Roberto Scarlato's Blog, page 21

Notable Movies #7

From the looks of this new movie, starring Hangover's Bradley Cooper, a man is given a new drug which enhances his brain power. The protagonist is, of course, a writer. Once exposed to this wonderful wonder drug he goes on a creative and lucrative rush to finish book projects with ease, play the stock market and garner a new life for himself. The plot is rather unique. If only we had a drug that could help us with those pesky novels that need to be written. What drops my jaw the most is that he says he finished his novel in 4 days. Man, if I had that drug, all my book projects would be done in, damn...I just did the math and it would still be, for 60 different novel ideas, a year and eight months. Still, good to see DeNiro finally rolling himself out of bed to do a decent roll. He really dropped down my respect-o-meter with these sequels to Meet The Parents and that Showtime movie with Eddie Murphy. I'm not gonna even go into that strange movie What Just Happened? because I saw what happened and it wasn't pretty.
You want to see a good DeNiro movie? Your best bet is Midnight Run all the way. I've watched that thing so many times I can quote all the lines by heart. Now those were the Golden years of DeNiro. Anyway, I'm getting off track here. Enjoy the trailer and, oh yeah, keep writing. The world needs more good writers like you.
Limitless opens world wide March 18th, 2011

Kindle 3 Review

Since receiving the Kindle as a Christmas present, I have changed my views. Yep, the kindle made a believer out of me. It was a tense fight whether I would switch over to ebook reading at all. The first ebook I ever read was Elisa Lorello's Faking It .
But I knew, some day, I would be forced to pick one: Kindle vs. Nook.
As it turns out, it picked me. Out of the many conversations I've had with people, I guess I sang more praises for Kindle then I have the Nook. Now, after spending a month with the Kindle, I have read a total of 7 books on it. I guess you could say that it helps you read faster. It's lightweight, easy to use, simple and doesn't cost too much to begin with. I remember when the price was first 399. Anyone would say, yeah, I'll wait until it gets cheaper...or until they come out with another, better version of it. I was one of those people.
Now, priced at 139, it's practically a steal. Reading books on a device that stays charged for a month? You can't beat that. I hear they may even drop the price to 99 dollars in the next two months. I say that's a smart move. Already there are over a million kindle owners. This new price switch is sure to smash the competition beyond repair.
Out of the 14,723 reviews on Amazon devoted to the kindle, there have been pros and cons. But I'd say that the final 4 1/2 stars speaks for itself.
Reading is remarkably easy with this thing. No strain on the eyes at all. The controls are easy, just small enough without being too difficult and I've always put the font size at the smallest setting. The weight does get to your hand after a while but that's only if you are a reading fanatic like me.
In terms of reliability, I've only had one problem with the kindle out of the one month and two weeks that I've had it. It froze on me once. I was baffled, scratched my head for several minutes until I found something online which claimed everything would switch back to normal once I did a reset. Two minutes later, I was back to reading again. That was the biggest, Whew, that was close moment I've had with the thing. I admit I was skeptical about the thing and even made fun of it here on my blog but, after spending some time with it, and uploading my books to it as well, I can see what all the buzz is about and why this thing is so gosh-darn popular.
Plus, you can't beat the price point of books. I've been loading titles to my kindle that range from free classics to 99 cents and up. I think the highest I've ever paid for a kindle book was 7.39. So it really saves you big time bucks as well.
As for this writer, well, I think I'll let this device grow on me for a while. It seems to be holding my attention and making my life a little bit easier when searching for another book to read. But I'll be damned if I didn't bring this thing on a plane with four backup, hard copy paperbacks at my side. You never know. The concept of a book that breaks is still silly to me. I guess it always will be. But for now, Kindle, you've just earned yourself five stars and a satisfied customer.

