As you may have surmised, we here at Mandated Memoranda Publishing are in the midst of a second draft rewrite for ‘Tiānmìng – Mandate of Heaven’. Our editor graciously pointed out that the text’s flow and tone were off and needed substantial changes (a long way off from tweaking, I’m afraid). Adolphus Writer has stepped in for the second draft rewrite. As a result, we have more material for ‘Horrors of the Heart’, our second offering. Our plan (bar the exigencies life throws in our paths) is to publish ‘Tiānmìng – Mandate of Heaven’ on Amazon by the end of August. We feel the book should appeal to those considering our choices in this year’s national election. Please stay tuned.
Tag Archives: Mandate of Heaven
Nomi Smith Finishes Novella
A status update from Adolphus Writer – Ms Smith finished the first draft of Tiānmìng, Mandate of Heaven, a memoir of our once and future Republic. We are on track for a late spring or early summer publication. The novella chronicles the rise of the United States after befalling a “natural” cataclysm. Ms. Smith takes a tough look at us as Americans and us as citizens of the world. She asks us to look at ourselves through the lens of the story and ponder what we would do in these circumstances. Through it, we are asked to consider what we are doing right now and whether it makes a difference for good. I urge you to take her message to heart, especially during this crucial election season. The liberty and wellbeing of our posterity is at stake.
An excerpt from Tiānmìng, Mandate of Heaven – the future President of the United States, Moses Orestes, says in his famous speech:
“…Our scientists aver that we face a geologic crisis of calamitous proportions. I say that we, as a nation, have felt the ground shifting beneath our feet for too many decades. We have sold our birthright for mean porridge and left nothing but the empty bowl for our posterity to clean after us. That will stop today. We will face our moral and spiritual crisis as we combat the physical one. We establish plans today that will secure those promised blessings of liberty for our posterity. We dedicate ourselves today to return to the attitudes and actions of our forefathers who established this Republic.”
National Novel Writing Month
NaNoWriMo was harder than I expected. My author, Nomi Tareen Smith, has 22,000 words of a historical fiction novel framed as a ‘memoir of the Republic’ set in the near future. The title is Tiānmìng, Mandate of Heaven. It chronicles the fall and rise of the United States of America. The novel structure is conventional but the presentation consists of materials from fictional transcripts, interviews and personal recollections of the participants with lead ins by Ms. Smith.
The novel’s major sections are Portents, Run Up for Protection, Run Up for Conquest, Crisis, War and Aftermath. The general synopsis is: Subordinates play roles on the world stage leading to a new order not yet revealed to them or us. These have to grapple with what obligations they have to themselves, to others (past, present and future) and to Heaven. Some will succeed and some will fail. The outcome is left to the reader to decide.
Ms. Smith will finish the novel by early January (we hope). My editorial staff will review and revise the novel with Ms. Smith’s consultation and consent. Then, we will publish to Amazon and Barnes and Noble directly using their tools.
Order
The avatar for this blog is a symbol formed from a stylized chinese character for ‘order’ (i.e., mìng) superimposed on a water background.
The character, mìng, when affixed to another character, Tiān, (translated as heaven) represents the concept for ‘mandate of heaven‘. The water background symbolizes the people of the earth, past, present and future. Our intent, upon which we may sorely fail, is to influence people’s perception of heaven’s mandate, not just for our rulers (but certainly that), but also for ourselves.
This blog serves as a creative outlet for musings that may find their way into press. If these musings are interesting to you, please stop back periodically.
Mandated Memoranda 