Bill McSciFi's Blog

Once upon a midnight dreary … ahh, you don’t care. All you care about is that I keep kicking out more McSciFi and don’t go back to stripping.

Or so I thought. As is a common trope in McSciFi-Land, the world’s greatest NO KIDS amusement park, I posted my OnlyFans joke (image below). I have been doing this on and off for a couple of years. This week, however, fourteen of you miscreants offered to Venmo me money for nudes. Three of those included links to preferred costumes. Ya’ll need Jesus.

Speaking of JC and his Homies, despite what I have heard from social media’s retinue of bible experts, Jesus wasn’t popping bottles with Moses or any other Old Testament icons. Which means Hail the Fallen, my whimsical update of The Book of Enoch, which was written centuries before Jesus was born, has many wonderful things, but not a whisper of everyone’s favorite Messiah.

Now, being fair, Jesus did reference Enoch, but that’s not the same as His Holy Self partying with two hundred horny angels who were expelled from Heaven. I know that minor difference may seem subtle to some, but I hope you can understand. Please, for the love all the deities listed on your speed dial, understand.

In related news destined to make me start day drinking again, allow me to clearly note that The Darkling Wind is a work of fiction. I am not hiding incredible medical advances in my apartment on the Southside of Chicago. The only aliens in my bathroom require air freshener.

Hey, I’m a big guy. I leave big mementos.

That said, and I’m sorry for the visual, The Darkling Wind is finishing round one of edits. Then I will go in one last time – COVER ME! – make any final changes, send it to Azoth Khem for release with the cool cover designed by Ian Bristow, and you can make it the holiday gift your special someone deserves.

OH, HONEY! NEW McSCIFI? ALL MY TINGLY PARTS LOVE YOU MORE THAN EVER!

Hey, it could happen.

In the meantime, all the bodacious, borderline salacious slideshows are exclusively housed on Bill McSciFi. It’s also where I hide all the cool gear that can make you the hippest hipster in Hipland.

Until next time, here are some blurbs for all my McNovels.

Hail the Fallen – Stand Alone
A sweeping, irreverent epic blending biblical myth, raw humanity, and biting humor, Hail the Fallen follows angels, fallen and otherwise, through a world where lust, love, and rebellion are as holy as judgment. From secret covens to jazz clubs, from celestial courts to the depths of the underworld, McSciFi delivers a bold new vision of divinity-where even the damned hold hope, and the true power of creation may lie in those who dare to fall.

The Darkling Wind – Stand Alone
As the people of Earth grapple with alien technology, impending planetary collisions, elderly virility run amok, self-curing diseases, and a possible nuclear holocaust, among other traumas, two gay teens and a 130-year-old pin-up model are the world’s only hope. The wind blows free, but The Darkling Wind exacts a terrible price.

The Plato Wars – Book 1 of an 8-part trilogy
Once upon a time in the future, mankind created a way to consolidate everything from simple internets to personal AIs into one cohesive entity. Science promised every safeguard imaginable had been erected, and introduced the world to Plato. It’s up to a vengeful teen and a rebellion with mob connections to stop The Plato Wars before they erase humanity.

gen-O-pod(™) Wars – Book 2 of an 8-part trilogy
Before the time of the chimeras, there was the time of hubris. Edward Q. Rohta, a boy-genius with a penchant for genetic engineering and unconventional love, decided to remake the world into one worthy of a god only he could create. With his family’s help, Rohta Industries, LLC set out to redefine what it means to be human with the introduction of gen-O-pods(™) to do the work humans no longer would. The slave race corporations fawned over, and working people feared, became a flashpoint. A chimera named Fluffkins becomes the last hope for sentient, if not exactly human, life.

The Brittle Riders – Books 3, 4 & 5 of an 8-part trilogy
An award-winning and internationally critically renowned trilogy. Tired of being abused, gen-O-pods(™) rose up and killed every man, woman, and child on the planet. The Brittle Riders is the story of what happens next. When an army made of the memories of human avarice meets a society built on chimeric peace, hope will be bathed in fountains of blood. Dark satire presented in a violent burlesque designed to make you think while you laugh and cringe. The end of your world is the beginning of theirs.

