Jonathan Moeller's Blog, page 102

No Time To Die

I took the afternoon off from writing to go see NO TIME TO DIE.

It was pretty good. Worth your time to go see it, or to see it once it’s on DVD and streaming if you don’t want to go to a theater. I’d say it was the second-best Daniel Craig Bond movie, but considering that I think SKYFALL is the best modern-era Bond movie, that’s still high praise.

To be frank, I’m actually surprised they released the movie. It’s only a very mild spoiler to say that the the plot’s MacGuffin is a bioweapon that can be programmed to target specific DNA sequences, allowing the weapon’s user to wipe out entire families or even ethnic groups. Since that’s one of the theorized possible explanations for Certain Recent Unfortunate Events, I’m surprised that it was a plotline in a major motion picture. Then again, programmable bioweapons have been a very common plot device in both the thriller and science fiction genres for decades.

That said, I’m glad they kept it in – it definitely lent a vicious tension to the action scenes, since the stakes for Bond were both immense and very personal.

So, NO TIME TO DIE is a good thriller movie, and a very good conclusion to the Daniel Craig-era for James Bond.

-JM

 

A CLOAK GAMES milestone

I was doing some math this weekend, and I’m pleased to announce a milestone!

CLOAK GAMES: FROST FEVER sold its 10,000th ebook copy sometime last month, which is exciting.

Thanks everyone! I’m glad so many of you have enjoyed CLOAK GAMES and CLOAK MAGE.

It’s a nice milestone to hit as I get started on CLOAK OF IRON.

-JM

Continuity Fest

You know, I’ve written twenty-seven novels with Caina as the main character, and this week I’ve read large portions of every single one to remind myself of continuity as I write GHOST IN THE SUN.  I’m both pleased and dismayed to say that my reaction is: 1.) Hey, this section is pretty good! 2.) I have absolutely no memory of writing this.Like, I’ve written two and a half million words with Caina as the lead character, which means it’s tricky to remember some of it. If the series goes on long enough, this is probably going to turn up in the books.###VILLAIN: Caina, I have come for vengeance!CAINA: Did you, now…VILLAIN: You thought you defeated me, but I have plotted in the darkness and become stronger, and I shall prevail this time!CAINA: Right.VILLAIN: No clever tricks this time! You shall…you shall…(long pause)VILLAIN: You don’t remember who I am, do you?CAINA: No, no, I do. You were the one with the enspelled knives, right?VILLAIN: (outraged) Enspelled knives? Enspelled knives?!?CAINA: Wait, that was someone else. You had the thing with the necromancy.VILLAIN: I would not debase myself with vile necromancy. I wield the fury of elemental flame!CAINA: Oh! That was it. Now I remember you. I think.VILLAIN: You think?!?CAINA: Come on, that was like twenty books ago.VILLAIN (disappointed) Seriously…###Anyway, time to double-check some continuity, and then to the end of Chapter 5 of GHOST IN THE SUN!-JM

CLOAK OF IRON also underway

GHOST IN THE SUN is my main project right now, but I’ve also started CLOAK OF IRON on the side and finished the first 1,000 words.

CLOAK OF IRON will have three POV characters:

-Nadia, our protagonist.

-Neil Freeman, who you might remember from CLOAK OF DRAGONS and CLOAK OF BLADES. Some of his memories and a lot of his real personality are starting to come back despite events prior to CLOAK OF DRAGONS.

-Lauren Casey, the owner of the best (and only) car & tractor repair shop in Red River, Montana. Red River is the kind of place that Important People never visit, and Lauren’s content with that. But she’s found something that a lot of very dangerous people are very willing to kill to claim.

The settings will include Milwaukee, Seattle, and (obviously) Red River, Montana.

Here’s what I’m hoping my releases will look like for the next few months:

November: GHOST IN THE SUN

December: DRAGONSKULL: SHIELD OF THE KNIGHT

January: CLOAK OF IRON

-JM

GHOST IN THE SUN now underway!

