail car for traversing 19th century American terrain. There are two other elite Warlocks in his new Enhanced Unit, Joaquin Parks and Alexander Koren. Parks is a rookie, Koren is a man who despises Jake's methods and does not understand why Jake is in charge.

Surprises are around every corner. Jakes wife and daughter were not killed in Sherman's March. That was a rumor started by Sanchez. Sanchez was smitten with Jake's mother and converted her to a night feeder. She was so distraught that her daughter Jade would not be able to go with them, that Sanchez converted her too.

So what do you think, time for a re-imagining?