Unknown's avatar

My First Experiences with #CreateSpace and #Self-Publishing #Print-On-Demand (#POD) #Books

My First Experiences with #CreateSpace and #Self-Publishing #Print-On-Demand (#POD) #Books

Originally published 11/17/15 as a Guest Post for Krysten Lindsay Hager‘s site to honor the upcoming release of the first three Volumes of The Spanners Series in print and Volume III in ebook format November/December, 2015. Thanks, Krysten!

Curiousity. Hubris. Arrogance. Ignorance. Obstinance. Perseverance. Commitment. Obsessiveness. Attentiveness. Perspicaciousness. Collegial support. Desperation. Need. Willingness to fail repeatedly. Tears. Yelling. Tearing hair out. Back aches. Multiple attempts. Luck.

These are what it takes to become a self-publisher who does her own formatting for both ebooks and print-on-demand formats. Oh, yes: especially hubris and collegial support.

After many weeks of learning (a LOT of learning), practicing, attempting, failing, succeeding, failing, continuing, I can honestly say that not many things in my life have ever been so challenging AND so rewarding. Birthing a child comes to mind. Completing my research, writing and publishing for my dissertation fits this as well.

However, I must say that neither of those seems the same kind of satisfying as conquering CreateSpace to generate the three print format versions of The Spanners Series ebooks in the last several weeks. I spent a total of over 100 hours on this project (not kidding) and I’m not finished, yet.

To accomplish these goals, first I started my own imprint, Timult Books.

I created a logo for that via Logo Garden.

logo_1833057_print high rez  transparent

I bought my own ISBNs under that imprint (and got an AMAZING deal on them, thanks to my online community!).

I registered my publishing company with the state of Missouri.

I listed each of my first three novels with Bowkers in their print formats (I can’t list them under Timult Books in their ebook formats because Smashwords and Amazon already do that, apparently, since I didn’t buy my own ISBNs for those).

I solicited and received a template and much advice and lists of do’s and don’ts from many in my online community (whom I’ve already thanked in previous posts).

I worked with my cover artist, the patient and helpful WillowRaven, to create the print covers (“wraps”) for what would appear on the backs and spines (which I hadn’t had to consider, before).

I created new Front Matter (Copyright page, Dedication page, blank pages) and a Series page at the end of my ebooks and print books that list Timult Books as the imprint/publisher (which I am the sole proprietor/owner of, so it’s all still mine).

I chose the paperback format books’ size (5″ x 8″), covers’ finish (glossy) and papers’ color (cream) and notified her of those choices (these were her recommendations).

I reformatted each entire book, but I didn’t know that my over-300 “page” ebooks would come to over 500 pages each! I had to allow for pagination and facing page/Chapter start requirements, running headers, page breaks, specialized margins (for the size and number of pages) and more formatting alterations that ebooks do not require.

logoAuthorsDen

I redid the Table of Contents (SEVERAL TIMES!!!: don’t do this too soon, either!) to put in page numbers (no page numbers in ebooks!).

I notified my cover artist of the number of pages (THIS HAS TO BE EXACT! Don’t tell her/him too soon!).

I researched and chose the price points for Volume I ($2 less than the others two) and Volumes II and III ($19.99).

I put my books through the formatting “review” process and made all changes, then resubmitted.

I ordered the print proof of Volume I. At many’s direction, I read it aloud to check for errors. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP!

I was ASTONISHED to discover that I had to make over 500 corrections/ changes (not kidding) to fix mistakes, typos and newly arisen formatting problems as well as to make other edits so that all three Volumes would be in harmony with the formatting (italics, capitalization, phrasing and other language choices) that have become standard for my series by the completion of Volume III but which were NOT “standard” for Volume I at its publication time two years ago or when I published Volume II almost 18 months ago.

I have to do the same read-aloud and resubmit for both Volumes II and III, which are winging their ways to my doorstep and probably are going to arrive by time you read this post.

Pleased to report: so far, great SUCCESS! Volume I Proof copy arrived 11/6/15 and it’s awesome!

TCE proof

—-Volume I, This Changes Everything, is available in print on CreateSpace for $17.99!
PLEASE PURCHASE PRINT FORMAT BOOKS DIRECTLY FROM CreateSpace: I get a larger royalty that way, and your price doesn’t change!
Volume I CreateSpace POD link: https://www.createspace.com/5837347

Volume II (after Thanksgiving):

This-Changes-Everything----web-and-ebooks

As an ebook, it is PERMAFREE:
Volume I Amazon ebook link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HFELTG8   
Volume I Smashwords ebook link:https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/376197

Dr. Clara Ackerman Branon, 58, begins having secret visits from holographic representations of beings from the Many Worlds Collective, a consortium of planet and star systems in the multiverse. When Earth is invited to join the consortium, the secret visits are made public. Now Earthers must adjust their beliefs and ideas about life, religion, culture, identity and everything they think and are.

Clara is selected to be the liaison between Earth and the Many Worlds Collective and she chooses Esperanza Enlaces to be the Media Contact. They team up to provide information to stave off riots and uncertainty. The Many Worlds Collective holos train Clara and the Psi-Warriors for the Psi Wars with the rebelling Psi-Defiers, communicate effectively with many species on Earth and off-planet, eliminate ordinary, elected governments and political boundaries, convene a new group of Global Leaders, and deal with family’s and friends’ reactions. 

In what multiple timelines of the ever-expanding multiverse do Clara and her long-time love, Epifanio Dang, get to be together and which leave Clara alone and lonely as the leader of Earth?

This Changes Everything spans the 30-year story of Clara’s term as Earth’s first Chief Communicator, continuing in nine more Volumes of The Spanners Series.

Are YOU ready for the changes?

—-Volumes II and III are in process (I have to check and fix anything via the print proofs, then resubmit and we’re on) and right behind that one, each at $19.99.

—-Volume II, This Changes My Family and My life Forever, becomes available during or right after Thanksgiving week.  
Volume II CreateSpace POD link: https://www.createspace.com/5844431

Volume III: (after Dec. 7):

final cover print

Available as an ebook for $3.99:
Volume II Amazon ebook link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KU5Q7KC
Volume II Smashwords ebook link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/424969

Intrigued by multiple timelines, aliens, psi skills, romance and planetary change? Clara and the alien “Band” are back.

Now as Chief Communicator, Clara leads the way for interspecies communication on- and off-planet. Fighting these changes are the Psi-Defiers, led by one of the oldest friends of the Chief of the Psi-Warriors, its reluctant leader, Rabbi Moran Ackerman. Stories from younger Spanners about the first five years of The Transition fill Volume II.

How would YOU do with the changes?

—-Volume III, This Is/Is Not the Way I Want Things to Change, becomes available in both print and ebook formats the same day as its wide release, 12/8/15, right on schedule.

Volume III CreateSpace POD link: https://www.createspace.com/5844474

Spanners - volume 3 cover final

In pre-orders NOW through 12/7/15 in ebook format for half-price, $1.99. Releases 12/8/15 as an ebook for $3.99:
Volume III Amazon ebook link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0177Z1KRM
Volume III Smashwords ebook link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/588331

Clara, Moran, Espe, Epifanio and the alien Band of holos are back. Psi-Defiers launch increasingly violent protests during this five-year Transition, attempting to block Earth’s membership into the Many Worlds Collective. Earth’s nations and borders must dissolve and Psi-Warriors must strengthen in their battle against the rebels.

Clara, as Earth’s first Chief Communicator, also juggles family conflicts and danger while creating psi skills training Campuses to help Earth through the Psi Wars. Clara timults alternate versions of their futures as the leaders’ duties and consciences force them to make difficult choices across multiple timelines, continuing to train and fight.

Will the Psi-Warriors’ and other leaders’ increasing psi skills, interspecies collaborations and budding alien alliances be enough for Earth to make it through The Transition intact? If there is no clear path for Clara’s and Epifanio’s love, does she partner with Steve or go it alone?

What do YOU do with wanted/unwanted changes?

All buy links, book trailers, excerpts, author interviews and more: http://www.sallyember.com Look right; scroll down.

Or, go right to Amazon, my Sally Ember Author Central page, and find links to each book in each format here: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00HEV2UEW 

If you don’t use a Kindle, go to Smashwords for all formats of ebooks, or go to iBooks, nook or Kobo directly for ebooks.

3 paperbacks

Unknown's avatar

Tell me What Types of Posts you Want More of for 2016! Update, Stats and more about Posts from 2015 for the site: Sally Ember, Ed.D.

Tell me What Types of Posts you Want More of for 2016! Update, Stats and more about Posts from 2015 for the site: Sally Ember, Ed.D.

Welcome to all my new readers, followers, and returning ones to this year-end review. I am grateful for all of your attention, especially when you reblog, comment, ask questions or poke at my opinions.

I also started inviting my CHANGES guests and a few others to be Guest Bloggers on my site and their posts were very popular! Check them out here: Guest Bloggers’ Hall of Fame.

Other news this year: I was invited to be “interviewed” or featured and/or was a guest blogger on over two dozen more sites, including one that paid me for my submissions, and a few online radio shows!
Please check my links (on http://www.sallyember.com —look right; scroll down) for each of these posts and go visit, comment, enjoy. Highest-traffic sites, so far, are:
The Story Reading Ape“— http://thestoryreadingapeblog.com
Blog Critics,” for film and TV reviews (and many other types of posts, but those are what I submit)— http://Blogcritics.org and
Buddhist Door,” for which I have submitted a two-part series about my personal journey of becoming a Buddhist as well as one book review (so far)—http://Buddhistdoor.com

Biggest news would be the new release in The Spanners Series and the release of all three of the first Volumes into paperback format as well as ebooks, as of 12/8/15 (see below for details). I ALWAYS post about and link to EVERY review, however, brief or whatever its opinions, as long as it is legitimate (the person actually read my book) and honest.

SO, please do read my books and submit reviews to the usual sites AND send me the URLs, especially if you post it on your own site, so I can drive traffic to your site!

AND, comment here: what do you think of my new business cards (I designed them, so be a bit nice, please)?

2016 Business Cards

Send all inquiries, requests, invitations, submissions and URLs to: sallyember AT yahoo.com

THANK YOU all for being a part of this writer’s blog and other experiences this year!

I hope you continue to visit and offer to guest post. Also, let’s keep re-blogging each other’s posts.

Please do invite me to be an interview guest or be featured and keep exchanging comments!


Quick 2015 Year-in-Review Stats and Info:

  • Sally Ember, Ed.D. blog/site has about 572 total followers:
    506 followers on WordPress and another 67 on Tumblr (which is a reposting site for this one).

    500 follows

  • I posted 300 separate times (not all mine; about 15% are re-blogs) as of 12/28/15.
  • This blog was viewed over 17,000 times with visitors from 139 countries. Most views/visitors: USA (11,200), followed by UK (1,018), then Canada (821), Australia (325), Germany (242), India (235), France (171), Brazil (162), Greece (152), South Africa (139).
  • Most of my “referrers” were Search Engines (6,808), with Facebook a distant “next” (396, but I show over 2350 “friends” and another 1006 following The Spanners Series page), followed by StumbleUpon (192), Google+ (138, despite having over 3000 followers and another 215 following The Spanners Series page), Twitter (134, despite having over 5400 followers), WP Reader (65), Pinterest (62, but showing over 500 followers), my Tumblr reposting site (23, with 67 followers), a few individual webpages, then LinkedIn (at a measly 13, despite having over 700 followers).
    The Story Reading Ape‘s site sent me more visitors than LinkedIn (18)! Thanks, Chris Graham!

  • Nicholas C. Rossis was again my most active commenter: THANKS, Nicholas!
  • Only 47 of the 300 posts garnered any comments at all. But, I passed the 500 LIKES milestone this year!

    500 likes WP-1x

  • Most popular day and time: Sunday, 8 AM (Central USA time)
  • ALEXA ratings, as of 12/29/15, for Sally Ember, Ed.D. are
    2,556,701 out of all websites in the world
    has 102 sites linking in to it (“backlinks”)
    and, is 272,166 out of all websites in the USA

  • Most-viewed day and posts: November 1, 2015, with 247 views:
    “I CONQUERED #CreateSpace! This Changes Everything, Volume I, The Spanners Series is in Print starting November 13, 2015!” and several others from previous days/months, even 2014, were viewed on this date.

    3 paperbacks

Link to full annual stats report: https://sallyember.com/2015/annual-report/


If you are new-ish to this blog, I am a sci-fi/ romance/ utopian/ multiverse/ paranormal (psi) author who also has a keen interest in many other subjects, most notably: science, social issues/ politics, writing/ publishing/ book marketing/ reviews, and spirituality/meditation. Because of a fall that caused a concussion in April, 2014, I also became engrossed in Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI, concussion and its aftermaths, especially as these impact meditation.

In addition to the posts listed, below, I also have Author Interviews (with me as the subject), videos of each of my CHANGES conversations (we’re up to Episode 46, to date), links to my guest blog posts and much more on my website (I’m providing the link here in case you’re reading this elsewhere):
http://www.sallyember.com

This year, after a forced one-year hiatus from fiction writing due to my TBI, I was able to finish Volume III of The Spanners Series, This Is/Is Not the Way I Want Things to Change! I also put it and Volumes I and II into both ebook AND paperback formats, now on CreateSpace and Amazon, in time for Volume III’s release (12/8/15). (All buy links are on my pages; look right and scroll down.) To accomplish that, I started my own publishing imprint, Timult Books.

logo_1833057_print high rez  transparent

My broad interests are loosely grouped into the categories I’ve tagged and which appear on my page’s “cloud” and are listed, below. If you missed a post, enjoyed a topic but didn’t realize I had more posts in that same area, or want to comment on any of this year’s posts, now’s your chance! Please do comment! I reply to all. And, feel free to share/reblog, curate/use any of my content (giving me credit, please, and excerpting ethically, of course).

I hope your holiday celebrations or whatever activities you have been doing lately have brought you joy. Best to you all!

head shot 2015 summer


TOPICS:

About My Books and Other Science-Fiction

logoAuthorsDen

News, excerpts, links, sales/discount codes, blurbs and more!

This-Changes-Everything----web-and-ebooks

final cover print

51VBvfiZxAL._UY250_

Creativity at Work, Here

Poetry, short stories and other creative writing not related to my Series.

About Science

Re-blogs, summaries, analyses, inquiries, theories. Focus greatly on astro- and quantum physics, astronomy, technology and inventions, medicine. I re-blog on these topics.

