Steven M. Moore's Blog, page 112
January 13, 2017
Movie Reviews #42…
Manchester by the Sea. Ken Lonergan, dir (he also wrote the sappy screenplay). As much as I like this area near Boston, this movie didn’t live up to its pre-Oscar hype. It’s sappy, boring, and depressing—a real downer. Matt Damon says it’s “real life” in his pimping of the movie. Maybe Damon and the Affleck brothers should get a reality check! While most people have some negatives to contend with, and that’s part of the human condition that can affect anyone, what happens to Lee Chandler in t...
January 12, 2017
Zines and short stories…
Whether traditional ones (Ellory Queen and Fantasy and Science Fiction are examples) or online ezines (eFiction is an example), have become as bad as many Big Five book publishers. The “good ones” that remain (many have died or will die) have editorial boards who waste authors’ time by requesting contributions they reject (for many reasons, but usually summarized by observing the zine is in a incestuous rut or simply a club of writers publishing their own stuff) and pay peanuts for royalties...
January 11, 2017
Steve’s shorts: Anna Utkin…
Anna Utkin
Copyright 2017, Steven M. Moore
Anna Utkin shut the library’s main door, locked it, and headed for her car. Her little Honda Civic awaited to take her to her one-bedroom apartment in the complex three miles from the Oakwood Public Library where she had worked the last ten years of her life. She smoothed her blouse after getting into the car and thought about dinner. Tonight maybe I’ll have a glass of red wine because today’s dinner will be a Salisbury steak meal. She always bought...
January 10, 2017
Trump’s nukes…
With Il Duce Trump, there are many things to worry about, but none more serious than an arms race. Nukes were and are in every fascist’s wet dreams. Think of what the world would become if Hitler’s atomic program had gelled. Think of what the Cuban Missile Crisis might have become if Nikita’s shoe tantrum had led to nuclear Armageddon. Every time a two-bit fascist shakes the nuclear club, that Doomsday Clock approaches closer to midnight.
Trump argues we can build more and better bombs than a...
January 9, 2017
Irish Stew #59…
International
Classic Putin? His refusal to expel U.S. diplomats in response to Obama’s retaliation for Russian hacking and inviting the diplomats’ kids to a Christmas party made me wonder if a bare-chested Putin would ride in to the party on a reindeer sporting the rest of Santa’s costume. Even without the latter, Putin’s response makes Putin look like a PR genius (can I hire his PR people for my books?) and Obama look like a chump. McCain rightly states that Putin is a murdering thug, thoug...
Monday words of wisdom…
…if you actually are an educated, thinking person, you will not be welcome in Washington, D.C. I know a couple of bright seventh graders who would not be welcome in Washington, D.C.—Kurt Vonnegut
***
Muddlin’ Through. Mary Jo Melendez is an ex-USN Master-at-Arms who is ready to start her new civilian life as a security guard. She is framed for her sister and brother-in-law’s murders. This mystery/suspense/thriller novel describes how she works to clear her name and pay back the group that fra...
January 6, 2017
Mini-Reviews of Books #23…
[Whip me with an Udon noodle because I don’t do enough of these. These reviews are short—not as short as the average Amazon review—but, like everyone else, unless I write a review shortly after finishing a book, my procrastination becomes infinite. Here are two books, though, that are certainly worthy to read. Enjoy.]
The Billion Dollar Spy. David E. Hoffman, author (Anchor, 2015). This was a gift from someone. Anchor is a subsidiary of Random House (who distributes the book), so the book is...
January 5, 2017
The persistence of memory…
No, I’m not channeling Salvador Dali. I’m referring to what I remember about a book I’ve read. I’m familiar with my own, of course, but it’s interesting how I remember others. Or don’t.
Have you ever started reading a book only to remember you’ve already read it? Sometimes I get fifty pages or more into a book when some part of it stimulates that realization. Other times it hits me in just a few pages. When that book is a used one I just happened to buy off a bargain cart, I don’t feel so bad...
January 4, 2017
News and Notices from the Writing Trenches #136…
What do you like to read? Reading tastes vary, but my stories are in the popular genres of mystery, thrillers, crime, suspense, and sci-fi—I might write a “crossover story,” but it will have things in common with those genres (a genre is just a keyword these days, after all). I don’t do romance, erotica, fantasy, or horror. Sure, my stories can contain romance and horror—the first is a positive aspect of the human condition, the second is often a negative. I know a few authors who write that...
January 3, 2017
Venus v. Mars…
The battles in our culture wars often mystify me. The testosterone v. estrogen title Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, besides being non-chivalrous by putting men first, sums up one culture war where battles are often fought. What mystifies me is that I think there’s nothing to fight about. I’m a unisex kind of guy—I open doors for anyone, although I’m getting to the age where anyone under fifty should open the door for me. That age also means that people should offer me a seat on the...
