Hey! Are you holding on to any secrets?
I was for a long time.
The pain I felt when gifted with generous stability came at the cost of dark shadows in my mind.
Balance, if it can be called as such, swung and swayed from an abyss to an anchor. At that desk, I began writing letters to calm my most frantic thoughts.
Years later and after a motivational push from another season of Buildspace, those hidden secrets would become Lux Aeterna.
And that new book is now available on Amazon!
Working through such an emotional backlog was a more comforting process than I expected.
I believe connecting my nightmares to the world of Maneus allowed for a safe distance between my fears and myself.
Although it may not have been planned all along, I’m very happy with how well the final story fits into the grander narrative. I won’t repeat myself over and over, but I struggle to think of a better way to build a bridge between Rhean and Maneus.
Lux Aeterna is also the shortest book I’ve released to date. Staying true to the idea of an intermission and leaving just enough room for my letters — an organic way to offset the stranger format and odd content.
After all, I’m nothing if not painfully aware of how my writing can be seen as a little too far out there.
However, I think this will be the last book that stretches ideas quite so far.
And that makes sense because on a personal level, Lux Aeterna has been an act of therapeutic catharsis.
I truly hope finally letting go of these secrets opens up new doors and new opportunities.
Round Tables
I wanted the release to coincide with Demo Day, and while there was some learning to be done as far as scheduling and preorders on Amazon go, everything generally worked out alright.
The result was being able to point people to Lux Aeterna as I pitched the book at a series of virtual round tables.
There were more than a few high-tech projects leveraging the cutting edge of the latest trends, but my book was less out of place than you’d think. There were plenty of other artists and enthusiasts exploring their own creativity in interesting ways.
More than that though, everyone across all domains universally enjoyed learning about what others were working on during this six-week journey — whether it was me listening to someone talk about a newsletter about tires or an AI specialist smiling as I theatrically explained Lux Aeterna.
And it’s nice to see another one of my projects up on the official page once again.
You can watch the video I made for Demo Day and hopefully either the behind-the-scenes story or the pitch itself sparks more interest in Lux Aeterna.
There’s the slimmest of chances that I will win something from all of this, but after the last couple seasons, I have had the wind thoroughly knocked out of my sails.
It would be a nice surprise, but I don’t expect to be noticed among the fleet of more seaworthy vessels.
Words and Expressions
In case you missed it, my “writing contest” — Sidereal Times — came to a close last week as well.
I hope you enjoyed reading through the entries and seeing the judges’ commentary. As my first attempt at inviting more people to participate in my writing journey, I really wasn’t sure how it would go.
One aspect I didn’t anticipate, but also didn’t see as a huge issue, was receiving a request to make submissions anonymous. So, I decided to leave out identifying information everywhere, making it appear as a stylistic choice rather than a specific edit.
I don’t believe that takes away from what everyone was saying, but I could see how some may find it a bit depersonalized.
If Issue Two ever becomes a reality, I’ll definitely be clearer in my communication about how submissions and judges will be identified.
Otherwise, I’d really appreciate hearing your thoughts on the three “finalists.”
Did you enjoy their stories?
Did you feel anything from their battles?
Most of all, I hope Sidereal Times was more than just an annoying message in your inbox.
And I also hope I somehow convinced you to check out Lux Aeterna.
Until next time.
—JMB