About Social Issues and Politics

I am a USA citizen (born and always lived here). I identify as a feminist socialist who votes in EVERY election. I usually register as a Democrat and also vote Green or Independent. I disagree with almost every one of USA’s recent foreign affairs and domestic policies and ALL wars since 1945.
We should have had single-payer health care for all since 1960. Damn Richard Nixon and his cronies in the health care “industry.” I use and advocate for an intelligent mix of “alternative” and “modern” medical methods.
I am a pacifist, Buddhist-raised-Jewish meditator. I am bisexual and an LGBTQQI2-S advocate (if you don’t know what those initials mean, you probably won’t want to read my posts on those topics unless you’d like to become better-educated).
I use science to make decisions, and climate change is real. I am an environmentalist, civil and animal rights activist/advocate who is pro-legalization of Cannabis and Marriage Equality. I work against all oppressions and “isms” actively and despise the cosmetics, “weight loss” and “beauty” industries. I use politically correct speech and in my writing and expect others to do so.
I re-blog on these topics.
I do NOT invite contentiousness or going-nowhere types of arguments. Believe whatever you do but don’t try to invalidate my views, especially on my own site. I do invite dialogue, new information and dissent that is respectful, as well as corrections.
Visit here knowing all that and you’ll be fine!

About my show, CHANGES conversations between authors,

an online, LIVE video talk show on YouTube via Google+ HOA (Hangout On Air)
Seeking guests (see below, in Announcements), and up to Episode 46 already, as of November 1, 2015!
I re-blog my guests’ news and about their new releases.

CHANGES Theme Image_3

About Meditation and Spiritual Practice

I am a devoted, practicing Tibetan Vajrayana Nyingma Buddhist since 1996, and a meditator since 1972. I write about my experiences and re-blog others’ and information about these topics regularly, including book reviews (see above, Buddhist Door.com).

About Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) and Concussions
I suffered on in April, 2014, and am still recovering. Many posts about this in 2014 and still some in 2015. These get a lot of views, so I guess many are interested in concussions and their aftermaths. I focus a lot on the impact this TBI has had on my ability to speak, write and meditate. I plan to continue. I re-blog on these topics.

About Publishing, Book Marketing, Writing, Writers

I welcome guest posts from Indie and Self-published or “hybrid” authors here. I re-blog a lot of great posts from book marketers, authors and other bloggers/writers.


Announcements:

#Crowdfunding with #Patreon: Sally Ember’s Campaign needs supporters! You can get rewards (from a free ebook for donating $4 or more, to discounts on editing, proofreading and/or writing tutoring services from Sally for larger donations) and support her writing, talk show and creativity by donating on Patreon.com/sallyember.

Seeking authors to be new guests for CHANGES as I resume shows after January 13, 2016. Please visit my page, here, and find out what your steps are for coming on and follow them! https://sallyember.com/changes-videocasts-by-sally-ember-ed-d/

CHANGES Trailer Image_3

Seeking Guest Bloggers: Wednesdays are my invitation days. If you’d like to guest blog, please visit this page and let me know! Guest Bloggers’ Hall of Fame.

Seeking collaborators to engage in what I am calling Crowdcreating for both Volumes VIII (young writers and those who write for YA/NA audiences) and IX (adult and senior writers) of The Spanners Series: co-write, contribute ideas, collaborate on sections or entire chapters with me!
Deadline is January 31, 2017.
Details are in the back of each Volume (another good reason to buy and read my books!).

Unknown's avatar

Final 2 Days! Fantasy & Science-Fiction Network’s Year’s BlockBuster Book Sale

FINAL 2 Days! Fantasy & Science-Fiction Network’s Year’s BlockBuster Book Sale Through 12/31/15! #SciFi #Fantasy #FSFnet

Two more days to load gifts into people’s ereaders! #Free and 99-cent sci-fi and fantasy stories and entire books available! Celebrate the New Year and cuddle up through winter weather with BOOKS!

FSFnet 2015 HolidaySale
http://fsfnet.com/2015/12/18/years-end-blockbuster-sale/

Find your favorite writers of Fantasy & Science-Fiction and new authors! Sale includes children’s, ebooks, paperbacks, short stories, audio books on sale, all rated G, PG, PG-13!

Sale includes:

logoAuthorsDen

20% off on the first or any of the three or all three paperbacks in The Spanners Series! Save $3.60 – $11.60!

3 paperbacks

Get Coupon Code for CreateSpace paperbacks ONLY in The Spanners Series by Sally Ember, Ed.D., by emailing sallyember @ Yahoo DOT com 12/19 – 31/15 then, browse for other specials: http://fsfnet.com/2015/12/12/coming-soon-years-end-blockbuster-sale/

Volume I, This Changes Everything, usually $17.99, save $3.60 http://www.CreateSpace.com/5837347 
EBOOK is permafree. Links: http://www.sallyember.com/Spanners Look right; scroll down.

Volume II, This Changes My Family and My Life Forever, usually $19.99, save $4.00 http://www.CreateSpace.com/5844431
EBOOK is $3.99 Links: http://www.sallyember.com/Spanners Look right; scroll down.

Volume III, This Is/Is Not the Way I Want Things to Change, usually $19.99, save $4.00 http://www.CreateSpace.com/5844474
EBOOK is $3.99 Links: http://www.sallyember.com/Spanners Look right; scroll down.

http://www.sallyember.com for book trailers, author interviews, excerpts, blurbs, more!

All from logo by Sally Ember, Ed.D.

FSFnetwork banner

Unknown's avatar

Excerpt from This Is/Is Not the Way I Want Things to Change, Volume III, The Spanners Series, CHAPTER INTERLUDE THIRTEEN, “Relationships and Off-Planetary Travel: Worm Holes and Quantum Entanglement”

Excerpt from This Is/Is Not the Way I Want Things to Change, Volume III,
The Spanners Series

CHAPTER INTERLUDE THIRTEEN, “Relationships and Off-Planetary Travel: Worm Holes and Quantum Entanglement”

by Sally Ember, Ed.D.
Copyright 2015 Sally Ember, Ed.D.
St. Louis, MO

logo_1833057_print high rez  transparent

July 14, 2017

Spanners - volume 3 cover final

CHAPTER INTERLUDE THIRTEEN

“Relationships and Off-Planetary Travel: Worm Holes and Quantum Entanglement,”
Speech at “Pandemonium Day” Celebrations given by Dr. Steve Jasny, M.D., Trainer at the Excellent Skills Program, and Dr. Clara Ackerman Branon, Ph.D., Earth’s Chief Communicator

BRANON: Thank you for inviting us to visit with you all on the ‘verseweb and in person here in old California at our Campus for Pandemonium Day. They say: “Chaos, madness and unexpected surprises abound on Pandemonium Day, when nothing can be predicted and everything can go wrong.”
JASNY: Let’s hope we’re not part of “what goes wrong,” Clara!
BRANON: If we are, we are, Steve! A little chaos is good for everyone! And, nobody can be prepared for everything, can we? Even when we timult…!
JASNY: True enough. Let’s get right into it. How does this all work, many ask, referring to off-planet travel, usually. Let’s explain a bit.
BRANON: By the end of The Transition, all Earthers with an iD and the ability to Access items on the ‘verseweb can choose to understand enough about the science. We all can know what is behind the ways we and others can travel across space-time so quickly. Every school kid across the globe, online or at home, can easily name the main components: quantum entanglement, worm holes, black holes, Dark Matter, Dark Energy.
JASNY: Yes, and we know movement occurs within a few zeptoseconds because the Higgs-bosun subatomic particles exist for approximately one zeptosecond—a thousandth of a billionth of a billionth of one second.
BRANON: Talk about “chaos”: how can we even conceive of such small amounts of time, especially when all time is simultaneous, what we call timultaneity? It’s mind-boggling.
JASNY: We learn by memorizing and then contemplating, same as we learn almost anything conceptual.
BRANON: Right. I’m proud to say I create this, so we have something even small kids can recite: “Every electron in the multiverse knows about every other electron.” We teach our kids to say this even before they all understand what an electron is.
JASNY: Quite clever, that. Get ’em young, right?
BRANON: The changes come so quickly, we have to have a way to assimilate them all.
JASNY: What is science-fiction for Einstein and others in the 20th and early 21st centuries on Earth becomes science fact in the 20teens, via the MWC’s willingness to share tech and knowledge with invited planetary members even before we completely join.
BRANON: Yes. First, they show us that magnetic worm holes allow objects and information to travel faster than the speed of light, which we previously believe is not possible. I keep hearing that song from the musical version of Cinderella, the one the Fairy Godmother sings, “Impossible.”
JASNY: We are now all those “zanies and fools, who don’t believe in sensible rules,” are we not? Once we learn that quantumly entangled particles are connected by little worm holes and that all subatomic particles are quantumly entangled, we understand something profound: anything, anywhere can move about the multiverse using worm holes.
BRANON: Many spiritual and religious people say this well before we ever meet The Band, before The Transition, Steve: “Everything is connected.” Interbeing. Interdependence. We learn to utilize these links.
JASNY: Precisely. We access worm holes to find that they transmit information among themselves at incredible speeds. Once we harness them, so to speak, it turns out that WE are some of that “information” they can transmit, which spawns the development of technology for off-planet travel for any Earthers.
BRANON: It’s so “romantic,” in the space opera sense. Any being who so desires can go far, far away quickly AND return, having aged hardly at all.
JASNY: Depending on who you are and when you’re reading or listening to this or having it wired directly into your learning or entertainment receptors, perhaps this information comes as no surprise to you. Or, perhaps every sentence we speak reverberates in you as something shocking. Or, you are somewhere in between: are you amused, fascinated, bored, faintly interested?
BRANON: Regardless…
JASNY: It’s all true.
BRANON: What isn’t as easily comprehensible for many, especially humans, is the coinciding link to interpersonal or interspecies relationships.
JASNY: We have to keep reflecting on this: EVERYTHING (meaning, EVERYONE) is connected, and not just by going through five or six other “degrees” of connection, either. We are all immediately, inextricably intertwined.
BRANON: Let that sink in for about a year or so. Then, ponder: quantum chromodynamics (QCD), which describes the strong interaction (one of the four fundamental forces of nature; the others are gravitation, electromagnetism and the weak interaction). QCD is responsible for binding quarks [subatomic particles] together. The strong force is carried by particles called gluons, so inside any particle held together by the strong interaction there will also be gluons. And in addition to the main quarks and gluons are “virtual” pairs of quarks and antiquarks (the antimatter counterpart of quarks) which continuously pop into and out of existence.
JASNY: Just like the holograms of The Band.
BRANON: Exactly. But before we enter into collaboration with the Many Worlds Collective, many of the most brilliant Earth physicists and mathematicians are frustrated. They can’t figure out how to calculate mass estimates of QCD, even when using our most powerful supercomputers running complex simulations, because our tech’s ability to calculate is so limited.
JASNY: We aren’t completely ignorant, by any definition, though. We do claim discovery of the baryons, called Xib’ and Xib* [pronounced zi-b-prime and zi-b-star] and we know that both particles contain one beauty, or b, quark, one strange quark and one down quark. We even know what differentiates these particles from one another and from one other conglomeration of the same three types of quarks. We understand this to be the arrangement of the quarks’ spins. Then, there are the elusive pentaquarks… topic for another day.
BRANON: Still, Earth scientists are stuck because, on our own, we are certain that the standard model is insufficient. It does not account for Dark Matter. We know this is key, and we finally do find out why. But, Dark Matter is also a topic for another day.
JASNY: Due to the MWC’s assistance, we know that when quantum particles are entangled, they cannot be described individually because they form a single quantum object, even if they are located far apart. The MWC helps by providing their measure for the amount of entanglement in a quantum system, called “entropy of entanglement.”
BRANON: When scientists here publicize their findings and add in the MWC’s info, we are all stunned to find out that what we perceive as three-dimensional is actually the image of two-dimensional processes throughout the multiverse, constantly changing and moving. In fact, everything is a hologram, including Earth, the Milky Way, the universe as we know it. This leads to holographology and holographysicists.
JASNY: We also find out that worm holes are everywhere: huge, medium, small, microscopic. EVERYWHERE. “Shocked” isn’t a strong enough word to describe how we feel when we learn that worm holes are usually microscopic channels between and among particles all around us.
BRANON: I know I feel creeped out, As if there are parasites of all kinds living in and on me. Ewwwww!
JASNY: A wormhole is like a tunnel between two parallel sheets of spacetime, connecting the multiverse timelines, locations in space, beings, objects: whatever can be connected. Nothing is eating you, though, Clara.
BRANON: Glad to hear it. As much as I love science, though, I’m more interested, as I’m sure many listening are, to find out how this all affects our interpersonal/interspecies relationships?
JASNY: Imagine this: entangled quark-antiquark pairs seem to be in ordinary 3D space, then rush away from each other, approaching the speed of light. This makes it seem impossible for this pair to pass signals from one to the other. The 3D space where the quarks reside is a hypothetical boundary of a 4D world. In the 3D space, the entangled pair is connected by a kind of conceptual string [yes, the proverbial strings of string theory] that, in 4D space, becomes a wormhole.
BRANON: Picture your pair of quarks, above, as both a string and a wormhole. Imagine that this quark-antiquark pair pops into existence in a strong electric field which then sends the oppositely charged particles accelerating in opposite directions. The entangled particles in the 3D world are connected by a wormhole in the 4D world.
JASNY: Confused, yet? We’re just getting started.
BRANON: What Earthers propose in the 20teens becomes possible via MWC tech: teleporting energy over long distances, because of quantum entanglement.
JASNY: Our scientists who play with the properties of squeezed light or vacuum states that should allow for the teleportation of information throughout an energy state are beside themselves with glee at this charmed (pun intended) side benefit of membership in the MWC.
BRANON: They are chomping at the bit, like racehorses at the Kentucky Derby who strain to be let out of the gate and start racing around: “Beam me up, Scotty” is ON!
JASNY: Well, not precisely like that. This type of teleportation can occur because whenever a change happens to one particle, the same change happens to the other. Hence, the impression of teleportation is actually an exchange of information, as I mention, above, via worm holes.
BRANON: But, as I also indicate: WE beings are sometimes that “information” that gets “exchanged.”
JASNY: Increasing the uncertainty of one value decreases the uncertainty of the value of others—–a sort of squeezing effect, which, when applied to light, leads to more pairs traveling together through a vacuum, which in turn leads to more of them being entangled, which allows for teleporting energy over virtually any distance.
BRANON: How does all this relate to physical movement to other planets? We become able to perceive ourselves’ being in two places at once. It isn’t that movement is involved, always, but that perception becomes more flexible.
JASNY: Scientists learn to create a quantum vortex, first in a lab, then anywhere. Earth experimenters also learn to generate dark solitons, which are relatively long-lived compared to other solitons.
BRANON: The bridge to relationships, to love, to interaction, is attraction.
JASNY: We know this from personal experience, don’t we, Clara? Some attractive interactions could stably exist, but only up to a certain critical atom number. Beyond this critical number, the attraction overwhelms the zero-point energy of the harmonic confining potential, causing the atoms to collapse in a burst reminiscent of a supernova explosion, where an implosion comes first, then an explosion. Too much of a “good thing,” right?
BRANON: In simpler terms: strong attraction can cause explosions and implosions, micro and macro.
JASNY: Yes. They sure can. Then, scientists find that there is a “reversible flip” from attraction to repulsion, that stems from quantum interference which behaves as waves. Love can turn to hate all too quickly, can’t it?
BRANON: That flip, as you call it, from attraction to repulsion, happens all too often in human relationships, as we know. Where is the switch, I want to know! How can we flip it back to attraction?
JASNY: When scientists raise the magnetic field’s strength, the atoms suddenly revert to attraction. But, they immediately implode and shrink, beyond detection. Rapidly, they then explode, expelling about two-thirds of the combined 10,000 or so atoms. About half of the atoms seem to disappear from the experiment altogether, not visible either in the cold remnant or the expanding gas cloud.
BRANON: What? When we try to flip repulsion back to attraction the object of our affection disappears? So unexpected. [Laughter]
JASNY: The energy state of an atom near absolute zero should not be enough to cause an implosion.
BRANON: Meaning, when we try to seduce or re-attract someone who is wavering, that should not send them heading for the hills, if we keep them warm enough. Where are they hiding, anyway? Are they really gone forever?
JASNY: The MWC informs us that the atoms that seem to disappear still exist: they form molecules of two bonded atoms.
BRANON: Oh. Of course. When our desired ones leave us they immediately find someone new to be attracted to and bond with the new one. Sure. How is that a good thing, Steve?
JASNY: The energy gained by making this transition, flipping the atoms from attraction to repulsion and back again, imparts a velocity sufficient for them to leave, i.e., to travel, without Earth scientists’ picking them up via our usual methods of observation.
BRANON: Our relationship problems, our entanglement issues, lead to breakthroughs? That does happen. Don’t we usually garner important personal insights from every break-up, Steve?
JASNY: We certainly hope so, Clara. And, thanks to the MWC, these experiences lead us to move forward in science as well. We learn to teleport “information” between two clouds of gas atoms and to carry out the teleportation––not just one or a few times, but successfully every single time, by means of laser light.
BRANON: The light and gas become entangled, which means they establish a quantum link––they are synchronized.
JASNY: The MWC continues throughout The Transition to enlighten us further. Their tech info confirms many of our suspicions: gravity is a superfluid, consciousness is actually a type of matter, and Dark Matter is everywhere, permeating and comprising everything that seems to exist.
BRANON: But, Dark Matter, as with all those worm holes, is not impinging on our illusory existence in any way, right, Steve?
JASNY: Right, Clara. We are, holographically speaking, whole and unharmed.
BRANON: Time for questions, Steve?
JASNY: Sure. Put them up on the ‘verseweb. We plan to go over them and respond quickly.
BRANON: But not instantaneously! Thank you all for your kind attention. We wish you well in all your entanglements!
JASNY: And, when you go off-planet, enjoy the ride!


