Monday, January 8, 2024

The Nod/Wells Timelines - A Retrospective

Having completed the seven books that comprise my original vision for the Nod/Wells Timelines literary universe, I thought now would be a good time to take a step back and talk a bit about each volume in the context of the overall "series." Of course, the books don't really follow the form of a traditional series, with their non-linear presentation of various story elements and their multidimensional settings and crossovers; however, with the seven "core" books available, it's much easier to look at the effort as a whole, and how the individual pieces contribute to and support it.

For the purposes of this retrospective, I'm going to number the books to match their order of publication but as I've said many times in the past, my intent was always that they should be able to stand alone (telling their own unique, self-contained stories,) or be consumed in any order a reader might prefer to give them an individualized reading experience. That said, the following is the order they were written in and could therefore be considered an "ideal" way to consume them.

Book 1 - The Big Men

This "paranormal thriller" tells the story of a young man who has a fascination with men of power, authority figures with a distinct and distinguished appearance whom he believes to be leading idyllic and covetous lives that he both admires and envies. Through a unique and unusual series of events, the young man comes to find that he has the ability to literally drain the life and "power" from such men and use it to his own advantage, but not without a cost. What becomes of him and the "big men" he encounters? You'll have to read the book to find out. "The Big Men" begins the "Wells" branch of The Timelines with the introduction of Alan Wells and, as the name implies, features the introduction of several prominent characters such as Albert Cox and Robert Cross.

Book 2 - 309

A classic science fiction first-contact narrative with several unique twists, "309" tells the story of Lisa Hudson, a young journalism student who finds herself unexpectedly transformed when she becomes one of a scant few survivors of a sudden and brutal alien invasion that proves to be much more than meets the eye. This book begins the "Nod" branch of The Timelines with the introduction of Alex Nod.

Book 3 - Shards

This collection of short, related works has a strong horror bent, with several of the stories veering into some fairly dark territory in terms of subjects and outcomes; however, it also maintains the sci-fi, paranormal, and fantastical elements established in the first two books and references or builds off of elements from them, even as it sets up various plot points that pay off in later books. Noteworthy new and recurring characters that make appearances in "Shards" include Roy Carter, Alan Wells, Robert Cross, Ortin Fleck, Walter Briggs, and most-importantly, Franklin Nod, with "The Field Journal of Dr. Franklin Nod" serving as the initial point of deviation between the "Nod" and "Wells" timelines.

Book 4 - The Nemesis Effect

Set in the near future, this somewhat-traditional science fiction tale puts the Nod/Wells Timelines spin on the classic "save the world" narrative and establishes the groundwork for my vision of what humanity's future might look like if the events depicted in the other six "core" books were to play out as written. Noteworthy characters include Tom Hallett, Jacob Westbrook, Muriel Westbrook, Sophia Fields, and the introduction of Albert Nodwell.

Book 5 - Big Man Down

A continuation of "The Big Men," this "paranormal thriller" continues the story of Alan Wells in the "Wells" timeline and heavily references characters and events from "The Big Men" and "Shards" while still telling its own unique standalone story.

Book 6 - 500

A continuation of "309," this science fiction "adventure" brings together many of the characters and events from the other six "core" books to extend the "Nod" timeline in some exciting ways that I wouldn't dare spoil. Needless to say, fans of the other books will find a lot to like in "500" but, as with the releases that preceded it, it has been specifically crafted to also work as a standalone.

Book 7 - The Spiral and The Threads

Without question, this collection of shorter, related works, which could certainly be seen as a continuation of "Shards," is my most-challenging release to date in terms of what it asks of its readers. With a strong emphasis on horror, heavy and thought-provoking themes, and its copious references to characters and events from the other six "core" books, it's perhaps the worst-possible starting point for certain types of readers despite being constructed as a standalone experience like its predecessors. As I mentioned in this previous post, while "The Spiral and The Threads" does represent "an" end to The Timelines, it almost certainly won't be "the" end of them as I have many more stories I'd like to tell in the universe I've established.