Titles I currently have on my Kindle:
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan DoyleAnthem - Ayn RandThe Art of War - SunziThe Autobiograpghy of Benjamin FranklinBleak House - DickensBrian's Hunt - Gary PaulsenBrian's Return - Gary PaulsenThe Colorado Sequence - Stacey CochranCommon Sense - Thomas PaineThe Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre DumasCrack Up - Eric ChristophersonCrime Stories - Jack KilbornDarkness Under The Sun - Dean KoontzDavid Copperfield - DickensDead Men Kill - L. Ron HubbardDracula - Bram StokerDraculas - J.A. KonrathDracula's Guest - Bram StokerGet Some - Daniel BirchGreat Expectations - DickensGulliver's Travels - Johnathan SwiftHeidegger's Glasses - Thaisa FrankKing James BibleThe Hound of The Baskervilles - Sir Arthur Conan DoyleHow to tell a story and other essays - Mark TwainThe Island of Doctor Moreau - H.G. WellsThe Justice Game - Randy SingerThe Last Bookstore In America - Amy StewartThe Life of Abraham Lincoln - Henry KetchamMercury Falls - Robert KroeseMore Blood, More Sweat and Another Cup of Tea - Tom ReynoldsThe Mysterious Island - Jules VerneThe Mystery of Edwin Drood - DickensThe Newbie's Guide to Publishing - J.A. KonrathOliver Twist - DickensOrigin - J.A. KonrathPride and Prejudice - Jane AustenReal Ghost Stories - William T. SteadRelentless - Dean KoontzThe Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel HawthorneSerial - J.A. KonrathSoul Identity - Dennis BatchelderTreasure Island - Robert Louis StevensonTruck Stop - Jack KilbornUncle Tom's Cabin - Harriet Beecher StoweUR - Stephen KingWar and Peace - Leo TolstoyWrite Good or Die - Scott Nicholson

Origin

1906 - Something is discovered by workers digging the Panama Canal. Something dormant. Sinister. Very much alive.


2009 - Project Samhain. A secret underground government installation begun 103 years ago in New Mexico. The best minds in the world have been recruited to study the most amazing discovery in the history of mankind. But the century of peaceful research is about to end.


BECAUSE IT JUST WOKE UP.
When linguist Andrew Dennison is yanked from his bed by the Secret Service and taken to a top secret facility in the desert , he has no idea he's been brought there to translate the words of an ancient demon.
He joins pretty but cold veterinarian Sun Jones, eccentric molecular biologist Dr. Frank Belgium, and a hodge-podge of religious, military, and science personnel to try and figure out if the creature is, indeed, Satan.
But things quickly go bad, and very soon Andy isn't just fighting for his life, but the lives of everyone on earth...

I just finished reading this title a while back and just had to give it my two cents. My hat goes off to J.A. Konrath, a Chicagoan, and a prolific writer.


I once attempted a story similar to this but there were some differences. One, it took place in the Nevada dessert when two rogue scientists try to dig to hell. Through their digging they find a demon encased in hardened magma. The demon's name is Rage and he is accidentally freed to wreak havoc on Vegas. Trouble is this idea was formed when I was a freshman in high school and, unlike some of my other ideas, this one easily slipped through the cracks. I wrote the summary on a slip of paper, tucked it away and hoped for the best. Now, since this Konrath has beat me to the punch, I'm happy to toss the idea away. Another book I don't have to work on.


Now on to the Review:


You could tell right away that Konrath did research in terms of religious theories and underground military bases. It shows. Although, I did have trouble picturing the facility when everything was laid out in arms. It kind of reminded me of LOST. The characters were believable, likable, and flawed in their own ways but there was one character I could have done without. The Doctor Belgium character had this annoying habit of saying a word three times at the end of a sentence. It was just overdone and added nothing to the story except for a higher word count. The twists and turns with Bub's plotting his escape was a constant tension maker throughout. It definitely had a feel worthy to Crichton's Jurassic Park but the ending, I feel, was a bit lacking. When hoping for a more powerful line, all I was left with was a short line that left me with a huh? At one point I looked at the back of my kindle. An old habit I have. When a book ends unexpectedly I have to look at the back, see if there are any more pages. But, hey, it kept me reading right up until the end so it did the job well. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

The First Rejection

When asked why I didn't just send my stories or novels out to magazines and publishers, I've told people I've thought about it. The truth was I was too tired, too scared, and too shy. But all that changed when I gathered up enough guts to send out 31 book proposals to 31 New York Literary Agents. Soon, I'll send eight of my short stories off to magazines.

