science fiction

Is the Book World Done with Science Fiction?

~ davidbiddle ~ Leave a comment

A version of this essay was posted last year, but is certainly worth posting again in modified form given, finally, the publication of Sound Effect Infinity by Flat Branch Press.

I’d guess most hardcore readers of what used to be called “science fiction” know that the book industry has decided to wrap fantasy and science fiction into a single package they’re calling “speculative fiction.” However, the music world is also attempting to lump smooth jazz and R&B into “neo soul,” so…

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A Brief Scene from “Sound Effect Infinity”

~ David Biddle ~ 1 Comment

My novel, Sound Effect Infinity, is available exclusively, for now, through Amazon as a hardcover edition. We were busy prepping it for print-on-demand publishing by Flat Branch Press over the first two months of 2026.

Dropping a brief passage below, and not from the early sections of the book either. Deep in. You won’t likely have enough context to fully get it, but hopefully your interest will be piqued. If you love music and wonder why it has such a powerful effect on people, you will likely enjoy this book.

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What I’m Working on in 2024

~ David Biddle ~ 4 Comments

[Note from 2026: A lot happened to prevent the proper publication of Sound Effect Infinity until February 2026, where this note is coming from. Click the links where you see them, and you’ll find the book posted to Amazon as a special edition hardcover offering. If you read below, you’ll see where things were, but not where they are now]

I already feel like a jerk. The only thing that is going to keep me from being selfish and single-minded here in 2024 is if I need surgery or get diagnosed with cancer or just don’t wake up some morning. A solid, working draft of my third novel for The Story Plant is due in December of 2024. The title we’re operating with right now is Notes on the Golden Country. I spent much of 2023 doing research and making notes for this year’s efforts. By late August I had started up on a first draft. As 2024 gets uncaged, I am about 120 pages in to Part I of three parts. I’m going to be a selfish jerk the rest of this year until I’m done. Meaning, I don’t want to come over to your house, go on a long walk, or anything else that will muddle my focus on writing this very odd story.

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Private Utopias and the Future of Everyone

~ David Biddle ~ Leave a comment 
A version of this essay was published in the Illumination publication on Medium several weeks ago.

These days, I wish as hard as I can for good things that are considered impossible to happen, like there actually being a Santa Claus with a whole team of people way up North who spend all year working on ways to gift the world with love and happiness and really cool new technology to boot. I also wonder sometimes whether we’ll be alive when the next truly artistic and creative musically gifted songwriters come along the way the Beatles did and don’t just change the course of music, but change the power of creativity and aesthetics for artists everywhere. I think and wish for that kind of stuff, because I firmly believe that envisioning amazing things is the only way we get beyond the malaise we’ve built for ourselves here in the 2020s.

I also wish people read and talked about utopian concepts more, and at least believed in the real possibility of more ideal societies. Whether we like it or not, the job of life will always be to build a better future for all of humankind. Note that italicized word there. It’s important.

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Lining Up for Flight: “Sound Effect Infinity” About to Lift Off

~ David Biddle ~ Leave a comment 
Note: Sad but True, the below did not happen. I write now (April 15, 2026) a few weeks before we finally launch Sound Effect Infinity. Time to buy the book. It took a lot of patience and humility to get it out to you.

My new novel, Sound Effect Infinity, will be released on January 23, 2024 (fingers crossed, because you never know about this world we all live in now). It’s a science fiction story about a near-future world where the mysteries of music and sound and human connection are front and center, along with mind control experiments of the CIA, and questions about the power of psychedelic drugs and paranormal phenomena. I’d say it’s worth the read just to see if the author can carry all that off.

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