David Scott Moyer's Blog, page 2
July 11, 2022
Chaos Theory
I've been busy writing on WordPress, but in the private blog I use to create my lastest novel. I've also been reading a lot, 28 books this year to date. Some incredible, some solidly mediocre. I post music videos and the occasional personal note on Livejournal. I post pictures and interact with other authors on Instagram. I always intend to spend more time here, but never seem to make it. Once I get this book off to beta readers, I'll likely exercise my need to write over here. Until then, here is an exchange I had with a writer on Instagram.
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June 11, 2022
Beta Read
You Can't Sniff The Internet - Beta by Rosalind WulfMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I honestly don't know how to review this book. I have never read anything like it. Just pick it up when it becomes available. Like me, you won't be able to put it down. Maybe like me you'll cry a bit at the end. Maybe for you, like me, it will contain more questions than answers. But that is not a bad thing. Questions, after all, are how we figure out our world.
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May 31, 2022
Read this book despite its flaws.
The Eye of Everfell by Bard ConstantineMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Man, I so want to give this five stars. It is a great story, solid world building, not overwritten or too expository. You should read it.
But... Knight is capable of some beautiful wordsmithing. It shone in parts of the book. Then I would find myself cringing at something awkward, gramatically off, or something as simple as an overused word. Things which a good solid edit would clean up. As a self published author, I struggle with this too. I can't afford to pay an editor, and I am too close to see the flaws in my own work. It took two years after my first draft to finally get Atmosphere published, and I'm sure there are still things a professional editor would change.
So it was frustrating at times reading this wonderful story, but I will read the followup. Oh, that brings me to another thing. It doesn't end. I'm fine with sequels, I'm writing one. But bring your story to an ending of some sort. Don't just stop in the middle and say "buy my next book!"
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May 1, 2022
Not my usual, but a worthwhile read.
Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman by Jon KrakauerMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
An exhaustively researched and brilliantly written story which is a scathing indictment of both the arrogant incompetents whose orders led to Tillman's death and the cynical, lying politicians who tried to benefit from it after the fact. Krakauer weaves into this account an eloquent rendering of the life story of the man himself and a window onto his beliefs and character, as told through both his own words and those of his friends and family.
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February 19, 2022
Ice Crash: Antarctica
Ice Crash: Antarctica by Lynda EnglerMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
With a good hard edit, this will be a solid four star YA novel. A bit expository in parts, it seemed more focused on educating the reader than telling a story. This is not necessarily a bad thing, considering the dire nature of our climate situation, but all that educating could have been more elegantly woven into the story. I did like the quick facts at the head of each chapter, although the sun does not set twice in Atarctica, as one of them claims, but only once a year. Again, there is nothing wrong with this book that a good edit won't fix. I recommend it.
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February 15, 2022
Termination Shock at 68%
In typical Stephenson fashion, this book takes a while to reveal the actual story. Numerous threads weave in and out, seemingly unconnected. Gradually they make contact, and finally, two thirds of the way through the book, the pattern is revealed. The first one anyway. I'm sure many more unseen connections will be forthcoming. Stephenson is a master, and his books are a joy to read. Even while you are wondering what the hell he is leading up to, it is easy to remain engaged. He knows all of his disparate subjects so well that one of his books is equally education and entertainment, and the education is so well woven into the plot and character development that it is never dry or boring. If I had begun writing as a teenager, I might have reached half of his ability by now.
January 4, 2022
The Hidden Palace
The Hidden Palace by Helene WeckerMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I love the coincidences and serendipities of life, when people connect with each other or with places, and it is clearly meant to be, whether one believes in a higher power or not. My love for Tucson, where I spent most of my adult life to date, was born of, and strengthened by such coincidences. Finding that two old friends were also old friends with one another even though I had never connected them, meeting someone who had seen a unique moonrise from years before that I was unable to forget, and who had actually taken a photo of it at that moment, which he gave me. Meeting people in farflung corners of the world who knew my friends intimately. I am feeling such magical connections in my new home of Oaxaca as well. For the first time in my life, I have met someone familiar with the tiny town in Montana where I was born, and it was a Oaxacan man who happened to sit next to me in the airport. Connections seem to happen because they need to happen, because the people are destined to come together, even if I don't believe in fate.
Helene Wecker's work is full of this magic. The Hidden Palace especially. The lives of the characters are all interconnected without their knowledge for years. They approach and influence each other without either one knowing it, inexorably intertwining the threads of their lives into the beautiful final tapestry of the work. I have still not finished the emotional overflow from this wonderful book, even as I write this.
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December 31, 2021
Sequelli
Atmosphere is both a stand-alone book and the first of a series. Ocean, my work in progress is a sequel, dependent upon the characters and events of Atmosphere.
Because of the complexity of both stories, I have struggled to find a way to remind those who read Atmosphere of the details and hopefully provide anyone who picks up Ocean without having read the first book the background to enjoy this one.
Too many series I have read spend ridiculous amounts of page space simply rehashing the previous story. As a reader, I find that method slows down the story for me.
