IN my pioneering book "The Edge of Madness" by Raymond Gaynor (Aignos/Savant 2020) - https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859, I introduced a new genre called SciFu (short for science-based futuring), an alternative to less plausible science fiction and implausible science fantasy). In the case of Sci-Fu, what makes it plausible is that it is based on contemporary scientific technologies. An example of this is "interactive holographic projection," a crux of "The Edge of Madness."

Laser Holograph...

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OTOSOTU, pronounced “Oh-Toe-So-Two,” is an abbreviation for “On The Other Side Of The Universe,” a new-genre (Sci-Fu or Science Future) film about the conflict between religion and spiritualism.

Sci-Fu is all about plausibility rather than fiction or fantasy. It’s based on Dr. Jim Gator’s work on futuring (https://foresightguide.com/dator-four-futures/). OTOSOTU explores several alternative futures that face humankind, each with the power to change humanity’s evolutionary direc...

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EVERY good movie deserves at least two official posters, and I’m pleased to be able to present both official OTOSOTU posters at last. OTOSOTU (pronounced “Oh-Toe-So-Two” for “On The Other Side Of The Universe”) is a sci-fu drama featuring Daniel S. Janik, Sakura Kai, William Maltese and Pam Hoffman, currently in the last stages of post-production with an anticipated 2024 release.

Award-winning actor Daniel S. Janik lead actor in STATIC (2021), plays three roles in OTOSOTU, those of I...
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OTOSOTU (pronounced “Oh-Toe-So-Two” for “On The Other Side Of The Universe”), which introduces a new genre of filmmaking, namely sci-fu or scientific futuring (see https://soif.org.uk/about/jim-dator/ and https://foresightguide.com/dator-four-futures/) rather than science fiction or fantasy, is, however, much more. Its intriguing exploration of the nature of the soul instantly elevates it to a metaphysical exploration as well.

Oxford Languages defines metaphysics as “the branch of ...

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THERE are mangoes and there are mangoes. Then there are Haden mangoes. Rich, juicy, piney, lushious, sap-dripping, brilliant orange Haden mangoes. Not totally alone in quality, there are also ‘Ah Ping’, ‘Fairchild’, ‘Gouveia’, ‘Harders’, ‘Keitt’, ‘Momi K’, ‘Pope’, and ‘Rapoza’ varieties that are almost equal, of the over 60 varieties that grow in Hawaii. The key word here is “almost.” But give me a Mangifera indica Haden mango anytime.

I’ve noted over th...

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WHAT’S better than one movie poster? Two, especially if the second one is even better! OTOSOTU (pronounced “Oh-Toe-So-Two” for “On The Other Side Of The Universe”) now has two posters, the second replacing the first as the official first poster. Yep, it’s that good, or I should say better. But, hey, I still like the original first as it has my picture on it in my roles as Imperax Commander Michael Mylo AND that of his son, Captain-Major Brit Mylo; Sakura Kai as his wife, Carol Myl...

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OTOSOTU (pronounced “Oh-Toe-So-Two” for “On The Other Side Of The Universe”), a “new genre” Sci-Fu film about what happens to the human soul when Commander Michael Mylo, played by award-winning actor, Daniel S. Janik, accidentally discovers what’s at the other end of our universe. OTOSOTU now has its official first film poster! Co-starring 5-times awarded “best actress” Sakura Kai (aka Setsuko Tsuchiya) and internationally renown author, awarded screenwriter and actor Willia...

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IT’S my pleasure to introduce the first and newest cast member of OTOSOTU (pronounced “Oh-Toe-So-Two” for “On The Other Side Of The Universe”), JET Progress’ newest film currently in post-production with a mid to late 2024 anticipated release date. OTOSOTU is a science futuring (Sci-Fu) film about the nature of the human soul. Pam Hoffman will be the official Voice of the Imperax Galactic.

Voice acting isn’t new to Pam, having played the voice of Odee, the BG Oil Drop, and provid...

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AH, have you heard about OTOSOTU (pronounced “Oh-Toe-So-Two” for the JET Progress movie “On The Other Side Of The Universe”)? OTOSOTU is unusual right from the beginning, being a sci-fu film about the nature of the human soul. Filming finished in late February, and the work is now in post production, with an anticipated release in late 2024. In the prior post, I described some of what goes on during the mysterious “post-production” period.

As of today, the over 600 scenes, filmed...

