Well, it’s been a long haul so far…and it isn’t over yet. BUT, I can tell you that WAR GAMES is on schedule for official release on Monday, 1 August. And the fully-edited Prologue is up at my site for your reading pleasure.
The main problem with telling you that it’ll be released on the first of August, however, is that it takes time for the uploads to propagate to various etailer sites, so I wouldn’t go looking for the book on the Monday, if I were you. Best to leave it a couple of days.
By now, stalwart reader, you would know the history of this novel. It’s been more than two years in the making. The book has gone through increases and decreases and now seems to be settled happily at almost the 90,000 word mark. I’ve taken out scenes and fleshed out others and I’m pleased with the result.
WAR GAMES is also important because it’s my first self-published title and the first release for my own micro-press, so I had to dot many more “i”s and cross many more “t”s to ensure that things fitted together well. But we’re not done. There are still other plans in the works, other books, other offers, other enhancements. I am the ultimate tinkerer.
For now, though, looking towards the end of the month, it all appears doable. And, for that, I’m very happy.
***
I don’t always do this. In fact, I can’t remember ever putting a section break in my blog posts, but I had to share something with you. I was taking The Wast through English and he had to pick the appropriate verb in order to satisfy subject-verb agreement. (That is, single subject, singular form of verb; multiple subjects, plural form of verb, that kind of thing.) I won’t go through the exercise with you but I do want to share the output. A case of English-pass but Society-fail, if you will.
Darren told Alan, “Walking is a good form of exercise. We have to exercise to stay healthy.”
“You have been telling me that for a long time,” replied Alan, who is used to other activities like playing football. “Jenny and Liza were out walking yesterday when they were robbed. It’s really not safe to walk on your own.”
Darren said, “They were foolish. They chose to walk at night. Plus, they were not paying attention to what was going on round them. And it’s not like they don’t know about safety measures. Whatever it is, everyone is responsible for his and her own safety. They should have been more careful.” *
Of course Malaysia can’t be described as libertarian-leaning by any stretch of the imagination. But I’m sure the average Malaysian knows just how, um, hard-working the local police are. They are paid for with public money but, as you can see from the above passage, they are absolutely NOT responsible for public safety.
I’m not sure what revolts me more about this passage:
(A) The fact that women’s safety is so easily glossed over
(B) The “blame the victim” mentality inherent in the piece
(C) The absolution of police from any kind of behaviour to protect the public
(D) The fact that two out of three authors of this Guide are women (see below)
(E) The inculcation of contempt for women being woven into education from a tender age
(F) The complete incomprehension of locals to the heinous nature of this drivel
(G) All of the above
With this in mind, I hope you have a better weekend than me and I’ll catch you next week.
* Taken from “Longman Essential English Form 2 Revision Guide” (2011) by Sheela Prabhakaran, Doreen Da Costa, K. N. Vasanthy
