Sunday recommendation time. Since I've stepped back to only every other Sunday, I'm going to try to post up at least 4 or 5 book recommendations each time. I'll also be including video trailers(if available) for the books after each recommendation. It is definitely a mixed bag today, jumping between genres and general feels. Without further delay, here they are.

“Good Intentions: A Supervillain Story” by Michael Crider: I've always been a fan of super-powered fiction, especially when its done it at least a semi-realistic fashion. Judging from the excerpt that is up this book does that well while also adding in a dash of humor as it tells us the tale of a well-meaning superhero turned accidental supervillain. Definitely something you should check out if you're at all interested in the super-genre.

“The Amaranth Chronicles: Deviant Rising” by Alexander Barnes and Christopher Preiman:  Running from fond yet sorrowful reminiscence, to the stresses of starship maintenance, and finally to a good bit of fast paced sci-fi action, this book definitely has a good range. Well written throughout the chapters presented here give me just enough to really want to know more about these characters, the universe they live in, and the events that are unfolding.

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“Scribbles: A Collection of Words” by Tabi Card: This one is a collection of 10 short stories, with excerpts from 3 of them listed here. Each does a wonderful job of painting the scenes presented, both through physical descriptions and characterization, so that you will find yourself quickly pulled into each. Such masterful execution leaves me impatient to read the full stories.

“Blood Dawn” by John Robin: In our real world its not unheard of to hear music and other artforms referred to as magical, which is obviously meant in a symbolic fashion. A look back into the real-world practice of mystical arts will also show a tendecy to fetishize art, mainly music and dance in this case. This connection has always fascinated me despite my awareness that it is merely a symbological practice in the real world, instead of being truly magical. One of the things which really drew me into Blood Dawn was its exploration of this connection in a world where true magic exists. A world where the magic in art was used in such a destructive way so as to cause the powers that be to outlaw art altogether.

Thanks to John Robin's skill at the craft of writing this book is more than just an interesting idea though. His words weave vivid scenes, evocative characters, and deeply layered cultures/societies. I wish I could describe it in better critical words, but to be perfectly honest I find myself being so drawn into the story every time I read the chapters currently posted that critical thinking shuts down in favor of the pure pleasure of reading an excellent story.

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Again my math may be wrong, but if its not then the funding period for Good Intentions ends 3/6, The Amaranth Chronicles ends 3/8, Scribbles ends 3/31, and Blood Dawn ends 4/2. Don't delay in checking these projects out and ordering them if they are the type of book you enjoy.  As always, links to each are embedded in the titles, and links to the authors in the authors' names.  Enjoy what little is left of the weekend, and see you back here in two weeks time.

I just saw an article in The Root about remarks made by Michael Caine and Charlotte Rampling, about the Oscars, about the lack of anything close to parity of recognition given to non-white actors. Neither Caine nor Rampling were championing the desire of non-white actors to be recognized, however. While Caine's remarks seem, to me, fairly benign and naive (I think his stance pays no attention to race and he's just relaying his own experience of how long he had to wait for an Oscar. His wife an children are brown.) ... Rampling's comments are ... well ... read them for yourself.

If Disintegration were to be made into a TV show or film, the majority of the cast--if cast faithfully (read: not whitewashed)--would be non-white. It takes place in the far future, where I imagine that humans will have interbred to the point of practically eliminating "race." There are different shades of people in my book (as there are now, admittedly), but "whiteness" and "blackness" as we know it exists only on the extreme fringes of the skin tone spectrum, and the vast majority of humans exist throughout the vast middle of that spectrum (as they do, now, in point of fact, but political and social power in Disintegration is no longer held by the white minority (which has become much, much smaller), unlike today.

I created this reality because it seems like a reasonable extrapolation of where things are headed, for humanity. If you haven't seen my picture or watched my video: I'm white. This probably affords me the privilege of not really caring about my whiteness. I'm the color that I am simply because my parents were the color that they are (honestly, it's not that simple because you can consider the social influence that encourages people to couple in a manner that maintains a racially divisive status quo, but let's not go down that rabbit hole). Just like I had no say in being born, I had no say in how much melanin I was going to receive. I'd like to live in a world where that is the sole truth of anyone's skin color: that the amount of melanin we have is irrelevant to anything aside from whether some of us are going to burn more easily in the sunlight.

In other social-justice news, I saw that a syndicate has been created promoting works with strong female characters and I think this is a great idea. I can't afford a monthly membership to anything, at the moment, but I believe in what they're doing, and I am fairly certain that Disintegration passes not only the Bechdel Test, but the latter three tests listed at the Wikipedia entry for the Bechdel Test (the Russo Test (there's a lot of sexual fluidity in Disintegration. The B in LGBT is heavily represented), The Sexy Lamp Test, and the Sphinx Test (because I don't want my "strong women" to just be the typical patriarchal male character in a female body.))

