My second published novel, Amphisbaena, will be released on July 4th, 2009. That's Independance Day, here in the States. While it was written last Summer, I've been working on this book all year thus far, with numerous revisions and drafts, until complete. Amphisbaena will be released through Cauliay Publishing (who you might remember published my novel Tatterdemalion in June of 2008).
Here's the trailer:
"A sober disinterest in relationships causes Bill Sherman, failing calendarist, to abandon dating for many years. When pressured into a speed dating event by his brother, Bill meets Amy and decides to attempt a relationship again. He learns quickly, however, that Amy is two people: The inseparable Amy and Janine. These two women design to date Bill in tandem, both to his confusion and enjoyment. Where Amy holds Bill dear to her heart, Janine is unable to function outside of physical pleasure. Bill soon discovers that this strange predicament is only the beginning of a much larger system of rules and interraction, and the relationship changes more when Bill realizes that the two women happen each to be one half of an ancient, two-headed black snake. Amy is the alpha head and has subjugated her poison in an attempt to understand human notions of beauty. Bill is not allowed to touch her. Janine is the enticer head and may not be in league with Amy where Bill is concerned.
Can a man love if there is only appetite? Will he care more deeply for the woman he can never touch? What happens when monogamy becomes taboo and a fine-tuned machine of murder learns the human consequence of going against one's nature for a greater meaning?
Laden with whimsical depiction and a foraging exposition on gender, occupation, and dating in modern society, Amphisbaena is the story of three people trapped somewhere between nature and culture, through a humorous adventure into the biological mess of love and romance. "
So there you have it, a surreal and quite expository romance novel between a man and a two-headed snake. There's much more to it, of course. Here's a very low-resolution version of the front cover:
As with Tatterdemalion, there is a comprehensive and detailed special features package I've put together for Amphisbaena. This is fully interactive and contains animation, dozens of audio tracks, introductions... even a few hidden features (if you can find them). The special features are part of the Amphisbaena 2009 Reviewer Edition (I'll place a link to this download below). The Reviewer Edition also contains the entire ebook version of Amphisbaena for free, to anyone who wants to read it.
Included in the Reviewer Edition:
About the Author section containing images, synopses, and full publication history with links.
An interactive video trailer for Tatterdemalion, with sample chapter and links to the free download.
A themed Concept Art feature.
An Alternate Cover Art feature, exhibiting the 12 alternate covers created for the book.
An audio introduction from the author.
An animated feature on speed-dating.
An animated feature telling the story of the Amphisbaena and its mother, Medusa, from Greek mythology.
Explanatory Notes about the some of the machinations used in the book, including the excerpt system that introduces each chapter.
Information about Cauliay, an in-depth link page, much in the way of video and audio, hidden features you can hunt for, ordering and contact information, and so much more. Seriously, I spent a busy year programming this.
The entire book, Amphisbaena, free of charge in an ebook format. You can view the book from directly within the special features program, or open it in any .pdf viewer. There are links for a download of my previous novel, as well, should you decide to take a look.
How I loathe sounding like a pitchman.Moving on, here's a link to the download (yes, it's somewhat large, but entirely free of cost and more than worth the wait): http://www.daedalao.com/downloads/Amphisbaena.zip
For those of you in the torrents, Amphisbaena and the Reviewer Edition can be found as a dedicated torrent here: http://www.mininova.org/tor/2629217
I'll post more information as the book nears print. I hope you enjoy the book. A lot of time and effort has gone into writing it.
