A friend sent to me a link of my book having been placed in the social library networking called Goodreads, according to Wikipedia, it is a book-oriented Facebook-like social network, so if you want to add my book to your virtual shelf here is the link.
Book cover features an instance of recursion.
Regarding the title of my Librarian no Chronist, the three (there are subtle references to the number 3 itself in the book) first words of the title of the book, Librarian no Chronist, act as context where the stories can be put. It turns out that this context is a story itself. “Chronist” is a German term for chronicler, who does, as Wikipedia says: “a historical account of facts and events ranged in chronological order, as in a time line, and in some ways, a human also does (indirectly) a general account of the most important events of his life in a sequential way and you could argue that this recording of his life is as important as being alive. Librarian no Chronist deals with different aspects of life.
“no” is a Japanese term equivalent with the English “of” which among other things, is used to indicate origin and parts of a whole, Librarian no Chronist is also a whole made of stories, and those stories are also made of parts and so on.
“Librarian” is an English term that refers to the person that takes care of the books (by being in charge of a library), in Librarian no Chronist , librarian makes reference to a support system, a teacher, a guide.
Upon certain interpretations of any of the three words that make up the title, the meaning of the other two words can be extracted. This implies that in some way, the meaning of the three words is contained inside each of the three words, this is a reference to Indra’s net, where every part of the universe is contained in every part of the universe.
Finally, about the title being made of 3 words, is also a reference to Indra’s net, where the number 3 (and its multiples) supports the “states of maximum interconnectedness” (every intersection is formed by a multiple of 3) in any level of complexity of Indra’s net under infinity.
Another interpretation of the title can be summed up as: “a representation of the interconnectedness of form and meaning in the short stories that make up Librarian no Chronist.”
If you want to take a look at some chapters:
http://www.amazon.com/reader/1470174278/ref=rdr_sb_li_hist_1&state=01111
“Imagine a multidimensional spider’s web in the early morning covered with dew drops. And every dew drop contains the reflection of all the other dew drops. And, in each reflected dew drop, the reflections of all the other dew drops in that reflection. And so ad infinitum. That is the Buddhist conception of the universe in an image.” Allan Watts
With this Buddhist quote, Librarian no Chronist and other Stories, starts.
The quote, a description of Indra’s net, makes reference to some major themes of the Librarian no Chronist and other Stories: networks, interconnectedness and reflections of reflections of
Every point connects to every other point. The connections are built up from triangular numbers but when the number of points reaches infinity, the numbers upon which the connections are built up are also infinite.
Every water drop reflects and is reflected in the other water drops. Every water drop is also a reflection of other water drops which are also reflections of other water drops and so on...
reflections…of light. That’s the nature of reality in Librarian no Chronist and other Stories: stories within stories within stories, etc. This is analogous to the phenomenon of self-reference where one thing is to be understood in terms of itself (in a circular way), and yes, self-reference is also a major theme in the book.
Indra’s net is a basically an Eastern notion for the nature of reality, and as you can see, Indra’s net commits self-reference in a massive and beautiful way and all events at all levels are mirrored at every single level. This is one of the reasons that drove me to make self-reference and interconnectedness major topics for my book.
If you want to take a look at some chapters:
http://www.amazon.com/reader/1470174278/ref=rdr_sb_li_hist_1&state=01111
A work in the spirit of “Kino’s Journey” (Kino no Tabi) light novels and Ted Chiang’s mind boggling short stories. What is like to be a librarian? The answers, in form of short stories, involve self-reference, feedback loops, symmetry and dualisms. The start of a journey of self-knowledge, a travel across worlds where form and meaning literally swap roles.
Ebook version:
Read a free sample here:
http://www.amazon.com/Librarian-Chronist-other-Stories-ebook/dp/B007JVU0GC/
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/141467
Paperback version:
http://www.amazon.com/Librarian-no-Chronist-other-Stories/dp/1470174278/
Hopefully, the book will be available to purchase within 2 weeks. Meanwhile, you can read a sample of the book here:
I will be updating with information about the work very soon (within this month).
Meanwhile, and if in search of inspirational readings, feel free to visit: formalsystem.wordpress.com
