Written over seven years beginning in 2015, Echo Future Truth is D.P. Maddalena’s first novel.
Many publishers like to hear what popular books your book is like when you’re shopping your story around. For better or worse, this story was not written to a formula. My fiction is shaped by decades under the influence of scripture and scholarship, poetry and theater, world culture and religion, modern psychology and spirituality, and, above all, people in their own magnificent stories.
I’ve been privileged to travel the world, studying and working in Cambridge and London, UK; Athens, Greece; New York City; and Pasadena, Los Angeles, and Silicon Valley, California. I’ve written commercially and creatively for decades while employed in a variety of roles: educator, marketing writer in the tech industry (from freelance to senior roles), pastor and community organizer, and gear-nerd at REI (Store of the Year, 1994! Still kind of a dream job, if I’m honest).
Over the years, I’ve self-published two nonfiction collections of essays and my poetry, essays, and collage art have been published in online and print periodicals. I hold an MDiv from Fuller Seminary (‘93) and an MA in counseling psychology from Santa Clara University (2016). As a student at Bennington College in the 80s, I studied theater, sculpture, painting, and writing (with a little dance thrown in for good measure). Rounding out the art-school bona fides, I’ve spent my life eagerly pursuing opportunities to participate in local theater, art, music, and spoken-word performance-art scenes. If we meet at a party and you tell me about your art, we’ll be friends.
Today, I’m a licensed psychotherapist in California, where it all comes together.
Dedication
To Harry Reynolds and his bastard file, now never dull.
Acknowledgements
The author wrote, edited, produced, engineered, and recorded the work presented herein, but would never have been able to do so without the support and critical guidance from all who are mentioned below. The release of this novel as an audio serial was possible only because the author stood on the proverbial shoulders of giants (seriously, look at that list of people; if you know, you know). Also, the author, having been so elevated, promptly lept off the shoulders of the giants, thinking he could fly. So, as the saying goes, all credit for the good to thee, all blame for missing the mark to me.
Big gratitude goes to: Bruce Charonnat, Publication Sherpa and Google Goad; for editing, design, promotion, and production support and two decades of provocation – there’d be nothing to see here without him :: Nik Bartunek, Social Media Pit Boss; for marketing, engineering, and performance support; market commiseration without capitulation; providential hand-me-downs :: Nick Stein, for the music and reminder that less is more :: Marilyn Mcentyre, for editing, encouragement, and publishing wisdom :: Julie Maddalena Kliewer, for studio, vocal performance, and voice health support – eye of newt and other medicinals :: Eric Mathis, early and eternal reader; epical and erical support and encouragement :: Carla Mathis, for essential voice direction and script work :: Ann Wolfe, and the A-TEAM homeschool community and students for tricking me into writing a novel :: Zoe Maddalena, for dueling art vibes, inspiration, and straight talk :: Timo Maddalena, first and most-reassuring reader and go-to for D.S. wisdom (if you keep dying when you go that way, then go another way) ... it applies :: Spyros Vasiliou and the Athens Elliotts, for the war-time woodcuts that have enriched the story from the very beginning :: Michael Toy, soul brother, faithful and universal colaborator; always ready to fix the internet – websites-r-us :: Linda Toy, networking, encouragement :: Erick Jessee and forestprint.com, printing, sustainability, friend/family :: Kevin Marks, Field Trip Buddy, the other pastor/writer/therapist/artist :: Heather Fosth, Third-Stage Rocket Booster, for taking me seriously in my own hometown :: Marge Boots, graphics and –cough– typography support :: Russ Sampson, Saint Sampson, supporter and organizer of the legendary Tonopolo Apocalypse Readings (500+ AQI; what else you gonna do when you can’t waterski anymore?) :: Everyone trapped at Tonopolo during the readings :: Mike McKenna, buys everything I’m selling – offers more help than I can use :: Scott Cunningham, audio engineering support :: Greg Gibbons, Good Listener, 30 years of collaboration :: Ed Needham, scene partner, recovered memories :: Craig Lauchner, anxiolytic prayer :: A special thanks to the beautiful, patient, supportive wife of the artist, Anghelika Maddalena, who can tell when I’m using all my tools and not only because I leave them all out; she has to live with me. I get to live with her :: Finally: the Ineffable Divine, which nevertheless takes a name and human form – maker, saver, savory, writing partner – the Eternal Word, for calming the creative sea and calling my story-land into existence.
Many of the names above belong to artists that make up the Apocalyptic Art Collective, a dis-organized community of tent-maker artists committed to mutual support, and who, through all they do, make the case that there’s more to this world than meets the eye (or fills the bank account).
Publishing Notes
echofuturetruth.com content, design, and development by D.P. Maddalena (based on Jekyll theme, ‘Hitchens’ by Pat Dryburgh); laid out with OPTICloister font; woodcuts by Spyros Vasiliou (ca. 1945). Essential tools: BBEdit, Markdown, Pandoc, Transmit, Jekyll, GitHub, Audacity, Pixelmator, Apple hardware.
Statement on A.I.
No A.I. tools were used in the creation of Echo Future Truth. Except for editorial support by humans as detailed above, all research, writing, and editing was done by the author – my m-dashes are my own! (A.I. coding tools were used to support the development of this website: the author makes no claim to be a web developer.)
Echo Future Truth by D.P. Maddalena and echofuturetruth.com © 2025, licensed under Creative Commons, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
