Twitter Event: #9898 – an SF Experiment on Twitter

Stand-up comedians experiment in night clubs. They try out different things on small audiences, to see how people react to it. They try different things on different nights to hone their act and to see how the audience reacts.

Seems to me that Twitter is a great place for an SF author to do the same thing. One such experiment is going on right now, called #9898.

I’m not going to tell you anything about it. Go read it. It’s being updated daily, and may in the future be updated weekly (we’ll see how the experiment goes).

If you’re reading this long after it was written, check out the tag: #9898.

Here’s my Twitter, check it out: Vision Etc.

A Two-Book Deal Signed in Israel

Two of my books are slated to be translated into Hebrew and appear in Israel. The first is Secret Thoughts, which is already out in the US by Apex Books. Buy it here. The second is the fantasy novel for young adults, Tickling Butterflies. Secret Thoughts will be out at the end of this year. Tickling Butterflies will be out at the end of next year.

Secret Thoughts

The Short Story ‘Homework’ Now at Story Station

The short story ‘Homework‘, now appears online at Story Station, a site with resources for educators and students.

It’s a story that examines what may limit a young boy’s imagination.

The story has also been published in Hebrew.

Enjoy.

The Story ‘Generation E’ Used in Academic Studies

My recent short story, ‘Generation E: the Emoticon Generation‘, was used in an academic class that goes under the title ‘Language Studies in the Digital World’. #Ping!

Meshuggener Smiley, by Refael Chalfine

‘The Imagination Hospital’ published by the Jerusalem Post

The short story, ‘The Imagination Hospital‘, has been published in the Jerusalem Post’s magazine. Also available online.

The tagline: “Who can possibly die from an overactive imagination?”

If only we had imagination hospitals...

‘Generation E’ now at Midnight East

A revealing piece about our current generation: Generation E, the Emoticon Generation, has just been published at Midnight East.

Do you know what your teens are doing? No, you don’t.

Introducing #generationE  #ping #Roj

With a special graphic: Meshuggener Smiley by Refael Chalfine.

Meshuggener Smiley, by Refael Chalfine

Story Sale: ‘The Unruly Child’

The short story ‘The Unruly Child’ will be published by the Greek magazine ‘9’, or ‘Ennea’.

The story takes place in a world in which grownups have lost their imagination and only children still possess it, which turns that world’s economy on its head. The story tackles the question: Where does imagination come from?

‘The Unruly Child’ has previously been published in Hebrew in the anthology ‘Once Upon a Future’.

‘Life: the Game’ in paperback

Life: the Game

‘Life: the Game’ was published in paperback in Israel, translated into Hebrew, by Bitan Publishers. Adventure for young adults.

Joel Strickland is an awkward and shy fifteen-year-old. He has only one friend, girls don’t notice him, and bullies won’t stop harassing him. School is a battle-ground, and to escape it he invents a different battle-ground: He’s Captain Joel Strickland, fearless leader of the Resistance, whose job it is to rid Earth of the evil and alien Initiators!
One day, Joel accidentally unearths a strange artifact and accidentally pushes a button…
The artifact is the only thing that remains of an alien ship that had crashed on Earth three thousand years ago. It turns out to be a game for adolescent (alien) kids. But unlike our games, it doesn’t take place in a computer or on a screen, it takes place in reality.
The game transforms the entire city and everyone in it into participants in the game. And in the game it makes Joel’s imaginary world real. The sky is filled with hoverships, and the entire town is overtaken with the evil and ruthless aliens. Now Joel is supposed to be the fearless Captain who will lead the meager Resistance to victory. But Joel is hardly Captain material, and is ill-equipped to win the war.
But the game plays for keeps: the weapons are real, the dangers are real, people can really die, and the bad guys are as bad as bad can be. There is no way to exit the game except to win or to lose. And, as the game explains: To win, you have to defeat the Initiators; to lose, you die…

‘Hope for Utopia’ at Fictionwise

Hope for Utopia

The first book I’d ever written, a few centuries ago, is available in electronic format at Fictionwise. Adventure and mysteries for young adults.

In the year 2239, colonists from Earth discover the remains of ancient technology buried under the sands of a distant planet. The aliens who created it abandoned everything without a trace of who they were or why they left. The technology can advance human knowledge by thousands of years, promising the creation of a true utopia. However, somewhere in its secrets is a lethal mouse-trap that has already sprung on the human race.

Magazine Publication – Hebrew: The Unruly Child

Once Upon a Future #1

‘The Unruly Child’ was published in Once Upon a Future #1, translated into Hebrew.