Check out my first novel, midnight's simulacra!

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[[File:Midnightsimulacra-cover-1024x768.png|right|thumb|Front and back covers, and spine (subject to change)]]
[[File:Midnightsimulacracover.jpg|right|thumb|Front and back covers, and spine]]


My first novel, coming 2024-01-09!
[https://midnightssimulacra.com My first novel] released 2024-01-11! You probably want [https://midnightssimulacra.com the book page].
* A currentish draft of [https://nick-black.com/midnight-parti-2023-10-05.pdf Part I is available], containing the first four chapters
 
It's a romp featuring plenty of hacking, clandestine chemistry, and even a spot of at-home uranium enrichment. Along the way, there's lots of science and philosophy of science, and some big questions.
 
==Blurb==
Michael Luis Bolaño is the scion of Mexican oil wealth gone to rut in Texas. Sherman Spartacus Katz is the hyperliterate son of evangelical eccentrics from the North Georgia mountains. One hopes to restore what's been lost, the other to attain what never was. Together at a major Technical Institute they are trained as engineers; together in the dark they study forbidden teachings. By graduation, they're formidably competent, and wholly rogue.
 
Michael hopes to unwind an operation grown too large for comfort, but not until they've finally cleaned their money and moved it into the banking system. Sherman stays awake for days on meth, building baroque machines, designing powerful drug analogues, and chasing scientific glory. The DEA and FBI circle, aware that there's something rotten in Atlanta. A bulk LSD sale goes sideways, but opens new opportunities of an entirely different nature. Carried away by events increasingly beyond their control, the two find themselves targets of governments, industry, and old friends unable to resist the allure of incredible power.
 
They meanwhile talk ceaseless smack, seek out spergy love, deal with sadistic professors, supercharge wheelchairs, hack compulsively, and avoid a possibly demoniacal snapping turtle. *Midnight's Simulacra* is a picaresque technical thriller.
 
==Formats==
* Hardback ($40): the intended format. 9x6"
* Trade ($20): also good. Exact same text/paging as hardback. 8.5x5.5"
* PDF ($0): free. No cover. Not the best format for some ereaders. 9.25x6.125"
** Should you like the book, it would be cool if you bought a copy, or at least spread the word.
* Epub ($20): least faithful version, but most flexible on ereaders
** [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CMQH4SCB Available for preorder] on Amazon, shipping 2024-01-23
 
In the future, I might release an annotated edition. This would likely only be available in hardback, but who knows? I might annotate all formats simply to cut down on annoyances. The likelihood of me doing this is directly related to reader response as seen in sales and reviews.


==Illustrations==
==Illustrations==
fullpage black and white illustrations by [https://www.justinbarkerart.com/ Justin Barker]
fullpage black and white illustrations by [https://www.justinbarkerart.com/ Justin Barker]
not all of these ended up being used.