Well, there you have it, straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak. As you might imagine, it's been an absolutely wild ride getting to this point and I don't know if I could ever adequately describe what it feels like to have finally reached it after nearly seven years of painstaking effort. Obviously, I'm very proud of "The Nod/Wells Timelines" and what I believe it represents, a modern, unique, and compelling speculative fiction reading experience built to stand the test of time. Of course, it's up to all of you to decide if that's actually the case but for what it's worth, I gave it my best shot and I like my odds.

Until next time, happy reading, everybody!

Visit my Amazon Author Page


Wednesday, November 8, 2023

"The Spiral and The Threads," and The Future of The Nod/Wells Timelines

When I first started publishing books back in 2017, I had a vision for what I hoped to create: a speculative-fiction literary universe that could stand toe to toe with any other such entity in terms of scope, novelty, and execution. For the first few years of that effort, I admittedly had my doubts as to whether or not I'd be able to pull such a thing off for a variety of reasons.

Now, as I prepare to publish my seventh book set in what's come to be known as "The Nod/Wells Timelines," I find myself a bit stunned that such a thing has actually occurred. There were so many times over the past seven years when things could have fallen apart or otherwise gone awry where this project was concerned, so the fact that it has become what it's become in spite of all that is nothing short of amazing to me.

Thus, "The Spiral and The Threads" represents a very special milestone for me as an author. It is, in many ways, the "conclusion" of "The Nod/Wells Timelines" as I originally conceived them, intended to bring a sense of completion and closure to fans of the previously-released books, while also fully opening the door to the multiverse of possibilities that's been only partially explored in those volumes.


Endings are always difficult. As a reader, I am often unsatisfied by them, simply because it's very rare that I'm unable to imagine a compelling way that the story being ended could continue. That said, I do appreciate a good "break or rest point" in a narrative, a moment where the biggest questions posed by a work are answered, or at least addressed in some fashion, and where the "loose ends" that have been swirling in my mind throughout the reading experience are (for the most part) tied up.

That, in a nutshell, is what I've attempted to do with "The Spiral and The Threads." It will be up to all of you to decide how successful I've been in that regard but for the record, this was my intent.

Of course, being a creative person by nature, I have many ideas about how the universe I've established in my first seven books can and should expand beyond those initial boundaries, and have in fact already begun work on an all-new short story collection, which will do just that, to be released "soon."

Beyond the aforementioned collection, I am also in the early stages of planning out a new series of three books that will extend at least one of The Timelines past its current endpoint, so there will certainly be things for fans of my worlds and their inhabitants to look forward to.

I mention all of this mostly to assure you all that, while "The Spiral and The Threads" may prove to be the last major release of its kind from me for a while, it is certainly not "the" end of "The Nod/Wells Timelines," but merely "an" end that I hope you'll all enjoy.

Until next time, happy reading, everybody!

Pre-Order "The Spiral and The Threads" via Amazon

Also, be sure to check out this episode of "The Post Mortem Report" for more about "The Spiral and The Threads," and lots of other cool things you might enjoy!


Sunday, July 16, 2023

My Thoughts on Meta's Threads

Long before I became an author, I was a software engineer for many years. Technically, I still am a software engineer as I often write bits of code here and there to solve or assist with various problems that crop up throughout my efforts as a publisher. It's for that reason that I tend to enjoy analyzing new technologies and their impacts on existing markets and facets of the tech world, and the world at large. You might say that sort of thing is baked into me at this point.

Still, I've always been reluctant to jump in and pontificate about such developments without taking some time to properly assess the tech and the ways it's being used as I don't believe there's much value in rushing to judgment if one's goal isn't simply to "get some clicks."

Thus, I've taken my time with Meta's new social media platform, "Threads." I've studied it and used it fairly extensively over the past week or so since its launch and I've come to some conclusions that I feel reasonably comfortable sharing.

So, without further ado, here are my thoughts on Threads:

For me, there are three key factors that differentiate Threads from the myriad of other social media options available, particularly when compared with its most-obvious rival, Twitter.

