This isn’t a pro-Apple manifesto—I would write just the opposite for that, especially in regards to publishing, but the question in the title means something entirely different than Apple’s present domination of the tech world.  What I’m asking is if “political correctness” has been carried too far in general, and whether it inhibits creativity for fiction writers in particular.

Here’s an example that caught my attention:  One day last week I saw an announcement for the NY subway system that urged passengers to give up their seats to the elderly or pregnant persons.  Innocuous and well-intentioned I suppose, but I burst out laughing.  We’ve become so PC that the person (PC justified here) writing this plea used “pregnant person” to make it a unisex statement.  I was laughing at the absurdity.  Let’s face it, dear reader, be you male or female, you’ll have to agree with me: it’s pretty hard for a male human being to physically become pregnant.  (Bruce Jenner and others might psychologically be female, but inner plumbing is what it is.)

We often speak of a pregnant couple; I’d go as far as using that for two gays using a surrogate too.  That’s all the more justified by same-sex marriage and equal rights for LGBT couples, something I support because no one’s rights should be trampled on as long as they don’t affect other people’s rights (when they do, a balance has to be sought, of course—none of this denying customer service by saying it’s freedom of religion).  We speak of pregnant moments and often use “pregnant” in the same ways we use “fertile.”  I just thought that the subway ad writer had carried PC too far and created a situation where absurdity takes over.  Instead of celebrating that wonderful state of womanhood, s/he reduced it to unisex triviality.  Moreover, it reduced old-fashioned chivalry, mostly absent today, and put pregnancy at the level of the old and infirm, never mind that I’ve seen 85-year-olds in much better shape than I am.

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At the time I’m beginning to write this post, a carrier battle group is headed for Yemen’s coast to enforce a blockade against Irani ships attempting to help Yemen’s rebels.  Why?  They’re supporting Saudi Arabia’s bombing of said rebels.  The Saudis announced they were going to stop but the bombing continues.  One problem?  Saudi Arabia is NOT our friend, and Iran is NOT our friend.  Second problem?  This is an internecine dust-up between Sunnis and Shi’ites, so what the hell do we think we’re doing taking sides in a religious war?  Third problem?  Al Qaeda in Yemen has been a severe thorn in our sides for a long time, so who cares if the Shi’ites wipe those particular Sunnis out?

The details: (1) Saudi Arabian royalty, in order to save their well-padded asses, have been walking a tightrope for decades, pretending to be our friends while supporting the Saudi religious schools that instill hatred and produced Sunni jihadists like bin Laden and the 9/11 terrorists.  Why do you think members of the royal family fled the U.S. after 9/11?  Washington knew and still knows, at least in intelligence circles, that Saudis are duplicitous scoundrels.  They don’t want Shi’ites nipping at their backsides in Yemen and probably are rooting for ISIS in their war against Iran-supported regimes like Hassad’s because the ISIS monsters are, after all, Sunnis.  They might be supporting ISIS too; they’ve certainly supported al Qaeda, that terrorist group that now seems tame in comparison to the crazy ISIS wild boars.  For the Saudis, the only good Shi’ite is a dead Shi’ite.

Point (2): How ironic is it that Iran wants to end economic sanctions while at the same time striking out against Sunnis in Yemen?  They and their brethren are the flip side of the Saudis: for them the only good Sunni is a dead Sunni.  Makes me wonder if this internecine battle between rival Muslim sects isn’t all about greed and power and exterminating anyone who disagrees with their warped versions of Islam.  No, not wonder.  Call it bringing out this Hatfields v. McCoy’s battle into the open.  The Palestinian problem, that justifiable desire for a Palestinian state, has receded to the point where it’s become irrelevant to everyone in the region except Israelis and Palestinians, notwithstanding Netanyahu’s stupid ploys to guarantee his survival by painting it as something else.  Instead of sending our sailors into harm’s way, we should just tell the Supreme Leader of Iran’s floundering theocracy to cease and desist, or all talks about lifting economic sanctions are off.

