20240103 - Infinity Begins (Project Roadmap Update 2023 Q4)

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The end meets its start, \\ the snake consumes their own tail, \\ beginning again.

... Infinity Begins (Project Roadmap Update 2023 Q4) ... #HaikuPrajna

Read online https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2024/01/20240103-infinity-begins-project.html [Public Post]

...

Hello reader,

Happy 2024! Time for a relaxed New Years update.

APRILandALLEN’s site has been updated with the Samsara Edition of Escape Perennial City, with April’s latest album “Last Halloween” and her new colouring book, with our 12 Clays of Christmas (which will each get their own product pages), and with a video showing off our Niagara Falls trip on our 11th Anniversary; we thank you for reading and sending us art in the mail during our holiday events in 2023!

This year, instead of pledging a Goodreads goal, I want to instead measure how much I read and strive for the goal of reading as much as I can, with the hope of being more mindful of my achievements rather than what I might have accomplished; to that end I read 20 books in 2023, which can be viewed on my Goodreads profile! Right now, I am reading the final book of Plotinus's Enneads, Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Star Wars novels with Anakin or Vader (on Revenge of the Sith now) and the Space Odyssey series, along with Spider-man comics and the Bleach manga, having thrifted a handful of volumes.

Continue below for the HaikuPrajna Project Roadmap!

https://aprilandallen.square.site/haikuprajna

....

Thank you for reading,

Until next time!

Allen W. McLean

...

Read more from HaikuPrajna: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2023/08/20230813-haikuprajna-holes-book-review.html

...

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23 09 30 Project Roadmap https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2023/10/20230930-interconnected-form-project.html

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These poems will be collected in future editions of the HaikuPrajna Collection.

 

20230609 HaikuPrajna - Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm [Book Review] [UPDATED Pride Month + Local Author's Showcase]

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Drawn to leadership, \\ Power exists in vacuums \\ Like burning redwoods.

#HaikuPrajna - Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm [Book Review]

Read online [ https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/2023/06/20230609-haikuprajna-dawn-of-planet-of.html ]

...

Hello readers,

Before getting to the review...

Happy Pride Month! April and I have been attending events here in Brampton and the Greater Toronto Area, celebrating the parts of our identities that we love to express through our work. The Overseer, a prominent character in my more recent works, is a non-binary superhero that I am writing about in order to cope with and express this perspective that I and others I know experience.

Also, the Brampton Library’s 2023-2024 Local Authors Showcase is taking place at the Gage Park Farmers Market on Saturday June 17th between 8am and 1pm!!

My story “Together in Forever'' is being added to the Brampton Library catalogue, and readers have the opportunity to connect with authors while browsing the other vendors during one of the weekends of Brampton’s annual Farmers Market. 

Come visit our table to get the paperback books, homemade stickers, self-printed art and polymer clay charms we will be selling--they make great presents for the readers you know and love! [I intend to update this post with our menu before the event]

Huge thank you to Julia and the rest of the Brampton Library faculty for all the assistance and for giving local authors this opportunity to connect with others!

Read more - https://www.bramptonlibrary.ca/index.php/uncategorised/465-local-authors-showcase-2023-24

[UPDATE #2 230618

Here are some images from our Local Author Showcase table! 

Thank you everyone for coming out! We met new friends and saw familiar faces during a warm summer morning and afternoon. Was a real great day, made even better because later that evening we got to spend an early Father's Day watching The Super Mario Bros. Movie with my dad while eating dinner with my side of the family.

I will add these to the upcoming Roadmap update, too.

Thank you for reading and for getting something from the sales after the photos!

]

[ UPDATED 20230616

For those who are unable to join us at the Farmer's Market for the Local Author's Showcase, there is a week-long Kindle eBook sale and promo on some of the stories that can be found at Brampton Library.

BATTLE Colosseum Pt. I: Hiding One's Tracks 

... [FREE until 2023 06 20] https://a.co/d/iRU1o0q

FREE WEDNESDAYS in addition to the usual Mondays and Fridays. Also added "Ado the Owl" and "Hector Blake" to the Mondays and Fridays.