The post office said that the envelopes would arrive no later than Tuesday. Well, it's Tuesday and I've recently received my first rejection letter by email. I don't know why but I'm so excited about this. In the same way that a man hasn't worked hard until he's gotten his hands dirty, I have now become a writer who has at least gotten rejected once. Oh well. 30 agents left. We'll see who bites. I feel like framing the letter. Is that weird?

In High Gear

Today, with a fire under my ass, I drove to my nearest post office and put the stamps on 31 envelopes filled with book proposals which I wanted to sent off to various New York Literary Agents. According to the worker who took the huge stack off my hands, the envelopes would arrive to the selected agents no later than Tuesday. I figure, at this point in my writing career, I have to kick it up into high gear.
Here are some things I've done so far: I've already started podcasting my short stories on Mevio.com as well as Podbean.com. I miss reading into a microphone.
Recorded promos have been sent to three authors I know. Hopefully this will help with exposure.
As for writing, I've been working on a few good short stories. So far classical music while writing at the coffee shop seems to be working.
A funny thing happened while I was rooting through my writing desk. People, sometimes it pays to be messy. Over the years, any idea or scrap of paper goes into a file. While searching through them, I found two partial short stories that were already written. They were just never typed on the computer. How do you like that? Some of my work is already done years before I decided to come back to it again. Also, while searching on my flash drive I found a doozy. Currently there are five or six drafts of For What It's Worth . On one of the drafts, I found a short story about a father and son team that go camping with disastrous results. I remember writing the story and being plagued with doubts on whether it would stand on its own or not. Eventually I decided to hang it up for now. But, looking back on the three page opening scene, I fell back in love with the characters. Something tells me this story just made a miraculous recovery and might appear in the second collection. Very excited about that.
To close, I'll leave you with this - When you are blocked, talk to someone. Just a few hours ago I told my wife how all these ideas are just to much and that I'm starting to let my reading habit, reading seven books at once, leak into my writing habits, which, of course, is working on seven books at once. She asked why I work on so many. "Well," I say, "Some ideas are challenging while others are easy and I just don't know where to start." It is at this time that she lays on me a beautiful yet simple zen-like, sage piece of advice: "Why don't you start with the easy ones first? Work your way up."
Priceless. It was just what I needed.

Further Adventures of Stephen Markley

As you may remember, from a previous book, Stephen Markley is, what I think, the modern day author should be. He's honest, up front, and has such a sharp wit, it cuts like butta. Here he does a reading in New York. Help his sales out and buy his book. It's re-readable and highly entertaining.
Click HERE to buy his book.

Updates On Progress

Happy to say that this is a post filled with updates on how the writing is coming. Thanks to my brand new writing spot, and a choice selection of psych-up music, I've been writing regularly. Mainly short stories but even that, in my book, is progress. As is with every writer, the longer you stray from the actual work, the more the writing rots or grows stale. But now, back in the rhythm, kicking ass and taking names, I feel re-energized. Here are the updates.
What I'm working on right now: So far, the two short story collections are chugging along. I'm 187 pages into the second collection with about 20 short stories. The third collection isn't too far behind with a whopping 135 pages. But the third one will be significantly heavier, considering there are 25 short stories in that collection. We'll see. Maybe by the end of the month I will be able to finish one of them.The Next Novel: As for my follow-up novel, I have not written another word of it. It's currently stuck at 40 pages. The problem with this project is that a lot of the research is grounded with the setting. In order to contain the plot-elements, it has to be set in New York. Right now I have to set aside some time when I can go to the library and check out several books on the city. Maybe after I finish one of the collections, I'll come back to it. But something tells me it's going to be a while. So, hold on, readers. It'll get there someday.The new Podcast: I'm sure you've probably noticed the player to the right of this blog. I'm always trying to find new readers so I've decided to podcast a good chunk of my short stories. Hopefully, this plan will work seeing how we're an iPod, iPad, iEverything nation.Prison Idea: Lately, I've been getting the itch to write a prison novel. Something with one main character, following his life until the end of his sentence. Now, I've read stories that establish this genre perfectly like Shawshank Redemption. I've also read about half of American Gods, where the main character did a stretch in jail, only to learn that his wife died while he was serving. But something in me wants to write a long, literary novel which encompasses the games, currency and language of prison life from start to finish. I guess I get really curious when I view a common man imprisoned, able to read anything under the sun because that's all you have to pass the time. Plus, considering some of the movies I've seen and books I've read, there's always an argument that prison life doesn't make a criminal sorrier...it just makes them that much smarter. This idea needs more structure but, who knows, I may not even follow an outline.The Kindle: I've been reading a lot on my kindle lately. It's just so damn addictive. I'm so thrilled that there are thousands of classics for free. We'll see how many I get through by the time the year is up.
That's all for now, readers. Check back often, hope to entertain you soon.
"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read."
— Groucho Marx

