en-us The weblog of Last Trumpet Project author Kevin MacArdry. http://www.lasttrumpetproject.com/img/tiki/Tiki_WCG.png http://www.lasttrumpetproject.com/ Sat, 19 May 2012 14:25:27 +0000 Zend_Feed_Writer 1.11.11 (http://framework.zend.com) http://www.lasttrumpetproject.com/
I'll be attending the annual Libertopia festival in San Diego this October 20-24th. I'll be selling and signing copies of my book there, along with attending talks, demoing some new software, and participating in a forum. If you've read my book or would like to, stop on by.

Hope to see some readers there!

-kjm

]]> Wed, 19 Oct 2011 02:53:00 +0000 http://www.lasttrumpetproject.com/tiki-view_blog_post.php?postId=9 http://www.lasttrumpetproject.com/tiki-view_blog_post.php?postId=9
Secondly, the winner of the 2011 Prometheus Award for Best Novel was announced (appropriately) on July 4th. The winning book was Darkship Thieves, by Sarah Hoyt. Considering that her novel beat out not only TLTP, but also books by previous Prometheus winners Cory Doctorow and L. Neil Smith, along with one by John Ringo, Darkship Thieves must be one heck of a libertarian novel! (I confess I have not read it — yet.) Congratulations to Ms. Hoyt! Personally, I'm extremely gratified that a privately published first novel was even seriously considered for such a prestigious award.

Third and finally, I would like to commend to your attention an event concerning the coming of the real Singularity. The work of inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil was a seminal inspiration for my novel. This coming 3rd of August, 2011 there will be a special showing of Transcendent Man: A Conversation About the Future, live from New York City and carried in select theaters around the US. This presentation will include substantial excerpts from his documentary film Transcendent Man, together with a live panel discussion involving such interesting personalities as Dr. Deepak Chopra and Steve Wozniak. A trailer and list of participating theaters can be found on the site. I'll definitely be there!

]]> Wed, 13 Jul 2011 03:56:48 +0000 http://www.lasttrumpetproject.com/tiki-view_blog_post.php?postId=8 http://www.lasttrumpetproject.com/tiki-view_blog_post.php?postId=8 The Last Trumpet Project is now a Prometheus Award Finalist!
In a recent press release, the LFS has announced the five finalists for this year's Prometheus Award for best novel. I'm very gratified to note that The Last Trumpet Project has made the cut as a finalist.

I consider this a vindication in two respects: first, that a self-published novel has beaten out five other nominated books published by mainstream/legacy publishers such as Ace, Baen, and Tor; and second, that an opus by L. Neil Smith (Ceres) is one of the other contenders. One never composes a novel with an eye to fulfilling contest criteria, but it was very much a goal of mine to write a book which was just as hard-hitting and principled as a book by L. Neil Smith. To find the result of my efforts in a direct face-off with one of his books, along with those of four other fine writers, is of course most gratifying.

I'd like to say "thank you" to the ten judges who selected the finalists. A copy of my book is now on the way to each of the 19 finalist judges. And with that, may the best novel win!

]]> Mon, 25 Apr 2011 02:25:20 +0000 http://www.lasttrumpetproject.com/tiki-view_blog_post.php?postId=7 http://www.lasttrumpetproject.com/tiki-view_blog_post.php?postId=7 RAWIllumination.net, among other sites. Mr. Jackson is also one of the finalist judges for this year's Prometheus Award (see my earlier post below concerning the contest). He has recently posted our interview on his site.

As can be seen from that interview, while I would love to be able to claim that I was deliberately writing to appeal to fans of the late great Robert Anton Wilson, in actual fact it would be disingenuous of me to do so. However I'm quite pleased to learn that RAW fans can find much to like in my book, especially shared themes such as libertarianism, immortality, enhanced intelligence, and nonviolence.

My thanks to Mr. Jackson for his interest, and for allowing me the space to supply some slightly rambling answers to his questions.


]]> Fri, 11 Feb 2011 01:14:41 +0000 http://www.lasttrumpetproject.com/tiki-view_blog_post.php?postId=6 http://www.lasttrumpetproject.com/tiki-view_blog_post.php?postId=6 The Last Trumpet Project has been nominated for the 2011 Prometheus Award, for best novel. This award is given by the Libertarian Futurist Society, and has been presented since 1979, making it one of the most enduring awards after the Nebula and Hugo awards, and one of the oldest fan-based awards currently in sf and fantasy. A full list of past winners in all Prometheus categories is posted on their website.

Given the names on the list of previous winners, I cannot help but feel extremely honored even to be nominated for this award. The purpose of the Prometheus award is to highlight science fiction works whose plots, themes, characters and/or specific issues reflect the value of personal freedom and human rights, or which seriously dramatize or satirically critique tyranny or abuses of power — especially unchecked government power. Although one never writes a book with an eye toward winning an award, I will freely admit that extolling personal freedom and dramatizing the abuse of power were among the very clear goals that I had in mind while writing the novel. This makes the nomination doubly gratifying.