... https://www.amazon.com/stores/Allen-W.-McLean/author/B0867C5D24

... https://books2read.com/u/bP7O6l

... https://books2read.com/u/4jqXzX

The below sales apply to US/UK stores only;

BATTLE Colosseum Pt. II: Unified Field Theory

... [$0.99 until 2023 06 23] https://a.co/d/iBWGlRI

Together in Forever Pt. I-III

... [$0.99 until 2023 06 23] https://a.co/d/b0aK3fD

Fishing for Caribou

... [$1.99 until 2023 06 23] https://a.co/d/9LvqB82

Escape Perennial City

... [$1.99 until 2023 06 23] https://a.co/d/6Dke00c

Thank you again for reading and for visiting our shop!]

Now for the review...

I have always enjoyed reading adaptations from Titan Publishing, and Greg Keyes’ Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm was a great tie-in novel that I am thankful for over how it captures Caesar and this version of the franchise. 

Keyes blended relatable and tragic original characters, such as Malakai, with more recognizable members of the series, including Gary Oldman’s Dreyfus and all the other sasquatch-like evolved apes--like Koba and Maurice--who are more inexperienced and are still learning about their changing world.

Firestorm takes place in the San Francisco Bay redwood forests area from “Rise” before civilization fell by the time period of the sequel movie, “Dawn”. Its story is really carried by its connection to that series; the best parts of the book in itself were its multiple points of view, which seldom converged [in a good way], along with its depiction of Caesar’s colony’s thoughts, memories, motives and inner conflicts.

The rest of the book’s highlights come from the interactions between members of Caesar’s colony. Some favourites include Cornelia and Caesar’s relationship, him recognizing Koba overcoming his vengeance, the government’s coverup of the previous story’s events and insight into what the apes think about the humans and their technology [GPS trackers and TVs].

I had a few minor complaints, though.

The dialogue at times felt “cinematic”, for lack of a better word; there were some instances where I felt characterization was forced or edgy. I even found some spelling and grammar mistakes, which however did nothing to detract from the plot. As I said, the story is carried by its connection to the larger PotA series, and served to bridge the gaps between the movies by exploring aspects like the human Alpha-Omega extremists, and that is where Firestorm really works out. 

Back to the good, there is a little neoplatonic idealism [aka. philosophy] that threads the book together, where characters accept and transcend the negative aspects of their apocalyptic situations. While both human and simian characters were faced with certain death and the fear of each other, the focus is without a doubt on the colony with apes like Caesar and Koba being used to explore topics ranging from Plato’s Cave to more abstract ideas such as the ALZ drug opening a kind of empty space in the minds of the apes, which explained the apparent fatal regression in the human’s. 

Time to read the other novels based on this series.

Thank you for reading,

Until next time!

Allen W. McLean 

...

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BATTLE Colosseum, the latest chapter in the "FLUKE!" series, has been released as a paperback novella and as an ebook on Amazon Kindle Unlimited! Add to Goodreads and learn more [  https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/batt-le-colosseum.html ] 

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These poems will be collected in future editions of the HaikuPrajna Collection.

20210922 - Review: Fahrenheit 451

 

Rising from the ash,\ an idea immortalized.\ The burning of books.

#HAIKUPRAJNA - Review: Fahrenheit 451

"... Now, may I make you angry again?" "Go ahead." 

I have read Fahrenheit 451 many times, so I'm surprised at my lack of a review. The topic of burning books, for me, is synonymous with death and the transcendence of ideas; Beatty was always a step ahead of Montag because Beatty incorporated the things he burned into his system, where Montag was at first unable to do so, until he had burned Beatty into his mind. 

I'm numb, he thought. When did the numbness really begin in my face? In my body? 

Ray Bradbury's rigorous display of the literary tradition of ideas in and of themselves underlies his understanding of how we as a collective of people are handled. 

"There are too many of us, he thought. There are billions of us and that's too many. Nobody knows anyone. Strangers come and violate you. Strangers come and cut your heart out. Strangers come and take your blood. Good God, who were those men? I never saw them before in my life!"

Half of my ebook is highlighted. One of my favorites, and I have learned to enjoy it even more after subsequent reads and after reading more between each time.

The most important single thing we had to pound into ourselves was that we were not important, we mustn't be pedants; we were not to feel superior to anyone else in the world.

