Privacy is a myth: an unpopular position.

This is data. It says something.
What, I wonder?

Dr. Jen Frahm sent me a link: https://www.socialcooling.com. Because we are friends, and because she knows just what fuels my creative fires.

It's worth taking a look if you have the stomach for such things.

It’s about social manipulation. It’s about behavioural shift.

It’s brilliant, and it is terrifying.

It suggests that there has been a tipping point reached – a position achieved through demand for convenience and a desire for individual celebrity.

The pitfalls of a character named Jesus.

"So, what did you do to Erasure?"
"Which character had their name changed?"

Two of the questions I've been fielding over the last couple of days -- mostly arriving as part of the congratulations messages (messages that I remain completely humbled by, for the record).

What did I do? A lot, but nothing that in any way alters the structure or message that the original Erasure was based on.
Mostly, the changes have been about clarifying some of the components that were a little murky. The most obvious of which can be found in the prelude, which has been totally redone. The rest is just some subtle but important editing to tidy things up and aid the flow of the book.

The name change? Fans might not be at all surprised... Jesus is no longer Jesus. 

Why?

Because, four years on, I recognize that "Jesus" is a divisive name, despite there being literally no attempt to try at creating subtext or hidden message.

NPR doesn't want ALL of the opinions, apparently.

Photo courtesy of www.scenesofreason.com

I follow Hedayah  on Facebook -- an organisation that is doing some great work with regard to pushing back against religious extremism and radicalization.

Along with their official posts, they also distribute the work of others in their social media feed, like this one by Average Mohamed via the NPR website.

What is as interesting as the article is the comment stream that follows it. It's the usual fare: "You are the problem/they are the problem/tolerance is the problem...."

Strangely, NPR don't seem particularly interested in a broader point of view than the standard binary of "total war/total peace", and have refused to post my commentary.

So, I'll do it here instead.

(Makes more sense if you head over to the source of such consternation first, check it out, then take a peak at the commentary. Apparently "bombing things to hell" and insulting any religion that is not one's own is okay, but the odd redacted colourful word is not.)

Behold: the comment that NPR don't seem to want to publish.

***

Israel Vs. Palestine - the battle for Facebook.

In relocating to the Middle East from the Melbourne suburb of St. Kilda, I managed to move from Australia's Jewish heartland to a country that is entirely Muslim.

As a result, I have people on my friends list that are entirely Jewish, or entirely Muslim. I won't name them. Because it isn't important, but it is interesting that, from time to time, both groups have commented or liked something that I have posted. Not surprisingly, they managed to do that and not start lobbing hand-grenades at each other.

Erasure, now on Kindle Prime - so go borrow it!

For the first time, Erasure is now available via the Kindle Owner's Lending Library.

Do you like fiction?
Prepared to be a little creeped out by every-day aspects of privacy?
Are you a member of Kindle-Prime?

If so, you are in luck.

Fresh from the quarter-finals in this year's Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards, Erasure has been released into the wilds of the Kindle Library - so go grab your copy!

If you read one book this month, this should be it...

http://www.amazon.com/Erasure-Book-1-T-H-Webber-ebook/dp/B0087QG37S/

It remains a crapshoot - Part 1.

The path to the finals of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards continues.

The next phase of the competition started rolling out today with the release of the industry-based "Publisher's Weekly" reviews being added to pool of reviews that will be considered for judging purposes.

It remains a crapshoot - Part 2.

The next phase of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards is beginning to roll out. Although I am unaware of full implications of this review in the process, I suspect the PW review carries a lot of the weight in the final decision - below is a copy of the post I made to the competitors forum, and is for reference only.

I'll be posting a less rambling message here on the blog in a few minutes, and referring back to this post... so this is like a message from the future, but you, future people might be here because of the yet to be written part one.

Hang on, I'm confusing myself - I'll just leave this here and get on with the other post...