Steven M. Moore's Blog, page 204
February 23, 2012
Brand names and protagonists as role models…
Like many children, I admired various sports figures. Roy Campanella, Brooklyn Dodgers' catcher, was a role model. I played that position and later admired the man for his tenacity and courage in facing his paralysis after an auto accident. I also became a Dodgers fan and was overjoyed when they moved to L.A. K. C. Jones and Bill Russell were favorites at the University of San Francisco and I followed their careers to the Boston Celtics where I became a fan, even though I was on the...
February 21, 2012
How religion warps U.S. political discourse…
In this post, I'll commit the cardinal sin of discussing religion and politics. Maybe you never were invited to dinner where the host tells you, "Mr. and Mrs. X are also attending. They are Y religion, so don't discuss religion. In fact, don't discuss politics either." If you were, I don't know about you, but it's hard for me to sit down at a dinner table and avoid the topics of religion and politics, because most other Americans just can't resist them. Where European, Latin American...
February 17, 2012
Interview with Brent Mueller…
Author: [Whispers, like announcing the Masters.] Readers, today I'm interviewing another of my main characters, Spacer Brent Mueller, a minor character in Survivors of the Chaos and a major protagonist in the soon-to-be-released Sing a Samba Galactica. He's the Methuselah among my characters, so we should expect some words of wisdom. [My normal voice.] Brent, you were just Jenny Wong's love interest in Survivors of the Chaos. Are you enjoying your promotion in Sing a Samba Galactica?
Mue...
February 16, 2012
Introverts, extroverts, and the internet…
A comment, a one-liner, I recently received to a very old blog post, read as follows: "you suck you gay computer nerd why dont you go die." Even though WordPress let this through the spam filter, my usual censoring policy kicked in, and I deleted it. That policy is this: if a comment doesn't add to the conversation, whether it's positive or negative, there is a—pfft!—and it's terminated with prejudice, like via a Glock 19 with silencer. Nevertheless, this particular comment started me...
February 14, 2012
Is "conservative businessperson" an oxymoron…
This question is not as obvious as "military intelligence," "peoples' representative," "minimum wage," or "noblesse oblige." Mr. Romney, who has recently tried to convince GOP conservatives that his moderate Republican reign in Massachusetts was his starring role as a conservative Don Quixote tilting at the windmills of Kennedy liberalism, has implied in CPAC that his business activities are what conservatives do best. Not so fast!
A true conservative is risk averse. He generally likes the ...
February 10, 2012
News and Notices from the Writing Trenches #18…
#111: I've added two new websites to my preferred websites list (see the "Steve's Writing" page): (1) Paula Haataja does a good job of finding inexpensive books for readers on Daily Cheap Reads and Daily Cheap Reads Jr. Together with the Bargain eBooks site, readers have a large number of these books to choose from. Don't look for many eBooks from a legacy publisher at these sites, though, as the corporate nemesis of indie writers generally charges almost as much for their eBooks as...
February 9, 2012
The coming social singularity and subsequent chaos…
"Whoa!" you say. "I don't want to hear about your [enter your favorite expletive here] novel again." For those of you who have at least read the blurb about my sci-fi thriller Survivors of the Chaos, you know that the coming social singularity and subsequent chaos is the backdrop for this dystopian vision of humanity's future. You might think that this pessimistic old curmudgeon is just writing about a parallel future and there's no chance of it happening in the quantum state of the...
February 7, 2012
Are politicians narcissistic sociopaths?
All of you have heard that a person has to be crazy to go into politics. What drives a person, then, to subject himself to this masochistic spectacle like the Opus Dei terrorist in The Da Vinci Code? For human males, it's often the desire to be the top alpha-dog, a desire that trumps any fear of public speaking, baby kissing, or campaign-trail tomatoes and other attacks. For human females, I'm not sure. For both, lip service is often given to a desire to help others—freely interpreted by ...
February 3, 2012
News and Notices from the Writing Trenches #17…
#105: For a follow-up on #104, see my blog post "Indie books and bookstores…," prompted by a myopic NY Times article on B&N. The Times presents the official viewpoint of B&N. I present my own. Are you surprised that I don't side with the bookstore giant? They recently announced that they will not carry Amazon's publications. That doesn't make sense if you just consider the online giant as another publisher (it isn't, of course). I don't know what it means for KDP (Amazon's eBook...
February 2, 2012
How to Critique a Writer's Work: What to Do and What Not to Do
[Note from Steve: Today's guest post is from author Deanna Proach.]
All writers need to have a second and third pair of eyes read their work. The trick is having to find two or three trusted persons to read your work. Some writers—like me—don't have a parent, friend or relative who is a published author, editor or avid reader. If this is the case, you should seek out a reputable writers' group where you'll feel welcomed and at ease. If you're not able to find any reputable writers' critique g...
