914four

I originally wrote this in September 2018, with the intent of posting it before the first of October. Like much of my writing, it got stuffed in a drawer and forgotten until I needed the memory card it was stored on. I haven't touched the book since I wrote this. Hopefully it's still relevant.

 

There are some situations in life that we spend significant time planing for, either expecting or dreading, and occasionally, a combination of both. Some of these situations may be inevitable (such as death and taxes), and some may turn out to have been avoidable in hindsight. My intent is not to wallow in self-pity (though after rereading the next paragraph I think I’ve failed miserably at that as well), just to try and clarify my own situation.

 

In the not-so-distant past, the declining health and subsequent death of my editor-slash-mother-in-law, added to a difference of opinion and subsequent parting of ways with my primary employer, forced me to seriously re-evaluate a few of my personal priorities. Pixel (our big grey Maine Coon) passed away a week before Grandma, and since both lived with us, my (then 8 year old) son was very aware of their disappearance, to the point where, in his memories, he merged the two. Add to that Newton, who had been mute his entire life up to that point, suddenly began howling like a banshee in the middle of the night and preventing us from getting a solid night’s sleep, we certainly lived some “interesting times” as the Chinese call it. Poor little guys, both of them took those losses hard. Starting a new job (required to pay the mortgage) for which I was seriously under-qualified (thankfully, my boss disagreed) was further complicated when my own mother, who lives in a different city, fell ill and was hospitalized for over a month. I owe my sisters a huge debt, one I doubt I can ever repay, for stepping in and taking care of her in my absence. I won’t go into the other detours my life has taken over the past four years, but suffice to say I’ve spent far too much time on detours, sidings and branch-lines, and I am hoping that I’ve now regained the main. Please ask a railfan if that last sentence makes no sense. So, let me take a step back, and try to explain how we got here.

 

When I finished my first rough draft of “The Dragon,” as book three will be called, I was in something of a bad place, frustrated by bureaucracy, “entitled-ists”, and management who just didn’t care. When I began editing (Fern was too ill to read my drafts), I realized that no one would enjoy it; it was too dark, depressing, and left me cutting like crazy. The challenge with cutting, those who have ever done any editing will concur, is that you need to ensure that the story still makes sense after the cuts. I am a stickler for continuity, to the point that I get annoyed when a vehicle in a movie gets damaged or loses a hubcap and later on appears with the damage gone. I finally arrived at the conclusion that I couldn’t save the trainwreck that was the final chapter in what I really wanted to be a story of hope. I decided to scrap it and start over. Well, not exactly, but I started with an earlier version, one that hadn’t yet become a film noir, and tried to write a much more upbeat version. By now I’d missed my deadlines twice, and I have to admit, I’d cut a few corners. This resulted in something that might have appealed to Disney a few decades back, but not something I could be proud of. I have since been struggling to find the “juste milieu” between “Mulhollen Heights” and “Mary-Jane goes to Monaco,” while staying true to the original story line.

 

This summer, I felt I had something I could publish with only a few dozen hours of editing, that I was on track to finally release book III. But... You know, I really hate the word “but.” It never seems to presage anything good, and I always get knots in my stomach when I hear it. "Everything is fine, but..." "You did all right, but..." "The tests came back negative, but..." "You're the most qualified candidate, but..."

 

But sometimes it’s the only way to warn your audience of impending doom, of that on-coming train... OK, no more railroad metaphors. So, I’m afraid it’s most fitting here. But I’m just stalling, I am trying to avoid the the inevitable. But wait, I don’t have to use the word “but”. I could just take this challenge by the shirtfront and all buts be damned. So here I am, throwing myself upon my sword, without the use of buts or howevers (a more sophisticated form of but)...