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IN my haste to post yesterday about the OTOSOTU “Dragon Egg,” I fueled speculation that the film, a sci-fu (science plausible, rather than fiction or fantasy) work, delving the nature of the human soul, was proceeding so well in post-production that it was possible it might be released in 2023. Sorry, NOT. Admittedly it would add substantially to science fantasy, that is, having a film released before it’s edited, polished and pre-screened. But, no, doesn’t work with sci-fu. What I sh...

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DRAGON EGG

SORRY to be absent from social media for a while, but here at JET Progress productions – https://jet-progress.yolasite.com – we’ve been extremely busy wrapping up filming (done!) and beginning post-production of OTOSOTU (pronounced “Oh-Toe-So-Two” for “On The Other Side Of The Universe). Our current task is to transfer over a thousand takes to a single hard drive, rename them in order of movie sequence, and assemble everything into “raw segments.” Raw, many because...

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READERS sometimes email me at drjanik@gmail.com asking me if, with my wife and I being actors, we regularly take a limo to go somewhere. Well, yes, it’s true Sakura Kai (aka Setsuko Tsuchiya – https://setsukotsuchiya.com) and I, Daniel S. Janik (https://janik.yolasite.com/actor.php) are actors as well as authors, but, ummm, sad to burst the limo bubble, but we walk together to work whenever possible, which is most of the time.

First, weight and body tone always come before luxury. The ca...

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CALL me weird, but working on adding captions to the JET Progress production of WINNOWING -- https://winnowing.yolasite.com, currently in post-production with an anticipated late 2023/early2024 release, a mental picture actually did pop into my mind of living one's life with closed captions floating just above or below each person's image. Shades of Jim Carrey in THE TRUMAN SHOW! 

Actually, working on captioning for WINNOWING has been another education: First, I've often wondered watching mo...

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WE’VE long known that much of human behavior comes from the old adage, “Monkey see, monkey do,” but if this is true then the entertainment industry has done little to curb the escalating impulsivity and violence being experienced today. And yet, it affect billions of viewers and readers worldwide. In the past, as the owner of Savant Books and Publications, I vowed to produce books that uplifted the human condition without gratuitous sex or violence. That policy made Savant the powerhous...

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SUBSCRIPTIONS are clearly the way the business of humanities is going. I say business, because thus far business has penetrated almost every aspect of our lives. I recall watching business invade medicine when I was in practice, attempting to turn my love of helping others to love of money. Later, I watched the same happen in education, culminating in the private “for profit” colleges and universities, where the love of truth, knowledge and wisdom languished secondary to love of money. I ...

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COUNTERPOINT to yesterday’s post entitled, “How Much Do I Deserve,” I though today’s post should be on what we don’t deserve. What we don’t deserve is what much of today’s world is desperately trying to serve everyone: Pre-COVID crowds and World War III. It all gets down to those two great illusions for which everyone is supposed to be competing: money and power. With the general acceptance of this long established, constantly resurfacing axiom, comes the increasingly inhumanity...

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I was so pleased to hear that KS Media Group Inc has purchased THE EDGE OF MADNESS for manga, animation and/or cinematic treatment. Despite my reservations regarding incorporation of some of the elements (the characters, for example, are largely unclothed in the work), I was assured that pre-production plans were already underway. 

Already an Audible audiobook read by the incomparable Peter Pollock

An Excited Raymond Gaynor

Author of THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor

Co-au...

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IN continuation of yesterday’s post on eroticism, consider the SweetSixteen. Yet another of the many facets of coming-of-age in NewAmerica:

“For modern lovers, SweetSixteenSalsaSex, when it really clicked, especially when virginal and alternative as in the case of Draff and Billie, offered the enactors a further reward: that all-time most sought-after prize of publiczed intimacy, the exceptional, elusive, once-in-a-lifetime “FirstLoveIConsumated” pop emotag, FLIC. While the best in h...

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Romance is a feeling of excitement and mystery associated with love, accompanied by a feeling of remoteness from everyday life. Love on the other hand Is an intense feeling of deep affection, generating both interest and pleasure, often surrounding potential sexual attachment. Erotic refers to arousal of actual sexual desire. It is easy to say that humans typically follow romance with  love and finally eroticism, but we're also stimulated by the unusual so any progression through or simple ap...

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(This Excerpt is PG-13-rated)

"The entire foray celebrated his continued ascent into adulthood. Billie smelled and looked unfazed. Andry smelled and looked stunned, then incredulous, then annoyed, aggravated and finally disgusted. What is with Simi? Draff wondered, raising his eyebrows at the staccato olfactory slaps he sensed coming from her, all seeming aimed directly at him. Why did he feel so hurt? More important, why should her reactions bother him so deeply, or at all for that matter?

