Lee R. Baldwin's Blog, page 2

Halcyon Dreamworlds in Pre-Release to Nov. 30

Yes! And it’s your shot at getting Lee Baldwin’s latest technothriller for 99 cents, before the publisher’s pricing kicks in.

Get the book on Amazon!

Scoop, blurb, inspiring concept:

In the lavish online universe known as Halcyon Dreamworlds, players control exotic avatars with their thoughts. They experience the illusions of sight and sound, taste, smell and touch, and succumb to deeper hungers in this lawless sauna.

It’s not virtual anything.

Amid gritty realities of 2029 America, Logan Fischer struggles to cleanse herself of cyber addiction, as players in their millions live their innermost fantasies in the Dreamworlds. While an ultra-rich mastermind works to destroy privacy, Logan must battle free of that alluring pleasure-pit and accept the challenge to win back a world’s future.

The Ultras won’t allow that.

Halcyon Dreamworlds Trending HOT on Kindle Scout

Halcyon Dreamworlds, Lee Baldwin’s new science fiction novel, is doing well on Kindle Scout, Amazon’s reader-powered publishing venture.

The campaign ends soon. Your nomination will push Kindle Press to pick it up for publication, and you’ll get a free copy if they do! (Plus my undying gratitude.)

Following on the heels of Baldwin’s novel, Next History, Halcyon Dreamworlds is a tale of political Armageddon as ultra rich manipulators attempt to vanquish the rest of us one final time.

Worth a look. Thanks!

Terms of Eternal Servitude Agreement

Hello, Corporate America, Corporate World.

This will be your sole official notice that any person, place or thing requiring that I agree to a set of Terms of Service (TOS) or suchlike, where the weasel-wording is 27 scrolls below the bottom of that tiny box, also jointly and severally agree to the Terms of Eternal Servitude items below.

“Company” is a generic term for any provider I might choose to do business with, past, present or future.

1. Everything that comes into my world from Company belongs to me. If Company has placed some promotion directly in my path such as on the Internet or any other media stream to make me aware of any offering, Company has therefore placed it in my inalienable, personal and totally private world.

2. Company expressly agrees that I signed your TOS under practical duress.

3. Any terms of service on the part of Company that either take too long to read, are illegible, or contain language requiring a major law firm to decipher, will sever that clause from any agreement I make with Company.

3. If Company should try to bind me to a 2-year or any other time-based contract for any media or Internet service, I have the full and indisputable right to sever the contract by cutting off funds to Company with no repercussions.

4. I respect the right of Company to make money or other consideration from valuable products or services, but not through means of hoodwinking me with “legal” language.

Thank you for your attention. How far did you have to scroll?

Are you aware that the IRS has a TOS expressed in some 77,000 pages of tax code? They are totally severed.

Signed into Universal Law at 8:25:37 on 26 April 2015.

Paintdrop

The Breakout Novelist – Book Tip

The Breakout Novelist: Craft and Strategies for Career Fiction Writers, Donald Maass

Author Creds: The Donald Maass Literary Agency sells over 100 novels annually to publishers worldwide.

I was excited to find this book, as Mr. Maass has been working with professional novelists for over thirty years. Among the first things that woke me up about his book, and my own writing, is a paragraph that punched through strongly:

“…a novice thriller writer opens with a “grabber” scene in which an anonymous victim is slain by a nameless assailant—the reader’s interest level is only mild at best.”

For me, even worse than the fact that every James Bond movie I’d ever seen begins with something quite like this, was the fact I had launched my latest thriller, Halcyon Threshold, with a first chapter that does exactly that.

Oops.

Not that you can’t start a novel with a meaningless murder, many have begun that way and others will in the future. But Maass speaks in his title about a breakout novel, a book that will ignite the reader’s passion and imagination for the characters and situations you have created, keep them flipping pages to the end, and keep them talking about it.

Maass follows with this line: “Strong reader interest results from a high level of sympathy, which is grounded in knowledge of character and enriched by personalizing details.”

Maass goes on to lay out his first three required elements of a breakout plot.

FIRST PLOT ELEMENT: Engage the reader’s sympathies.

“The first plot essential, then, is not events per se, but a highly developed and sympathetic character to whom they will happen.”

SECOND PLOT ELEMENT: Shit happens.

“Conflict appears, something happens or is about to happen to that character: a problem arises. Easy-to-solve problems are easily forgotten. Complex conflicts… stick in our minds, nagging for attention. If you want your readers to think about your novel long after the last page is turned, consider putting your characters into situations in which the right path is not obvious. Ambiguity and moral dilemma might seem as if they would muddy a story, but in reality, that makes it harder to forget.”

