The Trouble With Being God

Comments from a Twitter Follower

Posted by Bill 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.

A Philosophical Thriller?

Posted by Bill under book

When trying to describe The Trouble With Being God (TTWBG), I originally found it quite difficult to fit it into any specific category. Yes, it’s a murder mystery, it’s a suspenseful thriller, and it has some horror bits added in as well.

Then again, these are not always the main focus of the story. If you’ve read any of the book, you’ve already noticed that the story takes a bit of a rollercoaster ride through some very tense spots of horror or chilling suspense, but it also delves into a lot of questions and discussions among the characters that add their own sense of suspense, mystery and intrigue to the story.

One of my main goals in writing TTTWBG was to write a story that wasn’t just a bunch of disturbing murders with the goal of finding the killer. Instead, I wanted to write something smart, with the events of the murders serving as a backdrop for the story of these characters, in particular Steven (the main character). As a student of philosophy, I find discussions about some of life’s deeper questions can arise in any environment, but at times when one’s life is in a time of upheaval we often are more likely to ask ourselves these kinds of questions.

So, when describing The Trouble With Being God I was at a loss. It isn’t any specific genre, and although it does spend some time in several, the genre it shares the most in common with is the psychological thriller.  Again, if you’ve read the book you know there are absolutely some psychological aspects, but these are aspects of the characters much more than psychological effects for the reader.

What really lies at the core of TTWBG though (in my mind at least), is that basic question of “who am I?” as well as the (even sometimes more difficult) questions, “why am I here” and “how do I relate to everyone else?” These are philosophical questions, and Steven and Karen (and other characters to some extent) face them throughout this book.

What they find in the end is the importance of not only finding out the answers, but how important it is that they come up with the right ones. The ending, I hope, reinforces this.

That is why The Trouble With Being God is a philosophical thriller.

Now Available on Amazon.com!

Posted by Bill under book

I was just in the middle of writing a note announcing that The Trouble With Being God was coming soon to Amazon.com, when I checked the site and saw it is available there as of today.

So, if you’d like to order your copy, but have been waiting for it to become available on Amazon, now you can.

Please note the cover image is not yet available on the site, as the book is just now available.

Also remember, the book is also available for download on Amazon Kindle.

Author Praise for The Trouble With Being God (Authonomy)

Posted by Bill under book

As part of my experiment to self-publish and take advantage of all the different forms of distribution that are available with the Internet, I have made The Trouble With Being God available on Harper Collins social media experiment, Authonomy.com.

The site, which they refer to as a digital slush pile, is basically a social network where aspiring authors can upload their works and then receive feedback from other authors and readers.  Harper Collins has designed it as a way for them to sort out and find new talent, using a community approach to the agent/editor process, and many writers have posted their work there in the hopes of getting signed by Harper Collins.

Others, like myself, have made their work available to receive insight from other authors from a social network setting, so they can either apply this feedback to their book (a group edit process, much like what I did by putting The Trouble With Being God up for free in an early draft, asking for reader feedback as my editors), or so they can use this feedback to just simply become better writers.

Since The Trouble With Being God is currently considered to be a completed work, and is self-published, my main interest is in receiving feedback so I can apply that feedback to the writing of my next novel, The Unfortunate Expiration of Mr. David S. Sparks. Still, I have received some very positive feedback and comments from other authors regarding The Trouble With Being God, and I thought it fitting to share these comments with my readers.

And so, a few comments from fellow authors regarding The Trouble With Being God as posted on Authonomy.com.

William, this is great stuff. Really. I was going to read 5 chapters but am now on chapter 12. I just couldn’t leave it. The opening chapter is very powerful, with sparse, but sharp, descriptive writing. Just Perfect. And I loved the short chapter intros. I am not an experienced enough writer to comment on grammar etc. and anyway I found nothing that tripped me up. As a reader this is very exciting. Your introduction of the characters works well and your desciptive writing is fantastic. A very well written book that goes onto my rotating bookshelf. Great Stuff and I know that this would sell well when it’s published. (wallynosox)

I’d thought at first the (sometimes very) short chapters would lead to a rather broken, disrupted journey, but the effect is to up the pace considerably and up what would be the page-turner factor if we had pages to turn on this screen. You, sir, are a sick but creative individual and there’s a remarkable and intimidating power in your writing. (Simon A Forward)

Now, where did I put my razor…?” So gripping, so intense, so vivid - even when the line is said out of context of the gore and violence, I am so conditioned, so involved, that I find my own heart skip a beat. The way you link the opening to Steven’s dream in 10, is a clever move. The prologue reminds me of the way James Herbert placed his opening in “Moon”, and your writing is no less talented.

There is a dark captivation in the opening that means even the vivid description used does not feel like overkill (if you’ll pardon the pun). Often in horror, I find less is more, and atmosphere can be more persuasive than the guts and glory approach. But you have bravely decided to go straight for the jugular from the go (deliberate pun this time), and it works well. You bring the story back down again, and I am drawn quickly into the plot and the tale surrounding Steven. He seems to have a hidden edge to him - a darkness that underlies his personality.

There is a lovely fast pace to this - are your actual chapters clipped in the finished book, or is it just to help with the speed of reading? Either way, it works, and the draw to move on hits you constantly. I only stop because I need to get on with other things, but I love this. The violence, the aggression, the heart stopping guts and gore of it. The spaces between the scenes of horror, and the way you spin the plot fill these gaps, are strong and direct, and I would love so much for a book like this to get picked up.  (Jed Sparks)

So I humbly suggest you buy a copy for yourself to see what all the fuss is about

Playlist Now Available Through iTunes

Posted by Bill under Music, book

At the suggestion of a reader, the suggested playlist for The Trouble With Being God is now available as a playlist through iTunes. The links throughout the site here on beinggod.com still will connect to Amazon, as it Amazon allows you to purchase through the web, and all of their music is DRM-free MP3, but if you prefer to shop at the iTunes store, you can now get the songs through the official The Trouble With Being God: Suggested Playlist iMix.