Goptri of the Mists – Books 6, 7, & 8 of an 8-part trilogy
It was one thing to maintain order, quite another to inflict tyranny. When that line got blurred, one brave soul rose up in protest and set off a chain of events that would lead to a world war, alien robots, and non-dimensional souls. Set in a futuristic version of pre-colonial India, Goptri of the Mists serves as a stark reminder of why man should not create gods and why the gods have never truly trusted man.

I have been a busy McSciFi. For the official record, The Darkling Wind will be the next book I have scribbled that will be offered up for your dissection. A fun tale about how the fate of the world is in the hands of a 130-year pinup model and two gay teens from Arizona. It’s got your favorite sci-fi tropes: an alien ray that makes old people young and horny, finishes transgender people’s transitions without drugs or surgery, and the obligatory evil empire built on mindless bureaucracy. You can see a trailer of select scenes when you click the link.

Darkling is a stand-alone book. It has a beginning, middle, and end, all between the covers. That’s the last of those for a while, so enjoy it.

Next up is The Plato Wars. The story that starts the entire chimeraverse, which encompasses the eight-part trilogy I keep insisting on calling The Brittle Riders trilogy. As you might expect, the entire fall of civilization starts with the civil rights movement in the 1960s. It’s not related, but I had to start somewhere, and I needed to explain all the social mores that permeate everything. Can man kill the god it created? You can get a hint when you watch scenes from the book.

Humans finally get their long-overdue, deserved, and violent comeuppance in gen-O-pod(™) Wars. Getting them there was a lot more fun than my therapist likes me admitting, but we’re all pals here, so I’m sure you’re cool with it. Look, I had the apocalypse curated by a chimera named Fluffkins. If you were expecting a boring and predictable ride into oblivion, I am happy to disappoint you. Make sure you buck up and check out some scenes from the book.

Once you finish the first two parts of the eight-part trilogy, in case you haven’t already, you’ll want to dive into The Brittle Riders. As an incentive, you can grab a free PDF of the multi-award-winning Book I of The Brittle Riders a/k/a Book III of the Trilogy. If that’s still not enough to tingle your special parts, check out some sexy scenes to get you going.

Then it’s time for you to join the final revolution in Books VI, VII, and VIII of the eight-part trilogy, also known as Goptri of the Mists. Despite what you may have read on a misguided LinkedIn post, this is not a reimagining of Hindu Theology. It’s just a happy sci-fi story about slavery, hubris, and hope. More of the latter than genetic memory of humans deserve, but it’s there. As you may have guessed, you can check out scenes from the books by doing the clicky linky thing.

Finally, for now, I am working on Hail the Fallen. Long story, absolutely not short; I’ll explain in a moment. I thought it would be great fun to use the noncanonical Book of Enoch as the basis of a whimsy-laden, modern look at angels, demons, their spawn, and so on. As a point of reference, most sci-fi and fantasy novels are around 100,000 words long. Printed page count varies by formatting and font. That number is in my rearview, and I am no closer to an ending than I am to being a sex symbol.

Using the Ethiopian text as the basis, and trying to make it all work with other related texts telling the tale of the 200 fallen angels, while adding stories from some later books so it wasn’t a sausage fest, I kind of (oopsie) threw out Genesis, Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory, and replaced them with a more functional model. Well, functional in a way that keeps my therapist housed. In the meantime, I’m not really evil; you can check out some scandalous scenes from the story so far.

Today’s bottom image is an AI imagining of what the eight-part trilogy would be called and look like if Hollywood had its way. I’m not mad. Until next time, stay sane, and keep those emails coming.

Before I begin, I’d like to wish the lovely and talented Kasey Hill all the best as she embarks on the next leg of her literary journey away from Azoth Khem. Above and beyond continuing her many popular series, she will be joining her daughter in creating a series of YA horror anthologies and original works. Bookmark her links so you don’t miss a thing.

Okay, chill, from now on it’s all about me.

One thing I have consistently avoided is the “If you like So & So, you’ll love McSciFi” blurbs. I know people mean well, but I always feel like they’re saying, “Sure, that Jesus dude was okay, but have you read the Gospel of McSciFi?” And, honestly, some of the authors I get compared to in posts and blogs are literary gods. Being blunt, treading lightly seemed like my best option.

Then two things came to my attention in the same subtle way a hammer to the face piques your interest. First, the only people comparing me to George R.R. Martin are people who have read neither. Aside from our love of boobs, our stories have nothing in common. In fact, just for shits and giggles, I ran my books through the chat function at Deep AI, and asked it to highlight any similarities. The result was hysterical and sad. Stuff like, “You both have characters,” “characters die,” and the aforementioned “boobs.” Not much, in other words.

