David Cranmer's Blog, page 27
May 29, 2017
Lemon Scented
Without exception, the opening vignettes to American Gods are mini-masterpieces destined to be viewed time and again as inquiring minds seek to know more about these nearly forgotten fables—expect lots of YouTube hits.
In a compelling animated segment, the very first god comes to America circa 14,000 BC. A tribe of people crosses the land bridge from Siberia, following the wooly mammoths in hopes of finding food for their starving people. Atsula and her clan carry an effigy of their god, Nunyunnini, while they make the treacherous journey across the frozen, barren landscape. Her baby dies along the way, and when they finally arrive in the new land, she becomes the ultimate sacrifice to a bison-like spirit so her people can live—only to confront a tribe that had come before them. They defeat the newly encountered rivals and take their food, and then they leave behind Nunyunnini to be forgotten over time. The scene, like other Coming to America sections, was in variance from the novel.
My second article of the day posted at Macmillan's Criminal Element blog. Hope you click over to keep me in the freelance business.
In a compelling animated segment, the very first god comes to America circa 14,000 BC. A tribe of people crosses the land bridge from Siberia, following the wooly mammoths in hopes of finding food for their starving people. Atsula and her clan carry an effigy of their god, Nunyunnini, while they make the treacherous journey across the frozen, barren landscape. Her baby dies along the way, and when they finally arrive in the new land, she becomes the ultimate sacrifice to a bison-like spirit so her people can live—only to confront a tribe that had come before them. They defeat the newly encountered rivals and take their food, and then they leave behind Nunyunnini to be forgotten over time. The scene, like other Coming to America sections, was in variance from the novel.
My second article of the day posted at Macmillan's Criminal Element blog. Hope you click over to keep me in the freelance business.
Ay, dios mio!
If there was one thing that stood out in this week’s episodes, it was those regurgitation scenes. Ay, dios mio! More than once as Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) is passing from the Black Lodge back to the land of the living.
In what can only be described as a surreal trip for Coop, he gets sucked through an electrical outlet and rides the current until he switches bodies with a lookalike named Dougie Jones. The hapless Dougie was enjoying the company of a lady of the evening, Jade (Nafeesa Williams), who is washing up when Coop arrives and takes Dougie’s place. And there begins possibly the vilest puke scene ever delivered on camera (and if you can point to more disgusting exhibits, I’ll just take your word for it). Dougie is swept away to the Black Lodge, where the one-armed man, Gerard (Al Strobel), explains, “Someone manufactured you,” and bears witness as the doppelgänger disintegrates into nothing more than a little round ball.
Hope you click over here for my review of episodes 3 and 4 of Twin Peaks: The Return.
In what can only be described as a surreal trip for Coop, he gets sucked through an electrical outlet and rides the current until he switches bodies with a lookalike named Dougie Jones. The hapless Dougie was enjoying the company of a lady of the evening, Jade (Nafeesa Williams), who is washing up when Coop arrives and takes Dougie’s place. And there begins possibly the vilest puke scene ever delivered on camera (and if you can point to more disgusting exhibits, I’ll just take your word for it). Dougie is swept away to the Black Lodge, where the one-armed man, Gerard (Al Strobel), explains, “Someone manufactured you,” and bears witness as the doppelgänger disintegrates into nothing more than a little round ball.
Hope you click over here for my review of episodes 3 and 4 of Twin Peaks: The Return.
May 27, 2017
May 24, 2017
CONTINUITY GIRL
The latest release from BEAT to a PULP and Nik Morton is now available for kindle pre-order. Print to follow.
What has gone before . . .
In our future, Kyler Knightly and his uncle Damon Cole are field agents for Continuity Inc, a private organization that obtained the contract when the government Time Corps was deregulated. CI is dedicated to protecting human history.
They use the Zygma projector to travel through time and must carry a focus object from the period they’re targeting.
Kyler is also a dreamer with passive psychic talents, a precognitive.
The head of the group is an Artificial Intelligence character, Sennacherib, which possesses an organic interface, sharing the body of a two-spot octopus in an aquarium tank! Their offices are in the West End of London, a disused theater.
The third book in the series brings two more exciting time-travel adventures for Knightly and Cole of Continuity Inc.
CONTINUITY GIRL
Kyler is accompanied by the delectable yet mysterious Tertia Beynon. Their mission is to trace an academic who has traveled to Roman Britain in 192 AD. Precog suggests that an interfering event in this past will radically alter the future. Arriving at Hadrian’s Wall in the freezing winter, the pair encounter blood-thirsty argumentative locals and then obtain the aid of Governor Clodius Albinus in their trek on the northern side of the wall. Here they are confronted by Ambrosius, a druid who possesses arcane power.
Nothing seems simple. Action abounds, with brutal sacrifices, deadly swordplay, a fraught chariot chase and an attack by a pack of wolves.
With all this going on, will they be able to save their future in time?
“What an exciting zip back to the past with some really neat time travel twists! The story may be short but it’s packed with plenty of entertaining ‘what ifs’ and action near Hadrian’s Wall. And for good measure, the conclusion just might be something you don’t expect!” —Nancy Jardine, author of 'The Celtic Fervour' series
WE FELL BELOW THE EARTH
Our duo are helped by Tertia and Chief Inspector Irving. Corpses drained of blood point to a clue, a letter from Bistritz in 1897. Kyler and Cole are sent to Transylvania.