These Goodreads poems will be collected in a future edition of the HaikuPrajna Collection. More can be found on my Book Reviews page: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/goodreads-book-reviews.html

Add me as a friend on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19557396.Allen_W_McLean

"Escape Perennial City" eBook, paperback and hardcover are now available through Amazon and on Kindle apps and devices, read with Kindle Unlimited: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B099C5LJ6W

More bite-sized insights into this metaphysical superhero novel can be found in the link at the top of the page, including excerpts straight from the book: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/escape-perennial-city.html

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

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20210108 - Good Readers

  https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/goodreads-myyearinbooks.html

HaikuPrajna

Condense the wisdom/ of those who came before, for/ those who come after.

(Good readers)

Hello good readers,

We did it! We reviewed all of #MyYearInBooks for 2020, and every book review was condensed into a poem! If any of our readers has a Goodreads account, or if you enjoy reading and would like to keep track of books and reading goals, please add me on Goodreads, I would love to see some more familiar faces on the site. 

Book review blog posts: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/search/label/Goodreads%20Year%20In%20Review

#MyYearInBooks 2020: https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2020/83965332

My Goodreads profile: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19557396.Allen_W_McLean

April had brought Goodreads' annual hashtag to my attention, so we went through a HaikuPrajna Goodreads 2020 Year In Review! We had even been noticed by the authors we wrote on! This year, I may review my 2021 books as I finish them, so please stay tuned if you enjoyed these posts.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for partaking in this with me.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

20210107 - "How to Speak and Write Correctly"

HaikuPrajna

The fundamental/ tools, available to all,/ style of the masters.

("How to Speak and Write Correctly")

Hello goodreaders,

This is the final review for 2020's #MyYearInBooks, thanks for partaking in this with me, these poems will be part of a future HaikuPrajna Collection. Today's book is "How to Speak and Write Correctly" by Joseph Devlin. Writing is a solace which borders both religion and philosophy, so it always pays off reviewing the fundamentals, no matter how well-versed you may be. This book accompanies other "cliche" books on writing, like "The Elements of Style", which I wholeheartedly believe are indispensable tools for any writer.

Stay tuned for an update to cap off my 2020 Goodreads!

Previews of the upcoming "SM-SARA" HaikuPrajna Collection can be found here:  https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/sm-sara.html

While I pitch my first novel, "Perennial City", the full first chapter along with rough-chapter previews can be found here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/perennial-city.html

Poetry on, and the first draft of "Spear-thrower" can be read here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/spear-thrower.html

My Goodreads' 2020 #MyYearInBooks can be seen here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/goodreads-myyearinbooks.html

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

Please follow this blog via email by clicking the "Subscribe" button at the top of the page (or like us on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram) to see more of these bite-sized insights, AND so that you can read these projects as they are being produced!

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Books, art, music, poetry, prompts and a whole lot more from me and April (@electricarmchair)!

20210106 - "Ubik"

HaikuPrajna

As the half-life of/ the deceased, so the "real" world./ One-thing; miracles.

("Ubik")

Hello goodreaders,

The penultimate review from #MyYearInBooks 2020 is "Ubik" by Philip K. Dick. Philip experiments with the consequences of duality through the suspended half-life of his dying cast of characters in a setting that revolves around a non-physical world within a cold-storage system for people who have died, and their loved ones who live in the physical world and who visit the cold-pac to talk to the deceased. Those in the "half-life" experience their world as a reconstruction of the "real" world, however the half-lifers require the help of their "real" allies in order to overcome the force of entropy as it attempts to quantize the half-life world for its inhabitants. And while the real world helps the half-lifers, both come to understand that the "real" world is just as influenced by the half-life of cold-pac, as the half-life is by the "real" world. 

Previews of the upcoming "SM-SARA" HaikuPrajna Collection can be found here:  https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/sm-sara.html

While I pitch my first novel, "Perennial City", the full first chapter along with rough-chapter previews can be found here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/perennial-city.html

Poetry on, and the first draft of "Spear-thrower" can be read here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/spear-thrower.html

My Goodreads' 2020 #MyYearInBooks can be seen here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/goodreads-myyearinbooks.html

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

Please follow this blog via email by clicking the "Subscribe" button at the top of the page (or like us on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram) to see more of these bite-sized insights, AND so that you can read these projects as they are being produced!

Linktr.ee/HaikuPrajna

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Books, art, music, poetry, prompts and a whole lot more from me and April (@electricarmchair)!

