Donald B. McFarlane's Blog, page 9
February 6, 2018
Altered Carbon
I just finished watching Altered Carbon on Netflix and enjoyed the story, it wasn’t brilliant, but it was entertaining, backed by strong performances by Joel Kinnaman, James Purefoy and Martha Higareda along with a strong supporting cast in most roles. This article is not going to touch on plot or storytelling. Instead, it will have an examination at the world of the 24th Century that the show took place in and a few areas that could have been improved upon.
The first thing that gave me pause in the first ten minutes of the film were the suits of armour that the Protectorate forces wore. The uniforms were dark grey and topped off with a helmet which appeared to have six orange lights on it. What becomes abundantly clear about this armour, while looking very cool and stylish, is that throughout the entire series, it doesn’t appear to offer any advantages. The armour is easily defeated by what look like conventional ammunition, and don’t seem to offer any advanced physical capabilities or enhanced sensory systems. The whole suit appears to be mainly for show, rather similar to the armour Storm Troopers wear in Star Wars. Both sets of armour look cool, but all they do is act as a liability for the wearer, and maybe offer protection against environmental threats. As any soldier will tell you, survivability on the battlefield is paramount, so putting forces into suits that reduce that by hindering mobility is very counterproductive.
One of the big flaws in the world the show created was that everyone is just walking around like we are today. Flesh and blood, and very fragile. In the show, a character gets an artificial arm which in turn makes them quite deadly and gives them super strength, and the arm itself seems invulnerable, which aids the character greatly later in the series. If such technology existed, the military, possibly law enforcement, but certainly the super rich like Laurens Bancroft played by Purefoy would be using bionic bodies instead of flesh and blood ones. Why drive a clunker around when you could be indestructible? If all you have to do is upload your mind into the body, why can’t you upload it into an armoured cyborg? Certainly, this would make sense for advanced military units, and maybe bodyguards and elites. Serious continuity issue with this one.
Of course in any sci-fi actioner, you need guns, lots of guns, and while there are some cool guns in the show, a few energy pistols, and a gun that can auto-recall an expended round, most of the weapons are very conventional by today’s standard. And while there are some very cool weapons, the show didn’t put enough money and resources into its armoury department and used props from Elysium, another futuristic film, more notably the AKM, the Modernized Automatic Kalashnikov as a weapon for the evil government forces. While this weapon system may look cool, it’s not very futuristic. Another issue are the rifles carried by the bulk of the Protectorate forces which use the Picatinny rail systems on the tops of the weapons, albeit without any sights or optics mounted on them, forcing the operator to rely on iron-sights, something that you wouldn’t even find today in a modern army. It’s just not very futuristic. Aliens succeeded in this area by creating their weapons, even if they were formed around existing rifles.
While Altered Carbon is visually stunning, and the bulk of the best costumes go to the Bancroft family, with its head, Laurens played by James Purefoy getting perhaps the best fabrics in the show, the program lacks a real attempt to embrace future styles. Everything looks very similar to something that you’d be able to find on the market today and fails to show what a future on Earth will look like. I think a lot more risks could have been taken in this department, and not made all the styling so 2018.
Finally, the last thing that caught my eye in the show was that while 90% of the show takes place in what I believe to be a futuristic version of San Francisco, and while we do see Blade Runner like flying cars, not much else is advanced. No space-ships are seen, but we do get glimpses of plenty of bicycles and even a skateboard. Perhaps some more imagery about how the rest of the populated systems work would have been interesting. Spaceships would have been a great addition.
All in all a good show, with some minor complaints about the world that was created. Perhaps that’s the real struggle with creating a television show or film that takes place in the future: making a world where every fibre of it looks like it belongs in the future, not to the present.
February 4, 2018
Week in Review: 4/2/18
The week is over, and this update is 24 hours behind schedule. And, it will be brief. Not a lot got accomplished this week. No writing got done, no fitness was performed. It was a lost week, as weeks go, but I suppose we all hit bumps in the road from time to time.
I did binge watch Altered Carbon on Netflix, and while it was good, 3.75/5, I do have some issues with some of the tech involved in the show, which I’m going to write a short article on for Riddle Magazine. My first concern is armour in sci-fi which doesn’t serve much of a purpose other than getting soldiers killed. More to follow on that. Shortly.
