"Set Free" A Book by Thomas Walker

[Dages]

So, in spoilers, here are some parts I enjoyed (you can find them with Ctrl + F or using search function in your reader), there are more but... for starters : 

 

Spoiler

" Isn't that what brainwashed people say?"

" Sure, but they aren't my proof. You are." Kit told him. "The absolute, proof positive, smoking gun evidence that the JW's know what they're talking about? It wasn't in the Bible. It was you. They've been predicting it for almost a hundred years: Governments declaring war on religion; wiping it out, fast and hard. That has been achieved. If you wanted to prove we were all brainwashed, don't start by proving us right."

Ho snap  

 

Spoiler

"Why is everyone smiling?"

"Because it's over."

Please Jehovah... soon...

 

Spoiler

Kit hugged him. "Jehovah God," She prayed in his ear, not breaking the hug. "Thank You for my brother. Thank You for his life; and for seeing him safely here into Your world. I don't know what he's looking for; but I know You can provide it."

"For all of us." Biggs returned. "Amen."

No, I'm not crying... no no no...

 

Spoiler

Biggs was leading him through it...

The whole discussion was interesting, very nice arguments

 

Spoiler

I mean, think about that for a moment. I was one of those disposable kids, before Hugh and Kasumi. I've been alive for centuries, and in love for only a little while. How am I supposed to trust something so… new? My folks were friends for almost a century before they started dating.

Another interesting discussion, very important for some plot of the book... I like it very much.

 

Spoiler

Your life is going to be sadder for a while, but 'a while' is not eternity; and that's how far your Father loves you."

 I love Jehovah... 😭

 

The following quotes are really what makes the book awesome for me.

Spoiler

" Because you'll be going to school with actual twenty-five year olds?"

...

"And I am terrified that we might… outlive our usefulness, too. It's not the technology. It's the way of thinking."

...

Everything I know is out of date." Kasumi bit her lip. "And so am I.

...

Everything I know is out of date." Kasumi bit her lip. "And so am I.

and later :

Spoiler

"But we don't have unlimited time, do we?"

" We have unlimited lifespan." Nick nodded. "There's a difference."

also : 

Spoiler

" Because the world keeps moving." Hugh offered. "The world you explored doesn't exist anymore."

This, for me, is the main plot here, the whole discussions and I'm very happy with this, that's exactly what I wanted to read about.

I'll have some points to discuss with my pioneer elder friend while in ministry  

I'd love to read you all about these.

 

What I thought was a little bit "too much" 🤣

Spoiler

The preserving/auto repairing nanobots... it's fitting for the topic of the passing of time and the things we would like to preserve but... BRUH, way too early for my imagination

 

Also, this isn't a quote but, bonus track

Spoiler

I'm very happy to see the angel "kid"... I was wondering when he would appear...
Also, I swear, in Paradise, if I see a teen with a guitar and a bible on his knee, I'm going to lose my mind like, aren't you supposed to look for Hugh and Kas ? The kid won't get it at all  

 

Thank you for this book, Matt.

 

Looking forward to read your opinions on the story, guys

Edited March 2, 2020 by Dages

[Thomas Walker]

4 hours ago, Dages said:

This, for me, is the main plot here, the whole discussions and I'm very happy with this, that's exactly what I wanted to read about.

The main purpose of this book was to set up the finale. Time can get away from people, even when you live forever. 

 

Something I've noticed, is that when people talk about their 'One Day In Paradise' Lists, almost everything on them are the things people do today when time and money and health don't get in the way. Once we've done all those things, we still have eternity. So, what's the 'forever' dream?

 

4 hours ago, Dages said:

What I thought was a little bit "too much"

The hardest part is making sure this series didn't turn into straight up sci-fi. I've made no secret of the fact that i wanted space-tech and campfire-tech side by side.

Spoiler

 

Nano-tech is a technology that all the experts are predicting in the next hundred years. Putting it towards the end of a thousand seemed acceptable.

 

Not to tease, but the Preserver will be a plot point in the next book; so I wanted to establish it early.

 

 

I've corrected the errors found on the forum, plus one or two that you all missed (and so did I until now) and corrected the manuscript on Amazon. It'll take 72 hours to go up, and the changes are minor enough that it's not likely to push an update; but if you ever re-download the story again after that window, you'll get the fresh edit. My thanks to everyone who caught these things.

 

Set Free is now in the Top Twenty of all the categories that it's in. Thanks to all of you.

[Dages]

I have a vision of Paradise (during Millenium) that is less technological because of the energy "issue"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGt4XwBbCvA

 

Quote

The main purpose of this book was to set up the finale. Time can get away from people, even when you live forever. 

I know, "plot" wasn't correct, "theme" maybe would be more accurate for what I meant, also, it was according to my own expectation and interpretation of the text.

 

💗

[Thomas Walker]

And it's official, Set Free is a Number One New Release. Not sure if I get to keep that designation forever, but it's there now.

 

I'm a little uncomfortable with the company Set Free is keeping on the shelves, but you can't have everything. For better or worse, it's a single author's opinion of a single denomination's view on the future. By Amazon standards, "Christian Sci-Fi" is a niche, but the tent is big enough for everyone who talks about God in a scif-fi novel.

 

[Myew]

I noticed it was at #1 after I bought it yesterday. *yay, I participated*
Really looking forward to giving it a read... once I find a way to deal with all this stress I let pile up. 🦦

[Dages]

Just now, Myew said:

once I find a way to deal with all this stress I let pile up

The book helps 💮

[Myew]

Not when I use it as an excuse to procrastinate. 🙀

[Thomas Walker]

1 hour ago, Myew said:

Not when I use it as an excuse to procrastinate. 🙀

You think reading is an excuse to procrastinate? Imagine how good an excuse writing it was.

