Steven M. Moore's Blog, page 139
December 30, 2015
Movie Reviews #22…
[We’ve been so busy during the holidays that we haven’t seen many movies. Not many have interested me anyway. Here are two that might float your boat.]
Concussion. Peter Landesman, director and screenplay; Jeanne Marie Laskas, author of the medical mystery. This is also a conspiracy story involving the NFL and the federal government attempts to protect America’s favorite gladiator sport. It’s about how the problem of concussions became public thanks to a Nigerian doctor played by Will Smith (...
December 29, 2015
News and Notices from the Writing Trenches #111…
Item. The New Year. This will be my last newsletter until the New Year. To all readers, reviewers, and writers—I hope 2015 brought you joy and success, and may you all have a safe, healthy, and prosperous 2016.
Item. Goodreads. I love this site! It’s where the readers are—people who are avid readers and intensely interested in books and their authors. I’ve met some great people there, both readers and authors. It’s now my social media site of choice. Facebook has been relegated to my author p...
December 23, 2015
Steve’s shorts: Silo…
[Sometimes your enemies can turn into allies. This one might make the Pentagon nervous. Enjoy. And happy holidays!]
Silo
Steven M. Moore
Copyright 2015
Mike Preston knew his old car well and didn’t like the sound it was making. He pulled off the interstate and made his way into a small prairie town. He’d been driving all night on his way to Chicago to research another article, but getting stranded on a lonely interstate hadn’t appealed to him. Doesn’t this backwater place have a service sta...
December 22, 2015
The climate crisis…
Environmental concerns are often on my mind. Beyond the usual ones that might come to your mind, I also include the problems of changing and disappearing habitats and extinction of species. The general trend that started with the Industrial Revolution has accelerated. Human beings are destroying the planet in many ways. More people realize this now, the rhetoric has heated up, but little has really been done. And it seems that politicians are just giving a wink and a nod to environmental grou...
December 18, 2015
News and Notices from the Writing Trenches #110…
Item. Holiday hiatus. In the spirit of all the end-of-the-year holiday celebrations, my blog posts will be more sporadic for the next three weeks. My first priority is friends and family. Yours should be too. Be safe, be warm, be well, and enjoy whatever festivities you have planned for the holidays. And, by all means, read a few books.
Item. New Year’s Resolutions. Have you made yours? I’ve made mine. Some are contained below as I continue to navigate my book business through the reefs and s...
December 17, 2015
Letting the bandwagon pass by…
Girl with the Dragon Tatoo leads to many Girl Somethings, Gone Girl leads to a plethora of Gone Somethings, Harry leads to Percy, Twilight leads to more sparkling vampires, King and Koontz try to outdo each other in Horrorsville, Lord of the Rings leads to more fantasies, Jack Reacher leads to John Puller, Lincoln Rhyme leads to many CSI stories, Grisham creates a new subgenre filled with copycat legal thrillers, and so forth. These are all examples of jumping on the bandwagon. It’s not just...
December 16, 2015
Steve’s shorts: Chauffeur…
[I had fun with this one. It’s in the spirit of Men in Black and Heinlein’s Glory Road, but with a few twists. It’s also a product of one night’s insomnia. Enjoy.]
Chauffeur
Steven M. Moore
Copyright 2015
“Miss Fogg will see you now.” The butler opened the door to the library and walked away, returning to the labyrinth.
He hoped the old man would return. He wasn’t sure he could find his way out of the old mansion. He adjusted his Yankees cap and entered. There were so many books, he felt he...
December 15, 2015
Ways to let ISIS win…
Given that the Donald and the other GOP candidates have made the rest of the world and many in the U.S. wonder what’s happening in America, the Land of the Free, it seems appropriate to list the things that we’re doing or might do to let ISIS win and return this world to the Dark Ages. The GOP candidates own a lot of the hateful rhetoric described below—I refuse to believe all GOP voters do. Here’s the list:
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Discriminate and persecute Muslims. Trump and his supporters seem to forget that...
December 11, 2015
Mini-Reviews #16…
[Holiday shopping? Check these inexpensive ebooks out as an online gift for your reading friends and relatives. Or, any ebook in my catalog. You can also give them one of my trade paperbacks. Full Medical, Soldiers of God, The Midas Bomb, and Survivors of the Chaos are all available in paper. The Midas Bomb, Chen and Castilblanco #1, will soon have a second edition in all ebook formats as well as paper. All quality entertainment at a reasonable price!]
The Dante Connection (Genieve Lenard #2)...
December 10, 2015
Themes in my fiction…
In my 10/29 blog post, “Theme v. Plot,” I explained the difference between theme and plot and gave some examples. The bottom line: themes are woven into plots; while some plots have no major theme worth mentioning (fluffy romances and cozy mysteries for example), mine usually do. (Some people don’t like that. That’s fine. Don’t read my novels then!) So, at the risk of being accused of blatant self-promotion, let me list some of the themes you’ll find in my novels. Mind you, I don’t use these...
