Finally, a hardcover, paperbound version of Sound Effect Infinity is available. For now, you can only get it through Amazon. They’re set up to ship to you within just a few days. Yes, you may have pre-ordered a version from my old publisher, but that book never shipped (sad face here). They were having issues with a big media company merger. After waiting three years, it seemed only right to take back my copyrights and go to work independently. That’s how real artists do things anyway. I’m not proud, just old-enough and tired of all the bullshit.

Speaking of bullshit, I am aware that a lot of folks are frustrated with Unc Amo’s hegemony in the marketplace. Some of you are even “quitting” them. That’s pretty hardcore. I understand, though. Amazon probably does as well. Unc is what we can all think of as “a necessary convenience.” Life is complicated. Having Sound Effect Infinity post with them first is convenient as heck, but there were also a lot of complications. Plus, they take a big chunk of my royalties for that convenience. Also, apparently, for those complications.

And so. The Flat Branch Press team is busily working to independently launch a more expanded set of Sound Effect Infinity editions online–paperback, digital, audiobook, and more. It took 50 years to bring this book all the way from conception to true publication. We’ve released this “early adopter special edition” as a kind of soft launch for the few and the proud who have been following along. This will likely be the only hardcover version ever published. It contains an extended preface explaining the decades-long journey the book took to get to this point. The Preface begins this way:

The initial inspiration for this somewhat weird, near-future story came more than 50 years ago at three in the morning while listening to albums of loud guitar music during an intense psychonautic adventure with close friends. It was my first time hearing Jimi Hendrix’s double-album Electric Ladyland.

Collector’s edition? Shoot, that’s up to you and everyone else who buys the book. One thing I know for sure, no one’s ever come up with a novel about music like this.

Flat Branch Press will also be releasing a collection of flash fiction and short stories near the end of this summer. I’m also hard at work on my next novel, Notes on the Golden Country, which I hope to have ready for publication by the end of 2027. No telling what America will look like then. Sign up here (top of page to the right) to get on the mailing list (which will only post to you when I post here).

I’ll close with a version of the mantra that plays in my head these days:

We’re here at this moment of history because we don’t read books enough anymore, especially novels that push the envelope of language, story, and the meaning of life.

That’s my opinion, and, yup, maybe simply a writer’s self-serving perspective.

Another one might be better: Just buy books! Buy as many as you can. Put them all around you. Everywhere. Don’t stop. Buy them at neighborhood bookstores. Buy them on Amazon. Buy them through Bookshop.org. Buy them used. Buy them from independent authors’ websites. Maybe try to bury your phone under them. Maybe bury your Kindle or your tablet, whatever screen that needs burying.

Books are how you get to have actively intelligent conversations with yourself. That’s a good thing in this weird era we seem to be stuck in. I know you know that (even if you think podcast listening is cool). How many intelligent conversations do you have with yourself a day otherwise?

I’d go on further. But I won’t, except to say that non-active, passive anything in this world is likely not a good idea (except perhaps massages and being fed grapes by someone you love dearly).

What’s going to happen next? Always turn the page and keep reading (but you gotta buy the book first, right?)…you buy Sound Effect Infinity right now. You’re gonna have an intelligent conversation with yourself. I promise.