Steven M. Moore's Blog, page 151
June 4, 2015
Rogue waves in calm seas…
For all the words spoken and written about changin’ times in the book industry, you’d think the seas a writer sails would be really rough. I don’t see roiling waves at all. I’m a bit frustrated I don’t have more readers, but what the hell—I’m having a lot of fun doing what I’m doing, what I’ve always wanted to do, as a matter of fact. I’m a full-time writer, and I write at all levels, from op-ed blog posts that probably anger some people and amuse others, to short stories and novels, and to s...
June 2, 2015
Irish Stew #40…
[Lots of news items to comment on today…pick your favorites, or have fun with all of them. I guess the summer heat is heating up the news too!]
Item. The SecDef is right! Ashton Carter received all kinds of flak for saying that the Iraqi army can’t fight. In Ramadi they outnumbered ISIS and still ran with their tails between their legs. Of course, we know what ISIS does with anyone they capture on the field of battle, but c’mon! Are we going to see a huge migration of Sunnis to neighboring co...
May 29, 2015
Movie Reviews #14…
Tomorrowland. Dir. Brad Bird. I guess many reviewers (Sandy Keenan, ABC News; A. O. Scott, NY Times; Stephen Whitty, NJ Star Ledger; Justin Chang, Variety; Christopher Orr, The Atlantic; and others) won’t be receiving one of those little medallions for being a genius! Clearly they didn’t understand this film. It’s very Clooneyesque: there can be a bright future for the human race if we only get off our butts, get our act together, and do something about making it happen. That’s the important...
News and Notices from the Writing Trenches #89…
Item. 99 Cent Sale! These will occur periodically through the rest of 2015, even though you almost have to be a member of the Bolshoi to dance through the 90-day Kindle Select periods. (Don’t retain that image of me in a tutu, please! Probably not quite as bad as me in a speedo, because there’s music associated, but people receive enough bad images for a lifetime from reality shows.) The first deal occurs for Angels Need Not Apply, #2 in the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series”; it will...
May 28, 2015
Creativity or skill?
Will any amount of skill compensate for an author’s zero creativity? Will readers read a creative and inspired story when the writer has no skill? The answer to both questions is no. Good storytelling needs both creative talent and good skill in spinning the yarn. Although writing genre fiction might not be called an art form by some, it is, and it’s similar to other art forms. Mozart was a creative genius, but he was also a skillful composer and pianist. Most musicians aren’t in Mozart’s lea...
May 27, 2015
Review of Thomas Waite’s Trident Code…
(Thomas Waite, Trident Code, 47North (Amazon), 2015, ISBN 978-1477828403)
This novel is either a good thriller or so-so sci-fi. Some might call it a techno-thriller. I’m ambivalent. Generally speaking, it’s the kind of book I like to read and write. First, the positives: Waite follows Clancy’s advice and just tells the damn story, so fasten your seatbelt and hold on to your whiskey glass. With only a few exceptions noted below, it’s an entertaining and breathless ride. The negatives: My perce...
May 26, 2015
Pot calling the kettle black?
Sometimes these old clichés work just fine! This one describes Republicans calling Hillary Clinton a hypocrite for making income inequality her campaign issue. Talk about sophism of distraction! Democratic politicos court unions, minorities, LGBT groups and activists, environmentalists, and progressives in general, but mostly forget about them after the elections to favor their rich donors, but the GOP has the all-time record for hypocrisy, pretending to champion the middle class AKA angry Te...
May 22, 2015
News and Notices from the Writing Trenches #88…
Item: Changes to Goodreads. Same confusing website (watch for those links with the tiny print!), but they’ve added two useful features, one for readers and one for readers/authors. The first allows you to download books you’ve purchased on Amazon onto your book list in one fell swoop. Although I’m an avid reader and read many more books than I write (as it should be), I’ve always been lazy about doing this (AKA I want to spend my valuable time writing, not doing Goodreads/Amazon’s work for th...
May 21, 2015
The many sides of Pope Francis…
Compared to previous popes and especially his immediate predecessor, Pope Francis is rocking and rolling (the predecessor’s only shake-up was resigning while he was still alive). He’s stirred things up a bit, that’s for sure, telling the good ol’ boys in the hierarchy that they had to cease and desist from their extravagant lifestyles, rambling on a bit about LGBT and same-sex marriage issues, and helping Obama broker a rapprochement with Cuba. The last became even more interesting with Raul...
May 19, 2015
Irish Stew #39…
[Note from Steve: Lots of material today, so pick and choose your favorite topics. These mini-post summaries could be replaced by full blog posts, but then I’d never be current, and you’d be bored to tears. You still might shed some tears of frustration, but not from boredom at least.]
Item: Is Obama selling out? Drilling off the Alaskan coast and pushing the TPP has many liberals screaming. (My definition of liberal is a wannabe progressive who screams about many issues, rarely proposes alte...
