Tag Archives: Science Fiction

My Time Machine is Late Again

05 Sunday Jul 2015

Posted by in books, humor, Science Fiction, Time Machine

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Time MachineWe love the concept of the time machine, going back in time and fixing things or warning our younger selves of imminent danger. Since H.G. Wells wrote his classic story, science fiction writers have been absolutely fascinated with the possibilities and tried hundreds of ways to make it work. They seem to always get in trouble and never seem to have all that much fun with them, however. So with that in mind, I came up with a short list of:

Fun things to do with your time machine:

  • Go 5 minutes back in time and destroy your time machine before you get in just to see what happens.
  • Go back in time and ruin your parent’s marriage before you were born.
  • Go back in time 1 minute and greet yourself. There are now two of you. Do this 999 times more, so that there are 1000 of you. If you have the patience, fill the whole earth with yourself.
  • Go back in time one minute so there are two of you. Then zoom 20 years into the future and get all your old you’s memories and experiences and kill your old self. Repeat and continue until you are 1 million years old.
  • Go back in time with you and your time machine 1 minute, so there are 2 yous and 2 time machines. Each of you repeats this until there are 7 billion time machines. Give one to each person on earth, sit back and enjoy the show.
  • Go back to 1933 and kick Hitler in the balls, go back one minute before that and do it again. Repeat.
  • Take your girlfriend to the top of the Empire State Building. Tell her you’ll be right back. Take your time machine to earlier that evening and rearrange the CitiCorp sign so it lights up with her name on the tower. Return one minute after you said you’d be gone, point out the sign and reap the rewards.
  • Go back in time one billionth of a second over and over so you are invisible.
  • Go back to the Cretaceous (not Jurassic) period and take photographs and videos of velociraptors. Bring the photos to Steven Spielberg and explain to him once-and-for-all that they had brains the size of a pea, and were not smarter than people.
  • Find someone with a “WWJD” (what would Jesus do?) sticker. Send him back 2000 years so he can ask in person (I didn’t say anything about bringing him back).
  • Climb to the top of Mt. Everest with your time machine. Open a parachute just as you travel 10 million years into the future. Then float down onto the eroded hill below.
  • Go one year into the future and find out all the new fashions. Bring some back and wear them in your own time, then constantly brag about how you are always ahead of your time.
  • And finally, get the winning lottery numbers, horse race winner, stock market successes, and get yourself very rich indeed.

Got any more? Add them in the comments, and they had better be good. Don’t make me go back in time and break up your grandparents’ marriage.

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Threshold of the Mind in Audiobook Production

16 Wednesday Jul 2014

Posted by in audio books, books, fiction, Jeff Clarke, Science Fiction, Threshold of the Mind

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Threshold of the Mind will be available as an audiobook this coming August.  Actor Jeff Clarke (Madmen, Zack Files, Chicago, etc) will be doing the narration.  He has a fabulous voice and a great understanding of the story.  It will be fun to listen to his interpretation.

Threshold-FrontCoverThe process has taken several months and has been relatively smooth.  The production is being facilitated by ACX a division of Amazon.  It was decided to go this route because of their broad reach in distribution: Amazon.com, iTunes, Audible.com, and more.  This growing segment of the book publishing industry is expanding dramatically, though not without its challenges.  The cost is too high for most self-published authors and the royalties have changed in the last few months.  It is no surprise that the listening audience for audiobooks is growing rapidly; long commutes, airline travel, exercise, the ease of listening on mobile devices and the improved production quality make it a great boon for new books.

There will be audio excerpts from the completed book in the coming weeks.  Stay tuned, it is a really exciting and rewarding project.  Big thanks to Jeff Clarke.

Threshold of the Mind is available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble (stores and online), smashwords, iTunes and many other venues.

New Video and Book Updates

19 Saturday Oct 2013

Posted by in books, ebook, fiction, new release, Threshold of the Mind

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I made this brief video promo of Threshold of the Mind.  I think you will enjoy it: Video of Threshold of the Mind.

