Steven M. Moore's Blog, page 74
December 24, 2018
This week’s posts…
My posts will resume on Thursday, December 27.
On this yuletide eve, I wish all readers of this blog happy holidays. All the best to you and yours, whatever your backgrounds in this world of diversity that I celebrate so much in my books.
If you’re traveling, bon voyage. If you’re partying, don’t drink and then get behind the wheel. And, above all, be safe and enjoy all those end-of-year celebrations.
2019 awaits us. Who knows what it will bring?
Around the world and to the stars! In libris l...
December 21, 2018
Steve’s Shorts: You Know I’m Watching (cont)…
You Know I’m Watching
A “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco” Homicide Case
Copyright 2018, Steven M. Moore
Chapter Four
Ralph didn’t make it. My knee-jerk reaction was that remorse was the cause for the OD. Chen returned from the hospital to join me again in yet another wait for the CSU to finish up at his apartment, their work more complicated now because it was a two-room place with two guys in each bedroom. They found a lot of young-guy stuff, but Ralph had been hooked for a while. Maybe eve...
December 20, 2018
The idea factory…
Persons I meet at book events and other social situations often ask “How do you get your ideas?” after learning I’m a full-time fiction writer. It’s a ubiquitous question that I’m sure other writers are asked. I certainly prefer that question to “Do you make any money writing?” (not much) or “I don’t have time to even read books, so how do you find time to write them?” (no comment here).
My answers to that first question vary, but there are some general themes. First, I can say that I’ve had...
December 19, 2018
Mini-Reviews of Books #38…
The Hellfire Club. Jake Tapper, author (Little, Brown, and Company, 2018). Political thriller? Historical fiction? You decide. A good and interesting read, but probably not as good as the sycophants’ endorsements on the back cover would have you believe, many of them well known authors.
I often watch Jake’s CNN show “The Lead”; he’s one of my favorite pundits. When he started pimping this book on his show, I became concerned. Celeb books and I don’t mix well, no matter who the celeb is. I lik...
December 18, 2018
Steve’s shorts: Holiday Dinner at the Castilblancos…
Holiday Dinner at the Castilblancos
Copyright 2018, Steven M. Moore
I looked at the guest list for our holiday dinner one more time. Some habitual guests, other new ones. Dao-Ming, her husband Eric, and their little one would be present—two chairs at the main table plus Pedrito’s old high chair brought up from our basement storage. Larry McAdams and his wife, both Muslims, would drive up from New Brunswick and be there. Two additional chairs. Larry and I had become close on a case. Ernst Silv...
December 14, 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 Three
I had some luck at the little coffee shack near Sharon Hill’s workplace. Old guy there named Joseph had a drooping gray mustache and thick eyebrows—maybe the owner?—and he knew the vic as a frequent customer.
“Came in on her way to work most days,” he said. “I’m not always here. Kerri, Ralph, and I rotate shifts, but two of us try to overlap in the morning and at lunch time.”...
December 13, 2018
More on writer’s blogs…
Some are about the business of writing. Others are about marketing books. Some are actually about writing. Still others are inspirational with posts written by cheerleaders.
I don’t know how to classify mine. A bit of all of the above is offered here. Book and movie reviews. Free fiction. Author interviews. Posts on reading, writing, and the publishing business. Guest posts are allowed—I’ve had none, maybe because I don’t pay for them? I give my time willingly to run what amounts to a little...
December 12, 2018
Review of Scott Dyson’s Reciprocal Evil…
Reciprocal Evil. Scott Dyson, author (2018). Horror? Romance? Thriller? Fantasy? The reader will also find lots of very interesting philosophical questions in this novel. The premise of this story might make even a priest shudder, although Dante might have had it right: Hell is real. It exists in another dimension, and you can get there via portals that are usually found in churches. That’s never explained in this book, but it’s an interesting concept.
With the title as clue, the reader can g...
December 11, 2018
We broke the internet…
Ralph Breaks the Internet is a funny movie about a serious topic. It’s not a movie for little kids, by the way. I’m sure they’ll have no idea what a TED talk is, and young computer users will also have no idea about the many references to general culture, social media, and websites contained in the movie (have they seen King Kong?) Maybe the movie is for computer-savvy young adults from a certain age on to where we find elders who aren’t computer users beyond email and maybe Skyping with fami...
December 7, 2018
Steve’s shorts: You Know I’m Watching (continued)…
[Note from Steve: Today is Pearl Harbor Day. On December 7, 1941 the Japanese fascists attacked the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, and the U.S. entered the war against fascism against the Axis powers. We must never, never give into right-wing fascism, here or abroad. “Nationalist” is just another name for fascist, and autocratic demagogues use that term to justify all kinds of crimes, including ethnic cleansing and genocide. We must always be vigilant!]
You Know I’m Watching
A “Detectives Che...
