Steven M. Moore's Blog, page 52
February 26, 2020
Steve’s shorts: The Meeting…
The Meeting
Copyright 2020, Steven M. Moore
The Russian got out of his Mercedes-Benz, which he called “his Nazi car,” and was immediately surrounded by his security detail. They all entered the glittering palace where they met the prince’s aide. At that point, the Russian and the aide continued down a long corridor until they halted at an entrance with two guards in front of a double door.
“Announce us,” said the aide.
One guard opened one of the doors. Stepping inside, he said in Arabic, “...
February 25, 2020
Books within books…
Books in bookcases that you tilt to open secret rooms, books with weapons or drugs inside, books that contain secret codes—these are ways books appear in genre fiction plots. A Bible or Koran in a religious character’s study, Kama Sutra or Marquis de Sade’s Justine in a sexual predator’s lair, or Josemaria Esciva’s work for a religious fanatic—these are more examples of books that might be found mentioned in a novel.
One reason I loved the movie The League of Extraordinary Gentleman was that...
February 20, 2020
Useless copyrights?
I often wonder what copyrights are good for in today’s publishing industry. Almost all fiction books (and probably all books) list the author(s) as the copyright holders. Whether authors are self- or traditionally published, what recourse do they have? If someone “steals” their intellectual property (that can assume many forms), is an author going to take that someone to court? Better said, can an author convince a lawyer to take that someone to court?
Unless a book is making a lot of money,...
February 19, 2020
Mini-Reviews of Books #44…
[Note from Steve: Two very different books today—more evidence for my varied reading tastes, I suppose—I’ll read most anything that attracts my attention. One is a mystery, the other is a sci-fi thriller, and they are both excellent…and excellent examples of evergreen books.]
Just Another Termination. Linda Thorne, author. I’d been meaning to read this for some time, but I was distracted a bit by my recent binge reading of series. I’m happy to say that it’s like a fine wine, aging nicely on...
February 18, 2020
The double meaning of “Mensa”…
In the 1/23/2020 edition of The NY Times, there appeared the story about how three-year-old Muhammed Horyz Nadzim was elected to Mensa, that snooty Brit-originated group of so-called geniuses (the story might have appeared elsewhere as well). I guess that Mensa needed some publicity, and more power to the kid. But his mother had the right attitude, saying that whatever her son went on to become, she would be proud of him.
You see, that Mensa and other snooty organizations like Phi Beta Kappa...
February 13, 2020
Robots and androids…
Note from Steve to Cupid’s minions: Tomorrow is St. Valentine’s Day. Help guide the little cherub’s arrows (Cupid, not the saint) to their targets. Don’t disappoint your significant other. Fair warning!
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Czech writer Karel Čapek’s 1921 R.U.R. (“Rossum’s Universal Robots”) was the first story about robots (it introduced the word, in fact), published long before Isaac Asimov made robots and androids famous in his novels. They are good and bad guys in sci-fi and hated by union workers and...
February 12, 2020
Steve’s shorts: Autocrat…
[Note from Steve: A bit of dark comedy to brighten your day…]
Autocrat
Copyright 2020, Steven M. Moore
NYPD Police Commissioner Declan Kerry frowned as he answered the rant of his counterpart in DC with one of his own.
“You’re complaining about his little July 4th parade? ICE has us doing their dirty work for them ever since he made Congress pass that law ending sanctuary cities. And he’s here this very afternoon! We have to have our counterterrorism unit deployed around his damn tower at all...
February 11, 2020
Young adult literature…
We have left the days of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys far behind. Today’s young adult readers are more sophisticated and have a lot more on their plates than their parents and grandparents had at the same age. Although tween and teen angst have morphed a bit, it’s only that the names have changed—that angst has always been present in one form or another. The same can be said for fads and cultural heroes.
The Harry Potter series started out as fantasy fiction focused on tweens and grew to be...
February 6, 2020
Are there problems with “evergreen books”?
First, a definition: An “evergreen book” is one that is as fresh and current as the day the author published it, or even more so. 1984 is a good example. Okay, a historical event might not be current as far as plot goes, but the themes in a historical fiction can be. “…the day the author published it…” means the copyright date of the first edition. For example, my very first book, the sci-fi thriller Full Medical , was first published in 2006, but it now has a second edition. Both versions...
February 5, 2020
Book review of Saralyn Richard’s A Palette for Love and Murder…
A Palette for Love and Murder. Saralyn Richard, author. This well-plotted mystery and crime novel, along with its excellent characterization, is even better than the author’s first, Murder in the One Percent, which is saying a lot (the latter won a prize). Shortly after I reviewed that first book, I asked the author about plans for a sequel. She promised one, I eagerly awaited it, and here it is—and it’s a winner too!
My readers probably know that stolen art (The Collector and Rembrandt’s...