The second thing worth noting is that he had been getting published for almost forty years before Game of Thrones exploded across visual media. If I wait that long for The Brittle Riders to hit screens near you, and I’m still alive, I’ll be wheeled on a stage and fed pudding by Jimmy Kimmel’s grandkids.

While the people helping me haven’t really asked, every film person I have run into lately asks the same damn questions: “What’s it like?” or “Who’s similar to you?” If you think of me as a mix of people who’ve never been in the same room, you’ll understand what I’m about to share.

I compiled notes from beta readers, tech advisors, blog posts, emails, and reviews. What you see is what I get.

Hail the Fallen
Bold, subversive, and wickedly funny, Hail the Fallen is a story where gods break their own rules, and the most human among us just might save creation from itself. Perfect for fans of N.K. Jemisin, Octavia Butler, Nnedi Okorafor, and Rebecca Roanhorse.

The Darkling Wind
For readers of Terry Pratchett, Philip K. Dick, and John Scalzi. The Darkling Wind is a mind-bending, darkly hilarious, and politically explosive new vision of the world’s last days. The wind blows free, but the Darkling Wind exacts a terrible price.

The Plato Wars – Book 1 of The Chimeraverse
For fans of Kurt Vonnegut, Margaret Atwood, and Douglas Adams. The Plato Wars is a scathing, hilarious, and disturbingly plausible satire about the future of AI, identity, and the price of utopia.

gen-O-pod(™) Wars – Book 2 of The Chimeraverse
Perfect for readers who enjoy Christopher Moore, Charles Stross, Neal Stephenson, and Margaret Atwood. gen-O-pod(™) Wars will take you on a wild, raunchy, and thought-provoking ride through culture wars, interplanetary sex, and the meaning of what it is to be human. Maybe even something more.

The Brittle Riders – Books 3, 4 & 5 of The Chimeraverse
If you enjoy the savage wit of Joe Abercrombie, the gonzo world-building of China Miéville and Jeff VanderMeer, or the post-apocalyptic weirdness of Margaret Atwood and Neal Asher – with a touch of Warren Ellis’ punk attitude – The Brittle Riders is your next obsession.

Goptri of the Mists – Books 6, 7 & 8 of The Chimeraverse
Perfect for admirers of China Miéville, Iain M. Banks, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Douglas Adams, Goptri of the Mists is an irreverent, genre-busting epic of bioengineered societies, underwater intrigue, and sly social commentary.

As you can see, I’m not “like” anyone, but I have been influenced by the best. When you read my stuff, some elements may remind you of them, but that’s as close as I get. And that’s fine. Or not. According to the immortal Garrick Dion, who wrote the back-cover-blurb for The Brittle Riders, “The good news is you created something unique. The bad news is you created something unique.”

And that sums up my experiences with the film industry perfectly.

If you’d like more info about any of these books, or wish to check out visualizers for them, simply CLICK HERE to be immersed in all the coo-coo coolness there is.

As always, you can reply to this email with any comments, questions, criticisms, or concerns you may have, and you can click on any image to see it full screen in a new tab. Thanks for hanging around. Talk to you again soon.

Like any paranoid, whiny, insecure creature of society, a/k/a author, I worry and squirm and pretend to have some form of self-confidence. I am also good at masking self-loathing with whimsical self-deprecation. None of this is relevant; I just felt an info dump was in order.

Anywho, after going through a lot of beta-reviews and online questions, I have noticed there are people who walk among us and take things literally. That’s great when you’re ordering a dozen donuts, not so useful when you’re reading fiction. Especially mine.

Today, in an effort to endure my mandatory dose of masochism, I’m going to address commonly asked questions, hoping to defuse future silliness as your favorite McSciFi eases into wider release.

Stuff About Things
Q: That’s a lot of stories and stuff. Did you write them all?
A: Why the dancing fuck would my publisher release a collection of other people’s writing in my name? Yes, I wrote everything.

Hail the Fallen
Q: Are you worried that using a banned book to tell a religious story will make God disappointed or angry?
A: The Book of Enoch isn’t banned; it’s just rejected by many Western religions. In fact, it’s canonical in Ethiopia, and I’m using the Ge’ev Enoch (Ethiopian) version as my base. As to God, we chat on the down low, and They’ve never complained.

