"Released": A Book By Thomas Walker

[Thomas Walker]

7 hours ago, JudyO said:

Can I make a suggestion? Knowing the ultimate end, maybe you could make smaller stories that fit within the framework of your already completed story.

The problem isn't coming up with ideas for 'slice of life', the problem is that the formula is chewed to bits. People arrive, culture shock, they make some friends, they see the world for what it is, they are baptized.

 

I managed to stretch that to five books by mixing up who gets Returned, and where they come from; but the main character of this series is the Thousand Years themselves; and that journey is more or less done. The fact that you're thinking along these lines means that the books; and the JW literature has succeeded in making Paradise real to you.

 

There are a few writing projects that remain half finished, and I want to get them done, for my other Pen Name; and then I believe I shall return to Bible-Based stories; but not likely to the New Earth Series. At least, not completely. There will always be room for novellas and short stories within the framework; but those would be harder to pull into Hardcopy until more of them are done.

 

7 hours ago, JudyO said:

Matt, the elderly sister who loves your books would like to know when it will be released as a hard copy? I checked on Amazon, and nothing yet, so I hoped you might have some timeline? Thanks!

I have ordered a proof copy of Released, currently listed as 'on the way', but as I live in Australia, Amazon won't ship a paperback to me directly, due to local tax law. I need to route them through intermediaries; and if you're following the news, you know that the postal service is moving a lot slower than normal right now. Another week or three, at least; but it is coming.

 

5 hours ago, Leonard Match Valid said:

Great Surprise.

Great Imagination.

Investigative reality

An excellent quote for the dust jacket of my future biography, should someone ever write one.

 

5 hours ago, Leonard Match Valid said:

Wow. I would like to congratulate you, Thomas, on your dedication to writing the books. Fascinating. 

Thank you, and I'm glad you like them.

 

5 hours ago, Leonard Match Valid said:

I would like to know, sorry if you have asked before ... but are there other languages?

Any possibility of translating into Portuguese? I would like to present and present my wife and of course to friends here in Brazil.

To my shame, I only speak English. But I've spoken with a brother on this forum who is translating the book into Korean for the brothers there. If anyone wants to do that for other languages, they have my full blessing to do so, and publish the translations on Amazon, or anywhere else. Amazon has the option to list more than one 'producer' or 'contributor'. I've never done it myself, as I've only ever published my own work; but listing 'Thomas Walker' as the author means I can put the translation on my author page, to spread interest.

 

Not sure how the royalties would work with multiple 'creators', but anyone who puts that kind of effort in deserves their full cut.

 

5 hours ago, Dages said:

DEEPL is an excellent tool that I use daily for my Translator job... it's not perfect, but it's incredibly good, and it has Brazilian Portuguese (DEEPL é uma excelente ferramenta que uso diariamente para meu trabalho de Tradutor... não é perfeito, mas é incrivelmente bom, e tem português brasileiro = with DeepL)  

The only translation service I've ever used is Google Translate, which is famous for messing up the translation. And, of course, if things are 'lost in translation', I'd never know, because I could only read the 'before' picture; which I why I've never been game to try.

[Thomas Walker]

So, I thought everyone might like to know: The Postal Services of two different countries came through, despite distance, pandemic, and general strife. I got a look at my proof copy, and decided my target demographic is forgiving enough to accept the offering.

 

Submitted for your approval, "Released" is now available in Paperback.

 

Those who have been waiting, enjoy!

[Wanda Hill]

Thank you, Brother..just ordered!

[pnutts]

On 8/14/2020 at 6:33 PM, Thomas Walker said:

There are a few writing projects that remain half finished, and I want to get them done, for my other Pen Name

Great. I enjoyed those other books. May have missed one or 2 later ones.

[Thomas Walker]

2 hours ago, pnutts said:

Great. I enjoyed those other books. May have missed one or 2 later ones.

I'm so glad! Tell your friends, post a review! The unfortunate truth of being a self-published author is that obscurity is far more likely than piracy.

[Myew]

So, I finally managed to finish reading this one. It's the end of a series, one that I really appreciate for how much you have helped me to hope for things that I had not been able to imagine. The finale has left me with mixed feelings of ambiguity. There is only one way that I know how to properly express this: https://youtu.be/N_dUmDBfp6k?t=111

 

[Thomas Walker]

9 hours ago, Myew said:

So, I finally managed to finish reading this one. It's the end of a series, one that I really appreciate for how much you have helped me to hope for things that I had not been able to imagine. The finale has left me with mixed feelings of ambiguity. There is only one way that I know how to properly express this: https://youtu.be/N_dUmDBfp6k?t=111

 

Aw, thanks. You took the fish right out of my mouth. 😄

[Naruwa]

I just finished Released. So glad you included and updated previous characters, but still want to go back and reread them all. 

It was a little too sci-fi for my simple mind to comprehend, but food for thought. 