 

I was so close to publishing, I could taste it. I was just tweaking, messing around with a couple of sentences I thought needed condensing (read: breaking into smaller sentences), when I discovered a major and fundamental flaw; something so basic that I can’t understand how I possibly could have missed it until then. I got so frustrated that I impulsively deleted the manuscript (thankfully, I keep lots of backups.) But I got so angry with myself, I couldn’t touch it for several weeks. It was like watching an M. Night Shyamalan movie for the second time; after you know the secret, it’s just not the same, and rarely enjoyable. And you discover all sorts of clues that should have made it self-evident, and feel stupid for not having caught them. So, here I am, trying to fix a fundamentally flawed manuscript once again. Is the third time the charm? One can only hope. Or is this technically the fourth? When will it get published, I really have no idea at this point. I have tried to work on it repeatedly, and simply cannot get into the zone, I spend an hour writing a single sentence that could just as easily not be in the book, without changing the plot or the story. I am seriously thinking of taking a sabbatical and not touching the manuscript for a few months, in order to get a fresh perspective. I am also planning to re-read the first two books, as there were some elements that I thought were included that got cut, and others that I thought I’d cut that were included.

 

This progress update was long overdue, and I owe everyone who has been waiting patiently a sincere apology. Being Canadian, well, I guess that comes naturally. Book 3 will get finished, I promise you that; however (but?) I am not going to say when as I no longer seem capable of meeting deadlines… Thank you none-the-less for your patience, and for putting up with my personal failings as an author.

I've heard that the origins of "Black Friday" stem from Friday, September 24, 1869, when an attempt by a few speculators to corner the US gold market was thwarted by then President Ulysses S. Grant, who released a large amount of government gold for sale, causing gold prices to plummet and creating a panic in the stock market. I have also heard that it is the day that most retail businesses begin making a profit, or get "in the black," and that with the year's sales before that date, retailers are traditionally operating at a financial loss, aka "in the red." Whatever the origins, Black Friday is a time for sales, and, not being one to miss an opportunity, both books are again on sale this year, please see www.amazon.com/The-Kentauride-… and www.amazon.com/The-Centaur-Ken…

The financial obligation portion of our journal out of the way, a brief rant I desperately need to get off my chest. Well, maybe not so brief. I'll try to make it brief though. Here be dark thoughts, readers bewarned!

One detail I didn't mention above is that Black Friday is the Friday after US Thanksgiving, and that's notable because, while some consider Thanksgiving to be a Christian-only holiday, it is probably (based solely on my own anecdotal experience) the one observed by the largest diversity of faiths in the US after the 4^th of July. One of my Muslim friends is cooking his very first turkey this year (PM me if you want the recipe.) For all of my American friends, in light of the recent tragic world events, loss of lives, and personal struggles we face daily, may you use this Thanksgiving as a time of reflection, a chance to remember of the importance of family, friends, and those whose lives are influenced by our own.

What some Americans occasionally forget, however, is that no one else in the world celebrates Thanksgiving on the last Thursday in November. Up here in Canada, for example, we celebrate Thanksgiving on the second Monday in October, even though we have Black Friday on the same day as you do.

Since my last journal, I've written about Canadian election attack adds, about the Volkswagen TDI scandal (I may still post that one at some point), about the recent Paris attacks, and a truly vitriolic piece about the Palestinian terrorists killing of Eitam and Na'ama Henkin that left their six children orphans. Four of them, the eldest nine and the youngest four months old, were in their car with them at the time and witnessed their parent's brutal murder. Not one of these “editorials” made it to posting after editing, I am just too angry these days, and do not want to unnecessarily darken my readers' lives. If you have been following my ramblings, you are probably aware that I am not a big fan of religion. I do, however, steadfastly respect and defend everyone's right to their own beliefs, as long as those beliefs do not comprise of “my rights trump yours” or psychopathic “destroy the infidels” type rhetoric. Such garbage is not condoned by any known religion, it is men and women who interpret their faith to support such things. Until such despicable individuals as ISIL/ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and PLO Chairman/Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas are acknowledged to be what they are, evil little god-emperors without divine mandate, there is little chance for peace in the world.
has a great piece on Muhammad's take on the Paris killings, check it out here:

To add to the burden, I've lost another two friends and a family member during the month of October, another blow to my belief in my own immortality. This has encouraged me to try and be more attentive to those close to me, to be more present in their lives. I am reminded how lucky I am that I live in a country where I am more likely to win the lottery than to be shot dead at the wheel of my automobile, a country who currently has more communities offering to harbor Syrian refugees than the government is able to process this year (remember, Canada is a pretty small country despite our land mass; the entire Canadian combined armed forces are smaller than the US Marine Corps.) Yes, we have a dearth of refugees, does that not give you hope in some small way?