Spanners - volume 3 cover final

Clara, Moran, Espe, Epifanio and the alien Band of holos are back in Volume III, This Is/Is Not the Way I Want Things to Change, of The Spanners Series. Psi-Defiers launch increasingly violent protests during this five-year Transition, attempting to block Earth’s membership into the Many Worlds Collective. Earth’s nations and borders must dissolve and Psi-Warriors must strengthen in their battle against the rebels.

Clara, as Earth’s first Chief Communicator, also juggles family conflicts and danger while creating psi skills training Campuses to help Earth through the Psi Wars. Clara timults alternate versions of their futures as the leaders’ duties and consciences force them to make difficult choices across multiple timelines, continuing to train and fight.

Will the Psi-Warriors’ and other leaders’ increasing psi skills, interspecies collaborations and budding alien alliances be enough for Earth to make it through The Transition intact?

If there is no clear path for Clara’s and Epifanio’s love, does she partner with Steve or go it alone?

What do YOU do with wanted/unwanted changes?

Sci-fi/romance/utopian/multiverse/psi/paranormal for adults, new adults, young adults, now in ebooks and paperbacks, Volumes I, II, III:

PAPERBACK on CreateSpace: Volume III, $19.99 https://www.createspace.com/5844474

PAPERBACK on CreateSpace: Volume II, $19.99 https://www.createspace.com/5844431 

PAPERBACK on CreateSpace: Volume I, $17.99 https://www.createspace.com/5837347 

Ebook of Volume III is $3.99:
SMASHWORDS: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/588331
AMAZON: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0177Z1KRM

final cover print

Ebook of Volume II is $3.99:
SMASHWORDS: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/424969  
AMAZON: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KU5Q7KC

This-Changes-Everything----web-and-ebooks

Ebook of Volume I is PERMAFREE:
AMAZON: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HFELTG8   
SMASHWORDS: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/376197

And on ibooks, Kobo, nook: look right, scroll down for all links for Volumes I, II, III, interviews, book trailers, reviews, more:
http://www.sallyember.com

logoAuthorsDen

All art for The Spanners Series by WillowRaven
http://www.willowraven-illustration.blogspot.com/

Unknown's avatar

“Crowdcreators” wanted: Research Topics Included in the The Spanners Series

logoAuthorsDen

Below is a somewhat complete list of the research topics included in my sci-fi/ romance/ utopian series for Youth, New and older Adults, below.

I plan to include some excerpts from already-published Volumes that relate to many of these topics over the next several months as I keep writing (working on Volume IV of X right now).

Will this entice some collaborators for Volumes VIII and IX, I hope? I’m experimenting with “Crowdcreating” these two Volumes!

Volume VIII (YA-oriented: youth writers and those writing for youth) Remaking Ourselves: Change Comes from Within, the Youth Speak [expected release, June, 2019]

The Many Worlds Collective (MWC), a consortium of planet and star systems all around the multiverse, includes Earth in probationary membership (The Transition) since December, 2012, and full membership since January, 2018. Over a thirty-year, increasingly utopian period, Earthers who survive are adapting and adjusting. Although many changes in politics, climate, government and safety are obvious, the most important and significant changes are within each individual Earther, human and non-human.

Volumes VIII and IX share the individual stories of “everyone”―–ordinary people, primates, cetaceans and cephalopods―–as they learn to live in this forever-transformed and transforming multiverse.

Remaking Ourselves: Change Comes from Within, the Youth Speak focuses on stories from young Earthers (ages 11 – 25).


Volume IX (NA/Adults: New and older Adult writers and those writing for NA/Adults) to “Crowdcreate” those two Volumes with me.
Remaking Ourselves: Change Comes from Within, the Adults Speak [expected release, Dec., 2019]

The Many Worlds Collective (MWC), a consortium of planet and star systems all around the multiverse, includes Earth in in probationary membership (The Transition) since December, 2012, and full membership since January, 2018. Over a thirty-year, increasingly utopian period, Earthers who survive are adapting and adjusting. Although many changes in politics, climate, government, and safety are obvious, the most important and significant changes are within each individual Earther.

Volumes VIII and IX share the individual stories of “everyone”―–ordinary people, primates, cetaceans and cephalopods―–as they learn to live in this forever-transformed and transforming multiverse. Those who barely avoid Sequestering are possibly the most interesting of all.

Remaking Ourselves: Change Comes from Within, the Adults Speak focuses on stories from Spanners (ages 26-over 100 years old).


Deadline for responding to me about wanting to write, co-write, or contribute to a Chapter or more in either or both Volumes is January 31, 2017.

Research Topics Included in the The Spanners Series.
What are you particularly interested in or know a lot about already? Comment here: http://www.sallyember.com/blog

Alternate/Parallel Universes and Timelines
Anthropology
Archaeology
Astronomy
Black Holes
Buddhism
Christianity
Cognitive Dissonance
Cosmology
Cultural Anthropology
Dark Energy
Dark Matter
Death/Afterlife
Dreams
Epigenetics
Exoplanets
Gender Identity
History
Human Biology
Judaism
Materials Science
Meditation
Morphic Resonance
Multiverse
Mushrooms
Mysticism
Neurobiology/Neuroscience
Neuroplasticity
Neuroscience
Nonlocality
Ontology
Physical Anthropology,
Political Science
Postcognition
Precognition
Psionics
Psychology
Quantum Physics and Entanglement
Reincarnation
Relationships
Sexual Orientation Identity
Social Change
Sociology
Sono-pictography
Space Travel
Sufism
Telekinesis
Telepathy
Teleportation
“The Butterfly Effect”
Wormholes
Xenobiology

Unknown's avatar

Announcing Release of This Is/is Not the Way I Want Things to Change, Vol III, The Spanners Series, on Devorah Fox’s site: Thanks, Dee!

Announcing Release of This Is/Is Not the Way I Want Things to Change, Vol III, The Spanners Series, by me, Sally Ember, Ed.D.! Complete formal announcement is, I am so grateful to say, LIVE on author Devorah Fox‘s site: Thanks, Dee!

Please visit, comment, share, retweet, and please BUY a science-fiction/romance/ multiverse/ psi/ utopian ebook for adults/New and Young Adults or a fantasy from Dee and from me! Don’t forget to leave a review when you’ve read one, also.

http://devorahfox.com/index.php/2015/12/spanners-vol-3/

Spanners - volume 3 cover final

MEANWHILE:
Volume III, This Is/Is Not the Way I Want Things to Change, NEW in both ebook ($3.99) and paperback ($19.99): https://www.createspace.com/5844474
#TheSpannersSeries #scifi #romance #utopian #fiction for adults/YA/NA by Sally Ember, Ed.D. GIVE #BOOKS for the Holidays!
Volume I, This Changes Everything, on #CreateSpace for $17.99 (ebook is permafree): https://www.createspace.com/5837347 
Volume II, This Changes My Family and My Life Forever, $19.99 (ebook, $3.99): https://www.createspace.com/5844431

All from Timult Books.

All 3 also on #Amazon after 12/13/15 and already on #Smashwords, #Kindle/Amazon, #nook, #iBooks, #Kobo in #ebook formats. http://www.sallyember.com/Spanners for 10% off discount code and all blurbs, covers, buy links, trailers, more.

Unknown's avatar

Excerpt from This Is/Is Not the Way I Want Things to Change, Volume III, The Spanners Series, CHAPTER ONE, Excellent Skills Program (ESP) Final Test, Level 11-A: Dr. Clara Ackerman Branon, Ph.D., Chief Communicator (CC), and Rabbi Moran Ackerman, Chief of OverSeers covert and Special Operations (OSOps)

Excerpt from This Is/Is Not the Way I Want Things to Change, Volume III,
The Spanners Series

CHAPTER ONE
Excellent Skills Program (ESP) Final Test, Level 11-A: Dr. Clara Ackerman Branon, Ph.D., Chief Communicator (CC), and Rabbi Moran Ackerman, Chief of OverSeers covert and Special Operations (OSOps)

by Sally Ember, Ed.D.
Copyright 2015 Sally Ember, Ed.D.
St. Louis, MO

logo_1833057_print high rez  transparent

January 14, 2015/ November 2, 2014

Spanners - volume 3 cover final

Fantastic accomplishments seem like something unattainable and everyone doing the extraordinary seems to be unlike you until YOU do something amazing. Then you realize those talented, heroic leaders are not different from you in any important ways.
—Clara Branon, Ph.D., Earth’s Chief Communicator, 2012 – 2042, responding, at her retirement, to: “How do you feel about being the first global leader and liaison for Earth to the Many Worlds Collective?”

Level 11-A: PRECOGNITION / POSTCOGNITION (stage II)

Improving accuracy/ Discernment of others’ accuracy

Earthers’ CC and OSOps Chief

Final Test Report to InterGalactic Council (IGC)
from “Led” and “Mick,” Assigned Trainers, Many Worlds Collective (MWC)

Excerpts from Video Transcript

[Simulation begins. Room appearance shifts to the setting of the exam. They are in a high-ceiling, large room of a rocky cave. It is mostly dark, but some stalactites glimmer above their heads, reflecting light from the cave’s entrance. A large pool of water is in front of Clara and Moran, between them and the entrance. There are stalagmites around and in the center of it, some apparently quite large. The way to the entrance seems blocked by them and the water, whose depth is unseen. The stalactites’ dripping into the pond are the only sounds.]

[Suddenly, the entire cave shudders several times. Rocks fall on Clara and Moran as the roof and walls crack. The pond roils. Some stalagmites crack and tumble down, further blocking the entrance. A few large rocks also fall and roll toward the entrance. A lot less light is visible at the mouth of the cave. Clara and Moran appear, seated on the cave floor, in the center.]

CLARA: Damn it, Moran. A cave? Why a cave? And, during a quake? Are you completely insane?
MORAN: It is fine, Aunt Clara. I timult our simulation and we do great.
CLARA: “Great”? Define “great”!
MORAN: You can trust me, you know.
CLARA: Trust is not my strong suit. As you well know.
MORAN: Noted. But, by Level 11, I believe you are supposed to be more, well, trusting. At least of me.
CLARA: I pick a city setting. Fraggers and Trenchers attack. We do “great” in that sim as well. Why do you override my choice?
MORAN: Because I can. No, seriously: because this one is better. I promise. We ace it. For sure.
CLARA: Look out!
MORAN: Whoa. Another earthquake! [He stands up to protect Clara from falling rocks.]
CLARA: [She stands up to push Moran away from the center, toward the wall.] Closer to the wall is safer! Come on!

[Outside the cave’s mouth are sounds of shouting, many people running, but none can be seen from where they stand.]

CLARA: The Trenchers and Fraggers can find us here and then we are trapped. I can feel some of their psi-activated scouts searching for us now. SHIELD.
MORAN: Shield up. Thanks. I am trying to timult our way out of here. Can’t feel them and timult at the same moment, yet.
CLARA: Sure. Sure. Okay. [breathing hard] Moran? Do you feel them now? About six or more, I think.
MORAN: And counting…. Yes, seven. I sense two more powerfully. Those are the ones to monitor. Setting up surveillance.
CLARA: Quakes coming again. Not as strong, but several.
MORAN: How many more?
CLARA: I think three. Maybe. I can’t tell. You?
MORAN: InKC time. [He closes his eyes.]
CLARA: Right. [She closes her eyes.]
MORAN: Two more, I think. Each weaker, but creating more damage. We do survive this, CC, although I see many larger cracks occurring and this entire part of the cave’s collapsing. We have to go deeper into it and find another way out.
CLARA: Absolutely not! I don’t see the collapse. Going deeper is going nowhere, unless you see another exit. Do you? And, where are the psi-scouts? They can capture us as we exit!
MORAN: Maybe. Not sure. Checking. [closes his eyes]
CLARA: Well, I’m not going deeper if you’re not sure and I can’t timult it myself for whatever reason. I think we can move one of those larger rocks and get out this way. Use our telekinesis.
MORAN: No. That pond could be very deep and cold. How do we get across it? How do we not get bisected by one of those… pointy things on the way?
CLARA: Stalagmites. “Stalagmites try with all their might to reach the stalactites, which hold on to the ceiling with all their might.” Can’t believe I remember that, from fourth grade.
MORAN: Plus, you can’t move squat. Your upper body strength is terrible. You know that.
CLARA: Desperate times…And, TK does not require physical strength. Let’s try.
MORAN: Worth a shot.