The Darkling Wind
Q: This is stupid. Why wouldn’t aliens want our precious metals and rare minerals?
A: Because they aren’t precious or rare. All the elements in the universe were formed at the Big Bang. Hell, there’s even a Diamond Planet, i.e., a planet made of diamonds. Value on Earth is a social construct. Darkling is a deconstruction.

The Plato Wars
Q: You use AI to make that stuff you post. How can you hate AI?
A: Ally Gory isn’t just the name of a cool goth singer; it’s this thing I use to make a point. In this case, I use AI to show how far humans will go in search of power or acceptance. The answer I found is sad and has far too many real-world examples.

gen-O-pod(™) Wars
Q: You’re stupid. Slavery has never been a problem. Jesus had slaves. Why not focus on real problems?
A: Where to begin. First, no, Jesus didn’t. Read the fucking book. Second, there are over 30 Million Enslaved People as I write this. Humans have a horrible track record when it comes to dealing with those it defines as ‘other.’

The Brittle Riders
Q: Killing all the people and having Christian cockroaches seems blasphemous. Do you worry about hell?
A: God knows every one of Ally Gory’s biggest hits. I’ll be fine.

Goptri of the Mists
Q: What made you an expert on Hindu beliefs and allowed you to write a book about Eastern theology?
A: I get this one a lot. “Nothing” and “I didn’t” are the short answers. Goptri is another one of Ally Gory’s dance floor fillers. A human, read gen-O-pod(™) Wars to find out who, created avatars of deities to serve as slaves. They didn’t like that. In fact, they hated it. This series ties up a lot of loose ends, but is not a theological textbook in any way. It’s got nudity, violence, and booze. Enjoy it for what it is.

You can CLICK HERE to enjoy a brief overview of every title, with links to full-length promotions and videos at the bottom.

As always, you can reply to this email with any comments, questions, criticisms, or concerns you may have, and you can click on any image to see it full screen in a new tab. Thanks for hanging around. Talk to you again soon.

I recently discovered that the service I use to let people sign up for this incredible McMissive, missed sending me about three-quarters of the names of new peeps. I had assumed everything was automated. I was wrong. It was easily fixed, but that meant a whole slew of wonderful sapient bipeds, who smell as good as they look, were denied the joy of mentally lapping my socially inappropriate brain drippings.

You won’t get imagery like that in any pedestrian newsletter.

You’re welcome.

Anyway, since there are a bunch of new people who may not be as immersed in the lore of McScifi as the Devoted, I am taking this opportunity to spiff the place up. Gone is my ugly mug from the banner. In its place is useful information like book titles of books I wrote. Sure, that seems selfish, but it’s my newsletter, so I tend to promote my stuff.

A moment of transparency before we continue, while I have a professional relationship with Deep AI which allows me to create all of the characters and many of the promo graphics you see below and online, all titles and book covers are made by humans,, and all the words attached to my name were, and are, written by me without digital aid (excluding spellcheck – which I worship in unhealthy ways).

Speaking of those word things, here’s a current list you can buy or bookmark for future purchase, as the case may be.

Stuff About Things – Best of McSciFi
Get ready to laugh, cringe, and question reality. This is a wildly original collection of sci-fi, satire, and darkly comic tales that turn the ordinary on its head. Step inside – you’ll never see the world the same way again. Really sexy and smart people say this is the gateway drug to McSciFi.

Hail the Fallen – Stand Alone
A sweeping, irreverent epic blending biblical myth, raw humanity, and biting humor, Hail the Fallen follows angels, fallen and otherwise, through a world where lust, love, and rebellion are as holy as judgment. From secret covens to jazz clubs, from celestial courts to the depths of the underworld, McSciFi delivers a bold new vision of divinity-where even the damned hold hope, and the true power of creation may lie in those who dare to fall.

The Darkling Wind – Stand Alone
As the people of Earth grapple with alien technology, impending planetary collisions, elderly virility run amok, self-curing diseases, and a possible nuclear holocaust, among other traumas, two gay teens and a 130-year-old pin-up model are the world’s only hope. The wind blows free, but The Darkling Wind exacts a terrible price.

