Giveaway: Signed copies of brainy, dystopian thriller to be published by Roundfire books

[Roderick]

I'm giving away 5 signed copies of my dystopian novel "The Cause" (publication date Nov. 28th) here:

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...

Best of luck and thanks for entering!

[[deleted user]]

Your blurb, opening scene and tag 'brainy dystopian thriller' certainly caught my eye, as I've tired with YA dystopias because I'm an adult :D.

[Roderick]

@D.elliot, your profile had me in stitches. "I trip from one disaster to the next and I am optimistically awaiting my rebate from karma - which must surely be in the post but has simply got delayed due to the privatisation of royal mail."

Well I don't know how much the royal mail loses, but the U.S. post office sucks at least a couple of billion off taxpayers every year. In Switzerland they just scalp you at the counter.

I used to live in Hemel Hempstead...No rebates on Karma there, but London was cool. Have never been to Manchester.

Take a peek at "The Cause" here.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Cause-Roder...

If you're interested, maybe I'll let you have it for a read-for-review.

All the best,
R

[[deleted user]]

Yeah, it's unfortunately an apt metaphor: I also suspect I have a dyslexic postman, considering the amount of letters I get belonging to my neighbours, but then privatisation focuses on increased profit margins rather better services! On London, all I can remember is the smoky traffic from my youth and the evil tube journeys at rush hour latter in life - where you had to rub yourself down with baby oil just to make your way through the crowd to get off at your stop. On the opening to your novel, really well written and thorough: respect the message you're putting across here and it's one that's going to be increasingly echoed in the public's consciousness over the coming years as the middle classes diminish. On those DARPA BigDogs, I've read about them before: the potential for them to be weaponized and deployed is certainly worrying... I can already hear the sound track to Terminator in my head!!!

[Roderick]

You said, "where you had to rub yourself down with baby oil just to make your way through the crowd to get off at your stop."

That brings back memories of Piccadilly at 9:00 in the morning queuing to hop aboard the tin can of sardines.

Thanks for your kind words, and you've hit the nail on the head of the message I want to convey.

On the BigDog. DARPA says it's for search and rescue, so it puts a smile on my face how they are spending so many billions "protecting us". This theme seems to be pervasive in the U.S. with the ongoing militarization of the police force and NSA (if you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear). Check this out to see how advanced the BigDog has come. Does the Blues music soften the imagery for you or just make it that much more dystopian? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqMVg...)

For more fun, search for Petman (Terminator is already here) and DARPA cheetah. Robotics will be coming commercially within the next couple of years as Japan will launch one that will help care for the elderly. So should be an interesting ride (much more so than the London tube :-) )

[Tash]

Any interest in a review exchange? I saw your read-for-review offer. I love dystopia, and your description really grabbed me. My YA novella (sci-fi dystopia/ superpowers) SLAM is doing really well in amazon stores right now, and I am trying to garner some more reviews. I hit bestseller lists in two countries, so you can officially quote me as a bestselling author!
email me on tash.mcadam@gmail.com if that appeals to you.

Cheers,
Tash

[Roderick]

Hi Tash,

Congrats on your success! It's hard work getting to where you are. My hat's off to you. Unfortunately I don't read YA (the Hunger Games an exception). I'm probably not the best person to review it honestly.

Thanks for the thought.
R

[Tash]

Okay, no problem. Just so you know, it's YA in the way that John Wyndham is YA. Fast paced and action heavy. It's not romance, or insta-love or any of the terribly annoying things that are so often associated with a genre that actually just means 'teenage protagonist'

Good luck with your work, I entered your giveaway because I think your book sounds great.

Tash

[Roderick]

Thanks Tash! It's appreciated and wish you all the luck. I'm just not really the YA type of reader. Again, I appreciate the gesture.

[Jonathan]

Roderick wrote: "Well I don't know how much the royal mail loses, but the U.S. post office sucks at least a couple of billion off taxpayers every year."


Just an FYI Roderick, the US Postal Service has been off budget for several decades. They get no taxpayer money other than what said taxpayer spends on stamps. It's a common misconception that they get tax money to operate. Actually if they weren't currently under congressional mandate to fund future retirement benefits at a rate of 75% (nobody public or private comes close to that level) they would be running in the black. They have their problems but service more people at cheaper rates than pretty much anyone. NI now return you to your regularly scheduled writing comments.

[Roderick]

Hi Johnathon,

Thanks for your comments. I think you'd agree they are covering their shortfall from a credit line of the U.S. Treasury wouldn't you?

From the Business Insider.

http://www.businessinsider.com/post-o...

"To cover its losses, the Post Office took a soon to be depleted, $15 billion line of credit from the U.S. Treasury in the early 1990's, and has been drawing on it ever since."

The Treasury gets its cash flow from two sources, income tax revenue, and the sale of debt instruments. Debt instruments either have to be paid back by income tax receipts or through debt monetization. Either way, it is the tax payer who pays, either directly, or indirectly through inflation (creating more money out of thin air devalues assets and purchasing power).

So I'm not really sure if it's cheaper or not with the subsidizing going on.

If you are interested, my next post on neoworldview.com will be on financial repression and the pension fund disaster looming which isn't up yet, but will be in a couple of weeks.

Anyway, thanks for your comments. You are probably right on the post office running in the black if it wasn't for its pension fund promises. This will be problematic all over government agencies going forward as you are probably well aware, and it's already here for Detroit and some states.

BTW, they are rioting in Ch. 1 of "The Cause" because of pension fund cuts :-)

[[deleted user]]

Yeah, those tin can of sardines at rush hour was exactly what necessitated the baby oil. As for the youtube clip of the BigDogs: I have to be honest the blues music and the drunken staggering of the robots does make them appear less threatening, like almost bambi cute! Goes to show what a bit of creative spin can do. Anyway, checked out your website neoworld.com, you're making an awful lot of sense from where I am standing - will plug in to read what you have to say on your next post :). On another partially related topic: Lol... Didn't we open a can of worms with our tongue in cheek jokes about the postal service but you're right, the postal services problems are just the tip of the iceberg. Those pension fund cuts, are on the cards and are already happening on a global scale. What a fine mess the financial services, with their wizardly money illusions and creative accounting, have got us into!

[Roderick]

@D.elliot, exactly right. Creative spin indeed. That music does tame them doesn't it? Boston Dynamics (the maker of the BigDog) is now owned by.....(suspense)....Google. Supposedly they will honor their remaining DARPA contracts (whatever that means).

The can has been opened all over the place, but especially in the financial services as you say...The billions being printed are having an effect, but is it the intended one?

Stay tuned and all the best to you!

[Roderick]

"Sure the fight was fixed. I fixed it with a right hand."-- George Foreman

Absolutely love that George quote. My audio reading of Chapter 4 (The Fight) from The Cause went live yesterday on "The Next Best Book Blog"...Check it out if you feel inclined. http://thenextbestbookblog.blogspot.c...

[Roderick]

@D.elliot, here is the post I promised if you are still listening to this thread:

http://neoworldview.com/2014/11/22/th...