Human beings are complicated. They are messy, they are contradictory. They are flawed. This I felt is what’s meant at the deepest level by knowing your character. In an earlier post I wrote that putting a character on the stage with their worst enemy would lead to drama. What if your character’s worst enemy is a contradictory part of themselves? There you have the meat of a complex character who can be riveting, if you pick the right complications to bring out the things about human nature that interest you.

THIRD PLOT ELEMENT: Greater depth.

“The third essential element of a plot, most agree, is that it must deepen; that is to say, it must undergo complication. Without that constant development, a novel, like a news event, will eventually lose its grip. There are many ways to conceptualize conflict: the problem, tension, friction, obstacle to goal, worries, opposition, inner warfare, disagreement…”

Don’t listen to me, this article is merely a taste. I am reading this book now. Get it. If you’re serious about your fiction in any aspect, get the book.

Note: My only real negative on this helpful book is the introduction. While there is useful information there, it’s meandering with many rhetoric questions. Cut to Part 1 where he starts about premise and you won’t be sorry.

Next History ~ Recent Reviews

Next History Amazon Reviews to 2015

5 stars – Absolutely worth your time



An excellent, fantastical story, combining mythos, theology and Armageddon sprinkled with sex and feminism. Very well written, and a compelling page turner. ~ J. Fairman

5 stars – Very well written story; I had a hard time putting it down.

I started this morning before work and now it’s after midnight. What a great read! How to describe this book? …set in current times for the most part, at the Pentagon and other US locations. The heroine, Tharcia, reads out a spell that ultimately changes the world. I don’t want to say anything more, except that I would definitely recommend it. ~ patiscynical

5 stars – It’s all about the journey

…one page in and I was hooked …memorable characters that took the story to such amazing places …cliff-hanger scenes and wild story development …inspire hope in the face of cynicism … fun, captivating, and heartening read! ~ Doug C.

4 stars – Entertaining and engrossing, great read, characters fleshed out perfectly and seem very real

Good book for any age. Thanks ~ Amazon Customer

5 stars – A great cyber punk story!

This is another book I read straight through – the cyber science behind it is fascinating and easily believable as an extension of current technology …fast paced and the plot twists will keep you guessing what’s coming next. I recommend this book to science fiction and cyber punk fans; it is a quality read! ~ Blaine Coleman

New Worlds, New Knowledge and Emotional Impact

Reading biographies on literary agency websites, I often see a statement such as: “I’m a sucker for a believable, well-painted world.”

This tells us a couple of things. Agents are people too, and want to escape the ordinary as they read the slush pile day in and day out. ‘Escape fiction’ is a redundancy, for escape implies a new world to enter, even if only slightly different from our own. As readers we want to see how a downtrodden character (because many of us feel that way sometimes) resolves an ethical or moral question that has great emotional impact for them. We want to learn something.

The new world can be a courtroom, a TV soap, an emergency room, a racing stable. We’ve all entered those worlds with skilled writers as our guide. And what we find is that those worlds are not merely backdrops, but can act as a character. The world performs in the writer’s hands to strengthen our illusion of being there while highlighting the theme or premise of the story.

Agents and readers are looking for ideas with emotional impact. They look for potent characters who are active, and are not afraid of conflict. (Or maybe your character is afraid of conflict, but must face it all the same.)

It is axiomatic that if you put an interesting character on the stage with their worst enemy, you get drama. To flesh that out, you’re investing emotional capital in a struggle between two main characters, in the context of a high-concept idea. So when a man takes his wife to court for custody of their child, you might get Kramer Versus Kramer, or if a man unknowingly makes a pact with the devil, you might get The Firm.

It’s also axiomatic in the publishing world that your fiction or memoir plot has to provide some information or insights to solving problems in the real world. Orson Scott Card’s novels, largely YA, often address themes such as leadership.

A memoir is only impactful in the writer’s interpretation of the events. Readers are willing to look through other eyes if they will learn something about how to handle the world. The same is true of narrative nonfiction… how would you tell about the events of 9/11 through your own eyes, so we could all find out something new?

Newly published authors these days usually come out with a high-concept idea that is story-worthy and can be phrased in one sentence. So, agents are looking not for a story, but for a drama. To put that into marketplace terms, if someone pays $29.95 for your book, and wades through 400 pages of text, they have made a huge commitment. What are you going to teach them and how are you going to make your story dramatic and believable enough to rise to that commitment?

Here’s one way. If you can deliver a solution to a moral and ethical dilemma that provides useful insights into the real world while pushing believable though imperfect characters into conflict in a well-painted yet possibly quirky world, you have met that challenge.

Next History: Recent Amazon Reviews

5 Star – really worth reading

If you can imagine reading Neal Stephenson – before anyone much had heard of him and mix it with Good Omens – this might be that novel.

~ Megan, on Amazon

4 Star – excellent read

Reminds me of some of Heinlein’s later imaginative, philosophical books. An unusual & entertaining imaginative excursion. Combo of science fiction, fantasy & philosophy presented very elegantly.