I was not surprised at the ending, but shocked at my reaction to it. I found myself sobbing—couldn’t stop. Wondering why it so affected me, I thought of two reasons. One, in back of my mind there has lurked a nagging fear that somehow I might fail to pass a test of faith. And two, my number one weakness is fear of man. For example, I can witness to one person at a door but cringe when I see a group sitting on a porch!

 Even though it’s just a story it’s very believable. So now Brother Thomas you have given me a good reminder of what could happen. But even better, to focus on Isabel. Thank you so much.

P S.  Amazon wouldn’t let me post a review. Do I need to be a member?.

 

[Thomas Walker]

22 hours ago, Naruwa said:

I just finished Released. So glad you included and updated previous characters, but still want to go back and reread them all. 

That's a relief. Some won't want to go back and start again, knowing the ending.

 

22 hours ago, Naruwa said:

I was not surprised at the ending, but shocked at my reaction to it. I found myself sobbing—couldn’t stop. Wondering why it so affected me, I thought of two reasons. One, in back of my mind there has lurked a nagging fear that somehow I might fail to pass a test of faith. And two, my number one weakness is fear of man. For example, I can witness to one person at a door but cringe when I see a group sitting on a porch!

Really? Me too. I think part of the reason I wrote it that way was because it was the most basic fear that JW's have. After making things as big and modern and different as it got; the deciding factor is something that applies to us today? Seemed like a twist worth adding.

 

22 hours ago, Naruwa said:

P S.  Amazon wouldn’t let me post a review. Do I need to be a member?.

To be perfectly honest, I have no idea what reason Amazon has for allowing one review and denying another. Sometimes it's membership, sometimes it's something else. My dad tried to post a review on one of my books once, and they decided he was 'too close' to my username, and figured it was a fake review put up by me. Amazon tries to bounce false reviews; and the system they have for that is not really skilled at it.

 

Fortunately, JWTalk doesn't have such limitations. 😅

[Hope]

@Thomas Walker -  as I mentioned in the first book's thread, I read them all within three weeks and they blew my mind!  Especially the last chapters of this one! 🤯😲😵😢  I was thinking of this series again this past Sunday during the WT lesson about the resurrection-  having read your books felt like having a behind the scenes pass. 😃  Happily, a sister in my breakout room had read your books, too... we had the best time dishing about them!

 

Thank you for your hard work. I've shared these with everyone. 🥰

[Thomas Walker]

3 hours ago, Hope said:

I was thinking of this series again this past Sunday during the WT lesson about the resurrection-  having read your books felt like having a behind the scenes pass. 

I live in dread of the day a new books comes out that dramatically contradicts the series in a fundamental way.

 

3 hours ago, Hope said:

Thank you for your hard work. I've shared these with everyone. 🥰

It's showing. A surprising number of people are buying the first book in the series this month. I'm only 'advertising' it here. JW's are remarkably good at word of mouth.

[jayrtom]

Thomas, do you have interest in translating your books into another language?

[Thomas Walker]

9 hours ago, jayrtom said:

Thomas, do you have interest in translating your books into another language?

To my shame, I only speak English myself. The internet's translation services are notoriously unreliable; and even if I used them, I'd have no way of reading them to check their accuracy. 

 

I understand that a brother in South Korea is translating JSY into Korean. He has my full blessing to publish the finished product, on the understanding that he adds my name under the 'Author' option.

 

To be honest, I have no idea what that will do, since all my works are self-published; but if someone takes the time to translate a full-length novel, I'm happy for them to collect the kudos and royalties involved. 😄

 

As far as I know, he's the only one actively translating anything. If anyone else wants to, they have my blessing, as well as my thanks. I'd love for these books to be available to those who don't speak or read English; but I am not equipped to make it happen.

[jayrtom]

2 minutes ago, Thomas Walker said:

To my shame, I only speak English myself. The internet's translation services are notoriously unreliable; and even if I used them, I'd have no way of reading them to check their accuracy. 

 

I understand that a brother in South Korea is translating JSY into Korean. He has my full blessing to publish the finished product, on the understanding that he adds my name under the 'Author' option.

 

To be honest, I have no idea what that will do, since all my works are self-published; but if someone takes the time to translate a full-length novel, I'm happy for them to collect the kudos and royalties involved. 😄

 

As far as I know, he's the only one actively translating anything. If anyone else wants to, they have my blessing, as well as my thanks. I'd love for these books to be available to those who don't speak or read English; but I am not equipped to make it happen.

Thank you. I was considering translating it to Portuguese myself

I take your blessing as an authorization

 

 

[Hope]

12 hours ago, Thomas Walker said:

I live in dread of the day a new books comes out that dramatically contradicts the series in a fundamental way.

 

It's showing. A surprising number of people are buying the first book in the series this month. I'm only 'advertising' it here. JW's are remarkably good at word of mouth.

"Word of mouth" is pretty much our job description, right? We're professionals! 😉😄