Yes, it’s true. I just sent my final galley corrections off and should be uploading the files to Amazon and everywhere else next week. When I do, I’ll sale-price the eBook version at $0.99 and let you know of it here. If you’re looking for a fun read, I’d be delighted if you would give it a try and then post a brief review (one or two sentences is fine) at Amazon – I’ll very much need at least a dozen favorable reviews before I can get my promotional campaign into high gear.
So what else should I tell you?
For starters, the final text weighs in at 104,949 words – about the same as each of the previous books except The Lafayette Campaign, which punched in at a heavyweight 135,000. And just as with the previous books, what I imagined in this book is also coming to pass: just this week, J.P. Morgan announced it is the first bank to create its own blockchain based cryptocurrency. Going forward, it plans to move towards using its new “stable coin” for all transfer between customer accounts. The details sound very much like what I came up with in the book.
If you followed along as I posted the first-draft chapters at this blog, you’ll find that the final draft is very different. Of course, the writing has been further polished. But there are also new characters (that handsome gent up above, for example), new subplots, and much more. How much more? About 25,000 words, or, as Monty Python might say, “Rather a lot, actually.” The beta readers who read the final as well as the first version think it’s now a much better book, and I agree.
For those of you who didn’t follow along, here’s my first draft of the blurb that will appear at on the back cover of the print edition. As always, comments and suggestions would be most welcome:
A new technology called the blockchain is taking the world by storm. Its proponents claim it’s the biggest thing since the Internet, and everyone from diamond merchants to drug companies is climbing on board.
But is it secure?
Benson Cronin, the CEO of First Manhattan Bank thinks so. He’s convinced the global banking system to abandon its traditional systems in favor of a blockchain-based network he calls BankCoin.
But is it safe?
Maybe. But maybe not. Just to be sure, Cronin hires cybersecurity super-sleuth Frank Adversego to oversee the security of BankCoin.
Meanwhile, the Russians have launched their own blockchain network in order to escape Western economic sanctions.
It’s not long before Frank is embroiled in a complex series of events involving massive hacker attacks, a deepening crisis between Russia and NATO, and the machinations of an unstable genius seeking to overthrow global governments and create a brave, new, anarchist world.
If that sounds intriguing, great! And you’ve only got a few days to wait.
Hmmm, problems with Russia; where’d I hear of stuff like that, lol! Well, Andy, you’ve done such a great job of foreseeing stuff (truly), I may have to see how this one ends too so’s to keep my hopes for our democracy up! 🙂
Thanks, Adan – great to hear from you (especially when you’ve been so busy with your own work lately).
Happily, in my book, things with the Russians end well. Less happily, I’m not sure my predictive powers are as sharp in that area in the real world.
Sorry I fell off there for the last part but you know, life.
Congratulations, I can’t wait to read the final version
after watching the creative process happen in real
time. It’s made me much more aware of getting the
story out onto electrons and then polishing and scripting
it into the final narrative.
What’s next? Climate? Dark Funding? A 2020 cautionary
tale? Hiding details inside a bigger louder noise because,
you know, the devil is in the details.
Frank
Welcome back, Frank – great to hear from you again, and I hope you enjoy the new book in its final form.
What’s next? For a change, I have no idea, at least for the time being. For the next few months I’ll mostly be getting back to marketing the books I’ve already written, which has become more challenging than ever. (Hint: all the help loyal readers may want to do to spread the word would be most gratefully accepted).
No problem, I waited to buy the book at full price, my cup of coffee to you. I am quietly doing word
of mouth around various circles which could potentially have larger feedback effects. I guess that is
like encouraging various esoteric revenue streams into existence. I recall from my readings that the
milestone for increasing success is somewhere out at ten books or about a million words. I guess
that might mean bigger books or more of them :))))
Couple of tidbits:
@el33th4xor invented one of the earliest, decentralized, virtual currencies to confront the problem of leechers on P2P file-sharing systems. He published Karma 5 years before Bitcoin whitepaper.
https://cs.baylor.edu/~donahoo/classes/5321/papers/VCS03.pdf
https://medium.com/@preethikasireddy/fundamental-challenges-with-public-blockchains-253c800e9428
That’s in the past now but I think about the future all the time.
I see the media, social media, corporations, politics and the continuing polarization towards the us/them
paradigm as a major issue going forward. From medifoodpharm to climategreen we have dueling experts
confounding the issues pushing Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt in all directions. A veritable cornucopia of
plots and twists.
Carry on, you’re doing fine.
Frank, thanks as always for all the thoughts and links.