1 - the absence of hashtags, direct messages, and keyword searches

At its core, Threads is a platform that purports to be about "conversations," specifically public conversations, and nowhere is that ethos more strikingly represented than in the things (I believe) it intentionally lacks when compared with its social media contemporaries.

Users can only "search" for other users, not keywords, phrases, or topics. They therefore have to find people who create new Threads (posts) about things they're interested in either by already being aware of them, or by seeing their Threads in the "home" feed as a result of them becoming popular enough to show up there. They also are only able to communicate with each other publicly, via likes, reposts, and comments. There are no private messages, which ensures that any Thread or comment a user makes can potentially be seen by anyone, even non-Threads users who might view the content anonymously via the app's bare-bones web interface.

What this means is that you won't see the typical wall of hashtags in a post you might find on other platforms, unless you happen upon something posted by someone relatively new to Threads, who's yet to realize that they don't actually work or serve any purpose in that context.

Users can be "mentioned" as they can on other social media apps via an @, but that's about the only such targeting convention that Threads allows, which again means that you as a user will largely end up seeing content from other users that you've specifically interacted with in some way (followed, liked, commented on, mentioned, etc.)

The end result of this key design decision is a platform that inherently feels more personal and intimate because it is. Sure, when you first start using Threads, your home feed will be inundated with "popular" posts from "popular" people and entities; however, the more you use the app and the more you interact with other users and their content, the less generic and more specific, and (for lack of a better term) curated, the experience becomes.

That said, it's early days for Threads and who knows what it will end up being like if and when advertising and biased algorithms become involved but for now, it has a very pure "old-school internet" vibe to it that I'd say represents the bulk of its appeal and its most stand-out quality in the current "tech culture" landscape.

2 - its emphasis on text over imagery

It may seem like a small thing but I believe the decision to position the text of a post over any media associated with it, versus how things are done on Instagram for example, where images and video are front and center and any captions are generally presented and consumed as an afterthought, if at all, strikes me as very intentional. Again, this seems to reenforce the notion of Threads being targeted at conversationalists, who value a well-written bit of prose over any sort of meme or eye candy.

I've even noted quite the pushback against several posts primarily containing video from many in the community who seem to feel such things have no place on Threads and "belong on Instagram."

Note: For those unaware, Threads and Instagram use the same login credentials and to a large extent, Threads is being pitched by Meta as the text-centric, conversational extension of Instagram despite being its own separate app with its own unique endpoints (web site, mobile apps, etc.)

On a related note, I also find it interesting that the Threads app generally discourages an abundance of media in posts. Users can present external links, an image or group of images, or even a video but only one of them will render in the post, and always at the bottom, after all text and before the engagement buttons (like, share, comment, etc.)

Again, I think this is very intentional and speaks to the overarching goal of the app being to create a place more about text-based conversations than anything else, despite other mediums being allowed, ostensibly to support or enhance those conversations.  

3 - the stripped-down, minimalist UI/UX

A lot of people have been floating the idea that the current Threads user experience is only as "simple and clean" as it is because "missing" features haven't been finished and added yet but I seriously doubt that's the case. With the money and resources Meta has at its disposal, I imagine there's very little they wanted in the app, which, let's face it, isn't anything all that impressive from a technical standpoint beyond its need to scale to accommodate tens or hundreds of millions of concurrent users, that isn't already there.

Sure, they no doubt have a roadmap, and there will almost certainly be changes and additions to Threads throughout its lifespan, but I suspect it's already far closer to "finished" than many seem to think.

If so, I consider that a good thing. My experience using the app thus far has been surprisingly positive and I don't have any trouble seeing why people have been flocking to it. Is it a silver bullet "Twitter killer?" Maybe, but I'd argue that most of Twitter's biggest wounds, particularly over the past year or so, have been largely self-inflicted.

