Steven M. Moore's Blog, page 27

Antitrust and anti-monopoly consumer protections…

They are rarely provided by governments now as huge conglomerates spread their tendrils around the world to strangle all competition. I’ve just considered Facebook, that online behemoth that has damaged everything from our youth to our democracies, yet is allowed to compete with other online services by swallowing them up in its evil maws. That’s one place that pisses this reader and author off. Another is found in the publishing industry.

The Big Six publishers were reduced to the Big Five when...

Facebook woes…

Mark “Sugar-Mountain” Zuckerberg, thinking he’s some kind of god in control of the internet, continues to annoy me, to say the least. From the moment I created my Facebook author page (the URL is https://www.facebook.com/authorSteven... for those interested), I knew he and most of his minions at Facebook were greedy SOBs. Every post on my author page is followed by advice to reach out to more Facebook users by creating an ad! And anyone accessing that page is hit by ads as well (not mine). Th...

“Friday Fiction” Series: Arms Control, Chapters One to Three…

[Note from Steve: My British-style mysteries to date probably are more influenced by Dame Agatha and other authors’ creations rather than the hard-boiled American school, probably the major influence for my “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco” series (the Tums-chewing Castilblanco is as hard-boiled as lollipop-sucking Kojak, to be honest). After a bit of reflection about that, I decided to write a story about a hard-boiled British DI. Okay, he has Irish blood, so maybe the stereotype of Irish NYC ...

NaNoWriMo redux…

I’ve dissed NaNoWriMo aka “National Novel Writing Month” before. Let’s forget about the poor choice of November for this annual writing frenzy. (Thanksgiving in the US is a major travel holiday that can take out a big chunk of writing time!) That’s not an important criticism. (For all I know, authors take advantage of holidays to write, especially if they otherwise have demanding day-jobs.) No, my main criticism is that no one should write a novel in a month! Or even think they can.

So…you’re no...

Elements of science fiction…

Isaac Asimov made androids and robots famous long before the Star Wars movies did. He took some ideas from Capek’s seminal play and created sci-fi tales that revolutionized the genre, even inventing the three laws that they had to follow so people could get past their Frankenstein complex. (Mary Shelley’s monster was neither an android nor a robot, of course; today it might be called a golem or zombie.) As a tween reading Asimov’s stories (in the early days of the computer age), I often wondered...

“Friday Fiction” Series: The North-Counties Tale…

The North-Counties Tale

Copyright 2021, Steven M. Moore

Preface

Readers of the “Esther Brookstone Art Detective” series know Esther inherited a castle up by Edinburgh in the first novel of that series. She and her husband, Bastiann van Coevorden, have managed to repair it and make it into a comfortable retreat, more for summertime use. In this story, she receives a call from Bastiann to help find some stolen paintings.

Enjoy.

Prologue

Klaus knew the owner of the mansion and his family had gone t...

“Inspiring Songs” #6: “What a Wonderful World”…

Note from Steve: Sometimes it happens that I’ll write an article that’s appropriate for both my blogs, this one and my political blog. That will usually mean the message contained therein goes beyond writing. I hope this short one resonates.

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Okay, you’ve probably heard many renditions of this song, but Reuben and the Dark’s provides us with a different meaning of this classic. (Forget about the snippet heard on that Celebrity Cruise ad and listen to the entire version.) That Canadian group e...

Kurt Vonnegut on sci-fi…

Don’t think miracles are happening when I say that I finally found a NY Times “Book Review” issue that wasn’t better suited to paper the bottom of a bird cage. The October 24th issue celebrated 125 years of the “Book Review,” a self-congratulatory pat on the back to the Times (I suspect no one else much cared). Still, as much as I hate the “Book Review” in general and its stupid formula to determine “bestsellers” that they guard as closely as Coca-Cola’s (and equally toxic), and their critics wh...

“Friday Fiction” Series: The Novice…

Note from Steve: Missing my political posts? This blog now only has articles about reading, writing, and book publishing. You will find the missing political posts at http://pubprogressive.com; they’re still commentaries on social issues, politics, and other topics of concern that have more to do with my concerns as a US citizen and not my writing life. Please take a look.

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The Novice

Copyright 2021, Steven M. Moore

Preface

Readers who have followed Esther Brookstone’s adventures in the “Esth...

Your voice…

Note from Steve: Missing my political posts? This blog now only has articles about reading, writing, and book publishing. You will find the missing political posts at http://pubprogressive.com; they’re still commentaries on social issues, politics, and other topics of concern that have more to do with my concerns as a US citizen and not my writing life. Please take a look.

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Your voice (or style) might be influenced by other authors’. How can you not be influenced if you’re an avid reader? (If...