Tracy Falbe's Blog, page 82

Quotes from The Art of War by Sun Tzu

Quotes are fun to read, and the internet makes them easy to find. Sometimes you need a famous, meaningful, or funny quote for a project you are working on, like a birthday card, banquet toast, or speech.

I recently went through one of my favorite classic works and picked out some good quotes from The Art of War by Sun Tzu. No, I didn't bother with the totally famous one about "Every battle is won or lost before it's fought" because that little treatise on thumping your enemies is so packed wi...

Movie review of Red Cliff: Original International Version Part 2

Setting: Ancient China
Rating: 5 stars

Movie lovers enthralled by the first part of the Red Cliff saga will be thoroughly rewarded for watching Red Cliff Part 2. John Woo and his excellent cast starring Takeshi Kaneshiro, Tony Leung, and Zhung Fengyi create an epic worthy of grossing over $100 million in the Asian market. With great special effects that recreate colossal naval battles and a sparkling script full of intelligence and subtlety, Red Cliff Part 2 entertains during every moment.

The ...

Movie review of Red Cliff: Original International Version Part 1

Setting: Ancient China
Rating: 4 stars

Asian cinema is not just about low budget kung fu movies anymore. The two-part $80 million production of Red Cliff directed by John Woo has raised the bar as high as a dragon can fly. Inspired by the epic labyrinth of Chinese history, the Red Cliff saga gives movie lovers an exciting and historically detailed adventure full of action and top notch performances.

Starring Zhang Fengyi, Takeshi Kaneshiro, and Tony Leung among many other fine actors, Red Cliff...

New fantasy novel on Wattpad: Union of Renegades

I joined Wattpad.com yesterday and added my free fantasy ebook Union of Renegades to its system. This site is a popular worldwide ebook community. Readers browse ebooks through the website, but Wattpad's primary appeal is its extensive content for mobile devices. Wattpad has ebook reading applications for almost any mobile device, including Apple's iPhone and iPad, plus Android, Blackberry, and others.

In this age of the text message and tweet, it may be surprising that people are actually re...

A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

In my genre ebook collection of classics I am featuring this month the famous A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs. This is an action-packed and dramatic tale that any fan of science fiction and fantasy should read. Here's an excerpt when the hero John Carter and Dejah Thoris the Princess first speak:

I saw Tars Tarkas rise to speak, and on his face was such an expression as I had never seen upon the countenance of a green Martian warrior. It bespoke an inward and mighty battle with self...

My sales figures for fantasy ebooks published at Teleread today

Because some people might be curious about how much money a self publishing fantasy author could actually earn selling her fiction as ebooks, I compiled my first quarter sales figures and published them at the Teleread blog today.

The quick answer is $580.85 for January, February, and March 2010.

To see the full details please go to this post:

Self publishing fantasy author IS making money with ebooks

George R.R. Martins fans should listen to interview at Dragon Page

The popular science fiction and fantasy podcast at the Dragon Page has produced a nice interview with famous fantasy writer George R.R. Martin. Even he admits that he has taken far too long writing A Dance With Dragons, but he insists that he is making good progress. Of course he cannot commit to a finish date. That's OK. I'll be here to read when its published.

George R.R. Martin explains that he simply is not a writer who can write good stories at a rapid pace. Amen to that. I can totally r...

How to name a novel

I've been writing a new fantasy series, and I'd really like to know what to call it. Creating a title for a book is generally a long process for me. It's tremendously difficult to condense a novel into a single phrase. It is a novel after all, and coming up with a title requires boiling it down to about a quarter of a tweet, if that.

These are the guidelines I used when naming the four novels I've already published:

- The title should convey the overall spirit of the novel.

- The title phrase s...

Ebooks for $1 or less group at Goodreads

I've been a member of Goodreads, a book reading, reviewing, and sharing site, for about 2 years. I really enjoy the site, mostly because it helps me make a note of books I want to read.

Today I joined a group there that is dedicated to Ebooks for $1 or less, including free. I listed Union of Renegades of course. All the usual categories are present, like Literature, Self Help, Cooking, Thrillers, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, etc.

For people who like to hunt out free or low cost ebooks to...

20,000 Leagues Under the Seas by Jules Verne ebook

Too much time has passed since I added to my Ebook Classics collection, but I have a good reason. I've been savoring my reading of 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas by Jules Verne. This is an outstanding novel that in my opinion remains at the pinnacle of the science fiction genre for its scientific foundations, lavish detail, social commentaries, and pure ability to entertain.

Reading this novel took me into the illusion of the ocean's tranquility. The beautiful and vast underwater-scapes of Jul...