...
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It is my pleasure to present the long awaited sequel to my and William Maltese's naughty pop sexual-political-thriller TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009), entitled THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020). NewAmerica, a shadow of its former United States of America, is now leaner and meaner. Once again commanding wealth and power thanks to a series of sociopolitical advances and technical innovations like Eugitors, ShimmerSuits, ContraSpray, T-rips, CandyShades and CandyCable, NewAmerica a challen...

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WAIT! Wait! Wait! No need for panic. This isn’t about actor Daniel S. Janik or actress Setsuko Tsuchiya and sudden ill health. It IS about Setsuko Tsuchiya just finishing here PhD in Ballroom and Latin Dance Performance, and the release of the more literary form of her dissertation as a book. THE POWER OF DANCE: Partner Dance From Ballroom to Olympic Sport (Savant 2022) — https://www.amazon.com/dp/1737643162. Our household is a Dr. Dr. one now.

But more important than the degree, is, as ...

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WITH all the hype these days about recession/no recession, I’m going to take the long view and say that this may rather be the long needed relaxation — a deep, deep breath — after the Hyper-Velocity-Business years championed by former President Donald Trump. Personally, I feel it’s time to take a breath and be human, letting go of the frenetic chase for money and power.

It’s important in this decade of immense change to remember that we are meant to steward and enjoy the blessings ...

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WHILE eating brunch today (as actor Daniel S. Janik always concerned about weight, aka sedentary author Daniel Janik/Raymond Gaynor/Gary Martine), I found myself pondering the quintessentially classic question: Which is “more betta,” the knife, fork or spoon, which being as my partner is Japanese, immediately expanded to include hashi (chopsticks) and, in deference to America’s love affair with fast foods, fingers?

Given the universality of finger use early in life, it’s environmenta...

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PROMISED by Reds and Blues alike for decades, but especially after the COVID “shot across the bow,” updating our nation’s infrastructures has been much hooted, but barely addressed issue that is now beginning to impact all citizens more and more.

Take the internet, for example. The key to doing business in the future is a necessary shift from “in-person crowd sales” at brick and mortar stores, to “individual service via distance online” stores. The problem: the internet. What u...

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AH, you thought I was about to post on how AIWs (Artificially Intelligent Whatevers) have changed the way we humans think in terms of human sex and gender. Nope. Couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m talking more in terms of determining the sex and gender of your personal AIWs. You know, your trusted computer, cell phone, home alarm system, self-driving program.

It all started the other day when, based on a computer incident, I began to wonder what sex my computer was. Male or female, ...

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Ernest Hemingway once said, “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” After 5 decades of writing, or more precisely authoring (meaning writing for a specific readership), I feel as if my life is a perfect testament to that. That veil between what I feel compelled to say and what I actually need to say, grows fainter with each passing year. I’ve been asked several times, “About what do you have so much to say?” — admittedly a paraphrase — bu...

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AFTER 20 years of dancing, it all up to hold, frame and posture. I know how to dance. I have gotten to the point where I can experience the sheer joy of moving with my partner through time and space. I’ve done performances and competition as I know my strengths and weaknesses. Now it’s all about replacing tine details with ones that better project our dancing so I can share my joy with onlookers.

I say “my,” but, of course, if it weren’t for my partner in International-style Ballro...

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THINK Hawaii and what immediately comes to most people’s minds are warm sun, beaches, surfing, tropical drinks, but Amazonian Green Parrots? Rats? Mongooses? Geckoes? Brush-tailed rock-wallabies? Mangoes? Eh? And lets not forget mosquitoes! But, Amazonian Green Parrots???

Less than a decade ago, I noticed a pair of Amazonian Green Parrots fly by my lanai window. Several years later, on a walk I noticed a buch of them feasting on mangoes in a neighborhood mango tree. Today I watched numerou...

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BLOODSPORT is the term for events of spectacle involving violence to the point of bloodletting. While violence and bloodletting are probably as old as humanity, they are said to have became a spectacle with the ancient pre-Roman Etruscans in or around 600 BCE — https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abi7673 and http://thespectaclesofapuleius.weebly.com/gladiatorial-combats.html#.YrSwcy-B3Fc — and later the Greek Olympics begun in 770 BCE — https://olympics.com/ioc/faq/history-and-or...

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WHAT’S the difference between Chow Mein and Chop Suey? Gotcha there, didn’t I? So, in my world:

According to TheSpruceEats, Chow Mein, (in Mandarin “ch’ao mien” which means “stir-fried noodles”) is the more authentic of the two, having originated in Northern China. If it doesn’t contain something stir-fried along with boiled noodles, it’s not Chow Mein — https://www.thespruceeats.com/chop-suey-and-chow-mein-4077054. “Chow mein is an established recipe where noodles are ...

