Where Did This Come From? the novel by award-winning author, Larry Nocella, is now available as an eBook for only ONE DOLLAR!

I am PSYCHED! I’ve just set up my novel as an eBook. This means you can read the thrilling, thought-provoking novel Where Did This Come From? right NOW. All you have to do is download the free eReader (MobiPocket Reader) to your PC or your pocket eBook reader PDA, such as a Palm Pilot, Pocket PC, SmartPhone, Blackberry, etc.

Then download my book, which is on sale NOW as an eBook for a limited time for only ONE DOLLAR! This deal won't last forever, so act NOW! (Ugh. I've never felt so infomercialish, but while I am, I should probably mention MobiPocket is a fully-owned subsidiary of Amazon.com. Wow!)

I hear from fellow readers that the concept of an eBook is rather - how did they put it? - yucky. I tend to agree. I’m a paper guy myself. I love the feel of the paper, the smell of a new book, etc.

At the same time I can’t deny that after reading and enjoying most books, I’m challenged by how best to get rid of the damn thing. I usually donate it to the local library. It’s a rare book that I love so much I want to keep it.

So I think there’s a place in the world for what I’ll call ePaper to replace paper. Especially in respect to magazines. I avoid subscribing to magazines. What the hell do you do with it once you’re done with it? And why does everyone need their own copy? I’ve always found it odd for pro-environmental publications to publish on paper.

I’m not totally blaming them, we’re all caught in the gears of modernity. However, I’d like to see them be leaders more often: they should be at the forefront of creating a market for the most enviro-friendly paper and its alternatives, like ePaper.

Since you’re a smart, independent-thinking person, you’re saying, “But creating electronic devices causes all sorts of chemical damage versus creating paper. Is ePaper really better for the environment?” Great question.

I often encounter a similar dilemma when getting my daily tea. Environmentally speaking, which of the following is better: Using water to clean my mug? Or using a disposable cup?

It’s not as simple a question as it initially sounds: do I use precious drinkable, clean water, that’s gone through hell to be purified, just to clean my mug? Or do I use a disposable cup, and when I’m done, throw it out? Ultimately, I think mug wins. Anything “disposable” seems bad. At least the water goes back into the ecosystem. A crushed paper cup just adds to a landfill.

So, is ePaper really better? I tend to think so, if it’s applied to the many temporary uses for which paper is used now (newspapers are relevant for only one day, magazines for only one month, etc.) At least that’s what my gut tells me.

But hey, like in that superb novel, Where Did This Come From? by award-winning writer Larry Nocella, we never really know for sure what’s going on behind the scenes. But at least we’re asking the question. As long as we’re asking the questions, the answers will come up sooner or later.

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Larry Nocella is the award-winning author of the novel Where Did This Come From? available at Amazon and Xlibris and other fine online book stores. Also, for a limited time, Where Did This Come From? is available as an eBook for only ONE DOLLAR. Visit Larry Nocella's website at www.LarryNocella.com.

The War on Christmas Douche Bags

Why does this time of year heighten everyone’s douche bag potential?

I’ll never forget this lady I used to work with, who found Christmas to be the most beautiful thing in the world. And since only a certain amount of people could take off at Christmas, she used every trick from a Shakespearean tragedy (lying, threats, manipulation) to make sure she had those days off. It was all very un-Christmas-like behavior, just for a week of baking cookies.

And I don’t need to mention the psychos at the mall. Just walk by a parking spot near the building and a car is sure to pull up. I call them vultures. This can be fun at times if you cut across the rows: watch them speed around to the other side. Then you double-back. See if you can beat my record of making a vulture drive three loops.

I’ve got a theory that the holidays during this time of year evolved in human culture to buck everybody up because the constant darkness is damn depressing. That explains the emphasis on light and joy and birth, etc. As for December 25 being the big date, I think ancient astronomers were shooting for the winter solstice around December 22 – but they missed by a hair.

Concerning everyone’s increased douche bag potential, again I blame the darkness. Our primal brain’s instinct sector is freaking out, going into vicious survival mode, thinking the end of the world is near.

Anyway, to the present. Radio drive time today: same old whining, about Christmas iconography being removed because someone doesn’t celebrate Christmas. Any such fuss is often spun as bowing to political correctness. I think a more realistic spin on it is that minorities are finally asserting themselves. They’re finally saying “Look, if you can put up your symbol, let us put up ours.”

Non-Christian school kids shouldn’t have to go to a class that focuses on a crucifix. The usual, uncreative answer to that concern? Take it all down, no one celebrates anything. In the face of diversity, why not accommodate all traditions? Instead of, “no one can celebrate,” how about, “ok, let’s all celebrate.” Let the kids discuss their traditions and show the others. How cool would that be?

There is no war on Christmas. Only douche bags think that. What's really going on is people are standing up for their own beliefs. So, put your nativity scene on the town hall lawn, but get ready to accommodate my atheist year end celebration! Happy Holidays to all! Even you, douche bags!


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Larry Nocella is the author of the novel Where Did This Come From? Visit his website at www.LarryNocella.com.

The Environment and Print-on-Demand

More and more, the environment is my number one concern, and the primary cause that receives my charity money. Sure, mankind is embroiled in all sorts of dangers, but whatever ills there are, self-created or just the perils of life they’ll never get solved if the planet burns underneath our feet. You can even sell the idea to war pigs: if we lose the earth, we’re not going to have anything to kill each other for.

When it comes to preserving the environment, making sure there’s clean air, clean water, healthy soil, there’s always some excuse: oh we’ll lose jobs, oh it’s too hard, people will never go for it, big business won’t do it.

Something has to give. Soon. Or we’re all going to die.

Part of the theme of my novel, Where Did This Come From? is about how consumers (meaning, all of us) are a nature-like force. I wrote from that perspective as a way of (hopefully) increasing awareness. It seems fitting that the novel is a print-on-demand (POD) title. POD means no copies are printed in advance and potentially destroyed. Each copy is printed only at the moment it's ordered.

Of course, one reason I went POD is I don’t have an agent (yet.)

The second reason: I’m concerned about the potential waste that comes with traditional printing. Because the printing press takes time and effort to set up, a publisher has to guess how many will sell (forecasting) and print that much in bulk, usually in the thousands. Those that don’t sell slide down the bookstore food chain that descends something like this: store; bargain bin; wholesaler; yard sale; ebay; trash; recycle and/or landfill.

The third reason I’m a POD-person? Hell, I’m impatient. I’m not going to wait for popular taste to smile on me. Popularity will catch up with me later. In the meantime, I have books to write!

I would have liked to print Where Did This Come From? on some kind of alternative paper (see http://www.visionpaper.com/ to read about Kenaf) to really ram the point home, but that was a bit out of my league. Plus, recall reason three: impatience.

I once saw a bumper sticker that read “A world of wanted children would make a world of difference.” It had cute happy stick-figure people dancing under a smiling sun or something like that. It took me a while to figure it out and when I did, I was a little jolted by the idea of defending something as serious as abortion with stick figures, but I understand (and agree with) their point.

To expand on it, a world of wanted products, and not forecasted products, would make a world of difference in the environment. Weird how these things all connect, eh?

I’m more focused on the environment than ever before, especially since I recently saw An Inconvenient Truth, which I highly recommend to every sentient being on this planet. I feel bad for holding Al Gore’s censor-happy, PMRC-founding wife against him. If he runs in 2008, he’s got my vote for sure. As will anyone who makes the environment, the planet, the thing from which all we really have springs, a top priority.

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Larry Nocella is the author of the novel Where Did This Come From? Visit his website at www.LarryNocella.com.