20210105 - "The Old Man and the Sea"

 

HaikuPrajna

Harpoon to expire / the forces of nature, and / take home what you can.

("The Old Man and the Sea")

Hello goodreaders,

Details for the Next Big Novel Idea will be shared once we are done reviewing the last of 2020's Goodreads. After I fill you in on the latest of my WIPs, then we can go back to focusing on the "Spear-thrower" Collection (which I did remember to edit over the holidays). And all the while, we are aiming to release the "SM-SARA" Collection at the end of the month. Also might have something new in the works for regular Patron-exclusive content. Very exciting times ahead.

Today's #MyYearInBooks is "The Old Man and the Sea" by Ernest Hemingway. His fish story is an incredible conflict between the abilities of humanity and nature; what impressed on me most was his descriptions and symbolism of nature through the sea, the simple-minded fish and the toils of a human body, beside Santiago's internal conquering of the elements set against him, such as with his acceptance of "bad" luck for the sake of being lucky. The outer conflict of an old man with the sea masks an inner thought-contest between the laws of nature and every conscious-minded human being.

Previews of the upcoming "SM-SARA" HaikuPrajna Collection can be found here:  https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/sm-sara.html

While I pitch my first novel, "Perennial City", the full first chapter along with rough-chapter previews can be found here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/perennial-city.html

Poetry on, and the first draft of "Spear-thrower" can be read here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/spear-thrower.html

My Goodreads' 2020 #MyYearInBooks can be seen here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/goodreads-myyearinbooks.html

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

Please follow this blog via email by clicking the "Subscribe" button at the top of the page (or like us on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram) to see more of these bite-sized insights, AND so that you can read these projects as they are being produced!

Linktr.ee/HaikuPrajna

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Books, art, music, poetry, prompts and a whole lot more from me and April (@electricarmchair)!

20210104 - "The Yogavacara's Manual"

HaikuPrajna

Reining in rightness/ for mystic liberation./ A fruit of the goal.

("The Yogavacara's Manual")

Hello goodreaders,

Today's #Goodreads' #MyYearInBooks is "Manual of a Mystic - The Yogavacara's Manual". Look for F.L. Woodward's 1900s translation, not the original 1800s copy. I had read this with "Vimuttimagga" and "Visuddhimagga", two primary Buddhism treatises; I am thus having a hard time remembering why I had shelved this Manual, when I know the Visuddhimagga was a more considerable source. Maybe reading one had led to reading the other. No matter; I suppose the point to take away from my vexation is one should read as much as one can about these practices in order to develop one's own practice.

This book in specific shows meditation practices that were designed to make a budding yogavacara mindful of the basic elements of reality, so that the yogavacara can rein themselves into the rightness necessary for the mysticism of the era. The vimuttimagga details these meditation practices as well, and uses them (and more) to focus on the core teachings of the Buddha, which was centered on righting oneself for liberation's sake rather than for mysticism's.

Previews of the upcoming "SM-SARA" HaikuPrajna Collection can be found here:  https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/sm-sara.html

While I pitch my first novel, "Perennial City", the full first chapter along with rough-chapter previews can be found here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/perennial-city.html

Poetry on, and the first draft of "Spear-thrower" can be read here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/spear-thrower.html

My Goodreads' 2020 #MyYearInBooks can be seen here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/goodreads-myyearinbooks.html

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

Please follow this blog via email by clicking the "Subscribe" button at the top of the page (or like us on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram) to see more of these bite-sized insights, AND so that you can read these projects as they are being produced!

Linktr.ee/HaikuPrajna

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Books, art, music, poetry, prompts and a whole lot more from me and April (@electricarmchair)!

20210103 - "L'Etranger"

HaikuPrajna

Absurd man, doing/ absurd things, without motive./ A man without cause.

("L'Etranger")

Hello goodreaders,

Currently focusing on getting the Next Big Novel Idea to a point where I can share some stuff. Also been editing "Spear-thrower", which is where these HaikuPrajna poems are going to end up. 

