Time – Karl and Adam’s Coffee Corner

The year is 2021, three years have passed. In the virtual drawing room of The Post, two gentlemen are toasting each other behind a pile of brand new books. Enveloping them is a flashing media wall in which anchor persons imprisoned in their separate cells mouth the news without disturbing  the music playing  ‘Eine kleine Nachtmusik’ .

“Cheers, my friend!” Adam smiles, “I told you we’ll get the books out in time!”

“Considering I once spent more than a decade on a book , 3 years is rather painless, so I’ll drink to that!“ Karl throws back his head to empty the scotch in one fast motion, and grabs the bottle to refill the crystal goblets looking anything but cheerful. “But my goodness, I’m glad we insisted on having these printed. Those e-book are like water molecules in a water reservoir, a few ‘zeros and ones’ in a binary ocean, or should I say, a twig in the layer of organic compost covering the roots of a rainforest in this virtual bookstore they so appropriately call Amazon. ”

“I find it delightful,” Adam shushed, “It’s great that it gives everyone a chance to publish their books. We just have to work harder to hack away the clutter and create a clearing so that the sun can shine on it.”

“It’s been too easy that’s what it is,“ Karl moaned, “There are certain things I want to brood on and go over with a magnifying  glass many times over. I think the festo should be between 350 pages and 3500 pages, not 35 pages”

“Life is short,” Adam shrugs, “Your first festo was 28 pages, wasn’t it?”

“Strictly speaking, we are immortals,” Karl frowns, “which makes it more depressing, because we have to spend eternity in the apocalyptic world that lurks at the horizon and is blowing this way at the speed of light. Now that I have time on my hand, I can afford to regurgitate every word and make sure it’s evenly baked on all sides.”

“The way I look at it, as long as the gist is there the smaller details matter less.” Adam sighs and sips at his glass of sherry, “You may have an eternity, but the world’s fossil fuel is going to run out in 2057, humanity’s time is running out.”

“Don’t be silly, we have waited nearly two hundred years, what difference does it make?” Karl grunts and empties his third scotch and grabs the bottle once again.

”With all due respect,  presumably humans have walked the earth for 50,000 years already.” Adam says without noticing that Karl has topped his glass of sherry with scotch, and takes another sip, “From now to 2057, there’s still 26 years. If we  assume the time of human species on earth equals  the 24 hours of a single day and expires at midnight, it would be now be 62.2 seconds before mid-night.”

Karl stares at Adam who takes another sip of the concoction he swirls around in the near full glass, “The more I think about it, the less sense you make.” Karl says, “Anyway, they will wait for the great Karl.“

“Wannabe.”

“What?”

“Karl Marx Wannabe.” Adam leers through his glass confused by the multiple Karls, who have shrunken to the size of peanuts, “You may think you’re real. You may feel like you’re the real deal, but  we are nothing but regenerated fractions of knowledge, memories and electrons streaming back and forth the stratosphere, my man. “

“You must be too tired, having worked so hard for three years.“ Karl says, why propping a few cushions against the armrest of the Victorian sofa, “Why don’t you drink up, and lie down for a bit.”

Adam drinks up and shakes his head, but seems to lack the orientation to stay upright , “I must ask  Sam HIC… how he programmed us to become intoxicated HIC… “ He leans back and sinks into the cushions, “If that’s a physio.. HIC… logical state we.. HIC… as simulations cannot ex.. HIC… perience.” Adam has passed out before he could close his mouth.

”Finally!” Karl sighs, takes off his jacket and rolls up his sleeve, ”Let’s get to work.”

My First

Posting on someone’s website is a real honor. It is like cooking in someone else’s restaurant, or painting on someone’s canvas and I will bear in mind to drop the horsing I usually do when writing on my own website. Every website has its own perks, and I guess the readers of mine like the horsing which I alternate with giving away secret insights just to make sure they’ll put up with it.

I met Susanne for the first time when I was looking for an editor for my dystopian novel which has been three years in the making. A friend recommended me to look at her website, and I love it, not the least because she made everything sound easy. She has this aura of reliability and trustworthiness that was soothing. That was three months ago, and everything my guts told me about Susanne came true. My book ‘Presage’ is now finished and available at Amazon. Not only that, but she has invited me to for this guest post.

