When I was searching around for a second income the other week I realised that I have a lot of things around that I can sell multiple times, as in I have something like four novels I have written over the last 20 years or so.
My magnum opus is called Archive Fragements and is about 200 pages long, I’ve been writing it off and on for ever, usually in sustained bursts of a month or so’s free time and then going back to it after a year or so, editing that material, and then writing some more.
I’ve decided that I’m going to self-publish this using lulu (I’ll probably also pay for an ISBN so people can order it from places like Amazon), after I have revised the current draft, and use some targeted adsense and this blog to promote it. I think I will also release an electronic copy of it under the Creative Commons non-commercial share-alike licence, probably on Feedbooks. While some extra cash is welcome I’d also like people to read the damn thing.
It also tracks my internal journey as a Buddhist over the last 10 years, to some extent.
I had the idea for a site where you could roll your own version of Archive Fragments by either using a random number generator where you set the seed for the numbers or assembling it in what you felt was the best order, plus adding new material of your own if you wanted to. This would all be Creative Commons NC, with me as the final arbiter on any commercial stuff (benevolent dictatorship being my favoured model, and paying lawyers fees to whiners not). I was trying to do this first and realised it was a waste of my time and much better just to finish folding the little paper boat and let it go downstream.
I’ve spent most of my waking time over this bank holiday editing the book ready for publication. I think some of the writing is pretty good, and some not. I feel excited about what is an interesting adventure and have more projects I can look at in the future if this one pans out.
I need a picture of a bleeding hand for the cover, preferably one that looks like it can easily be painted on a flag or banner, for reasons that will become clear if you ever read the book.
Archive Fragments: The back cover
We find ourselves at some undetermined time in the future “after the revolutio” looking through the eyes of Jay, an adjuster who represents a vague computer system called WorldNet. It uses him as a check and balance to ensure that its decisions are correct and humane. As part of this he also catches and punishes people who misuse resources. Jay believes that he is an amalgam, a person who committed terrible crimes and was punished by having other people’s memories forced into his head until he gained a sense of empathy and understood what he had done. The implanting process leaves particular marks on the body so everybody knows that he was, himself, adjusted. He is trying to atone for what he did by helping and preventing others from committing crimes against the commonality.
In Jay’s time there is an historical figure known as Odine. She was one of the architects of the revolution and quotes and musings from her many writings appear at various places in the book. Her story (or parts of it) are in the narrative. She became a national hero after she persuaded a child abuser who was above the law to end his life and was accused of his murder. She was also made, this time by people hunting for wisdom, on or around our current time frame. Her rise to fame and influence was the beginning of the process that resulted in the society that Jay lives in. This event is known as the Attack of Common Sense.
As the book progresses we get pieces of Jay’s attempts to unravel the mystery of a priest drowned in his font and flashbacks from the fragments of other people’s memories that are stored in his brain. They range from being a PoW in the Second World War, to suffering from a weak heart in hospital, to nearly drowning in a kayaking accident. Jay discovers many things about himself, and is pursued by the shadowy figure of Kervas, who helped make Odine.