I have completed the manuscript for this novel. It runs 115,000 words. I plan to start on the second novel in the series tomorrow. Meanwhile, I will edit the manuscript for the remainder of the year.
You can read the first three chapters here. I will be posting selected excerpts from the last two chapters over the coming weeks.
Please consider making pre-orders to help support this project.
Excerpt from chapter 1 of The Dreamlands for Dummies by Aislinn Sile, "What Are the Lands of the Dreams of Men":
"There is no consensus among scholars as to the true nature of the Lands of the Dreams of Men, other than the obvious fact that it seems to be an alternative reality that certain people can psychically visit while they sleep.
"Even the nature of the form of visitation is heavily disputed. Waking World experiments have shown that, with the exception of the overlay of an odd brainwave pattern, no change occurs in the physiology of the sleeper. Indeed, she will continue to cycle through the stages of sleep, including REM sleep, even as she sojourns through the Dreamworld, thus suggesting that Dreaming (note the capital ‘D’) is not tied to it.
"As such, there is no certainty as to whether it is the mind that separates from the biological brain (though the consensus is yes), or if some other aspect of the Dreamer's being, such as the soul or an animus spirit, makes the transition. Even whether the visitation can be called 'dreaming' in any real sense is disputed, though Dreaming is still used as a term of convenience.
"Especially controversial is the metaphysical nature of the Dreamworld, whether it be a true physicality, or an illusory mental construct, or even a form of collective unconsciousness; one popular theory proposes that the Dreamlands are a 'virtual reality' within or created by the latter. All that is known for certain is that the form and substance of the Dreamlands can be altered. While this is by no means universally accepted, a favorite explanation for this phenomenon is that it is a manifestation of the quantum mechanical principle of superposition. This is the concept that systems can exist simultaneously as two or more superimposed states, such as Schrodinger's cat being both dead and alive at the same time.
"In this case, the superposition involves perception and independent reality: Dreamers both experience the Dreamworld as it really is while at the same time their perceptions change what they experience into something different. For example, tell Medb hErenn that your name is Elvira, and she will hear it correctly while at the same time perceiving it in her native Irish language, which no one else would. This may seem like simply a case of accidental or willful misinterpretation, but it cannot be if quantum mechanics has any validity: Medb must both hear it correctly and perceive it differently at the same time; both scenarios must be superposed within her own mind, just as she must be both aware of the contradiction and oblivious to it.
"But if this is true, then it also goes deeper than just keeping two mutually exclusive experiences in mind simultaneously; reality and perception must also be linked if quantum mechanics is correct. And in such a way that, just as reality changes perception, perception also changes reality. In other words, a Dreamer's changing perceptions and expectations based on her altered desires and fears can change the Dreamlands themselves. As an example, long before he became ruler of Ooth-Nargai, Kuranes had himself been a Dreamer, who ranged all over the Dreamlands, even going to places the Cats have never gone. He created the city of Celephaïs through his dreams, and when he finally died in the Waking World, he discovered that the city he had dreamed of had become real, and its inhabitants made him their king. Many scholars believe that Dreamers have the ability to change the probabilities in the Schrodinger wave function and the Dreamworld; that is, they only need to imagine a change to will it into existence, and the evidence seems to bear this out, though in fact this is easier said than done.
"But even as Dreamers can change the Dreamlands, the Dreamlands can change Dreamers. Of the four known species that can Dream, all of them appear to have acquired consciousness and higher-order intelligence through Dreaming. There is as yet no theory to explain how Dreaming can grant a species what many people loosely call 'sentience', but the evidence seems irrefutable. Whether the Dreamlands modify Dreamers in any other way, however, has yet to be determined."
You can read the first three chapters here. I will be posting selected excerpts from the last two chapters over the coming weeks.
Please consider making pre-orders to help support this project.
Thank you.
"There is no consensus among scholars as to the true nature of the Lands of the Dreams of Men, other than the obvious fact that it seems to be an alternative reality that certain people can psychically visit while they sleep.
"Even the nature of the form of visitation is heavily disputed. Waking World experiments have shown that, with the exception of the overlay of an odd brainwave pattern, no change occurs in the physiology of the sleeper. Indeed, she will continue to cycle through the stages of sleep, including REM sleep, even as she sojourns through the Dreamworld, thus suggesting that Dreaming (note the capital ‘D’) is not tied to it.
"As such, there is no certainty as to whether it is the mind that separates from the biological brain (though the consensus is yes), or if some other aspect of the Dreamer's being, such as the soul or an animus spirit, makes the transition. Even whether the visitation can be called 'dreaming' in any real sense is disputed, though Dreaming is still used as a term of convenience.
"Especially controversial is the metaphysical nature of the Dreamworld, whether it be a true physicality, or an illusory mental construct, or even a form of collective unconsciousness; one popular theory proposes that the Dreamlands are a 'virtual reality' within or created by the latter. All that is known for certain is that the form and substance of the Dreamlands can be altered. While this is by no means universally accepted, a favorite explanation for this phenomenon is that it is a manifestation of the quantum mechanical principle of superposition. This is the concept that systems can exist simultaneously as two or more superimposed states, such as Schrodinger's cat being both dead and alive at the same time.
"In this case, the superposition involves perception and independent reality: Dreamers both experience the Dreamworld as it really is while at the same time their perceptions change what they experience into something different. For example, tell Medb hErenn that your name is Elvira, and she will hear it correctly while at the same time perceiving it in her native Irish language, which no one else would. This may seem like simply a case of accidental or willful misinterpretation, but it cannot be if quantum mechanics has any validity: Medb must both hear it correctly and perceive it differently at the same time; both scenarios must be superposed within her own mind, just as she must be both aware of the contradiction and oblivious to it.
"But if this is true, then it also goes deeper than just keeping two mutually exclusive experiences in mind simultaneously; reality and perception must also be linked if quantum mechanics is correct. And in such a way that, just as reality changes perception, perception also changes reality. In other words, a Dreamer's changing perceptions and expectations based on her altered desires and fears can change the Dreamlands themselves. As an example, long before he became ruler of Ooth-Nargai, Kuranes had himself been a Dreamer, who ranged all over the Dreamlands, even going to places the Cats have never gone. He created the city of Celephaïs through his dreams, and when he finally died in the Waking World, he discovered that the city he had dreamed of had become real, and its inhabitants made him their king. Many scholars believe that Dreamers have the ability to change the probabilities in the Schrodinger wave function and the Dreamworld; that is, they only need to imagine a change to will it into existence, and the evidence seems to bear this out, though in fact this is easier said than done.
"But even as Dreamers can change the Dreamlands, the Dreamlands can change Dreamers. Of the four known species that can Dream, all of them appear to have acquired consciousness and higher-order intelligence through Dreaming. There is as yet no theory to explain how Dreaming can grant a species what many people loosely call 'sentience', but the evidence seems irrefutable. Whether the Dreamlands modify Dreamers in any other way, however, has yet to be determined."
C. Brennecke, who became my first follower, and
Rick Heinz, who placed the first pre-order.
A slow but worthwhile and satisfying start to my campaign.