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YES, that’s an intended paraphrase of the adage, “What are little boys made of? What are little boys made of? Snips, snails And puppy-dogs’ tails That’s what little boys are made of” In case you’re wondering, other stanzas concern girls, babies, young men, young women, sailors, soldiers, nurses, fathers, mothers, old men, old women, and all folks are made of [sic]. But, hey, while the world waxes non-binary, I still catch myself thinking in terms of male and female. Forgive me. It...

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THERE seems to me to be four big factors suddenly at interplay with regard to food these days. First, however, it’s important to place this post within context: People all over the world are suddenly experiencing pre-war instability and uncertainness. Those who lived through WWII (and they are a rapidly dwindling minority) often say our contemporary world “feels” just like pre-World War II but “on steroids.” In the meantime, the world’s population continues a 45-degree growth curv...

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WORKING today on my newest Sci-Fu novel, PROPHESY, the promised sequel to the Amazon-genre-bestseller, THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor — https://savant-bookstore-honolulu.square.site/product/the-edge-of-madness/136 or https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859— and the decidedly naughty political thriller TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese — https://www.amazon.com/dp/1434403556.

THE EDGE OF MADNESS: “Taking up where TOTAL MELTDOWN...

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WORKING today on my newest Sci-Fu novel, PROPHESY, the promised sequel to the Amazon-genre-bestseller, THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor — https://savant-bookstore-honolulu.square.site/product/the-edge-of-madness/136 and https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859 — and the decidedly naughty political thriller TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese — https://www.amazon.com/dp/1434403556.

THE EDGE OF MADNESS: “Taking up where TOTAL MELTDO...

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PLEASED as punch to hear that William Maltese’s “edge of the seat” romance, DARE TO LOVE IN OZ (Savant 2009) — https://savant-bookstore-honolulu.square.site/product/dare-to-love-in-oz/100 or https://www.amazon.com/dp/0984117547 — available in printed, digital and audiobook versions, is now a screenplay, ready for manga, animation and cinematic treatment by KS Media Group. “Romance and adventure collide in Australia’s exotic outback as a deadly storm and a deadly killer wreak hav...

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I’VE had the unique experience of watching America transform from a nation of creative manufacturers and traders into a nation ruled almost entirely by business — an industry that neither creates nor produces, bent almost wholly on “making money” typically through management. I watched with horror the businessification, sometimes commercialization, of health care, then food production, then technology, then education, then transportation, now politics. What’s left from which to “t...

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A doctor of philosophy degree wherein one knows more and more about less and less. The key is the word philosophy, meaning “love of wisdom,” whereas doctorate simply implies the highest degree (of). But seriously, what is wisdom? Or knowledge (shouldn’t all degreed individuals possess knowledge)? And where do information and data fit in?

In my experience, the lowest form of education involves the memorization of data. Having a storehouse of data at one’s fingertips used to be a major...

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“IF it flys like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a…” Personally, I enjoy likening this to the infamous children’s question, “What black and white and red/read all over?” So what’s para-duck-sicle about the first statement, and ‘riddled’ with double-entendre in the second, that both have in common? They’re both riddles. Or, some might say, they both are, in a broader sense, conundrums.

According to Dictionary.com, a riddle is “a question or s...

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AS promised, today’s post follows on yesterdays. Talk is cheap as some would point out; action is something else altogether. Still, both come together in Plato’s famous (or infamous) REPUBLIC depending on your point of view. The 10-book “series” is is a Socratic dialogue, on justice, the just city-state, and the just human. According to Wikipedia, Socrates talks with various Athenians and foreigners about the meaning of justice and whether a just man is happier than an unjust one. In ...

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HAVING finished filming my and Setsuko Tsuchiya’s parts in the upcoming movie THE PERFECT ILLUSION, I couldn’t help but add to my author/actor’s website a recently completed special flying scene (in-which-I-am-not-but-truly-wish-I-were) — https://janik.yolasite.com/theperfectillusion.php. Have you ever dreamed as a child of flying through the air like Superman or Supergirl? This scene simply tugged at my inner child’s heart and begged to be shared.

From where does that seemingly pr...

