Like the page count, and all the edits made from the last version.

Somehow I failed in uploading the new version of the Full Excerpt, and instead I wound up creating a new copy of the ‘old‘ Full excerpt, which only has the first Arc and the timeline.

I am letting the cat out of the bag on my mistake since I want everyone to know that the full length excerpt from Life After is now actually available.

Please enjoy — there have been minor changes to Guests as well as some tidying up of the Timeline of the Dying Years. Of course as with the Short++ excerpt, there’s now War Is Rediscovered before the Ruins Are Explored teaser.

Keep your eyes here for more announcements! The Timeline project has started, and we’ve got other news to share soon. As always, comments are most welcome.

These are of course hosted by Scribd, which means you can feel free to embed, download, print, etc. Please share this with people who you think would enjoy it, and tell them to contact me with their feedback!

I hope you are all enjoying the text as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it, and I look forward to being able to share the full book with everyone soon.

Thank you all so much for the support and comments.

[Again, my tweets are in bold, and my thoughts /times are in brackets. This was 3/17/12.]

@twobitmatt thanks! Hey great post. An entire post in response to me? I’m flattered

@twobitmatt I need to read it again. You’re very wise and informed   [At about 10AM]

@JoshuaChavers You should check out the timeline in the full excerpt to my book. It’s all research I’ve been doing the last few years.   [1002]

@twobitmatt cool   [1129]

@JoshuaChavers I’m very excited to read a response from you and / or Buddy… would love to hear his thoughts on what I said.[1140]

Tired of Politics as usual? Then you should learn more about @AmericanElect and @BuddyRoemer bit.ly/xPuLHU #crashtheparty #p2 #ows   [A non-reply tweet at 1803, about 6pm]

@twobitmatt great post Matt. Great mind you have. I think Buddy might be ur guy & of course keep doing what you have in mind from outside in[The most 'reply' I got, at 1938 / 7:38pm]

[The next evening, @elliegail called Chavers out on dodging any actual reply / response. After he ignored her tweet, I finally tried to see what, if anything, I could get from Joshua.]

@elliegail I will admit, I was a little disappointed in the response from @JoshuaChavers , but that’s why I think that politics isn’t leadership.    [at 1907, 3/18. Three minutes later, Joshua favorited  the tweet. Odd, given his following response and then lack thereof after.]

@twobitmatt What were you expecting Matt? [1919]

@JoshuaChavers If Buddy is the kinda guy who can shake up D.C. and lead by example I would expect his staff to not have to play it safe when [1931]

@JoshuaChavers replying to a well thought out response that addressed the biggest platform of your candidate, the problems in D.C. [1933]

@JoshuaChavers I understand time constraints et al–you have to get the message out as much as possible, which is why you use #ows tags etc  [1934]

@JoshuaChavers But I doubt most people give you that time and effort in response, so perhaps I just thought meeting me halfway would be cool[1935]

Despite him favoriting my disappointment with politics and its inherent restrictions on speaking your mind, his last question was his last response.

I want to put a few things on the record before I conclude my thoughts on this matter. First, I’m not bitter — I am really thankful that Joshua, if not Buddy, took the time to talk to me at least a tiny bit on the matter. I like to think that Joshua may have actually read what I wrote, and maybe will take the time to read the excerpt and realize that I’m not just another author with ideas, but someone who’s done serious research into publicly verifiable fact, not fringe theories or economic / political hypotheses with no real world application or testing. I hope Joshua reads this as well, and maybe takes the time to give some thought in a response. However, I understand he’s busy working inside the system for what he believes in, and I’m not going to fault a fellow human being for that.

The Declaration of Independence was the primary documentation I cited in my previous post because to me, America was created out of the recognition that political ties and systems of a country and a people are only what they allow it to be. When we recognized the unhealthy nature of what we were going through at the hands of British rule and recognized our chance to change it, we did. Not just our leaders, but the common man and woman.

That brings me to my second point. What I advocate is not armed revolution, or even open revolt. That would be terrible, and that’s a threat that I address quite thoroughly as well in my Timeline of the Dying Years. What I do want, though, is for us to realize that we have to decide for ourselves if this system is going to work for us or against us, and when we’ve made up our minds, we have to decide what to do about it. If you simply sit back and let things work around you rather than ever being part of the forces of change, what are you doing to leave a legacy? What will that legacy mean a hundred years from now? A thousand? A million?

The best thing I can do is write about the all of the beautiful traits I see in our species as well as warn against the terrible fury I know we are capable of inflicting upon ourselves. I act to inspire, to give people information & the ability and will to make a choice not influenced by media or propaganda but by their own research and their own thoughts.

