Stuart Harrison's Blog, page 8

Writers Need Editors

It’s sunny outside, I’ve just approved the cover for Episode One of the Black Sun series and the manuscript is off at the editor, whose name is Geoff. He emailed a reply to my query about his schedule and added – (sat in Malta). Lucky him. I hear the diving is great there.

I’m going to give him a plug here because I like his work. He has several websites I think, but the one I came across was http://www.cheap-book-editing.co.uk/ . If you have the misfortune to be a writer or perhaps want a thesis edited, check out Geoff. He is, as it says on the box, cheap (in terms of cost, I don’t know him well enough to comment further), but he’s good. I contacted lots of editing services both here in New Zealand and elsewhere. Geoff was lightning fast to respond, unlike some I’m still waiting to hear from – what recession? By the time somebody two hours down the road from me had finally replied to my query, Geoff had done the job!

I like his style too. It made me laugh, and when you spend all day locked in your own universe, it’s good to laugh. Here are some quotes:

“You write really well – it’s a pleasure after some of the stuff I have to read.”

Then he said:

“But how can that be, when you don’t know how to use a comma????”

Later:

“How can you write so well, and then write this bit of sh*t? Did you get somebody else to write it?”

I fixed that part, by the way.

Overall, Geoff really liked The Snow Falcon and The Flyer, though he was bemused that I, apparently, wrote my women characters so well. I think he was subtly asking me if I was really a guy. I am, Geoff. Ask my wife. And kids.

Funny that Geoff’s in Malta, there are some Black Sun type mysteries there. I’d like to visit. I might write about it in a future post.

Back To Work

Here in the Bay of Islands in the north of New Zealand, we’re having a fabulous summer. Hot, sunny days at the beach and time to relax. Unfortunately though, my relaxing days are over for the time being. Today I’m back to work after three weeks off, and my top priority is getting the first episode of the Black Sun series out there. The manuscript will go off for editing at the end of this week, the cover art is more or less done, so providing there are no unforeseen delays it should be available by mid-February at the latest.

Meanwhile my most recent published novel, The Flyer has started to sell as an ebook, though there are no reader reviews yet on Amazon, Kobo or anywhere else I’ve seen. The revised edition of The Snow Falcon is also selling, but no reviews there yet either. Both these books are essentially love stories, though they are each also more than that. They’re very different from the upcoming Black Sun series, but I’m hoping that The Flyer will be a success because I’d like to write a sequel. I am particularly proud of that novel. Writing it involved a lot of research, along with two years of writing numerous drafts.

Somebody commented that The Flyer is reminiscent of the TV series Downton Abbey in some ways, which I suppose is true, though I finished The Flyer five years ago, long before DA hit the screen. If you are reading this and you buy the book (print version is a couple of weeks away, available on Amazon – I had to change something in the text layout when I received the first proof) then I hope you’ll get in touch and let me know your thoughts. The same goes for the revised version of The Snow Falcon. Please also post reviews on the various sites, including Goodreads if you use it, and tell your friends on Facebook. Word of mouth is the only way for an author to get their books known, if not backed by a big publisher, which I am not. We need all the help we can get, and I certainly appreciate it.

On that subject, if you like my work and want to be informed about what’s happening, please also click on subscribe. I’ll tell you when there’s something new and I’ll also offer you special subscriber-only deals and free fiction as the year goes on. Thanks.

Black Sun Episode One Countdown

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2012 ended, but the world is still here. The climate is crazy though, all around the world. The sun, which is approaching what is known as the solar max; the end point of the roughly eleven year solar cycle, should be highly active. It’s not though. It’s very quiet. There are few solar flares or coronal holes, both of which send charged particles towards earth and the other planets in the solar system, impacting our climate. The earth’s magnetic field is weak. It has been steadily weakening for many years, and the magnetic poles are wandering at an increasing rate. It could mean the planet is due for a magnetic pole reversal, which has happened before and will certainly happen again. Quite what the effects will be, nobody really knows. Mainstream science says the effects will be minimal; the same people also say climate change is caused by human activity, rather than the sun. Really?

