A Book Review That Teaches The Author Something About Typos . . .

The review is of Notes from An Alien and the reviewer is an inmate in Maryland, U. S. A. who’s been incarcerated for 32 years and is serving a life term.

Here is his review:

“It started a bit slow, but I found it completely worth reading. I thought the concept of a living sentient planet was a creative way to broaden one’s vision of what constitutes life.

“Reading Notes from An Alien is enhanced if the reader has at least a moderate conceptualization of Theology and Philosophy.

“The generational transitions are effective for conveying the elemental need for societal consistency. Well done!

“For those who read it in depth, it can be very thought provoking and, in my opinion, that is the primary purpose of the written word. I feel that if a writer fails to ignite creative thought, then the writer has essentially failed the reader.

“I look forward to a continuation in the series.

“Thank you for sharing your creativity, Peace should be everyone’s primary objective in life.”
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Apart from the education this review gave me about the intelligence of a prison lifer, I must say it’s the most welcome review I’ve gotten for my novel…

This gentleman then proceeded to give me the following information:

Editorial Notes:
page 26 , line 26, word eight should read “than” instead of that
page 60, line 20, word eight should read Their” not “They”
page 83, line 4 from bottom of page, I’ve waiting” should read “I’ve been waiting”
page 95, line 4, “relative” should read “relatively”

These typos were missed by the editor, a number of authors who read the book, and myself…

Yet, before receiving this bit of editorial help, 8 other typos had been identified—typos which this man didn’t see…

Yes, wonderfully weird proof that we often read a book with typos and never see them.

And, the typos we do see are often not the ones others see…

Fascinating………
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Free Book of Poetry – Let’s you receive a free copy of or purchase the book, Is Your Soul In Here? ~ A Poet’s Struggle With God.

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Friday posts about the spaces not obviously visited in Notes from An Alien—glimpses into the depths of the book—character disclosures, about people already in the novel and those yet to be mentioned—revelations of events that happened in the Worlds of Angi but weren’t rendered in the published edition…

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Global Peace ~ How Can It Happen?

I wrote a novel with the struggle toward Peace as the central theme.

I facilitate discussions, on Book Island in Second Life, called Global Peace Chats.

The book and the discussions find folks “fighting” over Peace…

Tomorrow is the International Day of Peace. On September 21st, 2012 there will be a Global Truce Day.

Back in August, I wrote a post called, Global Peace ~ Can It Happen? I didn’t ask “How?” in that post but I did mention:

“Saying global peace is impossible depends on folks believing that ‘human nature’ includes an ineradicable desire to be selfish and contentious. Some people feel that ‘human nature’ is such that, given half a chance, any human will ‘naturally’ use violence to attain their ends.”

Do you believe that?

If yes, I’d ask you to go read that post (and, watch the impassioned video it contains); also, perhaps, grab a free copy of my novel…

One more thing you can do. Yesterday saw the beginning of the Social Good Summit, which will continue through the 22nd. Here’s their blurb:

“Mashable, 92nd Street Y, and the United Nations Foundation present the second annual Social Good Summit. Held during UN week, the Summit is where big ideas meet new media to create innovative solutions.

“The Summit unites a dynamic community of global leaders to discuss a big idea: the power of innovative thinking and technology to solve our greatest challenges. It ignites conversations between a live audience in New York City and thousands around the world participating via Livestream. Each day, we will have sessions running from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. [Eastern Time, USA]”

Enjoy :-)

Oh!  There are also Special Documents and Web Resources available.
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Global Peace ~ Can It Happen?

There’s an insidious idea afoot that global peace is impossible. This post will point you toward resources that uphold its possibility and, perhaps, its inevitability.

Saying global peace is impossible depends on folks believing that “human nature” includes an ineradicable desire to be selfish and contentious. Some people feel that “human nature” is such that, given half a chance, any human will “naturally” use violence to attain their ends.

I leave it to you to decide what human nature is; but, what I must propose, what I’m incapable of holding back, is my belief that human nature contains the possibility to be as barbaric as an animal as well as  to be as divine as an angel.

It’s education and the human will that are critical in deciding which direction any human takes their potential.

My book, Notes from An Alien, tells the story of a civilization composed of both types of people; they just happen to live 12 light-years from Earth.

Readers and reviewers have agreed that my fictional tale has strong parallels to our experience on Earth and I urge you to read the book (free through the link in the left side-bar).

There are also Special Documents and Web Resources concerning global peace available.

I also need to call your attention to one particular site:

Global Truce 2012

And, I, with all my heart and mind, hope you will watch this video:

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Can A Rant Be Beautiful?

The beginning of a comment I left on a blog post: “I feel your angst because I’ve felt that angst; and, even though I finally have answers, my angst has merely turned into bleeding grief for our Human Family.” The post, Wasteful, is a beautiful rant about modern incompetence and poverty. It reminded me of my novel, Notes from An Alien, which was written out of that bleeding grief and might help a few folks find ways of coping with the rampant insanity choking our world.

Cheryl Ives wrote the post and, after what I consider a beautiful rant about how modern incompetence is dangerously expensive, she lays out these four points:

1) Poverty is too expensive. It’s dragging us down and must not be permitted to grow or remain at the same rate
2) Poverty is so expensive because we grossly mismanage our resources
3) In the long run, it’s cheaper to do the right thing
4) Society is currently too immature to focus on the long run with any sustained momentum

While all four points are beautiful to me, I want to focus on what Cheryl says Society is too immature to focus on.

The Long Run…

Notes from An Alien attempts to instill a sense of the Long Run by following eight generations of a family involved in helping their Worlds rise from war, greed, and poverty to enduring peace.

The Long Run on Earth has involved Humanity in the gargantuan effort of unifying itself at successive levels of complexity–family, tribe, city state, nation, and, now, the whole globe.

Notes from An Alien shows a civilization from another star system learning from their Long Run. Humanity is on the verge of a consummate transformation that will bring its Long Run into focus and, finally, bring Peace and Tranquility to our Global Family.

Cheryl also says: “At the core is my heartfelt belief that humans could … have the capacity to ensure that every life on the planet has shelter, food, water, clean air, some measure of security, and the ability to implement hygiene. It’s not an adequate goal but still pie-in-the-sky enough to be going on with.

“That we haven’t already achieved this provides simply another example of how badly things are done.”

So, the ultimate beauty of this rant is that Cheryl is one of the people doing something to help humanity. In case you’re new to this blog, I also featured her in the post, An “Open Source” Novel ??, that talks about a very unifying literary project :-)
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