I just read a promotional copy of the "Paradigm Shift" collection that was available through my bookstore (yup, I'm a bookseller.) It was better than I thought it would be, that's for damn sure. One looks at it, thinks 'well, nice cover idea' and then when one reads the premise as found on the internet, it's understandable why some people would decline to offer their time to it. But I assure you, it's very very worth it.

The publication itself was officially released a couple days ago through Lulu, and the promo I got was sent to my store through Norcross Media, the author's company headquartered in New York. It's basically a compilation of a novella called "Paradigm Shift" and two short sci-fi stories called "The Weatherman" and "The Tarpaulin Tangent."

"Paradigm Shift" has one of the most intriguing, prose-like opening I've read in a long time. It reads like classic literature for the first chapter but then the author lays off the style and settles into a more direct style, saving for a few sequences toward the end. The story itself is about an atmospheric phenomenon the government calls 'the paradox' and the hell it wreaks around the world. The US and British Air Forces get their best teams together and send a mission up to investigate, which is the catalyst for the "adventure" part of the book. To tell much more than this would require me giving away some of the best material included, so I must refrain.

The other two stories are even more entertaining. "The Weatherman" is about a man who buys up weather-damage insurance policies on his properties and then has the luck of getting such properties destroyed by the conditions he's covered for. Norcross saves the best and most intriguing story for last with "The Tarpaulin Tangent" - a fascinating commentary on the makeup of our universe, how time works as a device of nature and how it could possibly be altered.

If folks would be willing to submit to the independently published works, then I would suggest starting off with Eric Norcross' "Paradigm Shift" publication, it's absolutely fascinating.