In the first episode of my bi-monthly series of novellas called Black Sun, Nick Hanley is shown hard geological evidence of some kind of global cataclysm that occurred twelve thousand years ago at the end of the last ice age. Here’s the point about that: Nick learns that there are two conflicting theories regarding the evolution of this planet and by extension, the solar system, galaxy and wider universe, including life in all its forms. For simplicity’s sake, let’s stick with the earth, because as the Hermetic saying goes; As above – so below. Hermes, by the way, was a wise god, also known as Thoth to the Egyptians. Hermetic knowledge was associated with the ancient Mystery Schools, which in due course will form part of the Black Sun narrative. Anyway the term, As above – so below, refers to the concept that the universe is reflected in the atom, which is evident in the electrical structure of atoms, or stated another way; the macro is reflected in the micro and vice versa. You could say then, that the truth really is within, as many religious and spiritual disciplines have stated.[image error]

I have digressed. Back to the conflicting theories of evolution. The current model accepted by science is broadly termed Uniformitarianism. Simply stated it means that what we see is the way things are. Change happens very slowly. Mountains rise over tens of millions of years by erosion and the planets have been in their present orbital positions since the early formation of the solar system billions of years ago. The other theory is called Cataclysmic Evolution. Again, stated simply this means that change can and does happen rapidly at times, when natural forces act violently to engender cataclysmic change. This is not to be confused with sporadic events like an asteroid hitting the earth, for example, which clearly can happen. That would be a rare and random event undeniably resulting in localised cataclysm. Rather, the term Cataclysmic Evolution implies that the very nature of the evolution of the planet is cataclysmic. Massive changes occur regularly because that is how the universe works. Seas rise within short periods, perhaps almost instantly. Mountains rise as quickly. Species of life become extinct virtually overnight. Others mutate due to exposure to solar and other radiation when the magnetosphere is diminished. The very orbits of the planets are rearranged.

This theory of change by cataclysm was actually the dominant one until as recently as the nineteenth century. Cataclysm was replaced partly by shifting opinions which were an expression of the desire to reject the illogical and ignorant beliefs of the religious majority, who regarded the biblical accounts of creation as literally accurate. The uniformitarian view took hold along with Darwinism. It was a continuation of the triumph of science over religion, which had always resisted the advance of knowledge because it weakened the power of the church. I’m talking here about Christianity in particular, but the same applies to other biblical based religions. So the shift to a scientific way of thinking was not a bad thing. That doesn’t mean, however, that since then science has got everything right, or that all scientists agree, which they don’t.

Nick will learn that throughout known history, most cultures throughout the world have believed in cycles of ages, each ending in cataclysm in order to give birth to the next age. The Greeks and Egyptians, the early Indian civilisation, various aboriginal and the famed Mayans, all had similar ideas. What Nick is shown in Alaska is proof that a cataclysm of fantastic proportions occurred twelve thousand years ago. Entire species of large mammals that existed across North America at that point became extinct. Their bones, smashed to fragments are deposited in huge quantities all around the Arctic circle. The conventional explanation for their demise was and is that it was a result of overhunting by early man; the so-called Clovis Culture, named after a particular style of hunting weapon. It’s a laughable explanation in the face of the evidence. This is now being recognised as new theories are offered, though the idea of cataclysm is still resisted unless it is considered as an extremely rare event and only part of a much slower, steadier process.

As I’ve said in a previous post, the Black Sun series is not, however, an end-of- the-world narrative. There have been cataclysms before and we’re still here. But are we the same? Do we really know how civilisation evolved when there are so many examples in the ancient world of sophisticated knowledge of astronomy, science and building? The evidence we find is actually In line with a theory of cycles of destruction and renewal, rather than a simple upward trajectory of human advancement. Knowledge is gained and lost and gained again, but perhaps in different forms under new and different conditions. It seems certain that religions arose from a mixture of knowledge of profound ideas associated with what we might call spiritual matters, but they were also strongly associated with natural phenomenon. Did those beliefs devolve into pagan rituals concerned with the seasons and nature? Was religion a vague memory of a sophisticated science far beyond our own, some of which was retained in the Mystery Schools but hidden from the masses? Perhaps in the end, ignorance prevailed. The science was lost and only dogma and superstition remained. In fact, if we have the eyes to see, that is what history tells us.

So what of the other main character we’ve met so far in the story? Ellen Baker, who is a doctor, last seen on an Arizona highway, is about to vanish from the face of the earth, the circumstances of her disappearance familiar to anyone with even a passing acquaintance with stories of UFO abduction. This seems far removed from Nick’s questions about the end of the last ice age, but Earth’s true history, the question of extra-terrestrial life and the question underlying all religions, that concerning the true nature of existence, all lie at the heart of the series.

So, episode one is well underway. The manuscript is written bar a few changes and a visit to the editor, the cover is in draft stage and will be on this site soon, and publication will be sometime in February. I’ll advise a date closer to the time.