The conclusions are inescapable: it seems that the discovery of time travel—even though it’s regulated and Continuity Inc strives to protect history—heralded in a sequence of parallel time-streams. Where before these time-streams were ‘what if’ scenarios, now they’ve split into different realities. In some, fiction is fact.
The deaths, the blood and gore point to vampires being real, and they’re certainly not your idealized romantic sort. The evil blood-suckers are intent on feasting in Kyler’s present and spreading their contagion ...
What has gone before . . .
In our future, Kyler Knightly and his uncle Damon Cole are field agents for Continuity Inc, a private organization that obtained the contract when the government Time Corps was deregulated. CI is dedicated to protecting human history.
They use the Zygma projector to travel through time and must carry a focus object from the period they’re targeting.
Kyler is also a dreamer with passive psychic talents, a precognitive.
The head of the group is an Artificial Intelligence character, Sennacherib, which possesses an organic interface, sharing the body of a two-spot octopus in an aquarium tank! Their offices are in the West End of London, a disused theater.
The third book in the series brings two more exciting time-travel adventures for Knightly and Cole of Continuity Inc.
CONTINUITY GIRL
Kyler is accompanied by the delectable yet mysterious Tertia Beynon. Their mission is to trace an academic who has traveled to Roman Britain in 192 AD. Precog suggests that an interfering event in this past will radically alter the future. Arriving at Hadrian’s Wall in the freezing winter, the pair encounter blood-thirsty argumentative locals and then obtain the aid of Governor Clodius Albinus in their trek on the northern side of the wall. Here they are confronted by Ambrosius, a druid who possesses arcane power.
Nothing seems simple. Action abounds, with brutal sacrifices, deadly swordplay, a fraught chariot chase and an attack by a pack of wolves.
With all this going on, will they be able to save their future in time?
“What an exciting zip back to the past with some really neat time travel twists! The story may be short but it’s packed with plenty of entertaining ‘what ifs’ and action near Hadrian’s Wall. And for good measure, the conclusion just might be something you don’t expect!” —Nancy Jardine, author of 'The Celtic Fervour' series
WE FELL BELOW THE EARTH
Our duo are helped by Tertia and Chief Inspector Irving. Corpses drained of blood point to a clue, a letter from Bistritz in 1897. Kyler and Cole are sent to Transylvania.
The conclusions are inescapable: it seems that the discovery of time travel—even though it’s regulated and Continuity Inc strives to protect history—heralded in a sequence of parallel time-streams. Where before these time-streams were ‘what if’ scenarios, now they’ve split into different realities. In some, fiction is fact.
The deaths, the blood and gore point to vampires being real, and they’re certainly not your idealized romantic sort. The evil blood-suckers are intent on feasting in Kyler’s present and spreading their contagion ...
May 23, 2017
Git Gone
I found the first few episodes of American Gods lacking but the show finally hit its stride with number four, "Git Gone." Below is a sample of what I wrote for Macmillan's Criminal Element blog. Go ahead and click over for the remainder of my two 1/2 cents:
There's a real slow turning of the narrative page here (yet when slow is done right, it can be exciting, à la Twin Peaks) that wasn't clicking in the first three episodes, and the compartmentalization of the book that kept the reader enthralled just didn’t have the same effect in the show. For someone who likes it when filmmakers stay true to the book, I have to admit that I’m glad they expanded the Laura Moon character in “Git Gone.” It provides a much-needed backstory to her relationship with Shadow, and it made this episode the first exceptional one of the series.
There's a real slow turning of the narrative page here (yet when slow is done right, it can be exciting, à la Twin Peaks) that wasn't clicking in the first three episodes, and the compartmentalization of the book that kept the reader enthralled just didn’t have the same effect in the show. For someone who likes it when filmmakers stay true to the book, I have to admit that I’m glad they expanded the Laura Moon character in “Git Gone.” It provides a much-needed backstory to her relationship with Shadow, and it made this episode the first exceptional one of the series.
May 22, 2017
Twin Peaks: The Return
Ahead of David Lynch’s revival, I went back and binged on the original series, interested to know if it would still capture me like it did 27 years ago. I was only a few years older than the fictional 17-year-old Laura Palmer when I sat with my mom and best friend Erik each week, religiously invested in Special Agent Cooper probing Laura’s grisly death. My mother didn’t laugh at the dark humor that Erik and I enjoyed over the slain girl’s mom wailing long past when other directors would have yelled “cut!” We had grown up on Lynch’s Blue Velvet and were more than prepared for the dramatic swings—after all, Dennis Hopper snuffing up oxygen through a mask is practically normal. Still, both generations were glued-fast to the intrigue.
My full review is at Criminal Element.
My full review is at Criminal Element.
May 20, 2017
May 19, 2017
May 18, 2017
Do Some Damage: Writing, Self-Promotion, and Real Life
Do Some Damage: Writing, Self-Promotion, and Real Life: By Court Merrigan , Guest Post I haven't updated my blog since December 15, 2014, and it's been a lot longer than that since I...
