Corey Furman's Blog

It’s time to beat a dead horse! No, I don’t mean Ridley Scott…

Scott is once again crowing that Deckard is a replicant.  I, of course, have strong feeling on the subject – namely, the “right” message of Blade Runner only truly makes sense where he’s human.

You are free to chose your own opinion…

Read the short article on Digital Spy.

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Ladies and Gentlemen! The Way of All Flesh is finally on sale!

The road to getting this book published was long and taxing.  In many ways, the easiest part of the entire process was writing the story.  You might not know it, but getting a book available for sale involves many steps – especially if you’re self-published.  The cover itself took a month, and truthfully it probably wouldn’t be done yet, if it hadn’t been for my good friend, Mike.  Take a good look at that; didn’t he do a great job?  More like fantastic!

Before that though, there were numerous edits, and for those I tapped John and Nigia.  They hung in there with me for more than six months!  They’re amazing authors in their own right.  Nigia has a few irons in the fire, and from the previews I’ve read, I can’t wait to see the finished works.  Her book A Time of Blood and Fire has a very expansive stage with beautifully detailed and conflicted characters.  John has a book, Spectra, coming (hopefully early in 2015) that’s great, and I do mean great.  The technology he creates in the story is stuff I want right now.

Trust me, head to these folks’ web sites and get reading.  You’ll be glad you did!

Even after those things, getting published on a site like Amazon is very challenging – thought well worth it.  At the end of the day, they’ve really come though in helping me get my vision into reality.  One sticky wicket: the Kindle version and the print version haven’t yet connected, but if you search you’ll find them both.

Now to start on the next book…

One final note: I plan to share half the profits with a local shelter; not only do you get a wonderful story when you purchase a copy, you get to make the world just a little bit better (thumbs up).

Thank you very much, everyone!

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Announcing the amazing cover of The Way of All Flesh, designed by Mike Moss!

The Way of All Flesh

In a merciless future, mankind mass-produces simulants, living human analogues, to be the slavish workforce of the future. This is the life Maré and Luna were born into: chattel, possessed with a limited lifespan and bereft of personhood.

Joss Breylin, empowered by good grades and a connected father, started out life with far more potential than most humans. He marries the woman of his dreams and they acquire Maré and Luna to help raise the children they hope to have. They adapt when they are unable by allowing the girls to become surrogates, but horrific tragedy strikes. As Joss’ sanity teeters in the aftermath, he vacillates between doting parent to the girls of his memory and torturer of the girls of the present.

Regardless of form or origins, all face choices, hardship and loss, love and triumph on the path that is The Way of All Flesh.

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You’ve written the book, and you wrote what you meant to write.  What if it’s wrong?

I need to extend the timeline on producing my book, and this is the part where writers, the ones who’ve already published books, shake their heads at the death of my innocence…

First of all, a writer’s editors are far more than just folks who point out your punctuation errors – they are the mirrors upon which you look to see your creativity reflected.  It sounds like metaphorical crap, but it’s the truth.  No, I’m serious!  They show you the surface imperfections, true, but they also show you the structural deformities, cast light on the high cheekbones, everything and anything.  A good editor – and I have two! – is worth their weight in dark matter.  I can’t brag about John and Nigia enough.

Maybe this is something you’ve always known, but until quite recently I’d never written anything, and I had no idea.  I’m just a guy who allowed an idea to percolate, encountered a tipping point, and the story seized me.  Seize is the right word, too:  I was dancing merrily along to the sound of my own beat when the story tapped me on the shoulder and said, “excuse me, mind if I cut in?  Oh, and, I have to lead, too.”  The occasional writing fugues I had occasionally lapsed into must have been something to see.

Like most other writers, I reached out to a couple of other established authors to give me some first round edits.  They easily pointed out the technical errors, a few plot holes and whatnot… It wasn’t quite right yet, but I got the draft done.  I knew it needed work – a lot of work – but the rough story was there and it was what I wanted to write.  I put what I thought might be the right amount of work – though in my more honest moments I knew it wasn’t perfect – and asked for more feedback.  It needed window dressing, but I was sure I was nearly there.

Or so I’d thought.

That’s when the real issues came out, loud and clear, and though I’d written what I wanted to, I could now clearly see things I’d missed.  I’d been too close to my characters, in love with them really, and they’d blinded me to the fact that the story had danced me in the wrong direction.