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IT’S not uncommon to think of the USA as a “continental” nation, an integral part of North America or the Americas in general. It’s not so common to think of it as an island, surrounded in its totality by water, isolated by oceans from EurAsia. Personally, I think of the good ol’ democratic USA as an “island in the sun” among nations. Not a classic Greek democracy; instead, more in terms of a “nation of free traders.” It seems to me that one particular element that’s made ...

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AH! Are you thinking Tolkien? Elvis? Putin? NOPE! I’m thinking Mr. William Maltese, the king of M/M erotica back from his publicity trip to LA-LA Land to promote his newest BlueBoy book, his CC Money Magazine magazine articles, the audiobook version of DARE TO LOVE IN OZ (Savant 2009 — https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09VVK7LN2), his future contributions to Contessa’s Court, or his new bio-documentary movie “THE MALTESE COLLECTION” (K. Simmons Productions — https://kspllc.media/maltese-...

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WELL, as the real “The Last Bookstore” in Los Angeles, California states on its incredible website, “We’re not really the last bookstore – thank goodness – but we are the largest new and used bookstore in California. Plus, we’re the only one that’s 22,000 sq. feet with a record store, comic book store, 5 art studios, an epic yarn shop, a famous book tunnel, a mammoth head, and unexpected nooks of funkiness. Also we are in a hundred-year-old bank building, so we have vaults and...

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ACCORDING to the History.com, “the Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine’s feast day in the middle of February in an effort to “Christianize” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Celebrated at the ides of February, or February 15, Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.

“To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at a sacr...

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HEY, we’ve already had two and survived, supposedly better for the experience. At least, that’s what I’m often told. But, hey, we’re better today. More experienced. More technologically advanced. More mature. And, the world’s overpopulated, anyway, and we who are doing the overpopulating just can’t stop. So what’s so bad, really, about another world war? After all, it would definitely be good for the world’s worsening financial situation. Always was, supposedly always will be....

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THIS is a gripe: Whenever I travel the highways nowadays, everyone seems to be speeding except me, creating a definitely dangerous situation. I mean, when the sign says “Speed Limit 55 mph” does that really mean minimum speed? What’s with the need to speed far in excess of the speed limit not just on freeways (hey, is this really Germany and the Autobahn?) but in urban and even suburban areas. Is it really a 3 year olds responsibility to watch out for speeding cars? Or is everyone on sp...

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YEP! If you’re literarily inclined, it’s definitely so! Writers (people who record things for themselves) and authors (errant writers who write professionally for a target audience) both know the Big Three C’s: Clear, Complete and Concise. Clarity is a given and always takes first billing. Completeness is next, and, while one of the Big Three C’s deserves second-most attention, is more of a guideline than a hard and fast rule (the whole mystery genre is based on almost but not quite c...

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THERE are so many aspects of authoring versus writing that it can feel like a unscalable chasm separates the two. And yet…one thing that they have in common is the sometimes exciting, sometimes inspiring, sometimes relaxing, but always appreciated edge-of-consciousness sounds of moving creative new ideas from within, to resilient but editable, enduring publicly shareable stories as books, ebooks, audiobooks, screenplay-novels, screenplays, manga, animations, television programs and/or motio...

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PEOPLE are often generous in advice as to how to “get the most out of life,” humans being mortal and life being finite. But what is it that one should “get the most of” while alive? People who’ve lived in poverty would likely tend to say, “Money!” People whose lives have been determined by overwhelming events, like war survivors, would likely tend to say, “Power!” People who’ve lived their lives and never respected themselves or felt self-satisfaction, would likely say “...

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SAVANT Books and Publications, a traditional “no-cost-to-author” full-service book publisher, was recently purchased by K. Simmons Productions, a Hawaii-wood based manga, animation and film production company. With the purchase, writers whose manuscripts are accepted for publication are now afforded the opportunity of seeing their work in printed, electronic and audiobook as well as manga, animation, television and cinematic formats. So what should such an author be called, the panoply of...

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YEP! Yesterday’s rant about airlines, applies equally to trains, buses, events, grocery stores, churches, tourism, hotels…all those businesses that depend on “crowd sales” and haven’t yet begun to make the move to “individual service.” Can’t say I feel sorry for businesses that can’t make the transition. Savant Books and Publications made the transition 12 years ago, before the pandemic’s “shot across the bow.” I keep wondering how many recurrences are necessary for bu...

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REALLY! I’ve heard enough whining from the airlines about how now that the pandemic is almost over, we need to resign ourselves to tolerating those cramped, crowded conditions that make flying an undesirable necessity. The singular value of the pandemic, in my opinion, was that it was the proverbial shot-across-the-bow about the failure of “crowd sales” and the necessity of developing “individual service.” Too expensive? Ha! I’ve heard that one before. Everything’s “too expens...