[Moran and Clara close their eyes, then open them and point their fingers at the largest rocks, but not the same ones.]

MORAN: Aunt Clara, not that one: this one!
CLARA: Oh. Why? This one is blocking it more.
MORAN: Well, that one is closer to the entrance, but it’s larger. If we move this one, we can squeeze by and get out. I know we can move this one.
CLARA: Do you see that or are you guessing?
MORAN: Well, estimating. Can’t timult anything about that. You try.
CLARA: Nope. No views.
MORAN: Let’s try the smaller one, then.
CLARA: Okay.

[Entire cave shudders again. More falling rocks. They cling to the wall, Moran is covering Clara’s head with one arm and his own with the other. Larger rock rolls over the entrance, almost completely blocking it. Smaller rock near it cracks and falls apart. More shouting and running from outside the cave.]

MORAN: I can’t precog the rest of this for love or money. What is my problem? Can’t feel the psi-scouts, again.
CLARA: When we use our TK for something so large, all the other Excellent Skills are temporarily blocked. That happens to me frequently in difficult assignments. [She starts coughing.] Oh, oh. Gas. Probably CO2.
MORAN: How do you know?
CLARA: No odor. The other poisonous gases in caves would stink and burn our eyes; this one doesn’t. We’re lucky it’s not ammonia, sulfur dioxide or methane.
MORAN: [coughing] Great. Clear eyes, but I can’t breathe. Less oxygen, more CO2. What now?
CLARA: This my phobia, suffocating in some way. Anything that deprives me of air freaks me out. I don’t even like to be in vehicles or buildings without air moving, probably because of my having asthma attacks when I am a lot younger, right? Almost don’t learn to snorkel or SCUBA dive because of my fears. And, my general mistrust of equipment made by humans doesn’t help, either.
MORAN: A snorkel is hardly “equipment,” Aunt Clara. Really. The only failure with snorkels occurs by the user’s incompetence. [laughs]
CLARA: So? I admit to being so scared I choke. I breathe at the wrong time, I sputter, I forget the correct procedures, all due to fear. I know it’s my fault. That’s the mechanism of phobias: we make our own misery. What about you?
MORAN: Okay. Claustrophobia. Don’t put me in a tight space where I can’t move, can’t see, can’t get enough space to think. I freak. Probably due to my two older brothers’ “sandwiching” me in all kinds of places when they’re bigger and stronger. They think it’s funny. Kuni lemls [goofs, idiots; Yiddish].
CLARA: Like a cave whose entrance is getting more blocked with each quake? Like this?
MORAN: Don’t rub it in.
CLARA: We expect The Band to force us to face our fears, so here we are.
MORAN: We are going to succeed in this. I know we can.
CLARA: My latest method for overcoming my fear of not breathing is to practice dying. You know, when we leave our bodies, when we die, our last breath is an out-breath. We exhale and never inhale again in that form. But, our brains are not dead, not inactive at all. I have this extreme fear that, at my death, when I exhale that final breath, I have a total internal freak-out because my brain knows it wants air and can’t get it any longer. I know I am ridiculous, but at the same time, that must be what happens, if we’re awake and know what’s going on, right? So, I practice. I am making progress.
MORAN: How do you practice dying?
CLARA: Like this. Tune in. [She demonstrates three long, slow breaths, inhaling, exhaling, then not inhaling after the third exhalation. Moran watches intently. When she gasps loudly, he startles.]
MORAN: Wow! You are truly panicking in there, CC. Is that “progress”?
CLARA: Yes, Moran. It is. I can go longer and longer without breathing again. When I do take a new breath, it’s not from fear; it’s a choice, now. Can’t help how I feel, but I can be better at controlling what I do and my motivation for doing it. Those are my signs of “progress,” with everything.
MORAN: Another quake is coming. Feel that?
CLARA: Yes.
MORAN: Bracing. [He looks around, his eyes wide open. Stands up, move around. Pushes against the walls, which are stable. Checks for movement. He returns to their wall positions.]
CLARA: Breathing. [Taking long, slow breaths again. Coughs at the end of them.]

[Cave shudders again. More falling rocks. Clara uses TK to keep them from hitting her or Moran. Moran senses that and joins her efforts. They create a telekinetic shield above and around them.]

CLARA: Perfect. Should be doing that all along. We raise our psi shields against the scouts and forget to protect ourselves from rocks right here. We’re dopes. [coughing]
MORAN: Assuredly. Less dopey, now. Good shield, CC.
CLARA: Not bad, Chief!
MORAN: Ready to try that entrance, again?
CLARA: Giving up on going deeper?
MORAN: I can’t tell if that’s best. [coughing] We’re running out of air, here. How could it be better further in? I might be wrong…
CLARA: [coughing] Try to timult again. Timelines are shifting quickly. [coughing] I can feel them but can’t get details.
MORAN: Well, if you can feel them, why can’t you timult for both of us? [coughing]
CLARA: Don’t know. [coughing] You try.
MORAN: Okay. [closes his eyes. Opens them immediately.] YES! There is another way out, or in. Many, actually. I see them, now. [coughing] We can go deeper and get out. C’mon. [He pushes her away from the wall.]
CLARA: Hold on. Are you sure? [coughing] We could try to TK that rock, again. As long as we’re here…
MORAN: [coughing] We can’t stay here. Good air is running out too quickly.

[Hands appear in the space above the rock blocking the cave’s entrance. Shouting from outside the cave. “They’re in here!”]

CLARA: We have to get out of here. NOW. [coughing] Can you teleport the rocks?
MORAN: No. [coughing] Feeling too weak. I can move US, by walking. Let’s go!
CLARA: What if you’re wrong? [coughing] What if you merely see what you want to see? That happens a lot, you know. [coughing] Happens to me all the time. How can you tell? Let’s try to move that rock, first. [coughing]
MORAN: No. I’m right. [coughing] We’re moving. That’s it. [coughing] Now. Another quake any minute; we lose what air is left. [coughing] MOVE!
CLARA: Let me try….[coughing] Oy. I have thirty years on you and mild COPD. I can hardly breathe, now. [coughing a lot longer, panting]
MORAN: Aunt Clara: You have to trust me. [coughing] Go! [coughing]
CLARA: [coughing] All right. I’m going. [coughing, panting]

[Moran takes her hand and leads them toward the darker part of the cave. Both are coughing almost continually, not talking much. Cave shudders again. Falling rocks around them; their TK shield protects them as they move. Clara looks back to see another rock falling, completely blocking the entrance. She moves faster behind Moran, who is almost running, pulling her along. They move quickly, then Moran stops.]

MORAN: Wait. Wait here. [coughing] I have to…. [He closes his eyes, then a ball of light appears in front of him.] There. Okay. Now we can go. [coughing]
CLARA: When do you learn to do that? I don’t remember that class. [coughing, panting]
MORAN: Mick. [coughing] Special lessons. OSOps. Comes in handy.
CLARA: How much further? [coughing]
MORAN: Not much.
CLARA: I’m getting tired. [coughing]
MORAN: Energize, then.
CLARA: What?
MORAN: Energize. Like this: [Moran blows two quick breaths out, then three quick in. Repeats.]
CLARA: [imitates Moran] More from Mick?
MORAN: I guess. I don’t know what you aren’t getting. Sure.
CLARA: That works! Thanks! Less coughing, too.
MORAN: Not much further. There! [Moran points to a ray of light to their left.] That one!
CLARA: The air is better, now. You save us, Moran.
MORAN: Perfect. It’s large enough that we can walk right out!
CLARA: Wait. Checking for scouts.
MORAN: Right.
CLARA: Clear?
MORAN: Clear!
CLARA: I’m sorry for not trusting you. You are good at this, Moran!
MORAN: Getting better, for sure. Thanks. Ready to ‘port back?
CLARA: Teleport us in your best style, please, Chief!

[They exit the cave, then emanate at The Campus. Simulation ends.]

Evaluation Summary
Clara and Moran engage in day-long simulation as Final Exam for ESP
Pre- & Postcognition, Level 11-A, January 14, 2015, Earth Calendar

—Moran disputes Clara’s assessments in several sections. Arguments ensue.

—Without Clara’s concessions to Moran and Moran’s successful assertions of his correctness, they both must re-take the exam.

KEYS:
—Certainty in discernment of others’ accuracy.
—Elimination of attachment to one’s own rightness.
—Appropriate confidence vs. inappropriate/misplaced pride.
—Trust in the other’s abilities.
—Managing phobias to think clearly.

PASS

APPLICATIONS:
—They utilize their strengthening capabilities to trust one another to argue, concede, decide, move on, in many situations, e.g., when capturing Eli Kriegsman and when Liora Ackerman is kidnapped, alternating who concedes, who assesses accurately, with greater ease.

RECOMMENDATIONS:
—Clara to practice relinquishing control and attachment to being “right.”
—Moran to assert his assessments with more confidence, particularly with senior OSOps.
—Clara to build on this to trust Moran more.
—Both to continue to manage phobias.
—Both to continue to check and double-check the other’s assessments often.


Spanners - volume 3 cover final

Clara, Moran, Espe, Epifanio and the alien Band of holos are back in Volume III, This Is/Is Not the Way I Want Things to Change, of The Spanners Series. Psi-Defiers launch increasingly violent protests during this five-year Transition, attempting to block Earth’s membership into the Many Worlds Collective. Earth’s nations and borders must dissolve and Psi-Warriors must strengthen in their battle against the rebels.

Clara, as Earth’s first Chief Communicator, also juggles family conflicts and danger while creating psi skills training Campuses to help Earth through the Psi Wars. Clara timults alternate versions of their futures as the leaders’ duties and consciences force them to make difficult choices across multiple timelines, continuing to train and fight.

Will the Psi-Warriors’ and other leaders’ increasing psi skills, interspecies collaborations and budding alien alliances be enough for Earth to make it through The Transition intact?

If there is no clear path for Clara’s and Epifanio’s love, does she partner with Steve or go it alone?

What do YOU do with wanted/unwanted changes?

Sci-fi/romance/utopian/multiverse/psi/paranormal for adults, new adults, young adults, now in ebooks and paperbacks, Volumes I, II, III:

PAPERBACK on CreateSpace: Volume III, $19.99 https://www.createspace.com/5844474

PAPERBACK on CreateSpace: Volume II, $19.99 https://www.createspace.com/5844431 

PAPERBACK on CreateSpace: Volume I, $17.99 https://www.createspace.com/5837347 

Ebook of Volume III is $1.99 for a few more days (during pre-orders, through 12/7/15) then $3.99:
SMASHWORDS: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/588331
AMAZON: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0177Z1KRM

final cover print

Ebook of Volume II is $3.99:
SMASHWORDS: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/424969  
AMAZON: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KU5Q7KC

This-Changes-Everything----web-and-ebooks

Ebook of Volume I is PERMAFREE:
AMAZON: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HFELTG8   
SMASHWORDS: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/376197

And on ibooks, Kobo, nook: look right, scroll down for all links for Volumes I, II, III, interviews, book trailers, reviews, more:
http://www.sallyember.com

logoAuthorsDen

All art for The Spanners Series by WillowRaven
http://www.willowraven-illustration.blogspot.com/

Unknown's avatar

Excerpt from This Changes My Family and My Life Forever, Volume II, The Spanners Series: CHAPTER ONE Interview with Zephyr Branon, 38, child of Dr. Clara Ackerman Branon, Ph.D., Chief Communicator

CHAPTER ONE
Interview with Zephyr Branon, 38, son
of Dr. Clara Ackerman Branon, Ph.D., Chief Communicator

Excerpt from

This Changes My Family and My Life Forever, Volume II, The Spanners Series
by Sally Ember, Ed.D.
Copyright 2014 Sally Ember, Ed.D.
St. Louis, MO

logo_1833057_print high rez  transparent

Interview Date: May 20, 2018

final cover print

ZEPHYR: Espe gives me and all my cousins this questionnaire and tells us she’s going to call us and interview us on these questions. She tells us that Earthers–—that’s what everyone on our planet is now referred to, including communicative and intelligent nonhuman species, like whales, squids, dolphins, orangutans, bonobos, chimps, parrots and gorillas–—want to know what The Transition is like from the points of view of younger people, particularly those close to my mom, the Chief Communicator. Well, I guess I’m the closest young person to Clara Branon, since I’m her only child.

I don’t feel that young, though. I am 32 when the MWC holos first come to her and I’m 38, now. But, I guess by Spanners’ standards, I’m young.

Espe is asking us to speak in the present tense (for those of us who understand that, I suppose), to keep with the timultaneity (HA! That’s MY word!) awareness that is everywhere, now. It’s weird, but I say I try. I know Espe fixes it afterward.

We are each responding to the same ten questions, which Espe tells me are like those “Ten Questions for….” famous people interviews that TIME magazine uses. That’s fine. But, I tell Espe I’m going to say what I want. If a question doesn’t lead me where I want to go, I’m going, anyway.

She agrees that my perspective is unique and I am generous to share it. Generous. Sure. Opinionated, more like it. And, very informed. My mom and I talk. A lot.

Most of my numerous cousins are significantly younger than I am. Lavi Ackerman is one year older and his brother, Agam, is one year younger than I, but the rest stair-step down from there, all the way to the Aunt Violet’s twins, Dara and Shira, over twenty years younger. This makes sense when you know that Violet is eleven years younger than my mom and has four children.

Uncle Thomas, one year older than my mom, also has four children. Cousin Lav is his eldest. Aunt Cassie, about six years younger than my mom, has three. [See Appendix E for Family Tree.] Basically, there are a lot of Ackermans.

Kayla Marsh, my wife, and I are married in 2015. She and I are together but we’re not married when The Transition starts.

So, Ten Questions for the twelve of us each to answer. We’ll see how that goes.

[Editor, Esperanza Enlace‘s, note: anything in printed square brackets or signaled at start and finish by the “bing” signal, for the vision-impaired or those who are listening rather than reading, are the Editor’s comments or explanations and not the Interviewee’s words.]

