(This post should be the first Alan Conrad wordpress post to appear on Tumblr)
Back in the spring of 2024, apologizing for the lack of posts on this site, I explained that it was due to work on a new book, Autism Dreaming (Why I’ve Been Missing – June 11/2024).
That book is now finished, but its future is in limbo.
All my books were previously published through KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing), who I’ve recommended for many years. But for some reason, in this age of exploding technology, the JWST telescope sending back phenomenal photos from deep space, superintelligent AI approaching our doorstep, etc etc, society seems to be collapsing in dysfunction everywhere you look. My KDP account is blocked for some reason I can’t determine, and KDP support can’t determine. My three books, The Birdcatcther, The Shyness Guide, and Skol, are trapped in there. I can’t manage them or monitor them, and I can’t create a new book on KDP.
I’ve been trying to get Autism Dreaming set up with IngramSpark. Other indie writers warn you about their complicated system. So far I’ve found it a publishing Rubik’s Cube. If I succeed there, it’s going to take months.
Meanwhile, something remarkable has been happening on this site.
I’ve had an Alan Conrad website, here and previously on Yahoo (Shy Highway) since 2006 – for twenty years. Every time in the past that I neglected posting, visits to the site quickly fell off, which is what you expect. But over the past year, with few posts and little attention from me, visits to this site have been increasing. Over the past six months, downloads of my free chapters on those three books, my SF short stories, and some literary essays have taken off. There are downloads almost every day.
Why? I don’t know, except to say that some posts have been drawing readers for years. Leading the way are those about children who speak of past lives (Paranormal World | Children who speak of past lives | Reincarnation?, Aug 8/2018 was the first). These are reviews, one child at a time, of psychiatrist Ian Stevenson’s life-long study of them, that he described in 6 volumes. Though I’ve been neglecting these children, I continue to think about them, and some interesting posts are coming.
The runner up to those children is my April 23/2022 post Isaac Asimov and the Joys of Autism. Those who liked that post, should like my report in Autism Dreaming, of the dream visit I got just after Asimov’s death, when he left a gift for me.
Then there is Sugar the Cat, whose two posts continue to draw readers. This is not a surprise to me though, since his astounding journey cries out to be read by everyone.
Finally, there is my SF novel Skol, a book that I consider the best thing I’ve written. I would readily match it up with any SF novel ever written (with the exception of Cordwainer Smith’s Norstrilia, which I consider the best SF novel ever written). Because Skol had never had a single sale, I deactivated it on KDP last spring, while I gave it’s promotion some more thought. Suddenly, since last fall, its four free chapters here are being downloaded frequently. I’ve now sold three mint copies of it that were in my possession, but I can’t get more to replace my ‘stock’, even buying retail from Amazon. But one way or another, I’m going to get it online again somewhere.
Many other posts that had stopped receiving visitors, have started up again . I can’t explain this, but I’m thankful to everyone involved.
Alan Conrad 