One thing's for sure, though. Threads is definitely "unique" in the current social media landscape. When I look at it compared to other micro-blog "Twitter competitors" like Mastodon and Bluesky, I see a lot that differentiates it beyond a core philosophy (Mastodon's fediverse) or exclusivity (the only thing Bluesky really seems to have going or it at the moment in my opinion.)

It will definitely be interesting to see how this all plays out in the coming weeks, months, and years but those are my thoughts at the moment.

If you're on Threads, or interested in checking it out, be sure to visit my profile and consider giving me a follow there. As always, you can find all my social media links here, or via my Linktree.

As a little bonus, here's my current "wish list" for Threads:

  • an "edit" button (This could be character and/or time limited but it would be nice to have some option rather than having to delete-repost just to fix a simple typo.)
  • a limit on the number of new Threads users can create in a given time period (I think 1 per-day or 3-5 per week would greatly increase the quality of Threads being created and encourage users to interact more with the Threads others have started, rather than just churning out a slew of their own.)
  • a dark mode toggle for the mobile app (Oddly, such a toggle is already available via the Threads logo in the web app but I've yet to locate an equivalent function in the iOS version.) 
  • a proper desktop app
  • a proper (fully functional) web app (as opposed to the current "view-only" offering)

Until next time, happy reading, everybody!


Sunday, April 2, 2023

"500" and its Place in The Nod/Wells Timelines

As many of you already know, my new novel "500" will be released very soon, with the paperback and hardcover editions available on Tuesday, May 2nd, and the Kindle edition available on Friday, July 7th!

What you may not be aware of is where this new book sits along The Nod/Wells Timelines as my original post about them was (intentionally) a bit vague regarding that.

So, without further ado, I present an updated iteration of the timelines with a few little tweaks and enhancements.

As you can see, there is only one book left to "complete" the timelines as I originally conceived them, which will be announced and released in early 2024. That being said, I'll have more to share about some future works related to the timelines as part of that release.

For now, my focus is very much on "500" and the pivotal contribution it will be making to the overarching narrative, even as it retains the standalone nature customary of my previous works.

Until next time, happy reading!

500 (via Amazon)

Sunday, January 1, 2023

The Post Mortem Report

As an author, it can often be quite challenging, not only to make potential readers aware of one's works but to pique their interest in said works to the point where they feel compelled to acquire and read them. As you might suspect, nothing beats a ringing endorsement from a trusted third party, such as the following video, which recently featured one of my books, "The Nemesis Effect," in addition to several others you might find interesting.


Of course, such things, wonderful as they are, can rarely be predicted. Consequently, an avenue that established authors often pursue is the creation of a podcast. Those efforts have a lot of potential benefits, allowing authors to ideally connect with new and existing readers alike on a regular basis, providing them with a better sense of who the authors are as people while possibly becoming more interested in engaging with their works as a result.

It's for this reason that I recently started a podcast with fellow speculative-fiction author Ronald McGillvray called "The Post Mortem Report." In each episode, we talk about various social media posts and topics that we both find compelling, often featuring books, films, music, TV shows, and video games.


With five episodes under our belts and a sixth about to be released a few days after this post, I feel fairly confident suggesting that we've managed to create something pretty special with this show, which I believe has the potential to appeal to a wide range of people, regardless of their level of familiarity with our accomplishments as authors.

Thus, I present the following YouTube playlist, which features all the current episodes of the show from newest to oldest. Hopefully, you'll all enjoy watching them as much as we enjoyed creating them!



The Post Mortem Report - Official Site - YouTube

Monday, February 7, 2022

The Nod/Wells Timelines

I've talked quite a bit over the years about the ways that my books directly and indirectly relate to one another despite being self-contained stories specifically designed to be consumed in whatever order a reader might prefer but I've never really visualized that in a tangible way... until now.

Thus, I present the first publicly-available version of "The Nod/Wells Timelines," which not only illustrates the ways that my first five novel-length books correlate, but additionally offers some insights into how the next two releases I plan to announce in 2023 and 2024 will fit into that structure.


