Steven M. Moore's Blog, page 61
August 16, 2019
Movie Reviews #78: The Kitchen…
The Kitchen. Andrea Berloff, dir. I saw one family walk in to see this movie—daddy, mommy, and three little kids—and thought, Does daddy think this movie is a comedy because Haddish and McCarthy are in it? Either daddy and his family were surprised, or daddy just wanted to see a violent, bloody Quentin Tarantino-style movie that makes Wise Guys seem like a little kindergarten skirmish. I wasn’t surprised—I saw the previews—and there aren’t many good films now (that sappy dog story doesn’t app...
August 15, 2019
News and Notices from the Writing Trenches #172…
Weather forecast…past, present, and near future. Steam baths and lots of rain. It’s a great time to stay in the AC and read a book…or under an umbrella on the beach (just not in the thunderstorms). After three recent novel-writing marathons, I’m doing a bit of R&R&R. Some readers don’t realize that writing requires a lot of commitment, but authors are happy to do it to entertain and inform their readers. And we can read other authors’ books too! That’s why that last &R is not a typo—it’s Res...
August 14, 2019
Book reviews: A.G. Riddle’s new trilogy…
Winter World + Solar War. A. G. Riddle, author. Okay, I haven’t read #3 yet—it’s a pre-order with an ugly cover, and I rarely sign up for them. (Why should I make a cash advance to Amazon?!) So far the series is a combo of post-apocalyptic and military sci-fi. And, so far, while a wee bit predictable, it’s better than the author’s other books, which is saying a lot—they were good, and so are these. There are only so many themes in sci-fi, so the stories often boil down to variations on themes...
August 13, 2019
Humor…
Maybe I’m just too serious, but I have trouble writing humor. I can be ironic, biting, wry, and cynical, but it’s hard for me to sustain a long, humorous story. No novels, just some short fiction.
The Secret Lab (it has a second edition, rewritten and reedited by A.B. Carolan) contains some funny moments, if only for Mr. Paws, the mutant feline mathematician who relates a lot of the tale. Other than that, I don’t have another novel that has sustained humor. And Mr. Paws’s story is for young...
August 9, 2019
Movie reviews #77…
The Lion King. Jon Favreau, dir. I’ve seen The Lion King in three different media formats: animated feature, Broadway play, and now the CGI version. At the end of this review, I’ll say which one I like the best. For now, let me discuss the latest Disney incarnation of the story.
The plot here is basically a repeat of the animated feature: Scar is the lion villain, the hyenas are his willing accomplices, and Mufasa and Simba are Scar’s victims. The romance is supplied by Nala and Simba, the pr...
August 8, 2019
Being vulnerable…
One thing I don’t mention in my little course “Writing Fiction” (a free PDF readers and writers can download—see my web page “Free Stuff & Contests” at this website) is that authors need to be vulnerable—in other words, no author can see how readers react to their work if the author doesn’t conquer their fear and let readers see it. You can’t say you’re a writer until you do that.
Even if it’s only a critique group or Wattpad (or, if you have a website, a place where readers can download samp...
August 7, 2019
Steve’s shorts: Prelude to Invasion…
[Note: Readers of the “Chaos Chronicles Trilogy” (now available as the ebook bundle The Chaos Chronicles Trilogy Collection), or subsequent sci-fi stories from A.B. Carolon or me, know that the Tali invaded already developed E-type planets and exterminated the intelligent beings there, calling them “chasa” (vermin) as they made those planets look as much as possible like their home world. That trilogy covers a span of centuries, but I’ve never portrayed the fear and desperation when the Tali...
August 6, 2019
Some what-ifs…
I keep a list of what-ifs and look at it every so often for the next story. I did that recently and came up with a sublist of what-ifs I can now state will never become my stories. In the spirit of providing writing prompts and ideas for new writers and those with writer’s block, I list a few of these orphaned what-ifs here…lightly edited and just for fun.
What if the many worlds of quantum mechanics theory is used to take a time traveler back to a nineteenth century in another quantum state...
August 1, 2019
Common sense applied to writing issues…
I left discussion groups on Goodreads and LinkedIn not because Amazon and Microsoft took them over, or because trolls and anti-author blasts from them and readers made my life difficult, but also for the lack of common sense displayed. I’ve always had a soft spot for all authors, especially newbies, trying to offer tips on what works or doesn’t, but when comments from anyone, including me, expressing common sense are attacked, I have to start wondering if it’s worth running the gantlet. So, t...
July 31, 2019
Review of Leah Devlin’s The Bottom Dwellers…
The Bottom Dwellers. Leah Devlin, author (Penmore Press, 2015). Dr. Lindsey Nolan is an unstable genius with her original designs of new medical apparatuses, and she has a drinking problem. A competitor has a jealousy problem. And a homeless, teenage prostitute named Maggie has a drug problem. These are the bottom dwellers in this story.
Everything starts in Woods Hole, Massachusetts (beautiful spot, by the way, along with the whole Cape), where Lindsey works, drinks, and plays. But there are...