The Human Trilogy isn’t about me, though. It’s about every human being who knows that the world around them is at risk without some major changes, and that those changes have to start with us knowing about that world and its history. I hope a hundred years from now we narrowly averted disaster and are realigning ourselves towards exploring the worlds beyond Earth, and a thousand and million years from now, humanity has spread itself amongst the stars we look up at every night. If we stay on this particular rock, Earth, our birthplace — time, if not us, will reap every last human life. This cradle to humanity is a crib that we have outgrown.

I want my legacy to be the success and infinite future of possibilities that humanity can create. What about you?

Earlier I noticed that @ElectRoemer was following my @TwoBitMatt account on Twitter. Having seen Gov. Roemer on The Daily Show last September I was intrigued, and so I thanked the support staff there for the follow and mentioned the views Buddy had that I can agree with. Almost immediately afterwards, I noticed Joshua as a new follower. Reading his tweets made me want to engage him in conversation — as he just started following, I thought it would be worth a shot.

Rather than tell you a story about my social media experience, here’s the short tweet history so you can see why I needed to write more than 140 characters, and thus, why I wrote this post. My tweets will be in bold — there are tiny readability edits, bridging sentences et al. The meat of this post is below the quoted text.

@ElectRoemer Thanks for the follow! I def. support the no money in politics issue… we need to stop electing politicians and elect leaders.

DC isn’t broken, it’s corrupt. Elect someone who is willing to stand up for America like @BuddyRoemer! http://bit.ly/xPuLHU #4yourself     [this was Joshua's most recent Tweet when he started to follow me]

@JoshuaChavers So I have a question. Not broken, but corrupt … do you truly feel the system can be fixed from within? And if so, how?

@twobitmatt Buddy’s plan is to start with HB1 : Campaign Finance Reform. Money in politics is the root of all political evil.

@twobitmattso many of our leaders are not truly leaders at all. Even our politicians and “leaders” need someone to follow.

@twobitmatt Buddy is that guy. When they see his leadership and action, they will follow suit

@JoshuaChavers I agree with your first sentiment but I question that the others will follow. Would they really abandon the greed so easily?

@JoshuaChavers I think we need people like Buddy to lead us out of these times but worry that the corruption of others runs too deep, though

@JoshuaChavers I feel that the lead-them-out-of-the-valley-of-evil attitude allows too many snakes to continue slithering. We need more.

@JoshuaChavers I feel that our current +system+ does not represent the people, and last I checked that was the entire point of democracy.

@JoshuaChavers But this country was created under the idea of having a dynamic system that can evolve–so why are we all so afraid to do so?

@JoshuaChavers I’m not claiming to have all the answers, I simply think looking in the same places that have cheated us before is unwise.

@twobitmatt you make good points. there are SOME good people still in Washington. Many of these know and agree with many of the things Buddy says …

@twobitmatt it’s no different than high school peer pressure though .. and yes, money, power, greed, etc..

@twobitmatt They just need a leader “free to lead” as well .. and an example to follow

@twobitmatt They all know that what he’s saying is true. He’s the only one with the guts to stand up and call it out

@twobitmatt Aside from working from the inside, is there any other option?

That last question deserves a real answer, not a shorthand tweet. Joshua, I invite any reply you or Buddy would care to provide here or elsewhere, and will happily update this post to reflect your response. I thank you for having an open conversation with an open mind, and hope that this reply finds you in that same spirit. I look forward to hearing back from you.

To my understanding, this nation and its government were born apart from a corrupt system of rule. As I recall, we Declared the very existence of this nation with that sentiment:

 “When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands that have connected them with another […]”

And in that same Declaration, after stating the charges of offenses committed against the people of this new nation (and new government), the capstone of the argument for the creation of The Thirteen United States of America:

“In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury.”

Thus, from my perspective, at least, we were founded on the principle not just of being able to elect new people to positions of power within the system, but also upon a principle empowering us to enact a change to the system itself when necessary. I personally feel that as we are Citizens of this great country, it is our duty to make that change. To idly wait for others to make changes and then fall in line behind them is to abandon our duties not just as citizens of the United States but as human beings.

So, any other option? Yes.

We can choose, as the founders of this nation once did, to object to corruption and avaricious foolhardiness. We can choose, as free Citizens of the United States, to object to the broken and archaic system that continues to promise change and then fails to deliver. We, as human beings, can elect to form any number of new systems better designed to guard our inalienable rights while ensuring positive progress forward, as a nation and as a single species.

