Demosthenes: Blog

(Potential spoilers for Chapter 8 ahead).

I've always been confused by couples who claim "oh, we never fight". My response is always "then what did you talk about?"

While we're all familiar with destructive, dysfunctional relationships in which couples fight all the time, I believe that any great romantic relationship must, by its nature, also be a passionate one. For me, that means passion in every aspect, which inevitably leads to conflict.

So, yes: fights, they are a-coming.

As always, your feedback, comments and corrections are very much welcomed.

P.S. I've made some small formatting changes and corrections to earlier chapters, partly to maintain consistency with what is to come; the alterations don't change the content in any significant way.

While I was writing the "bridge" chapters for Resonance, the plot diverged on an unexpected - but very welcome - journey. As a result, I have a few more chapters to add to get to the finish line; hopefully I won't be one of those writers forever making claims of "just 20,000 more words".

Rather than holding off publication until the final manuscript is complete, I've decided to publish the chapters I have now, one per day, starting tomorrow. After that, I'll likely need another week to finish up the remaining chapters, which I'll also publish on a daily basis, together with an appendix, glossary and (hopefully) some maps.

As always, your support is greatly appreciated, and your feedback, comments and corrections are always welcomed.

Sharp-eyed readers will note that chapter 6, posted today, is the shortest so far. While complete and hopefully enjoyable unto itself, the chapter's brevity hints to the fact that most of the initial pages I wrote for the story have now been posted. The ending is written too: what I need to complete now is the bridge between them, which I estimate to be around 20,000 words.

So far, I've had enough material to post a chapter a day, after additions and editing. That will have to pause as I build up a head of narrative steam to push through the intermediate sections. Hopefully, this means that no more than a week should pass before new chapters start to appear.

I've also made some small corrections to previously posted chapters: I'd like to particularly thank reader RabbiRabbit for my improvements in Hebrew.

As always, thank you very much for your support and comments.

P.S. For the many people who wrote and commented on chapter 2, I've also added in a small bit of dialog that should address your concerns.

(Potential spoilers for content up to and including chapter 4)

I've been going back and forth on the accuracy of providing Resonance with a "Politics" tag (and, to a lesser extent, a "Military" one). The story certainly involves politics; intersectionality and many other schools of thought would argue that everything does. But interacting with politicians is simply how Joshua works to achieve Angie's plan; it's not a central theme of the story per se.

I also don't want to provide the impression from adding a "Politics" tag that the story takes a particular political slant: all sides are portrayed to various degrees as flawed, meddlesome and paranoid, with different tactics and capacities for violence. The only central political theme is one of peace.

For now, I've decided to leave the tag(s) out, but you should be aware that politics will rear its head in the context of the story.

P.S. A few readers have written to say that they find that they find the occasional snippets of Hebrew, Arabic and other languages I've used in the narrative for local dialog a little distracting, as they feel that they have to stop and look up translations. Hopefully most of the words used can be guessed from their context, but I am in complete sympathy… it's just that I find inline translations of foreign words equally distracting. My solution will be to provide a glossary at the end of the story. Naturally, that can't be posted until the story itself is complete… so if you wish to wait a week or two until the story is concluded with an included glossary, I completely understand.

(Potential spoilers for content up to and including chapter 3)

I take intense pleasure in learning more about the world: everything about it, really. I've joked in the past that it's my goal to become omniscient, while knowing that it will forever stay out of reach… and enjoying the chase regardless.

However, I understand that there's a difference between learning something and experiencing it. In this particular case, despite what I hope is a good appearance to the contrary, I've not (yet) been to most of the places explored in Resonance, and don't speak Hebrew or Arabic. I've done a great deal of research, and described what I have read, seen and heard to the best of my ability… but where that hasn't been enough, I've filled the gaps with imagination.

If you are more personally familiar with Israel and its neighbours, and spot something that feels significantly out of place, please let me know! Otherwise, I hope you continue to enjoy the story.

P.S. I've had several readers write to ask: "Why didn't Joshua just command Angelina to get better?" Friends, no matter what believers in "alternative medicine" might tell you, people can't think their way to better health. A positive attitude certainly helps with recovery and healing, but there's no medical evidence to suggest that it can change the physical manifestation of a disease. Joshua's power is akin to the most inspiring speaker you've ever heard, raised a thousandfold. He can command people to take action, or to ignore things - such as Angelina's pain and tiredness - but he can't control cancer cells.