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Genocide is extreme ethnic cleansing, a holocaust…remembering the Armenian genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire!

While Sen. Rubio’s announcement was overshadowed by ex-Sen. Clinton’s, the senator from Florida’s worries me more.  His party has practiced Orwell’s doublespeak for decades and he continues to do so—nothing new or surprising there—the party of Lincoln’s modern pols aren’t Honest Abes.  But my worry is about the double-image—the good-looking pol with that baby face and shock of perfect hair pretending to speak to a young generation as the prophet leading them into the promised land of upward mobility.  Instead of Moses, he’s the Pied Piper, of course.  He’s suave, sophisticate, and smooth-talking, but the false image of a caring progressive and “man of the people.”

As a writer, I search for the mot juste.  Let’s analyze the word “conservative” and what it means in current American politics.  It used to be that conservative meant someone who believed in the status quo and expressed a reluctance to try untested solutions to society’s problems, especially ones not thought through and analyzed for negative impact.  I recognize that there’s a place for that kind of conservatism—even the most flaming liberal practices some of that in her or his daily life.  The current GOP, especially ultra-conservatives aka Tea Partiers, in their disservice to the middle class and poor and their sycophant service to the one-percenters, has twisted that definition into something ugly, retrograde, and elitist.  That’s Marco Rubio’s true image that he’s trying to hide.  He’s no man of the people; he’s a mouthpiece for the rich elites in America.

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Item: Refreshing and discouraging.  The plethora of new indie authors and entertaining indie ebooks is both refreshing and discouraging.  Discouraging because it’s harder with each passing week for a writer to rise above that vast sea of talent and become noticed.  You can’t even give ebooks away anymore, at least not in the numbers seen a few years ago, and the new price points for indie ebooks are so low that an indie writer has to sell many of them just to recover costs—forget about making a living.

It’s also refreshing because so many writers have so many interesting tales to tell that even avid readers are overwhelmed with good reading choices.  How this all shakes out is about as unpredictable as the stock market, but it seems like the number of readers is trending down while the number of writers is trending up.  The worst of times, the best of times, to say the least (and to plagiarize Dickens).

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Steve: Maybe we should start with your saying something about yourself.

Nylander: I’m a South African astrophysicist.  I do research and teach at a Johannesburg university and belong to the staff of South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO), acting as a theoretical consultant.  The SAAO facility features the South African Large Telescope (SALT), a cooperative venture financed by South Africa, Germany, Poland, New Zealand, the U.S., and the United Kingdom.  It’s the largest telescope in the southern hemisphere.

Steve: How does that relate to this Mensa Contagion?

Nylander: I was the first scientist to visit the landing site.  The artifact was clearly a dispersal vehicle.  And the virus it contained was dispersed.  I’m no contagious disease expert, but I knew whatever was in that pod didn’t originate on Earth.

Steve: Is it true that you named the virus, though?

Nylander: That has more to do with my scientific background.  My adopted son, Oscar, who’s also my grad student, discovered it came from the direction of Mensa, a constellation that can only be seen in the southern hemisphere.  Seemed like a good name.

Steve: So the name has nothing to do with that club for geniuses?

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[Note from Steve: This sci-fi novel is a stand-alone epic about an ET virus and its effects on human society and its space exploration.  It will be released soon.  Maybe this excerpt will brighten your tax day?]

Groom Lake, Nevada

            Chief Master Sgt. Bob Sanchez studied his monitors and laughed.  “You have to see some of these signs, Lucy.”

Senior Master Sgt. Lucy Chang was studying high-res satellite images taken of the base.  The UFO fanatics’ signs were often creative.  Sometimes that was the only way base security could determine when they were planning some shenanigans.  She stopped, walked over, and joined Sanchez, looking over his shoulder at his screens.

He glanced up and smiled.  Among their colleagues, it was no secret they were sleeping together.  Their commanding officers wouldn’t approve, of course, but everyone collaborated in keeping their secret.  It was a code of honor followed by everyone working at the top secret base; it existed because life was hard enough in the desert without the added stresses associated with liking someone and not being able to do anything about it.

