Month: April 2010

More universes

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I see Jack is touting Bill Page’s book The Nirvana Experiments (which is in a state of suspension, publication-wise, prospective publishers please note).

Coincidentally, given my last post regarding this universe, possible other ones, and connections between them, Bill reviewed Dawkins’ The God Delusion recently, and I’ve abstracted the following passage:  

[T]o his credit, Dawkins defines his terms clearly. He is attacking what he calls the God Hypothesis: The belief that “there exists a superhuman, supernatural intelligence who deliberately designed
… Read more

Russian doll universes/where does it stop?

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If you were thinking our world seemed a tad out of whack at times, it could be you were right. But all is now clear (“Our universe at home within a larger universe?” Science News), and we can carry on in face of any outofwhackishness, knowing what’s what and why. (Wait. No, we don’t know why; not yet. Possibly because God wanted it so.)

 I may have to revise the third book in my futuristic trilogy, as … Read more

Not phobic, not covered in oozing sores, but…

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I’ve been preparing to spend far too much time, I suspect, on my new blog/website. But more and more agents and publishing companies claim this is part of the self-promotional duties of the up-and-coming writer, in this new digital age. So it was nice to encounter a contrarian opinion (even if it was quoted on the blog—Shrinking Violet Promotions: Marketing for Introverts—of some writers who themselves tend towards novella-length posts): 
 

Just write your heart out. I promise you

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Message from the future

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Leary here. It seems our Jack is going native.

Appearances rool, OK! What Ellie likes to call the Cosmetic Imperative. For example, the women construction workers in Thailand who wear long-sleeved shirts buttoned up and balaclava masks under broad-brimmed bamboo hats — better all sweated up than turned “black” in the sun. Not that you’d ever find Jack working construction, with or without a mask. But it’s same-same if you’re expecting a bit of street violence. You see these things … Read more

Heroes of the Revolution

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This is Khun Kik, my hairdresser, who is a Vidal Sassoon graduate and way beyond the means of your average freelance writer, starving variety. She is also quite lovely, as is Miss Da, her assistant, on the left. These ladies are the first Heroines of This Revolution we’re teetering on the brink of  here in Bangkok.  But the wounds on Kik’s face are not from rumbling with the Red Shirts. No, she was walking up some stairs hand in hand … Read more

Like it or not, life’s an adventure

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Leary here.

Adventure tourism? Gosh. It isn’t adventure if  you know where you’re going to sleep that night. Or even if you’re going to get to sleep somewhere. When you think about it, though, none us knows for sure where we’re going to sleep tonight, or if we’ll still be alive to do this sleeping. Life itself is an adventure, forget about your diving  holidays. It’s all in the mind. Darn it. Life is life, and it’s always what you … Read more

Looking for adventure, groupies, the usual

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This is Jack Shackaway. I’ve been invited on another junket, a liveaboard dive trip in the Andaman Sea. We’re setting out from Phuket.  I don’t make a lot of money but, hey, I’m a freelance writer, eh? I don’t need a lot of money.

I’m a writer and freelance journalist. Sometimes I’m a hack. A two-bit panderer to any passing proposition. But in my own head I’m a full-fledged author, never mind I never have time to write anything. Not … Read more