The Plato Wars – Book 1 of an 8-part trilogy
Once upon a time in the future, mankind created a way to consolidate everything from simple internets to personal AIs into one cohesive entity. Science promised every safeguard imaginable had been erected, and introduced the world to Plato. It’s up to a vengeful teen and a rebellion with mob connections to stop The Plato Wars before they erase humanity.

gen-O-pod(™) Wars – Book 2 of an 8-part trilogy
Before the time of the chimeras, there was the time of hubris. Edward Q. Rohta, a boy-genius with a penchant for genetic engineering and unconventional love, decided to remake the world into one worthy of a god only he could create. With his family’s help, Rohta Industries, LLC set out to redefine what it means to be human with the introduction of gen-O-pods(™) to do the work humans no longer would. The slave race corporations fawned over, and working people feared, became a flashpoint. A chimera named Fluffkins becomes the last hope for sentient, if not exactly human, life.

The Brittle Riders – Books 3, 4 & 5 of an 8-part trilogy
An award-winning and internationally critically renowned trilogy. Tired of being abused, gen-O-pods(™) rose up and killed every man, woman, and child on the planet. The Brittle Riders is the story of what happens next. When an army made of the memories of human avarice meets a society built on chimeric peace, hope will be bathed in fountains of blood. Dark satire presented in a violent burlesque designed to make you think while you laugh and cringe. The end of your world is the beginning of theirs.

Goptri of the Mists – Books 6, 7, & 8 of an 8-part trilogy
It was one thing to maintain order, quite another to inflict tyranny. When that line got blurred, one brave soul rose up in protest and set off a chain of events that would lead to a world war, alien robots, and non-dimensional souls. Set in a futuristic version of pre-colonial India, Goptri of the Mists serves as a stark reminder of why man should not create gods and why the gods have never truly trusted man.

You can CLICK HERE to enjoy a pictographic overview of every title, with links to complete promotions and videos at the bottom.

Thanks for hopping on my hype-train. Talk to you again soon.

Originally published on July 3, 2011, on World News Center

On July 2nd, every year, I celebrate the Declaration of Independence. The seminal document that officially severed ties between England and the American colonies. You’re probably reading that and laughing. How could a smart man like me get the damn date wrong? Easy, I didn’t; you did. In fact, almost everything you claim to know about the holiday and its history is horribly wrong. When John Adams wrote his wife Abigail stating that America would celebrate this day throughout history, he was talking about July 2nd, not July 4th. Nor was he talking about the document Jefferson had authored. That document, the one you’re thinking of, was not the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson’s had the clunky title of “A Declaration by the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA in General Congress assembled.”

Nope, the actual Declaration of Independence was written by an aristocrat named Richard Henry Lee in June of 1776 and was delivered officially to British authorities on July 2nd of the same year. Unlike the document you learned in school, Lee’s letter, such as it was, was a simple one-sentence resolution. Two more sentences were added later in the year. Of the 13 colonies at the time, only New York abstained from signing it. Even back then, it was a useless state with too many people.

Anyway, here’s the text of the entire document, including the later addenda.

• Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.
• That it is expedient forthwith to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign Alliances.
• That a plan of confederation be prepared and transmitted to the respective Colonies for their consideration and approbation.

Lee was an interesting cat. He was a hard-line believer in individual and state rights and thought there should be little or no federal oversight. He felt that any such move would be a move in the wrong direction. Or, as he famously said, “The first maxim of a man who loves liberty, should be never to grant to rulers an atom of power that is not most clearly and indispensably necessary for the safety and well being of society.”

In fact, on October 16, 1787, he wrote a letter fundamentally objecting to the whole idea of a U.S. Constitution. Given that Lee fostered a near paranoiac belief that all government was out to harm or oppress the individual, it’s not surprising that he firmly believed in the right of each individual to carry a weapon.

The Second Amendment to the Constitution – A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed – was clearly written to appease Lee and his followers since many representatives wanted to limit the use and ownership of firearms.

The document you were erroneously taught was the Declaration was actually an explanation for why Lee’s July 2nd document needed to exist.

The whole “When in the course of human events ….” language that you were forced to memorize as a child was a detailed, and severely edited, document explaining why Americans could no longer suffer British rule.

The parts that were edited out included granting slaves rights and freedom, anything that censured the people of England (since many colonists had English friends), and the idea of “sacred and undeniable truths” became “We hold these truths to be self-evident…”

In other words, the Declaration of Independence that you think you know, and love, was actually a political compromise that started a war but could have just as easily allowed for negotiations for reconciliation.

