Steven M. Moore's Blog, page 134
March 16, 2016
Future editorial cartoons?
[Short, pithy, and biting humor is often better than a rant. I’ll take a swipe at it here. Maybe some enterprising cartoonists in the audience can work these into editorial cartoons? Let me see them if you do. Wish I were good at that.]
In ISIS HQ, Youssef says to Adil, “I just got a great deal on a Galaxy mobile phone—two for the price of one, unlimited data. I gave the freebie to Abdul.” “You fool!” says Youssef. “That doesn’t have Apple’s great encryption. You have to support Apple because...
March 15, 2016
Irish stew #49…
ISIS. You have to wonder about this movement. Some documents were uncovered that illustrate how they go about recruiting. One question on their application form asks if the applicant wants to be a fighter or a suicide bomber. Huh? If you were applying for a job and these were your choices, what would you do? It’s comical and pathetic. Comical that ISIS leaders are so psychotic that they think this is a reasonable question. Pathetic that any person would be stupid enough to answer. Besides, IS...
March 14, 2016
Monday words of wisdom…
Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days. (Seen in a church bulletin.)
***
Coming soon! 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 exp...
March 11, 2016
News and Notices from the Writing Trenches #115…
See your blurb here. Have you released a new book? Are you promoting an old one? I’ll allow up to three (3) blurbs per newsletter, one per author, so drop me a line at steve@stevenmmoore.com and include the text of your blurb in the email message. First come, first serve—in other words, FIFO—and I’ll accumulate and flush the queue every month. It’s advertising, increasing your name recognition, reader outreach—whatever you want to call it in marketing lingo—and it’s free! Why am I doing this?...
March 10, 2016
Mini-Reviews #18…
[Do you like series? Series can be problematic for an author. On one hand, your characters can demand another chance to live again amidst your prose, and you can get another chance to develop them further. On the other, you run the risk of becoming formulaic and neglectful of those other stories your muses are pressuring you to tell. Whether for those, or for some other reasons, few people review an entire series. I have four myself, and it’s hell to advertise them and get reviews for them. I...
March 9, 2016
Steve’s shorts: Escape from Earth, Part Four of Four…
[Not all my stories have their origin in what-ifs. I began this little novella even before my first novel that I wrote the summer I turned thirteen. I won’t say how many years it took me to finish it, but it has a certain teenage innocence about it still. Enjoy!]
Escape from Earth
Copyright 2016, Steven M. Moore
Part Four: The Escape
[My apologies…the chapters got out of phase…]
Chapter Eleven (cont)…
“We have examined our spacecraft in orbit,” said Saki’s older colleague. “Your space debris...
March 8, 2016
Educational reform: pipe dream or necessity?
Educational reform is like immigration law reform—many people can agree something must be done but few can agree on how to do it. Everyone has an agenda, many agendas are contradictory, and no one has the big picture. Of course, the big picture is illusive because waves of noble goals crash up against the ragged and rocky cliffs of ignorance and reality. I’ve offered my ideas on the subject many times in this blog. Why yet another post? Simply because it’s in the news again, and I find the rh...
March 7, 2016
Monday words of wisdom…
Don’t go on automatic when listening to a fanatic. The bet’s on the horse with thoughtful discourse.
March 4, 2016
Book marketing – anecdotes v. real stats…
As an ex-scientist, it’s always amusing for me to see other authors and book marketing gurus push various marketing techniques on the basis of anecdotal evidence. The only source I’ve ever found who comes near to using real stats is Mark Coker of Smashwords. Mind you, I’m not plugging Smashwords here—there are alternatives nowadays, maybe even better ones. Smashwords offers no advertising options, for example, paid or free, leaving that for the online retailers it distributes to. Maybe that’s...
March 3, 2016
What your smart phone cannot do…
People are addicted to their smart phones, so much so that they walk into fountains, kill pedestrians and other drivers, and expose themselves to scam artists, muggers, and perverts. Beyond that, or bloviating about trivial matters, or being a narcissistic showoff on social media, what can a smart phone do for you? Depends on who you are, of course. I’ll turn the question around and discuss what your smart phone CANNOT do.
ID a song. I heard an oldie the other day. I could hum the melody. Lov...
