Manifesto

To the open-minded and curious, welcome to my new home. The heart of The HIVE, a childhood dream that has been twenty-odd years in the making. Finally, she is born.

The birthing process was… different to what I had always imagined. Dreams of being published by Bloomsbury or Penguin Books eventually died a painful death sometime late in the twenty-teens after too many rejections to count. It was a random comment from an old neighbour about self-publishing that eventually made me take the option seriously. And then there were the many years in between as I slashed scenes (some 20,000 words) and reworked elements to bring her up to a standard I was always secretly aiming for. Most people would have given up long before now, but I’m not most people – and neither, I hope, are you. 

That’s not to say I think I’m any kind of “special” – far from it. I guess I just have a tenacity and perseverance that perhaps most others don’t. And also the philosophy that, I’ve come this far, why wouldn’t I see it all the way to the printer's paper and ink? Of course, along the way other information and concepts have captured my imagination (with a future trilogy germinating in the background…). It was while I was looking at this ‘alternative’ information I came to realise that, the more information, theories or concepts I discover and choose to either absorb, discard or place on the back burner, the more I see how little I know and how much more there is still to learn. How many alternative points of view there are to consider…

It was through this discovery process that I finally began to question the world built around us. Are the ‘facts’ and systems we’ve all been brought up on and to believe in (potentially even worship as contemporary Gods) really what they seem? Is fiat currency really money? Is a certain level of inflation really a good thing, or a secret tax used to rob us when the system needs resetting? “Conspiracies aren’t real” (someone really ought to tell Collins English Dictionary – as well as all the others…) Did cataclysms play a larger role in our history than we have been told? Were the ancients really just cavemen? The Pyramids of Giza built by slaves with rope? Somehow it reminds me of George Orwell’s infamous lines in 1984: ‘War Is Peace. Freedom Is Slavery. Ignorance Is Strength.’ Inversions everywhere. Very little truth. But it is there to be discovered if one would only make the time to look. To stop and question what we are told. For the open-minded and curious it’s everywhere, from the stories we read, the music we listen to and the movies we watch, in myth, legend and lore. Sometimes it even comes out of the very mouths that are ‘leading’ us, if only we had the ears to hear it… 

‘Master detective’ Sherlock Holmes is known for his “proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and logical reasoning that borders on the fantastic”[1], but could it be that within this reverence for intelligence we have forgotten the very essence of Arthur Conan Doyle’s other message? 

“When you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”

 

It is my belief that my book (indeed this site and its sister newsletter as the content grows) will appeal to the open-minded and curious. Those who aren’t afraid to question the norm no matter how many times the oft-repeated answer is tinged with that achingly familiar ‘everyone knows that’ tone of voice or eyeball glare. Those that aren’t afraid to ask, ‘What if…?’ and listen to alternative answers, theories and viewpoints – and even evidence where it exists. 

While I’m not asking you to expect my emailed content to be groundbreaking or jaw dropping (or even terrifically regular), I hope you will enjoy the delicate balance I hope to tease out through (what I consider to be) interesting and unique storytelling, with gentle nudges using that ‘What if…?’ questioning mind, which just might reflect the potential of a technology, an event or state in the world today. And maybe, just maybe, encourage you to question what you have been told about a situation, person, technological development, event or happening. To check it against your own truth barometer and see if you can make connections of your own. Connections that break today’s societal norms. Perhaps even connections that feel forbidden.

Life is so much more than we suppose it to be, and this system we all live within, which binds us to logic and reasoning while disconnecting us from deep intuition, wholeness and balance, is designed to be that way. To keep us on that perpetual wheel of eating, working, sleeping and repeating, with no room for wonder. For curiosity, questioning or excitement. Perhaps even cold realisation.

If you’ve found your way to this page (my manifesto for this space), and if any of this resonates with you, consider this space curated for you. Today I pretty much question everything, and I encourage you to do the same. If you too are beginning to question the stories we’re told and the answers we are fed, you might just find the storytelling content I share here and via my newsletter interesting. Intriguing perhaps, (dare I even suggest it) inspiring in some small way? I truly hope so. Of course, there will be updates from me about my own journey too, more about how I got here (the entertaining parts – now, in retrospect!), cut scenes, milestones achieved and one day, perhaps the odd podcast or two. For now, I hope you enjoy Enya, George and Iverson’s journey through The HIVE. May it bring you intrigue, excitement and ‘unputdownable’ escapism from a world made mad by inversion and cleverly hidden truths. (My own ‘What if…?’ scenario…)

I hope I catch you again soon with the next instalment of my own adventure. Until then, if you found any of this manifesto (or The HIVE) interesting, intriguing or worth the read, please do share it. It would mean the world to me.

In gratitude,

Carina x

•       Subscribe to my newsletter here, and you will receive Part 1 (the first eight chapters) of The HIVE free to help you decide if it’s the right fit for you, as well as other semi-regular content.
•       Get in touch with me direct at carina@thehivebook.com I’d love to hear from you, learn what resonates and receive suggestions on other books by authors you think are worth sharing with this audience.