Steven M. Moore's Blog, page 132
April 12, 2016
Irish Stew #51…
International…
Panama Papers. I love it! “Never trust a politician,” my father used to say. The leads from that little law firm in Panama will end the careers of politicians around the world. Iceland’s PM has already resigned. Syria’s Assad and Saudi Arabia’s king are on the list, as well as the UK’s PM, Putin confidants, Chinese leaders, other personalities, plus 1000+ American companies. Of course, the danger is that someone like Putin’s oligarchy or the Chinese fascist-communists won’t go...
April 11, 2016
Monday words of wisdom…
A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow. (Seen in a church bulletin.)
***
Just a reminder: Rogue Planet is now available! Think Game of Thrones or Star Wars with high-tech magic. Hard sci-fi, space opera, or fantasy? You decide. You’ll find it in all ebook formats for $2.99 (Amazon, Smashwords and its distributors) as well as paper for $10.99 (Create Space). And, if less futuristic mystery and thrills are your preference, remember my May Day Sale: M...
April 8, 2016
News and Notices from the Writing Trenches #117…
Readers can be formulaic too. Many writers become formulaic over time. This is partly due to the same reason a K-6 teacher, instead of teaching each grade in succession to keep her or his teaching skills fresh, prefers to keep on doing the same thing, grade 2, say, year after year, over and over again—it’s the easy way out, and, if s/he’s successful at it (that becomes a less appropriate adjective with time, of course), why not continue? In the writing world, a perceived market preference for...
April 7, 2016
Irish Stew #50…
[Yea! Post #50 in this series. Some might argue that I’ve been doing this too long. I hate to disappoint: I’m just getting started! As you should know by now, I beat my own drum cadences in these posts. They might not be politically correct. We worry too much about that these days. Speak your mind. Comments are generally accepted, as long as there’s no foul language and other nasty things.]
Conspicuous consumption, Saudi style. I’ve ranted against this regime that’s a throwback to the Middle...
April 6, 2016
Excerpt from Rogue Planet…
OK, Rogue Planet is a done deal, but maybe you’re too shy to click on the “Peek Inside” button on the Amazon book page, so I decided to repost this excerpt. Before giving you a first look at this new novel, here’s the blurb:
Hidden away from near-Earth planets in remote spiral arms of the Galaxy are Human worlds that have lost contact with more progressive worlds and reverted to strange and primitive customs and traditions, their leaders using religion, superstition, and imported technologies...
April 5, 2016
Bernie’s qualifications…
The pundits don’t know what to do with Trump and Sanders. The parties don’t know either. Both candidates are tapping into the smoldering anger that has turned into a conflagration in this campaign. Both are anti-establishment candidates. There the similarity ends. Trump has been a one-percenter all his life, his political choices always determined by his analysis of the deal: what does he get out of it (or America, we hope)? He’s a narcissistic sociopath (that’s a diagnosis of a mental condit...
April 4, 2016
Monday words of wisdom…
Smiles go miles, and a handshake trumps a milkshake.
***
Just released! Rogue Planet. Hidden away from near-Earth planets in remote spiral arms of the Galaxy are Human worlds that have lost contact with more progressive worlds and reverted to strange and primitive customs and traditions, their leaders using religion, superstition, and imported technologies to rule in tyranny. Survey ships explored and catalogued these planets as suitable for future colonization centuries earlier, but groups w...
April 1, 2016
News and Notices from the Writing Trenches #116…
[Lots of news today. Cherry pick what you find interesting, but be sure and read about the May Day Sale. And BTW, nothing here is an April Fool’s joke. Enough jokes are played on the American public by politicians.]
Jellybooks. If you missed this 3/25 post, check it out. It’s about data-miners colluding with traditional publishers. Not a surprise, of course: When there’s a niche on the internet, it will be filled—Darwin’s Origins applied to electronic media.
See your blurb here. In #115, I ma...
March 31, 2016
The Henry Ford of writing…
Once upon a time there was a writer who spun a few good yarns. His name was James Patterson. Along Came a Spider was inspirational—tight plot, interesting main character and secondary characters, and a setting I was familiar with. Nothing earth-shaking, but good storytelling nonetheless. It was a textbook combo of mystery and thriller, I liked that cross-genre idea, and I held it up as something to aim for in my own writing.
Unfortunately, it all went downhill from there. Not only did Patters...
March 30, 2016
Review of Rebecca Marks’s On the Rocks…
(Rebecca Marks, On the Rocks, Black Opal Books, ISBN 987-1-626943-79-7)
It’s always a pleasure to discover a new and interesting author. I’m not sure it’s wise to announce a series with the first book in the series—it’s a wee bit like signing a contract with the readers, after all—but I have to say most readers will probably want to read more about ex-NYPD homicide detective Dana Cohen. She’s Jewish and a redhead, but, like the ubiquitous Irish cops (not so ubiquitous anymore), crime fighting...