But that’s the difference between decent editors and fantastic ones: they showed me what I needed to see, but they also pushed me and my dancing lead in the right direction.  I can now say that I’m nearly ready for a new round of edits, but I do believe I’m ready for Dancing with the Stars.

So… I need to back things up.  I hope to be second round complete at the end of August, but no promises.  The truth is I’d rather hold off for a better product, and I’ll do that for as long as I must.

And John, Nigia – thanks.  You guys rock!

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a first-of-a-kind robotic exoskeleton that can help some paralyzed people walk again, known as the ReWalk system. If you want to make a robot cooler, strap it to yourself!

Robert Woo (L) walks using the ReWalk

Every kid who’s ever seen a robot on the big or little screens has wanted his or her very own metallic minion.  They’re just awesome, right?  They do what you tell them, and they never complain, and until you say stop or they break down.  So why aren’t they all over the place?

Because, despite their various theatrical portrayals, they really are quite limited yet.  They’re getting better all the time though.  Stronger, smarter, more capable.

The headline at CBS News caught my attention because it was a double wammy: it involved robotics, but also because it’s a medical aid.  I’ve seen my share of life-changing illness, and I’ve been frustrated by the mind-numbing pace at which progress is made.  So, I have to give props – especially to the folks at the FDA, who move with the speed and efficiency of a government run operation – when I see something interesting and beneficial come along.

Read the article for yourself here.

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Are you ready for where the Internet of things is headed? Experts predict it will become ‘like electricity’ — less visible, yet more deeply embedded in people’s lives for good and ill…



It’s hard to believe, but the Internet has been around for 25 years. In another ten or so, we might have 50 billion – yes, billion with a B – devices connected to the internet, and they will all be collecting and storing so much data it will stagger the imagination. (Hey disk manufacturers, it’s past time for the next leap in storage!)

There will be sensors on everything! I can see our refrigerators notifying local grocery stores (probably owned by Amazon or Wal-Mart and running software powered by Google) when the milk is running low (I’m not crazy – they do this with soda). It might even be delivered by a drone and put away by a robotic pet. Sounds good doesn’t?

Such systems might even enable autopilots in our cars, and the automatic reconfiguration of traffic patterns to alleviate congested roadways…

As good as those things sound, and indeed will be, such data collection could be harmful, too. Suppose your car erroneously detects that you had a beer earlier? And that’s nothing – suppose someone writes a worm that attacks insulin pumps…

There’s good and bad ahead for the future of the Internet of things. We need to think through and prepare for a world where the Internet is a ubiquitous, planet-wide fabric.

Read the article at the Pew Research web site.

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In a true art imitates life moment, Hiroshi Ishiguro the creator of Geminoid, has done it again with his profoundly lifelike creations.

Androids on display at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation

To be fair, the two pictured above can’t do lots of things – they aren’t meant to – but Ishiguro isn’t trying to build the next Rosie the Robot – he’s shooting for hyper-realism.  Sure, they can’t take out the garbage, but looking at the picture above, I’d say he was successful.  What do you think?

Read the full article at PC World.

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I’m quite music oriented, and Sarah Brightman’s One Night in Eden delivers.

I need music to do just about anything, and I like very many genres – classical, techno, metal, jazz, dubstep – you name it.  Something for everybody – ‘cuz that’s how I roll

Anyway, I really like Sarah Brightman – she comes through on a lot of levels that are pleasurable, and – as far as I’m concerned – quite conducive to a creative atmosphere.

Bonus video for one of my absolute favorite songs:

Please enjoy!

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Awesome music is awesome, especially when someone hits me up with it!



I love a good steampunk music video.  Joe Kawano passed this on, and I had to do likewise:

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There are a lot of interesting characters in this world – here’s a short introduction about one of them.

Meet Denny Daniel:

Denny Daniel, Curator and Founder of the Museum of Interesting Things

I like museums of all kinds, and New York has a lot to chose from – art, sculpture, you name it. When I was a kid I attended the High School of Art and Design, just outside of Midtown, where I and several of my cohorts ran its small art gallery. Some of those characters still figure importantly in my life (John, Mike and Nigia, to name some), but recently I’ve come into passing contact with someone not quite like everyone else: Denny.  I could describe him, but if a picture is worth a thousand words, and video should be worth much more:

Okay, so he’s a character; so?  Good question.  What I like about Denny is the way he interacts and motivates kids.  See for yourself:

Seeing him in action, his passion, is simply infectious.  You have the opportunity, please take his exhibit in!

Here is a link to the web site.

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