Excerpt from "Found Nothing"

As a mild, uncertain, somewhat-innocent tease of my upcoming e-book release, I've decided to show a small excerpt from the story.  I hope you enjoy it.

Please check back for updates on the upcoming releases.

Reaching for it beside his bed, he unscrewed the cap, and smelled the stink of the alcohol. He felt comforted, in a way. After a deep breath, he took a gulp. And then he took a second gulp quickly, thinking that he might lose his nerve. The booze was cheap and bad and lingered in his mouth. But he soon calmed down, and the burning passed.

Ron sat in his room and watched the reruns of the morning sports shows. He was feeling the alcohol, feeling numb. He couldn't remember the last time he ate. There was a cough building in his chest, but he fought it off. After that, he laid down in his bed. After a few minutes of blinking, he was feeling very tired. Several times, he caught himself falling asleep.

Huh? Anna didn’t call. Oh. With that, he let himself fall into sleep.

---

A blurb:

"Found Nothing is the first story in the compilation Found Nothing, Coming Home. Within it, we meet Ron Collins - a superior personage with inferior prospects.  As a young man struggling to come to terms with his failures, Ron looks to his on-again girlfriend, Anna, for support.  Through the story, each of them finds that they are unable to cope with their own inflated expectations, which causes Ron to descend deeper into a denied yet stubborn depression.  Both intense and revealing, Found Nothing explores the emerging problem of being young, educated, and unsuccessful."

"Found Nothing" to be Released ...Soon!

The first short story in the series Found Nothing, Coming Home is due to be released.  It will happen soon, but due to certain technical concerns, life events, etc., the exact date has not yet been finalized.  The story will be released on Amazon exclusively, for at least the first 90 days of its existence.  There will also be a period where the book will be available for free.  Details to follow!

A blurb:

Found Nothing is the first story in the compilation Found Nothing, Coming Home. Within it, we meet Ron Collins - a superior personage with inferior prospects.  As a young man struggling to come to terms with his failures, Ron looks to his on-again girlfriend, Anna, for support.  Through the story, each of them finds that they are unable to cope with their own inflated expectations, which causes Ron to descend deeper into a denied yet stubborn depression.  Both intense and revealing, Found Nothing explores the emerging problem of being young, educated, and unsuccessful.

End blurb.

Any and all updates will be here.  Come back soon, ya hear?

Books That Should be Read, part 1

First: 1984, by George Orwell

1984 has a unique and fascinating construction.  While tackling the fantastically ambitious topic of a distopian future world, it does it in a way that feels very easy to understand.  It is embraceable; it can be read in large chunks.  And when you get into it, it is very hard to deny said large chunks.

So read it, just for that.

But there is more to it.  I find myself all the time comparing certain things to 1984.  Everyday, I hear about increased oversight in this committe, on that group of companies, on this particular branch of government.  There seems to be more people verifying things than actually doing things.  And then, you have this whole Snowden [+Edward Snowden] debacle, and well, we can thereby infer that this isn't a temporary issue.

I had an argument with a friend of mine recently.  A friendly argument with a friend of mine.  As you may know, the government is building a huge data center somewhere out there.  In and amongst it, we argued as to why the government was collecting data.  His position was that there was nothing illegal about collecting the data, and that it could be useful somehow.  I argued that the point of collecting data is indeed to use it, somehow, but in some way that I have little or no control of.

Yet, there it goes.  Everyday, more oversight, less privacy.  And what makes me think of 1984 is the willingness that comes with the increased oversight.  People, by and large, are demanding increased oversight, control, etc.  What if these demands were consolidated into some program, say a PRISM, or Big Brother?  Aha!

So read it.