Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt, by H. M. Forester

The second corrected draft of Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt: “A crash course in psi-fi, Romantic idealism, depth psychology, the daemonic, and Resistance”, by H.M. Forester is now available for free download. It is alternatively titled “Making a Lasting Impression”.

Note that this edition contains a fictional psi-fi story of resistance only, without additional study materials.

You can preview or download it at The Internet Archive

or download it at the Sher Point Publications, UK web site (just scroll down the page).

There’s also an entry at Goodreads.

Second (corrected) draft edition, 21 August 2024, 315 pages.

Now available also at:

• Amazon UK

and

• Amazon US

Enjoy!

Game of Aeons: A short novel, republished for Kindle

Again with a little less hoo-hah than Brexit, I'm delighted to reveal that the mystical sci-fi adventure, Game of Aeons: A short novel by H.M. Forester has been revised, edited, reformatted and has now been republished for the Kindle.

Young Robin Hargreaves is looking for something to occupy his time and spice up his life. Apparently by chance, whilst perusing the wares in a second-hand shop, he is introduced to Game of Aeons, a computer simulation.

In the game, he meets up with a young lady, Ellie, who takes him under her wing. Despite her youth, Ellie has risen to the ranks of a veteran in the game and as well as a loving heart, she has a wise head on her shoulders.

Robin soon discovers that like life itself, Games of Aeons is not all beer and skittles. As he becomes more and more involved and immersed in the game, it becomes increasingly real and at times frightening. But by the time he realizes this, it is too late to back out and there is too much at stake – not only in-game but also in what we commonly and mistakenly think of as the Real World.

As it turns out, though Robin initially has no inkling of this, the game leads Robin to the greatest open secret that the world has ever known.

Escape from the Shadowlands (2018) by Etienne de L'Amour

With a little less fanfare than the Royal Wedding, I'm delighted to reveal that the mystical scifi adventure, Escape from the Shadowlands, the first book in the series which I wrote ten years ago under the pseudonym Etienne de L'Amour, has been revised, edited, reformatted and has now been republished for the Kindle.

The book is available for download at:
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0079Q8WZ8
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0079Q8WZ8

Although preceded by a historical prequel and a prequel, this book is best read first.

Any help with spreading the message would be an enormous help and greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 • Meet the Author, Part 1
 • Meet the Author, Part 2.

Walkaway, a Novel by Cory Doctorow

I found Walkaway – "an epic tale of revolution, love, post-scarcity, and the end of death" – a really good read.

Well worth ★★★★★.

I'm not sure that I can go with the *detail* of the story, perhaps because I'm not sure if the technology will be available "whenever" to, say, fabricate better fabricators -- though I'm sure scavenging would be a viable option -- or whether we'd have to reinvent the loo roll, the toothbrush, and dry stone walling. There is a helluva lot of necessary infrastructure behind even moderately-complex electronics these days, and if that was compromised, we may find the whole house of cards come tumbling down.

Game of Aeons: A short novel, H.M. Forester

The biggest "open secret" the world has ever known.

Young Robin Hargreaves is looking for something to occupy his time and spice up his life. Apparently by chance, whilst perusing the wares in a second-hand shop, he is introduced to Game of Aeons, a computer simulation.

In the game, he meets up with a young lady, Ellie, who takes him under her wing. Despite her youth, Ellie has risen to the ranks of a veteran in the game and as well as a loving heart, she has a wise head on her shoulders.

Robin soon discovers that like life itself, Games of Aeons is not all beer and skittles. As he becomes more and more involved and immersed in the game, it becomes increasingly real and at times frightening. But by the time he realizes this, it is too late to back out and there is too much at stake – not only in-game but also in what we commonly and mistakenly think of as the Real World.

If you like The Matrix, you might like Game of Aeons.

☆☆☆☆☆ "A fascinating idea; thought provoking; a great read."

Genres: psi-fi, soft sci-fi, young adult.

Some quotes

"Once you become thoroughly engrossed in the work, you'll never see this world in the same light again."

