Steven M. Moore's Blog, page 2

Posts or podcasts?

When I launched this website not long after my first novel Full Medical was published (the website was largely the work of Monkey C Media, always helpful in my marketing efforts), podcasts didn’t exist. Tech users had barely become used to email after the physicists at CERN invented the worldwide web, after all. Websites then became the new tech toys, and they’re still the most important and ubiquitous marketing tools on the internet by far.

One could argue that podcasts are better than websites...

Are smart phones of use to authors?

Some readers of this blog might say, “What a stupid question? Of course, smart phones are useful.” And they might wonder if I need to be in a mental institution? But I’m talking about authors’ marketing of their books!

Here’s what motivates the question: I hate smart phones because they’re such a poor excuse for a laptop! (The recent foldout models basically admit that.) Those tiny phones in your pocket don’t have standard keyboards per se is one clear negative: I’m a touch-typist with big hands...

Leave some mystery…

In my many mystery, thriller, and sci-fi novels, I often leave some questions unanswered. Critics might say that I’m just setting the stage for a sequel. Fortunately, I don’t have many critics or readers in general, so I could just ignore any complaints they might have; but even in the middle of what will become a series, I’m never sure there will be a sequel!

For example, by the end of No Amber Waves of Grain, I’d decided to end the “Clones and Mutants” trilogy. So far, the mysterious pregnancy...

Book Review: Carol’s Donald Trump, Takes a Dump…

Donald Trump, Takes a Dump. Sabrina Carol (2025). I’m guessing that many people (including the MAGA faithful?) would enjoy this little book just for the laughs: ‘Tis funny. Hilarious at times, to be honest. Especially the cartoons of Mr. Donald Trump, presidential versions 45 and 47, if memory serves me, a buffoon who will surely go down in history as the worst president the US  has ever had (and maybe the last if he and his fellow fascists succeed in destroying American democracy?). (No artisti...

“Sticks and stones…”

I mostly tune out when political ads flood my email in-box or ruin my TV viewing (not streaming video—I have no use for streaming or video games as escapes from reality).

First, it’s impossible for a political candidate or party to summarize the main points of their campaign in a thirty- or sixty-second TV ad. It just can’t be done! So their ads essentially become zero-content or attack ads that waste my time.

Second, I have to conclude that if those ads are at all effective with my contemporari...

Will they call her “M”?

Blaise Metreweli is the new head of MI6, James Bond’s old outfit. While I read all of Ian Flemings’s Bond adventures years ago and probably have seen most of the tongue-in-cheek movies, I miss “M” the most. Perhaps a real-life “M” will take me back to the theater? There’s a better chance for that than for the second-rate movies about the seeker of impossible missions (although Schifrin’s music is better…RIP, Lalo!).

My “art detective” Esther Brookstone (that description of EB was created by Penm...

The blueprint for US fascism…

Nobody calls it that, but that’s what Project 2025 is. It’s a plan to destroy American democracy but also shows how to implement that plan. You can either try to read the almost thousand-page document released by the Heritage Foundation, or David A. Graham’s little book titled The Project (Random House, 2025—consider this post a review of the latter). It should be required reading for any responsible voter or soon-to-be voter.

Trump denied he ever read it during his 2024 campaign—probably true b...

The ultimate “content providers”…

All the attention given to Tik-Tok celebs and internet podcasters makes me laugh because I only see (admittedly, my sampling space is small!) biased opinions and outright rants from barking mongrels. (With my own noise, over at pubprogressive.com I try to be a bit more fair and rational, I must respond to the schmuck and his cronies antics and lies, correct?)

I spend a lot more time creating real content with my stories. I’ll admit that’s not streaming video or other mindless fare like computer ...

Books I won’t read…

The list of books you’ll find on my “Steve’s Bookshelf” web page at this website is representative of my reading choices but far too short to cover them all. Consequently, I decided it might be interesting to add about what books I won’t read. (Of course, if you read all my posts—why not?—you might have a better idea about what I will read!)

I rarely read fantasy, not even sci-fi that’s nearly fantasy. The boundary between fantasy and sci-fi is a blurred one, but the “magic” in AB Carolan’s Mind...

Freebies…or not?

I wonder about readers’ lack of sanity sometimes. In a recent trend (via Substack, etc.), they spend good money subscribing to authors’ email newsletters. Those used to be free (ones I subscribe too still are!), and much of the same info is often available on their websites.

Like many things in the book biz, advertising has been turned on its head. I suppose authors who write those newsletters think they’re very clever in duping readers to pay for the authors’ advertising. “Oh, they include inte...