© 2020 Ransom Stephens
Ideas
High Concept Fiction &
Eye-opening Nonfiction
Maybe not that high . . .
The Book of Bastards is a departure into a world of fantasy. It’s still “high concept” but the concept shouldn’t be obvious until the end of the trilogy, and even then. Told by a Tale Faery, it’s a story that’s all too familiar told from a very different perspective: “Centuries ago, before Queen Graegloria and her father, King Graeglory, brought human and faer together in maentanglement, humans used to fall for the rants of charismatic lunatics. The lunatic would blame everything from stale bread to outbreaks of disease on a group of outsiders and put them in prisons that he called ‘camps’ or ‘workstations’ or ‘cubicles.’ “The persecuted group was never guilty of anything but being different than the nut-job’s followers. The lunatic starved and tortured his scapegoats at these camps. Like tides ebbing and flooding, the pattern repeated every few generations.” In the grand tradition of ironic humor, The Book of Bastards is a tale of persecution and revenge that’s, how to put it, LOL funny.The fragility of history
The concept of the Time Weavers comes from the impact of the seemingly minor events that become the pivot points of history. The 99% Solution is a reflection of the conditions that spawned World War I in 1914 and the Occupy Movement in 2011. Too Rich to Die is a reflection of the French Revolution on the early 21st century built on the platform created by Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol.The crippling nature of greed and addiction,
and the euphoria when they are overcome
I built Too Rich to Die on the evils born of injustice. San Francisco tech CEO Eben Scratch is a modern day Scrooge with so much wealth that his mistakes can bring the world to its knees. His greed has ruined his life and the trail of destruction has just begun when Simon, Fiona, Volodya (and Winter) find the pivot point that will either lead to a 100 year dark age or . . . not. Allison, the love of his life, who he ruined, must teach him the horrors of ignorance and want, But why would she?The pursuit of utopia and the pitfalls of
democracy
Set in the Occupy Wall Street movement of 2011, The 99% Solution is about the pursuit of utopia by political extremists. To your right, radical libertarians set out to destroy governmental authority across the world to unleash the power of market forces and create a corporate utopia. To your left, socialist anarchists set out to destroy governmental authority and unleash the natural brotherhood of humanity and allow the ultimate flat democracy to emerge into a socialist utopia. What could go wrong?Virtual reality puts people in different
worlds, worlds where they can learn
empathy
The concept of sensory deception comes from neuroscience experiments. Everything we know, every experience, even our genetic makeup, comes from the inputs to our five senses. Virtual reality can literally change our worlds.Why do people have faith in concepts
unsupported by evidence?
The God Patent presents a low-faith model of the soul. A model that I conceived in a Florida swamp as my career in particle physics ramped up. The science is rock-solid, the concept of patents and the games tech companies play with them is 100% true. Every step leading to Katarina and Ryan’s model is supported by evidence, except one. A single yes/no question provides the step of faith for you to either accept this eternal soul, complete with unique flavors of heaven and hell and how you land in them, or not.
Where does talent end and skill begin?
Why do we like some books, paintings, songs,
and dislike others?
And are we really that different from the
other animals?
My only nonfiction book so far, The Left Brain Speaks, the Right Brain Laughs, is meant to be a users guide to intellect. It shows the interrelated nature of the realities our brains create for us. Each chapter presents two aspects of life that are often thought independent but are deeply related--life & death, talent & skill, analysis & creativity, art & science, and you & me. It shows why and how intellect can’t exist without emotion, why we mourn, what drives us to value some things over others, and probes the nature of consciousness--does it arise in our complicated brains or do all the animals have it to one degree or another? And what about plants, do they have anything like consciousness. Finally, partly to get speaking gigs, but mostly so I could write better novels, it presents techniques for innovating, problem solving, and creating things that people like. Neuroaesthetics!
© 2020 Ransom Stephens
Ideas
High Concept Fiction &
Eye-opening Nonfiction
Maybe not that high . . .
The Book of Bastards is a departure into a world of fantasy. It’s still “high concept” but the concept shouldn’t be obvious until the end of the trilogy, and even then. Told by a Tale Faery, it’s a story that’s all too familiar told from a very different perspective: “Centuries ago, before Queen Graegloria and her father, King Graeglory, brought human and faer together in maentanglement, humans used to fall for the rants of charismatic lunatics. The lunatic would blame everything from stale bread to outbreaks of disease on a group of outsiders and put them in prisons that he called ‘camps’ or ‘workstations’ or ‘cubicles.’ “The persecuted group was never guilty of anything but being different than the nut-job’s followers. The lunatic starved and tortured his scapegoats at these camps. Like tides ebbing and flooding, the pattern repeated every few generations.” In the grand tradition of ironic humor, The Book of Bastards is a tale of persecution and revenge that’s, how to put it, LOL funny.The fragility of history
The concept of the Time Weavers comes from the impact of the seemingly minor events that become the pivot points of history. The 99% Solution is a reflection of the conditions that spawned World War I in 1914 and the Occupy Movement in 2011. Too Rich to Die is a reflection of the French Revolution on the early 21st century built on the platform created by Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol.The crippling nature of greed and addiction,
and the euphoria when they are overcome
I built Too Rich to Die on the evils born of injustice. San Francisco tech CEO Eben Scratch is a modern day Scrooge with so much wealth that his mistakes can bring the world to its knees. His greed has ruined his life and the trail of destruction has just begun when Simon, Fiona, Volodya (and Winter) find the pivot point that will either lead to a 100 year dark age or . . . not. Allison, the love of his life, who he ruined, must teach him the horrors of ignorance and want, But why would she?The pursuit of utopia and the pitfalls of
democracy
Set in the Occupy Wall Street movement of 2011, The 99% Solution is about the pursuit of utopia by political extremists. To your right, radical libertarians set out to destroy governmental authority across the world to unleash the power of market forces and create a corporate utopia. To your left, socialist anarchists set out to destroy governmental authority and unleash the natural brotherhood of humanity and allow the ultimate flat democracy to emerge into a socialist utopia. What could go wrong?Virtual reality puts people in different worlds,
worlds where they can learn empathy
The concept of sensory deception comes from neuroscience experiments. Everything we know, every experience, even our genetic makeup, comes from the inputs to our five senses. Virtual reality can literally change our worlds.Why do people have faith in concepts
unsupported by evidence?
The God Patent presents a low-faith model of the soul. A model that I conceived in a Florida swamp as my career in particle physics ramped up. The science is rock-solid, the concept of patents and the games tech companies play with them is 100% true. Every step leading to Katarina and Ryan’s model is supported by evidence, except one. A single yes/no question provides the step of faith for you to either accept this eternal soul, complete with unique flavors of heaven and hell and how you land in them, or not.
Where does talent end and skill begin?
Why do we like some books, paintings, songs,
and dislike others?
And are we really that different from the
other animals?
My only nonfiction book so far, The Left Brain Speaks, the Right Brain Laughs, is meant to be a users guide to intellect. It shows the interrelated nature of the realities our brains create for us. Each chapter presents two aspects of life that are often thought independent but are deeply related--life & death, talent & skill, analysis & creativity, art & science, and you & me. It shows why and how intellect can’t exist without emotion, why we mourn, what drives us to value some things over others, and probes the nature of consciousness--does it arise in our complicated brains or do all the animals have it to one degree or another? And what about plants, do they have anything like consciousness. Finally, partly to get speaking gigs, but mostly so I could write better novels, it presents techniques for innovating, problem solving, and creating things that people like. Neuroaesthetics!
