Welcome to episode zero of the Daniel’s Nemesis Podcast, where I’ll be reading XBook, chapter by chapter. This isn’t a real episode, just an introduction to explain what on earth this is all about.
Each week I’ll be reading from a book I wrote many years ago – a book so astonishing that nobody would publish it, leaving the Internet as its only possible home. It’s called XBook, a title that once felt cool but briefly worried me when everything else suddenly became “X Something”. Thankfully, that never really happened… and neither did the book.
The draft I’ll be reading from is the final version, dated 24 July 2006, written right here in my childhood bedroom when I was a teenager and knew absolutely nothing. At the time, Independence Day was the biggest film I could imagine, and you’ll spot plenty of references – or outright theft – as we go along. I was also heavily influenced by Terry Pratchett’s Discworld and Blackadder Goes Forth, with more than a few characters shamelessly nicked.
Later, at university studying Film and Drama Production, I discovered things like Buñuel’s Un Chien Andalou and realised you could do absolutely anything. The revisions after that went completely mad – dark, surreal, dream-fuelled nonsense poured straight onto the page. Throw in American Psycho and that’s basically what XBook is.
It’s a bad book. It’s dark, disturbing in places, and spectacularly ill-informed. I haven’t read it in nine years, so it’ll be as much of a surprise to me as it is to you. After each chapter, I’ll pick out quotes, talk about what works (if anything), analyse the symbolism, and try to work out what kind of person I was at eighteen.
This podcast isn’t about showing off literary skill. Think of it as a celebration of terrible literature – like loving Ed Wood films – or a guide on how not to write a book. Despite everything, I’m still oddly proud of it, and some moments still make me laugh. Or at least they did nine years ago. Let’s see how I feel now.
Right – time to actually tell you what the book’s about. I’ll start by reading the synopsis I once sent to publishers.
The premise of X book is that of an alien invasion of Earth, immediately after the end of the First World War in 1918. Having fled from their native planet, the aliens known as the Trascons are looking for a new planet to settle on and continue with their way of life. After much searching, Earth was felt to be the closest and easiest option, but having traveled for nearly a thousand years, Earth is no longer the place that they first knew it to be.
Feeling humans to be very hostile, the Trascons prepare to invade Earth. The humans are not prepared for any of this, given just 24 hours warning. A defensive wave is quickly prepared. Needless to say, the Trascons are far too advanced for the humans.
But after a crash landing, the humans are able to gain hold of one of the alien craft, helping to equal the balance of power. With this alien craft, one man prepares himself to take on the might of the alien invasion by himself.
The heart of XBook is the two characters that the story revolves around. We are introduced first to the human, Ginger Jeeves. A survivor of the Great War but not without his casualties. Having been deeply affected by the war, he has created an alternative world around himself. Now having to adjust back to a more normal environment, he has not been able to rid himself of these delusions. Ginger is not separate from the real world, yet he is unable to separate dreams, fantasies, and delusions from reality. And it is this confusion that we see as Ginger struggles his way through each of the situations in which he finds himself present. He is a man of peace after having faced much death. And wants only to find out what it is that these aliens want from Earth, hoping to be able to come to a compromise.
Skaj Frite is the Supreme Leader of the Trascon race. He also strives for peace. He has gained a fascination for Earth to the extent that he has taken on a human name - William, which we know him as throughout the novel. He aims for peace, unfortunately he feels that the only way to get at peace is through War. He no longer feels that the Trascons will be able to integrate themselves into Earth culture with ease - a view shared by the rest of his space-weary race.
As he details Life as a Trascon, we learn that the Trascons have sacrificed too much to be turned away at the last stop. They are desperate for Earth, but this desperation clouds William's judgment too much, for it is he who is calling the shots on the proposed invasion.
This is much more of a character-led story rather than a plot-driven one. And as we follow the two characters, much of the conflict is detailed. Not just between the Trascons and the humans, but within. Both of the central characters’ thoughts, feelings, and emotions are poured out to help us understand what they desire, what they want to achieve, and what has happened to bring them to this point. More importantly, why they may act in the way that they do.