Today's Goodreads #MyYearInBooks review is on Albert Camus's "The Stranger". The plot follows Meursault, a man whose mother has just passed, and who lives his life without meaning or cause due to his emotional disconnection with the outside world. The other characters take his demeanor of indifference as a sign of malintent, which ultimately leads to his execution, but Meursault comes to accept the absurd universe in a final fit of rage that causes him to realize the meaninglessness of human freedom and responsibility.

Previews of the upcoming "SM-SARA" HaikuPrajna Collection can be found here:  https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/sm-sara.html

While I pitch my first novel, "Perennial City", the full first chapter along with rough-chapter previews can be found here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/perennial-city.html

Poetry on, and the first draft of "Spear-thrower" can be read here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/spear-thrower.html

My Goodreads' 2020 #MyYearInBooks can be seen here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/goodreads-myyearinbooks.html

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

Please follow this blog via email by clicking the "Subscribe" button at the top of the page (or like us on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram) to see more of these bite-sized insights, AND so that you can read these projects as they are being produced!

Linktr.ee/HaikuPrajna

Linktr.ee/ElectricArmchair

Books, art, music, poetry, prompts and a whole lot more from me and April (@electricarmchair)!

20210102 WIP Update - "A Boy and His Dog"

 

HaikuPrajna

An uncertain world/ of strangers, one thing's for sure:/ "A boy loves his dog." ("A Boy and his Dog")

Hello good readers,

At the home stretch of #MyYearInBooks, have been organizing notes for my next novel so I can blog regular WIP updates for it when we run out of Goodreads to review. But we'll worry about that in a few days. 

Today's book is another favorite, "A Boy and His Dog" by Harlan Ellison. Do not let the title of the story dissuade you; this is a messed-up tale of the lives of a young boy and his telepathic dog who live in a post-apocalypse Wasteland. Sex, drugs, gore and classism; Ellison had inspired the original Fallout developers with this horribly great story. If you take anything from this novella, at least read the last section on Ellison's dog, Ahbhu, and why you should never send these family members to strangers.

Previews of the upcoming "SM-SARA" HaikuPrajna Collection can be found here:  https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/sm-sara.html

While I pitch my first novel, "Perennial City", the full first chapter along with rough-chapter previews can be found here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/perennial-city.html

Poetry on, and the first draft of "Spear-thrower" can be read here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/spear-thrower.html

My Goodreads' 2020 #MyYearInBooks can be seen here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/goodreads-myyearinbooks.html

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

Please follow this blog via email by clicking the "Subscribe" button at the top of the page (or like us on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram) to see more of these bite-sized insights, AND so that you can read these projects as they are being produced!

Linktr.ee/HaikuPrajna

Linktr.ee/ElectricArmchair

Books, art, music, poetry, prompts and a whole lot more from me and April (@electricarmchair)!

20201231 - "The War of the Worlds"

HaikuPrajna

Advanced invasion,/ the helpless masses. Ended/ with a pathogen.

("The War of the Worlds")

Happy New Year's Eve! What a year 2020 has been; all anyone can do is hope for a better 2021. 

I did Top Nine for Instagram in celebration, and I took a screenshot of my 2020 Goodreads grid. Through everything that has happened this year, books and family have been my grounding. 

We're on the final seven of #MyYearInBooks; going to be honest, don't feel quite right posting haiku today and tomorrow, and maybe even for the rest of these Goodreads books, but I cannot dissuade myself one way or the other, so I'm just going to keep on trucking through and chalk it up to 2020-fatigue. 

Today is on "The War of the Worlds" by H.G. Wells. I always enjoyed the idea of Mars being a grim prediction of the Earth's future, and Wells' story captures this greatly. The Martians had evolved to require their machines due to their increased intelligence, but decreased physicality. The greatest part of the story, something which was retained by the Tom Cruise Hollywood adaptation, was the Martian's susceptibility to pathogens.

Imagine if they had decided to invade during covid-19!

My Goodreads' 2020 #MyYearInBooks can be seen here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/goodreads-myyearinbooks.html

Previews of the upcoming "SM-SARA" HaikuPrajna Collection can be found here:  https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/sm-sara.html

While I pitch my first novel, "Perennial City", the full first chapter along with rough-chapter previews can be found here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/perennial-city.html

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

Please follow this blog via email by clicking the "Subscribe" button at the top of the page (or like us on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram) to see more of these bite-sized insights, AND so that you can read these projects as they are being produced!

