TWENTY IN TWENTY

Okay, the first twenty unique readers have preordered copies of Both Sides. NOW! All of a sudden, this shit has gotten real. So, here’s a premium for those of you who may be sitting on the fence: for the next twenty people who preorder a copy of Both Sides. NOW!, I will send you an autographed copy of a SECOND BOOK from my stores of those I have written. You can choose from among the following:

1. The Alternate Reality News Service (6 books in the series)

They send reporters into other dimensions and have them write news articles about what they find there. This series of books has been described by a couple of readers as “a science fiction version of The Onion.”

General Collections

i. Alternate Reality Ain’t What it Used to Be

ii. What Were Once Miracles Are Now Children’s Toys

iii. Luna for the Lunies!

iv. The Street Finds its Own Uses for Mutant Technologies

Advice Columns Collections (think of a humourous sci fi Dear Abby)

v. The Alternate Reality News Service’s Guide to Love, Sex and Robots

vi. What the Hell Were You Thinking? Good Advice for People Who Make Bad Decisions

2. The Transdimensional Authority (3 books in the series)

For people who are hung up on, you know, plot and character and that kind of stuff, I have written three novels in this series. The TA is the organization that monitors and polices travel between dimensions: when you’re doing something naughty in a place where you shouldn’t be, they find you, stop you and take you back to where you should be.

i. Welcome to the Multiverse*

ii. You Can’t Kill the Multiverse**

iii. Random Dingoes

* Sorry for the Inconvenience

** But You Can Mess With its Head

3. Anthologies

I’ve been fortunate to have some short stories published in some really great anthologies. These are all worth having for your collection.

i. UnCONventional (theme: what goes on behind the scenes at science fiction conventions)

ii. Doorways to Extra Time (theme: what would you do if you access to a second, a minute, an hour or other time that nobody else had?)

iii. Explorers: Beyond the Horizon (theme: going where no one else has gone before)

iv. Love, Time, Space, Magic (theme: speculative fiction love and romance stories)

All of these books retail for over $10, some of them substantially more, so this is a pretty darn good deal, if I do say so myself. What do you have to do? Simple.

STEP ONE: Preorder Both Sides. NOW!

STEP TWO: Email me, the author, Ira Nayman at aardvarkseyes@hotmail.com with your name, your InkShares name if it’s different from the one you normally use, the street address where you would like me to send the book and which book you would like (most are available on Amazon.com if you would like more information about them before making your choice). If you cannot make up your mind, just say, “Surprise me!” and I’ll send you a random book from among those listed.

You can’t get much simpler than two steps. One simpler – that’s it. As with other crowdsourcing premiums, this will come into effect if I reach my goal: in this case, if I do actually come in in the top five of the competition, I will send out the books the next day.

I should warn you that I have a limited supply of some titles. If I do run out, I will announce it on Inkshares and/or email you asking for a second choice.

“But, Iiiiiiiiiraaaaaaaa,” I hear some of you say, “what about those of us who have already bought books. How can we get in on this free autographed book deal?” Not to worry – I have thought of you, too. For anybody who has already preordered a book, you can win a free, autographed book by getting another person to preorder a book. This adds a new step to the process:

STEP ONE: Somebody you know preorders Both Sides. NOW! on your recommendation.

STEP TWO: When that person emails me (at aardvarkseyes@hotmail.com) with their contact information and choice of free book premium, have them include a line saying that they were referred to me by you.

STEP THREE: Send me an email (at aardvarkseyes@hotmail.com) with your contact information and book choice, making it clear that you have won this premium by getting another person to preorder Both Sides. NOW!

I will make 10 books available for anybody who convinces new people to preorder the book. Again, you only get the premium if I come in in the top five, after which I will immediately send the books out. And, yes, it is possible to win more than one free book this way. For example, if you are one of the next 20 people to preorder the book, and you get a friend to also preorder the book, you will be eligible for two free books. Also, if you get more than one person you to know to preorder the book, you will get a free book for every person you sign up. I

f there are any questions about this, please feel free to ask. Otherwise, let’s have some fun!

I write a lot of social and political satire, primarily on my Web site, but it does find its way into some of my short stories and novels. You can’t talk about embodied identity, as I do in Both Sides. NOW! for instance, with acknowledging that it has a political dimension (beyond the fact that the President of the United States is a character). Just so we know what we’re talking about: satire is a specific form of humour which holds bad public behaviour up to ridicule; once the reader has stopped laughing, she is invited to think about the object of the ridicule.

 Obviously, people who are held up to ridicule and their supporters could be offended by one’s satire. Does this bother me? There are a couple of glib ways of dealing with this question. The first is that as long as people whose public actions offend me are the ones who are offended by what I write, I’m good. Another is that just about any work of art has the potential to offend somebody (as witness conservative efforts to ban certain children’s books from schools); that’s just a risk anybody who does something as public as writing has to take.

 My more considered answer comes out of experience I had years ago.

 In the 1990s, I was part of two radio sketch comedy groups: Earth Two and Dead Air. With Earth Two, we actually got into the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s offices and recorded half an hour of material; it still tickles me to think that somewhere in the bowels of CBC headquarters is a DAT tape with my voice on it. Dead Air ran for six half hour episodes on community radio; we released a 100 minute collection of our best sketches, most of which hold up to this day, if I do say so myself.

 Being around funny people was great because, of course, we talked comedy all the time. And, one of the things that I remember from those conversations is that a comedian should always be “on the side of the angels.” What does that mean? For me, it means you should always be able to articulate why you make the artistic choices you do; with satire specifically, it means that you must know what the object of your attack is and be able to justify it. I have sometimes been know to do outrageous things in my writing, but it’s usually not out of a desire merely to be outrageous; I usually have a deeper purpose that I can explain if called upon to do so.

 I’m sorry if innocent people are offended by what I do, but I hope that they’ll come to trust that I know what I’m doing.

Great thanks to Elsewhen Press stablemate Dave Weaver for being the latest person to preorder Both Sides. NOW! We're now in double digits! Next time I'm in England, the first round's on me, mate. ;-)