One epiphany I did have this week came out of the blue: the name of Standish’s home. I’m going with Port Sunlight. Perhaps it would have been more original to make up a name myself, but I like to drop Easter Eggs into my books. Lots of references to films, TV, and personal experiences. The reason behind this may be illuminated at a later date.
Tomorrow, when Monday comes around, it’s back into the attack with great purpose. Standish needs to get written. That story needs to reach its appropriate conclusion. I do hope, that as a stand-alone product, it will be more accessible to people than a long series, only time will tell.
One final note, I paid for a book giveaway on Goodreads, which is totally fucked up, but hey. Anyway, 100 units shipped. Hopefully I’ll get some positive reviews. Naturally when I checked yesterday, the only review I had was a 1-Star review. Lovely.
Right. Time is ticking, and I have to move.
February 1, 2018
January 27, 2018
Week in Review: 27/01/18
Hello Dear Readers,
What started as a dismal week and evolved into a dull week ended Friday in a crescendo of drama. I can’t go into all the specifics, but I can assure you that there is a very good chance that things could be afoot.
On the work front, I crossed over the 170,000-word mark. Not bad. The pace has been stable, not jaw-dropping.
More music was purchased this week. More Synth-Wave, some Jazz, and some Motown. I’ve always loved jazz, but have been in need of bulking up my current rotation for some time.
I put book 3 online this week. Horizons is the second shortest book in the series to date and probably will remain in that position. I’m still planning on writing some short stories, but those will not fall into the story-lines of the Earth Saga series.
The big news this week came on Friday in the form of a very official email from some multi-country law firm that represents a large organisation. I want to leave the names and details out at this point to make sure that the apple cart isn’t upset, but in a nutshell, this company which had revenues of $1.6 billion in 2016 doesn’t like the idea that I’m trying to develop a video game first-person shooter with my friend Brett that has the word ‘Saga’ in the title. Clearly, these people are idiots and have tried to pull this crap in the past. Need to have a long think, consult some professionals, then proceed, but this is not going to go away without some drama. Fingers crossed it leads to books sales.
Winter is still upon us, and the work on ‘Standish’ continues. The adventure is concluding, one which hopefully satisfies the fans. All two of them.
Hasta Luego.
January 24, 2018
January 20, 2018
Week in Review: 20/1/18
Another week in the books. It’s the middle of January, and while the daily word count has taken a massive hit from the numbers I was hitting towards the end of 2017, the most critical thing is that I’m still getting a minimum of 1000 words down a day. I’d like to get those up to 3000 per day, but the juices aren’t flowing at the moment. Maybe it’s the weather. I have found in the past the winter in London isn’t conducive to wordsmiting. I got to 165,000 words as of today, and I’ll probably hit the keys some more tomorrow. A slow steady rate is critical.
This week didn’t have that many highlights, but the one thing that must go to the top of the list would be this amazingly bad review I got from Mr. A Cockburn. I do appreciate any readers honest opinion, pity his review was light on details. I’ll work on my knowledge of physics for the next book.
Watched several films this week. I enjoyed a few, some were not that great, looking at you ‘Eye in the Sky’. Pity that was Alan Rickman’s last film. 13 Hours, Their Finest Hours, The Fighting Seabees, Eye in the Sky, Birdman of Alcatraz.
Got some new tunes for the ‘work’ playlist. Still focused on ‘synthwave’ or whatever people are calling it these days. I added albums by Dan Terminus, Com Truise, and a mixed album called Magnatron 2.0. Epic.
I’ve been giving more thought to what happens after ‘Standish’ is complete. Serious consideration is going towards a rotation of writing one Earth Saga novel, then a stand-alone novel (in the Earth Saga universe), followed up by a short story of around 20,000 words (also in the Earth Saga universe). This would allow me the chance to finish the remaining four books in the Earth Saga series, while at the same time producing stories that can be read independent of the series. Only time will tell, but I am attracted to the idea of producing a few short stories to help with increasing the size of my back catalog.
Right, it’s Saturday, need to get out the door. Until next time, dear readers.