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I was asked the other day what “sign of the times” I believe is the most significant one so far in this decade. After pondering the usual unusuals, I have to say that it’s what’s happening “in the gnus” (ha, ha) or more correctly how we get the news. But first, a bit more levity: (1) “No gnus is good gnus” (I’ve already labeled that “fake gnus”); (2) “Read only what’s gnus-worthy” (hey, they don’t call them wildebeests for nothing); (3) “any day a call may come...

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FORGET Generation Z; Generation Alpha (folks born 2012 through 2025) is already stepping up to the plate to experience, enjoy and govern our world. Well, at least, some will enjoy it. Others will struggle and many will opt out either by choice or circumstance. The world is, like Douglas Adams once wrote of Earth in THE HITCHHIKERS GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, “mostly safe,” and, while not particularly descriptive, it’s descriptive enough to say along with Alfred E. “Mad” Neuman, “What, me...

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IT can’t be only me. I mean, how is it that “everything’s returning to normal,” when countries are still closing, citizens are protesting (more vociferously that ever) and half of people still social distance and wear masks (despite the “other half”) due supposedly to COVID? Being a pragmatic scientist type, I rather think everything’s NOT returning to the “old” normal, or, if this is normal than the life I lived pre-COVID must be a fiction. I’m not complaining; just tired...

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ALMOST everyone has approached water — in a well, around a fountain, under a bridge, in a brook or stream — and made a wish. But today, I want to muse about not the wishing well, but simply wishing well. Doing it right. Yesterday I posted about needs, wants, hopes and desires. Now it’s time to talk about how to wish well.

I don’t say this lightly. Not because of magic or compelling people to make a wish come true, but because, in the most basic sense, making a wish is all about direc...

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“IF wishes were horses, then beggars would ride” is a popular saying, so, given that billions of people make wishes every day, why aren’t there more horseback riders? And don’t just say, there’s a shortage of horses. According to that fount of information, Wikipedia, “a wish is a hope or desire for something. In fiction, wishes can be used as plot devices…In fiction a wish is a supernatural demand placed on the recipient’s unlimited request [list]. When it is the center of a t...

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HISTORY (“his” “story”) is a strange animal. First, it’s the victors who generally write it. Second, it’s almost always steeped in the hopes and expectations of the dominant culture. Third, it’s not scientific (i.e. not repeatable in the technical sense since it involves group activities based on contemporary norms). Fourth, it’s not academic, fiction and non-fiction often being published interchangeably (think of the “novel” here — typically an historically-based work w...

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NOW there’s a topic worthy of a post, don’t you think? Almost every author and reader would agree that authenticity is more than admirable, it’s essential to a great story and read. Easily said and even easier with which to agree, but what does “authentic” actually mean? Isn’t anything written by the indicated author “authentic” by definition?

My experience is that in life, authenticity is rarely if ever entirely clear. In contemporary-speak for example, authenticity can simp...

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IN a recent Science News article by Tina Saey entitled “Most human DNA is not unique to us,” I read that “only 1.5 percent to 7 percent of the collective human genetic instruction book, or genome, contains uniquely human DNA.” Eh? So, in spite of my artistic-humanism sense of being wholly human, I’m actually only less than 10% human? Maybe 20% animal? Or 20% plant (I don’t look green though I do enjoy the sun). Or, as touted in a 10 April 2018 BBC article by James Gallagher entitl...

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AND I’m not talking golf here. I’m talking “fore” like in foreknowledge, forewarning, unforeseen, foreboding and, well, why not, foreplay, too. Science Futuring (SciFu) with a generous portion of romance, love, eroticism, and a dash of LGBTQ+ — the perfect combination for a late summer read. THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor, an Amazon genre bestseller, is now available in printed, digital and audio format, the latter read by the incomparable Peter Pollock.

Get a ...

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WHAT the heck is happening to book readership? More importantly, what the heck is happening to publishing? Is it the Great Fight of the Big Guys (in this case Barnes and Noble, Ingram and Amazon)? COVID-delta? Nationalism? Global Economic Restructuring? Or perhaps printers are finally running out of virgin trees to make paper and not recycling? Is it Universal Greed and resulting Uncontrolled Inflation? Is it that no one wants to work anymore? Is it global mass migration? Is it that propagand...

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THESE are the times that try [hu]man souls, for sure. With COVID-delta cases once again seizing control of medical facilities in state after state in USA and around the world, I sense another Magrathea, the illusory planet in THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY that went into closure, on the horizon. It’s not a pleasant sight. The world, USA and San Francisco are still reeling from the effects of COVID-null. Another local or, God(dess) forbid, national lockdown, like several nations are ...