Had the latter happened, we’d all be sipping tea and watching cricket on ESPN.

And while I know that I’m facing a Sisyphean task in attempting to set the record straight, it just wouldn’t be America if someone didn’t try.

Every writer has their thing. Clive Cussler made himself a character in every book he wrote. By name, not just inference. I don’t do that, but I do add a character in every book or series who provides a throughline, or arc, that helps ground the swirling and chaotic events. In The Brittle Riders, it’s the farmer Oolnok. In Goptri of the Mists, it’s the Sovereign’s aide, Aaradhya, and so on. I am always pleased when readers cite those characters as ones they bonded with.

Yesterday, I sorted through the notes from my most recent Beta Readers for gen-O-pod(™) Wars, putting them in order so I can refer to them when edits come back, just in case. One reader turned out to be a Deacon. His reviews are a nice ride through the story arc.

— Pope Joan is an abomination.
— Pope Joan is an interesting character to use to critique the church.
— Emulating Pope Joan’s morals and kindness should be the goal. Not just for Catholics but for all children of God.
— WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO MY POPE?!?!?!?!

This is my subtle way of letting you know that gen-O-pod(™) Wars is complete and waiting to be edited. Which means, as soon as Nancy gets settled, she will be editing her little fingers to their itsy-bitsy bones. Since getting a bank loan on indie IPs is impossible, anything you can do to help her is greatly appreciated. For the record, progress has been made. New housing has been arranged; she is just waiting for it to become available. She has a handle on her meds, and has retained her positive attitude throughout.

All of this means you will soon be able to read the entire Chimeraverse story in the order the characters experience it. You can start with the cybernetic revenge fantasy of The Plato Wars, and then wallow in the salacious consequences of human hubris in gen-O-pod(™) Wars, after which you can walk the dessicated plains of the former Midwest and ineract with humanity’s violent remnants in The Brittle Riders, and finally wrap it all up with a mind bending thrill ride through mutant cybernetics and humanity’s last stab at dominance in Goptri of the Mists.

Here’s something fun I can share with you. When I noted on LinkedIn that I was conforming gen-O-pod(™) Wars to all the other books, six people offered to help. All six were fans, so I gratefully accepted. It wasn’t until I was assembling everything for today that I realized all six were, most likely still are, Asian women. Two from China, where I’m still banned, one from Japan, two from India, and one Filipino lady with an acerbic tongue.

They noted that each book had its own vibe. When I went to my favorite AI home away from home, DeepAI, and added their notes to my character descriptions, I got the fake movie posters below, and they are a hoot. A few also noted how each book is a story of characters breaking free, i.e., escaping the cages they’re in. As the graphic for that concept fits fundamentally, I’m bringing it along, as well.

Oh, looky, now we get to talk about the bottom images.

The only standalone book I have right now is The Darkling Wind, and your only other non-epic option for your dose of McSciFi’s Brain Droppings is my collection of shorts, Stuff About Things. That is both a wonderful and thin collection.

We, you and I that is, need more.

Long story short, I have begun my next adventure. I am calling it HAIL THE FALLEN. It’s a modernized take on the Book of Enoch. The Book of Enoch is fascinating. You have your creation myth, your Noah, and your always popular “Sons of God.” Then it heads off in some unique directions.

While it’s not well received by traditional churches now, Jesus quoted it in His teachings, so it’s been around for a bit and had relevance to His followers.

In Enoch, at the beginning, all the angels present as male. But the patriarchy bends a lot as those angels are credited with things that, in the time it was written, were definitely feminine interests.

So, we’ve got our angels, a clear punitive destiny (fallen angels never catch a break), and multiple verified notes that the fallen came to Earth to fornicate. I mean, I get it, Earthlings are hot. Hell, I even married one. It just seems limited in the whole “My goal for this eternity” sort of way.

Obviously, this is a goldmine for someone like me. Even so, I’m only going to use the original texts as a guide; I have neither the desire nor the qualifications to rewrite theology. Nor do I need another episode like I went through with Goptri of the Mists, when some people thought it was a new historical insight into Indian theology.

That was a freaking mess to fix.

It was not helped by the fact that there are those who believe that Shiva drinks alcohol, so my weird take on things fit well with some known customs.

Ooops.

I mean, the riff was intentional; the theological extrapolation was not.