I'm given to understand that the procedure is for a panel of finalist judges to narrow the nominees down to five finalists, after which the whole membership of the LFS makes the final decision. The Prometheus awards are given at the World Science Fiction Convention, normally held the first weekend in September.

If you haven't read my book yet, perhaps you should have a look at it. Particularly if you're a full voting member of the LFS.


]]> Tue, 02 Nov 2010 04:09:23 +0000 http://www.lasttrumpetproject.com/tiki-view_blog_post.php?postId=5 http://www.lasttrumpetproject.com/tiki-view_blog_post.php?postId=5
This edition was prepared through lulu.com, whose services I would gladly commend to anyone wishing to prepare a print-on-demand version of an e-book. This is the new paradigm, folks. No more submitting to publishers who try to guess the number of copies to print in advance. Now books can be printed on demand as orders are placed for them by readers, and they still ship in 3-5 days.

The link for the book is here:

LTP Printed Edition

I'm told that in another month or so, it will show up on Amazon and order lists for retail bookstores. Presently, only the Kindle download version is available on Amazon.

Exciting times we live in, to be sure!

-KJM

]]> Mon, 19 Jul 2010 02:00:35 +0000 http://www.lasttrumpetproject.com/tiki-view_blog_post.php?postId=4 http://www.lasttrumpetproject.com/tiki-view_blog_post.php?postId=4 Announcing Version 1.2!
It's been almost two years since the first draft of The Last Trumpet Project was completed. Recently, I've had the occasion to make some revisions to the book. One of the benefits of an online publication is that this is simply a matter of editing by the author; nothing needs to be reprinted. The most significant change is the addition of a new Prologue, while the former prologue has now become Chapter 1. A large number of clarifications, typographical and word choice edits have also been incorporated.

I'd like to thank my early readers for constructive feedback, and editorial suggestions, especially my friend Jim Davidson. True constructive criticism definitely helps improve almost any work of literature or art.

I have also decided to allow future readers the opportunity to register a login on this website for free, and then download the book in PDF, or read it on the site. (Though they can still purchase it later if they choose, and I hope they will if they enjoyed it.) The book continues to be available in Mobipocket format on eBookbase.com and Amazon.

The next step for me will be to arrange a printed meatspace edition of the work, which can then be ordered from various print-on-demand publishers. It is apparent that most Moshes still prefer their physical paper books.

Thanks for stopping by!

-KJM


]]> Sat, 16 Jan 2010 08:23:17 +0000 http://www.lasttrumpetproject.com/tiki-view_blog_post.php?postId=3 http://www.lasttrumpetproject.com/tiki-view_blog_post.php?postId=3 Digital Gold Currency Magazine publishes interview
Sometimes an author's work gets publicized through unexpected avenues.

This is certainly the case with this interview. Mr. Mark Herpel of DGCMagazine.com contacted me a while ago and requested a short interview, conducted via email. Mr. Herpel's magazine is dedicated to covering events and developments in the digital gold and online payments industry. I found it a fascinating read, and not just for my small part of it!

This interest came about because I talk about gold-based digital payment systems of the future in my book (i.e. Aurumnet). I am of course aware of such systems that exist today: e-gold, GoldMoney, Pecunix, and so on. As a matter of fact, this website cheerfully accepts them as payment for the book! But it turns out that the interest is mutual. Mr. Herpel wanted to publish an interview with me because it's unusual to find DGCs featured in a science fiction novel.

Well, I do think that present day fiat currency and central banking "credit" systems are ultimately doomed and will end up getting replaced by some kind of commodity digital currency, similar to Aurumnet. I also think that such systems, especially while in their infancy, are very likely to be subjected to ruthless suppression by the authorities, who (rightly) fear competition they cannot hope to cope with otherwise.

Unfortunately, the September issue of DGC Magazine also details the latest government attack against one such firm, e-bullion.com, which operated out of the United States. I can't claim to know everything that's going on with this case (even after reading Mr. Herpel's excellent article on it), and one must certainly make allowances for sensationalism, but I can't help but feel that operating a business such as this in the US was probably a foolish choice to begin with. It is after all the very center of monetary monopoly. Even more unfortunately, one of the e-bullion founders, Ms. Pamela Fayed, was recently knifed to death in a parking garage.

The interview is available here, on pp. 24, 26-7. Though IMHO the entire issue is worth reading!

I'd like to thank Mr. Herpel for the opportunity to speak to his readers, who like many of us are focused on the future.

