What happened before is in the past; we can can wrangle over what transpired, or simply let it go. My ever-searching writer's ear helps me to create stories from whispers in the ether. I can hear the questions asked in private but have yet to go public. The most obvious is: Why read a book about 12/21/2012 with only 9 days to go until that day arrives? The ether also offered up this one: Why not release Monarch several years earlier?
Now I'm no psychic; the whispers in the ether are of course my own. The above questions were questions I asked myself before I started on Monarch 2 1/2 years ago in the spring of 2010. I hear them today because these are valid questions from those who are reluctant to investigate further. How the story was written in 2010 was shaped by my concerns over those particular questions.
While Monarch takes place literally in the present, it deals heavily with an issue that is as timeless as our our own history here on Earth. FEAR FOR OUR LIFE. It is the greatest of motivators and most basic of emotional states. Every culture in the world has creation and destruction myths because we live on a world within an expanding and infinitely changing universe, not a glass doll house where everything is as it should be. The threat of destruction is, and always will be, possible at any moment.
The good news is that we as humans love to be blissfully ignorant of what is going on around us, and we like to pretend that all is going to be ok. Even if it is only for a little while. But we sure would like for things to be kept that way for as long as possible. These things are eternal and do not change by generation. They are a part of what makes us human, and that is what is at the core of Ginger Reed's epic journey to freeing her spirit from the confines of her gilded cage. (Those who have read Monarch will get the reference.)
Ginger's journey is a similar journey that all generations face when, on occasion, we open our eyes and look around and ask: What if "X" happens? Is there anything I can do?
In short, I wrote Monarch to be a story about the enduring human spirit. It is meant to show how all of our lives are intertwined in ways that we don't even know until we open our eyes and take a look outside. Sometimes, all we need is a little push.
So, why read a book about 12/21/2012 with only 9 days to go until that day arrives? Because it is about so much more than that day. While it takes place presently, it could be taking place at any time. The fear of something awful happening isn't going away anytime soon. Besides, as long as nothing happens next Friday, we will all be looking back on the end of the Mayan Calendar and wonder: what if something had happened? Some of us might even be asking: what did actually happen?
Why didn't I release Monarch several years earlier? Granted, the majority of this story has been available for most of the year, except for the last few chapters. But, in honesty, I did write the story Ginger reads back in 2000. Cipher, however, is not Monarch. Monarch is so much more than Cipher, and I was not prepared to write it before 2010. But when 2010 arrived, I had to write it. I was hell bent on bringing both Ted and Ginger to life. I won't lie, it took a lot to fight off those lingering questions in the back of my head as I pushed through the blood, sweat and tears to deliver upon that promise to myself and to you.
I assure you that questions about 2012 will linger long after the new year arrives; and Monarch will be uniquely relevant to potentially answer some of those questions. Haters and naysayers aside, there will be those who shall use their own experience of this time to shape a better future.
It all comes down to one simple choice: Will you at any point next Friday think about what has happened up until now and wonder what happens next? If you do, how will you react?
While those who read Monarch will not likely share in the same experiences as Ginger, a few women and men may be able to relate to her. That by itself would make all my work over the past thirteen years worth it.
To read Monarch, you can find it as an eBook or paperback.
EBook Retailers Paperback
Amazon Black & White $14.99
$4.99 (6x9)
Barnes and Noble Color $65.00
$4.99 (8x10 Coffee Table Collectors Item)
*Buy the eBook and Save 38% with
coupon in the back of the eBook.
ITunes
$4.99
Smashwords
$4.99
Diesel
$4.99
I know the one book is pricey. I had no control in setting the price. But if you buy the eBook, there is a coupon code to use at the back of the book to save 38%. The collectible will only be available for a short span of time and contains all of Scott Padgett's wonderful illustrations in vivid high-resolution color.
-aap
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