The last two flash fiction pieces are up at 365tomorrows. They include the final Channel Zero piece, entitled Recruiters as well as the final stand-alone which is called Natural Progression.

The latter is a fun little story about the possibility of “backwards evolution,” in which our dependency on technology actually causes human to de-evolve arms, feet, hands, etc. After all, what’s the use of your hands when you have a machine to do everything for you?

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Ceiling, actually. Erica and I spent most of last week pulling our hair out while having to endure the constant barking of an upstairs neighbor’s dog. It started a couple of weekends ago when the folks moved in. See, they’re not exactly above us; rather, they have access to the attic above my apartment instead. It’s a little complicated to explain, so I won’t.

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My latest piece of flash fiction to be featured on 365tomorrows.com is now up. It’s called The Mad Man and you can read it here. In regards to A Life Transparent, the latest proof arrived on Friday and it was messed up. This didn’t surprise me. I’ve come to expect. So Erica and I went back over the damn thing, along with our Lulu-provided template guides (which contradict one another, by the way), and, with a little deductive reasoning and comparisons with previous messed up proofs, determined that the cause of the problem was roughly an 1/8 of an inch. Yeah. The main issue is with the cover image, in that it’s either too far to the right or too far to the left. It isn’t center. All I did was space it over in relation to that 1/8″ “safety area” as one buried Lulu template refers to it. Another proof ordered. Another $15. Let’s hope this is the last.

We didn’t clean as planned. After being sick all week, neither one of us had the “umph” to tackle the apartment and so Sunday became another lazy day of watching Twin Peaks and reading issues of Transmetropolitan.

I just looked at the calendar and realized today is September 11th. A couple of journals have popped up on deviantART about the subject, and thinking about the significance of the day always takes me back to the day itself, what I was doing, where I was at the time and so on. I wonder if anyone else has noticed that today’s a Tuesday? The first 9/11 happened on a Tuesday. I know this because I was in my freshman English class at the University of Kentucky. It was happening while I was getting ready for class that morning, but I didn’t even turn on the TV. By the time class was over, the second plan had struck. The towers had yet to collapse. I remember walking into my dorm. My roommate, Andy, was still asleep. I went to my computer and found several instant messages from my friend Danny. He told me to turn on the TV. Rather than wake Andy, I went first to CNN.com (which was under such heavy traffic that it simply wouldn’t load), and then to Fark. I saw my dad sign online from work, and I remember messaging him, asking what was happening. He said it looked like a plane crashed into the World Trade Center.

That’s when I turned on the TV.

That day, you couldn’t put on a single channel without seeing it. I woke Andy and told him he needed to see this. I couldn’t really tell you what I felt during the next few hours, watching the repeated footage of the planes. Confusion, maybe, or even a little fear. My mom, being the worrisome mother that she is, called to make sure I was okay, as if someone had flown a plane into my dorm (which, by the way, was a 23 floor tower–my room number also happened to be 911). My friends and I, in the following days, we made jokes about it. It was in very poor taste and disrespect, but we didn’t mean any harm by it. It was a way to cope. Rather to laugh than cry and whatnot. Sitting there in my bed, curled up in my blankets, I remember getting the worse case of shivers, and when the President came on TV to ask for a moment of silence, Andy and I both grew teary-eyed and silent.

“We’re going to war,” he said.

I wasn’t a political person. In fact, I swore I’d never vote because, to my cocky 18 year-old mind, it was a rigged game. Why vote when two sides were equally corrupt? Back then I couldn’t tell you the difference between a democrat or a republican, liberalism or conservatism. All I could tell you was what I saw on TV.

Walking to class that night, I remember being freaked out by the fact that there were absolutely no plans in the sky. On any given day, you can look up and see the trail of smoke behind a jet, but that night, the sky belonged to the stars and nothing else. When I got to the classroom building, I found class was cancelled. Campus was, for the most part, empty, and on my walk back I passed a tiny candlelight vigil outside one of the dorms.

That day changed everything, for myself and for this country. Now I keep up on politics. Now I pay attention.

There’s no point to this blog, other than for my own introspection and nostalgia. That day, in comparison to all my days so far, was actually uneventful, but it still stays with me. You may say it haunts me and I can’t help but wonder if it haunts other people too. I wonder if I’ll still feel the same in 12 years, or even 24?

I’m not a patriotic person, because I don’t believe this country is what it once was. As someone with a lot of friends who live outside this country, you might even say I’m embarassed to be here, but today it’s not about borders or affiliations or sides.

I could go on right now about right and wrong and who I think is responsible and so on, but I won’t. Today it’s not about that. Today it’s about who–and what–was lost.

Today it’s about remembering.

So, remember.

I’ll catch you later, folks. I’ve got cleaning to do.

Best,

TK

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I’ve uploaded the next piece of flash fiction. It’s titled “Joyride” and you can read it here.

Channel Zero was featured on deviantART on Thursday, which led the way to more exposure and feedback, and that’s never a bad thing. It’s had over 2500 hits since I uploaded it five days ago. I think that’s a new personal record. One of most consistent questions asked was, “Is this part of something bigger.” The answer to that question is “yes and no.” Yes, as in, there are three other flash fiction pieces that tie into the same futuristic world; No, as in, I hadn’t planned for anything else.

Of course these questions got the gears turning in my own head about the possibility of expanding upon the story. As I told my friend Phill the other night, I think I may be able to squeeze a novel out of it. The story would focus on multiple characters in almost a pulp-like manner; individual lives all living underneath this futuristic system, and the multiple ways it affects them while, at the same time, a killer is running around, trying to disrupt that very system. Or something like that. It’s still up in the air, and it’s not my top priority.

