Just a Note on the Amazon Reviewer (the lowly 1-rater)

RB (his initials) rated my first book, 'Flatline Virus', a lowly '1' less than a week after it appeared on Amazon. At first, I was surprised and disheartened. Then I was angry. Now I'm fine. At that time, RB was a frequent reviewer of books and other items purchased from Amazon. In fact, he had reviewed 91 items, my book being his latest. It seemed he was often harsh, being rather generous with his '1' ratings. I always felt he didn't provide sufficient or any reasons when he poked his reviewer's stick in the eyes of the author or seller. (As an example, I took umbrage when he claimed that my 'science' in the book was 'flawed'. I did a lot of research to support everything I wrote regarding viruses and other items, i.e body decomposition, etc....or at least as much as you can in a Zombie book).

That was RB's last Amazon review. He thought I was the famous, best-selling William Gibson. If you've seen his (the other William Gibson) books, you'll note that the author's name is always in larger font than the title (the author being better known than any of his books). Plus, his books are always priced higher than $2.99, the original and usual price for my book. Plus, I used a middle initial. Plus, to my knowledge, the other William Gibson would not stoop to writing Zombie stories, instead sticking to true science fiction. All that said, I guess RB still thought my book was the other William Gibson's. Sorry, RB.

I know you can't please everyone and I really don't expect to write a best-seller. I do write stories that I hope most will enjoy. In general, my other reviews seem to support that. I hope you do, too.

Working on Book 3

This one is not a zombie story, although the next one may be. This one involves life forms from a long, long away. It also takes place on the Saturn moon Titan, the one world in this solar system, other than Earth, with a thick atmosphere (1.4X that of Earth). In fact, Titan has many of the ingredients that could support life. Just maybe not life as we would know it. Life, if it exists, is more likely methane-based, or even ammonia-based, rather than dependent on water and oxygen. The moon also has rivers, rain, lakes and oceans (of methane, ammonia, ethane). A possible book cover is down to the right on this blog.

The blog registered 2500 page views a little while ago. Never thought that would happen.

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'Flatline Virus' - Rated 4 Stars by 23 Reviewers in Apple Bookstore

15 out of 23 reviewers in the Apple Bookstore rate Flatline Virus four (4) stars or higher. Zombie stories continue to be hot. Maybe I should do another or a sequel. Maybe after the next one. Maybe, probably.

Another Painting - A Reptile / Book Sales

Paintings
I seemed to get stuck on reptile eyes. Well, I'm off that, but wanted to try a larger object, like a reptile's head. What do you think? Check it out on the right side of the blog. It gives me an idea for a book cover.

Books
Regarding book sales...they're moving along. I will say that zombies are probably hotter that aliens, superintelligence and doomsday earth-crossing comets. I should have expected that. Yeah, the zombie book is outselling the new one, at least so far this month.

Last of Three Eyes and Forest Scene

I' just posted another eye. I'm not sure if it's a cat or a bird from the photo I used. I also posted a fantasy forest scene.

Reptile Eye #2

I just finished my second reptile eye. I truly don't know what type of reptile this is. It doesn't matter, really, does it? No, these are not supposed to be aliens from another book I'm planning. It's just below the first one on the right hand side of the blog...down a little. The comments section is there for you to comment, good or bad. Thanks.

Happy New Year!!!

I just posted my most recent painting. You can view it down and to the right on this blog. I call it 'Spooky Forest Scene'. I painted it will all blue, black and white paint. The blue was ultramarine, but I did mix it with the black and white at various stages.

Newest Apple Book Store Reviews (Continue to) Show 4-Ratings

Using iTunes on your computer or the iBook app on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, you'll see that 'Flatline Virus: When Zombies Evolved' is rated 4 out of 5 stars, including (8) #1 ratings and (6) #2 ratings.

I Painted a Cartoon of Mine from 20+ Years Ago (see down and to the right)

OK,I admit, the humor is a little dark. I just wanted to see how it looked in color. The original was pen and ink in shades of black and grey. No captions. Doesn't need any. I think you'll agree.

A New Painting - Check Out the Reptile Eye

I'm finishing up a painting of a reptile's eye which you can see on the right side of the blog under 'Check Out One of My Paintings'. It's not my usual landscape style. I found the color and subject interesting, so this is my first painting of the winter 2011-2012. I'm going to try painting one of my old cartoons next. If I write another book, I think I should paint the book cover. That should be fun.

A Repost - Some Unusual Words (and what they mean) You'll See in 'Homo Optimus'

These are some words you'll see in the book that are designed to describe something in the future, say 124 years from now. Some are words that currently exist, just not in everyone's everyday vocabulary.

the Hype-a slang word for (all the data on) the network of networks, formerly called the internet. It's short for Hyperfinite, meaning a very, very large number, approaching an infinite number, like the amount of data on it.

Aqualiens - extraterrestrial beings that live in water.

Data skins - the augmented reality related to a specific person, place or thing.

Astrobiologist - A scientist who makes use of physics, chemistry, astronomy, biology, molecular biology, ecology, planetary science, geography, and geology to investigate the possibility of life on other worlds.