There is a story to this novel which I had to write and get off my chest. One day, a friend sent me J.G. Ballard’s book ‘Kingdom Come’ in a brown paper bag. To send an anti-consumerism novel to a retail space architect –which was my day job at the time– was very ‘him’. “Consume with Gusto,” he wrote. I did more than that. The effect of hedonism and materialism of a mindless consumption-led society was not new to me, but in the novel, Ballard turned it into a silent evil that lurked under the surface and consumed our souls reducing us to hypnotized animalistic creatures without identities who moved and acted violently in mobs. It changed my perspective on my job, but I also felt that Ballard’s message was not complete. It was like a locomotive: once rolling, more and more cars tagged on. I needed to bring order to my numerous thoughts about this subject or justify the reason I was part of the whole machinery and I started to write to free myself from the grip of circumstances. The paradox of the free market’s current growth model is that it’s depleting the earth’s resources, fouling up our air and waters and putting more money in the pocket of the 1% rather the people who need it and whose consumer power will keep the economy going. Come 2018, in the world I describe in ‘Presage’, things will have aggravated, tension would have run up higher as the apocalypse will loom larger causing severe reforms to be put in place like the scores and mindroids which will reignite our compassion and reinstate the civility that we once had before free market advocates told everyone ‘greed is good.’ The question is whether it is too late.

That was nearly four years ago. I am no longer working as a retail mall designer. Instead, I teach architectural design and write in my spare time. Self- Publishing is now so easy that Amazon is accused of driving the little publishers out of business, but the paradox is that the easier it is to learn, the more difficult it is master and stand-out for both amateurs and professionals. It’s like singing, all you have to do is open your mouth, but whether you have a happy audience is a different matter. And unlike blogging, which is inexpensive, publishing a book can be an expensive learning curve especially if you have the full range of things done professionally, the cover, the trailer, the marketing, the list goes on and on. There’s three ways to go about it, learn to do it all yourself is number one. Number two is to have lots of friends so you can exchange favors for each other and the third option would be to learn promote it so your sales can cover it all… I’m going for the last one as you may have noticed and Susanne is a god-send whose help I cannot do without. Thank you Susanne!

Click here to check out my website.

Operation Pebbles

A paradox has persisted for too long in this money-driven world for people to realize how odd it actually is that when time are bad and scarcity abounds, people will stop creating value for themselves and their families because labor is made pointless when there are no jobs and effort does not transform into money. It defies logic because when times are bad, shouldn’t one work harder because people need more value and value is still created without money if there is a demand for it?

‘Operation Pebbles’ is about channeling the energy and compassion of people and channeling it in collective pools from which the community can draw at times when needs are  high. Each time a pebble is thrown in a lake it causes a rippling effect, which  by itself is limited and will disappear. When joined with other pebbles, the  pattern expands, and when we synchronize our pebbles, amazing patterns just may  appear. This lake of Ripples can become a reality if enough people take action, large and small, and throw in their own pebbles. As pebbles are added to  separate puddles, ponds and lakes, the ripples will flow out to merge with  other patterns. If these patterns can then combine, they will in time reach  every person and envelop them in a perpetual pattern of compassion.

The premise of this little‘Manifesto of Compassion’ is that community targeted actions not only significantly improves the well-being of communities, but also benefit the economy as these actions make use of the spare resources, as well as alleviate the damage our economy is causing to the ecology. It postulates how altruism -till now regarded as a swear word by certain economists – can revamp our civility, our economy and damper its pendulum effect and help our ecology. This slim volume discusses the core issues succinctly, the theories, the plan, the  obstacles, the costs, the risks, the rewards and so forth.

To Read More…

To Buy Kindle Version … Paperback

Presage is a dystopian novel which delves into the mindboggling world and reality of the virtual: The year is 2018, governments have ridden themselves from the burden of welfare, which has become the responsibility of people. Sophie Chantal, an innocent yet resourceful graduate in journalism, is recruited by Hugh van Santen, the editor in chief of The Post, to feature in his biggest scoop yet conceived because of her brother-in-law Sam Sheppard, a virtuoso in computer simulation and game programmer.  Manipulated without knowing, Sophie convinces Sam to use his simulation skills for her first assignment which is a commemorative piece for the bicentennial birthday of one of the most notorious figure in history, one who had caused millions of deaths and many countries to fall in a downward spiral for decades and decades. Once this most antagonistic figure is  simulated successfully, he causes mayhem and instigates a near-riot with new  ideas to social-engineer society. The political hot potato threatens to bring  the paper down and they frantically search for ways to contain impending  disaster…

The premise of ‘Operation Pebbles’ sprang from the notions and concept of the world in 2018 which forms the backdrop of ‘Presage’, which may turn out not so dystopian after all, because of the resilience and defiance of the human spirit, which can rise once again.

