Volume Seven Sneak Peek

In case you haven't heard, Joel Suzuki, Volume Seven: Vision of the Virtuoso is coming out next Monday!

And so, I figured I'd give readers a short sneak peek (WARNING: spoilers for Volumes Six and Seven to follow). 

If you've been following along, then you know that at the end of Volume Six, Joel and Marshall simultaneously attained omnipotence, a state that - because of the paradoxical nature of having two all-powerful beings at once - essentially broke reality. And so, the beginning of Volume Seven features Joel and Marshall wandering through weird scenarios that don't seem related to anything else (although some plot points are established that will be important later). My intention was not only to show the effect of reality breaking down, but also to have the first few chapters read almost like a mini-anthology of surreal short stories - in fact, the first three chapters are homages to three of my favorite surreal fiction authors/books. If you can figure out who and which ones they are, let me know and I'll send you a prize!

Anyway, here's the sneak peek:

Chapter One

Metamorphosis

Joel awoke feeling like he'd just had the scariest nightmare ever but wasn't able to remember any of it. The room - his room - was dark, with only the faintest slivers of sunlight filtering between his window curtains. Lying in bed on his back, he glanced over at the digital alarm clock on his nightstand. 8:42 a.m., it read.

   Oh no! I'm going to be late for school!

   He shot up - or tried to, anyway. His body was much heavier than he remembered. The effort to sit bolt upright resulted only in his head raising off his pillow. From this vantage point, he saw that his body, not covered by any blankets, was that of a scaly reptilian humanoid with three arms and three legs. His face had an elongated snout, like that of an alligator.

   What the heck?

   Starting to panic, he squeezed his eyes shut.

   This is a dream, he told himself. It has to be. A continuation of whatever nightmare I was having. Any moment now, I'll wake up for real, open my eyes, and everything will be normal.

   He counted to three, then opened his eyes. He looked down at himself. Nothing had changed. He was still a reptile.

   Um...

   He glanced around his room. Everything looked normal enough, with his black Gibson Les Paul guitar on its stand near his bed and his computer on the desk across from him. One thing caught his attention, however: the calendar on his wall ("Sixteen Months of Star Trek") was set to July 2023. This was significant to him for two reasons: (1) it was summer, apparently, so he wasn't going to be late for school after all, and (2) he distinctly remembered the year as being 2013, not 2023.

   Okay, something really weird has happened.

And there you have it! Hope to see you at the launch party!

Secret Recording Project!

Fresh off Second Player Score's first show at Dante's, we went into the studio - the new digs of our pal Chris Hahn from Zomie Media and Old Cross, to be specific - to work on a special recording project unrelated to our upcoming release, 4-D.

What kind of special recording project, you ask? Well, like the title of the blog post says, it's a secret! You'll just have to wait until it debuts next month, at time and place to be announced. In the meantime, enjoy these photos:

(Editor's note: enterprising readers might be able to make educated guesses about the nature of the project by examining these pictures closely)

Show Recap

Had a ton of fun performing with my band Second Player Score at Dante's in Portland last Saturday! It was my second time playing there (first time was with a previous band) and first time with SPS.

(photo by Lexi Winkler)

Despite what people say about rock 'n' roll and Murphy's Law, the whole evening went off in incredibly smooth fashion, from the parking to the load-in to the sound to the schedule and everything in between*. Everyone involved was super cool and all the bands rocked.

Much mahalos to the following: Dante's, of course, including staff and soundman; Kingbanana Presents; Craig James & The Hawthorns; Still Golden; All Hype; and everyone who came to see the show (some of whom apparently were just walk-ins from off the street)!

* With the small exception of almost losing my voice in the middle of our set. At one point I was wondering what we could play in place of our last song, which is a bit vocally taxing. Fortunately I bounced back in time. Note to self: don't eat - especially pizza - right before playing. You should know this by now!

Volume Seven Launch Party!

The launch party for Volume Seven is on the calendar!

As usual, it'll be at the awesome and award-winning Kazoodles Toy Store in Vancouver, WA. I'll be signing books as well as holding a raffle to give away a copy of each volume in the Joel Suzuki series, One through Seven, to one lucky winner. There will also most likely be candy. Skittles, perhaps.

The event is all ages and free to attend, and sales of the books will help support a local small business (the aforementioned Kazoodles) as well as Autism Empowerment. Here are the details:

Saturday, July 22, 2023

3pm-5pm

Kazoodles Toy Store

13503 SE Mill Plain Blvd Ste B-3

Vancouver, WA

Hope to see you there!

Volume Seven Proof Copy and Pre-Order!

The proof copy of Volume Seven is here, and it is good to go!

And so, we have an official release date: Monday, July 17th, 2023 - exactly eleven years to the day since the release of Volume One.

And for the first (and last?) time ever, you can now PRE-ORDER your copy! That's right, you can get a jump on things by either going to Amazon at this link (for the paperback) or this link (for the eBook) or Barnes & Noble at this link.

Or, if you live in the Vancouver/Portland area and want to get your copy in person (and signed by me!), there will be a launch party at Kazoodles Toy Store shortly after the official release date. Stay tuned for details!

P.S. Also, check out this awesome article about Volume Seven and Joel Suzuki in the Summer 2023 issue of Spectrum Life Magazine!

Volume Seven Cover Reveal!

Here it is, courtesy of artist extraordinaire Jill Colbert of Manfish Inc.

And here's the back cover copy:

(WARNING - Contains spoilers for Volume Six)

"The race to omnipotence has ended in a draw - which is a conundrum, because the very notion of not just one, but two all-powerful beings is a paradox that defies definition. It's up to Joel Suzuki - one of the aforementioned all-powerful beings - to capture and suppress his counterpart before everything descends into complete disorder.

But how can one omnipotent being overcome another? And what prison would be strong enough to contain such an entity? Joel should just be able to automatically divine the answers to these questions, but because his own power is part of the problem, doing so would simply accelerate the decay of reality.

He needs to tread carefully as the final game plays out, being careful not to reveal his hand while avoiding defeat. Will he be able to pull off this delicate balancing act in time to save existence from his archenemy once and for all?"

Next step: the proof copy! Stay tuned...

P.S. The show that was announced a couple of weeks ago has been moved from Twilight Cafe & Bar to Dante's, 350 W Burnside St., Portland. All tickets will be honored at the new venue. See you there!

Volume Seven Title Announcement!

We are getting very close to finalizing Volume Seven of the Joel Suzuki series! And so, here's the official subtitle:

That's right, the official subtitle is "Vision of the Virtuoso." It's the first (and last and only, probably) book in the series where the subject of the "Of The" is not one of my confusing, made-up compound words (see: Songshell, Moonfire, Loudstone, Fatewave, Bluerock, Darkeye). It also has two words that start with the letter "V," which lines up nicely with the intended color of the cover - violet - which also starts with the letter "V," and... okay, yeah, I'll stop there. What can I say, I'm a sucker for nerdy alliteration.

Coming next: the cover reveal!