Salli and Charles, the folks behind Soundzine asked me quite a while ago about doing an audio recording of A Life Transparent. Way back in January, this was one of the things I wanted to accomplish, but time issues and the necessity of a simultaneous launch with the printed version made this nearly impossible. Now, almost a full year later, the prospect of doing it one part at a time with Soundzine doing only one release every few months makes it a serial production, and in doing so has the potential to hook new readers well before the story is told, prompting them to go buy the book to find out how it ends.

Unfortunately I was sick all week, so I couldn’t begin the recording process as planned. I now have until the end of the month to at least record something that doesn’t suck. Let’s hope for the best.

Aside from that, my main priority is editing my novel, imagiNATION. It’s been over a year since I completed the first draft, and over the course of this year every time I would go back to begin the second draft, I found that I was not ready to do so. I’ve got a few pages of preliminary notes, covering topics and themes that are already featured and should have been featured, but were not. I estimate I’ll have to rewrite about 45% of the novel. That’s quite a task, considering the novel is approximately 108,000 words. Yeah, I’ve got my work cut out for me.

Tomorrow’s going to be spent doing a lot of housecleaning with Erica. We’ve both been sick and haven’t felt like doing much of anything so our apartment is a disaster area. I’m hoping to settle down sometime tomorrow evening and begin recording; once the first part is done, it’s on to the wonderful land of editing.

Oh joy.

TK

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I had this beautiful blog entry all set to go last night. In fact, I was in the process of applying the blog to test it when I got a dreaded time-out message. When I logged in again, the blog–all 45 minutes of my snappy, witty introspection–was gone forever. Cue about 10 minutes of expletives, followed by me simply giving up and taking my sick ass to bed.

So now, after having a full 24 hours to cool off and reflect on last night’s mishap, I’ve decided to type this blog into a separate program. I suppose I should’ve done this in the first place, but oh well. Live and learn.

Now let’s see if I can recall what I wrote last night. Having a severe head cold isn’t helping matters.

Stephen Smith, of 365tomorrows, asked me about being the site’s featured author for the month of September. He figured it would be a good way to raise awareness of my novel, A Life Transparent, and all I’d have to do is write four to eight pieces of sci-fi themed flash fiction. I spent most of July and August doing just that and, on Monday, the first of those eight pieces was featured. One of those stories will be featured every Monday and Thursday this month. The first, Channel Zero, can be read here. I’ve also made it available for download here as well. I’ll be uploading each of these stories a day or so after their feature on 365.

Oh, and for all of you VAST fans, yes, the name of the first story was inspired by the song of the same name.

In other news, I’m still waiting on the latest proof copy of ALT to arrive. This week’s national holiday will probably slow down the process a bit, but I expect to have it by Monday at the latest. The first proof came back with a funky cover, thanks in part to Lulu’s poor wraparound-cover support, and so it was back tot he drawing board. Now, provided nothing goes wrong with the new proof, everything should be well in order for an early December availability on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and any other bookseller that orders from an Ingram’s catalogue. Of course, the book is currently available from Lulu right now, if you absolutely cannot wait.

I’ve uploaded a promotional pack as well, in case you feel like promoting A Life Transparent in your town, library, coffee shop, church, etc. It’s a 9mb download with .pdf files to make your own posters, postcards and press sheets.

In the meantime Erica and I are still working on the site, tweaking things here and there, so if you happen to visit and see something that seems a little odd, that’s probably why. We’ve added a form so you can sign up for major updates. You’ll find it on the home page. We’re also working on adding a photo gallery for inclusion of pictures of satisfied customers, so if you’ve got a copy of the book, take a picture of yourself holding it up in some funny pose, email it to me and we’ll include it.

Tomorrow’s Thursday, so look for another story to pop up on 365.

For now, I think that’s all you’ll get from me. I’m off to take some medicine and chill out for the evening.

Until next time, folks,

TK

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But that all changes one morning when Donovan awakens to find he is afflicted with a bizarre transparency and visions of a monochromatic world. No one seems to notice his fading self—not even his wife—and by the end of the week, Donovan is at his wits’ end. During a random telemarketing call, he confesses to a complete stranger, “If something doesn’t happen to me soon, I’m just going to disappear for good.”

That evening he arrives home to discover his house vandalized and his wife missing. The phone rings, and on the line is a man who refers to himself as Aleister Dullington—the same man to whom Donovan made his confession. “Is this interesting enough for you, Mr. Candle?” he asks, and it is with those words that Donovan begins an endeavor to save not just his wife but his own existence, and in doing so he will learn the meaning—and danger—of a life transparent.

A Life Transparent is one part horror, one part speculation, and all compelling. It attaches a mythology of consequence to spontaneity and boredom, and throws the reader in with Mr. Candle’s struggle to become interesting without allowing all he loves to be destroyed [. . .] It lacks the polish associated with a career in full swing, but gives us a glimpse into what will soon be just that. Keisling is a dedicated, insatiable writer: A Life Transparent is the preface to a formidable body of work.

- Jon August McRae, author of Io: The First Book of Lost and Found Souls

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Hi. My name’s Todd Keisling, and this is my website and blog. I’m a writer. If you want to know more than that, go read my bio .

We’re still getting things in shape around here, doing a little house-cleaning and tweaking odds and ends, so don’t mind the mess. In the meantime, take a look around. You may find a good book , or even a short story or two . Bookmark the site if you like. I promise the next blog entry will have more to say.

In the meantime, welcome. I look forward to entertaining you.

Best,

Todd Keisling
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