Linktr.ee/HaikuPrajna

Linktr.ee/ElectricArmchair

Books, art, music, poetry, prompts and a whole lot more from me and April (@electricarmchair)!

20201230 WIP Update - "Out of the Silent Planet"

 

HaikuPrajna

The other planets/ orbit the stars, while the Earth/ listens for its self. ("Out of the Silent Planet")

Hello goodreaders,

Been updating the page for "SM-SARA" a bit. Touched up the blurb, added a preview of the cover; we are very close to an announcement!

For today's #Goodreads #MyYearInBooks, we have "Out of the Silent Planet" by C.S. Lewis. I have yet to read the rest of the trilogy, but this book deals with Lewis's ideas of Christian cosmology. Living planets, ethereal beings and divergent-humans populate the stars, where Earth has been cast out from the interplanetary order by their creators. A very fun read, especially if you are a fan of Lewis's later fantasy works.

My Goodreads' 2020 #MyYearInBooks can be seen here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/goodreads-myyearinbooks.html

Previews of the upcoming "SM-SARA" HaikuPrajna Collection can be found here:  https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/sm-sara.html

While I pitch my first novel, "Perennial City", the full first chapter along with rough-chapter previews can be found here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/perennial-city.html

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

Please follow this blog via email by clicking the "Subscribe" button at the top of the page (or like us on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram) to see more of these bite-sized insights, AND so that you can read these projects as they are being produced!

Linktr.ee/HaikuPrajna

Linktr.ee/ElectricArmchair

Books, art, music, poetry, prompts and a whole lot more from me and April (@electricarmchair)!

20201229 WIP Update - "Simulacra and Simulation"

HaikuPrajna

The unreal is as/ real as our reality./ Trans-duality. ("Simulacra and Simulation")

Hello good readers!

We have uploaded a mock-up of the cover for "SM-SARA, Poems and Other Stories", our patrons have an express preview here:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/45561408

In addition to our WIP updates, we have been reviewing #MyYearInBooks with Goodreads; today's book is "Simulacra and Simulation" by Jean Baudrillard. Baudrillard conveys his idea of a transcended duality with complexity, yet with conciseness. The issues he presents through his philosophy, however, are a natural result of our being in such a cosmos and, despite the connotations given by the English language, are not so much a "bad thing" than it is something we can and should attempt (in good faith) to define. 

My Goodreads' 2020 #MyYearInBooks can be seen here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/goodreads-myyearinbooks.html

Previews of the upcoming "SM-SARA" HaikuPrajna Collection can be found here:  https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/sm-sara.html

While I pitch my first novel, "Perennial City", the full first chapter along with rough-chapter previews can be found here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/perennial-city.html

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

Please follow this blog via email by clicking the "Subscribe" button at the top of the page (or like us on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram) to see more of these bite-sized insights, AND so that you can read these projects as they are being produced!

Linktr.ee/HaikuPrajna

Linktr.ee/ElectricArmchair

Books, art, music, poetry, prompts and a whole lot more from me and April (@electricarmchair)!

 

20201228 WIP Update - "1984"

HaikuPrajna

Malleable past,/ control the present, future./ The Big Brotherhood. ("1984")

Happy holidays! 

Working the second draft of "Spear-thrower", so far I have been focused on the wisps.

Today's Goodreads #MyYearInBooks poem is on "1984" by George Orwell. Another annual reread; this time, I had wondered about the methods that the Party and the Brotherhood had employed to recruit members, and if one side was a recruitment process made by their rival. Whether it was Big Brother or Emmanuel who had absorbed the conflict to transform the other into a cog in their machine, or if the Party and the Brotherhood were the results of a global war-machine, I may need another reread to figure out. 

Perhaps, in that world's past, someone at Minitrue had fixed the names from an erroneous "Party of Emmanuel Goldstein" and "Brotherhood of Big Brother" to their now-correct associations? Just a (book) theory.

Screenshot: Spear-thrower Draft Two

My Goodreads' 2020 #MyYearInBooks can be seen here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/goodreads-myyearinbooks.html

Previews of the upcoming "SM-SARA" HaikuPrajna Collection can be found here:  https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/sm-sara.html

While I pitch my first novel, "Perennial City", the full first chapter along with rough-chapter previews can be found here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/perennial-city.html

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

Please follow this blog via email by clicking the "Subscribe" button at the top of the page (or like us on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram) to see more of these bite-sized insights, AND so that you can read these projects as they are being produced!