New Name – Same Great Story

Threshold-FrontCoverOK, that brings up something very important.  I changed the name of my book from In the Image of God to Threshold of the Mind.  It is the same in every other way, just a new title.  I debated long and hard about this.  It is not a small thing to change the name of your book.  It is like changing your own name.  Unfortunately, the old name was getting associated with religious books.  Of course, it is not about religion in any way.  So I changed it to Threshold of the Mind.  But it is not just changing the title, the book had to be republished in every form: that means in print, kindle, ebooks, new ISBN number, everything.  It took a few months, but the process is complete.  So I made a video to celebrate the new title, because I think it is awesome, just right, Sci-Fi, hi-tech, genetic engineering.

So, if you have a book with the old name, hang on to it, it will be a collectors item.  But you should also buy a new one, so you can be cool and up to date.

Here’s where you can get it:

On Amazon
On Smashwords (ebook/pdf/etc)
On iTunes: do a search for “Threshold of the Mind” + “Magidson”
On Barnes & Noble

Read the First Two Chapters of Threshold of the Mind Online

26 Tuesday Feb 2013

Posted by in books, In the Image of God, kindle, new release, stratumentis

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OK, it’s pretty blatant, isn’t it?  I give you the first two chapters of Threshold of the Mind.  You read it, get hooked, then pull your hair until you get the rest of the book.  But don’t panic, it’s available in many versions, print, Kindle, and ebook.  So read the first two chapters at your own risk without cost or obligation, knowing you will be driven to buy the book later.  You’ve been warned.

Read the First two Chapters here

What Does Stratumentis Mean?

23 Saturday Feb 2013

Posted by in ebook, fiction, In the Image of God, stratumentis

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The word Stratumentis is a combination of two Latin words, “stratum” meaning layer and “mentis,” meaning of the mind.  Stratumentis literally means, “layered minds.”

Stratumentis is the name of the fictional city in my new book, In the Image of God.  In the novel, it is a fantastic spherical structure designed and built by the wealthy and ruthless business genius, Tatsuo Hamachi.  Stratumentis is suspended in the open space of the widest part of the Grand Canyon, half above the rim and half below, nearly a mile above the Colorado River and over one mile from either rim.  The gigantic sphere is approximately one half mile in diameter and over two hundred stories high.

Stratumentis houses thousands of workers and laboratories.  The outer skin is composed of Crystaleen, a fully transparent glass that has excellent photovoltaic properties as well as a high insulative value.   This material is incredibly expensive as it can only be manufactured in high earth orbit.  The entire sphere weighing billions of tons is suspended by eight nanofiber cables attached to four enormous towers, two at each rim.  From a slight distance, the city appears to float.  Its shiny surface reflects the sun, giving the illusion it is a second, smaller sun rising in the gorge.

In the Image of God is available in print and electronic versions from online retailers.  Here is the link to the Amazon listing.

My New Book – In the Image of God – is now Available!

14 Thursday Feb 2013

Posted by in books, fiction, In the Image of God

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In the Image of God is now available on Amazon in print and kindle versions.  This was a long ride.  I began writing the book about 14 years ago.  It has gone through many edits and changes.  Here it is, released to the world.  Fly little birdie, fly.

In the Image of God by Jay Magidson, now available on Amazon

In the Image of God

I want to give a special thank you to my family for their support through the process – I love you.

Here is the description from the back of the book:

The year is 2080 and the world is crowded. To feed the nearly 17 billion, the earth has been divided into agriculture or city. There is no in between, no margin for error in this high-tech world. Farms are ultra-efficient enterprises using the latest engineered crops, enormous plants manipulated to grow in any season and produce fantastic yields. Cities are dense and overcrowded, stuffed with men and women working endless hours to pay for their needs. Their only relief is Virtual Reality – a synthetic world where any fantasy is possible – where a person can look like anyone, be anywhere. It is no wonder people spend every waking hour “jacked in” to this imaginary world.

Access to Virtual Reality is controlled by one company, owned by one man. Tatsuo Hamachi has accumulated vast wealth, but his desire for power is greater. Now, he has discovered a way to connect human minds directly, without the need of Virtual Reality headsets, where thoughts can flow as easily as electricity through a wire. When every human mind is connected – he stands to be leader of them all.

There are a few who have rejected technology for a simpler life. Their only desire is to be left in peace. When Alvar, their leader, becomes an unwilling guinea pig for Hamachi’s experiments, he must fight not only for his own mind, but those of the entire world.