[JudyO]

How can you be homesick for a time and place you haven't been to yet?❤️

[Dages]

27 minutes ago, JudyO said:

How can you be homesick for a time and place you haven't been to yet?❤️

It's a kind of 'anticipation" anemoia

 

I checked and it's visibly called farsickness : a longing for a place you've never been

Edited March 13, 2020 by Dages

[JudyO]

20 minutes ago, Dages said:

It's a kind of 'anticipation" anemoia

 

Now I've spent 20 minutes looking at his dictionary of (new words for) obscure sorrows......fascinating

Edited March 13, 2020 by JudyO
clarify

[Dages]

1 minute ago, JudyO said:

Now I've spent 20 minutes looking at his dictionary of obscure sorrows......fascinating

Entering Paradise, is going back Home... on so many levels.

Edited March 13, 2020 by Dages

[JudyO]

10 minutes ago, Dages said:

Entering Paradise, is going back Home... on so many levels.

Such a sweet sorrow to have.....

[Miss Bea]

On 2/29/2020 at 12:08 PM, Thomas Walker said:

Aw nuts. Yeah, it's a typo. 

 

During the writing process, conversations gets shifted around, people have their characters change places. The result is that names are sometimes my worst mistakes.

 

Now I have a problem, because when you put a book up for Preorder on Amazon, one of the conditions is that you can't update/change the manuscript for three days prior to publication. 

 

Thanks for catching it @Dages, but I'm afraid it's stuck for a bit.

That’s what you get for being imperfect! 
The rest of us don’t have our mistakes published. And, we are so glad you do! I read the book, and am waiting to get my hands on the hard copy! 

[Fiona]

Hate to be picky and I'm really not. I LOVE YOUR BOOKS.
But I thought if you are going to edit then here is another possible typo?
Think it's supposed to be Eben, not Eden?

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[Thomas Walker]

5 hours ago, Fiona said:

Hate to be picky and I'm really not. I LOVE YOUR BOOKS.
But I thought if you are going to edit then here is another possible typo?

Ohh, good timing. I was just about to upload the corrected edition.

 

I now need to stick my head underwater and scream. 😅

[Dages]

We love it, don't worry

[Thomas Walker]

Well, one advantage to the quarantines, I've gotten a lot of extra readers and reviews. (Gotta look real hard for that silver lining).

 

For those of you who have never self-published a paperback book before, there are a number of steps. The first is to create a content file; and do so in such a way that Amazon's Self-Publishing platform can't reformat the text. If it's resized or reformatted in any way, you can get blank pages, text rolling off the end of the page, etc.

 

The second step is to create a cover. Formatting the cover is surprisingly tricky, as there's a bit of a disconnect between the cover creator, and the 'preview' version. The text on the spine can be off-centre; and you'll never be completely sure if that's an 'oops' with the previewer or not.

 

When all these things are done, there's the 'print preview', where they give you a file that precisely shows what the final product will look like. Sometimes there's a discrepancy between what it looks like in the 'creator' step and the 'final preview' step.

 

The only way to be certain is to get a 'proof copy' mailed to you. As I live in Australia, this is the slowest and most expensive part of the procedure. I got my proof copy, and wanted to make a change to the cover. But I won't know if that change is done right until i get another copy sent out to me.

 

Given the quarantines, the depleted worldwide workforces, the international shipping; and the current state of the world's economies playing merry-hop with the exchange rates; I have no idea how long this might take.

 

So, this is nerve-wracking; but I've decided to trust to the Print Preview on a little faith. If there's something hideously wrong with the cover, it won't affect the text; and I hope my target demographic will be merciful.

 

Long story short: the Paperback Version of Set Free is now available.

 

(It'll take a day or two to arrive on the Author page, but the link works)

Edited March 19, 2020 by Thomas Walker

[Thomas Walker]

Sorry, I should also say: If any of my fans in the USA buy a paperback, and get it in the next day or two? Would you let me know if it looks right?

[Myew]

So, I finally finished reading it, and yet again have feelings that I can't well define. Farsickness / Fernweh is definitely part of it, but it goes beyond that. Being able to easier picture things in the future that I can't even imagine or dream of helps me to assure myself of my own hopes without fear, rather with anticipation and joy. There's very few things in life that I look forward to, because I simply can't think of them from my perspective. The best compliment that I can give is the only other book or story that I can remember making me feel the way this series does is The Princess Bride. The desire to live in a place and time where true love will happen every day and be expressed in all things.
(1 Peter 1:8) "Though you do not see him now, yet you exercise faith in him and are greatly rejoicing with an indescribable and glorious joy"

Edited April 13, 2020 by Myew

[Thomas Walker]

On 4/14/2020 at 6:18 AM, Myew said:

The best compliment that I can give is the only other book or story that I can remember making me feel the way this series does is The Princess Bride. The desire to live in a place and time where true love will happen every day and be expressed in all things.

Ohmy, rare company indeed. 🥰

[Dages]

So... About this part 2...

 

[Vido]

Will definitely add these in my bucket list of must reads for the year......love them already,

[Margaret]

And another book to come......... RELEASED

[Thomas Walker]

Whoever bought the paperback copy of 'Set Free', kindly let me know how the cover and spine of the book turned out? The quarantine came down before I could order a copy of the final version myself.