The wonders of gender-neutral pronouns!

Clock is beginning to take shape, although I am certainly finding it a lot harder to write than either The Binary Man or Heal The Sick, Raise The Dead.  There is not only the challenge of writing my first 100% science fiction book (The Binary Man had only some elements of the future tech, which always took a back seat to the other themes), but also I am finding out how writing something that is intentionally strange and otherworldly can at the same time may be alienating to the reader.  I'm trying to tread a tightrope between the fantastic and the mundane, to cement it as strongly as I can in known physics whilst still retaining it's oddness.  Yet the issue that is bothering me the most at the moment is what to do with my damn pronouns!
Gender is irrelevant in Clock, it doesn't even exist, but after using the term "it" to refer to my protagonist and everyone they meet about a hundred times(which is pretty much the only none gender specific pronoun in the English language), it seems to flood the page and dilute the story.  "It" has so many uses that I'm struggling to keep the narration focused.  The only other option seems to be an invented pronoun.  I was toying with the idea of (S)he, but there is only the cumbersome possessive pronouns attached "her/his" and don't even get me started on "herself/himself"! 
I could alternate between himself and herself, but I want to reduce confusion, not increase it.
There are a lot of invented pronouns that I could use, but none that any apart from linguists are likely to recognise, including "E, Ey, Hu, Per"... they're all on wikipedia, take a look!
It looks like I'm going to have to do a bit of experimenting... and I'm only 2000 words in.  This one will be a quest and a half!

The first bad review... what's the beef?

Well, my first bad review has arrived, and it's... odd.  Did they complain about the spelling mistakes (of which there were many, maybe still a few after my last couple of proof readings)?  No.  The overconvoluted plot (a valid point)?  Nope.  The cheesiness of the dialogue (definately a problem in places)?  No!  The only complaint seems to be the font size changing from place to place. 
I don't understand.
It's a kindle version.  You choose the font size yourself.  I've been through every copy I have of the book (word documents, PDFs) and the font has always stayed the same size in the text.  I did change it from 10 to 12 point when I brought out the print version, but I did it all at the same time.
Am I being... *gasp* trolled?
I thought about replying, offering the latest proof incase they had the old one, but the font was the same all the way through that aswell.  The only other review they have posted is two stars aswell, and is equally vague, simply saying "what is the point?" about a series of short stories, also science fiction.
Maybe I'm wrong though, maybe on an earlier version there were font changes that I somehow solved without even knowing it.
An open call then... did anyone else find that issue?

Sound and vision.

Here is the freshly created promotional video for The Binary Man, created with the help of Danny Rowe aka Minced Beats (http://soundcloud.com/minced-beats/sets/minced-tracks/) and Ethan Spier (www.ethanspier.com) whose idea I purloined for my own nefarious purposes.

Clock

Just a quick post...

Carnival is now on the back burner, I have a very nice idea that I hope will make a good novella\full blown novel.  Work starts immediately!  Here's something to whet your appetite...

Cover story.

Well, an eventful week!
The first draft of Heal The Sick, Raise The Dead has been finished and self proof read, given some serious tweaks and cast forth into the web of brave/foolish men and women who have said they will proof read and give valuable pre-publishing feedback.
I have also just got home from a sobering meeting with Jody Whittle of Hoax, (http://thisishoax.com) discussing my book cover that they will be producing for me.  For the last couple of months I've been stuck in a little bubble, furiously trying to write my book, trying not to judge my work too harshly (otherwise I would just stop writing out of despondency, as I have done in the past), but now the pressure is on.  I found it very hard to spell out the plot of the story without sounding like a pretentious second year english student, standing in the glare of this man's raw talent (award winning talent!  Everyone check out their site now...).  He's built up connections through hard work and chutzpah, puts 100% into everything (he was the same when I used to live with him), and is very, very good at wnat he does.  I now have to make sure the book is worthy of the amazing job I'm sure he's going to do with the cover.  I just laid a brick.
As usual, all feedback is appreciated so that I can get this book as good as it can be, given it's source.  I will love you all for it!

Oh yes, and in order to keep my hand in with writing before I get the criticism back I have started on my next book, Carnival, initially planned as a novella but it may grow, you never know!

Feels a little drafty in here.

Well, it's getting closer!  The first draft is done, and I'm just giving it a first purge before handing it over to my two proof readers (two!  Thanks to Coral and Ben for volunteering).  There are are few redundant plot devices cropping up, a few things I forgot about which add a little juice later on (the "forgotten service revolver" being the biggest so far) but I think it's reading quite well, certainly better than The Binary Man, which was more of a setting with the character's story in it.  In this book the setting is almost another character.  Sorry, I just released a bit of pretension, I'll open a window and let some air in!
I will be looking for more proof readers and reviewers prior to the books launch at the end of August, so if anyone is interested, please comment at the bottom or email me at the jake.prytherch google address!  Everyone with a nice contribution will get a dedication in the book.

The Binary Man, now available in paperback!

Here it is, The Binary Man in paperback!  £8.99 in the UK and $10.99 in the US.  Find it at amazon!