News From Gardenia

[benjy545]

Tempting. 4 years is a long time, might be good. I'm going to wait til it's in Waterstones and someone has written a review but sounds like it's worth a look.

[roidroid]

i must say Bob i'm curious about what kindof economy / resource management / governance your utopia has.

But to be honest, an answer in 500chars or less would be more convenient to me atm than a whole book - hehe. :(

Anyway good luck with the book.

[TheAngryBum]

I was just about to search fro that site for a friend, I saw it on BBC Breakfast a few days ago (being talked about by a certain former Python) and thought it was an awesome idea.

You have just saved me the issue of having to Google them. Ah, the joy of coincidence.

[richardday]

I look forward to reading it Robert, having just started 'News from Nowhere' (By William Morris), which was published over a hundred years ago. Was this the source of your inspiration for News from Gardenia?

[FreebornLeveller]

I just saw this mentioned in todays news update at reddwarf.co.uk, and i must say, it sounds most intriguing. Robert, may i ask, does the notion of being able to travel from one side of the earth to the other have any theoretic relation to future Maglev train technology at all? & does Gavin's learning about himself have anything to do with the true recognition of human symbiotic interconnections combined with environmental influences predisposing learned human behavior?.

[FreebornLeveller]

..also, is the economy in this envisioned future one based on systems theory and/or an economy based on inteligent resource management, as oppoesed to what many (including me) see to be an outdated and stiffling global monetary paradigm?. (see my channel if you're wondering what i'm getting at here) Either way, it's sounds like i'm gonna' really enjoy this one. Looking forward to it :)..looking forward to seeing you and your fellow Dwarfers on the 23rd Dec too. Tickets arrived today. Woohoo! :)

[MentholSnuff]

Been there, done that and by golly, I've ordered the book.

[zboy303]

Robert, I notice from the paragraph excerpt on Unbound that 'realised' is spelt with a 'z'. Is there an option to pay extra for the British English version?!

[sp4zzer]

Will you sign it? ;)

[twocvbloke]

I'm of the "utopian future" type myself too, and I'm a Star Trek fan too, rather than the "all guns blazing blasting aliens off the planet" type of person...

And Gene Roddenberry had the best phrase about the future ever when putting together Star Trek; The next generation:

"In the 24th century, there will be no war, and there will be no greed, and all the children will know how to read"

Often repeated by actor & director Jonathan Frakes, whom Gene said that to while casting for Cmdr Riker...

[Sephirothwolf]

I reallly wish I had the money to buy it now Mr L :( but i will buy it as soon as i can ^ ^ it's so nice to have an optimistic Sci-Fi book again

[thestalkinghead]

i believe that the future will be great, its why i like star trek, so i would probably like this

[RedJoe10]

Excellent this is a lot like Pledge Music where you pledge which pays for a band's recording and artwork etc without the need for labels. I'm a pledger right now on one and you get exclusive videos etc. Its the future I think. Good on you!

[ralphzimmermann]

so its about zombies that are civilised and you travel across the hole country not to find your son but with your son, on a wonderful scenic couch tour route? maybe stopping off at a vineyard here or there to taste the finest wines available?

[jobsta]

This is like Kickstarter for books!! I like it!

[kanenkitten]

Just one minor technical issue here Robert. The website in the description box doesn't link to the website.

[commanderkruge]

Copied to my insignificant little blog - whatever use that might be. Unbound sounds like an interesting idea - I'll have a look at it myself. I higly enjoyed reading "The Man in the Rubber Mask" and would love to read "Gardenia" as well. You had me at "I wrote a book" already, but the "positive SciFi" angle does sound intriguing as well. +1 reader from Germany :)

[heatleynoble]

Nice idea about unbound; I would buy it but I like to get all my facts in place before I do such a rash thing! Are there any independent reviews? It would be like buying an electric car without first watching 'Fully Charged' otherwise! I don't have blind faith in anyone....sorry. Smiley Face.

[bobbyllew]

@heatleynoble I quite understand, as the book has not yet been released very few people have read it so there are no reviews of any kind. I haven't quite finished it yet. I suggest you hang on until early next year when it will be available on Amazon, bookshops etc and there may well be some kind of review.