To Buy Kindle version …

To Buy  Paperback

To Read More About The Word in 2018…  

A Skit on Lagarde – Karl and Adam’s Coffee Corner

Two men are lounging in the virtual drawing room of The Post. The year is 2018

“Isn’t that petty?!” Adam asks while looking in a silver plated pocket mirror which opens up like a locket.

“Who?  You or Christine?” Karl, a stocky old man with a bushy beard asks, “I don’t think she has felt pretty for a long time. The adjectives used on facebook are more bombastic than that, as a matter of fact.”

  “Why, I said petty, not pretty! Although she has the most adorable hairdo, I would ask her where she gets her wig done if I wasn’t so shy.”Adam smiles sweetly as he adjusts his wig, “What I mean to say is that the poor girl had to point out gaffes these countries are making one after another, it’s not her fault they failed. “

“I disagree, the bankers are screwing up once again, it’s almost like they are doing it deliberately like they have a stake in this collective failure” Karl says, “These bail-outs are convenient and big money for them you know. In lack of any real direction to give people, don’t you think this silver-fox should just shut up about it?”

Adam frowns, “Hell no, I don’t think so. I’m all for compassion, but her job is to clear up the mess; she can’t do that by tiptoeing around anybody who acts hurt, can she?”

“Well, for somebody whose positions imply that she probably never experienced any suffering full-stop- she has put both her feet in her mouth, ankle deep, once again.”  Karl rolled his fiery eyes, and looks at Adam suspiciously. “Why are you defending this Lagarde woman?”

Adam blushed and says, “I’m not. I just said I like her wig.”

“Short from shutting up, you shouldn’t take any sides;” Karl looks worried, “Sam is already getting enough comments.  We don’t want this whirlwind of indignation to blow thousands of hate-mails our way. What ends up on his plate, will be served on ours.”

“Lord almighty, don’t be silly now, my dear boy. We are cloned to be objective observers, to give our honest opinions no matter what will be served on whose plates, but trust me, nothing will be served on ours.”  Adam says confidently, “Your Manifesto of Compassion couldn’t have been better timed.”

“You really think so?” Karl asks, “Don’t you know that optimism is the first mistake of the intellect?”

 “Why are you so nervous?” Adam turns his entire body to face Karl, “This is so unlike you. Where did your oomph go, your bravado?”

 “Do you know what it’s like to carry the guilt of a gaffe like the one I made last time? My god, what a gaffe that was.”   Karl confesses, “The trauma of my last manifesto is lingering in my mind and I just can’t face another one…“

“Oh poor boy, don’t you worry now,” Adam closes the mirror and put his pale thin hand on Karl’s gigantic knee, “We fixed it and you are now going to prove that both you and I both had a point rather than being totally right.”

“Pardon me for being so long-winded and going over it again, but the notion of Compassion has been explored, for better or for worse.” Karl looks tortured as he pulls away slightly and crosses his legs, “Gandhi, Martin L.King, Ayn, and Milton all had their say about compassion and the world is divided by an abyss as far apart as heaven and hell. The most passionate advocates of compassion must have been Gandhi and Martin and famous as they were, you know how miserably Gandhi was towards the end of his life which he considered as a failure and how disillusioned King was about their ‘non-violent’ stance, don’t you? And they were both assassinated.”

Adam takes his monocle off, “We’re virtual immortals, young man. We have nothing to worry about, ” He declares, “And please note that compassion’s most passionate advocate is I, Adam Smith, who wrote ‘The Theory of Moral Sentiments.”

“Bottom line is that people are not as kind or good as most of us imagine us to be, I’m sorry to say.” Karl shakes his said, and peered over his bifocals, “I wish it wasn’t true, but most of us can be nasty sons of bitches, who will exploit everything around them for their own gain. That’s how I failed last time and I’m not too comfortable about this notion of ‘Compassionism’ you are talking about.”

 “People have been coaxed to be heartless in the name of Capitalism, even Christine,” Adam sighs, “And she mentioned me by name on her facebook page, but if any of them understood me, they would have tried to be more compassionate, but it’s fine, Karl. We’ll set it right with your new manifesto.“

    “What makes you think they will listen this time?” Karl broods while burying his huge head in his large hands.

 Adam shrugs, “Who else would stick out their necks apart from us, two old fools, or even talk to them nicely? I shouldn’t think that is, because only the two of us are this way inclined, do you?”

To Read More…