Blog Archives
SIX NOVELS TO DINE OUT ON
TURKEY NOT BEES (2022) is the story of Megan who self-coaches, with the help of her boyfriend Chance, using Heidegger’s phenomenalism. Will they be able to passively resist De Bord’s spectacle, appearing as a takeover by the nanny state of health, sport, employment and individual performances?
ANIMAL FARM 2 (2021) is a satirical fiction sequel to George Orwell’s totalitarian expose’ of fascist totalitarianism. The story updates the pigs’ control of the farm animals, from the Cold War, during perestroika and in superpower climate manoeuvring. Will the pigs retain control?
TIME IS GOLD (2020) is the story of how Maxi will run in the 2032 Olympic marathon coached by her boyfriend Jack, a physics researcher who trains her to dilate time using Einstein’s Special relativity theory, in a psychological condition called flow. Will they succeed?
SHORT OF LOVE (2019) is a satirical fiction story of how when Vicki plays hard to get, Tom commodifies their love and arranges to delay closure with her until later when he will have more time for her. Will their unconventional relationship succeed?
PRESUMED DEAD (2018) is a crime fiction story in which Jane, a woman councillor, disappears from a hung parliament in which she is a lone independent with a decisive vote. Her councillor boyfriend Phillip conducts an unconventional forensic reconstruction, by a think tank which explores the roots of corruption. Will they find her and will she be alive?
THE GRASS IS ALWAYS BROWNER (2011) is speculative fiction about Australian society 250 years in the future, when the nation is a republic and indigenous Abajoe is Prime Minister. The population of Meannjin (Brisbane) has dispersed following famine, flooding and a religious civil war. Abajoe strives for national stability and trade with neighbouring Bhakaria. Will traditional Australian culture survive?
Available on Amazon. Reviews: martinknox.com
CAN TWO INDIVIDUALS UNIFY?
When an individualistic man and an individualistic woman combine talents as postgraduates, they are very successful until nanny state ‘levellers’ force them into competition with ordinary folk. They become reality entertainers, earning media profits and gaining obedience for government pandemic restrictions. Will they and the elite be able to resist, with non-violent civil disobedience? Turkeys Not Bees is an action-packed story, in which Megan and Chance discover each other and philosophies that shape their lives together.
Book available on Amazon. Reviews are on blog: martinknox.com
PERFORMING BETTER IN OWNED TIME
Living in my time, not wearing a watch and doing things when I feel like it, seems to run against the self-control and personal interdependence that Norbert Elias, 1897-1990, called the civilizing process. He identified a dramatic reduction in homicides in England. The trend became the theme of Pinker’s tome ‘The Better Angels of Our Nature.’ He explained that youth rebellion worldwide is a counterculture against social time, when timeliness has become a personal battle, from A Clockwork Orange to the hippy movement.
In 2022 we have achieved historically low homicide rates worldwide, without the stress of obeying ‘Slessor’s little fidget wheels’ which would impose clock time. We can choose to have our cake of time freedom and eat it too, by allowing ourselves to flow timelessly, by optimal achievement, according to Mihaly’s theory of that psychological condition.
My novels ‘Time is Gold’ and ‘Turkeys Not Bees’ tell stories about high achievers who have let flow take over their time. Reviews: martinknox.com
INDIVIDUALISM ON THE ROPES
Are you uneasy about nanny state overreach and becoming encultured with ambiguous meanings, like George Orwell’s Newspeak in his totalitarian satire ‘1984’: oldthink; ungood; goodthink; doublethink; thoughtcrime; unperson? In 2022, individualism is under threat. That is the theme of the satire ‘Turkeys Not Bees’. Chance is an ambitious young physicist who, in frustration, quits a good job and goes back to university. His career is interpreted by the philosophies of Simone de Beauvoir and Nietzsche. His girlfriend Megan becomes an Olympic athlete, self-coached with philosopher Heidegger’s phenomenology and Mihaly’s flow. When the two are threatened with Covid vaccination, they adulate the solitary independent lifestyle of the brush turkey and reject collectivism. They campaign by non-violent civil disobedience to stop the profit-driven sport, health, employment and government industries from taking over. It’s not too late.
Book available from Amazon. Reviewed at martinknox.com