10 Questions for Clara Branon’s Son: the Transition, 5 Years Later

1. How old are you when the Transition begins, winter, 2013, and how old are you now?
ZEPHYR: I am 32 when The Band comes to my mom (I name the group that!), in late December, 2012. I am now 38, since this is mid-May, 2018, and my birthday is May 1. [Zephyr names the MWC delegation “The Band” since they all choose nicknames that belong to famous 1960’s pop or rock & roll band members: Led for Led Zeppelin; Ringo for Ringo Starr of the Beatles; Diana for Diana Ross; Mick for Mick Jagger; Janis for Janis Joplin.]

2. What is your favorite part of the changes since The Transition? Why?
ZEPHYR: I really love it when all the Xchanges begin, first Earth Physics & Astrophysics, in early 2014, then all Physical Sciences throughout that year, then Social Sciences and ESP [Excellent Skills Program] studies in 2015, along with Communication & Technological Innovations, Arts, Writing & Music, Cultural Collaborations.

They have one or two each season until we have them all in a regular rotation. I attend the first one of each Xchange, and now I go to about three a year. They’re like TED talks on acid!

My favorite ones are the Technology and Arts/Music ones, because I work in the first area and play in the second, but I like them all. Inventions/innovations are awesome. I especially like going when they have them on planets or locations that are new to me (all of them, almost!).

Space travel is the BEST! I hope every Earther gets to go off-planet at least once. Going “out” changes us. If anyone wants to know more about any Xchanges, use your iDs and Access them.

One story and then I’ll move on.

********

For the first Technology Xchange, which is on Kepler 22 d in the Earth summer month of July in 2016, I am one of only a handful of Earthers invited and able to attend. We travel there in various ways. I go with my mom, you [Espe], and a few others. When we arrive, many are not feeling so great, especially my mom and I. Something about our livers, a genetic predisposition to problems there for us both, affects us during the off-p traveling experiences.

Knowing that some of us are physically less than optimal seems to instigate a fly-over: We have on our OPTS [Optimal Personal/Positioning Travel/Temporary Suits] for the gravity differential (about 25%), but we’re carrying the head gear since the air is breathable and many of us are reducing our sleeves since the temperature is about 77F/25C.

Led and a few others who are there in physical form (our first time meeting most of them except as holos) come to the enclosure (which has no roof) in which we are staying and hover over us. While they are hovering, a kind of mist or drizzle of some bluish substance begins to emanate, falling towards us from their bodies. When it reaches our heads or arms or wherever it first touches us, it enters our systems via our pores, hair follicles and scalps.

We are immediately calmed, soothed, happy. We are also no longer nauseated, tired, or strained. I mean, like, in one second, human time, from contact to relief.

Amazing. Best drug, EVER. Not a high, but a very soothing relief.

********

I find out later that this is something they call, in English for our sake,”Travelers’ Juice,” even though it’s composed of something akin to nanobots suspended in a liquid medium. Hilarious.

Led tells us we could drink it, bathe in it, wear it or let it touch us: works in all those ways. Is Travelers’ Juice [TJ] something that falls within technology, health, science, chemistry, or what? You decide.

Whichever it is, Earthers start making and using it from that day onward, as we all know, now. For free. Anyone can go to a TJ bar or fountain. Stores that carry TJ offer it cheaply or free, the way people could get matches, napkins or water a while ago. Widely available.

TJ is a soother, kind of like aspirin if you have a headache, but better. No ill effects, no addiction possible. Excellent. Don’t leave Earth without it!

TJ also works for all types of motion or altitude sickness and depth diving since TJ balances nitrogen to oxygen and rectifies all neurotransmitting chemicals, inner ear workings and whatnot for humans. I have no idea what it does to other species, but all of us seem to dig it.

3. What Transition changes have been the hardest or least favorite for you, and why?
ZEPHYR: Well, it’s very weird having the CC [Chief Communicator] for a mom, or having my mom become the CC, however you want to look at it. It’s not all good or all bad. It’s unique.

People bug me a lot asking for information I don’t have or rudely invading my privacy. I can’t really blame that on The Transition, exactly, but I kind of have to, right? I mean, she wouldn’t be CC if there is no Public Contact. Anyway, I’m not the only one with this exact problem or situation, but I think it’s worth mentioning.

It’s also so WRONG, to make her into a doll or, worse, a teddy bear [Zephyr is referring to the “Clara-Bear,” which comes out as a toy and collectors’ item late in 2013]. Would you like to see one of your parents’ likenesses starting at you from a toy’s face, especially a bear’s? Downright spooky. On the other hand, our daughter, Kendall, who is almost eighteen months old, receives a few every month.

Kayla, my wife, laughs when I get all creeped out by having my mom’s face all over Kendall’s toys. For this, the CC’s son needs intensive therapy. Kidding.

Now that she can talk a little, Kendall calls these dolls or toys and my mom CAH-LAH, since she can’t manage “Clara,” yet. Kendall also calls my mom CeeCee ’cause she hears others call her that. My mom prefers “Grandma,” though. We’re working on it.

Unfortunately for my mom, I think “CAH-LAH” may become “Grandma” for my kids. It’s a tradition in my mom’s family that the oldest grandchild nicknames the grandparents, and since I’m my parents’ only child, it’s all on Kendall.

More seriously, about The Transition and my mom as CC: it is upsetting and scary to hear about all the deaths and psychotic episodes people are having during those first few weeks and even months, APC [After Public Contact]. My mom and I talk during this and she explains what’s going on, but, still, I am very unsettled by all that.

We all know people who die, go berserk, can’t handle the T [Transition]. My dad [Abraham Wood Branon] loses a lot of friends, mostly because his friends are a lot older than my mom, as he is [ten years older].

Some of my tech and music friends are cool with it, but a few are quite rigid in their thinking. Their minds can’t cope with the new info–—aliens, other species communications with fish on Earth, off-p travel–—the whole deal. They freak out.

Some join the Fraggers [Fragmenters] so they can find people who agree with them to join them in yelling or writing public letters about it. They’re angry, but mostly harmless. The scarier ones become Trenchers, fighting the T all the way until they get ReInvolved or Qed [Sequestered].

My cousin, Moran, and the other MWC Psi-Warriors plus my mom and The Band have a lot to do with how nonviolently this all goes down. I’m glad that almost no one is killed during the Psi Wars without a chance for ReInvolvement or the choice to be temporarily Qed.

I know my mom does everything she can in advance to help prevent and reduce the numbers of people adversely affected, so no one can say it is her fault or responsibility, although some people DO. Those must be the same people who blame President Obama for Hurricane Katrina’s devastation on the USA southern coastal cities even though he isn’t even President when it occurs, or who blame the hurricanes on homosexuality.

I know my mom still feels badly about not being able to save more people. She’s very sensitive that way. I understand that.

4. Where are you and what are you doing when you find out about the Many Worlds Collective and that your mom is the liaison/Chief Communicator?
ZEPHYR: My reaction is not the same as anyone else’s because my mom starts sending me the “story” as if she’s writing science-fiction novels, in February, 2012. I have a feeling, knowing my mom, that a lot of it is true or about to be true. I don’t say anything like that, at first.

But, when things start happening for her and you, Espe, and for her and Epifanio, just as she writes, I ask her about the rest.

So, around October, 2012, she tells me the MWC are actually coming. I get about a two-months’ head start on most people, about a year to get mentally ready.

I’m all in favor of it. Membership in the MWC, I mean. Earth really needs help. No question.

I know how my mom explains it but I still do not understand why they choose her, of over seven billion humans and all the other, in my mind, more obvious choices among Earthers who could have been chosen. Why not one of the dolphins, for example? No offense, Mom.

But, I’m getting used to it and glad she is CC, in some ways. I get some really cool tips, “toys,” experiences and privileges as the CC’s only child that no one else gets.

5. How do you feel about Clara’s role when it starts? How are you affected immediately?
ZEPHYR: I think I previously answer this. Move on.

Oh, all right.

I feel downright special.

There. Happy, now?

[I nod.]

ZEPHYR: OK, wait. There is one thing. Some people I know start to treat me differently. The way I could compare it might be this: if I had won the lottery, certain people would come out of nowhere and claim to be my friend, but they just want money.

In that vein, some people I haven’t talked to or don’t know well are suddenly going on and on about what “good friends” we are. Some of them go on the media and talk about knowing me and my mom, being at our house when I was growing up, being my girlfriend or best friend, or hers, and stuff like that. When it’s true, I don’t mind. But, some of them are actually lying or wildly exaggerating and that burns me.

My mom convinces me to let them be, so I do. I just don’t get the point: are they that desperate for attention? What tools.

Something else occurs to me, right now, though: I’m glad I’m already with Kayla before all this happens, or I might never know why she’s really into me, right?

In the department of stalkerville: even though our relationship is long-term, committed, monogamous, and known to the public, I still get invitations, sexual and personal, almost every month or so, from some whack-job or another. My mom’s security team collects them; I don’t even read them. Every now and then, my mom or Moran or one of the other OSes tells me to BOLO [Be On the Look Out] for some of these “fans.” When they have show me what these oddballs write to me so I can recognize their “signatures,” I am appalled. That is some crazy shit.

6. How do you feel about Clara’s role, now, 5 years later? How does her role affect you now?
ZEPHYR: I will add to what I say before this question that I am very proud of my mom. I think she’s doing an amazing job. Really. I am a very strong critic, usually, especially of my parents. [Laughs.] She says if I think she’s doing “all right,” she must be doing great.

Sometimes we have disagreements about what to do, when to do it. She calls me her “best informal informant.” She comes to me quite often, especially when things are going down that affect those my age or younger.

Because of her hearing loss, we have hilarious misunderstandings. Once, recently, I tell her the reason she can’t hear me is that her ears are too far from her head. We both laugh about that for quite a while. Another time, because of her mis-hearing me, we go ’round and ’round and don’t get anywhere in our conversation. Exasperated, I say that talking to her is like talking to a bicycle. That sends us into gales of laughter for another few minutes. So it goes.

My aunt Violet, being so much younger than my mom and not at all hard of hearing, says talking to my mom is like using the auto-correct feature in early cell phones: many ridiculous messages transpire.

It’s a lot like that when my mom and I talk, because of the randomly occurring hearing loss effects. She hears some things perfectly clearly and others very garbled, but she doesn’t know how garbled until we talk about it.

I tell her: “Mom. Get a hearing aid.”

She answers something along the lines of: “When they make better ones, I do.”

Another age-related problem: increasingly silly texts are sent when my mom doesn’t wear her reading glasses when she’s typing or reading her texts. In 2015, when she gets her personally-adjustable, digital hearing aids and corneal transplants, we all breathe sighs of relief, across the multiverse.

The hearing aids amplify only what she needs exactly as much as she needs, which is what she is holding out for all along. She knows they’re coming so she won’t put up with the substandard ones before 2015.

We all suffer.

On a good note, she knows when she needs help and asks for it. My mom consults with me, some of my cousins and some of her younger friends for tech help and to discuss how current policy discussions might be perceived or impact non-Spanners (people around my age and younger). Most often, she talks to me and Epifanio for informal feedback or ideas.

The CC has all these advisors, contacts, others–—you know–—for formal consultations.

And, you, Espe. You’re great!

7. Which of the MWC members or other species visitors do you have contact with? How and why, and how is that for you?
ZEPHYR: Again, I’m in a unique position. The Band delegates are kind of like relatives to me, at this point, like uncles and aunts, almost. Not that I see them often, but I hear about them a lot and I am “with” them many times, as holos and off-p. I am one of the first non-OS trainees, adults, to be enrolled in ESP [Excellent/Extraordinary Skills Program] training, so Mick and I are quite close, I think, since he runs it.

When Kayla, Kendall and I move to California, right near The Campus, in the summer of 2015, that is right before The Campus has its big blow-out celebration for my mom’s birthday. So, we’re here for that. Things heat up, so to speak, right after that regarding the Psi Wars and lots of other stuff.

What I mean by that is, my family and I are spending a lot more time being directly involved in MWC activities and with things at The Campus now that we’re so close.

And, Espe, well, you’re like a sister. Right, E? You call me a lot, we hang out, we email and text.

When you have trouble understanding my mom, I am the translator. I think part of it is that we’re the same age, so we get each other. I often have to explain you to my mom as well.

[We both laugh.]

ZEPHYR: Plus, you and Kayla are great friends. Sometimes I think you and Kayla get together so you can vent about the Branons. I don’t blame you!

Of The Band, I think Mick and I are the most “in tune,” since he’s the main tech guy and he also, like me, is very into music. But, I really enjoy the pairPartners [Janis–—Diana], and since Kayla is a dancer, they groove with each other very well, too.

When I want to know more about how my mom’s doing or feeling: I ask Janis–—Diana.

When I have questions about protocol or Re-sets, issues or politics, Led is my man.

For the ESP training “insider” stuff, like cheats and shortcuts, I go to Ringo. Ringo also knows a lot about what’s happening back on the IGC [InterGalactic Council] mainframe, so to speak, so for up-to-the-minute news about Xchanges, innovations and such, I ask Mick or Ringo.

Most Earthers have to use their iDs, but because I’m, well, me, I have special Access to each of them, directly, you know, telepathically. Only Moran, my mom and I have that, I think. Or, maybe, Epifanio does. I don’t ask him about this, actually.

You can’t ‘path The Band, right E?

ESPE: I cannot. They can ‘path me, though. Usually, they don’t.

ZEPHYR: As far as communicating with other Earthers, especially non-humans, that depends on what I’m doing, I guess, and where I and they are at any given time. Some of the Primates make music with me. The best are the cephalopods, especially some of the octopi. They are remarkable!

I get together with musically inclined off-worlders at every Music Xchange. I record some of that, which is so cool. With music, we don’t even need to use the fish [Interspecies Communication System]. Tell listeners/readers to check out my music site, OK? [zephyrbranonmusic.mwcw]

8. What transforms your life more: your fish [Interspecies Communication System], your iD [Individual Access Devices Interface], or travel to other planets/moons? How?
ZEPHYR: Obviously, I love my iD and use it constantly. I love the way my iD has a wireless hook-up to my music players, both at home and when I’m out, so I can get music from ANYWHERE, any time. That is sweet.

I use the fish a lot when I travel or am out in nature. We use it at home to talk with our cat and dog, but not often as an ordinary translator. With telepathy, once I’m at Level 2 solidly, I can understand most species on Earth or off-p, one-on-one, without the fish.

Interplanetary and intergalactic travel are the most amazing addition to our lives that anyone could imagine, and I am still humbled and excited every time I get to go out. I never get tired of that and hope to make many more off-p trips. I want to bring my family on some, too.

