God Decays by Benjamin Cain

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Madness

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« Reply #30 on: January 21, 2014, 02:02:45 pm »
Well, you won't sway my review, Ben. I'll help so people make purchases - it's mind-candy.

Critically (Spoilers so I can talk openly about God Decays):

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You don't have to answer all (or any) of those - I'm more interested in your thematic intentions.

I very much enjoyed the nuances in your writing and all the little speculative one-liners that make imaginative-fiction worth reading - and go along way to adding depth to fictive worlds.

Sorry, cut this shorter than I intended. Gots' to run.

Cheers.
« Last Edit: January 21, 2014, 02:06:03 pm by Madness »
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« Reply #31 on: January 22, 2014, 02:03:50 am »
Thanks for your comments, Madness, and thanks for putting them in spoiler mode. I'll do the same. You certainly don't have to twist my arm to get me to talk about my novel.

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If you have other questions or comments, please don't hesitate to raise them. What did you think of the boy, Douglas, by the way?

Madness

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« Reply #32 on: January 22, 2014, 08:24:09 pm »
Thanks for your comments, Madness, and thanks for putting them in spoiler mode.

Course.

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But obviously I'm interested in what happens.

Your writing and perspective overall is the main draw to read, I think.
« Last Edit: January 22, 2014, 08:41:44 pm by Madness »
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« Reply #33 on: January 22, 2014, 09:04:08 pm »
Thanks very much for your kinds words. I'm glad you enjoyed the book. Douglas will indeed be a major character. He's growing up fast, though. Having a child along in that terribly stressful situation would indeed by annoying, to say the least. But the thing is, without any children around, I figure the sense of doom would be unbearable since you'd have palpable proof of our imminent extinction. (Cormac McCarthy made much of this in The Road.) So the grown-ups have to figure out a compromise; hence, the trick they play on Douglas.

I agree, frankly, that the writing quality and the philosophical perspective are my strong suits, but I tried hard to make the characters interesting and believable. When Douglas and Jenna faced hard times, it got very difficult for me to write those parts. Douglas is modeled on my nephew (except that my nephew is only 2, not 6), whom I've written about a little on my blog. For example, when Douglas tries to use the binoculars but covers up the back end with his hand, my nephew did that very thing and it was hilarious.

I do hope you'll put your book review up on the Amazon page.

Madness

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« Reply #34 on: January 22, 2014, 10:59:27 pm »
Thanks very much for your kinds words. I'm glad you enjoyed the book. Douglas will indeed be a major character. He's growing up fast, though. Having a child along in that terribly stressful situation would indeed by annoying, to say the least. But the thing is, without any children around, I figure the sense of doom would be unbearable since you'd have palpable proof of our imminent extinction. (Cormac McCarthy made much of this in The Road.) So the grown-ups have to figure out a compromise; hence, the trick they play on Douglas.

That's a good argument. It probably speaks to my age that I think it would be annoying. If I have to deal with the zombie apocalypse in my mid-twenties, I wouldn't want to be chained to a child.

Do you think the lie is as much for the adults (perhaps, even more so) than for the child?

I agree, frankly, that the writing quality and the philosophical perspective are my strong suits, but I tried hard to make the characters interesting and believable. When Douglas and Jenna faced hard times, it got very difficult for me to write those parts. Douglas is modeled on my nephew (except that my nephew is only 2, not 6), whom I've written about a little on my blog. For example, when Douglas tries to use the binoculars but covers up the back end with his hand, my nephew did that very thing and it was hilarious.

I do hope you'll put your book review up on the Amazon page.

Definitely believable. I had some palpitations over their situation in the McMansion.

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I'll definitely pimp the work, Ben.
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Benjamin Cain

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« Reply #35 on: January 26, 2014, 06:20:47 pm »
The lie works for the adults, too, in that it spares them the discomfort of having to explain the truth to the boy. It keeps Douglas out of the way. But the Cackler and Howard Rhodes and maybe the old man go mad from understanding the meaning of the apocalypse all too well. So the other, sane characters have their own delusions.

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Madness

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« Reply #36 on: January 27, 2014, 12:23:20 am »
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Cheers, Ben.
« Last Edit: January 27, 2014, 12:27:44 am by Madness »
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« Reply #37 on: January 28, 2014, 03:31:10 pm »
Your comparison of the Big Game lie with the Christmas myth is quite interesting. It does indeed suggest that the myths help the nostalgic adults as much as the naive children.

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Thanks very much for that review on Amazon (assuming it's yours).

Madness

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« Reply #38 on: January 28, 2014, 10:36:48 pm »
Your comparison of the Big Game lie with the Christmas myth is quite interesting. It does indeed suggest that the myths help the nostalgic adults as much as the naive children.

Well, sure. My argument was that the content of the words either way actually does nothing for the child other than that "preserving their innocence" works to affect a different set of behaviors in the nostalgic adults (perceivable to the child) than if they "tell the child the truth."

It's an act of ritual preservation - and a redundant one, in my opinion (except, obviously, insofar as we ignored the idea that the Christmas ritual functions to keep the economy going).

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Thanks very much for that review on Amazon (assuming it's yours).

Lol - non-issue, Ben. Thanks for the experience of God Decays.

I'd like to facilitate all the success possible for you, especially given the perils of being self-published. But mostly because people need to have their realities fractured by minds like your's and Bakker's so that humanity can survive and thrive.

'Cause I'm something of a speciest like that - even if I do think that we survive best by facilitating other species in our ecological matrix.
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« Reply #39 on: November 04, 2016, 04:01:50 pm »
Mr. Benjamin Cain, you wouldn't happen to be the same person as the person is who also goes by "Benjamin Cain" on this fake news site?

http://glossynews.com/author/benjamin-cain/

Unrelated but trying to work out in my head if there is a difference between 'two persons who go by the same name' and 'one name that goes by two different people.'  Any assistance is welcome.

Wilshire

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« Reply #40 on: January 10, 2017, 08:50:16 pm »
Yeah MG, same guy. So just one guy, one name. This doesn't answer you question, but maybe its no longer important?
Check out Madness' original post/link. Take you to his blog, link up to to 'satirical news'.
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