Contact me, or observe via social media
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Email: luke dot kendall at gmail dot com
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You can keep an eye on what I’m doing via any or all of the options presented here. The way I value most is by joining my newsletter:
The Inner Circle: Insights Newsletter
Click here to sign up for my monthly newsletter that began in Dec 2020. It appears on the last Saturday of each month. The content is usually:
At the Writer’s Desk – a peek behind the writer’s screen
Oddities and News – curious or enlightening discoveries from around the world, typically related to science, the mind, the natural world, or society
Q & A – Letters
Next issue – any special announcements about the next issue
News…
Lost Girl published
Yep, I just barely managed to release Lost Girl, book 1 in a new arc of the saga, in 2020, publishing it on Dec 11th. It also went live on Amazon on Feb 28th.
2020 World Science Fiction Convention (virtual)
I’m proud, pleased, and nervous to share my parts of the 78th World Science Fiction Convention held (virtually due to, well, 2020) in Auckland New Zealand, from July 29th to August 2nd, 2020:
Science Fantasy: A Core Piece of the SF/F World Format: Panel
29 Jul 2020, Wednesday 14:00 – 14:50, Programme Room 2 (Webinar) (Programming)
Even before we had a name for it, science fantasy — where fantasy tropes are handled in a more SF setting — has been a big piece of the genre. From Edgar Rice Burroughs, Leigh Brackett, and Jack Vance, through Star Wars, and on to many more recent works, science fantasy forms a large part of what we read and what we watch. What makes a work science fantasy? Why do writers chose to write science fantasy? And what are good examples of recent works?
Dr Thomas Kucera (Dept of Mathematics, University of Manitoba), David D. Levine (Moderator), L.J. Kendall (L. J. Kendall Publishing), Jacqui Greaves, Rivqa Rafael
Are We Living in a Simulation? Format: Panel
29 Jul 2020, Wednesday 21:00 – 21:50, Programme Room 1 (Webinar) (Programming)
It isn’t just The Matrix. Philosophers and scientists have been speculating: are we living in the “real” universe or a simulation? If it is a simulation … is it possible to ever know? What are the arguments, what is the evidence, and what does it all mean?
Fiona Moore, Sultana Raza, L.J. Kendall (L. J. Kendall Publishing) (Moderator), Christopher Gee
Publishing Spectrum: from Indie to Traditional and the Hybrids Inbetween Format: Panel
30 Jul 2020, Thursday 14:00 – 14:50, Programme Room 4 (Webinar) (Programming)
Liz Gorinsky (Erewhon Books), Margot Atwell (Kickstarter) (Moderator), Ms Michelle Lovi (Odyssey Books), L.J. Kendall (L. J. Kendall Publishing)
Unconscious Thought Theory as a Creativity Tool Format: Workshop
31 Jul 2020, Friday 13:00 – 13:50, Workshops (Programming)
The unconscious mind is arguably far more powerful than the rational, conscious mind. The mildly controversial Unconscious Thought Theory (UTT) provides insights that can be applied to tap into your unconscious and boost your creativity. It seems to match the creative process at work from people like Neil Gaiman (who speaks of his mental ‘compost heap’), to the American poet Ruth Stone (and her ‘thunderous wind’ of an arriving poem).
Require space for a little writing or brainstorming, pencil and paper, or a computer. A powerpoint presentation is provided to remove the need for participants to take notes.
L.J. Kendall (L. J. Kendall Publishing)
AI vs Human in Diversity Format: Panel
31 Jul 2020, Friday 16:00 – 16:50, Programme Room 5 (Zoom Meeting) (Programming)
In 2020 among us humans, “diversity” can refer to ethnic group, gender, sexual preference, age …. It seems like a lot. Imagine diversity when intelligences include silicon and germanium, when some people are made of small, sub-sentient devices scattered across an asteroid belt, or when algorithms ascend to consciousness after a career running self-driving car fleets. What happens when AIs that think far faster resent having to include mere meat-brained humans in their decisions?
Dr. Hirotaka Osawa (University of Tsukuba), L.J. Kendall (L. J. Kendall Publishing), Barbara Howe, Gina Saucier (Moderator), Mikko Rauhala
Reading: L.J. Kendall Format: Reading
2 Aug 2020, Sunday 12:00 – 12:25, Reading Room 2 (Programming)
The Original Manuscript
The Leeth Dossier has been over 25 years in the making.
Bio
Luke J. Kendall failed to drown on five separate occasions on Sydney’s northern beaches. He worked in the IT R&D field while extremely happily married for 30 years to an adventurous mediaeval scholar 22 years his senior until her death in 2014. (Her eulogy by Jon Marshall, and her second eulogy, from Luke.)
About This Site
This small corner of the internet is where I try to pull together things I hope will interest people who like my books. It exists at all only thanks to Karen Tisdell and her empathy. In one of my ‘outplacement meetings’ she said, “You don’t look thrilled, Luke. What would you really like to do?”
“Write,” I told her.
This was in March 2015, four months after my wife died. I was one of nine people made redundant during that round of staff cuts at Canon’s Australian R&D centre (CiSRA), which closed fully just four years later.
Writing helped me through a pretty rough time — writing, and my family and friends. Because the publishing landscape had changed dramatically in the twenty years since I’d written the first draft of what I felt was the start of Leeth’s story, I chose the self-publishing route.
“Who’s Leeth?” I suspect some readers will be asking at this point. She’s the main character in the series I’m writing. Some readers have found her hard to like at first; others connected with her immediately. ‘Adopted’ at the age of eight by a researcher at The Institute for Paranormal Dysfunction, Dr Alex Harmon uses her as his guinea pig to test his theories on how to develop a person’s magical abilities.
If that sounds like it could be a little dark, then you’re right: it dips into disturbing places on more than one occasion. But Leeth is up to the challenge, sure in herself. I believe she’s a unique character – naive, overly trusting, and loyal – yet also deadly and perhaps too self-assured. She’s also very direct. The series mixes light and dark, humour and sadness, science and magic, action and psychological thrills.
Through it all though, Leeth stands firm. I trust that her utter determination shines like a lighthouse beaming Hope.