EXOPUTIANS

Neuralyzers,

It is that time of year, where I show off my new book to the world. Exoputians is here!

The hardcover looks phenomenal. My book designer, Thea Magerand, is a goddamn BOSS and has more talent than any cover designer I have ever seen. If you want the hardcover, I have a direct link that helps me out a lot more as an author. EXO HARDCOVER. Or, if you need the fastest shipping possible while helping the richest man alive buy another yacht and mansion in Miami, that link is above unfortunately.

A little more about Exoputians… I was just on The Greatest Podcast in the Multiverse and will share that link as soon as Herman releases it, but we talked shop and that was great practice. This story came to me first as not a character, but a theme. This is my second novel and is very different from Brian, Created Intelligence in many ways. How could I tell a politically voiced story providing a glimpse into an outsider? Allegories (science fiction and fantasy at least) are an exceptional way to show empathy to those who are hurting in a way that does not use people already living. Their perspective of a crumbling America, their ignorance of what life here is really like for a bunch of people (minorities and other marginalized groups in particular). I created the Exoputians. A people derived from humanity but bred in and for Space. It really didn’t take long, my first sentence was written in 2019, and three months later I had my first draft. There truly are not many iterations of this story. One thing I usually do is overwrite the world building, to add chapters that increase our understanding of the world without being relevant to the story. I’ve cut only small amounts of EXO, while Brian is nearly half the length of my first take.

If you have seen the move Civil War, this story is radically different. The new film by Alex Garland is not the film you think it is by the trailer, and in that way fails the viewer, but after chewing on it for a few days (I saw on release day, April 12), I am starting the appreciate some aspects I at first did not respect, walking out of the theater quite unimpressed. While I shan’t allow myself to spoil the movie or any other, I’m a big stickler for that, there are some reasonable comparisons to make: No matter what, War is evil. War, missiles, suicide bombers, firefights are awful, heinous acts only humans could think of doing, and we need to stop. America does need to come together, to forgive the grievances and move past into a future together. People are people, and we all have beliefs, and most do actually believe they are doing the right thing, it’s just that the other side isn’t. Well, that’s not entirely true in any way. We’re all sort of doing it wrong, but some things are right. A fickle thing, humanity. War is a terror, a plague on us that we must stop. Diplomacy is the only way forward. If you need to be persuaded, there’s a link above to prove it.

I know I can be a bit rash at times, angry at others, I am human, and have plenty of feelings, good, bad, and skeptical, and definitely darkly comic.

Let us move forward this year, this election cycle, this future we are paving together, with a bit more empathy, with a bit more understanding and care, and a bit more reading. To end this on a good note, here’s my dachshund, Milton. He’s the absolute best. And a tremendous little Bob Barker.

Milton says buy Exoputians.

Cheers everyone! And thank you for being a part of my writing journey.

AJ