When Your Book Cover Illustrator Ghosts You (A True Story From 10+ Years Ago)


Today I’ll share a small piece of ancient history, since I’m in a nostalgic mood.

Over ten years ago, I hired an illustrator for the cover of “The Truth Beyond the Sky.” He got the cover about 80% complete and then just stopped answering my emails. Forever. No goodbye, no explanation, no invoice dispute. Just silence and one unfinished PSD file.

Two versions of the same character: a rough 2014 headshot and a later revision

So I did what I had to. I opened the file and spent days extrapolating a background out of thin air so the back cover for the paperback edition could actually exist. His one act of mercy: he’d kept most of the objects on separate layers. That man will never know he saved my launch by being rather organized.

A couple of years ago I finally made my own version of her, mostly to see if I could.

I’m telling you this partly because it still makes me laugh, and partly because it makes what’s happening right now feel that much better. “The Kaleidoscopic Universe” book cover is in good hands this time, with an illustrator who answers his email and is making great progress. (Supporters have already seen the cover in progress. And new cover updates are coming soon.)

I’m clearly still not over it, though. 😂

#authorlife #writerhumor


Photo: Berawa Beach & When I Learned about the Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra


I took this photo in Bali last year, just days after downloading every translation of an ancient sutra I could find.

Sunset at Berawa Beach, Bali

Low tide, silhouettes, more sky than shore. It looked like the exact idea I had been chasing: that Life is a kind of dream.

It’s all from one album, “Beautiful Illusion” by Jon Wirtz with the voice of Ram Dass woven through. The record ends with part of the Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra, a sutra the Buddha called “The Diamond that Cuts through Illusion,” and that ending is what reached me.

A version of that sutra now opens my upcoming Tropical Sci-Fi novel The Kaleidoscopic Universe. And Vati, an exiled AI, takes the idea and runs with it.

I found the whole album on YouTube free, and I’d love for you to hear the soundscape I was living inside while I finished the book.

Here it is:
Beautiful Illusion on YouTube →

Fair warning: it pairs suspiciously well with my upcoming trilogy, and it may leave you unsure of which layer of the dream you’re currently reading from. 😉

#TropicalSciFi #indieauthorsofig #ramdassquotes


“The Truth Beyond the Sky: Data Leak Edition” audiobook is now Free on YouTube


I think I finally built an AI-narrated audiobook I actually enjoy listening to. 🧑‍🔬

For the past few weeks I’ve been experimenting with open-source narration tools to see if I could create an audiobook I’d feel good about releasing.

I think I finally got there. In fact, I’ve caught myself listening to it when cooking and even before bed.

That’s why I released The Truth Beyond the Sky: Data Leak Edition as a completely free audiobook to YouTube yesterday.

🎧 Full-length.

🆓 Free.

🚫 No signup.

▶️ Just hit play.

Not sure if it’s for you? Chapter 1 is only 9 minutes long.

If you enjoy thought-provoking science fiction with big ideas, strange discoveries, and a galaxy that keeps getting weirder the deeper you look, I hope you’ll give it a listen. 🛸

🎧 Curious? Start listening on YouTube now:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUSQkAECCKDU

I’d love to hear what you think after Chapter 1. 😎

The Truth Beyond the Sky Data Leak Edition audiobook graphic

#FreeAudiobook #ScienceFiction #SciFi #Bookstagram #IndieAuthor


The Overview Effect: A Revised Chapter from “The Kaleidoscopic Universe” 🌏


Four years into building The Kaleidoscopic Universe, I’m still finding new angles in the story.

Below is a glimpse of the magical new opening to Chapter 5 of the first book in my upcoming Tropical Sci-Fi trilogy.

It was shaped by something real: a documented psychological shift called The Overview Effect. 🔭

It’s what happens when astronauts see Earth from space for the first time.

Borders disappear.
Politics disappear.
What remains is a single, fragile world hanging in darkness. 🌎

Many describe it as overwhelming. Many grown adults cry. Most of them never see reality the same way again.

In this chapter, Asha has technically been in orbit before.

But she has never truly seen the planet.

Until now.

Read Chapter 5 (for free) on my Patreon blog →

Asha experiencing the overview effect above planet Avani

#OverviewEffect #TropicalSciFi #SciFiBooks #IndieAuthor #cosmicperspective