In the meantime, the print versions of The Snow Falcon and The Flyer, which as stories are about as far removed from the Black Sun as you could get, have arrived in proof form. The Snow Falcon appears to be fine and you’ll be able to order it within a few weeks, but The Flyer may need a layout change so will be delayed a few more weeks.

That’s it for now. I’m planning on posting to my blog twice a week, so keep checking back or even better subscribe to my mail list and stay abreast of things there.

One final note; Black Sun episodes will only be available as e-books initially. If you haven’t got an e-reader yet, let me just say that one of main advantages they have over printed books is that you can buy books a lot more cheaply as downloads. Another advantage is that writers like me can produce a series like the Black Sun, published as novellas on a regular basis (bi-monthly in my case) and you can buy each episode for a very reasonable price. Probably three dollars in this case, for an episode about a third of the length of a conventional long novel. If each episode was published conventionally the wait between each one would be more like a year, which is clearly way too long, and the cost would be far higher. Finally, many readers who own e-book devices also buy print books. I’m one of those, though I have to say cost and convenience sway the balance heavily in favour of e-books. If you haven’t got one, maybe you should think about it. It isn’t like reading off a computer screen, as many people still think. I have a Kindle (Not a Fire) and it’s like reading any other book in terms of the way a page looks. Not at all like reading off a computer screen.

More soon…

Black Sun Episode One

I’m getting the first episode of my series, Black Sun, ready for publication. Damon at Damonza is working on the cover design which will reflect both the ongoing narrative and the story-line of the first episode. No spoilers here, but in this blog I want to provide some background information about the ideas behind the series and the characters. Though Black Sun is fiction, a lot of what happens is based on fact and I’ve spent much of the last four or five years researching the material. I hope you enjoy the story as it unfolds, but I hope it also gives you some food for thought. Some of the subject matter covered you’ll have heard about, a lot you may not have. If there’s anything you’d like to know more about, just ask, or refer to this blog in case I’ve posted links to some of the places where the information is available.

In the opening chapters of the first episode we meet two of the main characters. They don’t know each other yet, but that’s going to change. Ellen Baker is a doctor in a small Arizona town where she’s lived for the past six months. Originally she’s from the Los Angeles area, but following a disastrous relationship with a guy who turned out to be married she needed to get away, and Bryce is where is she ended up, working in one of the two medical practices in the town. When we meet her, Ellen is driving home at night after spending her day off in Seneca. The highway cuts across the desert landscape and is empty of traffic. Ellen’s listening to the radio and looking forward to getting home, and sitting down in her backyard with a glass of wine, where she’ll gaze at the night sky. In Arizona the sky is incredibly clear. She’s thinking about buying a telescope so she can learn more about the constellations. She’s only a few miles from the town when she sees a light streak above the mountains silhouetted to the east. A fireball, Ellen thinks, and she pulls over to see if she can spot any more. Her life is about to change for ever.

While Ellen is pulling over on a lonely highway in Arizona, Nick Hanley is also in a car, though he’s a passenger and the driver is a veteran journalist Nick has known for a number of years. Cafferty is kind of a mentor and father-figure type to Nick, but Cafferty isn’t well. A couple of days ago he called Nick in New York and asked him to get on a plane and fly to Fairbanks, Alaska, which is where they are now. Though it’s May, in Fairbanks the landscape is frozen like it’s the middle of winter. Cafferty is about to show Nick something, and then he’s going to ask for a big favour.

I’m going to cut away from the story now because I don’t want to give too much away. However I can say this much; Nick is about to learn that earth’s history is quite different from the version science tells us about. In fact, as the series goes on Nick and the other characters are going to discover that there is a lot that science has got wrong about a broad range of subjects. They shouldn’t be surprised by that, because although, as Cafferty tells Nick, in the modern age we put science on a pedestal, we should probably be more sceptical. Throughout history science has got things wrong, while eminent members of the profession, the establishment, have declared that their theories are indisputable facts, proven beyond doubt. Cafferty recounts how science declared it was against the laws of physics for a machine to fly and therefore such a thing was impossible. The Wright brothers, who made bicycles, disagreed. When it comes to the fundamentals, the Big Things, scientific opinion is very firmly entrenched. The prevailing attitude of scientists is often alarmingly arrogant. They start from a position where they are comfortable their theories are correct, and so when those theories are challenged, their minds are often closed to the possibility that they are wrong. In other words, scientists are people too, just as fallible and prone to ego and self-interest as anyone else.