~ Rodney (Massillon, OH), on Amazon

5 Star – This rivals Heinlein and Stranger

I LOVED this book and will have to ‘re-read it. I wanted to turn the page quickly, but found myself stopping to digest what I’d just read. Missed so much the first time through.. such an enjoyable READ.

~ Jackie Pryor, on Amazon

5 Star – Remarkable Book

This book has everything that makes reading a thrilling adventure– interesting prose, wonderfully imaginative story, unique characters developed in the round, and a philosophical stance that grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. Speculative fiction at its best but set in an earthly context full of myth and all too unpleasant modern realities.

Every character, even the godlike ones, is flawed, not little bitty flaws but great tearing deficiencies important to the plot, the sorts of flaws which keep the narrative unpredictable. Bravo Lee Baldwin! Finding your book among the indy publishing restores my willingness to explore the works available.

~ Kathleen L., on Amazon

Just Read It.

Next History is FREE on Amazon Sept 8 – 12 2013!

Welcome to this Free Download

“Next History is humorous, a cliff hanger, a marvelous love story, and perfectly executed.”

~ Ernie Smitty (Orygun), on Amazon

Wounded by her mother’s death, a young woman conjures a supernatural being into the heart of the U.S. Pentagon. It is not her mother. Oops… humanity is about to be reprogrammed.

When she finds in her deepest being a secret twin, the future is due for an attitude adjustment. Will there be a collective, agonizing dive into chaos and depravity? Will it reveal humanity’s true purpose? Or, will nothing change at all, except for the dark fate of one luckless girl?

Reality Will Be Rebooted

Fair warning, contains situations! 17+++ recommended.

Risk-Free FREE Offer

“This is a smart book with smart concepts. The story has many levels – part philosophical, part metaphysical, part adventure, part family dramas, part love story… makes you think about your own beliefs and behavior… I would most certainly read another of this Author’s work. Buy it.

~ J, on Amazon

Find out for yourself for FREE September 8 – 12, 2013.

Fabbo Next History Reviews!

Fantastic Read!

What a great novel. Picked this up because I had enjoyed Baldwins prior book Angle of Attack: An Adventure in Aviation, Love, and Crime. I enjoyed this much more and think it compares in greatness to Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins. Pick this up and enjoy the read.

~ Jed M. Wells D P M, on Amazon

A Unique Voice in Story Telling.

Next History is humorous, a cliff hanger, a marvelous love story, and perfectly executed.

I usually dislike reviews comparing authors but Sheri Tepper comes to mind. Not in style but in subject matter and Mr. Baldwin’s heartfull take on subjects usually shied away from by those less brave.

~ Ernie Smitty (Orygun), on Amazon

A Fabulous Read

This is a smart book with smart concepts. I love a book where the writing conjures up images for me, where I can see where people are – the rooms, the houses, the buildings, the landscape. This book did that. The story has many levels – part philosophical, part metaphysical, part adventure, part family dramas, part love story. This is the kind of book that does make you think about your own beliefs and behavior. It should make you question whether you would go to sleep or not. I would most certainly read another of this Author’s work. Buy it.

~ J, on Amazon

Find out for yourself.

Reviews of Next History

Recent reviews…

What a Find – Absolutely AWESOME book!

I was looking for escape fiction, and while the book provided that, it is so much more. It made me think, and it is changing my life. If you want to know the deepest secrets of the universe, this book won’t spoon feed you, but will give you lots of terrific hints. Look over there! Consider this! What would you choose? And last, best, what will I choose?

Most important for me in a book of fiction is the characters. They have to be real people, and they have to make me care about them. The author created characters different than any I’ve seen anywhere, and many of them are folks I want to know better. (Of course, some of them are bad guys I want to squish between my thumb and forefinger.) Now I need to find another book by Lee Baldwin!

~ Maggie Uh-O, on Amazon

A Unique Voice in Story Telling.

Next History is humorous, a cliff hanger, a marvelous love story, and perfectly executed.

I usually dislike reviews comparing authors but Sheri Tepper comes to mind. Not in style but in subject matter and Mr. Baldwin’s heartfull take on subjects usually shied away from by those less brave.

~ Ernie Smitty (Orygun), on Amazon

Thank you for hope…

The reading of this book reinforced beliefs I have held for some time. Thank you for hope. I loved the book…

~ Dragonviolet, on Amazon

A struggle between the divine feminine and the patriarchy…

…a surprising theme for a science fiction novel.

The descriptions of the “dreamtime” are lyrical and sensuously enjoyable, sometimes funny. The whole world is hallucinating… beautifully written with insight and subtelty. The action is fast and totally engaging.

Tharcia is a lovable character, her struggle is heartbreaking…

~ Karuna Chapman on Amazon

Find out for yourself.