January 17, 2018
January 13, 2018
Week in Review: 13/1/18
Well we’re 13 days into 2018, and it’s time to take stock of the current state of affairs. 2017 was a good year. Got Edge of the Vortex out late in the year, and this year I’m projecting to have Standish and the 6th Earth Saga book Condition Zero released. Lots of work to do between then and now.
This week saw the passing of the 155,000 word mark on Standish. I’m targeting 200,000 words for fun. I believe that the story needs that much to tell a true vision of what I have in mind. Anyone not familiar with Standish needs to read Remnants of Empire. That should give you some insights.
Attended a Bach centric violin concert at St. Martin-in-the-fields Friday night which was lovely. I’m trying to douse myself in more culture this year. London has so many opportunities for cultural immersion, and this year, with the help of the Art Pass, I’ve already got several events lined up. The Victoria and Albert museum, the National Gallery, the Tate’s all have great shows on. I once heard that artists (I’m not sure I’m actually an artist) require Johnny 5 levels of input, and London is a great place for that. Keeps the creative juices flowing.
I will have to admit that the writing has slowed this month. I’m not sure if it’s because we’re back at the gym, or because it’s cold and dark outside, or it’s because I’m not drinking, but it has slowed. Late last year I was hitting the bottle a lot, and easily making 3,000 words a day. This year I’m only averaging about 1,000. I need to get those numbers up.
I am also giving serious consideration to writing a short-story every once in a while, to help build my back catalogue, and to also fill possible gaps or holes in the Earth Saga story line. Time will tell.
On a personal note, huge NFL game tonight. As a Falcons supporter of almost three decades I’m looking forward to us crushing the Eagles. Last year’s Super Bowl defeat was hard to take at 4am in a local pub filled with Patriots fans.
Right. Time to finish this entry and do some proper wordsmithing. Until next time.
January 10, 2018
December 17, 2017
December
It’s the 17th of December, and some time has passed since my last blog. I blame myself for this tragedy. In the last two months work on Standish has continued at a fairly regular pace, and while the target word count of 90,000 words was reached by the end of November, it is clear that there is more of a story to tell than would be allowed in such a length novel.
As of today, Standish sits at 132,672 words. I have a rather clear idea of what adventures and scenes need to be told to reach the end of the journey, but I do not have a clear picture or estimate of how many more words it will take to get there. As my good friend Zach pointed out, Standish is already almost 17% longer than my longest currently published novel, Remnants of Empire. A reason for the increased word count in Standish is unlike other novels I’ve written, this is a stand-alone story, and there will be no sequel. It has a beginning, a middle, and a clear end.
I can’t say I see the novel being finished this year, there is just too much left to add, and there are considerable sections of the book that need a bit more meat added to them to make the story worthy of telling. I’d like to think this could be the best novel I’ve written so far, the most complete story.
In addition to work on Standish, I’m having the wonderful Ivan https://www.instagram.com/i.bats/?hl=en develop a new helmet as concept art. This is a rough design of the Dynamic Operations helmet for Standish. Some work yet to be done, but it is coming along nicely.
At the same time my close friend B (we shall keep his identify classified for the time being), is working on a video game first-person-shooter adaptation of the Earth Saga Series. A single ‘proof of concept’ level is being built and will focus on the first encounter Major Joe Hunt has with the crew of the Epsilon in Minus Epsilon.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HHDXFGY
If all goes well, the sky is the limit. I am very excited about this project, as I hope it will help create awareness of the Earth Saga brand, and help drive not only book sales, but also increase the prospects for the entire project’s future.
And a final thought on this rainy Sunday in London would be about 2018. Clearly steps need to be taken to increase book sales and brand awareness. In 2018 I need to think about re-engaging with literary agents, possibly getting Standish printed out and selling copies from the website, and give serious consideration to where this entire franchise is going.
Once Standish is complete, the Earth Saga still has books 6-9 remaining. I believe that these novels will return to the 90k ballpark size. Once the series is complete, it will be on to another project that will be in the Earth Saga universe, but may or may not tie directly to the characters and events of the original series. Only time and my imagination will tell.
No more wordsmithing today, but I’ll be punching the keys again on Monday. The adventure continues.