Still, she didn’t like relationships started at work, never had, but there weren’t many alternatives at the base.  Sanchez was a nice guy, but she didn’t know if he was husband material.  Until she figured that out, she was OK with the present situation—two consenting adults having a bit of fun.  Nobody’s business, and everyone looked the other way.

“They’re entertaining, I’ll give them that.  Even the drawings.  That one even looks like Major Moore.  I like that sign saying, ‘We’re all going to become zombies!’  No wonder they wear Grateful Dead T-shirts.”  She laughed and looked at her watch.  “We have a new record, I think.  The president made his announcement not long ago.  Where’s Guinness when you need him?”

Sanchez pointed at another sign.  “That’s why.”  The sign said, “Aliens Have Taken over the White House!”  “How do you know what’s on the T-shirts?  They’re all sweaty and dirty.  I can’t imagine why, though.  It’s only 105 degrees out there, and I have it on good authority these people don’t often bathe.”

“Not surprising with the lack of water.  This desert bakes anyone.  It’s so dry we’d both turn into Egyptian mummies even without embalming fluid.”  Her hair brushed against his cheek.  “They’ve all become desert rats.  I’m from Seattle, but I’m becoming one too.  What we won’t do for a job.”

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My new epic sci-fi novel, More than Human: The Mensa Contagion, is the tale of an invading ET virus and its effects on human society and space exploration.  That’s a strange combo (it’s sci-fi, after all), but the space exploration isn’t interstellar this time like it was in “The Chaos Chronicles Trilogy.”  It’s restricted to our solar system, to Mars and beyond.  Being a wee bit more local, many of the events are in the realm of the possible.  Most of the action is current day only because of the virus, though.  I don’t expect to see a Mars colony in my lifetime.  But exploration of our solar system will occur.  Of course, it’s already occurring with robot probes carrying specialized payloads.  That process is speeded up by the virus in the novel.

I’ve always been an avid reader and exhausted all the sci-fi in my public library by the time I entered high school.  I’ve read about Mars colonies since those halcyon days, although I’ve always thought that the space opera adventures were a bit too optimistic.  But I used recent reports as references for my novel, some optimistic and others pessimistic, to complement my imaginative musings.  Among these are: Bruce Bower, “Extreme Teams,” Science News, 11/29/2014; and the NY Times special issue on Mars, 12/9/2014: “On Mars,” by Kenneth Chang; “A One-Way Trip? Many Would Sign Up”; “Looking to a Neighbor for Help,” by Dennis Overbye; “Covering Mars Opened a New World,” by John Noble Wilford; and “Rover Finds Stronger Potential for Life,” by Marc Kaufman.  Other recent findings (about water in the solar system, for example), mostly in Science News, were also used.

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Item: Don’t judge a book by its cover.  Have you seen the proposal for the cover to Harper Lee’s “new book”?  It’s terrible.  I reviewed Harlan Coben’s book The Stranger and noticed that his book’s cover is poor quality too.  Is traditional publishing cutting costs by not paying for a good cover?  My sample isn’t very large, of course.  As a reader and reviewer, I’ve never judged a book by its cover.  My judgement of a cover can only be the subjective opinion of someone who knows little about graphic art (readers of The Collector probably know that from the poem at the beginning).  After a lifetime of math and science tomes, my threshold is pretty low, in fact.  I’ve pushed to improve my covers, though, and have hired a very good graphic artist to make them, because some readers and reviewers do judge a book by its cover.  An attractive thumbnail image on Amazon can’t hurt, right?  But it’s what’s in the book that counts.

Item: FaceBook woes.  I think I’ve already announced this, but I no longer am active on FaceBook.  They’ve made it impossible to share these blog posts.  I’ll leave my author’s page up and keep the account open, but if you really want to discuss anything with me or learn about what I’m doing, this newsletter and this website’s contact page is the best place for you.  (I still share these posts via RSS on Amazon, Goodreads, and LinkedIn, and with Google+, so users of those sites will still have their memories tweaked from time to time.)