We don’t do that, yet, although Kayla goes out and we make one trip together, also. Got to bring the kids, right? It’s what families do on a family vacation, like going to the Grand Canyon or whatever, only infinitely more cool.

As far as transforming my life…that’s harder to see, for me. I’m sure my life is transformed, and not only on the surface, but how to explain that?

I can’t imagine my life without it, all of it. Timulting isn’t my thing.

We change every day, every minute. How, specifically, does The Transition change me…? I’ll have to get back to you on that.

My dad has a hard time with some of it, like many people his age–—he’s ten years older than my mom, so almost 70 when she starts being the CC. They talk a lot, which I think helps, at first, but then she gets so busy she doesn’t check in as often, and he’s kind of a hermit-type.

I think my dad is kind of awed and mystified, but he is that a lot, anyway, about many things and people. He’s a Sufi. A mystic. He whirls. Like they do in Turkey. With the big hat and skirt with metal in the hem. Ever see him do that?

[Yes.]

I zoom in on him a lot these days, and I worry too much, probably. Try to imagine: my dad is one of the oldest Spanners, born in 1944. What he’s lived through, the changes he’s seen! I can’t really grok it, myself.

It’s harder for him after we move here, so I visit him a lot. That’s another thing I appreciate: off-p travel methods work on-p as well, so getting to and from, say, old California to old New Hampshire: just a thought and a movement away. No TJ needed, either!

9. How do your friends, family, wife and children feel about your mom as the CC and how does this affect your own relationships?
ZEPHYR: If you want to know how Kayla feels, you best ask her. Kendall has no clue, since she’s not even two. To Kendall, the famous Chief Communicator is just my mom and her grandmother.

My friends are mostly jealous. Completely.

Some of them say things like: “We’re so NOT surprised that your mom is doing this; she’s always been…unusual.” They’re right, of course. My mom is always the one who is way over in the red zone on the Strange Meter compared to my friends’ moms. Good strange, though, not awful strange.

I feel kind of badly when friends ask me stuff and I’m not allowed to say, but they understand, by now. I am allowed to talk to Kayla about things that I can’t talk to anyone else about (I get permission, and so does my mom, early on), and also, to my dad. My mom also talks directly with my dad, so that’s cool.

I don’t know what my dad tells his brother and sister; my grandparents on that side are dead already before the changes set in (my grandfather is dead almost ten years before; my grandmother is already demented and then dies early into The Transition), so, in a way, that’s good, or this would kill them, for sure. They never liked my mom.

I think this would be a lot harder without those permissions, though. That would suck. I know about that a little since I am not allowed to say anything to Kayla or my dad until December, when I know since October, in 2012. Those two months last FOREVER.

Once I am able to talk with them, though, especially Kayla, everything is much easier. She really helps me adjust to the “fame.” I am not expecting that. I blame my mom; she doesn’t put my fame problems in Volume I, which is the only one I see BPC [Before Public Contact]! [laughter]

I do have questions I can’t ask her. Here is one exchange I can share in which I ask some key questions.

********

During one of my ESP training sessions, I ask Mick: “Why does the MWC only come to one member of the dominant species on each member orb to be the Liaison for Transition and after that? Isn’t that a lot of pressure on that one being, their family and friends?”

Mick replies: “Every time we try working with more than one being as Liaison, we have to do extensive Re-sets. This happens on my planet, my CeeCee tells me [The Chief Communicator on Mick’s planet is a relative of his, like an uncle].”

“Problems are two-fold,” he continues. “One, consistency of information dissemination; two, reliability of witnesses.”

I start to ask a follow-up, but Mick’s on a roll, as he often is: “As soon as you have more than one individual telling any story, you run into contradictions and disparities. These widen out the further you go from each individual until the distortions are unacceptable. It’s like your game of ‘telephone,’ yes?”

I nod. I see the problem clearly as he describes it. I know he can tell I understand, because he nods and says: “So, one Transition, one Liaison. Information flows in a straight line from the MWC to the Liaison, from the Chief Communicator via her media contact to the orbs’ inhabitants. Works best. Protocol, now.”

I believe him.

Mick then gives me a nodding gesture with his headpiece and says,”You are our second choice.”

I feel as if he punches me in the gut with that. No way! I could never…

Then, Mick makes his laughing noise.

Whew! Just kidding!

********

Sick sense of humor. Gotta love that.

I do wonder who else is on their short list, though? No pun intended, Little Mom.

10. What else do you want to tell us about your experiences of Clara as the CC or the Transition?
ZEPHYR: When I am a kid, my mom and dad raise me to be different from mainstream people in about a hundred ways. For example, they really talk with me from a very young age and still do. They and all their friends raise kids the way they raised me, communication-wise. For a while, I don’t know how different I and my peers in this community are.

Then, at about fourteen, I go out “into the world,” away from the private, Waldorf-education-“bubble,” away from our hippie community, into public schools, cities, etc. I am amazed at how different I am from those teens and how far my families in our community are from those families. Values, lifestyles, attitudes, sex and relationships, personal choices, money use, decision-making processes, dealing with emotions, clothing, music, reading materials (that we read for fun at all!), cable TV vs. NPR [National Public Radio]: countless differences that, one at a time, don’t seem significant, but add them all up and we are worlds apart.

Being an adult seems to be more of that same experience: I still see a huge disparity between me and most people, even guys my age “Western” Earth societies. Kayla agrees: I am Clara’s son and it shows.

There is one guy I feel a kinship with, even though we’ve never met: Matt Damon. When I’m a kid, my mom tells me about this feminist researcher on gender roles who writes about her son who wants to wear barrettes in his long hair to keep it out of his face. Since I have long hair (my choice) from age three to sixteen, I am interested. She goes on. This writer explains how much crap the school teachers and others give them, but she and her son were quite happy with his choices. This writer/researcher/mom produces several books about masculinity, raising sons, war toys and other topics in the category of feminist parenting that are dear to my mother’s heart.

Who is that feminist parenting icon? You guessed it: Matt’s mom [Nancy Carlsson-Paige]. I know, if we ever get to talk, we find we have a lot in common.

With who my mom is and her being CeeCee, I feel unique, but this feeling is not unfamiliar, you see? For example, I can cook, do laundry, balance checkbooks, play with kids, plan a schedule, hold a job, manage my life, deal with emotions, communicate clearly (even though I do yell a lot for a while), all by the age of 16. We know people, especially men my age NOW, who can’t do most of those things.

Kayla says I am “the only man she’s ever known who… ” Fill in the blank, with about ten useful or appealing (to her) characteristics or behaviors. Her parents don’t know quite what to do with me or my mom, even now, five years later.

Kayla’s parents are nice, mainstream, good people. That’s the thing. Regular. I don’t mean commonplace or average, just, well, ordinary. Not unusual in any large ways. They are unique, of course; everyone is. But, you know what I mean? They blend.

My mom, even before she is CC, says about herself: “I’m so far from the mainstream, I can’t even hear the river running.”

So, imagine coming from a mainstream upbringing and marrying into this family? Holy shit! I hand it to Kayla: she’s courageous! I tell her, all the time. She laughs at me. In a nice way. With hugs.

Kayla and her parents are offered a trip out with me about two years ago, when Kayla is only a few months pregnant, to go to one of the Xchanges (Cultural collaborations) on Led’s planet, Gliese 581 d. Kayla says “yes” and she does go.

She really tries to talk her parents into coming, but they can’t wrap their minds around it. Won’t come. And, they’re younger than my mom, so it’s not age that’s making them less flexible, less open to change.

Also, Kayla’s parents seem kind of spooked by the whole ESP training and are uncomfortable around me in new ways once I’m in the Program. I think they believe I’m reading their minds or controlling Kayla or something. Sheesh.

The Transition and its opportunities are not for everyone to embrace equally.

Me? Mostly, I love it all. And, I love my mom.

I feel very lucky, all around.

Are we done?

This is fun, E. Thanks.

[hugs]


final cover print

Intrigued by multiple timelines, aliens, psi skills, romance and planetary change? Clara and the alien “Band” are back in Volume II, This Changes My Family and My Life Forever, of The Spanners Series.

Now as Chief Communicator, Clara leads the way for interspecies communication on- and off-planet. Fighting these changes are the Psi-Defiers, led by one of the oldest friends of the Chief of the Psi-Warriors, its reluctant leader, Rabbi Moran Ackerman.

Stories from younger Spanners about the first five years of The Transition fill Volume II.

How would YOU do with the changes?

Sci-fi/romance/utopian/multiverse/psi/paranormal for adults, new adults, young adults, now in ebooks and paperbacks, Volumes I, II, III:
PAPERBACK on CreateSpace: Volume II, $19.99 https://www.createspace.com/5844431 

PAPERBACK on CreateSpace: Volume I, $17.99 https://www.createspace.com/5837347 

Ebook of Volume II is $3.99:
SMASHWORDS: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/424969  
AMAZON: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KU5Q7KC

This-Changes-Everything----web-and-ebooks

Ebook of Volume I is PERMAFREE:
AMAZON: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HFELTG8   
SMASHWORDS: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/376197

And on ibooks, Kobo, nook: look right, scroll down for all links for Volumes I, II, III, interviews, book trailers, reviews, more:
http://www.sallyember.com

Spanners - volume 3 cover final

logoAuthorsDen

All art for The Spanners Series by WillowRaven
http://www.willowraven-illustration.blogspot.com/

Unknown's avatar

Excerpt from This Changes Everything, Volume I, The Spanners Series, CHAPTER THIRTY-THREEClara Explains Human Relationships to The Band: The Romantic Paradox

Excerpt from This Changes Everything, Volume I, The Spanners Series, CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Clara Explains Human Relationships to The Band:
The Romantic Paradox

by Sally Ember, Ed.D.
Copyright 2013, revised 2015 Sally Ember, Ed.D.
St. Louis, MO

logo_1833057_print high rez  transparent

July 14, 2013

This-Changes-Everything----web-and-ebooks

“You want to know something no one wants to know?” I ask Led, whose bluish-gray, ovoid, bouncing hologram is hovering around and “on” my 5′-round table in my living/dining room in Kirov. “You have extensive knowledge of modern, Western literature and are familiar with movies, television programs and song lyrics as well, right?”

Led is visiting me today, July 14, 2013, to check in, something he or one of the other members of The Band do periodically when we don’t have a training session for more than a day or so. Six months ago we start my Excellent Skills Program and CC trainings, but we’re not exactly on a regular schedule because of all of my public appearances, interviews Espe has to do with me for her ‘blog and formal articles, and what little time I can grab to catch up with friends and family. Also, some sessions require more extensive practice to be done on my own before the next training can occur.

My most recent session focuses on the intentional manipulation of matter. Mainly, I practice causing something (usually the size and shape of a large book) to manifest and disappear at will. Or not. The stubborn refusal of this volume on my table to disappear starts me thinking about stubbornness in general and the recalcitrance of one man, in particular.

Yes, my dear Epifanio.

The book I practice removing from and returning to our timeline is a compendium of romance-genre novellas by a little-known author that my mom and I enjoy. In every one of these stories, the female protagonist spends most of the plot in a state of suffering from unrequited love. Then, very near the end (triggering the end, in fact), the object of her affection realizes/ discovers/ announces that he, too, loves her. They embrace passionately, usually leading to perfect sex (e.g., simultaneous or “ladies -first” climaxes, exceptional technique and rapport, fireworks, etc.) and/or engagement leading to marriage and the promise of perfect sex. Since the novellas (and almost every other story of this type from any Western author or film/TV writer) all follow this format, it sets me to thinking about the way authors stop the stories too early.

This starts a chain of thoughts that leads to the above question I pose to Led. “Led,” I go on, “you, I and the rest of The Band all know that Epifanio and I do not work out together as a couple. No matter how many ways I timult us, or how many Re-sets you or I establish in which our relationship happens to change, the alterations in the timelines do not result in our being able to stay together, if we get together at all. Do you know why that is?”

“Clara,” Led starts to respond, but POP POP POP POP: here are the rest of The Band.

Ringo extrudes one light orange, upper arm-like appendage and wiggles his “fingers” at me. I wiggle mine back in greeting. His pyramid-shaped, top part opens slightly, the shinier side facing me.

Mick angles his turquoise blue flat-top toward me and his lights blink. If I had blinking lights, I’d blink back; but, lacking those, I say “Hi” to Mick.

Janis—Diana move toward me. Their pickle-body holos “bump” my upper body, twice. I angle my shoulder toward them and “bump” back, three times, in our established greeting.

“Are you ready for your next session?” asks Mick. He’s the one tracking my ESP training most closely.

Janis answers before I get a chance to: “No. Clara is going on about Fanio, again. Really, Clara? What, now?” her tone is teasing and affectionate, so I am not offended.

Diana jumps in, again, preceding my response: “Don’t be so hard on her. You know humans love very differently than we do and her heart is corroded. Right, Clara? Corroded?”

Diana often gets our slang incorrect and I hide my smile so as not to offend her..

“Um, well, not ‘corroded,’ exactly,” I start to explain the incorrectness of Diana’s term, but Ringo interrupts.

“Clara and Epifanio have a complicated set of timelines. Perhaps she is ready to examine a number of them today?” Ringo wonders.

Timulting personal stories is not on this week’s schedule nor is that part of Level 5-A,” Mick declares.

Diana intercedes, “Clara doesn’t want to timult the timelines. She needs to grieve, to worry, to anguish, to obsess. Maybe play some music that makes her cry. How about this?” She speaks in a sympathetic tone, then I hear “Love Has No Pride.” Linda Ronstadt’s soaring vocals fill my living room.

The music for desolation, not consolation.

She must “hear” my dismay, because now she plays Lonestar’s “Not A Day Goes By.”

I start to laugh. Right on target, but somehow not helpful.

“That’s not necessary,” I say, through my laughter.

Diana fades out the tear-jerking lyrics on “Baby, Baby, Oh, Baby…”

“I want to explain some cultural paradoxes to you. That’s the reason this conversation begins the way it does.”

Led bounces closer to me and says, “Go on, Clara.”

I know Led likes to be aware of the nuances of Earthers’ thinking, so I continue, despite Mick’s increasing frequency of blinking lights. “It’s like this; at least, it is for me. I fall in love (or so I tell myself) with someone who isn’t at that time in love with me or even considering me as a lover. We know each other in some ways and have contact, but per is not interested in me in that way.”

“Like Epifanio,” Janis offers.

Diana bumps her but Janis continues.

“He keeps saying he doesn’t feel ‘that way’ about you.”

