Martyn Stanley's Blog - Posts Tagged "atheism"

I was thinking about this last night, my content editor has finished going through 'The Verkreath Horror' I need a meeting to go through some minor edits. Then while he's working on book 1 I'm going to put Book 2 to a proof-reader to fine-tune the grammar and punctuation. Once books 1 and 2 are fully sorted, they are off to my literary agent and my intended illustrator (Daniel Johnson is the current likely candidate.) to have new covers designed.

Then when the new covers are done and the texts are really polished, I will release a full 2nd Edition of books 1 and 2. Finish up book 3, and this time put it through my content editor and proof-reader before passing it onto my illustrator for a cover and waiting for the new cover before I publish! Target date for book three 'The Temple of the Mad God' is being pushed back to about 15th December I think. The reason for this are down to personal reasons, why I haven't been able to spend as much time on it, the increased length over the first two books and the fact that I want to do things differently. I rushed books 1 and 2 out to gain some momentum, get some feedback and build awareness. I have those things, I get mixed criticism, but mostly very positive feedback. So I now really want 'Deathsworn Arc 3 : The Temple of the Mad God' to be great on it's first release and not need to publish as many revisions as the first two books. I expect to raise the price once all the three books are what I consider 'finished' but that's to be decided yet. If I can move to the traditional publishing model it might be that I don't have control over pricing any more.

I am sorry about the wait, but it will be worth it. 'Deathsworn Arc 3 : The Temple of the Mad God' is going to be best yet!

Martyn

I have to say, given the vastly increase in size of book 3 and the fact that I'm approaching a logical point to end a book. (Which is still miles away from the Temple of the Mad God) I am seriously looking at changing book 3 into 'The Blood Queen'

When will it be out? Early 2014 I think, and I think it will be longer than 1 and 2, but not double or triple the size as it would have been if I kept it as 'The Temple of the Mad God'

Mad God will follow, eventually... But for now, start looking forward to 'The Blood Queen'

The sequel definitive version is now very close. I'm just waiting for my proof-reader!

Isis Sousa has finished the cover, I just want to run it past another set of eyes or two before I okay it. (Personally I think it looks awesome!)

I don't know when it will go live - if you've read The Last Dragon Slayer and want to start The Verkreath Horror please, please wait! Wait for the version with a cover featuring Votrex and Brael!

I'm still working on book 3, 'The Blood Queen' a 90,000 words it's 50% bigger than the others and it's proving a monster to edit! I will get there, I'm working on it every day, but it's still probably a few weeks off. Book 4 I'm going to edit as I write I think, so I don't get stuck in this situation where I have a mountain of editing, proofing and amending to do.

I am really pleased with 'The Blood Queen' and can't wait to get it done, but I'm not going to release until I'm sure it's 'just right'.

I've finally uploaded the new 'improved' version of The Verkreath Horror

The new cover looks great, don't you think?



I'm really pleased with it. The annoying thing is, despite three people going over it with a fine toothcomb there are still tiny issues. I know there are three instances in the 'improved' version where I experienced some sort of Freudian slip and capitalized 'north' and 'south' when I didn't need to, which is irritating.

I think the rule is take more time when editing. Perfecting a grammatically flawed chapter must be far easier than perfecting a grammatically flawed book, and a paragraph - easier still!

I'm going to take more time over book 4, I'm going to pour over every paragraph and get it spot on before moving on. It'll take longer to write, but far less longer to polish.

My book 3 is now getting closer too. The trouble is I'm having disagreement with my beta-readers. They are concerned I may be issued with a Fatwa, ala 'Salman Rushdie' because one of my characters criticizes the absurdity of a Torean religion which resembles 'Islam'. They don't like the fact that the holy book of the Savti, currently called 'The Ko'Tar' sounsd too much like the 'The Quran '.

I reluctantly will probably have to make some changes. I want to explore criticism of religion, but I don't want to be offensive. I think I need to subtly strengthen the counter-argument as well, perhaps by pointing out the comfort people get by following rituals, religious or not.

I hate it, but getting book 3 sorted is going to be a long journey. I wanted it out early summer, but I think late summer is more realistic now.

I was a little saddened today after having received a fairly cutting review of both of my Deathsworn Arc books currently available.

A 'Michelle' reviewed book 1 here:-

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

And book 2 here:-

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Her review of book 1 reads as follows:-

"As conventional as fantasy gets but not unenjoyable. The tropes are familiar but not grating. There is a thing or two that is unique enough and the relationships feel surprisingly candid. Not sorry I spent the time to read it but won't be memorable."