On this day of giving thanks, please take a moment to consider what you might do yourself to help that peace along. If you have children, love them, and make sure they know that they are loved so that evil men do not try to use them as weapons. I hope you are with your families, and if you are not, that you will at least call someone to tell them that you are thinking of them, and are thankful for them. My best judgement is screaming at me not to upload this journal either, but I've got to tell you about the book sale, right? Peace be with you.

“We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us.” - Golda Meir

So I’ve been somewhat out of touch lately, catching up on a few notes here and there and posting stuff that has been in my STASH for way too long, but not as present as I would normally like to be. This is mainly the fallout of a significant project I’ve been working on as part of my day job, the one that pays my bills and allows me to write in my spare time. As a result, I’ve been working long, twelve-hour-plus days and most weekends, including holidays (like Victoria Day and Canada Day) and barely keeping up with my family obligations, much less my dA stuff.
Back in December, my little sister came to live with us with her four children (aged 2 to 8) for six months, and we’ve been trying to get the household back to a semblance of normal since their departure. Having extra people in the house overloaded our water filtration systems, and we have had to replace most of them, as well as the furnace that died in January and the clothes dryer that died in December. Add to this my mother-in-law being hospitalized (she’s fine now, but we were worried for while), more family visiting, and a few other minor disasters that shall remain nameless, and you could quite easily conclude that I have been, as the old Chinese curse goes, living in interesting times. Being one of those writers who will never settle for ten words when one-hundred will suffice, all this was to say that various distractions and calamities have made the odds of “The Dragon” being published in September about on par with Milli Vanilli making a massive comeback and winning their Grammy back. The good news is that my techno-muse*, Dan, is currently in Ottawa for the week, visiting various friends that have made the big move away from Montreal. This weekend, we are going to the-track-formerly-known-as-Mosport for the only Canadian TUDOR championship event, and I am hoping that he will help me sort the wheat** from the chaff and get me back on track. Will it be ready for November? Doubtful. But hey, stranger things have happened, and I usually write 15 to 20 k words during the three day weekend, assuming the beer is cold and they don’t fill the intermissions with too much interesting stuff that begs to be photographed.
Dan’s challenge will be to extract the good ideas from the literally hundreds of short one-to-two paragraph subplots and digressions I’ve managed to accumulate over the past year. Ether there needs to be some serious editing (not that I haven’t used the scythe on the manuscript a few times already) or this may turn out to be a five-book-trilogy (there is precedence for such a thing, but I digress). In any case, your humble servant is still hard at work and is doing what he can to finish the series. I could tell you that someone will die in book three, but that might spoil the suspense and no one would read it, so I won’t.
As to people reading the books, the first two in the series had been doing reasonably OK for quite some time, not stellar, but at least 5-6 books a month (with a couple of peaks) since last year, and suddenly there hasn’t been a sale since early June. If you’ve read one of the books, a review on Amazon, Bookbub, Goodreads or any other site would be most appreciated, as apparently people actually do read them, and it would seem that volume of reviews actually plays some minor part in reader book selection. To make matters worse, “The Centaur” has fallen outside the infamous top one million on Amazon.com, which is a sure sign that no one has bought a copy in at least a month. This is the first time ever that one of my books has had a seven-digit ranking on Amazon, and it’s hit me quite a bit harder than I thought it would. Please excuse me while I collect myself. On that note, isn’t it just amazing where sleep-deprivation will take your thought processes? I think I need an alcoholic beverage…

Moving along to the international front, a recent CBC article bore the wildly sensationalist title, “One-third of American 8th graders think Canada is a dictatorship, report reveals.” I just wanted to reassure all my American friends that we are still actively planning to overthrow Mr. Harper in a National Coup, scheduled for October 19th, 2015, but we want it to be a surprise so please don’t tell him! All the anti-Justin adds are kinda making me want to vote for Trudeau.