-KJM



]]> Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:28:24 +0000 http://www.lasttrumpetproject.com/tiki-view_blog_post.php?postId=2 http://www.lasttrumpetproject.com/tiki-view_blog_post.php?postId=2
My name is Kevin MacArdry, and I'm the author of the book sold on this website, The Last Trumpet Project. This inaugural post to my blog on this site will be dedicated to answering the question: "Why publish your novel in such a format?"

There was a time, back when I was writing my first novel in high school in the late '70s, when any author who wrote a book and expected to see it published, needed a publisher, and possibly an agent as well. In those days the publishing business was diverse and growing, science fiction was a popular genre, agents were optional, and complete novels were submitted to publishers in bulky packages. Most importantly the number of would-be novelists was comparatively small. Writing a book without a keyboard (I did not acquire a typewriter until I went to college) is a most laborious process, and copying it into typescript even more so. One needed special skills, such as typing and a knowledge of marking and editing shorthand, in order to produce a novel.

And then something changed: the personal computer was introduced. As a consequence, the number of people with the necessary skills and tools to write a book increased to equal the number of people capable of using a computer keyboard and word processing software. The natural result was a many-fold increase in the number of would-be novelists.

At the same time, the availability of readable content on the internet, along with digital cable, movie rentals, computer games and the like, served to reduce the size of the market for printed books. The net result was a vast increase in the supply of fiction coupled with a reduction in demand. One doesn't need to be an economist to perceive that the consequences for the publishing industry — and for professional writers — are obvious. Add to that the effect of mergers and acquisitions, to the point where today a mere handful of actual multi-national conglomerates own and control almost all of the major imprints in publishing in every genre.

Today there are few publishers who will accept un-agented submissions from novelists, and probably none who will read a complete book without having first asked to see it. Consequently, agents have proliferated everywhere. Most of them are wanna-bes too, some of them even unscrupulous cads, and the ones who are neither are hopelessly swamped with submissions (as in tens of thousands per year).

Faced with slumping book sales and an avalanche of material, the ability of publishers to separate the wheat from the chaff has become vanishingly nonexistent. The only books which really make money for anyone are the so-called black swans, things like Harry Potter which explode out of obscurity and become cultural bywords. By contrast the "average book" is lucky to earn its keep (i.e. repay its author's advance).

So publishers are looking for black swans, and nothing but black swans, and writers are hoping to produce them. The trouble is that a "black swan" is something which occurs at random. If someone could point to a black swan book in advance and say, "That's going to be a black swan!" then by definition it wouldn't be a black swan. (The first Harry Potter book, I should point out, was rejected 20 times and then finally purchased for a mere few thousand pounds.) Moreover, black swan theory dictates that the concentration effect (i.e. the extent to which black swans reap the greatest share of available rewards) becomes stronger as the pool of works on offer increases. Thus significant success becomes ever more elusive, and is achieved on an ever more random basis.

I am not someone who buys lottery tickets. They are a type of tax on people who are bad at math.

Similarly, I am not someone who writes a book (the product of many hundreds of hours of concentrated labor) in the hope of achieving publishing success, which is, quintessentially, a random event (assuming that your book can leap over the hurdle of not being obvious illiterate rubbish). And even if I were such a pig-headed optimist or egotist as to think that my book is absolutely destined to become a black swan hit, the process of getting it published looks something like this:

• Boil it down to a cover letter and a one-page synopsis, and shoot it off to dozens of agents. Wait weeks or months for replies from each. The process of finding a reputable agent who agrees to represent your book can easily consume a year.
• Assuming your agent knows what she is doing and has the necessary contact clout at the right publishers, you might see a purchase offer within another year. At that point you'd see some kind of (probably minimal) advance.
• Wait 18-24 months before the book hits the distribution channels (bookstores, Amazon, etc.).
• Once sales begin, earn something like a dollar or less per copy sold.
• Go into harness as an unpaid representative of your publisher, doing readings and signings at bookstores for no additional income.
• Hope to get a better contract for your next book, which will actually make you some money.

You know what? No thanks.

I am, however, still interested in having my book read by other people and in getting paid for having written it. So what then?

...page...
Many writers, having reached this point in their thinking, or being unable to get past one of the steps above, turn to self-publishing. It is certainly possible to find a printing company capable of producing your book in a bound edition of comparable quality for as little as a few thousand dollars, give or take the size of the print run. It is possible to sell them yourself through your own store on Amazon, if you're willing to pay their rather steep fees.

The reality is that most writers never sell enough copies to recoup their startup costs. That's why this kind of publishing is derisively called "vanity" publishing.

But suppose the startup costs were a lot less?

What after all is the startup cost for publishing in an e-book format? Variably low. Because the cost of production is so small (basically a matter of setting up the web site and purchasing hosting and bandwidth) one can offer a book for say $5 and still earn more per sale than with traditional paper publishing. One can also offer bonus content that you just can't do in a book format, such as this blog and reader discussion forums. The readers of any book form a taxonomic group of shared interest by definition. To give another example, I am presently working on supplying commentary on the novel on a chapter-by-chapter basis. I expect most readers will skip it, but some will doubtless find it interesting.