“Yes, Janis. Exactly. So, unable to accept ‘No’ for an answer, I persist. I try to become necessary, irreplaceable, important in that person’s life. I seduce, I persuade, I sometimes ‘succeed.’ I become a trusted friend, a good companion, a significant colleague, a confidante, a part of cos extended family or inner friendship circle. We spend more time together, all so that I can become indispensable and irresistible to co.”

“Does that work?” asks Led.

“It often seems to,” I say. “But that’s exactly the problem I want to discuss. It depends on the way we define ‘work.'”

Ringo is getting interested, now. “What do you mean? How could something work and not work at the same time?”

“Therein lies the paradox!” I exclaim. “Human feelings and psychological conditions aren’t like machinery. They can operate in both the ‘on’ and ‘off’ positions simultaneously in this metaphor, as you soon learn.”

Now, Mick is intrigued, “Like a photon can be both a particle and a wave, but not when observed, because then it must be one or the other?”

“Very like that, yes,” I concur. “But, human love, passion, choice and autonomy are the contradictory occurrences, here. This is the way I understand it all, now. With my previous lovers and Epifanio: they believe that they do not love or want me, sometimes for many years. They are close to me in other ways, however. Then, at some point, they believe they do love me, want to be with me. Since that is what I want, anyway, we spend some time being together. It’s great, it’s wonderful, it’s amazing wish-fulfillment, for me, and, seemingly great for them, too.”

“So, what’s the paradox?” prompts Led.

“Endorphins and romance fade and real life takes over. The ‘honeymoon’ of new passion and excitement end, causing oxytocin to recede to normal levels. Or, it might work in reverse: perhaps oxytocin’s diminishing causes the feelings to change. My ‘lovers’ then begin to recall the traits or behaviors they do not like in me, the original reasons they do not want to be with me.”

I pause, considering all my important relationships and know I’m on the right track, here. “Whatever attracts them to me or ‘changes their minds’ about me is no longer accessible. They decide–―no, they believe–―that they don’t love or want me any longer, all in the space of a few months or years. Plus, they’re angry, resentful and withdrawn toward me.”

“But, you do not change or trick them at all, do you?” asks Janis. She sounds appalled.

Diana adds, “That is so unfair! That must be the reason your heart corrodes to the breaking point!”

“Exactly!” I say. “Instead of taking responsibility for those alterations in their feelings and for their own ever-changing choices, they blame me. They actually tell me they believe we got together because I use ‘magical’ seduction, deception and other methods to convince or even coerce them into falling in love with me and become my lover.”

As I recall specific incidents of this in my life, I am getting a bit intense. I take deep breaths to calm myself, then continue.

“One of them says I ‘put him under a spell.’ Another one tells me that I ‘took him for a ride.’ They claim, one day or several months or years later, when they then believe they no longer want or love me, that our relationship’s demise is all my fault, somehow. They refuse to take any responsibility for the way we get into this situation.”

I pause. Yes, The Band is with me.

“They tell themselves and me that they get involved with me without their complete consent or understanding. From their perspectives, they ‘never wanted to do that,’ so, I must trick them into doing it, to being with me.” I can feel the pain of hearing those things from my former lovers as if it were happening right now.

“This makes no sense, even for human Earthers,” Ringo says, tilting his pyramid away from me. “What is their major maladjustment?”

I laugh. Ever since I first say that in front of Ringo, he chooses to re-use that phrase repeatedly. Always appropriately, though.

“Yes. Please explain, Clara,” Led requests.

“Okay, ” I continue. “First, you all remember what ‘projection’ means and how it manifests, right?”

Mick responds, “Of course. Humans often put another person’s ‘face’ or their own inner characteristics, ‘on’ someone else, like, on you. But they do not realize that they are doing this. They then react to that person, not to you, as if those other person’s traits or their own traits are yours. Usually these projections are negative but they can also have positive identity confusions. Yes?”

“Oh, I get it!” Janis exclaims. “Epifanio projects his mother, his first wife or some older sibling or teacher or some other contentious, powerful person from his past onto you. Or, he projects the insecurities, fears, worries or dishonesty within himself onto you. He then feels inferior, threatened, invaded, betrayed or otherwise unhappy due to his original relationship issues with that person or to his struggles with his own inner demons that seem to be playing out with you.”

Diana picks up the thread: “Then, he attributes his reactions to you and your interactions with him. Talk about unfair! He shouldn’t do that to you!”

“That’s right,” I respond. “That is ‘projection.'” I feel sad remembering all the times this happens in my timelines with others and with Fanio. “He can’t help it, though. No reason to be upset with him.”

I realize as I hear myself say that to Janis–—Diana: I am not angry with Fanio or any of my other lovers anymore. It surprises me, but I’m so glad. Many years of therapy and intensive contemplation during meditation actually help with these issues.

I continue with my explanation. “It works both ways, anyway. I’m sure I do it, also. Most humans project onto one another until we don’t. My projections onto others are usually more positive than they deserve, but they are nonetheless projections: not better than theirs onto me, just different.”

I feel a familiar rush of certainty, mixed with shame. “When I make others ‘better’ than they actually are and relate to them as if that is who they are, I generate an inauthentic relationship just as they do. My ‘positive’ identify confusions are every bit as unhealthy as their negative ones.”

Mick interjects, “Your projections, Clara, are a bit more complicated, though, because you see other versions of some people when you timult. Because you prefer those versions to this one, you unconsciously favor the ‘better’ one. Also, ‘unfair,’ right?” He says this last part to Janis.

Mick nails it. I do that with Epifanio and many others. I timult from when I am a teenager. When I find what I believe to be better versions of them, I relate to those instead of the people who are right in front of me.

“Yes, that is unfair. Completely. To all of us,” I admit. “I am doing that with Epifanio, every day,” I add. “I would rather have another version of him here, with me, than the one who is here. I’m trying to stop. At least I don’t blame Fanio, anymore.”

“I’m still not understanding the paradoxical part,” persists Led.

“Yes, Clara. Go on about that, please,” requests Ringo.

“Well, I start out talking about one kind, but Mick points out another. In my original paradox, it goes like this: the romance authors want us to believe that, once someone is finally ready to love someone else—–after days, weeks, months, or even years of resisting, insisting they do not love that person–—suddenly, they perceive this new-found love and ‘everything’ is going to be great. The writers call that ‘living happily ever after’ in human fairy tales. But, that’s not really how it works out.

“The authors don’t show the later months or years, when it all falls apart. The negative projections wear off or get superseded by the positive ones, at first, but they’re all still having projections. No one includes the part of the story showing when the positive projections fade away and the negative ones return to prominence.”

“Once the projections depart, does the relationship continue with more authenticity, then?” Diana asks, hopefully.

“No one is actually loving or desiring the other person the way they truly are. Once the partners realize that, they can’t be happy together any longer,” I explain. “Unless, once the projections all recede, they can find their ways to respecting, knowing and loving each other as who they are. That is very rare with current, Western humans.”

“It doesn’t happen with you and Fanio, does it?” Janis asks, sadly.

I feel my heart clutch and my stomach tense. “No, Janis. I do not think it does. But, to be fair, that’s as much my responsibility as it is Fanio’s.”

Led says, “If I understand you correctly, Clara, the human romantic paradox is that two humans may both love and not love one another simultaneously without realizing that. And, projections onto others may be both positive and negative at the same time as well.”

“Yes,” Ringo continues, “Human relationships are fraught with unrealistic expectations, feelings based on fantasies, and other neurotic tendencies playing out in interactive experiences. Many species are like this in the Many Worlds Collective.”

“They are?” I ask. “I hear about none of these. Please, go on.”

Led bounces closer to me, then hovers. “Clara, this is very educational. Thank you. We must depart and leave you to your practice.” He bounces over the book, then POP he’s out of sight.

“Okay,” I reply, but he’s already gone. Janis–—Diana, Mick and Ringo POP out immediately afterward, giving their good-bye gestures as they go. I return the gestures, but they’re gone before mine can be seen by them.

Typical.

Back to this Level 5-A, disappearing objects. This stubborn book. Gey avek, please? I exhort in Yiddish to the book. And take my projections with you, while you’re at it!

To my utter surprise, POP and it’s off my table. Wow! I have no idea what I am doing right, but I better do it again!

I get up to find another, larger book. This time, an old Atlas. Fewer distractions that way.


This-Changes-Everything----web-and-ebooks

Dr. Clara Ackerman Branon, Ph.D., 58, begins having secret visits from holographic representations of beings from the Many Worlds Collective, a consortium of planet and star systems in the multiverse. When Earth is invited to join the consortium, the secret visits are made public. Now Earthers must adjust their beliefs and ideas about life, religion, culture, identity and everything they think and are.

Clara is selected to be the liaison between Earth and the Many Worlds Collective and she chooses Esperanza Enlaces to be the Chief Media Contact. They team up to provide information to stave off riots and uncertainty. The Many Worlds Collective holos train Clara and the Psi-Warriors for the Psi Wars with the rebelling Psi-Defiers, communicate effectively with many species on Earth and off-planet, eliminate ordinary, elected governments and political boundaries, convene a new group of Global Leaders, and deal with family’s and friends’ reactions. 

In what multiple timelines of the ever-expanding multiverse do Clara and her long-time love, Epifanio Dang, get to be together and which leave Clara alone and lonely as the leader of Earth?

This Changes Everything spans the 30-year story of Clara’s term as Earth’s first Chief Communicator, continuing in nine more Volumes of The Spanners Series.

Are YOU ready for the changes?

Sci-fi/romance/utopian/multiverse/psi/paranormal for adults, new adults, young adults, now in ebooks and paperbacks, Volumes I, II, III:
PAPERBACK on CreateSpace: Volume I, $17.99 https://www.createspace.com/5837347 

Ebook of Volume I is PERMAFREE:
AMAZON: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HFELTG8   
SMASHWORDS: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/376197

And on ibooks, Kobo, nook: look right, scroll down for all links for Volumes I, II, III, interviews, book trailers, reviews, more:
http://www.sallyember.com

final cover print

Spanners - volume 3 cover final

logoAuthorsDen

All art for The Spanners Series by WillowRaven
http://www.willowraven-illustration.blogspot.com/

Unknown's avatar

I CONQUERED #CreateSpace! This Changes Everything, Volume I, The Spanners Series is in Print starting November 13, 2015!

I CONQUERED #CreateSpace! This Changes Everything, Volume I, The Spanners Series is in Print starting November 13, 2015!

This-Changes-Everything----web-and-ebooks

FYI: Margins for 5″ x 8″ book with 543 pages need to be:
1.25″ inner, 0.5″ for the rest.
0 for gutter.

This Changes Everything, Volume II, This Changes My Family and My Life Forever, and III, This Is/Is Not the Way I Want Things to Change, of The Spanners Series by Sally Ember​, Ed.D., will be available as print editions!
$17.99 for Volume I, starting in early November! Check Amazon or my website http://www.sallyember.com (look right; scroll down) for links.
Other two to follow closely thereafter, probably at around the same price.

Yippee! Thanks, everyone, especially authors Madeline Duffy on Facebook, Dana Delamar at http://danadelamar.blogspot.com/p/createspace-tips.html and Megan at http://Toadyland.com plus the people in the CreateSpace Community forums!

If you still prefer ebooks and/or love a free one, Volume I is permafree; Volume II is $3.99 and Volume III is now in half-price pre-orders ($1.99) through 12/7/15; Vol III ebook goes into full release on 12/8/15 @$3.99 as an ebook. Website for links: http://www.sallyember.com (look right; scroll down).

Buy your sci-fi-lovin’ family and friends one of the best utopian, romantic, multiverse, psi-infused, scientific, alien-filled, Jewish/ Buddhist and absolutely unique novels you’ll ever read or give as a gift when you invest in The Spanners Series from Timult Books.

logo

Consider purchasing BOOKS or gift cards to Amazon for whatever birthdays or holidays you celebrate!

More FYI for ebook Indie Publishers/Self-Published Authors, if you might need better distribution:
To place your book(s) on all Amazon’s Kindle Stores (USA, UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, Brazil, Japan, India etc.), and in North America, via Apple, Baker & Taylor, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Ingram, and in Europe, via Askews & Holts, Blackwell’s, BlioBook, Depository, Kalahari.net, Waterstones, Whitcoulls, WH Smith, you can use BookBaby or .eBookpartnership, for example. There are others.

You have to have your ebook files in the appropriate formats ready to upload. They do not help with that, but there are many forums and communities online who do.

Their yearly fee is less than $100 and you can save LOTS of hours for uploading your book and for tracking accounts with these retailers.

They do not take commissions, such as Smashwords and Kindle do. You keep 100% of the revenue from online retail.

However, you should buy your own ISBN’s, preferably a block of ten ($295 for ten vs. $125 for one as of November, 2015), on Bowker.

Remember to register your book(s) (print and electronic) worldwide with Bowker’s database because that is used by bookstores and libraries around the world.

Unknown's avatar

Preorders @50% for #ebook This Is/Is Not the Way I Want Things to Change, Volume III of The Spanners Series

#Preorders @ 50%, $1.99, for 11/1/15—-12-7/15 on #Smashwords, #Kobo, #iBooks and #nook as well as #Amazon is Sally Ember, Ed.D.’s third #scifi/ #romance/ #paranormal #ebook, This Is/Is Not the Way I Want Things to Change, Volume III of The Spanners Series, which releases 12/08/15 @$3.99.

Spanners - volume 3 cover final

Getting 4- and 5-Star #reviews in pre-pub: see snippets from reviews, below and links to reviews on http://www.sallyember.com (look right; scroll down).

Volume III, This Is /Is Not The Way I Want Things to Change
Pre-order and Purchase LINKS HERE
SMASHWORDS (all ebook formats): https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/588331
AND
AMAZON: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0177Z1KRM

Clara, Moran, Espe, Epifanio and the alien Band of holos are back in This Is/Is Not The Way I Want Things to Change of The Spanners Series. The Psi-Defiers launch increasingly violent protests during this five-year Transition, attempting to block Earth’s membership into the Many Worlds Collective. To join, Earth’s nations and borders must dissolve and the Psi-Warriors must prevail in their battles against the rebels.

Clara, continuing as Earth’s first Chief Communicator, also juggles family conflicts and danger while managing and being one of the instructors of the psi skills training Campuses to help Earth through the Psi Wars. Clara timults alternate versions of their futures as the leaders’ duties and consciences force them each to make difficult choices across multiple timelines while continuing to train and fight.

Will the Psi-Warriors’ and other leaders’ increasing psi skills, interspecies collaborations and budding alien alliances be enough for Earth to make it through The Transition intact? If there is no clear path for Clara’s and Epifanio’s love, does she partner with Steve or go it alone?

What do you do with wanted/unwanted changes?

