With the idea of having the book available to the public in December of 2006 in mind, October is being set aside as when I’m going to begin actively marketing. All the layout details and things of that sort will need to be finalized in the first week of November, so I’m thinking of setting a pre-order deadline of October 27th.
You are currently browsing the monthly archive for September 2006.
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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.
Please visit www.birthpangs.com/cart to buy Spero
(and Fidelis) from the author or to buy from Amazon.com
Fidelis, my first book, is Latin for faithfulness. The second book, Spero, is Latin for hope. Spero is an exploration 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 are bad to put our hope in. In the fictionalized 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. It is interesting to me that the political candidate running on 'hope' is also running on 'change.' I think this illustrates the root of the problem. The best place to put your 'hope' is where it won't shift beneath your feet. Also, we need to be clear about what things we hope to overcome. Nearly all of our systems and institutions are geared to address certain day to day realities that are important but not, I'm afraid, ultimate. There is one problem 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 of that approach. Spero is about being confronted with our chief problem and challenged to consider what possible solutions there might be to that problem... and whether any of these are within our control, or obtainable by our own effort.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. 
