Ira Nayman's Good Intentions was published by Elsewhen Press in a digital edition in April 2019 and in paperback in June 2019.
About Ira Nayman:
In his past lives, Ira Nayman was, among other things: a cave painter whose art was not appreciated in his lifetime; several nameless peasants who died before their 20th birthday during the Dark Ages; a toenail fungus specialist in the court of Louis XIV; and Alan Turing’s scullery maid.
In his current incarnation, Ira is the creator of Les Pages aux Folles, a Web site of political and social satire that was 11 years old in the first week of September, 2013 (that’s positively Paleolithic in Internet years!). Three collections of Alternate Reality News Service (ARNS) stories (Alternate Reality Ain’t What It Used To Be, What Were Once Miracles Are Now Children’s Toys and Luna for the Lunies!) which originally appeared on the Web site have been self-published in print. Two new volumes of ARNS stories – The Street Finds Its Own Uses for Market Lateralization and The Alternate Reality News Service’s Guide To Sex, Love and Robots were published in 2013. Ira has produced the pilot for a radio series based on stories from the first two ARNS books; “The Weight of Information, Episode One” can be heard on YouTube.
Ira has also written a series of stories that take place in a universe where matter at all levels of organization has become conscious. They feature Antonio Van der Whall, object psychologist. To date, four of these stories have been sold. “A Really Useful Engine” has been published in Even Birds Are Chained To The Sky and Other Tales: The Fine Line Short Story Collection and “Escalation is Academic” has appeared in the anthology UnCONventional. “If the Mountain Won’t Come to Mohammed” can be found in Here Be Monsters. “Thinking is the Worst Way to Travel” has been accepted into Explorers: Beyond the Horizon. Several other stories in the series are currently awaiting editorial decisions at various publications.
Ira’s Web Goddess tells him he should make more of the fact that he won the 2010 Jonathan Swift Satire Writing Contest. So, Ira won the 2010 Jonathan Swift Satire Writing Contest.
In another life (but still within this incarnation) Ira has a Masters degree in Media Studies from The New School for Social Research which was conducted entirely online. He also has a PhD in Communications from McGill University. Ira taught New Media part-time at Ryerson University for five years.
Whoever created the Karmic wheel has a lot to answer for...
Click here to visit his official website.
About Good Intentions:
Being the sixth novel in Ira Nayman’s Multiverse series (aka the Transdimensional Authority series). But also the First Pie in the Face of the Multiverse Refugees Trilogy (which will make sense when you read it!)
At the end of You Can’t Kill the Multiverse (But You Can Mess With its Head), Doctor Alhambra, the chief scientist of the Transdimensional Authority, set up an alarm to warn him if a universe is succumbing to the universe-killing machine that is at the heart of the story. But how would the Transdimensional Authority respond if that alarm went off?
In Good Intentions, the first book in the Multiverse Refugees Trilogy, but also the sixth Transdimensional Authority novel, we find out. In the process we not only meet the most unusual refugees in fiction (probably), learn what Noomi Rapier’s brother does (and with whom), revisit Dingle Dell, and finally discover what happened to chapter seventeen of The Multiverse is a Nice Place to Visit But I Wouldn’t Want to Live There.
REVIEW: GOOD INTENTIONS BY IRA NAYMAN
Ira Nayman's Good Intentions is the first novel in The Multiverse Refugees Trilogy, but also the sixth novel of the Transdimensional Authority series. It's an excellent humorous science fiction novel that is filled with quirkiness, inventiveness and hilarious wittiness.
I have to mention that I'm amazed at how fresh and original, not to mention amusing, this novel is. Considering that the author has already written several Multiverse novels, it's truly amazing how he manages to come up with new novels that are just as good and entertaining as the previous ones.
Good Intentions is one of the most amusing and most satirical science fiction novels I've ever had the pleasure of reading. It's chock full of details, popular culture references and sharp yet entertaining satire and parody about humans, humanity and the state of the world. If you know anything about the world and what's happening around you, you can't help but be impressed by this novel, because it's simply brilliant in its inventiveness and originality.
What makes this novel (and also the other Multiverse novels) great is the author's no-holds-barred approach to humour and satire. His witty and satirical prose is speckled with amusing details and comic scenes that stay with the reader. One of the best things about his stories is that he always manages to surprise the reader with his humour, because you never know where his humour may be aimed at and what he is going to write about.
In this novel, readers find out what happens when Doctor Alhambra's alarm concerning the universe succumbing to the universe-killing machine goes off and how the Transdimensional Authority responds to it. The story begins with the alarm going off for the first time and Doctor Alhambra searching for what kind of an alarm causes the sound. When Doctor Alhambra notices what has happened, he instantly realises that things are very serious.
After the alarm goes off and the Transdimensional Authority reacts to the situation, readers will have an opportunity to read about many things. Amongst other things, the author writes about what Doctor Alhambra does in bed, what Noomi Rapier's brother does and how people react to Doctor Alhambra's news about the universe dying. He also writes about adorable purple aliens and what kind of beings they are.
This novel has so many amusing and intriguing scenes that it would be slightly difficult to mention all of them, so I'll gather a few of them below so that readers will be able to see what the author has in store for them.
The news article by The Alternate Reality News Service about the purple aliens is one of the highlights of this novel. I found this piece of news entertaining and informative, because it revealed many things about the aliens.
The passage from "Guide to Age Appropriate Sex Education for Public Schools" is fun to read, because it's a bit different kind of an educational guide to sex. It's almost impossible not to chuckle and laugh out loud while reading it.
It was also fun to read again about the Home Universe Generator(TM). If there are readers out there who are not familiar with Ira Nayman's novels, I can mention that the Home Universe Generator(TM) stands for technology which allows one to look at but not touch other realities.
One of the absolute highlights of this novel is the first contact with the alien race, because the author's way of writing about diplomacy and communication with the aliens is simply brilliant. I loved this scene, because it has a pleasing amount of quirkiness and unexpectedness.
I enjoyed reading about the alien who is called Rodney, because he's an interesting and well-created character. The author explores a clash of cultures in an excellent way by writing about Rodney's deeds and his opinions about humans and humanity. Because Rodney is different from human beings and comes from another culture where many things are not the same as elsewhere, he doesn't quite understand how things work in the world and his deeds cause puzzlement and occasionally even embarrassment to others (Rodney wonders - amongst other things - about such things as culture and religion).
It was also great to read about Noomi's brother, Daveen Rasmalai (Davros), because the author's approach to his life and work works well.
The "First Pie in the Face of the Multiverse Refugees Trilogy" that is mentioned in the synopsis of this novel will, as the synopsis states, make sense to readers when they read the story. I'm not going to spoil anybody's reading pleasure by telling more about this subject, but I can briefly mention that it's fun to read about it.
Before I finish writing this review, I want to mention that the chapter called "Montage of Heartwarming Bachelor Scenes" is one of the most best chapters in this novel. It features amusing scenes in which Rodney tries to understand certain things about the world.
The appendices are wonderfully humorous. The Soundtrack to the Novel section is especially delightful in its originality, because it features somewhat extraordinary and strange lyrics.
It was enjoyable and rewarding to read Ira Nayman's Good Intentions, because it's excellent humorous science fiction and a perfect sequel to the previous Multiverse novels. I was pleased with its entertainment values and originality. If you love humorous stories, you should not hesitate to read this novel, because it's one of the best novels available for readers who love humorous speculative fiction.