Steven M. Moore's Blog, page 142
October 30, 2015
News and Notices from the Writing Trenches #107…
[Note from Steve: Why do I say I’m in “the writing trenches”? Because I’m like that grunt soldier in World War One, slogging it out while the dapper generals AKA Big Five authors sitting comfortably in their Big Five tents could care less what happens to me. I apply a wee bit of Zen philosophy to my situation: what is, is, and there’s little I can do about it except for having fun entertaining you with my cryptic and often acerbic comments about the writing life. So, read on: issue #107 is on...
October 29, 2015
Theme v. plot…
In essay-land (that includes op-ed, of course), theme rules: you have to have at least one theme to opine. For writing fiction, not so much. And, perhaps because I do both, I make a semantical distinction between theme and plot when I write fiction. A good story doesn’t need themes per se, but it does need a plot. But one or two themes make for a better story—they enhance the plot. The theme or themes in a story are motivating issues: spousal infidelity or abuse, mental illness, the horrors o...
October 28, 2015
Steve’s shorts: Mayhem, Murder, and Music’s TKO…
[Note from Steve: This is the last free short story in this series (there might be others forthcoming outside the series, of course). If you missed the other short stories in this series, they’re all archived in the blog category “Steve’s Shorts.” This one is inspired by Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Boxer.” (Fair warning: it’s rated R, or maybe PG-13 if you watch cable.) I was an S&G fan from their first album. Can’t say which version of “Sound of Silence” I like best (first or second album’s),...
October 27, 2015
Why I no longer fly…
In my old day-job, I racked up many frequent-flyer miles and enjoyed some perks like upgrades and nice airport lounges. Over the years, though, passengers of commercial flights on all airlines, but especially the U.S., have experienced a continuous degradation of service. The whole experience is degrading in both senses of the word, from TSA fondlers, long lines, and so forth at the beginning, to lost luggage at the end, and airlines and airports don’t seem to give a rat’s ass about anyone’s...
October 23, 2015
News and Notices from the Writing Trenches #106…
Item. Family Affairs. In case you missed it, #6 in the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series” was just released. The title is the theme, but this is still a novel filled with mystery, suspense, and thrills. The yin-and-yang detectives (Chen is a conservative Asian with a Mona Lisa smile; Castilblanco is a tough but compassionate progressive who has become a Buddhist) have to solve two cases at once in this one before bringing the bad guys to justice…or even determining who the bad guys are...
October 22, 2015
The “research” conundrum…
Authors often speak about doing “research” for a book. From the science and technology point of view, that’s a misuse of the word “research,” but I’m seeing that incorrect use increasing with the years. Kids writing a report for school “research” it; they mean they’ll google a bunch of stuff and write about it (or just copy). People wanting to find what to do about insect bites will “research” that. You used to go the library and use the reference books for all this; the internet and search e...
October 21, 2015
Steve’s shorts: Mayhem, Murder, and Music’s Glory Road…
[This one’s inspired by Billy Batson’s powerful imagery found in “I’ve Got a Long Way to Go” as sung by Hedge and Donna. I saw that singing couple on a Pete Seeger show years ago, liked them a lot, and bought their LP—that old vinyl technology for recording music for those born after the CD revolution. It’s the first LP I managed to get into my iTunes database. The story is partly based on real events and occurs at a time when PTSD didn’t exist as an acronym.]
Glory Road
Copyright 2015, Steve...
October 20, 2015
Drop the S-word, Bernie!
I’ve paid attention to what Sen. Bernie Sanders has been saying. He calls himself a “socialist democrat” or “socialist progressive.” The S-word is poison to many people who think automatically it means the government runs everything. Worse, people associate socialism with communism. The Donald, whose ideas of substance never go beyond insults, played on those fears in his analysis of the Democratic debate, calling Sanders a communist. (He also called Sanders a maniac—talk about the pot callin...
October 16, 2015
Mini-Reviews #13…
Dome City Blues. Jeff Edwards, author (Stealth Books, 2011). The author says he wrote this in 1992. That’s hard to believe. If so, there’s some really good futuristic extrapolation. It shares themes with Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (the movie Blade Runner) and Pohl’s Hee Chee trilogy (more akin to the first book in that series, though). Hard-boiled private detective David Stalin (too much attention is paid to the last name) lives on a polluted Earth and hops among the domes that now c...
October 15, 2015
“The book is better…”
The TV guide in our NY Times has little capsule reviews for featured films. They’re often humorous. I saw this one a few days ago. It’s a common sentiment but definitely not a tautology (something always true). For example, The Martian (movie) is much better than the book, because the director and principal actor make it so (see tomorrow’s mini-review). Gone Girl (movie) and Gone Girl (book) are equally bad. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (movie) was good, but the book IS better.
It’s useful to...
