Monday, February 19, 2018

Peter Brown Called: Tales of SciFi and Music by Paul Levinson

Release date: February 13, 2018
Subgenre: Science fiction collection

About Peter Brown Called

 

Writing science fiction and songs have been two of my lifelong passions. This anthology combines them, with a selection of my science fiction and fantasy stories that has music as a theme, and my lyrics that deal with far-off suns, robots, and time travel.


Excerpt:

 

 Saving Lennon


    The minutes passed slowly and the day grew cold.  Jeff was glad he had bought a winter coat in Newark before boarding the train to New York. He kept his hands deep inside his pockets and scrutinized the Dakota.

     Fans of John Lennon slowly began to appear, like in a time-lapse motion picture. None of them was Chapman.  This bothered Jeff -– Chapman was supposed to have been hanging around the Dakota all day today, even touching Sean Lennon's hand at some point, according to the boy's nanny.  Well, maybe she or the reports were wrong.

     It was now 5:30pm, and still no sign of Chapman. Where the fuck was he?
     Jeff decided to cross the street to get a closer look at what was happening at the Dakota. Probably Chapman was lurking in some shadows, and Jeff had missed him when Jeff first arrived here, more than an hour ago. But Jeff had surveyed the area pretty carefully.
     Paul Goresh the photographer stepped out of the limousine that suddenly pulled up. He had with a big old-fashioned camera in hand.  Well, every camera from this era and well into the 21st century looked old fashioned to Jeff.
     Chapman was no more visible to Jeff close to the Dakota than Chapman had been to Jeff across the street. Chapman was supposed to give Lennon a copy of his Double Fantasy album, which Lennon autographed. Lennon was then reported as saying to Chapman, "Is this all you want?"
     Jeff looked carefully all around. There were five people, in addition to him and Goresh, now standing on the sidewalk.  Three were women.  Two were men, and both had albums in hand, but Jeff couldn’t tell if they were Double Fantasy, and the people looked nothing like Chapman.  Should Jeff try to stop them now, anyway? Was he witnessing the prelude to an assault on Lennon by someone other than Chapman?
     The five now turned to the entrance of the Dakota, from which John and Yoko emerged. Both were smiling. Lennon signed albums. Jeff watched like a hawk -– no one pulled a gun or any weapon.
     Lennon now turned to Jeff.  "No autograph?" Lennon asked Jeff, with a laugh. He extended his hand for a handshake with Jeff. "Is this all you want?"
 


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About Paul Levinson:


Paul Levinson, PhD, is Professor of Communication & Media Studies at Fordham University in NYC.  His science fiction novels include The Silk Code (winner of Locus Award for Best First Science Fiction Novel of 1999, author’s cut ebook 2012), Borrowed Tides (2001), The Consciousness Plague (2002, 2013), The Pixel Eye (2003, 2014), The Plot To Save Socrates (2006, 2012), Unburning Alexandria (2013), and Chronica (2014)  - the last three of which are also known as the Sierra Waters trilogy, and are historical as well as science fiction.  His nonfiction books, including The Soft Edge (1997), Digital McLuhan (1999), Realspace (2003), Cellphone (2004), and New New Media (2009; 2nd edition, 2012),  have been translated into twelve languages. He appears on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News,  the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, the History Channel, NPR, and numerous TV and radio programs. His 1972 LP, Twice Upon a Rhyme, was re-issued in 2010.  He was President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, 1998-2001.  He reviews television in his InfiniteRegress.tv blog, and was listed in The Chronicle of Higher Education's "Top 10 Academic Twitterers" in 2009.

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