'''warning: these arguably contain spoilers'''
'''warning: these arguably contain spoilers'''
<gallery perrow=6>
<gallery perrow=6>
File:01-SSK-Trashcan-HC-300y.jpg|cien años de soledad (one hundred years of solitude)
File:01-TeddieJodie-HC-300.jpg|jenseits von gut und böse (beyond good and evil)
File:01-TeddieJodie-HC-300.jpg|jenseits von gut und böse (beyond good and evil)
File:02-SSKSign-HC-300.jpg|mémoires d’outre-tombe (memoirs from beyond the grave)
File:02-SSKSign-HC-300.jpg|mémoires d’outre-tombe (memoirs from beyond the grave)
Line 35: Line 16:
File:03-DC-Party-HC-300.jpg|without MSG i am nothing
File:03-DC-Party-HC-300.jpg|without MSG i am nothing
File:06-SSKPostItGirl-HC-300.jpg|the yellow wallpaper
File:06-SSKPostItGirl-HC-300.jpg|the yellow wallpaper
File:07-AO MLB-HC-300.jpg|a clockwork orange
File:07-AO MLB-HC-300.jpg|unfair arguments with existence
File:05-SSK MLBVanLeer-HC-300.jpg|le rouge et le noir (the red and the black)
File:05-SSK MLBVanLeer-HC-300.jpg|le rouge et le noir (the red and the black)
File:08-VCT-Gaming-HC-300.jpg|fanged noumena
File:08-VCT-Gaming-HC-300.jpg|fanged noumena
File:05-Cloud-SSK-PhishLot-HC-300.jpg|their eyes were watching god
File:05-Cloud-SSK-PhishLot-HC-300.jpg|their eyes were watching god
File:09-Erica-Arguing-HC-300.jpg|le sens du combat (the art of struggle)
File:09-Erica-Arguing-HC-300.jpg|le sens du combat (the art of struggle)
File:11-SSKErikaLab-HC-300.jpg|dream of fair to middling women
File:11-SSKErikaLab-HC-300.jpg|el jardín de senderos que se bifurcan (the garden of forking paths)
File:04-AT-CrossingStreet-HC-300.jpg|to the lighthouse
File:04-AT-CrossingStreet-HC-300.jpg|to the lighthouse
File:16-ElevatorWarhead-HC-300.jpg|war in the age of intelligent machines
File:16-ElevatorWarhead-HC-300.jpg|war in the age of intelligent machines
File:13-SSK MLBStressTable-HC-300.jpg|unfair arguments with existence
File:10-Greg-OwningIt-HC-300.jpg|auch zwerge haben klein angefangen (even dwarfs started small)
File:10-Greg-OwningIt-HC-300.jpg|the picture of dorian gray
File:02-MLB-Drinking-HC-300.jpg|angle of repose
File:02-MLB-Drinking-HC-300.jpg|angle of repose
File:11-OZCoffee-Redux-HC-300.jpg|le plaisir du texte (the pleasure of the text)
File:15-DeveshTurtle-HC-300.jpg|leviathan
File:20-OrianaCab-HC-300.jpg|le dieu du carnage (god of carnage)
File:20-OrianaCab-HC-300.jpg|le dieu du carnage (god of carnage)
File:06-DYK-Zoo-HC-300.jpg|a mathematical theory of communication
File:06-DYK-Zoo-HC-300.jpg|a mathematical theory of communication
File:07-SSKRunHighway-HC-300.jpg|the difference between me and you is that i am not on fire
File:07-SSKRunHighway-HC-300.jpg|the difference between me and you is that i am not on fire
</gallery>
</gallery>
==Dramatis Personae==
'''warning: these arguably contain spoilers'''
Major characters are introduced in prime-numbered chapters. Originally, I was going to do something inspired by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serialism serialist music], and identify each character with a prime number, and then only have characters in a given chapter if they were in that chapter number's prime factorization. This idea sucked for several reasons, so I abandoned it.
* Sherman Spartacus Katz (b. 1980)
** Also mother Eveline (Evy), and her husband Cassius James. Also Theodore Roosevelt and Jodie Foster, agents of an undetermined agency in a series of recurring dreams.
** Enters GT 1998 CS+MATH BS, graduates 2005
* Michael Luis Bolaño (b. 1979)
** Also great-great-grandfather Gustavo, and his wife Guadalupe; their son Antonio, and his wife Valentina; their three children: eldest son José Luis, and the twin daughters Xevera and Zita; Lillian, wife of José Luis; their son Luis, and his wife Rosemary; their son Diego (brother of MLB).
** Enters GT 1998 IE+PHYS BS, graduates 2002
* Devesh Choudhary (b. 1977)
** Also a pursuing alligator snapping turtle.
** Enters GT 1997 PHYS BS, graduates 2003
** Enters GT 2008 PHYS PhD
* Alexei Orshanskiy (b. 1980)
** Enters GT 1999 CS+MechE BS, graduates 2003
** Enters GT 2003 MechE MS, graduates 2005
* Vladimir cel Tredat (b. 1982)
** Enters GT 2002 CS, graduates 2005
* Anarbek Tursyn (b. 1977)
** Enters MEPhI 1995 NucE BS, graduates 2000
** Enters GT 2009 NucE MS, graduates 2011
* Cloud (b. ?)
* Erica Marelli (b. 1985)
** Enters UC-Berkeley 2003 Chemistry BS, graduates 2006
** Enters GT 2006 Bioinformatics MS, graduates 2009
** Enters GT 2009 BME PhD, graduates 2013
* Greg Moyer (b. 1979)
** Enters GT 1998 MGMT BS, graduates 2003
* Oriana Marino (b. 1988)
** Enters GSU 2007 Phil+Journalism BS, graduates 2012

Latest revision as of 04:46, 10 March 2024

Front and back covers, and spine

My first novel released 2024-01-11! You probably want the book page.

Illustrations

fullpage black and white illustrations by Justin Barker

not all of these ended up being used.

warning: these arguably contain spoilers

  • jenseits von gut und böse (beyond good and evil)

    jenseits von gut und böse (beyond good and evil)

  • mémoires d’outre-tombe (memoirs from beyond the grave)

    mémoires d’outre-tombe (memoirs from beyond the grave)

  • the thirst for annihilation

    the thirst for annihilation

  • the age of innocence

    the age of innocence

  • without MSG i am nothing

    without MSG i am nothing

  • the yellow wallpaper

    the yellow wallpaper

  • unfair arguments with existence

    unfair arguments with existence

  • le rouge et le noir (the red and the black)

    le rouge et le noir (the red and the black)

  • fanged noumena

    fanged noumena

  • their eyes were watching god

    their eyes were watching god

  • le sens du combat (the art of struggle)

    le sens du combat (the art of struggle)

  • el jardín de senderos que se bifurcan (the garden of forking paths)

    el jardín de senderos que se bifurcan (the garden of forking paths)

  • to the lighthouse

    to the lighthouse

  • war in the age of intelligent machines

    war in the age of intelligent machines

  • auch zwerge haben klein angefangen (even dwarfs started small)

    auch zwerge haben klein angefangen (even dwarfs started small)

  • angle of repose

    angle of repose

  • le dieu du carnage (god of carnage)

    le dieu du carnage (god of carnage)

  • a mathematical theory of communication

    a mathematical theory of communication

  • the difference between me and you is that i am not on fire

    the difference between me and you is that i am not on fire

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