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OKAY, so you’re reading this because you’re an author (hopefully, or an avid reader at least) wondering about what it all means. The “short of it” is about the myriad frustrations with publishing. Publishing wasn’t doing exactly well when bookstores started disappearing (remember Borders, Crown, Waldenbooks, may the rest in peace?), the last behemoth bookstore chain Barnes and Noble was bought out by UK hedge fund Elliot Advisors, distributors, well, began having trouble distributin...

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I’VE always loved that phrase, and am oh-so-pleased to devote today’s post to what I consider one of the most precious attributes of humanness. There’s no one key word here. It’s about affirmation, positivity and loving kindness, without any hidden or further agendas. Okay, so it might be flattery, but who doesn’t like a bit of flattery now and then? Having survived life to this point, don’t each of us deserve a bit of flattery to warm the heart and melt away those myriad demands ...

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IT’S my personal pleasure to announce that THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor is not only an Amazon Genre BESTSELLER, but recently received award recognition at the San Francisco and New York Book Festivals! By way of celebrating, I’ve asked the publisher to drop the price of the printed version from $16.95 to $12.95, and the Kindle eBook version from $7.95 to $2.99 for the rest of July and August (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859)! Celebrate with me throughout August...

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WHAT really drives the global economy? Money? Power? Energy? Nope. It used to be whale products: oil, baleen, and ambergris. Then it was rubber. So what are today’s felled Amazon trees being replaced with? What’s really driving the contemporary world economy other than drugs, war and human trafficking? Palm oil.

According to Wikipedia, “Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the…fruit of the oil palms…Palm oil accounted for about 33% of global oils produced from oil crops...

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I’M often asked in author interviews what I think makes today’s literature “contemporary.” Has it changed over the decades I’ve been authoring? The simple answer is, “Yes, it’s changed and especially so these last couple years.” There is, however, one thing that hasn’t changed: the need to appropriately address and express violence and sex, two intrinsically human issues, if not obsessions. There is so much trauma, or put in a more general way, violation, or, if you prefer, ...

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YEP! Going bananas over the different kinds available in Hawaii right now. Alright, you already know about the long, chalky-tasting Cavendish available in most grocery stores. But in Hawaii, right now, there’s plantains, baby-finger bananas, apple-bananas, ice cream bananas and more. My favorite (I’ve tried them all): those short, stocky but oh-so-sweet apple-bananas grown right here in Hawaii! Where to get them? In some “local” grocery stores, but the best tasting are ones purchased ...

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AS you know, I’m a San Fran man; however, over the years I’ve become enamored with a second literary home: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. Both Southern Temperate Mediterranean in climate; both Asian-American in flavor, though Hawaii has that unique Polynesian element as well. Both are ideal for a reclusive author, providing just the right mix of the international with local that favors, at least for me, comfortable, quiet time necessary for writing.

One item of interest in both SF and Honolulu, ...

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AS a professional author, I must admit that I look forward to those end-of-the-year royalties many of my publishers pay. However, this year — the second year of the Global COVID Plague — based on quarterly sales reports I’m seeing, I’m anticipating a number of those “your royalty for this year was less than $50 so we won’t issue a check” notices. Okay, so sales of THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos, 2020) by Raymond Gaynor (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859), especially audiobook sa...

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WONDERING about the first word, “editing,” instead of “tripping?” Well, yes, I am an amateur ballroom and latin DanceSport competitor, but with dance competitions and dancing in general most on hold till COVID runs it’s course, I’ve been working hard with Savant author Vern Turner (https://www.amazon.com/Vernon-Turner/e/B089Y14KZY) to edit his recently accepted manuscript entitled THE IMMIGRANT’S GRANDSON. Personally, I can’t think of a better way to keep up my own authoring s...

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IT’S been a couple days since I mentioned acting as well as authoring, so here goes: I’m playing “Will” in The STATIC Movie (https://kspllc.media/the-static-movie), where we’re currently working at the second on location site, a multi-million dollar house in the foothills of the Hawaiian Koolau mountains, the first on location site filming having been completed. At this new location, I have a heart attack, dance cheek-to-cheek with my long departed wife and it all happens in Will’...

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YOU guessed it: not viewed. Despite all my raving in yesterday’s post about this event, last night we had a “round table” full-cast reading of the “Static” movie script and I was so tired afterwards I slept right through the alarm. Go figure! On the other hand, the full-cast reading brought several to tears while others openly shared “goosebump” moments, meaning, in my mind, this drama will exceed even the most stringent viewer expectations. I also hear that the round table was ...

