♦Welcome to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop!♦
Topic #43
Events/Announcements/Updates
Controversial topics, industry news, parallels between events and your writing, topic or genre.
Welcome back to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop! If you’re new to the series, the authors included are always grateful for your reads and appreciate, even more so, when you share our writings with your friends. If you’re new to the series, welcome aboard. The authors will engage and impress you weekly, so be prepared to become a regular reader.
This summer will see the release of the second installment of my Trailokya Series. This event is something I’m very excited about. A thread of nervousness always attends my releases: how will it be received, what will the reviews say, did I truly fail this time, will I rise, or will people be upset by what I’ve written? Of all of those questions, the last is the one that almost always haunts me more than any of the others.
Controversy is a sticky wicket. On one hand, it could garner interest in your work. On the other, you could get buried by the controversy and all future work be received with derision by all but a few hard fans, that you may or may not wish to be associated with (for instance, writing about race and finding out you appeal to the Knights of the Klan. Yikes!).
The Trailokya series is the kind of book that faces some of the most difficult topics, and I’ve gathered them all under one cover, so to speak. From social issues like domestic violence, to culture wars and religion—these books don’t shy away from any of it. They will probably offend atheists and theists alike. It will drudge up the worst of the Men’s Rights Movement at the sight of a strong woman in charge, and they’ll likely revel in her pains, calling it deserved. For them, all women are evil.
What have you done? You might ask.
In the first installment, The Shadow Soul, I introduce the reader to a view of universe that stretches beyond the veil of perception as we know it. Angels and Demons populate the many regions. The war between them is still raging. But that is about where the similarity to Judaeo-Christian-Islamic tradition ends. You will find Buddhist, Hindu, pagan and other faiths intermingled in ways that make sense of each piece as if they were the shards from the fable of the Tower of Babel. Science (trans-dimensional travel, Tesla’s free energy, nanotechnology) becomes interspersed with this proposition and helps to hone a fantastical world.
That is enough to cause quite the controversy, especially with the deeply religious. When you take texts, ideas or teachings that are held close to the heart, and you fit them into a competing narrative, then you risk upsetting people. Their irrational actions are their way of attempting to protect their closely held beliefs, when they refuse to look at the competing text as simply just another competing text. I believe that is called cognitive dissonance. When one is comfortable in what they believe, that won’t happen. Unfortunately, we know all too well how few human beings are completely comfortable with their beliefs.
In the upcoming installment, Burning Down, I go deeper into the feminist track that the series takes. How feminist is it? You’ll have to read the books and decide for yourself. Some may not regard the struggle to maintain a family as inherently feminist. Again, some may not find the abuse that arises as inherently feminist either, citing that it happens to all genders (disregarding the disproportionate number of cases on file in every state and around the world where the woman is the victim). And this assessment will come from all sides. Perhaps Maiel isn’t focused enough on her career, and too focused on the man or her children to satisfy feminists. Perhaps she isn’t strong enough, or too strong—too this, too that.
Controversy arises in challenging what others are comfortable with. It is stirring the pot of convention and seeing what rises to the top. Will this mix work in the books? The reviews so far have praised these very things, but as the trilogy gains traction and a growing readership, I am still nervous. The punches will come, but will they carry any weight?
That in mind, I look forward to the release of the second book, but I am guarded.
Thanks for taking the time to read this week’s installment. Be sure to check out what the other authors have to say on the topic. You’ll find the links below…
Fabulous announcement Kelly. Sounds like a great trilogy and imaginative as well.
Thank you! I went all in on this series. Scares me a little that I won’t be able to manage it with any subsequent pieces. Why do we authors torture ourselves like that? We know better, because every time we sit down, it come along just fine.
Cognitive dissonance is where you try to hold two competing beliefs as equally valid at the same time. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cognitive%20dissonance A cannot equal non-A no matter how much we wish it might be so.
Considering competitive narratives that don’t agree with our presuppositions is a good and healthy mental exercise, but the consideration does not require that we accept the examined ideas as valid. Sometimes, in considering divergent theories that challenge our presuppositions, we actually find more evidence to support our own beliefs, while at other times we may change our mind after our logical fallacies have been challenged. Those you or I attempt to influence have a right to reject our arguments when our arguments defy available evidence or logic. http://grammar.about.com/od/il/g/logicfalterm.htm
Absolutely, but many don’t want to just reject, they want to destroy because it has frightened them so much.
Hi Kelly, what an interesting and well developed post. I have not begun your series but your presentation on the thrust of your work and it’s relationship to concepts that are near and dear to my heart; religion, politics, women, etc., suggests that your writing may cause me to dig deep, assess and compare. I can’t wait to read your upcoming new release. I think it will be a great place for me to start.
Thanks for sharing and good luck on the new book.
Stephany
Thank you, Stephany! I appreciate that. Sometimes I think I am out here floating alone thinking about these ideas. You can start #1 right away on wattpad. Some people stumble a bit with the first section of the prologue as goes in deep using a lot of Buddhist and other religious terms they’re unfamiliar with. I bet you have no trouble at all, which will be an asset to the reading. I hope I do your thoughts on this post justice with the books.
If you look deep into the depths of the world’s religions, most of them share some common core beliefs. I’ve never understood why we can’t respect each other’s beliefs when we’re all working towards the same thing, albeit in different ways.
Exactly! Yes!
Great post! You may enjoy writing for Haddon Musings’ Feminist Friday on WordPress, which I take part in.
Thanks for the recommendation! I’ll have to look into them.