Martin W. Ball – författare

Tales of Aurduin comes to a stunning conclusion in this final book of the series, the Fifth Temple. All-out war rages across Aurduin with the massive Jolao military armada engulfing Jeaniaurduin in an attempt to crush Kalzhat and the resistance. Jao and Ashi struggle to understand the mysterious forces that have brought them together as they seek to unravel the secret of the enigmatic temple and egg of Jao''s dreams. Meanwhile, Orobai and Miraanni return once more to the Mwataan to bring to light Miraanni''s hidden past and reveal the path to the future. Now is the time of the unfolding of Orobai''s Vision across the face of Aurduin. The apocalypse comes. Everything will change.

A temple containing and enigmatic egg has appeared in the nightly dreams of the leader of the Jolao empire, Rin Jao. Thousands of followers of the Wanlutan and the Holy Kyandara have gathered at Rangorn-Vuchuli, awaiting the coming holy war for Aurduin. The determined leader of the resistance, Kalzhat, has gathered his own rag-tag army in the heart of Jeaniaurduin, ready to strike out against the Jolao and bring their mining operations to a halt. Orobai has awakened, but Miraanni has disappeared into the Void of the Goarnaltrai. In her absence, Orobai embarks on a new quest to the far north of Aurduin to discover the identity of the White Eagle, the source of the kyandara possessed by Ashi. Undertaking her own quest, Nataali sets out from Laftandiar-Urya in her solar sailboat for a voyage around Aurduin, trespassing right into the heart of the Jolao Empire.Multiple story-line weave and intertwine in this engrossing and surprising continuation of the epic adventure that began with Orobai''s Vision.

No one has seen the enigmatic Orobai in a year. In his absence, Miraanni, the “Mysterious Child,” has fallen ill, lost in a catatonic state, but not before inspiring a fervent religious movement in Laftandiar-Urya, where she has been named “The Mother of the Perfect Creation” by the populace in the revived religion of the Tal. Ashi has excelled in her lessons as a student at Hyanchalth-Murira, but when a mysterious woman gives her an ancient relic, it is only the beginning of her pilgrimage to find her place in Aurduin. Unable to help Miraanni any longer, Ashi must flee with blood on her hands, her fate calling her into the unknown while the Tal proclaims her the Kyandara and Holy Warrior of the religion that grows in Miraanni’s, and Ashi’s, name.Now it’s up to Nataali to find a cure for Miraanni before it’s too late and she is lost forever. Her best option is the Serpent King, but that is a choice with its own consequences. Meanwhile, the Motu leader, Kalzhat, makes an unprecedented overture to the peoples of the interior of Aurduin to mount a resistance to the growing threat from the west, promising a secret weapon to thwart their oppressive technology, and the blind Djinari Holy Man, Kulan, makes a desperate bid to find the missing Orobai, lead on by a dream of the Great Eagles, the Arnyar.In this installment of Tales of Aurduin, Volume II, the pace quickens as the stakes are raised, tensions mount, and new possibilities arise. The choices that are made here will influence all that is to come. The fate of Miraanni could be the fate of Aurduin itself in this dynamic continuation of the story that began with Orobai’s Vision.

From the author of Being Infinite comes a new memoir and deeply personal story of suffering and learning to cope with a chronic sleep disorder for which there has been no medical miracle, no spontaneous healing, or spiritual transformation.This is a story about what happens when sleep goes bad, and when there’s no clear reasons why or no clear path to fixing what’s gone wrong.In January of 2019, after experiencing a lifetime of poor sleep and a rapid and dramatic degeneration of his ability to sleep over the course of 2018, author and nondual entheogenic educator, Martin Ball, completely lost the ability to sleep or ten consecutive days. This horrific event, what lead up to it, and the challenging and difficult aftermath is explored in intimate personal detail in this book. No stone is left unturned in this unintentional exploration of the altered states of being awake.In his account of his chronic sleep disorder, Ball shares details from his personal life, relationships, and attempt to regain some normalcy with his sleep by rediscovering himself, his purpose, and how he rebuilt his life. As he states at the outset, it’s not a story with a happy ending, because while there’s been improvement, there’s been no end to his chronic condition which now impacts his life on a daily basis. Not that he hasn’t tried. Within these pages, you’ll get all the details about neurofeedback, transcranial magnetic stimulation, acupuncture and Chinese herbs, blue-light blocking glasses, sleep coaches, therapy, meditation, visualizing better health, supplements and medications, binaural beats, diets, and so much more.Along with personal experiences, Ball also includes his many observations on life, culture, politics, coronavirus, manufactured outrage, conspiracy theories, conspirituality, psychedelic culture, and the various approaches to health and wellness from a critical and rational perspective. Sharp, sardonic, ironic, and at times, grim, Ball shares it all in this personal narrative about suffering and uncertainty, and learning how to accept and live with it when life fails to provide relief or answers.

With over 600 AI-generated images, this 2024 edition of Martin W. Ball’s 2016 novel, The Solandarian Game, brings the story to life visually in what is perhaps a world’s first: using AI art generators to illustrate a novel about a supreme Artificial Intelligence, Maitreya, the “Future Buddha.” All the characters, locations, worlds, and epic drama are illustrated in gorgeous photorealistic images, all created with Midjourney AI, creating a visually captivating rendition of this unique novel. The artificial intelligence, Maitreya, first came into being 150,000 years ago. Over the millennia, it has spread Terran-based life, humanity, and its avatars throughout an empty galaxy, creating the New Integral Society. Now, a supernova threatens one of Maitreya’s experimental worlds of feral humans, Solandaria – the only such world that harbors the Sonoran desert toad and its powerful 5-MeO-DMT containing secretions, the most profound entheogen ever discovered. Things are not what they seem, however, for someone is interfering with Maitreya’s experiment, violating the rules of the NIS. An autonomous avatar, Hydar Zor Nablisk, from the Humanist avatar home world of Volunshari risks everything for the sake of the inhabitants of Solandaria by creating a duplicate of the director of the recently revived Burning Man celebration, Miranda Ash Dorán, stranding her on Black Rock City Station. Maitreya sends its personal avatar, Theo, to investigate, and the game is on. The Solandarian Game is the latest psy-fi epic by Martin W. Ball, author of Beyond Azara and the Tales of Aurduin series. Combining speculative fiction, nondual philosophy, entheogenic experience, and provocative storytelling, The Solandarian Game presents a fascinating post-singularity future for humanity.This new AI-Imagined Art Illustrated Version also features a new introduction by the author discussing the process, limitations, and possibilities of creating an illustrated novel of an already-written story using AI image generators.