Gerald Everett Jones's Blog: Gerald Everett Jones - Author, page 59

Book Review: 'Dark Mission'

Dark Mission: The Secret History of NASA (Enlarged and Revised Edition) by Richard C. Hoagland and Mike Bara has to be the most astounding book I have ever read. If only a fraction of it proves true, it will still be a stunning revelation.

For example--
If there is just one artifact on the Moon or on Mars, that's significant. The authors present evidence, although not totally convincing, that there are thousands of "anomalous" and "unnatural" features on both bodies.If NASA has deliberately...

I'm Reading 'Bonfire of the Vanderbilts' at WEHO Book Fair

This Sunday, Oct. 4, West Hollywood Book Fair, West Hollywood Park (just west of the Pacific Design Center), at 4 PM on the stage called The Lounge.

Bonfire of the Vanderbilts is a new novel about a Gilded Age art scandal and a murderous love affair, set in Paris and Newport in the early 1890s and in Brentwood in the present day.

I'll also be in the IWOSC booth 2 - 4PM.

Parking free, show free, air still free while it lasts!
(Bring a big straw hat, a bottle of water, an empty backpack, and some ...

Siegfried, the Archetypal Boychik

I've previously defined boychik as a young man with more chutzpah than brains. Georja and I recently reviewed Wagner's opera Siegfried, the third episode in his marathon cycle The Ring. It's playing now at LA Opera.

In the myth, Siegfried represents the human race, which in the dawn of history is just coming into its own. In this installment of the story, Siegfried will slay the fearsome dragon who guards the ring--the symbol of ultimate power. Thus will begin the ascendancy of humans and the ...

Pre-Christmas E-Reader Wars Heat Up

Sony Reader is now (finally) running a consumer-oriented TV ad, and the NY Times reported yesterday on the iRex launch. You can bet Amazon will hype Kindle to the max in the coming weeks, along with its promotion of the Kindle 3 large format in the college textbook market.

Apple is conspicuously absent, although you can use apps like Stanza to read ebooks on your iPhone. But that's hardly a competitive strategy for Apple. I'm betting they come out with a docking screen for some or all of the i...

Masonic Joke: The 'Lost Symbol' Is at Target

The "lost symbol" in Dan Brown's big bestseller of the same name is a geometric shape called a circumpunct. Which turns out to be the logo of Target Stores. Creeeeeepy!

I bet Manny, Mo, and Jack are in on it, too!*

Many readers probably suspected that The Lost Symbol would be an exposé about the Masons in much the same way that The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons revealed occult lore embedded in the history of the Catholic church. But this latest book from the master of page-turners is neit...

Proof Mayans Knew About Julius Caesar

The Twelve is a parable reminiscent of The Celestine Prophecy. Aside from my wondering how the Mayans managed to come up with an end-of-time date that turned out to be a nifty number in the Julian calendar, I enjoyed this. I'm not at all objective because Bill Gladstone has been a friend and colleague of mine for about 30 years. Here's affirming that the book will generate a lot of thoughtful buzz.
Gerald Everett Jones
La Puerta Productions
www.lapuerta.tv

What Makes a Story a Movie?

There's no set of rules for that, despite what script consultants might tell you (for a fee). For example, a book has some potential for a screenplay if it is an insider's story on a timely event. However, you're selling something that won't be on the screen for a couple of years at least, so the issue has to be fairly evergreen. A law case that embodies a controversy might be a candidate. Then you should learn about what's involved in securing underlying life-story rights. Otherwise, you mig...

Book Review: Cutting for Stone

I have to start by clearing up the confusion I had with Abraham Verghese's title, Cutting for Stone . As the book mentions several times but never precisely explains, the reference is to the Hippocratic Oath, "I will not cut for stone." However I had to look it up in Wikipedia to find the meaning, which is probably apparent to medical professionals. It was a prohibition from operating on stones, or calcified deposits, in the kidney or bladder. The ancient Greeks apparently thought surgeons should

Book Review: Breathers - A Zombie's Lament

(Photo by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid" laughingsquid.com.)

Boychik lit and its nastier cousin genre fratire are both skewed takes on the romantic comedy, or rom com. So the blurb for Breathers hooked me, "... a romantic zombie comedy (rom-zom-com, for short) that will leave you laughing, squirming, and clamoring for more."

Now, despite their body temperature, zombies are hot these days. I figured I was a newbie to the genre, but then I realized that Michael Keaton played a zombie in Beetlejuice,

Book Review: The Poet and the Billionaire

There is nothing so compelling as a new idea that's stood the test of time. Philosopher-author Jared Matthew Kessler has reinvented at least two of them -- the Socratic dialogue and the Zen notion that the answer is to be found in the question.

In The Poet and the Billionaire: A Personal Journey of Conversation, Kessler (the poet) conducts an ongoing correspondence with an anonymous guru (the billionaire), who advises a daily Process of self-empowerment by setting goals and attending to every det