I can't really complain about this. The points of interest in book 1 are:-

1. Brael's 'Truth'
2. Vashni and Korhan's interactions
3. The Heartstones

Yes, there's a bit of moral philosophy, some world-building and some explanation of magic and 'whispering'. I don't really see any of these things as strikingly unique but that wasn't my intention. I really wanted to establish the characters as a group of strangers thrown together, getting to know each other as the quest unfolds. I also wanted to establish the characters as having a pragmatic approach to life and morality - though from different angles.

I suppose, I could say this review is indicative of how I see 'The Deathsworn Arc' I see 'The Last Dragon Slayer' as the tip of the iceberg, just bobbing visibly above the water. The meat of the thing is still largely in my head and somewhat hidden. It's only really in books 2, 3 and 4 that you start to peer beneath the waves and see the shape of the thing.

This brings me to Michelle's review of book 2:-

"Misery. Layers and layers of misery. The team moves from one horror to another all the while losing their religion. I hated this book and am sorry to have spent the time to read it."

This is pretty cutting, I can't feel too bad about this though, because this is precisely what I was aiming for in book 2. It's a dark book, there's a great deal more danger and peril in 'The Verkreath Horror'. The loss of faith is important. It's made more poignant by the horrors the companions face in the warren. Despite the groups losses in book 1, they emerged triumphant and perhaps feeling a little invincible. They are not, they are all extraordinary warriors, but they are vulnerable. I needed to portray this in book 2, to increase the impact of 'The Truth' Michelle hated it, but it's a book which is supposed to be a rocky ride. I suppose I'm even trying to evoke some sympathy for the companions in the reader. They don't have a great time. Even at the end, the future looks grimmer than it would otherwise have, given the revelation of 'The Truth'.

I hate to say it but Michelle has understood the book fully and has captured the spirit of the book very well. It's powerful, it's a strong book - but it's not a fluffy fairies, happy land tale.

So where does the story go in book 3? Do things get better for the companions?

Maybe, maybe a bit. None of them easily comes to term with 'The Truth' they perhaps don't entirely believe it. When they eventually make it to Cormaroth, they have a new companion, who reinforces their belief in the 'The Truth'. The religious establishment in Cormaroth - the Isharian church will obviously NOT like 'The Truth' and will seek to suppress it. Korhan and Vashni's relationship will develop, Vashni's, Votrex's, and Saul's pasts will be explained more thoroughly. A theme which begins to come into play is the theme of religious oppression and the evil that men will do in the name of religion.

So how does this stand? Who is not going to like the series? If you are a devout, fundamentalist Christian or Jihadist, Extremist Muslim, or Scientologist or Hard-line Jew, you are not going to enjoy Deathsworn Arc. I am being honest here, I didn't write the books to offend you, but I didn't write them for your enjoyment. I write them for free-thinkers, skeptics, agnostics, people with an interest in theology as a phenomenon, rather than as a fact and a way of life.

Torea is NOT our world. Yes, the Isharian Church, the Savti, Orion, Avanti, Lucian the Deceiver and the dwarfish god Etheron have their parallels in our world. Yes the people of Torea would like to take their seat in Kirkfell after death, and fear Avanti and the spectres of the abyss. But Torea is Torea and Earth is Earth. I am interested in religion, but I'm atheist, I'm atheist through and through. If I was shown convincing, repeatable, observable and measurable evidence that there was a god, I might choose to believe. As a rational person I find the web of religions and gods throughout human history to be perplexing - how can any person decide their religion is the true one religion? And all the others are made up?

Why would a supreme being capable of creating reality itself, be really interested in how a bunch of hair-less, semi-aquatic apes on one tiny planet, in one tiny solar system, of one tiny galaxy in possibly a multitude of universes spend their time?

I can't rationalize it, anyway I look at it, creationism in any religion makes no sense at all. If you are creationist, I invite you give 'The Deathsworn Arc' a miss, because you won't enjoy it.

'Brael Truthseeker is the Richard Dawkins of Fantasy Fiction.'

This thought occurred to me yesterday. Richard Dawkins is very much a Brael Truthseeker of House Krazic. An odd thought you might think, and it wasn't intentional - but I think there are real parallels between the author and biologist and the fictional character.

Let me explain; I was introduced to Richard Dawkins through his book The God Delusion. I bought in at Manchester or Birmingham air port on a whim, whilst waiting in the departure lounge. I read it and really enjoyed it, I'd been questioning my vague beliefs and leaning towards atheism for a while. Reading the book felt like a pat on the back with a reassuring 'You're right' whispered in the ear by professor Dawkins. Well, maybe a shout in the ear - the book has some definite hatred and criticism of religions. It's filled with angst and vitriol for theism in general. The tone of the book really left me thinking, 'Wow! Dawkins really hates religion! I wonder where all that angst came from!?'