Item: Fantastic Encores!  As I announced earlier, this is a collection of short stories about what’s happened in the lives of some of my characters after the events of the novel; it will be released soon.  They’re entertaining stories, although they represent a blatant promotion of those same novels, in a sense.  They also provide you with an inexpensive introduction to the sci-fi part of my writing because they’ll be perpetually on sale at $0.99.  Pop Two Antacids and Have Some Java does the same for the C & C end (for those not in the know, that’s Chen and Castilblanco, my two NYPD homicide detectives).  I’ve already reduced that price to $0.99.

Item: Other price reductions.  ASAP, I’ll reduce all my prices to $2.99 for “standard novel length” ebooks and $3.99 for “epic sci-fi-length” ebooks, if they aren’t already there, and KDP Select doesn’t get in the way (I never remember what their 90-day rule actually requires).  I’m working on second editions for The Midas Bomb (C & C #1) and Survivors of the Chaos (#1 in the “Chaos Chronicles Trilogy”); the first will be priced at $2.99 and the second at $3.99, following the above convention.

All future ebooks will follow this convention until further notice.  Think about it: you can buy four (4!) C & C novels (there are now four after The Midas Bomb) for about the price of one traditionally published James Patterson novel.  (Where does the money go when you buy a Patterson book?  You guessed it—the bloated bureaucracy of the Big Five!  I pass on my DIY production savings to you, my reader.  Buying Big Five ebooks just continues the life of the dinosaurs.)

Item:  Winning a small part of the lottery.  Why am I changing my prices?  Readers are lucky today…they have many good books to read.  Writers, not so much.  There are fewer readers to read their books, many genres are highly competitive, it’s harder to be discovered, and many extraneous agents conspire against the writer who wants to be “discovered” (my expose of Joe Konrath’s little plan to control library patrons is a case in point—see Monday’s blog post).  Indie and midlist writers’ fates are often determined by the internet gods—we can’t afford those swanky TV commercials and full-page ads the Big Five lavish on their old warhorses (Lord knows how really effective they are, of course—but that we can’t afford them is a fact).

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(Eric Giacometti and Jacques Revene, trans. Anne Trager, Shadow Ritual, Le French Book, 2015, 978-1-939474-29-2 (ebook)/ 978-1-939474-30-8 (trade paperback) /978-1-939474-31-5 (hardback))

Mysteries and thrillers set in historical contexts represent one of my weak points.  I’ve written a few that come close in their dependence on historical backstory (my character Castilblanco is a history dilettante) and have read many more.  The startling success of Brown’s The DaVinci Code caused a resurgence in the sub-genre, but you can also compare this novel to older books like Deaver’s Garden of Beasts, Follett’s The Eye of the Needle, and Forsyth’s The Odessa File.  That theme of old Nazis causing mayhem is one of the themes in this book.

The other is religion, Catholicism specifically (hence the reference to The DaVinci Code), and secret societies, in particular the Free Masons.  I have some family connections to Masonry and have even reviewed a non-fiction book on the subject for Bookpleasures (Jay Kinney, The Masonic Myth).  Like the books mentioned above, where the truth about Masonry ends and the fiction begins is part of the fun in these novels.  The same can be said about the Nazi history (what the Nazis did was hardly fun, of course).

This novel combines mystery and thriller aspects.  We know the dirty deeds and who’s doing them to whom (the “doing” is the thrill ride), but we don’t know why (the mystery).  Inspector Antoine Marcas, a Paris cop who’s also a Free Mason, has been invited to the French embassy in Rome where another guest, a Free Mason woman who researches historical documents, is ritually murdered, but the papers she’s carrying are saved.  The archeologist she’s supposed to meet in Jerusalem when she continues her journey is also ritually murdered and an ancient stone is stolen.  Marek meets the embassy’s security chief, Special Agent Jade Zewinski, close friend of the murder victim and ex-Special Ops, but Jade has no love for Masons and their secret ways.  The cop, reacting badly to the banshee, washes his hands of the case.

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