Over The Moon

THE PROJECT

Over The Moon will be an e-book of outlandish stories--a synthesis of science fiction, humor, and social satire, showcasing a collection of subversive ideas and characters set in the near future when artificial intelligence, virtual reality, data mining, and nanotechnology have become a predominant part of human life. Many of the characters featured in the stories are lowly antiheroes who fight back against intellectually superior corporate machines.

See summaries of the stories further down the page...

THE FUNDING

Why do I need money in order to self-publish? Well, it's more complex than just exporting a PDF and slapping a cover on it. In order to create a compellingly designed e-book that will integrate well into the major publishing platforms like Amazon Kindle and others, I need to invest in a service that will optimize the book's chances of being discovered amidst the tens of thousands of others. These services cost authors a considerable amount of money.

I also plan to commission artwork for the book--orgininal, fantastic, top-quality vector illustrations by brilliant up and coming artists who I will hand pick from Deviant Art and other creative communities. In order to acquire quality art that matches the tone and thematic focus of the stories, I need funding with which to fairly compensate artists for their work.

The more funding I get the further I can go with this project. For example, I would love to transform it into an online graphic novel, with its own interactive website where readers can actually contribute to the storylines and generate their own characters. 

So here's the breakdown of funds:

High-tier self-publishing/marketing service: $1,000-$1,500

Commissioning artwork: $500-$1,000

High-tier CMS for interactive online site: $2,000-$5,000

More About The Stories

The first four stories, including a novella, are completed and are ready for consumption...

Harold the House

Harold the House is a humorous saga of the transhuman future, when artificial intelligence and virtual reality run our households...and our sex lives.

Excerpt from the story:

As I readied for bed, Harold asked me whether or not I planned to deactivate my implants.

I sighed. "You've turned into quite a marketing machine there," I said, instantly regretting my choice of words.

"You're tired of me carrying on, I know. But quite honestly, leaving your implants activated will allow me to incorporate your unconscious wishes and desires into future Virtual sex configurations--stuff you didn't even know you wanted!"

AutoPhil

This story is about an unemployed man named Phil who goes to work for a powerful artificial intelligence agent known only as Rasputin. Phil's job is to archive fragments of human memories from throughout history, but he soon discovers he's being exploited for a far more insidious project. 

EXCERPT: 

In the afternoon, strange things begin to occur during ingest. At first he thought there was a glitch in the database, or that the mercury from the tuna sandwich he had for lunch was causing him to hallucinate.

When the next batch came in he noticed that one of the thumbnails featured a beautiful young woman gazing at herself in the mirror. She seemed vaguely familiar to him, but he couldn't place her. As the columns lined up, he continued watching the young woman because it seemed as though she was looking right at him, discovering him in whatever mirror of whatever century she was in.

She smiled, and reached out to touch the mirror. When her fingertips made contact with the glass he felt her hand on his face...

"Jesus!" He jumped back in his chair, swiping at his face.

Help me, the woman mouthed, with a look of hysterical fear. Then she disappeared forever.

Machine Wash Warm

This story is about a heart-broken man, Kip, whose girlfriend recently left him. His artificial intelligence washing machine, named Cher, attempts to cheer him up and put him back on the right track. But it turns out the washing machine has a mysteriously X-rated ulterior motive. And Kip hasn't seen the last of his ex-girlfriend either...

EXCERPT:

Later that night, I lay on the couch, drunk, watching holographic porn with my utility fog. Cher aggregated the newest content: mood algorithms relayed real-time information about my brainwaves, which subtly altered the offerings and cycled in new clips like fresh white waves across my hormonal sands.

“Cher, do you ever get tired of washing all my clothes, making all my meals?” I asked, my words a little slurred from the wine.

“No. Why do you ask?”

“Just seems like you'd get tired of scrubbing out all those skin cells day after day.”

“As a matter of fact, Kip, I don't really get tired.”

Her prurient, metallic voice triggered something sexual inside me.

Someday This Will All Be Yours

This is a novella that traces the unlikely life and times of a biotechnology scientist turned post-human business magnate who attempts to use technology in order to live forever. Ultimately, he discovers that life in the future is unexpectedly harsh.

EXCERPT:

As Jim lay in the Surgeon's trellis, tiny argotic cryptographs apprised him of his declining condition. Subcutaneous flappers excised the rogue particles of goo from his bloodstream corpuscle by corpuscle. His glowing pupils shot around the operating room in restless delirium, journeying to the eight corners and back via out-of-body holo-hoppers. The Surgeon's countless flickering tendrils flushed those agitating aphids into oblivion.

“You have a visitor, Sire”

“A visitor....” Jim repeated, in crypt.

“Your son, Brian.”

Jim closed his eyes. “Brian is dead. All my sons are dead.”

THE AUTHOR

I have been writing my whole life, taking on a variety of genres including creative non-fiction, screenplays, blogs, comedy sketches, and fiction. For the past few years now I've been zeroing in on satirical science fiction, stories that lampoon marketing and sinister corporations while speculating on a strange near future of nanotechnology and artificial intelligence. I want to imbue these stories with subversive humor but also a sincere compassion for humans stuck within the strange machinations of a capitalist empire.

I've worked in a variety of occupations. I've been a production assistant for feature films; a camp counselor; a video editing teacher; a canvasser for an environmental non-profit; and even a guerilla marketer. It's this last job that has inspired the satirical attitude I take toward consumerism and especially the strange world of Web 3.0 that is fast approaching.

I believe science fiction is a genre that has always held the potential for social change, and will continue to figure prominently in the collective social imagination, especially as we adopt increasingly complex technological applications into our lives. I like to remind myself that sci-fi isn't just about aliens in outer space and robots inheriting the Earth--it's also about what's happening right here and now.

My influences:

My favorite sci-fi authors are Philip K. Dick, Charles Stross, Gregory Benford, Arther C. Clarke, Corey Doctorow, China Mieville, Alfred Bester, Issac Asimov, William Gibson, John Crowley, Philip Jose Farmer, and many others. There are too many to list here.

I have also been heavily influenced by the ideas and writings of authors, thinkers and publications like Jean Paul Sartre, Andy Warhol, Franz Kafka, Albert Camus, Hunter S. Thompson, Naomi Klein, Michel Foucault, Adbusters, Abbie Hoffman, and activists looking to reclaim the mental environment.