The solution I have arrived at for Ocean is to put a brief excerpt from the personal journal of one of the Atmosphere characters at the beginning of select chapters. This gives me the opportunity to both give a look inside their heads during the ten year gap between the two books, and to recap without recapping the events of the first.
Because of the complexity of both stories, I have struggled to find a way to remind those who read Atmosphere of the details and hopefully provide anyone who picks up Ocean without having read the first book the background to enjoy this one.
Too many series I have read spend ridiculous amounts of page space simply rehashing the previous story. As a reader, I find that method slows down the story for me.
The solution I have arrived at for Ocean is to put a brief excerpt from the personal journal of one of the Atmosphere characters at the beginning of select chapters. This gives me the opportunity to both give a look inside their heads during the ten year gap between the two books, and to recap without recapping the events of the first.
November 27, 2021
I'll reach 50 sometime next year.
50 books read, that is. I set my ambitious goal after moving to Oaxaca in April, and I have consistently read a lot. Problem is, I often read big, dense, books. Books I want to savor and digest. There weren't enough short, easy reads sprinkled in the mix to get me to 50. But hey, it was an arbitrary number. Maybe next year I'll set my goal to 39, or 61. It doesn't matter. I'll never stop reading.
In other news, Ocean, which I had hoped to finish by the end of the year, will likely be published in the early spring. It had turned into a dense book requiring predigesting so you can savor it.
In other news, Ocean, which I had hoped to finish by the end of the year, will likely be published in the early spring. It had turned into a dense book requiring predigesting so you can savor it.
November 7, 2021
Teaser For An Unwritten Story
This is rough, a single draft, with no immediate plans to finish it, but if it ever becomes a story, you can say you saw it first!
“There’s a surprise for you in the garage,” she said.
Something about the look on her face made me think that it wasn’t going to be a surprise of the good sort. She was smiling broadly, but her eyes didn’t match. I played along anyway.
“A surprise? My birthday isn’t until August.”
“Just go look.”
“OK,” I stared at her. She didn’t look away and kept smiling, but it still felt wrong. She was definitely hiding something, and I didn’t think it was good. I hung my coat on the hook in the hall and headed through the kitchen to the garage door. Nothing looked out of place, the afternoon paper was open on the table where she had been reading it (I presumed) when I came home. The dishes were done and still dripping in the dish drain. She never did them until the last minute. I turned and almost jumped out of my skin. She was right behind me, having silently followed me into the kitchen. I laughed nervously, and she joined in with a chuckle that felt as wrong as her smile. “Am I going to regret this?,” I asked.
“Maybe,” she said, and her face went serious. “I don’t know, really.”
“What the fuck? What is going on with you? What aren’t you telling me?” I tried to push past her back into the hall, but she was like a brick wall, standing there impassive, even the smile gone.
“Go. Into. The. Garage.” She sounded downright evil now. All pretense of normalcy discarded.
I snatched a knife from the magnetic holder on the wall, thinking what? That I was going to stab the love of my life? But was this actually her? I hesitated, and in that fleeting moment, she snatched the knife from my hand and stuck it through the cabinet door. Not just into it, through it, all the way to the hilt.
Holy shit. Not her. Definitely not her. Not knowing what else to do, I turned and opened the door. The garage was pitch black. Not even the light from the kitchen passed the threshold. I squinted, but couldn’t see anything. Taking a deep breath and holding it, I stepped through the door.
“There’s a surprise for you in the garage,” she said.
Something about the look on her face made me think that it wasn’t going to be a surprise of the good sort. She was smiling broadly, but her eyes didn’t match. I played along anyway.
“A surprise? My birthday isn’t until August.”
“Just go look.”
“OK,” I stared at her. She didn’t look away and kept smiling, but it still felt wrong. She was definitely hiding something, and I didn’t think it was good. I hung my coat on the hook in the hall and headed through the kitchen to the garage door. Nothing looked out of place, the afternoon paper was open on the table where she had been reading it (I presumed) when I came home. The dishes were done and still dripping in the dish drain. She never did them until the last minute. I turned and almost jumped out of my skin. She was right behind me, having silently followed me into the kitchen. I laughed nervously, and she joined in with a chuckle that felt as wrong as her smile. “Am I going to regret this?,” I asked.
“Maybe,” she said, and her face went serious. “I don’t know, really.”
“What the fuck? What is going on with you? What aren’t you telling me?” I tried to push past her back into the hall, but she was like a brick wall, standing there impassive, even the smile gone.
“Go. Into. The. Garage.” She sounded downright evil now. All pretense of normalcy discarded.
I snatched a knife from the magnetic holder on the wall, thinking what? That I was going to stab the love of my life? But was this actually her? I hesitated, and in that fleeting moment, she snatched the knife from my hand and stuck it through the cabinet door. Not just into it, through it, all the way to the hilt.
Holy shit. Not her. Definitely not her. Not knowing what else to do, I turned and opened the door. The garage was pitch black. Not even the light from the kitchen passed the threshold. I squinted, but couldn’t see anything. Taking a deep breath and holding it, I stepped through the door.