As my published works become more plentiful and widely read, I'm increasingly asked questions like "What order should I read these in?" and the fact is that there's no "correct" answer. In my mind, it would be just as valid to read everything in the order of its publication, or following the above timelines, or even reversing or randomizing them. Granted, that would undoubtedly provide a very different experience as readers would encounter characters, events, settings and other narrative elements in significantly-different ways that would almost-certainly alter their perceptions of them but I see those potential variations as part of the fun inherent in this project's unique construction.


Having said that, I will list the books below in their order of publication for anyone interested in contrasting that with the above timelines:

  • "The Big Men" (2017)
  • "309" (2018)
  • "Shards" (2020) - includes "Academic Displacement" (originally published in 2019) 
  • "The Nemesis Effect" (2021)
  • "Big Man Down" (2022)
  • TBA in 2023
  • TBA in 2024 - will include "Mr. Perkins Goes to Hell" (originally published in 2021)

Hopefully, everyone finds this information helpful, or at least interesting, but in any case, the thing I really want to emphasize is that (as far as I'm concerned) there is no right or wrong way to read these books in terms of sequence and readers should always feel free to come to their own conclusions about that. Of course, this being the internet, at least some folks will undoubtedly feel compelled to share their own thoughts about the subject, and various other aspects of the things I've created, but again, I feel that's part of the fun.

Until next time, happy reading, everybody!

Friday, January 21, 2022

Big Man Down

Today, I'm very pleased to share a few details about my latest novel, "Big Man Down," which will be available to order as a 6x9" paperback or hardcover on March 1st in anticipation of its Kindle edition release on March 18th, 2022.


"Big Man Down" is my fourth novel-length book since "The Big Men" back in 2017 and as with all my other published works, it ties directly into the overarching literary universe I've been creating while still standing alone as its own, unique and self-contained story.

That said, fans of "The Big Men" and my short-fiction anthology, "Shards," will no doubt be particularly interested in the events that unfold throughout "Big Man Down" and there are certainly a few elements in it that readers of "309" and "The Nemesis Effect" may find compelling as well.

Additional information can be found on the book's Amazon page and in this recent interview I did with "Feed My Reads." Please also note that the cover reveal for "Big Man Down" will be taking place at "Linda's Book Bag" on January 31st, 2022!

The past five years have been very exciting and fulfilling for me as I've worked to establish myself as an author. There's been no shortage of challenges along the way but I've always been, and continue to be, encouraged by the ever-growing support you as readers have shown for my works. As always, I remain extremely thankful and grateful for every bit of that support.

Until next time, happy reading, everyone!

Friday, November 19, 2021

The Nemesis Effect

As many of you already know, today marks the official release of my new sci-fi, action, adventure thriller, "The Nemesis Effect."



Of course, the paperback and hardcover editions of the book have been available for a few days now in an effort to give readers a chance to get their physical copies in hand in time for the launch of the Kindle edition but in my mind, today is its true birthday.

This also marks my first time publishing two major releases in the same year, with my novelette, "Mr. Perkins Goes to Hell," debuting via Kindle Vella back in July. That's unlikely to occur again as I'm really more of a "one book per-year" sort of writer but it was definitely fun and interesting to push myself a bit and participate in the launch of that new platform.

I've also been very honored and tickled by the reception "The Nemesis Effect" has gotten from early readers. It's always an amazing feeling to have a book praised by reviewers but it's particularly satisfying to see the hype and positive buzz those assessments have helped to generate for its release. As any author or publisher will tell you, there are few things more vital to a book's success than positive reviews and word of mouth surrounding its launch, so I find myself particularly grateful to have reached a point in this profession where such things are possible for my works.

With all that in mind, I'm very much looking forward to enjoying the holiday season and taking a bit of time to rest and recharge myself before diving back into the fray to promote and release my next novel in 2022.

Until next time, thank you all for the tremendous support you've shown my works as readers and I sincerely hope that you enjoy experiencing "The Nemesis Effect" as much as I enjoyed writing it.

"The Nemesis Effect" at Amazon