"There comes a point when you stop thinking of you playing the game, and you simply become a part of – and merge into – and become lost in the game."

"There really is more to this world than meets the casual or untutored eye."

"There are universal laws at work, even here. The Law of Attraction; the Law of Correspondence; and the Law of Karma. That is: like attracts like; as within, so without; and what goes around comes around." 

"These technical impediments [... things like ignorance, impatience, unexamined assumptions, habit ...] get in the way of what would otherwise occur or develop quite naturally, such as wakefulness, awareness, inspiration and infallible intuition. Things that should be our birth right. This preliminary stage, then, we call learning how to learn." 

"Then there was the not-knowing, itself. Human minds being the fallible instruments that they are, she couldn't help but fill in the gaps with horrific possibilities, the application of a thumbscrew being a case in point. They hadn't said a word about torture, and yet here she was already bracing herself for something that might never happen, and scaring herself silly for no good reason. So yes, the psychological torture had already begun, if not in reality then in her own mind."

"Red pill or blue pill? If only it were that simple. You've been watching the wrong movies."

Once upon a time, before we ran on clockwork

ONCE UPON A TIME, not so long ago nor a thousand miles away, life was a lot simpler and far less regulated and we didn't rush around like clockwork soldiers or rats on steroids.

If you go back fifty or sixty years, to the 1950s and 1960s, we were quite content if our parents bought us some packs of Lego building bricks, an Action Man doll or Thunderbirds pyjamas for our birthday or for Christmas. We weren't all fired up by the media to demand all the latest, must-have gadgets; we didn't spend our time glued to television screens, computer monitors or mobile phones; and these machines didn't use us, we used them. Instead, we'd go off on wholesome family outings and play outside with our friends, with far less fear of being molested or abducted by some pervert. In those days, there was far more neighbourly and community spirit.

Back then, our play and our everyday lives weren't hampered by the over-zealous implementation of often-ridiculous health and safety regulations. If you fell over and hurt yourself (perhaps because a good neighbour had thoughtfully cleared the snow from the path outside their door), you wouldn't call in a solicitor and take the matter to court to obtain compensation, you'd simply clean the wound and stick an elastic plaster on it, or seek medical attention. Period. And we weren't as obsessed with cleanliness and beauty products in those days as we are now. A bit of muck probably did us good, because it allowed us to build up our own immune system, rather than becoming reliant on medicines.

The Dissidents: A novella, H.M. Forester

Enforcement Officer Kingsley is pretty sure of himself and the Greater Good that the Hive stands for, and he shows no compunction when rooting out the dissidents and having them banged to rights.

But all that changes when he meets Holly Potter, a dissident informant, and he is assigned to work undercover with her, in order to penetrate to the very heart of the dissident movement. What they experience and learn comes at a terrible personal price.

The Dissidents is a dystopian, soft sci-fi novella of approximately 46,000 words, written by H.M. Forester. There are no bug-eyed monsters, and the story more about people than technology, so you don't need a degree in quantum physics to read it.

If you like George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four or the NSA's Prism surveillance story grabs you, you might like The Dissidents. Ever fearful of being discovered or "outed" for dissident tendencies, these people work secretly to preserve simple human pleasures and traditions in a dystopian world.

☆☆☆☆☆ "Excellent work describing a truly frightening dystopia."

Reviews

Dystopia revealed
Amazon.com, 23 January 2013
By Zenizen
☆☆☆☆☆

"The Dissidents by H.M. Forester is an excellent work describing a truly frightening dystopia. The details that fill the harrowing story are of immense value to every person who is a free thinker. Indeed, knowing some of these details could save your life if ever you find yourself in a similar situation. Now that is something to think about."

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The Dissidents is now available for free download as an epub or mobi ebook from our web site.

The Dissidents is now here at Goodreads. If you've read the book, please add it to your bookshelf and rate it.

If you want to try before you buy, you can read chapter 1 of The Dissidents here. Alternatively, you can download a preview in mobi/kindle format here. The preview contains the first 10% of the book.

• By Etienne de L'Amour ~ Google+