[BaubleRob]

The opposite? The SON has the gun this time? Ace!

[1walkgirl]

Will you also write it in Dutch? :-)

[bobbyllew]

@1walkgirl Maybe one day, but I would imagine a Dutch publisher would have to do it. My Dutch is very limited, well, it's non existant :-) I would love to get it translated at some point though.

[CaptainJoeZurlo]

A positive view on the future? About time someone wrote about that!  Do they ship to amerika?

[bobbyllew]

@CaptainJoeZurlo Yes, they do ship to the USA. Many Americans have already dived in.

[spam1138]

but can we have it wrighten by you in pen if we want?

[Megadread2]

Glad to see you'll accept an American's money! Can hardly wait to see the finished book!

[LunaVorax]

I gave 50£.

I would love to pay 150~300£ to see you in person, but as a student, I just can't give away that amount of money.

Plus, as I live in France, that would be very difficult for me to move to the UK.

You are one of the greatest heroes of my childhood Mr. Llewellyn. If you ever come to the South-West of France, please let me know about it.

[coys77]

Is that your back garden Robert?

[jamieisjabba]

every time i hear your voice and see your face i see kryten from red dwarf lol

[goodagofilms]

There was no pound button, or a two pound land push?

There is an economic collapse happening! The race started a a pony.

and my job pays a donkey!

[AndrewParkerTV]

I'd love to see a movie about a character based on Robert who becomes leader of the world and puts his ideas into practice. We then see how his ideas would unfold warts and all.

[cdamian]

the only thing worse than spam is spam for stuff that is not available.

I really want the book now though, ideally on the kindle so everyone else pay for it please and I buy it when it is finished.

[SirKnobofCheese]

Its like kickstarter but for books

[SciStarborne]

I love the way he says "Not written in the back by me with a pen"

[madgeniusmusic]

I'd LOVE to support you Bobby, but as a skint disabled person with only disability benefit to live on, I don't have £20 to give you for a proper book type version of the book, but I wish you the best of luck, and look forward to reading it.

Will it be available in shops etc when it's out?

[matturbanowski]

Sounds interesting! I read Physics of the Future by Michio Kaku not long ago. His book was looking at the future in 100 years from a scientist's point of view. I thought his views were a bit far-fetched though to be honest. Will be interesting to see how you envisage the future. I for one also can't imagine everything just suddenly falling apart!

[rethonn]

I've committed to buying a signed copy and I am looking forward to reading it.

[MGSGeneral]

An interesting website indeed for readers. Unfortunately, for unpublished authors it doesn't offer much (yet). I'm giving writing a novel a try and update my progress through Blogger regularly. Eventually I'll have a completed draft version online. Where to go from there... it'll be difficult, but I'll try to figure it out. Finding a publisher for a first time author is difficult, but I hope the "abctales" link from unbound is a step in the right direction.

[DomHanzak]

Sounds like KickStarter for books!

[theoriginalshaun]

Interesting. Had never heard about UNBOUND until about 24hrs ago, and now this is the second mention of it I've seen in that time ... hmm.

[zane1os]

Great idea, But I don't think I've ever bought a hard back, where as I've bought hundreds if not thousands of paper backs (including many of yours). Unfortunately paper back is not an option at unbound.

So do I change the habit of a life time or wait for the paper back option?

Is there going to be a paper back option?

[imr22]

Yeah i imagine writing a sci-fi book that's just lovely would be rather hard. Without the trouble of killer robots, killer viruses or, well anything killer it will be interesting to see what it's like :)

[jackprat17]

Excellent Idea Robert! Not sure what level Ill pledge at yet, but im in! This is like kickstarter specifically for books.

[slaxxxer]

Great stuff, great ideas and I am looking forward to the book! - now a randomly unrelated question - will you vlog from the recording of /ed Dwarf in December and January? ;-0)

[GeminiPrimeX]

A positive, utopian sci- fi story? A bit like Earth is portrayed in Star Trek? I thought stories like that where a lost art in these times where the future and science is to be feared. I am in.

[ChantalJalbert]

Genius idea, Robert!

[EdEditz]

What a cool idea! :)

[paullawrencegrundy]

I'm in!