I have used many of the symbols of a science fiction story, yet I do not feel that XBook is suited purely for a science fiction audience. Its focus on the characters means that it is pulled out of this genre, and instead the primary concerns become the themes that are inherent in this book. There are many themes including isolation, conflict, and obsession, as these are the concerns of the characters, not the story. Indeed, the method that I have chosen to tell the story is that of a first-person perspective, as this allows stream-of-consciousness thought to come out from the characters.
The novel then jumps backand forth between Ginger and William asthe story progresses, both in and out ofreality. A mindscape is created, carryingus along with it.
Well that's the main part of the letter. But what I found on another page is a little bit extra that, presumably, I was never ever meant to send. But I'm going to include it for you just because it explains a little bit more, even though the publishers were never going to get hold of it.
This XBook is a multi-layer text revolving around surrealism, fantasy, and emotion. It's core themes are that of obsession, isolation, and conflict. It is a first-person stream-of-consciousness narrative told through the eyes of two individuals, building up the emotion, drawing in the reader as the story unfolds. It is not just about the plot that happens in the background, bringing these two individuals slowly together. XBook is about what happens inside these two individuals’ minds.
The plot is simple. It thad of conflict. It is just after the Great War of 1914 to 1918. Earth is facing another attack. We follow our two individuals, both on opposing sides, as they come to meet. First, we have Ginger Jeeves, a fighter pilot in the Great War, representing the human faction. Secondly, we have Skaj Frite, also known as William, leader of an alien race known as the Trascons. He represents the aliens.
There is no opposing side, there are just two different sides to a much greater story, both of which the reader experiences as the novel unfolds.
This is the conflict. The Trascons feel they need Earth to support their race to allow them to grow and develop further, having fled from their previous home. The humans feel they are a threat. They feel under attack. This is a force that they cannot stand up to, but they know they must try. Their lives are at stake.
Both are isolated from the people around them, yet they are the only two who can change the course of matters for the benefit, or downfall, of their own prospective races.
Ginger, affected by the war, has created his own world around himself, allowing for much of the surrealness and mindscapes of the book. His world seeps into the real world, but he is unable to distinguish between the two. The way that he acts and the decisions that he makes are based purely on the way that he interprets what he sees.
William, however, is distanced from his world by not being able to fully read the mood of his race, which is carefully tucked away. He is aware that he is responsible for making many major decisions which will affect many, many lives, causing him to tread a little bit more carefully. Yet his romanticism towards Earth affects his judgment.
Which leads on to XBook's final theme, that of obsession. A theme that transgresses all dimensions, time, space, life, death, reality, and fiction. If it isn't enough that William is obsessed with Earth as a means of escape, or Ginger's obsession towards self-destruction and fantasy, both have a desire for peace, morphed into a physical representation by the book's third primary character, Holly - an elusive character for William, but a supportive character for Ginger. Both abandon a metaphorical journey for peace to go on a much more physical journey. This becomes the emotional peak of a story, as both have to face up to themselves.
XBook is a surreal, dark, epic Novel. Its market will be those who have a deeper interest in literature, and want something more from their reading than a normal genre novel. A small but perfectly balanced book, this contains drama action, fantasy, and that old staple - love.
So, as it says at the end there, this is a book for people who want more than just a simple genre novel. Or don't be expecting that what you should be expecting is more like a Dan Brown book, except with less mystery and suspense, but more aliens.
And fear not, this is only the first book in a loose trilogy that I shall be exploring after this one is completed. Whether my writing gets any better or not, I'll leave that for you to decide. But those shall come in the future.
Don't be expecting too much in Chapter One - So Might It Be, it's a big long introductory chapter where you don't even get to see any of the characters until the very, very end. And even that's just a little snippet. But still please tune in, laugh along, and I hope to see you again.