Steven M. Moore's Blog, page 172

Writing the thriller…a discussion…part one…

[Tom Pope is a writing teacher—see the interview with him in a post from a few days ago—and yours truly writes thrillers. We put our emails together to produce this Socratic discussion about several elements associated with writing thrillers. This is the first part of that discussion. Enjoy.]

Tom: What are your impressions on the role of the clock with the threat? I think that a threat should be a major one and the protagonist should face some time limit before all havoc breaks out. Example: T...

The internet’s influence…

I’ve been privileged. I’ve seen computers progress over four decades (that’s better than counting years); seen computer companies come and go (from TI, Radio Shack, and Digital’s why would anyone want a computer on his desktop? to the emergence of Apple and Google to this new world of smart phones, ereaders, and tablets); and users morphing from bearded, bushy-haired geeks (they’re still around—gee, I need a haircut!) to people who don’t give a damn what’s inside the box as long as they can d...

Windows 8.1…

Believe it or not, this is a book review (see later), but first a bit of history. I’m not into fancy GUIs and sliding icons. The work in my old day job required mostly UNIX workstations. There was a GUI, but it was primitive compared to today’s Apple and smart phone GUIs. No sliding icons or touch screens, but there was enough firepower to handle terabytes of data. That’s science, or, at least, the dirty kind where you’re given lots of data and you’re supposed to make sense of it.

I hate to ad...

Where have all the readers gone?

[Note from Steve: This is the third post in preparation for Tom Pope’s and my Socratic dialogue on writing thrillers. It’s more about reading, though, not writing. The title is a bow to Pete Seeger.]

I read and review in many genres, including non-fiction. Every author should be an avid reviewer. And, if you want to give something back to the community of readers and writers, honest reviews help those readers who are looking for new and interesting books to read. Of course, they help writers t...

Is Pakistan the enemy?

Even in this age when “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” is our foreign policy mantra (maybe it always was?) and Putin seems hell bent on returning everyone to the Cold War (or World War III?), Pakistan lurks as not a true friend and probably a die-hard enemy. I’ve said this many times before in these blog posts, but let me list the reasons yet again. You will see that I’m not just being paranoid. This country takes our aid and military help and basically uses it against us. Its duplicitous...

Movie Reviews #3…

[I might seem remiss with my lack of movie reviews, but 2013 wasn’t all that memorable for great movies beyond those already reviewed, in spite of the hype from Hollywood. My attendance has diminished to, due to bad movies, ticket prices, too many trailers, and commercials from TV that have kept me away. But here are a few reviews.]

#6: Blue Jasmine. Blanchett seemed all too real in this flick while she was two-dimensional and boring in the next. The rest of the acting is boring, the plot is b...

Education overhaul…

Teachers’ unions and evaluations, Common Core, SAT reform, charter schools…education has been making the news lately. In a week-ago Sunday’s NY Times magazine, there’s an article about Common Core champion and SAT reformer Dave Coleman. He calls for data-based reform, a strange clarion call from a non-scientist who admittedly studied things generally considered impractical. For the needed overhaul of our educational system, what works? What doesn’t? Not only here, but outside the U.S. Coleman...

Irish Stew #28…

Item: Putin’s ventriloquist dummy. Foreign Minister Lavrov uttered these words in Paris: “We don’t have a common vision of the situation.” You think! He was analyzing the difference between Putin’s, and ergo the official, viewpoint of the Ukrainian situation and the point-of-view of the rest of the world. Some idiots are saying that a vote in Crimea for independence is just the expression of democratic choice. What BS! It’s the typical strong-arm approach to neocolonialism in the world, the d...

Writing secrets…

[Second post leading up to Tom Pope and my Socratic to-and-fro about writing the thriller. In “The Eightfold Way” I listed eight things a writer should NOT do. Here I take the tack of analyzing what he or she can do.]

Given my sales and/or my number of readers (easy to measure the first, hard the second), any secrets I might reveal about the writing business are probably suspect. Caveat emptor: The word “secrets” implies that there are magical actions you can take to become a successful writer...

Irish Stew #27…

Item: Bill De Blasio, +1. The NYC mayor’s attack on charter schools is appropriate. Yes, they give opportunities to families of little means to obtain excellent educations for their kids. But what about the other kids. Every kid should have that opportunity, and that’s where the mayor is coming from. Equal opportunity should NEVER be maintained by subjecting other students to less opportunity. Not all students are equal, mentally or physically, but EVERY student should be allowed to prove him...