I had planned to finish both DRAGONTIARNA and the GHOST NIGHT series this summer before I started on DRAGONSKULL.

Well, you know, stuff happens. But! I am pleased to say I am now proceeding full speed ahead on GHOST IN THE SUN, the tenth and final book of the GHOST NIGHT series.

Currently I am on Chapter 4 of 22, which puts me 18,000 words into the rough draft. If all goes well the book should be out in November.

-JM

DRAGONSKULL: SWORD OF THE SQUIRE now available!

I am pleased to report that DRAGONSKULL: SWORD OF THE SQUIRE, the first book in my new epic fantasy series, is now available!

You can get it at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon CA, Amazon AU, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google Play, Apple Books, Scribd, and Smashwords.

War comes for an unprepared squire.

Gareth Arban wants to become a knight and win glory enough to marry the girl he loves.

But death is the other face of glory.

When invaders sweep out of the north wielding mighty dark magic, it will take more than a squire’s bravery to stop them…

-JM

The Pulp Writer Show, Episode 90: Why YouTube Is A Bad Platform For Creators

I finally had time to record a new podcast episode!

In this week’s episode, I describe my six month experiment with posting audiobooks to YouTube, and explain my opinion that YouTube is a bad platform for content creators.

I also provide updates on my various writing projects across the month of September.

As always, you can listen to the show on Libsyn, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Amazon Music.

-JM

Star Wars Visions

I finally had a chance to watch STAR WARS VISIONS, and I thought it was pretty good.

The premise was that LucasFilm asked some of the biggest Japanese anime studios to make some Star Wars themed short films (each one was between 15 and 22 minutes long or thereabouts, and a self-contained story) and this was the result. Given that one of the original influences on Star Wars was samurai films, it makes sense to go back to the well, so to speak. A Jedi Knight isn’t all that different from a wandering samurai warrior.

This ends up being an interesting visual aesthetic – the version of Star Wars in VISIONS is basically medieval Japan IN SPACE! The are many small villages under attack by bandits or cruel local warlords. The Jedi and the Sith sheathe their lightsabers in katana scabbards, because why not? Sometimes the lightsabers themselves look like glowing katanas. Instead of master swordsmiths toiling for decades to create a masterpiece sword with a name like Celestial Destiny, so sharp that it can slice a single hair in midair, there are master lightsaber-smiths forging blades for Jedi to wield. Droids wear straw hats, and Japanese-styled family temples hold ancestral lightsabers that are solemnly passed down from generation to generation. There are more modern flourishes too – a robot boy wants to grow up to become a mighty hero ala Mega Man, though since this is Star Wars, he wants to grow up to become a Jedi.

I am definitely not an expert on anime – I’ve seen the more popular Studio Ghibli movies, and that’s about it. Additionally, I very strongly suspect that Japanese culture is something you have to be born into to fully understand. A degree of it will likely always remain opaque to outsiders, but that’s probably true of most cultures. So whenever I have seen an anime movie, I always suspect that nuances are going over my head.

That said, STAR WARS VISIONS was beautiful to watch, and had entertaining stories. I think “The Duel, “The Ninth Jedi”, and “The Village Bride” were my favorites. Definitely worth viewing if you have the time.

-JM

DRAGONSKULL: SWORD OF THE SQUIRE Table of Contents

I am now far enough into DRAGONSKULL: SWORD OF THE SQUIRE that I can share the Table of Contents, which you can see below!

I am very tentatively thinking that the book will be out the first full week of October if all goes well.

-JM

DRAGONSKULL: SWORD OF THE SQUIRE editing update

Continuing editing on DRAGONSKULL: SWORD OF THE SQUIRE, and it should be out in the first half of October.

Meanwhile, let’s have a short excerpt!

###

“Hopefully, we can hit it hard enough that we can finish it.”

Jerome crossed himself and whispered something. Probably a prayer.

“That is a terrible, terrible idea,” said Crake.

“You have anything better?” said Gareth.

“Nope.”

-JM