Cafferty is derisive about the current insistence by climate scientists that climate change is caused by human activity. He has persuaded Nick to fly to Alaska to show him evidence that the earth’s climate has changed in the not so distant past with results that scientists have largely ignored because they are unable to explain them within their pre-set belief system.

The series is about changes that are about to befall the earth, but these changes are not only climactic, nor is this an apocalyptic series in the sense that some cataclysm occurs destroying civilisation, after which the fate of the survivors forms the narrative. Instead, the series draws on a wide range of unexplained mysteries and phenomenon and brings them all together in a scenario that eventually links and explains them. The climate evidence that Nick is shown in Alaska is only part of the story, as are the strange lights Ellen encounters in Arizona.

More soon…

The New Age Of Being A Novelist…

Stuart Harrison, Author

There was a time not that long ago when authors wrote books and, with the exception of a few local bookstore signings, they rarely got to connect with the people who read them. They didn’t know how people felt about the stories, which the author had probably sweated and laboured over for six months, or a year, or even many years. Thankfully, that’s all changed, thanks to the internet and webpages like this one. Now authors can write their stories and put them out there for people to read, and readers can connect back using blogs and social media and sites like Goodreads, and talk to authors directly about their work. Because of that, writing novels feels very different. It’s not just storytelling anymore, it’s part of the whole world of communication. I think what I’m trying to say is; suddenly it’s not quite such a lonely vocation as it once was. Hooray for that.

So, welcome world, to my blog. Of course, I understand that right now there’s probably nobody out there reading this, but I’m not disheartened. I might be shouting into the wind a little bit, but I guess my voice will carry and somebody somewhere will hear a faint sound and look to see where it’s coming from, and maybe that person will be the first make their way here. If you happen to be that person, a special welcome!

I better begin, I think, by telling you a bit about myself. I started writing novels after a business I began in the late nineties crashed and burned. At the time it wasn’t a fun situation. My wife was pregnant with our first child and we had a big mortgage on the house, so suddenly being broke and having to sell up wasn’t exactly how we had planned things. On the plus side, I’d always wanted to try to become a novelist and this seemed like a good opportunity. You have to find the positive, right. Well, this is the short version of that story, but let’s just say it wasn’t easy and there were a lot of rejected manuscripts along the way. Eventually though, I sold a novel called The Snow Falcon to various publishers around the world, and to my utter amazement I had a hit book on my hands. (There’s a revised and rewritten version of that book available now, by the way.)

After The Snow Falcon I went on to write four more novels, until in 2004 I took a break. I was having a crisis of direction, I suppose you could say. My books were hard to classify. They were part mystery, part relationship-based dramas, for want of a better term, though Snow Falcon was a love story as much as anything. That was my problem. I wasn’t sure I wanted to write love stories, and for that reason I began trying my hand at various other genres. I worked up a few thrillers and a few more mysteries with the emphasis on suspense, and somehow they just didn’t work out. Meanwhile the years went by and readers who had actually read my books and liked them, understandably forgot about me.

I’m going to fast forward here. Somebody mentioned that blogging ought to be like chatting with friends over a coffee, and I don’t want to turn that into a chat over a four course dinner. Out of all this turmoil, what I eventually came to realise was that I actually really like to write about love and relationships, and I like to set the stories in evocative locations. I’d had this idea for a novel in my mind for a while, about a young man and a woman during the lead up to, and during the First World War. The young man was a pilot, that much I knew, flying those old biplanes made of flimsy wood and canvas, and I saw him as an ordinary person from a working background, as opposed to having the kind of privileged background a lot of the aviators of that time did. Then I thought, what if the woman he’s in love with was his social opposite? What kind of problems would they face?

That was basically the genesis of the book that became The Flyer. It took almost two years to write, partly because of the research involved and partly because I sometimes struggled to capture the mix of adventure , love and realism I was looking for. I’m looking forward to hearing from readers to let me how I did.

So that’s what I’ve been doing since I last published a novel, but it’s not all I’ve been doing. During that time of soul searching I also realised there is a side of me that wants to write a completely different type of story. I’ve given this side of me the name Stuart C Harrison, and beginning in Feb 2013 I’ll be releasing episodes of a series called the Black Sun. If you’ve ever wondered about the mysteries of the world, such as what was the real purpose of the Great Pyramid and who built it, was there a civilisation known as Atlantis and if so, who were those people and what happened to them, and what does any of that have to do with crop circles and climate change and what’s happening in the world today?  – then this series is for you. More on that soon.