Work until sleep.

Clouds scramble, sun bursts, today roars in - -

Long time away. Needed to find my way back home. The Manhattan Prophet is going to get a new sister. The Bride of the Silver Sword.

Osama Bin Laden Dead

I can't cheer for the pre-meditated killing of anyone, but sure, I am happy for America getting this good news when all the news we have been getting is so disheartening. However this doesn't stop terrorism or the war on terror, it just adds another chapter. The growing gap between the rich and the poor, the energy (oil) crisis that is approaching, global weirding, and the fragile economic condition of society is getting worse each day, with or without Osama Bin Laden. Does mankind as a species have the power to affect positive change of the global situation? I believe it does. - So does The Manhattan Prophet :) - It is going to take a lot of time and faith, work and sacrifice. We can get the inspiration by looking into the eyes of the newborn, or the hope in the faces of our college graduates. Cliche? Sure. True? Absolutely.

Icon30

I just attended my first Icon at the University of Stonybrook. Icon is a science fiction conference with all kinds of things going on including book signings, readings, panel discussions, etc. - http://www.iconsf.org - It's not just for authors and filmmakers, as there were of a ton of steampunkers dressed in retro Jules Vernes kinds of outfits all over the campus. Great Fun! Thsi is a link to the news magazine The Westhampton-HamptonBaysPatch which ran an article about me attending. http://patch.com/A-g8kd

The opportunity to discuss my novel, The Manhattan Prophet, with other authors, as well as fantasy and science fiction buffs, was tremendous. Part of my quest to find a literary agent who will help me to take this book to the next level.

Thanks to all the people who made it happen for me, Bill Freedman, Jennifer Adams, Ben Parris, Ken Altabef and many others. If you ever get a chance to attend one of these (they have Icons all over the country) you will be pleasantly surprised.

It really got my mojo going - -

My daughter is right - -

My daughter recently emailed me the link, posted below, to an article in the New York Times reporting on the latest savage episode of gang rape going on in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is what she said:

"This recent event reminded me of the gruesome rape scene in your book. It's understandable that people were shocked by that part of The Manhattan Prophet, it seems too horrific for this world. But really, that scene is tame compared to what's going on in the Congo. I bet the same people who were shocked by that part of the book would see this headline "At Least 150 Women Raped in Weekend Raid in Congo" and look the other way. But we shouldn't look away - people do terrifying, horrible things to each other all over the world, and if knowing about it doesn't inspire us to create positive change, it should at least inspire us to appreciate the safety and prosperity in our lives and gain perspective on what's important. Glad you're standing strong by that part of the novel, you never know, maybe it will help spread awareness and break open the bubble."

Truth is always stranger than fiction. If I wrote a scene in my book similar to the account of systematic rape in this NYT article, people would think I have one very sick mind! - - When someone goes to a savage war movie, or something about the holocaust, the violence portrayed is to elevate the consciousness about the evil of war, and how it could turn ordinary people into monsters. So in essence, every war flick is an anti-war movie. In that way, the rape scene in the Manhattan Prophet is anti-cruelty and anti-violence against women. It is there to set up the depraved quality of life that innocent people condemned to Shantypark are forced to live. - - My daughter was right - -

Here's the link - write something in this blog, lemme know what you are thinking - :)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/world/africa/23congo.html?ref=africa

February is Upon Us

February is upon us. The long winter stretching out time without slowing it down.