We are all just pixels of light - an introduction to "An open connection of the heart"

What I set out to introduce in my latest novel "An Open Connection of the Heart" was the idea that an unbounded connection with each other and the cosmos is more important than our day to day attachments. One of the main characters, Russell, must come to grips with the fact that he is no longer truly physical. Once he comes to terms with it he realizes that he is no longer constrained by the normal boundaries we perceive. Towards the end of the book he explains to Sam, as much as he's managed to work out: 

“I am pixels of light. I’m only solid if I wear this,” he indicated the pendant, “and put my mind into it. My body only exists as a projection of my mind. My body exists within me. Not me within my body.”

Sam nodded. “It’s quite the opposite of what most people think, but go on.”

“You are pixels of light too. It’s just you believe in your solidity as THE reality.”

Sam thought back to how she had pulled Naira out of the stasis pod, using the firm belief that the pod did not exist and that Naira was made of light. “Everything is that, isn’t it? Particles of light in the visible light spectrum which our brain processes as solid with boundaries defining body, self and other.”

“That’s what I’ve been mulling over as I adjust to what I am now, but I think you’ve described it better.”

“So if everything is really particles vibrating at a certain frequency, with no particular boundaries defining separate people or things what makes you you and me me?”

“I haven’t worked that out yet but I’m starting to think those people you’re talking about are our own fictions, characters in a story we’re dreaming into existence.”

The book is much more than a spotlight on my usual non-dual philosophy. It's also an adventure. One with aliens, androids, human scientists and a sentient slime mold. All of them must work together if they are to make a new life for themselves on the surface of a planet that, until now, appeared dead.

Available now at all good online vendors.

Rewriting the Dream

Writing the end to a long running series like Left Hand Adventures was a lot harder than writing the others. So many loose ends and story arcs to tie in. Continuity was my biggest issue. Remembering everything that had gone on before. In the middle of it all we bought a new caravan and spent winter avoiding the massive rainfalls affecting the East coast of Australia at the time. It was a good time to muse though. I realized early on in the book that it wasn't going to let itself be rushed. It was waiting for me to grow just a little bit more. Finally the end of the book came to me. The crux of it would be that we have all got imperfect pasts that we need to forgive and heal to move on to a brighter future.

The biggest karma of them all, for the story at least, was Atlantis. That massive blunder that I theorized still held back the planet. It was great fun tying together all the old myths of Atlantis and Camelot with the upheaval than might ensue from an oncoming solar grand minimum and magnetic flip. No conspiracy theory or even science is safe when I'm writing.

Of course, along the way, I had to throw in the usual polyamorous, metaphysical, paranormal mayhem with all the usual array of sentient species helping to save the planet, or getting in the way.

My friend Sue Wragge kindly gave me permission to use the spectacular photo of a southern aurora which I adapted for the cover.

You can find the book at all good online vendors:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Rewriting-Dream-Left-hand-Adventures-ebook/dp/B06XBF9SG3/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Google Play Books: https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Rewriting_the_Dream.html?id=mWM2DgAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/au/book/rewriting-the-dream/id1211802320?mt=11
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rewriting-the-dream-arwen-jayne/1125896640;jsessionid=8E40C61F386A5ACB6B6415EEAB6A76B0.prodny_store02-atgap07?ean=2940154038857

or download a copy directly from Smashwords
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/706708

My Inner Alien

I've enjoyed writing all my books but I am especially fond of the couple who take center stage in this story. Having worked in the television industry myself  Phoenix seemed very real as a character. Passionate about her career, bull at a gate, rushing headlong into wherever her gut instincts led her. Even the Ducati was special. In my twenties I had a poster of one hanging on my wall. When I met my mate he had a moto guzzi and later a Laverda motocycle and I had a modest but much loved 250 Kawasaki LTD so I soon forgot all about Ducatis until I asked myself what sort of transportation would Phoenix ride. A motorbike fitted nicely with her fearless have a go disposition. Then there was her back story to invent. Why did she have problems feeling her emotions? The father and his dislike of overemotional females just seemed to mesh. But the father was by no means the nasty sod that Muire's was so I decided to redeem him later on.

Trian. Well I'd read a little about Arcturians, mostly what others have channeled. A three foot alien didn't seem to suit but I thought he could be relatively short in the Lemurian world, compared to Phoenix's previous incarnation. That Trian was someone who was able to freely cross the barrier between form and light gave me quite a bit of scope for a different kind of sexual encounter.

The science of how much matter is in our atoms, bioprinting and the collapsing magnetic field of the earth I tried to keep plausible, mostly. A little bit got into the realms of fancy. Maybe a lot. But it was fun. I'm not ashamed to say I like what I would call fun sci-fi. The likes of the TV series Eureka.

The metaphysics is the serious stuff that I always try to weave through my novels. The novels were birthed from an experience of non-dual consciousness that I had back in 2012. Since then I've followed a path that could bring the insights from that experience into my day to day world. I've had a lot of growing to do and still do. What I've learnt along the way has given life to Boswell's generally culture. The rest of that culture comes from small Australian bush town ethics, people helping each other, not for gain but because we are all isolated from the city.