Volume III Book Trailer

REVIEWS of Volume III:
“Because this reads like documentation of actual events, I came away from it feeling like my own little life is petty and trivial and a waste of ‘time.’ Like, I’m not part of The Movement and I ought to run right out and start a victory garden or a recycling program or find an ESP trainer and get started learning how to TK or….
“The entire series is such an astounding creation it amazes me that it’s the production of just one person.”

—Devorah “Dee” Fox, Dee-Scoveries, fantasy/thriller author, journalist, columnist, 9/25/15

http://devorahfox.com

ALSO: Volumes I, II and III are soon available in both PRINT and ebooks versions by 12/8/15!

logo_1833057_print high rez  transparent

This Changes Everything, Volume I, The Spanners Series, is Permafree in ebook format and $POD

This-Changes-Everything----web-and-ebooks

Volume I, This Changes Everything
PERMAFREE ebook LINKS HERE:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HFELTG8   
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/376197

Dr. Clara Ackerman Branon, 58, begins having secret visits from holographic representations of beings from the Many Worlds Collective, a consortium of planet and star systems in the multiverse. When Earth is invited to join the consortium, the secret visits are made public. Now Earthers must adjust their beliefs and ideas about life, religion, culture, identity and everything they think and are. Clara is selected to be the liaison between Earth and the Many Worlds Collective and she chooses Esperanza Enlaces to be the Media Contact. They team up to provide information to stave off riots and uncertainty. The Many Worlds Collective holos: train Clara and the Psi-Warriors for the Psi Wars with the rebelling Psi-Defiers; communicate effectively with many species on Earth and off-planet; eliminate ordinary, elected governments and political boundaries; convene a new group of Global Leaders; and, help Clara deal with her family’s and friends’ reactions. 

In what multiple timelines of the ever-expanding multiverse do Clara and her long-time love, Epifanio Dang, get to be together and which leave Clara alone and lonely as the leader of Earth? This Changes Everything spans the 30-year story of Clara’s term as Earth’s first Chief Communicator, continuing in nine more Volumes of The Spanners Series.

Are you ready for the changes?

REVIEWS for Volume I:
“[This Changes Everything] is highly-imaginative, but for so many different reasons, and outside of the normal scope. There are times when I felt that I was reading an actual research report of true to life events. Honestly, I’m sitting at my laptop, questioning if Clara has provided this work to Ember, or if the two are one in the same. The experience is mind-altering, and would challenge readers to think beyond the bubble that we live in. I would surely recommend This Changes Everything to anyone that enjoys a a well-written and researched Sci-Fi series. I will point out that it pushes the envelope, and toys with one’s perception. Well done! 5 Stars.”

–Janice G. Ross, author, 11/11/13

http://jgrwriter.wordpress.com/2013/11/11/review-this-changes-everything-by-sally-ember-3/

This Changes Everything by Sally Ember is a well-written, complex work that is going to add a strong title to a genre that can sometimes become bogged down with the same old, same old. This Changes Everything is a book that I am very happy to have had the chance to read and I would recommend it to any sci-fi/fantasy fan.”

–Zach Tyo, Indie Reviews, 10/4/13

http://indiebookreviewer.blogspot.com/

“You have created your characters very well. I feel for Clara, I imagine her alienating a lot of people because her enthusiasm and drive and ability to push herself makes her someone who doesn’t suffer fools gladly. I would have liked more of the reporter’s life and I didn’t like Epifanio at all. He sounded arrogant and selfish. I loved that the aliens were chosen by lottery. You had so many good touches like that, which made the book a continuing surprise. I…have to say it is one of the most challenging, exciting and original books I’ve read.”

–(Mary) Josephine O’Brien, author, Sharing Skies, 9/14/13

“You have written a wonderfully imaginative and original story with plenty of twists and turns. I really like your multiuniverse setting with different timelines and the concept of the ‘Many Worlds Collective.'”

–Sophekles, author, The Serotonin Transfer, 10/8/13

“I love your sense of humor. I literally laughed out loud when Clara said that she had given him the name ‘Led.’ I also like that this is an alien story where the aliens are helping, rather than trying to take over the world. It’s a refreshing angle.”

–S.M. Koz, author, Pangalax, 9/4/13

[after reading 1st 20 pages only] “…In a lot of ways I’m at a loss to critique this because it’s quite different than what I’m used to encountering. It’s a more immediate version of Stranger in Strange Land by Heinlein. Now, what I say next is strictly speaking off the cuff at 11 PM after a couple of rum and cokes, but as it stands I’d probably rate this either three or four stars, depending on how it develops. Once I got into the ideas behind it all, I found it personally fascinating. I’m not sure how that would translate to a broader readership, but it’s nifty stuff. I like alternate timelines and the like…”

–Alexander Crommich, reviewer @ Crommich Industries

“The writing is complex and done extremely well….There were times when I almost forgot I was reading a work of fiction and not a news account of real events, and I would consider that to be skilled writing indeed….[D]id I enjoy more of it than not? Yes. Four stars. Did I like the overall content? Most of the time. Three stars. Was the writing of good quality? Oh, definitely yes. Five stars. My overall rating: four of five stars.”

–Lynda Dietz, Easy Reader

ilovetoreadyourbooks.blogspot.com, 11/4/13

Volume II, This Changes My Family and My Life Forever, is $3.99 for ebooks and $POD.

final cover print

Volume II: This Changes My Family and My Life Forever [released 6/9/14, Smashwords, Amazon and elsewhere]
Ebook LINKS HERE:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KU5Q7KC
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/424969  

Intrigued by multiple timelines, aliens, psi skills, multiverse romances and planetary changes? Clara and the alien Band of holos are back. As Earth’s first Chief Communicator, Clara leads the way for interspecies communication on- and off-planet and for figuring out how to deal with simultaneous time and multiple timelines in the ever-changing multiverse.

Fighting to support these changes are the Psi-Warriors, led by its reluctant leader, Chief OverSeer Rabbi Moran Ackerman, against the Psi-Defiers, led by one of the oldest friends of the Chief. Moran reveals his struggles and successes with his Excellent Skills Program training experiences on the new Campus and at home.

Stories in This Changes My Family and My Life Forever come from younger Spanners as well as Clara via “Snapshots” of her earlier life with anecdotes from Epifanio Dang, her on/off lover, and Esperanza Enlaces, Earth’s Chief Media Contact, and others about the first five years of The Transition.

What would you do with the changes?

REVIEWS for Volume II:
5 Stars for This Changes My Family and My Life Forever, Volume II, The Spanners Series
“One thing I like very much about The Spanners Series is the message that we can all live together in peace, learn from each other, be there for each other. All differences (religious, racial, gender, and even between species and inhabitants of other planets) are overcome. I mean, how cool would that be to be able to communicate with animals – and not in a jokey, Eddie Murphy-Dr. Dolittle-kind of way, but accept them and their needs / interests as equal to humans? And those people who resist change (yes, there will always be those, even if it is clear that the change is for the better) will not be eliminated, but gently persuaded to recognise what is best for them.”

–Peggy Farooqi, The Pegster Reads, 5/31/14

http://thepegsterreads.blogspot.co.uk

About the Author
Sally Ember, Ed.D., has been passionate about writing since she was nine years old. She’s won prizes for her poetry, stories, songs and plays. She began meditating (right after The Beatles) in 1972.

Now, Sally delights fans of paranormal and romance by blurring the lines between fact and fiction in a multiverse of multiple timelines, often including exciting elements of utopian, multiverse, science fiction and Buddhism. Her sci-fi /romance/ speculative fiction/ paranormal ebooks for New Adult/adult/YA audiences, The Spanners Series, are unique, exciting, thought-provoking and amusing.

Visit her Youtube Channel for book trailers, author readings, and a live Q & A with Sally plus more: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqnZuobf0YTCiP6silDDL2w

Born Jewish on the cusp of Leo and Virgo, Sally’s life has been infused with change. She is a long-time Buddhist meditator who writes, swims, reads and hosts her Google+ Hangout On Air (HOA) CHANGES conversations with authors, LIVE almost every Wednesday (but on hiatus for November & December, 2015), 10 – 11 AM Eastern time, USA. Join in the fun by commenting and asking questions during the live show on G+ or Youtube, or visit archived CHANGES shows: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPbfKicwk4dFdeVSAY1tfhtjaEY_clmfq

If you are an author or know one, learn more about and get yourself scheduled on or recommend someone as a CHANGES guest: https://sallyember.com/changes-videocasts-by-sally-ember-ed-d

Sally blogs regularly on wide-ranging topics and includes reviews, interviews, guest blog posts, and excerpts from her ebooks. Visit and comment, follow, “like,” and share! http://www.sallyember.com/blog

In her “other” professional life, Sally has worked as an educator and upper-level, nonprofit manager in colleges, universities and private nonprofits for over thirty-five years in New England (every state), New Mexico and the San Francisco Bay Area before returning to live in St. Louis, MO, in August, 2014. Sally has a BA in Elementary Education, a Master’s (M.Ed.) and a doctorate in education (Ed.D.).

Interacting With and Finding Sally Online

Please write a review and give Volumes I and II and then this one, III, a rating on SMASHWORDS, iBooks, Kobo, nook, Amazon, whatever retailer you use for ebooks, as well as many other sites that bring readers to this book: Library Thing, Wattpad, Indiebooks, Goodreads, Booklikes, Shelfari, and her blog, http://www.sallyember.com/blog. Help bring people to The Spanners Series via any other website that invites readers to post comments and reviews of Sci-Fi novels, especially if you LOVE it!

Thank you for reading and considering the implications of The Spanners Series. Talk it up! Tweet! Post! Write to Sally! Blog your opinions and responses!

Sally wants her readers to know: ‘”I change my books based on readers’ suggestions! Also, I would be delighted to visit your Book Club or class if you are using one or more of the books in The Spanners Series. Ask me to co-develop curricula, projects and activities for your group/class members!”

You will want to visit on Facebook, where she is known as “Sally Sue Fleischmann Ember,” and has a Spanners Series page: https://www.facebook.com/TheSpannersSeriesbySallyEmber
or her website to find out when the next Volumes will be available.

She is also very active on Google+ as “Sally Sue Ember” and on her Spanners Series page: https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/115730970500394047116/115730970500394047116/about

Follow Sally on Twitter @sallyemberedd and please Tweet about this book and The Spanners Series!

For photos, images, music, bios and other memes relevant to Sally as an author and directly to The Spanners Series, please visit her boards on Pinterest: “The Spanners Series includes…”; “Inspirations for the Earth locations in The Spanners Series“; “Music of The Spanners Series“; “Space Shots I like”; “Books that changed my life”; “TV shows and movies I actually like”; “Writers I Love”;”Resonating Pins” (from others’ boards); “Blog Posts”; CHANGES Episodes; and, “Flora and Fauna that amaze me.” She also puts up promos for her own and other authors’ books on occasion via “Book Billboards ” and other sites favoring Indie Authors. Please follow her Boards on http://www.pinterest.com/sallyember.

News and Other Information

Sally is experimenting with CROWDCREATING sections or upcoming Volumes VIII (for and seeking youth and New Adults) and IX (for and seeking adults) of The Spanners Series. If you’d like to participate by making story or character suggestions, writing a portion or an entire chapter, or collaborating in other ways, please email sallyember at yahoo or ssfember at gmail and tell her a little about what Volume or portion you’d like to help create! Put “CROWDCREATOR” in the subject line.

Must contact Sally by January 1, 2017, for Volume VIII and July 1, 2017, for Volume IX to be considered for inclusion in the CROWDCREATION.

Sally is also running a CROWDFUNDING campaign to get her ebooks into print, improve the audio quality of her talk show, fund the next books covers and cover other expenses on Patreon. Donate $4 or more and get Rewards: a free ebook, discounts on her editing/proofreading/writing tutoring services and more: http://www.patreon.com/sallyember


The Spanners Series‘ covers and logo #art by WillowRaven: willowraven-illustration.blogspot.com

logoAuthorsDen

All published by logo

Unknown's avatar

Check out Tonya R. Moore‘s site today, 10-29-15… featuring my new release in The Spanners Series!

Check out Tonya R. Moore‘s site today, 10-29-15… featuring my new release in The Spanners Series!

http://tonyarmoore.com/2015/10/this-isis-not-the-way-i-want-things-to-change-by-sally-ember/

Unknown's avatar

Announcing: Timult Books!

Announcing the formation of my own small press:

logo_1833057_print high rez  transparent

For now, Timult Books (pronounced with the long “i” as it “eye”) publishes print and ebook versions of The Spanners Series, which are science-fiction/ romance/ multiverse/ psi-infused/ utopian stories for adults, Young and New Adults about our alternative present(s) and near future(s).

Soon, I may accept others’ publications or write some of my own that are not part of that series. All publications are somehow to be related to the science-fiction/ speculative fiction themes of timultaneity, timulting, timult (these are terms invented by my actual son, Merlyn Ember, for and Clara Branon’s son, Zephyr Branon in The Spanners Series).

The terms refer to the simultaneous nature of all time and the multiple timelines in our multiverse (timultaneity) which some people have the special skill to be able to be perceiving/”seeing” and “knowing” (which is timulting). When they use their skills to look into various possible and actual “presents,” “pasts” and “futures,” that person is said to timult their own and/or others’ events, circumstances and lives.

These URLs, below, are now mine. For a while, they all redirect to THIS site (http://www.sallyember.com) and are not developed at all, until I decide to put in the time to have a separate website for the publication company. When I am ready, I’ll be using the first one only, timultbooks.com .
http://timultbooks.com
http://timultbooks.net
http://timultbooks.org
http://timultbooks.info
(I purchased the other three so no one can use them and confuse anyone by having anything that is not published by MY company on those sites.)

If you are an indie author who would like to have your writing, either fiction of the speculative / science-fiction genre, such as short stories, novellas, novelettes, novels, graphic novels, or poetry, screenplays, nonfiction or essays that utilize these themes or topics to be developed under this imprint and wear the banner of logo_1833057_print high rez  transparent, contact me at sallyember AT yahoo DOT com .

I provide the services of editing, formatting, proofreading, writing tutoring for variable and negotiable hourly rates.
I also offer marketing and other types of support and assistance for a small fee or barter, regardless of how your books are published.

If your writing fits into the Timult Books‘ themes and you want to “join” my small press, let’s talk!

If you’re feeling congratulatory, supportive, and are somewhat “flush” and/or want to celebrate my writing, videocasts and publishing accomplishments and hope for more, please consider a contribution to my #crowdfunding campaign (which entitles you to “rewards” ranging from a free ebook to discounts on my services to writers), at http://www.patreon.com/sallyember

OR use the PayPal donation button on my site (look to the right sidebar) for a non-reward contribution opportunity.