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"Spero is an imaginative fantasy that subtly instructs, entertains, and intellectually provokes the reader. It is fascinating reading. I'm definitely hooked on this series." Jean Heimann at Catholic Fire.
"...intelligent as well as inspiring..." Terry Barga at whattodoabout.com.
The first book in the Birth Pangs series, Fidelis, is Latin for faithfulness. The second book,
Spero, is Latin for hope.
Spero is an exploration, in fiction, of what hope is and why we need it. It is an exploration of what things are good to put our hope in and what things aren't. In the America of the future portrayed in the Birth Pangs series, all of the things that people have traditionally put their hope in have been brought low. There are no government agencies, no schools, and not even churches. In the face of daily perils, people have to figure out how where they are going to place their hope in dealing with them.
In the end, there is one daily peril that surpasses them all: death.
Spero is about people- even good people- putting their hope in lesser means to tackle lesser problems and being confronted with the consequences.
Spero is a 'discussion' about our chief problems and what solutions, if any, are available to resolve them.
Many thanks to Luke George Thompson, whom I met and took a liking to while on an overseas jaunt. We share many interests, and it seems to me that we possess complimentary skills and passions. At anyrate, he is the graphic designer for this site, providing all of its nifty images. He is also the one designing the cover of “Fidelis.”
His web page is here: http://www.elijahstcloud.com Yea, he goes by Elijah St. Cloud, and you can read his blog to find out why.
Luke will also be adding another dimension to the Birth Pangs project, but we’ll get to that later.
Well, I invited a bunch of folks over for the RPG (www.birthpangs.com/rpg) and then it broke on me. 5 hours of labor to rebuild a new one later, its up and going.
Waiting for the pre-proof books to come in the mail tomorrow (Saturday). We are *this* close to the finished product. Assuming everything looks good, its just a matter of finalizing the cover… and launching the product…
Well, after inviting a bunch of folks to populate the fantasy role playing game based on the “Birth Pangs” world, the game broke, and broke hard. I was forced to reinstall and rebuild the thing from scratch. That could have been bad… but it only took about three hours of work time. *phew* Now I have to re-invite those people again. Link to the RPG: www.birthpangs.com/rpg.
Also, I installed and formatted a forum for discussion of the book, the series, and the RPG: www.birthpangs.com/discuss
Things are coming along.
I just set up a pre-order page here: http://www.birthpangs.com/advanced-purchase-of-fidelis/
If I get enough pre-purchases, I can afford to place a bulk order and buy the books at even less than the $16.50 list price. Also, having the money in hand in advance will allow me to purchase the publication services (ISBN, database submission, etc) that will need to be done.
Feel free to read the sample chapter (available through a link to the left) to see if you want to buy the whole thing. 350 pages! The sample chapter is only about 6 pages, of course. 
So, I’m starting to get pretty excited. The website is up and pretty much how I want it to look. The RPG is about to go into testing and development. The first book, “Fidelis“, is very much nearly ready for its first run. The cover is under development and ‘proof’ copies of the text have been ordered and shipped. I expect them tomorrow, or Friday at the latest.
Right now, my current plans are to release the book December 1st, 2006. This first run copy probably won’t be available on Amazon. I’m going to release non-ISBN editions first. These will be special first editions available only for the first year, and possibly only for the first six months. I hope that makes them a rare commodity, but that is also intended to give time for any last minute revisions. Once you get that ISBN, its got to be pretty darn ready. I’ll be looking for comments!