Lastly, the reason most of you still come here I suspect, are the cats. Newton has gotten over my two-year-old nephew’s disappearance, but still isn’t quite his old self. In some ways, he’s matured and become a lot more aloof. Nikolai, on the other hand, has become much bolder and more people-friendly, and he’s no longer afraid to jump up on the table and steal an asparagus shoot when no one is looking, despite knowing he’ll get scolded for it. Fewer children in the house have meant fewer pieces of broccoli and such to scavenge off the floor for our vegetarian pussycat, so he has been improvising. On the other hand, he now knows how to ask for the laser pointer. Many cats get frustrated when their humans don’t understand what they’re saying, and simply give up on us, but Neko has made the leap to communicating with humans; perhaps Newton has been training him. As to Pixel, well, he’s still hiding under the bed…

*   Not to be confused with a techno-mage
** Sorry Jessica, I know you’re badly allergic

If you haven't read , I would recommend reading it first, although I know of at least one reader who hadn't and still enjoyed "The Centaur." Excerpts and early drafts from both books are available here: 914four.deviantart.com/gallery…

WikiLeaks has just released the full text of the secret Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) chapter on “Investor State Dispute Settlement.” If you thought SOPA was scary, wait until you get a load of this. The USTR, who are responsible for negotiating these agreements on behalf of the US, are a perfect example of a “revolving door” agency; bureaucrats who used to be lobbyists get to set policy that benefits their own industries, while lining their own pockets at the expense of the general public. They do not have your best interests at heart.

The leaked chapter describes how the TPP would create a secret international court system that would have no accountability to the public. If they can't openly discuss agreements and legalities that concern you, you damned well better be concerned! 

Current TPP negotiation member states are the United States, Japan, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, Chile, Singapore, Peru, Vietnam, New Zealand and Brunei. The TPP is the largest economic treaty in history, including countries that represent more than 40 per cent of the world´s GDP, and is being negotiated in secret, without public consultation! 

One of the more disturbing aspects of the agreement is that a foreign corporation can sue the government for perceived lack of profits. Imagine a company from overseas opens a factory in Anytown USA, and they begin making widgets, which fill a need and sell like crazy, making them a healthy profit. Then, the scientific  community realizes that chemical ABC, a byproduct of making widgets, causes cancer, and the EPA regulates emissions, imposing a limit on how much ABC can be released into the air. Anytowners hold a rally because they care about how much ABC they are breathing and the government listens. The factory is shut down while it is retooled to filter out airborne ABC, and the company loses business to another company who does not release ABC when they make their widgets. The first company could, if the TPP is signed, sue the government for the lost profits resulting from the shutdown as a result of government legislation. In other words, the government is on the hook for the consequences of its legislation, not just for actual losses but for theoretical or potential losses!

Here is an extract Public Citizen's analysis (emphasis is mine): "Foreign corporations have used these claims to attack tobacco, climate, financial, mining, medicine, energy, pollution, water, labor, toxins, development and other non-trade domestic policies. Under U.S. “free trade” agreements (FTAs) alone, foreign firms have already pocketed more than $440 million in taxpayer money via investor-state cases. This includes cases against natural resource policies, environmental protections, health and safety measures and more. ISDS tribunals have ordered more than $3.6 billion in compensation to investors under all U.S. FTAs and Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs). More than $38 billion remains in pending ISDS claims under these pacts, nearly all of which relate to environmental, energy, financial regulation, public health, land use and transportation policies. Even when governments win cases, they are often ordered to pay for a share of the tribunal’s costs. Given that the costs just for defending a challenged policy in an ISDS case total $8 million on average, the mere filing of a case can create a chilling effect on government policymaking, even if the government expects to win."

You can find the whole document here: wikileaks.org/tpp-investment/W…

If you don't have time to read the whole report, this 13 page overview by 
Lori Wallach and Ben Beachy of the Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch should give you the important highlights: wikileaks.org/tpp-investment/T…

Call/write/email/fax your appropriate elected officials NOW and let them know that you disapprove and do not support the TPP!