On the latter parenthetical, Captain Carina Duvais appears to be the typical action heroine stand-in, a "man" (in quotes because I think that a man can be more than just patriarchy's masculine ideal, but that is the benchmark I am citing, in this case) with breasts and a vagina ... but the character has much more depth than that. If I were lazier, Carina could pass the sexy lamp test because she is sexy (in the prosaic way that we've been inundated by media to perceive as truly sexy) and I've depicted her this way, but it isn't just to be salacious. It's purposeful because it makes her an object of desire to many of the men she encounters, whom she ideologically despises, and she has to navigate that unwanted attention.

Second Lieutenant Ada Bennett, the counselor, is almost diametrically opposite Carina because Ada engages, mostly, in heterosexual intercourse and she is empathic (figuratively and literally; she has telepathic abilities that allow her to sense only feelings, like Counselor Troi from Star Trek: TNG). She is warm, generous, non-violent, etc., etc. But Ada is no shrinking violet (her penchant for submission in a sexual context does not make her a clothed pushover) and her receptiveness to sex isn't depicted, narratively, in a pejorative manner (characters react to her proclivities in a negative way, but it's indicative of the character's problems with female agency, and the pervasiveness of the Puritan Ideal).

Lieutenant Commander Angela Hastings is another of Disintegration's female leads and she isn't very analogous to Carina nor Ada except that they share a common biology and gender. She also the least sexualized of the three characters, in the narrative, mainly because of her involvement in a monogamous commitment with A'arilon Ray (my ostensible protagonist, but this is an ensemble story, so no one is the sole protagonist nor antagonist), and her high rank insulates her from overt expressions of desire by other soldiers.

So, there are some things that have been on my mind. It was fun to write them out, and provide a little character backstory. Thus ends this socially conscious entry into the reader update log. If anyone wants to chime in on any of these points, I relish the opportunity for discourse!

Hello there wonderful people

I've decided to do something rash!! 

I've taken off every chapter from Chapter 2 on down from the page and have dedicated myself to do some mad melon editing. I'm taking all the advice of experience gained from this journey and using it to re-edit the chapters posted and will repost them as I finish. I'm doing this due to the restructuring of a couple of them. It would be a bit difficult to do the reposting piece meal so I'm whipping the board and starting over. I have already re-posted chapters 1 and 2 so feel free to take a look and give me some feedback. I would really appreciate it, 

Don't forget to get your pre-order in and get a chance to win a super cozy blanket with Beyond the Code cover art on it. You'll get good karma points for helping little old me make my dream come true and you can snuggle up with a good read and a super soft blanket. 

Thank you all for your continuing support. 

Kelsey Rae Barthel

I only stumbled upon Inkshares last month but I dove right in. And I'm so glad that I did. Besides being a really innovative model that can help democratize book publishing, there's an active and growing community and a very responsive staff. It's been a month and I'm happy with where we are. We are WAY ahead of schedule to hit all the milestones and bring ILLEGAL into the world! Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me thus far. It makes me warm every time I see a new pre-order come through.

That said, I also moved to Laos this week and that will surely affect how much and how effectively I can continue to promote pre-orders. I've got some ideas though and some sources still to be tapped. And, of course there is you. If you have a friend that may be interested please help them pre-order today. Every order brings me closer to my goal and publication. After we hit 250 pre-orders I'll add another sample chapter.

You can read more about my thoughts on Inkshares and Illegal on an interview I did here.

Thanks again. I hope your 2016 is off to a great start.

John

Hey Wonderful, possibly blizzardful people,

All, thank you for the support. Things have been progressing well...

King Heinrich @Suffrageroyal has been relentlessly tracking down Snake @Suffrageworld through the internet via Twitter.  They've bantered, they've traded verbal blows.  Follow along as the chase continues.  

Soon, those blows won't be verbal.

They each do a good bit of updating via Facebook as well,

https://www.facebook.com/suffrageworldkeys/

Don't miss out!

--Julian and Finn

Greetings followers!!

The super cozy blankets are on there way and I've drawn a winner for the 50 pre-orders raffle. AND THE WINNER IS...

Thaddeus Woodman!!! Come on down!! Just kidding. That would be unreasonable. Congratulations on winning the first of what I hope will be many 50 Pre-order point raffles. I hope you enjoy the super soft fleece blanket embroidered with Beyond the Codes cover art. 

Lets keep this pace going strong and get Beyond the Code into reality and your hands. Remember that every order gives you a chance in the draw and a special place in my heart. 

For all you wonderful people who have taken a chance on my dream I thank you from the bottom of what I can only assume is a soul and wish you the best of luck next draw. But we need to get 42 more orders to draw again so spread the word. Tell your family, tell your friends, tell you enemies, tell everyone and together we'll make this HAPPEN!!

Kelsey Rae Barthel