The final book of this series, yet to be named, is already starting to take life, in my mind at least, will bring all the events and story threads that have been weaving through this series to their culmination. I look forward to it being as much fun to write as this one.

My Inner Alien is out now on Smashwords, iBook, Amazon, Google Play and other online vendors. Available in ebook and paperback

The Vampire President and The Headmistress

When I set out to write this story I only intended a short story, similar to the Guardians of the Rasselas. I soon realized I was going to have a LOT of fun writing this very different vampire story. Take a species of alien, driven from their own galaxy by a relentless enemy, a Martian apocalypse that led to them eventually seeking refuge on earth and one recently made immortal headmistress who's been cajoled into being Boswell's ambassador to them and you have just the start of the plot.

Since I was finally starting to get deeply into dream yoga as I wrote this my imagination took flight. Which you'll see if you read the story. Along the way there were plenty of opportunities to entwine other metaphysics as well as myths and legends into the plot.

There's probably room for a later tale set on Mars but that's for later on.

You can find the paperback on Amazon, Bookdepository and other online vendors:


The ebook is widely available.

Don't label me!

I am thrilled to be finally releasing this story which is out now on kindle   http://www.amazon.com/dp/B012IVHGHI , Smashwords and Google play. Other vendor sites to follow. There will be a paperback version. I chose a waterlily, from my own garden, for the cover as it symbolises rising above the mud that life sometimes mires us in. Sathi, Hideo and George all have lives that in one way or the other have been uprooted by events outside their control. Against the odds they find their destinies on the other side of the planet.

This is their story. The book, number five iin the series, also continues the story of Boswell, its paranormal and kinky inhabitants and their ongoing struggle to free the planet from enslavement by their arch enemy the Din.

I especially enjoyed writing the little side plot of Ang and the Delphine emissary.

Guardians of the Rasselas: an off the grid sci-fi fantasy romance

A pre-Christmas visit to one of our favorite fishing spots caused a bit of a shock when we realized the water level had dropped significantly since we had visited it two years earlier. Where we'd previously launched the boat was now bare gravel. The last figure I saw recently said the lake was down 38 metres. Last year this wilderness area only got about 2/3 of its normal rainfall. Of course, like everything in my life it got my imagination going. A novella demanded to be written before I could continue on with writing my fifth novel. So here it is: "Guardian's of the Rasselas".

In a world run by those driven by greed a few brave souls still work on the side of the planet and its inhabitants. Long ago Eleni's family were entrusted with the guardianship of the knowledge and sworn to keep it secret. Unbeknownst to the rest of the family Eleni's brother Yiannos has inherited the role from his psychic grandmother. But all is not well in their small family. Eleni opts to avoid the dubious pleasure of Christmas with the family by camping out at her favorite lake only to be faced with a shocking discovery. Having dropped his retail addicted wife and cousins at the airport, to do even more shopping, Eleni's father JJ realizes the time has come to make a life changing decision. Eleni's discoveries at the lake will change all their lives. And while Eleni and JJ might not be the guardian it is their affinity with stone that will reawaken more than just a parched landscape.

Guardians of the Rasselas is a novella set loosely within the world of the Left Hand Adventures series but it can be read independently. It contains adult references, diverse sexual relationships and some Australian slang.

Available in paperback or ebook: Amazon, Google Play (shortly), Smashwords and other vendors as it is distributed.

A Short Introduction to the Sattvic Diet: A diet for the mind, body and soul. A way of life

When I initially conceived of this booklet I was thinking more about the recipes for some of the vegan dishes mentioned in my series of novels Left Hand Adventures. First up I was going to call it Simon's Cookbook after one of the main characters in the series. I soon realized once I started writing it that it had potentially a much wider audience. Being vegetarian by choice and variously allergic or food intolerant to gluten, mushrooms, most dairy and a range of preservatives, colorings and other nasties I've had to develop my own recipes over the years. Mostly because no one cookbook seemed to address all my needs.

Having had to manage myself, even while tripping around New Zealand, Japan and some remote parts of outback Australia, I've acquired a keen interest in finding what I can safely eat when away from home.

More recently, delving into genetics by getting my 23andme test done gave me a springboard for learning about myself from another point of view. Along the way I learnt about obscure things like the methylation cycle and how some genes regulate it, or don't if you have an unfavorable mutation or two.

Mix all that with a life long interest in yoga and relaxation as a path to well being and a happy mind and you have what I've summarised in this book. I'm hoping it will be of use to others like myself as well as those wanting to pursue the ancient Sattvic diet which probably not coincidentally most of what works for me fits within. In some ways I could kick myself for not following this regime sooner but then maybe my learning path was meant to be. I've tried as much as possible to keep any yoga dogma to a minimum and provide references for those wanting to research further.

You can find the booklet on Kindle, Google Play, Smashwords and for those who want a paperback version these one of those available too, at as close to production cost as I could make it.

If you have a recipe you think should be included in a future addition please let me know.