The Trouble With Being God

New Review from J. Kaye’s Book Blog

Posted by William under book, reviews

Recently one of the more popular book blogs online took the time to read The Trouble With Being God, and write up a review.  The review is up on Amazon, but you can also read it in its entirety on J. Kaye’s site.

Here’s a bit of what the reviewer had to say:

Although the book says it’s a philosophical thriller it’s a psychological thriller as well. Steven and Miles’ conversations allow a philosophical debate, but the dreams, ramblings of the characters, and the killings bring the out the psychological horror aspect. We look into a mind slowing going insane, becoming devolved.

Again, you can read the full review here.

Free Excerpt of The Trouble With Being God on Shortcovers

Posted by William under Read Online, book

If you’ve been looking to read a slightly extended excerpt (something longer than what’s on Amazon or Google book search) of The Trouble With Being God, you’re in luck.  As of today, a free preview of the first fives chapters of the book is available to read for free on Shortcovers.

If you’re unfamiliar with Shortcovers, they’re a great site to “Discover thousands of bestselling books, chapters, news and magazine articles, short stories, blog posts and more, anywhere, anytime online and on your mobile device” (their words, not mine).

I actually have installed their app on my new Palm Pre phone (they also have an iPhone app), and it’s quite nice. I still prefer my Kindle, but given the limitations of a small LCD screen, it’s a fairly decent experience.

Speaking of iPhone, don’t forget you can now use it to read the Kindle edition of the book (just have to download the free iPhone Kindle app first).

The Ending of The Trouble With Being God

Posted by William under Philosophizing, book

Now that The Trouble With Being God has been out for a while and quite a few people have read it, I feel it is now okay for me to discuss an area of the book in which there have been questions.  Some of you have contacted me directly about this, and I’ve seen a few other instances out there where people are asking the question, “What happened at the end?”

Now I’m not going to go into huge amounts of detail here, since there are plenty of you who still haven’t bought a copy (wink, wink), but consider the following to contain a bit of spoilers about the ending of the book.

First though, let me be clear: unless there is a printing error out there I don’t know about, the ending really is the ending.  You’re not missing any secret chapters or anything like that.  The story was always planned to end like this, and this ending was always in mind while telling all the parts that lead up to the final act.

(Here’s where the spoilers really start, so if you haven’t read the book yet, stop here and go read the book first).

<START SPOILERS>

Who the murderer is in the story is unknown. What I was attempting to do was have the reader go through the same kind of assumptive process that Steven did, even though in reality there was nothing really tying him to any of the murders. I wasn’t trying to trick anyone with the story, but instead I wanted to reemphasize the importance of understanding self, and the dangers of thinking you are someone you are not.  There is no denouement because crises are not resolved, there is no release of tension, you get no catharsis, and things end up being pretty shitty - kind of like real life.

As for the story ending the way it does, I really consider it to be Steven’s story, and when Steven died his story ended. The main point wasn’t to really find out who did it, but instead to see how these events affected Steven, and those around him.  One reader likened the identity of the killer to the contents of the briefcase in Pulp Fiction - which is a better explanation than I’ve ever been able to put forth.

<//END SPOILERS>

And so, the book definitely was an experiment of sorts - and this is one of the main reasons I decided to publish it independently. My goal was to write a story in a somewhat traditional pop-thriller style, but to use this style as a way to deliver a different kind of story than what one would normally get out of those types of books.

Much like how Spike Lee used the Son of Sam murders as a catalyst for telling the story in Summer of Sam, The Trouble With Being God is an attempt to use extraordinary circumstances to tell the story of the final stages in the devolution of a man.

Whether I did a good job of this or not, is entirely your call.

More Reviews of The Trouble With Being God

Posted by William under book

Over the last few weeks several more reviews of The Trouble With Being God have been popping up across the Internet, both from readers and from professional publications. Here are a few of the highlights:

From Horror Bound Online Magazine:

The juxtaposition of Steven and one of the victims as dramatic foils is very interesting. They are both emotionally involved with Karen, and one could say that they are both preaching, albeit about very different things.

Overall, it was an interesting story. If the main characters had been more likeable, the ending would have had more impact. The killer twist ending was very good, as was the red herring. This is definitely a book to read on a rainy day and an author to watch out for in the coming years.

(read the full review)

From Flames Rising:

Dubbed a “philosophical thriller,” The Trouble With Being God delves into heady themes while we watch Steven’s struggle with one question, “Did he do it? Did he really commit those murders?”