If you head over to the legendary Tik of the Tok you will find an animated PG version of the film posters, a divine introduction to Hail the Fallen, a fun look at the novels spewing from my novel mind, and almost every single video is an animation created using DeepAI and tips I got from other users.

Yeah, I like that place, quirks and all.

If you want to fix the data center nightmares related to AI, and you should, then force the US to do what China is doing and use science instead of whatever the fuck this is.

Ah well, I’ll have more to share next time. Until then, stay safe and sane.

Hunter S. Thompson once said, “Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming ‘Wow! What a ride!'” That’s exactly how I feel as I put the finishing touches on this draft of gen-O-pod(™) Wars.

What started as a silly toss-off to explain why all those pesky humans who used to live on this planet were dead, a dystopian MacGuffin if you will, took on a life of its own, unlike the humans it documents. The number of emails I have received over the years containing lines similar to, “There is still good in people, blah blah blah” makes the Iliad look like a post-it note.

Between reactions to it and its theoretical predecessor, The Plato Wars, people seemed to think I had a couple hundred thousand words hiding under my desk, and I was denying access to them because I am an old cruel meany, with a teeny weenie peeny, who has no use for my mortal coil other than to cause pain.

Both story lines, while referenced ominously in The Brittle Riders and Goptri of the Mists, were meant to be mysteries. You know, like D.B. Cooper and the Mary Celeste. But ya’ll kept paying my bills and wanting to know “WHY DID YOU KILL ALL THE NICE PEOPLE?”

Waves arm around. Duh!

The Plato Wars and gen-O-pod(™) Wars are, if looked at properly, a single story. A stupidly, and dangerously, long prequel. The former showcases how quickly a society can and will accept rule that is not remotely beneficial to the whole. See “History of Civilization” as Example “A”. The latter takes a hard, dark look at how humans have traditionally treated people it was able to classify as “lesser.” You know what? Just bookmark Example “A”.

So, your question becomes, “How hard and how dark are we talking?” Well, golly, Timmy, if I’m going to kill every man, woman, and child on the planet, that means I have to kill the nice ones, too. And, if I’m going to drill things home, that means I need some scenes that will make more sensitive readers whimper and shift uncomfortably.

What I got was a book that is perfectly fucking dark but too fucking long. Over 130,000 words. Once I got that out of my system, I started trimming. And compiling. And altering. And praying. And telling my beautiful bride (who is doing much better, thank you) I promised to come to bed eventually.

This version is wrapping up at a little over 100,000 words, about the same as each book in The Brittle Riders. Those would be 100,000 words typed by my loving fingertips that are so dark that the history of a female serial killer who likes removing men’s genitals and sewing them to their hearts is just an ambient backstory to everything else.

That dark.

All of this brings me to you. And only you. I am assembling a list of people who might wish to be beta readers. If you would like to be on that list, simply reply to this email with your preferred mode of document delivery. This particular document will be a PDF.

Should you risk your emotional stability by doing so, you will receive your copy within fourteen days of this email. Like all authors of Beta Reads, I am going to be a whiny bitch and … ahem …. ask for your review as soon as possible.

When the Sominids – towering, blue-skinned pansexual aliens with a taste for indulgence – visited Earth, they left behind new ideas, forbidden pleasures, and a desiccated moon. Generations later, after finally realizing the lack of FTL travel denies them the stars, humanity wrestles with its own decline and a legacy of lost ambition, one prodigy rises: Edward Q. Rohta. With genius and audacity, Rohta engineers the gen-O-pods(™), chimeric beings forged from human and animal DNA, designed to serve, entertain, and, perhaps, surpass their creators.

As Rohta’s creations spread across a world desperate for meaning, power, and escape, buried divisions erupt into new conflicts. From sybaritic power-brokers and Machiavellian lawyers to self-aware gen-O-pods(™) plotting a non-human future, the struggle for purpose, freedom, and identity explodes on a global stage. Wickedly satirical and wildly imaginative, gen-O-pod Wars(™) is a biting exploration of what it means to be human-or something more-in a world where evolution is for sale and destiny is just another commodity.

gen-O-pod(™) Wars
The sexiest, most violent Armageddon you’ll ever read

This book will complete all the parts of the 8-book trilogy;
The Plato Wars, gen-O-pod(™) Wars, The Brittle Riders, & Goptri of the Mists

Again, thanks for all the prayers. My wife and I appreciate every single one.

Looking forward to hearing from you.