Linktr.ee/HaikuPrajna

Linktr.ee/ElectricArmchair

Books, art, music, poetry, prompts and a whole lot more from me and April (@electricarmchair)!

 

20201227 - "VALIS"

HaikuPrajna

Personal savior,/ unfinished exegesis,/ touch the wound to heal. ("VALIS")

Hope everyone is having a safe and happy holidays. We made and ate lots of dinner, and have lots of leftovers for soups and sandwiches for the rest of the year!

Made a bit of progress on "Spear-thrower" this week, as well as my next novel idea. Working on defining the wisps. I think I have them figured out. 

HaikuPrajna has been combing through #MyYearInBooks on #Goodreads, and today's book is "VALIS" by Philip K. Dick. The story is a fiction written to be a pseudo-documentary on Phil's religious experience in 1974, which the man had suffered through with sheer logic and determination. Horselover Fat's quest to find the Second Coming pieces together many religious beliefs and stories in order to synthesize a Hermetic tale of a single, continuously re-birthing savior. The epiphany is, unfortunately, lost on Fat and Phil, but the reader will learn how the savior is within us all.

Some of my favorite science fiction concepts, such as the Black Iron Prison, had originated with Phil, "VALIS" and "Radio Free Albemuth". Easily one of my biggest inspirations, and possibly my favorite author. 

Screenshot: Spear-thrower Draft Two

My Goodreads' 2020 #MyYearInBooks can be seen here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/goodreads-myyearinbooks.html

Previews of the upcoming "SM-SARA" HaikuPrajna Collection can be found here:  https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/sm-sara.html

While I pitch my first novel, "Perennial City", the full first chapter along with rough-chapter previews can be found here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/perennial-city.html

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

Please follow this blog via email by clicking the "Subscribe" button at the top of the page (or like us on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram) to see more of these bite-sized insights, AND so that you can read these projects as they are being produced!

Linktr.ee/HaikuPrajna

Linktr.ee/ElectricArmchair

Books, art, music, poetry, prompts and a whole lot more from me and April (@electricarmchair)!

 

20201225 - "A Christmas Carol"

 

HaikuPrajna

May the spirits spread/ joy, and we remember the / Christmas miracles.

#HAIKUPRAJNA - A Christmas Carol

Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

Every year around this season, I read "A Christmas Carol", by Charles Dickens. His ghost of an Idea has spread its grace, joy and merriment to our hearts every December.

Stay safe, thank you for reading,

Allen and April

20201223 - "Existentialism is a Humanism"

HaikuPrajna

Abandonment of/ deterministic excuse,/ responsible angst. ("Existentialism is a Humanism")

Have begun the second draft of "Spear-thrower"! As seen in the attached screenshot excerpt, the main focus of the changes in this draft is descriptions; few rewrites, and the next draft will focus on grammar and syntax.

HaikuPrajna is reviewing #MyYearInBooks on #Goodreads, with "Existentialism is a Humanism" by Jean-Paul Sartre. Readers get to experience Sartre confronting the criticism of his philosophy of thought, over how our being comes before our defining, on the angst we feel when confronting the responsibility of such a doctrine and the abandonment of deterministic excuses, which is a result of being a free existence. Jean-Paul Sartre was my first foray into the world of philosophy, long before I had read this work, and continues to influence my writing.

Screenshot: Spear-thrower draft

My Goodreads' 2020 #MyYearInBooks can be seen here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/goodreads-myyearinbooks.html

Previews of the upcoming "SM-SARA" HaikuPrajna Collection can be found here:  https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/sm-sara.html

While I pitch my first novel, "Perennial City", the full first chapter along with rough-chapter previews can be found here: https://haikuprajna.blogspot.com/p/perennial-city.html

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Allen W. McLean

Please follow this blog via email by clicking the "Subscribe" button at the top of the page (or like us on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram) to see more of these bite-sized insights, AND so that you can read my projects as they are being produced!

Linktr.ee/HaikuPrajna

Linktr.ee/ElectricArmchair

Books, art, music, poetry, prompts and a whole lot more from me and April (@electricarmchair)!