Steven M. Moore's Blog, page 73
January 11, 2019
Movie Reviews #68…
Vice. Adam McKay, director. The title of this movie is a play on words and it hints that it can be considered a commentary about the evil incompetence in the halls so power that adversely affect the lives of millions. On a more personal level, the movie is a dark, satirical masterpiece about the Machiavelli-like U.S. Vice-President who engineered the murder of thousands, Dick Cheney (played ably by Christian Bale). His wife Lynne (played by Amy Adams) doesn’t come off well either—behind ever...
January 10, 2019
Pre-Release Excerpt from Son of Thunder…
[Note from Steve: Thanks to Penmore Press, this year you will be treated to another adventure involving those imperfect clones of Agatha Christie’s characters Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot, that is, Esther Brookstone, now ex-Scotland Yard Inspector from the Art and Antiques Division, and Bastiann van Coevorden, an Interpol agent and Esther’s paramour and wannabe protector. They’re 21st century versions of the famous sleuths, of course. In this new novel, they will meet the artist Sandro Bott...
January 9, 2019
Steve’s shorts: A Long Way from Home…
A Long Way from Home
Copyright 2018, Steven M. Moore
Part One
Kris knew something was wrong when the starship Alcibiades reentered ordinary space. Kerouac took longer than normal to tell her where they were. Usually the AI’s announcement was almost instantaneous and a formality because the starship was where it was supposed to be. The AI calculated and monitored the quantum histories through the multiverses followed by the stardrive discovered centuries earlier.
This time Kris held her breath...
January 8, 2019
Autobiographies and memoirs…
While I’ve been candid in interviews on other websites and in my writings on this blog, I’ll never write an autobiography or memoir. There are logical reasons for this decision.
Let me clear up some definitions before I start listing the reasons. Amazon conflates autobiography and memoir. Maybe they don’t know the difference—or their bots don’t. A memoir is a literary work about one aspect of a person’s life. An autobiography is about a person’s entire life, at least up to the time of writing...
January 4, 2019
Mini-Reviews of Books #39…
Denali Deception. Ernest Dempsey, author (Enclave Publishing, 2017). Why did I keep seeing Nicholas Cage playing main character Sean Wyatt while I read this book? Ah, yes, because of the parallels with that crazy movie National Treasure, one of most disorganized cinematic experiences I’ve ever had! Maybe this tale is more believable than that movie at the beginning if you accept an archaeological organization run by James Bond types, but the ending was absolutely unbelievable and inexplicable...
January 3, 2019
Don’t kill me!
Fiction authors often kill their characters. In mysteries and crime stories, there are victims. In thrillers, good guys and bad die. In sci-fi, there’s also violence and death. So I performed an auto-survey and asked myself which characters did I want to keep alive and which ones did I reluctantly kill.
I considered both protagonists and antagonists (villains) and came up with a list. While I won’t divulge that list (too many spoilers), let me explain why it hurts, even for the villains: if a...
January 2, 2019
Female protagonists…
The “Clones and Mutants Trilogy” contains Full Medical (the clones), Evil Agenda (one clone + one mutant), and No Amber Waves of Grain (both clones and mutants). Sirena, the mutant introduced in Evil Agenda, represents an extreme example of my strong, smart female characters.
From the young Shashibala Garcia (The Secret Lab) and Asako Kobayashi (The Secret of the Urns) to the mature Esther Brookstone (Rembrandt’s Angel), I celebrate what I call the secular strong-willed feminine, as opposed t...
January 1, 2019
Too much time on their hands?
Some idiot in Hoboken wasn’t satisfied recently with the placement of the Christmas tree and wreath over the entrance to the Holland Tunnel. He said it was offensive to his eyes. The NYC Council put it to a vote—of course, the only ones who voted to change things were equally crazy.
Every so often some nuts will want to dress dogs and horses when they’re out in public (somehow cats escape being their targets). And a certain famous basketball player claimed that NASA astronauts never landed on...
December 28, 2018
Steve’s Shorts: You Know I’m Watching (continued)…
You Know I’m Watching
A “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco” Homicide Case
Copyright 2018, Steven M. Moore
Chapter Six
Was at my desk reviewing the CSU’s report. Also thinking about old Joe’s denial of being Sharon’s stalker. Why had he admitted to shooting her but not to the stalking? Took out the sheaf of papers from the evidence box again. Studied them. There were explicit details about what would happen to Sharon. No mention of a rifle attack, though.
The CSU hadn’t found one ‘zine in Joe’s...
December 27, 2018
Steve’s Shorts: You Know I’m Watching (continued)…
You Know I’m Watching
A “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco” Homicide Case
Copyright 2018, Steven M. Moore
Chapter Five
Old Joe slammed the door in our face when he saw our creds through the partially opened door. I kicked the door down.
“Fire escape!” I said over my shoulder to Chen. She took off down the stairs. I ran to the open window. Old fellow was moving fast down the fire escape’s iron stairs. Saw me, whipped out a gun, and fired. I’d already ducked back into the apartment. Looked back...
