Website

Just finished the website for Book One.
Of Eternal Light

Book 1.2

I am revising Book One. It will be tighter and more active in voice. Some minor changes were needed to align with the completion of the draft of Book Two. I also started a new publishing company for this and, hopefully, future works of fiction: Brass Bell Books.

Draft Complete

The first draft of Book Two of the Milleran Cluster series is now complete. The next project will be to revise Book One.

The Underground Lake

In 1905 in Tennessee, there was a young boy named Ben who loved to play in a local cave. One day the young boy was exploring his favorite cave when he found an opening he had never noticed before. He crawled through it but it was too dark to see inside so he began throwing balls of mud to get an idea of the depth of this new space. Instead of the sound of mud splatting against walls he heard splashing. It turns out he discovered the largest underground lake in the U.S. At this time, at least 13 acres have been discovered.

A similar underground lake is at the center of the society built by the inhabitants of the planet of Pa'Chot and has just been discovered by a handful of wayward Kevutians.

A Review

Here is a recent review by another writer friend:

Ken Langer has written a delightful tale, “THE MILLERAN CLUSTER” Book I of the “Of Eternal Light” Series. Mr. Langer offers his readers an opportunity to visit the wonderful world of Pa Kevutu, a land for all ages of readers. The land of the Kevutians is a delightful place to escape the worries and vicissitudes of our own partisan existence, reminiscent of a visit to Hobbiton while weaving in a double mystery both of murder and also the origins of the inhabitants of this fabulously imaginative world.

Mr. Langer offers us a unique glimpse into our own world by showing us one created from his imagination. “When are we truly living and when are we just marking time? The difference has to be in the fullness of our experiences and the richness of our relationships.” – From THE MILLERAN CLUSTER by Kenneth P. Langer
I highly recommend this cerebral stroll through a strange land and wonderful land.

Coming to the end

I am gradually coming to the final chapters of the second book of The Milleran Cluster so I will provide only a few details.

At this point the leader of the rebels against the Ceorans (bosses) tried to escape from Kethix but was attacked by a fleet of the Wesuran Navy.

Terrorism and Despotism

When does terrorism lead to despotism. According to some news analysts, it happens when something called "mission creep" enters into the scene. It could work something like this: In a vigilant effort to route out possible terrorists a government begins to monitor all suspicious communications and internet traffic. Not knowing which interactions are suspicious and which are not the governmental entity in charge of terrorism decides it is best to monitor all communications. One especially helpful tool is the ability to monitor all social media connections so that the connections to all possible terrorists or potential terrorists can be known. To catch even more possible baddies the government agency decides to monitor any groups is thinks might be related to terrorist activities. This eventually includes any groups that are even remotely connected to speaking or writing out against the government in any form. That is an example of mission creep. What began as limited monitoring of identified potential terrorists has expanded into collecting the data of thousands of citizens for doing anything that could be defined as potentially related to terrorist or anti-government action.

Why should a person care? After all, the average citizen does nothing wrong. Most go to work, go home, follow the rules, play nice, and so on. But with mission creep in action, more and more average citizens get caught up in the net of potentialities. If someone knows someone who is the cousin of someone that once wrote a nasty remark about the president on a chat site, all those people may become unwitting suspects.

More fear needs more action. More action needs more control. Terrorism leads to despotism.

So it is on Kevutu. The few people who have rebelled against the tyranny of the control of the ceorans (bosses) have caused panic in the government leading to martial law and their own version of despotism. The Grand Council of Ceorans, the primary governmental body for the planet, has been disbanded by a subset of the council called the Directorate. They have called for martial law and are chasing down any citizen they believe to be related to the terrorists (known as freedom fighters in their own land).