…

The best written parts of this story were the descriptions of the murders. Poetic and languid, Aicher has a flair for describing the things that lurk in the dark. The weakest parts of this story happened toward the end; I don’t want to give anything away, but I felt that it was not an appropriate ending for this sort of a novel. Give me justice, give me conflict, but don’t give me open questions.

(read the full review)

From Readers:

Aicher’s novel is very well-crafted and extremely well-written. The soundtrack aspect of it also added a great bit of extra insight and was a feature I particularly enjoyed. The book is indeed a thriller, and held my interest to the very last page.
(by Eric at Goodreads :: full review)

[William] dove right into it with a climax. His flow of words captured me from the beginning. I greatly enjoyed his descriptions as well as commitment to the back story. He let me get to know the characters personality along with their mannerisms. Overall I thought the character development was great, but for some reason I had a hard time with Karen. Maybe I just did not like her.  Either way, I felt like I knew them personally, which is something that is very important to readers!
(by Tracy at Goodreads :: full review)

This story is full of suspense & murder. It touches on a serial killer. Follow along in the day to day life of Steven Cavelle, a local news reporter journalist as he tries to report the news from his first hand view.
(by Abigail Christy at Shelfari :: full review)

Have you read The Trouble With Being God yet? If so, send me your comments and reviews.

If not, isn’t it time you bought your own copy?

New Signing Event Scheduled: Siler Studios in Portland on January 23, 2009

Posted by William under Events, book

If you’re in or around the Portland, Oregon area be sure to stop by Siler Studios Fine Art, Sculpture and Gicleé Gallery on January 23 between 6-8 P.M. I’ll be there for a signing event featuring wine, cheese, some amazing art, my book and myself. Feel free to bring in your copy of The Trouble With Being God for me to sign, or just pick up a copy there.

Here are the full details:

What: The Trouble With Being God book signing and reading
Where: Siler Studios (1106 NW Marshall Street in Portland, Oregon’s “Pearl District”)
When: Friday, January 23, 2009 from 6-8 p.m.

For more information on Siler Studios, visit the official site at http://www.silerstudios.com

Hope to see you there.

Now Available at Most Retailers

Posted by William under Music, Retailers, book

Previously I mentioned The Trouble With Being God is now available online at Amazon.com.  Today I’m pleased to announce that the book is also now available through most major online retailers, with more added daily.  So, if you’ve been waiting to pick up your copy from Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, A1Books, Powell’s, Amazon.co.uk or other retailers, you’re in luck. And, if your favorite retailer isn’t listing the book yet, it should be showing up any day now.

As for brick-and-mortar stores, the book is also available through them.  If they don’t have the book in stock, the easiest way for them to look it up is by ISBN number (9780615259963), or you can still have them look it up by title or author. Just ask at the service desk or counter and they should be able to help you.

Of course, one of your best options for buying the book locally would be to go through one of your local independent booksellers. Indiebound.org has a great site available for finding the independent bookstores in your area, and you can even look to see which independent bookstores are offering The Trouble With Being God.

If you do pick up a copy, be sure to stop by the beinggod.com site and send me your comments.  I love to hear from my readers.

Comments from a Twitter Follower

Posted by William under book, reviews

If you’re following me on Twitter, you know that in fits of blind generosity, I’ve given away a few copies of my books to some of my followers. One of the recipients of the book, user lrntoswim, has just finished reading The Trouble With Being God and sent me a nice long response as to her thoughts on the book.

Here’s some of what she had to say:

The questions you asked through your characters made me pause and ask them both of the characters and my own grasp on life.   “Can one know a truth without having experienced it firsthand?”  “Where did fault lie?”  They could be considered every day thoughts, but are the kinds of profound questions that shouldn’t always be thought of and discarded quickly.

<SPOILER ALERT (HIGHLIGHT TO READ)>When the story ended I wanted to know whodunit.  Why would Steven write the letter saying Karen should die?  Did he think he was God and could decide?  Did he think he was the killer?  Fully understanding why Steven was presumed the serial killer, I questioned why I believed this, what I had been suspecting the whole time. </END SPOILER> It made the truth clearer.  The truth, that we do not really know the truth unless we know everything.  Knowledge has seemed like a drug my whole life and your story made me understand, again, why.  We can’t leave big problems assuming we know the whole story, until we do.