Benthic - relating to the collection of organisms that live at the bottom of the sea

Cryophilic - relating to organisms that thrive in the cold

Augmented Reality - a term for a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input. Thus, the technology is supposed to enhance the current perception of reality. Ever watch a football game where the scrimmage line is in blue and the first down line is in orange...and there's an arrow on the field denoting that it's first down and 10? That's augmented reality today.

the Legacy - kind of like a super-Facebook where everyone captures (video, audio, images, text, etc.) almost everything of significance in their lives on the web from birth to death.

Cephalopods - a member of the family of mollusks, e.g. squid, octopus.

2000 Pages Views

My little blog has had 2000 page views. Wow. Never thought it could happen.

Oh, and as an aside....My book sales have come from Canada, Australia, UK, France, Germany and the United States, that is, that I know of. Not all the retail channels report country of purchase, so there may be more.

Price Reduced to $0.99 - Both Books!!

A pre-holiday discount sale is on now for each of the books. They will or are available for 99 cents each, a reduction from the ridiculously low price of $2.99. This make take a few days to be effective.

Oh, I just looked and the Origin of Homo Optimus is now available on Barnes & Noble. Thus, the new book is now selling on my biggest three distribution channels, i.e. Apple, Amazon and Barnes & Noble ('though at $2.99 for the next few days).

Update - Apple Store's 19 Reviews Can't Be Wrong - 4-Rated !!!

But see for yourself.

Flatline Virus: When Zombies Evolved has 19 ratings in the Apple Bookstore averaging 4 stars out of 5.

The Origin of Homo Optimus: Humans, Aliens & Superbrains is now available in Amazon and Apple.

An Excerpt from 'The Origin of Homo Optimus: Humans, Aliens and Superbrains'

Introduction

It is 124 years in the future.  

Chapter 1 - The Court Scene
 
Kenneth Douglas was brought into the courtroom from the side door. He was clasped in handcuffs. He had never even seen the inside of a courtroom before this and he found the experience a little unnerving. "Geez," he thought, "I can't understand how they found out I did it. No way the police knew how to catch me. Who could possibly have tracked me? I should have stopped at 20, maybe. Where the hell is my lawyer?"

Ken's father, Bill, was in court to see his son likely go to jail. Like the rest of the Douglas family, Ken didn't like where humanity was headed. The difference was he wanted to do something about it. Bill knew his son would make a public statement, a publicly-viewed act, somehow and somewhere with his incredible cyber skills. He did. Unknown to less than three or four of his closest friends, Ken was indeed the Boston Hackmaster, whose lavish pro-retro pranks hit the news on a regular basis. He was a hero to some and hated by others. Bios loved him; Cybers didn't. All agreed the Hackmaster had a good deal of skill to do what he did while evading the police and security forces everywhere. Bill knew that a guilty plea or verdict could mean not only several years of jail, but also that his son's bio-enhancement privileges could be denied forever, effectively shortening his life significantly. If you chose a life of crime, you would not be allowed a long life. The judge could not help seeing the creativity and humor in it all. "No one has been able hack into anyone's data skins until you did this, young man," said the judge. "It's too bad to waste your talent. Unfortunately for you, the sentencing guidelines call for too harsh a term. You're a talented, misguided kid, but my hands are tied on this."

"If only there were another option I had," thought the judge, "but I'm just not aware of anything else I can do."

"Mr. Douglas, you are accused of twenty-one counts of breaking into the personal, governmental, or company data notes and modifying them to suit your humor", said the judge.

The judge had read over the police report. Douglas had hacked into the augmented realities of persons, buildings, landmarks, a retail store, a couple restaurants, a sports team, a city greeting post, and a church. The kid didn't just scrawl filthy words onto data notes which described these persons, places or things as they viewed them in reality. No, thought the judge, he wanted to tarnish the use of data skins in general.

"I'm choosing not to read these out loud, but they are part of your criminal record," said the judge.

The judge read the file to himself and found it amusing, despite its criminality. The young man wrote about Wanda Sykes that "…her closest friends believed she held a patent for weaponized halitosis and also farts in her sleep."

His notes on the Boston Museum of Natural History said, "It is currently occupied by 28 employees and 254 visitors, no fewer than six of whom have erections. Please take special note of the crowd forming around a sex act taking place on the second floor."

The judge was pretty sure he knew the restaurant whose augmented reality had been modified to read, "The chef of this lowest-rated establishment broke up with his boyfriend and suffers from depression for which he is overly self-medicated. The restaurant treats its customers like its own family, four members of whom are currently incarcerated for various crimes in Walpole State Prison. The state Health Inspector vomited profusely here yesterday after swallowing something he later described only as 'squishy' and is under treatment at a local hospital for terminal diarrhea."

The judge read another to himself which caused him to smirk. The data skin hacked into was 'America's Most Beloved Ball Park' (where Beloved was crossed out to read Oldest) which read "Faithful fans are taking turns this season holding up the walls of 223 year old Fenway Park while the $2 billion Red Sox pitching staff drank themselves out of the playoffs for the 124th consecutive year."

"How do you plead, Mr. Douglas?"