Guest Post by Nathan Gross. The Freeing of Jonathan Mark Book Tour

My addiction to Apple started when I used to try and edit film and video on a PC.

With my PC, I was sick of the graphics card not working correctly with the motherboard-not being compatible with the software-not being compatible to me actually getting work done. I didn’t want to be a technician fixing problems with my tools! I wanted my tools to work so I could concentrate on getting the job done! Some friends had changed to Mac. They said simply, ‘Mac works’. So I jumped, and they were right, it did! And my Mac was such a sleek, beautiful looking machine. I fell in love with Apple straight away.

I think Apple deserves a lot of respect. I think they represent the pinnacle of taking something we need, and turning it into something we want. But when the launch of an updated iphone sends people into raptures and fanatical, even extremist religious-like behaviour, like, camping out to be the first person to buy something they already have (albeit slightly pimped), I think the phenomenon has gone too far. People are chasing plastic happiness of consumerist dreams: they are searching for happiness through their consumption.

There was a time when I was a compliant disciple of consumerism. For a while I got sucked in by thinking I’d be happy with dressing in the newest trends. By taking bigger digital photos with a 2 mega-pixel greater camera (whose increased size was never utilized in bigger prints, or larger digital usage anyway). And by working with a Mac with an increased speed of say, 15%. For a while after most of my purchases I was happy. But this happiness wore off quickly, leaving me with the empty feeling that I needed to fill with another purchase, or an upgrade to the same thing but slightly enhanced. Because this type of happiness isn’t real. It is just a perception of happiness.

This is the problem with consumerism. To stay ‘happy’ we need to keep consuming. We need to keep purchasing. We need to give in to the motto, ‘Bigger is Better! Newer is Better!’ I think this is well illustrated in this passage from ‘The Freeing of Jonathon Mark’:

‘On I go into the kitchen. Some shiny, barely used food processor sits next to a gleaming, bright bread-making machine, next to a metal cocktail blender, next to some single-dose coffee machine, next to some fancy looking juice-maker. More trophies, none of which, I note, are plugged in, ready to go. They make me feel as empty as they look, all shiny and plastic.’

I mean, do we really need all these un- or under utilized goods? I hit a point in between the purchase of a new phone that I didn’t need, and a pair of pants I never wore to wonder what I was doing. To realize I was chasing a perception of, and not a real-lasting happiness.

When I stopped to ‘jump’ when some brand I liked told me to ‘jump’, I realized what made me happy was one-on-one contact over a beer with like-minded people; being creative by making a film, writing a story or getting out and active. That’s what I do now, especially with my writing. Creating a story and seeing it turned into a book like with ‘The Freeing of Jonathon Mark’ is extremely satisfying and is giving me lasting joy. To know that I have created something that will outlast me fills me with happiness that is anything but fleeting.

I do still work on a Mac because it works, not because it has seduced me with it’s sleek looks. I do have an Iphone, because yes, I do have a gadget fetish, but I’m still on the 3G model and plan on staying there. I like to look good but looking good doesn’t automatically mean dressing up in the latest ‘trends’. I do sometimes spend on objects that give me that ‘fleeting happiness’: but it’s on books, or music.

I’ve opted out of chasing the plastic happiness of consumerist dreams. I’m happy where I am: making lasting happiness through my writing and the creation of real projects and objects and through the interactions with other people.

How about you?

Publisher: Paperback: Nathan Gross. Ebook: 7write (Dec 8, 2013)

ISBN-13: 979-1093074016
Category: Thriller, Paranoid Fiction
Tour Dates: March, 2014
Available in: Print & ebook, 324 pages

Jonathon is a Taker, some type of modern day psych in the growing industry of modern grief. Takers treat people for all that ails them just by listening. In session, a Taker doesn't speak. A Taker doesn't move. A Taker doesn't even blink. They take till their patients have got no more negativity to give.

A chance meeting throws a new patient into Jonathon's life. A girl whose carefree lightness of being is in complete contrast to the average patient. She makes Jonathon realise he can no longer refuse to deal with how his job makes him sick, nor his own destructive vice.

Murder is his only way out, an action that leads him towards his own death and beyond. It is a path he hopes will lead him to his freedom.

Read Sample Chapters  Here

View the trailer: http://youtu.be/mP3aExxHfgI

Buy Link: Amazon

Praise for The Freeing of Jonathan Mark:

"Small book but great story!  It's more and more rare to find a book like this one."- dvdchrono, Amazon Reviewer

  

"Loved this book, can't wait for the next one!  I had not heard of this author but I do not think it will be long before the world has heard of him. Do yourself a favour and buy this book, you will not be disappointed.  I judge a book on its 'cannot put down factor'. I found myself quickly intrigued and fully immersed in the book and could not put it down.  It is really well written and does not follow other writers safe templates.  Hurry up and release your second book ! I am glad I jumped on the Nathan Gross bandwagon from the beginning. I suggest others follow suit."- Ben Mitchell, Amazon Reviewer

  

About Nathan Gross:

Nathan is passionately obsessed with scratching the itch that is his absolute need to write. Whether it be in the form of novels or short stories, film / video scenarios, scripts or songs: writing keeps the demons at bay.

Nathan draws on and interprets the events that transpire around him, transforming minute observations and a distant, large view of the world into prose. He expresses at once his hopes and despairs, and equally his surprise and complete comprehension of events before, or as they unfold, if not always as everyone else sees them.

If his book 'The Freeing of Jonathon Mark' is part of his journey as a writer, then perhaps it traces his experiences chasing the plastic happiness of consumerist dreams. Perhaps it is also a study of how he opted out of these pursuits for a fresh start, in order to forge a new life where he can be free from empty conformity; to discover and further himself in the journey that is his life. New beginnings bring new ideas to draw upon and it goes without saying that we will find these thinkings in his subsequent writings.

His other published works include Ginger the Carrot, the first in a series of picture books for adults entitled Rotten Veggies, and the song and music video Tais Toi for the musician Monsieur Grandin. He is also the director and scenarist for a number of award winning short films. A collection of his works both written and visual are to be discovered atzamsteepa.com.

Born and raised in Melbourne, Australia, Nathan now resides in the south of France.

His short story 'Grampy Joe' won third prize in the Odyssey House Victoria 2012 short story competition.  You can read 'Grampy Joe' here.

Nathan Gross Website: http://zamsteepa.com/
The Freeing of Jonathan Mark Website: http://thefreeingofjonathonmark.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/zamsteepa
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nath.gross 

Read Nathan's short story about being an at home dad: http://zamsteepa.com/2013/01/03/pere-au-foyer-at-home-dad/