I won’t claim to know what system would be best suited for mankind at this stage, or even for this country. I’m a technocratic idealist at heart, to lay all cards on the table. I also hope that revelation eliminates any thoughts of this being a politically affiliated message – - I don’t really feel there’s anyone that specifically represents my views in our government.

Maybe that’s our most pressing problem. I don’t know if any one person can provide the whole solution to the very real issues that we face, but I know I’m trying to make a contribution. One thing I am sure of is that I’m certainly not the only person who thinks that the system we have right now isn’t going to take us anywhere we should be going.

It covers our past up till now — a lot of the behind-closed-doors deals that sold out the American dream and so many other countries, the military excursions under Democrats and Republicans that have destabilized formerly peaceful nations, and how we’ve been fighting these injustices all throughout, from the anti-Wall Street movements of the nineteen-teens through the Green Movement and Arab Spring and now the new ‘Occupy’ movements.

It also details a future that is looming much closer than many people want to accept. Occupy and other citizen movements are being crushed by their governments — just as the Ayatollahs of Iran suppressed the democratic reforms of the Green Movement so has Baššār al-ʾAsad used military and propagandized nationalists to dismantle and fight back against the tides of change.

It looks different for Americans because there’s no real citizen military, no threat of civil war from generals breaking rank and seizing power all on their own, let alone for some faction or group of factions that don’t have the people’s interests at heart. And it’s also not like we’ve been destabilized by attempts of this nature before, right?

Right?

All of this is to say that I want people to be able to get the information in the Timeline a little more easily. There’s a lot in there that goes past just what I’m writing about, which is a lot in its own right, and goes to why we’re dealing with the problems we’re dealing with now — and what happens if they don’t get dealt with soon.

As much as the Excerpts are definitely material I want people to be excited about, I think I’m going to start working on a new form of the Timeline Of The Dying Years just for the THT website:  a slightly more meta, fully-sourced, media-laden Timeline versus what you get in the text of the book. Same information, just information-ier! I’ll also break it down, definitely between future and past, and then … well, that’s the point of this post.

I’m thinking of splitting them either by decades or subject, perhaps both. Either way I’m going to release it in installments here on the site for people to read/watch/share and build up some excitement prior to the Kickstarter reveal.

I’m not 100% sure what you guys would like to see or how you’d most like to get the information, so any comments would be much appreciated!

Otherwise I’ll just make up my mind about it in some form and that will be that — leave feedback and have an impact on this project!

You’ve already got awesome DRM-free downloadable eBook excerpts, so what else strikes your fancy, audience?

There’s the obvious ‘signed copies’ shindig but I’m also curious what you want that goes above and beyond just a paper copy of the text.

Let me know in the comments, Twitter, or Facebook!

The story stands well on its own but there’s real life context best understood with the background of both international historical events as well as what may transpire between now and the book’s setting in the mid-21st century…what I hope we can avoid.

Click above for your preferred version, and it should load straight into your browser! If for some reason the embedded document doesn’t show up, you can view the excerpts on Scribd directly here.

Leave comments here, there, or wherever you like! I always welcome feedback and criticism.

I was also thinking, for that matter, of making an excerpt available that excludes the prologue and just jumps straight to the story. It would still contain part of The Hospital and all of Guests, so …

Thoughts?

In the meanwhile, you can see the first excerpt here! If you want to know a little more about the books, visit any of the pages above, and as always, donations are appreciated!

More news coming soon…

It goes like this. I see what goes on in the world every day, as do you — resource-based warfare and political treachery, exploitation of all classes and races, and systems of the world that are too rooted in antiquated governmental bureaucracy to get anything effectively done for the people they are supposed to represent and lead.

All of us are capable of doing things that change the world. Some people do good things, some people do bad things. People help each other and they hurt each other. I’ve learned a good deal from experiences in my own life about how people operate, and the actions of individuals are telling with regard to humanity as a whole. For every oppressive or misguided leader, great or small, be they policy maker or priest, there are a thousand people willing to stand up and do their part to work together for the greater good. This is my contribution to our species, at present —  sharing that understanding. I want you to know what we are truly capable of, and I’m prepared to be blunt about it, because you need to realize that your limits – our limits — are self-imposed. This isn’t a text that will make you happy about what future generations may face if we keep heading in this direction, but hopefully it will help you to see that, as much as our species is chaotic and emotional and selfish, we are also capable of cooperation, change, and ultimately success on a global level. We can change our direction.

We’ve committed great and awful deeds in our history as a species, and as we move forward we will continue to be faced with harsh choices. We can choose to deal with these pressing issues together, to strengthen our collective human well-being, or we can fall apart until there are none of us left.