Apocalypse Near: a metaphysical oddyssey [Paperback]

"E" (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 18, 2008

consciousconsumers.net/bookprelease.html

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

This is the first draft (actually more of a rough draft) of a book born in death (my clinical death during emergency brain surgery for a burst brain aneurysm). I used my past knowledge of desktop print publishing & new knowledge of print on demand publishing as a means to share the draft with friends, family & other writers. My intent was to get feedback & basically, free editorial services (the only ones I can afford because of huge medical bills). 

   My pre-press skills & print on demand allowed me to give away copies & get critiqued for less what it was costing me to make plain paper copies  at Kinkos. I used the feedback gleaned from this draft to finish the book in 2010 & will next enter it into competition. I've been writing long form for years (feature film screenplays) but this is my first book. I was pleasantly shocked & inspired by how well it's thus far been received. I'm finishing the next 2 parts of the trilogy because of the positive feedback I've gotten on this first draft. 

    Print on demand has allowed me to develop my writing, share the work with others in an efficient manner & in my particular case, heal from traumatic brain injury. In my case, the pen is mightier than the scalpel, the bone saw and the prognosis that foretold I'd never be anything more than a "vegetable" at best. You can read my work & decide if I am any better than a vegetable. 

    This book has an easy to read, large text size because one of the disabilities that resulted from my brain damage is that I'm nearly legally blind. So, large text definitly makes it easier for me to read & write.

    More information on this project is available on the website also born in my death:

consciousconsumers.net/bookprelease.html

About the Author

consciousconsumers.net/

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace Publishing (March 18, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1419692070
• ISBN-13: 978-1419692079
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,692,209 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Tampa, FL June 15, 2010-After surviving emergency brain surgery in 2004, E. Haase created several multi-media works for one purpose: to communicate his vision concerning humanity's role in earth's environmental future. He received this information in a clinical death experience which occurred during a six-hour craniotomy to suture a burst aneurysm.

His latest work stemming from this experience is the interactive book 'Apocalypse Near'.
The book is being released in several editions beginning with the 2010 release to the general public as an interactive e-book. Traditional bound books containing links to supplementary media on the author's websites will soon follow & production of an audio book is planned.

Apocalypse Near is a novelization of the author's screenplay of the same title. Haase's first effort to communicate how humankind may achieve a symbiotic relationship with the environment was www.consciousconsumers.net. Haase feels much of the information on this site was uploaded to his consciousness during an out of body experience while in surgery.
Following a year of constant work on consciousconsumers Haase became despondent because he felt he wouldn't reach enough people in time to avoid the horrible part of his vision of earth's future. Haase asserts that during his near death experience he saw earth as if he was looking at it from space and watched it change into a dead, moon-like apparition. Haase said, "It happened in an instant; I saw the planet die of consumption. Then it was like I was turned around to see a biologically healthy earth. The message I felt being communicated was that one of these circumstances would soon occur and which would happen was a choice being made by humankind."
More concerning this experience is fused with the somewhat fictional drama embedded in "Apocalypse Near".

Haase contends that some of the book is "somewhat" fictional because he characterized the damaged parts of his brain as well as the psychological & phenomenological challenges that he's been living with since suffering the aneurysm. So, although there are parts of the book that can in some senses be considered fiction, to the author, it is all a real, day to day battle for him. From his point of view, the book is a pure autobiography, but he relents to call it a "metaphysical autobiography". It may in fact be a truly novel, genre defying novel. Haase explains his intentional blurring of the line between fact and drama in the book's front matter, but the purpose of the blur is to intensify drama in order to motivate the reader.

Haase's intends to use drama in the tradition of early Greek & Roman dramas which he opines were more about inspiring the behavior of populations than entertainment. 'Apocalypse Near' fuses several electronic mediums, performance art and environmental activism into what Haase calls "REFORMance art".
The fictional element of this otherwise autobiographical book begins beneath a highway overpass where a young man lays sleeping. His well-heeled appearance indicates he's no average drifter. The man appears to be dreaming. We enter his supernatural communication with what looks like a supernova as it foretells a mission concerning the collapse of earth's operating system. A passerby observes him have a seizure and calls an ambulance. In hospital he's found to be suffering a brain hemorrhage. Surgery saves him but lack of identification and physiological anomalies beget a mystery. Upon waking the man claims no memory of himself. His only memories concern his mission to stop earth's environment from crashing. When asked his name he claims to only remember the sound "E" so hospital staff call him "E". He demands a laptop and Internet connection to upload his "Viridian REVELution" campaign to save earth. This begets an adventure, which will determine the survival of earth's biosphere and be the opening battle in his declared "war on war".
A love triangle between "E", the nurse who found him and an elusive muse communicating with him in dreams develops as he begins his quest. "E" discovers he must defeat an invisible enemy invading earth from another dimension. This enemy is composed of dark matter, powered by dark energy and running a superior operating system. Their job is to delete the inferior human product line before humans destroy earth's "bio-drive". In the end "E" finds his identity may give him the ability to rescue earth and undertake what will become his future mission in the war in heaven. The next two books of the trilogy cover this inter-dimensional conflict and the outcome of the protagonist's "War on war".
The parallel between Haase's real life and the book's fiction is why Haase subtitled it "a metaphysical autobiography". Haase said "I didn't intend to write this book. It was a case of automatic writing. The book would not exist apart from my N.D.E. and fight to get my life back. It's a metaphysical manifestation in the true sense of the word." Haase believes he may have created a new genre which he calls "Hyper-Reality". The "Viridian REVELution" website at: www.consciousconsumers.net/revelution/ is another piece of Haase's real environmental mission that is now embedded into the book's interactive fiction. More on the author and the genesis of "Apocalypse Near" is on the author's website at www.imagimedia-inc.com/
"Apocalypse Near" is available on Amazon & via the author's websites.

Finally, 'E' said "Be sure to read the front matter to understand how and why I fused elements of fiction and how, in a way, they're not really fiction. I was at times characterizing phenomenological experiences that are the result of my brain injuries. I excorcised parts of my brain that were battling with each other and tried to make that real for readers by putting them into a dramatic context. In a certain sense, it's all real for me and it's all for the very real purpose of helping people understand their responsibilities regarding life and death on a personal and planetary basis."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Something we shoul all read, January 30, 2009

By 

Shannon A. Russell "MorbidShann" (Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Apocalypse Near: a metaphysical oddyssey (Paperback)

This is a great book of one man's struggle with a near death experience and the enlightenment it brought him about our earth's dire state. Extremely thought provoking, providing an idea of ways we can save this planet and maybe ourselves. We should all join in the REVElution. This book also contains web links so the reader can have an interactive experience and learn more about the REVElution and the mysterious author.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than just a good read..., July 29, 2008

By 

DMR (Tampa, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Apocalypse Near: a metaphysical oddyssey (Paperback)

Apocalypse Near is incredible adventure of a book, but it is far more than just a good read. This tale will give you far more than a few hours of reading pleasure: it will change your entire perspective. The world needs to be reading this book sooner, rather than later.