Okay, time for a shameless plug: I would like to highly recommend the company I'm working with to e-publish this book, AUG Enterprises, Inc. in Colorado. If you're a writer and think you would like to go this route, please feel free to contact them at admin (AT) comoro (DOT) net. I'm told they'll have a company e-publishing website set up soon, where they'll sell turnkey packages including a website and online ordering system similar to this one for reasonable prices.

Which still leaves the question of why publish only as an e-book? Given the subject matter of my novel, I have the luxury of being able to expect that the majority of potential readers will be of the sort willing to consider purchasing a book in electronic form; not something writers of books on travel or cooking for example could claim, since those genres are aimed mainly at the blue-haired set.

Furthermore, I believe that within a few short years from now, book printing will be obsoleted by technology, specifically by 3D printers or "fabbers" as they are called. Google is your friend here, but suffice it to say that a 3D printer is a device that takes a digital blueprint for a three-dimensional object and then "prints" it, layer by layer, borrowing on a technique used in wafer fab plants to "print" integrated circuitry. 3D printers already exist that can replicate themselves (presumably one component at a time, some assembly required). Their main limitation at this point is that they can create objects using only plastic and metals with low melting temperatures.

It would be difficult to print a readable book that way. But not for long. I will cheerfully predict that within less than five years, it will become possible to purchase a book in digital form, off of a website like this one, download it, hit the "Print" button on your 3D printer, and out will come a hardback or paperback book just as easy to read in your favorite armchair as anything you can buy today at Barnes and Noble, Borders, or Amazon.com. With no need for either shopping or shipping.

The concept of molecular manufacturing (or MM as I call it in the book) is in fact an integral element of my novel. Once "3D printers" have evolved to the point where they can produce almost any object out of basic raw materials (such as carbon biomass) one has to ask what will happen not just to publishers and booksellers but to factory manufacturers and distributors of goods of all sorts. Likewise, to governments which expect to be able to regulate and tax the sale of goods.

All of which means that this sort of publishing is in fact the wave of the future. Even without considering the impact of 3D printers, there are those who foresee great changes in store for the publishing industry. In his excellent essay "On the SURVIVAL of RATS in the SLUSH PILE," about the practical issues surrounding getting published (which I must admit influenced me in this direction), British author/publisher Michael Allen observes:

"There are some observers who see a bright future for what is now called ‘disintermediation’ – the process whereby texts are delivered from author to reader (like this essay, in fact) without the need for a publisher or a bookseller in the middle. In principle, there is no reason at all why the quality of work distributed in this way should not equal, or even exceed, the quality of much formally published work."

Well put. The publishing industry is supposed to select the best from among the works being written today, and make them available to the reading public. Unfortunately most of the good pieces are published almost despite the industry (any truly successful work having typically been rejected multiple times), while a lot of the stuff they publish with great fanfare turns out to garner only a tepid response. Meanwhile the retail price of books is skyrocketing, so that consumers are paying higher costs and cutting back on their reading habits. In short, the industry isn't serving either the producers or the consumers very well. All of the money is going to the middlemen.

Fortunately it is the way of technology to eliminate middlemen. Given the current resources of the internet, and the future resources of fabbers and virtual reality technology, I think it's clear that disintermediation will win out in the end. There is no reason why producers such as myself and readers such as yourself cannot find each other in cyberspace without the need for a third party mediator. Frankly I think traditional publishers, editors, and agents are headed for extinction.

...page...
So as a novelist with a book to sell, the real question for me is: why should I expend years of my time and effort trying to convince some overworked dullard in a New York office who's probably never even heard of the Singularity, and would likely recoil in horror if he did, that my novel is a potential black swan which could make his company a significant amount of money — all so that I can break into what is obviously a dying industry in its twilight decade at this point?

The answer is plain: I shouldn't waste my time. And, probably, neither should anybody else.

But what if some big-name publisher visits this site, reads the book, and offers me a contract nonetheless? To quote Michael Allen again:

"Is that experience worth all the accompanying hassle? I suspect not. In the twenty-first century, therefore, the really smart writers – the ones who have mastered their skills, who learnt to understand the publishing business, and who value their sanity – they are not going to succumb to these blandishments. The mature and confident writer will recognise that she does not need to have her work validated by some all-too-fallible editor. And so, when our emancipated writer does receive an offer from such a source, she will smile politely, and say Thanks, but no thanks."



-Kevin MacArdry




]]> Wed, 09 Jul 2008 02:35:48 +0000 http://www.lasttrumpetproject.com/tiki-view_blog_post.php?postId=1 http://www.lasttrumpetproject.com/tiki-view_blog_post.php?postId=1