I think was an atheist before I read The God Delusion but it confirmed me I think. Science of the Discworld and other science books helped of course - the difference with The God Delusion was that it said, 'It's okay to be an atheist.' and it said, 'Don't give special privileges to religious beliefs. If they are ridiculous, treat them so - even if they are labeled 'religious'.

Having gained an interest in science and having confirmed my atheism. I decided to look into Dawkins earlier work. I was actually bought as a gift 'The Selfish Gene' one Christmas and read it cover to cover in a very short time. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, but it was not what I was expecting.

In The Selfish Gene there was literally no mention of atheism or anti-theism at all. Certainly not with any intent. It was more a succinct and carefully crafted argument that evolution and natural selection were being examined from the wrong perspective, and that we should treat genes as the entities vying for survival using creatures, or organism's as survival machines. I can see why it raised eyebrows upon it's release. I think it was a new way of thinking. Dawkin's examples of evolutionary stable states within a population were fascinating and they made a compelling argument for how morality could come about in the absence of religion. The examples of altruistic behavior in non-human species reinforced this.

The actual part of the book which I think caused offense was probably the section on the 'god meme'. It's a tiny part of the book, but one which theists might find offensive. I don't recall any intense hatred of religion written in it, but more a matter-of-fact discussion on how the 'god meme' evolved and propagated.

I actually think if theists has ignored The Selfish Gene and just not mentioned it, Dawkin's wouldn't have become the figurehead for atheism which he became. When you read The God Delusion it's filled by a large chunk with rebuttals for theists attacks on his earlier work. If they'd ignored The Selfish Gene then he wouldn't have had the ammunition to write The God Delusion! I don't know about The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design I haven't read it yet - it's on my to read list, but I suspect it only exists because theists threw their arms up at The Selfish Gene

I love that we can make fun of religion. It feels liberating to think that religious beliefs can be ridiculed. This is my favorite song mocking religion:-

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendly...

So Dawkins, was an accidental anti-theist in my view. I may be wrong, but I don't see a lot of anti-religion vitriol in The Selfish Gene.

The same is true of Brael Truthseeker. In The Last Dragon Slayer he's been left cursed unable to talk about 'The Truth'. He's really portrayed as a character who society turned on because he discovered something society didn't like.

In The Verkreath Horror his curse is partially removed, allowing him to explain why he was cursed. In the story, Brael was able to do something which in reality we can't really do - disprove the existence of god. In a world where people took the existence of a god and an afterlife for granted, this has massive ramifications and none of the characters truly want to accept it. Their attitudes to death, morality and sense of purpose change through this revelation. It's a dangerous truth.

In The Blood Queen Brael makes his way to civilization. The church obviously knows about his 'Truth' and the effects it had on gravian society - hence the desire to shut him up. They stand to lose a lot, if Brael can disprove the existence of god - their livelihood, their status, and more. There is a real fear, rallying soldiers to battle is easy when telling them a glorious death in battle guarantees them a place in paradise.

The effects of 'The Truth' are potentially huge. What would happen in our world - if we could prove without a shadow of any doubt, that there was no god, no allah, no vishnu, no zeus, no odin...

I think the world would go through a difficult time. In the 1980's you might have thought the influence of religion was diminishing, but as in Torea, when religion and faith is under attack - it fights back, so does religion in out world. As science answers more and more questions, leaving less room for god - religion fights back.

I think it's fighting for it's very existence at the moment, the scary thing is, it appears to be winning. Western, rational muslims being radicalized and heading to join Isis in creating an Islamic State or Caliphate - how can this happen? Living in a society with checks and balances, justice and equality, with a welfare state and a policy of tolerance and inclusion - to live in a state where medieval rules apply and people are governed by barbarism and violence? How can people want this? It makes no sense to me, I don't see any mention of Isis supporters of the female gender. That isn't surprising, it would be more surprising if you did - it would infer women would want to exist as second class citizens, volunteer to undergo FGM and accept living their lives under a shroud.

Religion is fighting back and fighting back hard. I fear for the world, that's partly why I wrote 'The Deathsworn Arc' it's a way of expressing my fear and appealing for a more secular, rational and reasonable world, where people are able to live their lives, free from the shackles of religious oppression.

We should be thankful to the Brael Truthseekers and Richard Dawkins of this world, people are willing to fight for a better, secular world - based on reason and logic, rather than fear and superstition.