My upcoming novel is being self-published through my company, StoryDev, on Monday the 12th of December.

Now for the insanity. Although much effort has been put into writing the novel, despite it being only 70 reading pages, a second person has not been involved with the editing of the story. Having the second person glance over the story and going through and editing it is normally a crucial part in the story editing process. However, this book is also 70 reading pages, is being distributed on at least one platform not primarily designed for books, and is technically free-of-charge.

To understand the scope of the business model I am adopting, please rest assured that the effort of the first book is not indicative of the effort for its sequels. In fact, the "free-of-charge" applies only to the first volume, with future volumes being sold at a price, will be larger in size, and more in-depth.

Moreover, this book was written with speed because of the coming energy crisis in the UK (of which I am a resident), and did not wish to delay the release of the novel in case the crisis is worse than people actually realise. I will get to that soon.

I am currently finalising the book for preparation for the given release date. Although I have mentioned a release on Amazon Kindle, this will not likely be the case for sometime after the novel has been released on other platforms, for one simple reason: I don't trust Amazon. It would be most ironic if the platform I had distrust with actually became my source of income, but this is exactly why I didn't think this would be a good idea to sell on initially.

In fact, I'm so confident that my book will be popular, that I will be releasing it on itch.io free-of-charge with an option to pay.

Why am I so confident, you might ask?

Shadowlight is not the first novel I have attempted to write. In fact, at least seven years ago, I attempted to write a different novel. This novel was reviewed by my father, who is an author, and his response was that it didn't flow well, the story barely made any sense, and coherency was almost non-existent.

My writing skills have advanced since then, and they are far better now than they were a year ago when I eventually gave up on that novel. My writing skills I consider professional enough for selling books, despite the length of time its taken to get to this point. Picked a good time to start writing again, didn't I?

Despite the obvious dilemma, I do believe there will be some good to come out of this story. Most importantly, my interest is in exploring more deeply the spiritual meaning of life, which, had I not begun writing, would otherwise require extra time to understand.

Of course, who really knows spirituality in the deepest sense of the word? However, the questions to pose in relation to the story, not necessarily in the following order, are thus:

  1. Why do we exist? Are we simply animals designed purely for survival or, in our advanced social status, something much more?
  2. If we are more than the material thinking of mere survival, why are we so stupid? Do we not belong in a material mind?
  3. What exactly is "Shadowlight"? In the book, it's a creature and a paradox simultaneously, but does the combination of such mean something for us?
  4. How do we cope with the human emotions when the emotions themselves either hold us back, keep us from sanity, or make us violent? And why must it persist in people who seemingly appear so bewildered that they ignore the consequences of their actions?
  5. Assuming that life is a paradox, a question posited by the book, would this paradox end, and is it related to the cycle of rebirth?
  6. If evil must exist, why must it? Is it because there must always be an equal amount of shadow as there is light (hence the name of the book), or is it more than that?

Only questions three and six are partially explored in the first volume, with question three the main focus. There is a need for an explanation of Shadowlight, after all.

So, the energy crisis?

Now that the positives are out of the way, let's turn our attention to something people likely wish would never happen. Well, wish all you like, because this is not anything we can control ourselves. It's time to start preparing before shit gets real fast.

Firstly, let's discuss the likely outcomes of an on-going energy crisis:

  1. There is a repeating but downplaying media outlook on the energy crisis. Allegedly, we are being told that blackouts may occur which would involve shutting down all energy going into households at peak times. Of course, naturally, peak times will shift, meaning that power will only be used more at either earlier or later times, which doesn't actually solve the problem.
  2. As the often stupid and unquestioning media downplay the crisis, and given point 1 turns out to be true, then the solutions they claim will improve the situation will lead to further blackouts, including potentially full-week blackouts. Under these circumstances, it is unlikely businesses will be operating, which further means massive economic disruption.
  3. If economic disruption is prolonged due to the above, then the next likely outcome will be civil upheaval. Our streets will be filled with gangs and, unless police come out in force to stop violent uprising, we will not just see disruption outside our own homes but cordons put in place, effectively another way of saying "lockdown".
  4. The final outcome is even worse than any of the above. Assuming we get to this point any time soon, we will see police aided by the military justified by an increasingly angry population mobbing against the government. This, in turn, will generate the necessary justification to impose "martial law", as well as increasing militarisation of the police force in places most affected.

Conclusively, the energy crisis seems like a necessary and vital step for an organisation like the World Economic Forum, the de facto world government at this point, to bring what they consider "equity" and "fairness" for all. For those with at least half a functioning brain cell, you know what this means.

Equal hunger, equal thirst, equal, what I like to call, "down-come" (income but backwards), equal homelessness, equal share of technology (time restrictions), equal access to public services (or lack of), equal this, equal that, etc.

Did I mention they wanted everyone to starve as equals? Since there is not enough money to support the current world's population, even though food production is higher than it's ever been in human history (see food waste in supermarkets), it is prudent for any government to ensure that only the money that exists is distributed equally among the poor. In other words, only being given the money to sustain yourself but not anyone else, especially fugitives of the system.

Curiously, there are still huge numbers of people globally that are yet to be vaccinated, let alone have their second or booster shot. This would be difficult to accomplish. They would need an army to pressure people into getting vaccinated.

Oh, right. That's it!

So, you see, not only can they impose martial law, they could even go as far as to require people be vaccinated or they cannot leave their home. Nice one. We can do that!

What else could they do? They could send spying drones to survey residential streets, put on loud speaker anyone who fails to comply with the new laws. I believe that's already happening in China. Woops! I wonder how the CCP are getting on with the protests. Can't be that bad, right?

Oh, what a world we live in.

But there is one outcome I didn't mention before.

  • Mass Non-Compliance.

Well, what does that entail one wonders? The novel Shadowlight might have an answer for that, but let's take an extract from the book:

“Just forget the politics, the insanity, the crises that may loom overhead,” Azeki thought to herself. “Forget the craziness and obsession by minorities trying to force their way into other people’s lives. What matters most is that humans enjoy themselves for the things they consider creates love, joy and laughter. That’s all that matters.”

That's putting it simply. But we create our world, not others. You want love, joy and laughter? Then express love, joy and laughter.