Elsewhen Press signs Canadian satirist for comedy science fiction novel

DARTFORD, KENT – 20 JUNE 2012 – Elsewhen Press, a small independent publisher specialising in Speculative Fiction, today announced that Canadian satirist and author Ira Nayman, has signed a publishing deal for an undisclosed sum for a humorous science fiction novel, a spin-off from his popular Alternate Reality News Service (Alternate Reality Ain’t What It Used To Be, What Were Once Miracles Are Now Children’s Toys and Luna for the Lunies!).  The novel, Welcome to the Multiverse (Sorry for the Inconvenience), follows the first case for Noomi Rapier, rookie investigator with The Transdimensional Authority – the organisation that regulates travel between dimensions.  When a dead body is found slumped over a modified transdimensional machine, Noomi and her more experienced partner, Crash Chumley, must find the dead man’s accomplices and discover what they were doing with the technology.  Their investigation leads them to a variety of realities where Noomi comes face-to-face with four very different incarnations of herself, forcing her to consider how the choices she makes and the circumstances into which she is born determine who she is.

Al Murray, Managing Publisher of Elsewhen Press said “Ira’s new novel is both an hilarious romp through multiple dimensions in a variety of alternate realities, and a gentle satire on fate, ambition and expectation.  This is an exciting departure for Elsewhen Press; our first novel-length science fiction comedy. Welcome to the Multiverse (Sorry for the Inconvenience) will appeal to comedy fans who have been bereft of much good science-fiction fare these last eleven years.  Ira’s style is at times surreal, even off-the-wall, with the humour flying at you from unexpected angles; he describes it as fractal humour.  Anyone who has read his Alternate Reality News Service stories will know how funny Ira is.  The characters we meet from around the multiverse deserve to become firm favourites with all fans of science fiction comedy.”

Elsewhen Press adopts a digital-first policy, initially publishing new titles in ebook format and subsequently in print editions.  Welcome to the Multiverse (Sorry for the Inconvenience) by Ira Nayman will be published in a digital edition this autumn and in print early next year.

About Ira Nayman

In his past lives, Ira Nayman was, among other things: a cave painter whose art was not appreciated in his lifetime; several nameless peasants who died before their 20th birthday during the Dark Ages; a toenail fungus specialist in the court of Louis XIV; and Alan Turing’s scullery maid.

In his current incarnation, Ira is the creator of Les Pages aux Folles, a Web site of political and social satire that will be 10 years old in the first week of September, 2012 (that’s positively Paleolithic in Internet years!). Three collections of Alternate Reality News Service (ARNS) stories which originally appeared on the Web site have been self-published in print. Two new volumes of ARNS stories – The Street Finds Its Own Uses for Market Lateralization and The Alternate Reality News Service’s Guide To Sex, Love and Robots will be published in 2013. Probably. Hopefully. 2014 at the latest. Ira has produced the pilot for a radio series based on stories from the first two ARNS books; “The Weight of Information, Episode One” can be heard on YouTube.

Ira has also written a series of stories that take place in a universe where matter at all levels of organization has become conscious, featuring Antonio Van der Whall, object psychologist, four of which have appeared in print.

Ira’s Web Goddess tells him he should make more of the fact that he won the 2010 Jonathan Swift Satire Writing Contest. So, Ira won the 2010 Jonathan Swift Satire Writing Contest.

In another life (but still within this incarnation) Ira has a Masters degree in Media Studies from The New School for Social Research which was conducted entirely online. He also has a PhD in Communications from McGill University. Ira taught New Media part-time at Ryerson University for five years.

Whoever created the Karmic wheel has a lot to answer for...

Breaking News: Extraordinary New Book Rewrites Adolf Hitler’s Childhood

from Digital Journal. Crossposted over at The War Blog.

Frank Daversa, author and writer, recently published his new book “Young Adolf: An Alternate History” with AuthorHouse. It revisits Hitler's childhood as an exercise in developmental psychology: can an early romance overcome the domestic challenges of young Adolf's life? The story, written by Frank and Joseph Franciosa Jr., starts with Hitler’s birth, and proceeds through his adolescence. It depicts his childhood in striking detail. You will observe his ordeals, from the rigors of his schooling to beatings by his father Alois. Factual accounts are interspersed with fictional inventions, such as his relationship with a hypothetical girl named Helga. Can young Adolf conquer the personal barriers his difficult childhood presented and become close with her emotionally? How will that change him?

Learn more about Adolf the boy. Experience the molding of his dreams, his prejudices, and his desires in visceral detail. Come to understand the inner-workings of history's most infamous megalomaniac through the perspective of a child’s eyes. Follow Adolf during his younger years. Know the boy before he was the world's most feared man. Witness his courtship with good-natured Helga. Decide whether her influence might have altered the course of history.

Frank is based in Houston, TX. It all began there back in early 2008, when he was thinking of how Adolf Hitler must have had a difficult childhood for him to turn out the way he did. He had no girlfriends during that time to speak of. Then it occurred to Frank, what would happen if someone intervened, someone to show young Hitler true love? Would this be enough to change him for the better as an adult? That is how “Young Adolf” was born.

This does seem like an interesting premise, though I'm rather doubtful as to its overall plausibility. By that I don't mean the possibility of Hitler getting a girlfriend, but of it having an overall impact on his personality and politics. But then I'm rather sceptical of the whole psycho-analysis as an approach anyway since in the end it always seems to boil down to some issue about one's mother and/or sex. Contrary to that I think that even people who one would identify as "good" and even "kind", who had a good childhood and experienced stable relationships, can through deliberations and the setting of priorities come up with ideas and concepts we would rightfully abhor.

Having said that, I may well be doing the whole project premature injustice (...can injustice be mature?^^). It certainly addresses an aspect few if any other writers have tackled in that way. That alone makes me anticipate reading it!

Mitro, the founder of the Alternate History Weekly Update, contacted the author of the above mentioned novel and secured a review copy for yours truly! Thanks, Frank and Mitro!

[Editor's Note (3/2/12): You can read the review here]

* * *

War Blogger is the Internet handle of Sebastian P. Breit, author of the alternate history novel Wolf Hunt. You can find news, reviews, and commentary on all matters regarding WW2 on his blog, The War Blog, and follow his writing progress on his personal website.