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IN the immediate aftermath of the TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1434403556), something happened. The dis-integrating world proved a playground for “Fast Eddies” and con artists. But who, I ask, let them out? Who let the “dogs” out?

A dis-integrating world means that things, especially integrated technological products; businesses that require other business partners to create, distribute and market a product; and...

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I’VE often heard that the storyline, narration, dialog and outstanding editing are what make a successful book. Of course, I have to agree. Makes total sense. And yet…there’s something, almost intangible, that elevates a well-authored and edited story to something, well, more. It’s the difference between a great performance and one that elicits goose bumps. It’s having just the right “edge.” Something more. One of my publishers, Savant Books and Publications | Aignos Publishing,...

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THERE is an interesting conundrum, a fluke of human nature, that is challenging humanity’s shared perception of reality, whether it be the cosmos, physics, science, the humanities, the human story, romance, love, gender or amorous eroticism: It isn’t so much that seeing is believing, but that we see what we believe, want or can see through our cultural blinders. That “seeing is believing” has already been highjacked, this time by politics, in that after spreading an opinion as factual...

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SEVERAL decades ago, when I began my authoring career, it was rare to meet another author. Published authors were celebrities in their own right, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with television and movie celebrities, sometimes shining even brighter than their actor/actress colleagues. And I say colleagues, because at the heart of television and movie production is screenwriting, which I still hold is a form of authoring.

With the appearance of self-publishing and the aging and decrease in read...

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LATELY, I have been delving into the dark sea of neurobiological “romance” that ebbs and tides so strongly about human relations, especially sex. In essence, romance is about assuring each other of conjugal safety, trust, fidelity and devotion while releasing the sexual tigers within. A quixotic, even paradoxical thing, romance. And it has to happen in the above sequence to be most effective and ultimately, satisfying, both in the short and long term.

The neurobiology of romance suggests...

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IN a recent 30 April 2021 CNN opinion article by Chandran Nair entitled “The Covid disaster in India shows that the future is biological, not digital” that little artificial mole I mentioned in yesterday’s post abruptly reared it’s legs! Nair aptly places emphasis on the importance of preparing for COVID-20, -21, -22 and so on, rather than depending solely on technology to protect us. In my world, I took this as a call for fundamental infrastructure change. Be it government, ethics, f...

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YESTERDAY I offered a rather unique post entitled, “Do Plants Like Vegetarians?” Today, I’d like to follow it with a bit of an ode to those stalwart lifeforms upon whom our lives solely depend and much more. Yes, they provide oxygen, clean drinking water and food simultaneously, and, yes, we thank them by systematically harvesting them for that biggest illusion of humankind: lucre. And by applying a worldwide pogrom consisting of purposeful, selective genocide. Go figure.

And while it�...

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WRITING writings; carefully wording one’s words; creating creative stories — it’s all about judiciously avoiding the irreverent epizeuxis, pleonasm and, God(dess) forbid, semantic satiation. And doing it without losing the occasional congenial, sometimes gratifying occurrence of alliterative consonance or onomatopoeia. Rat-tat-tat went the machine gun. Quack said the duck. Forsooth mouthed the itinerant forsoother.

In truth, as an author, I do enjoy employing semantic variety — a sor...

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A simple smile: “A pleased, kind, or amused facial expression, typically with the corners of the mouth turned up and the front teeth exposed.” Surprisingly physically close to but opposite in meaning from a grimace. A social expression of the face learned very early in infancy, used to further bond the infant to caretaker and vice versa.

In a utopian future, it is often assumed that everyone would smile; in a dystopian future, it is often assumed that everyone would grimace, an assumptio...

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As a "modern" educator, I feel compelled to remind myself that education is more than business and "making money." It's the foundation of democracy. 

Ever since business pushed its way to the forefront of post secondary education, with its emphasis on publicity (modern translation = unlimited gossip/name-calling/misrepresentation/creating chaos), advertising (modern translation = saturation misrepresentation), profit (actually increasing profit), money over service and humanity, control over f...
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It's Christmas Day, and, irrespective of one's religion, it is, in many ways, the ultimate humanity day. True, it's constantly being assaulted by individual religions vying for supremacy, businesses vying for participant's money, and hackers attempting to steal identities and information, but over the centuries, it has remained the epitome of humanism. It remains a day of reflection on all that makes us human. 


Religions are social clubs consisting of humans garnering others to share in and va...
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