Today marked a
dogeared page in the next
chapter of my life's ventures. By which I mean that today I sent the final
revision, with the stamp of approval of every (living)
author, to the
publisher, for
Pandeism: An Anthology, Volume 2. Except that it isn't actually called that. The publisher is of the
mind (and I must trust their long experience on this one) that appending a "2" (or a "II" or a "Two") will harm sales, as potential readers will think that it's something they can't get into if they haven't read the "1"/"I"/"One." And in this instance, it is more the opposite. The most consistent
criticism of
Pandeism: An Anthology was that it was challenging to read, with author after author pressing intense
philosophical and
theological concepts, even
mathematical ones, with nary a
breather but the
poetry occasionally breaking in between.
And so this second volume, to issue in
print some four-to-six-months hence (and as an
e-book another few months thereafter) is a markedly more accessible volume titled:
Pandeism: An Anthology of the Creative Mind. And a celebration of the
Creative Mind it is indeed, with deep dives into
Heinlein and
Vonnegut and pieces invoking
Fritz Kahn and
Cosmic Mythology. Our other authors include an octogenarian Hindu physicist/humanist, a working police detective seeking to live by the principles of
Stoicism, a longtime lawyer and blogger on the relationship between
Judaism and
Science, and a
Thai-born
Texas mixed martial artist-turned blues-rock
guitarist. The poetic interludes are as frequent and more broadly writ, with resident poet Amy Perry (now elevated to co-editor of the whole, much to the other editor's relief) contributing her contingent of pieces, but alongside several from the other authors.
Our original Anthology has now spent 80 weeks in the top 40
Amazon e-books in the
Deism category. And so it will be most interesting to see if this newer, more brightly lit and easily read volume matches that feat, and if perhaps we are able even to build upon it synergistically. Blessings, All!!