Format Problem Fixed

Hey everybody. All three of my titles have been on kindle for quite some time now and I've never been able to figure out the formating until now. Before, I uploaded Mr. Dead Eyes , Wearing Donnie Torr and For What It's Worth in PDF or as a Word Document. This, I've found, throws off any form of justification and tabs you document may have. So, on your kindle, it looks like a bunch of words mashed together, no spaces or breaks which can get pretty annoying and, frankly, hasn't worked well for an author unless you're the next James Frey.
The best perfect format is (.MOBI)
It's the only format I've found that helped me out of this jam.
I just recently uploaded Wearing on the new file format, tested it on my kindle and am happy to say it looks more professional. In the next day or two I will upload the latest formats to the other two. Thanks for being so patient.
Pleasant dreams.

2010: That's A Wrap

Three years this blog has been up. Three years and three books.
The year certainly went by fast
What have we learned for the year? Well, I've learned that a person cannot read 10,000 books in one year. I've only been able to read 300. I've also learned that I set my sights too high. I also did the same thing with wanting to find a traditional publisher. Hours before the new year are the only thing between me and that dream and I doubt that someone's going to be calling me up from St. Martin's Press or Random House. But that doesn't bother me. I've learned a lot by designing, formating and writing my own books. When you're that in-control of a project, it makes you self-reliant. If a publisher picks me up, I guess that's okay, but in the meantime, these books will go public when they are finished, edited and on Amazon when I choose.
As for sales, only a handful of print books have been sold. Some customers have bought used copies but, little did they know, I don't get paid royalties for used copies. They have to be bought new. On the upside, the ebooks have been selling quite well. I guess the way of e-readers has really opened more readers up. Here's what I've garnered so far. That is to say, here are my profits for the year:
Smashwords - 1,414 ebooks: Price Free.
Amazon Kindle Sales - 73 ebooks: Price 99 cents each
B&N Nook Sales - 3 ebooks: Price 99 cents each
So, as far as I can see, I've sold close to 1,500 ebooks on my own and maybe 15 to 20 print books. Not bad.
Calculating my earnings, with the 35 cent royalty for amazon, I've made about$26.75
Yep. That's the life of a writer, starting out, anyways. But this year I'm going to step up my efforts, open up a podcast and see how far that takes me. Page by page, I've been able to type up some stories, now thanks to my new secret writing place. We'll see if I can change these numbers.
Happy New Year everyone! Drive safe, live large, chase your dream.
;)

Ur In For It Now

With King, the mighty, word-savvy, page-turning King - You get what you paid for. I'm no stranger to Stephen King. I remember where and when I first met him. I was a sophomore in high school, just learning how to go through my lines (only four) in a production called Up The Down Staircase. I played a kid named Edward which was originally written for a black kid but, for me, they changed it to Italian.
The stage was occupied with twenty or so school desks. Every kid who walked on stage held some sort of prop. Figured I might need one too. I rooted in the back, looking through some boxes, when I found him. The weathered and dusty paperback of Insomnia was heavy, to say the least. I had trouble sleeping so it only felt natural to read the book. I asked one of the members of the faculty if I could borrow it but they just said, "Take it."
I plowed through that thing in one week, sometimes taping some of the pages together because there was a section, near the end, where four of five pages had been ripped out and stuffed back in.
That's when I first met King.
Now, a Kindle loaded with over thirty books later, I was ready to read that elusive, exclusive, ever seducing book called UR.
The story follows a 35 year old lit professor who, out of spite, buys a kindle. The kindle arrives and looks like all the others expect for one thing. It's pink. And it apparently has a direct line to different, literary dimensions. What if Hemingway wrote just one more book? Or what if Shakespeare wrote five more plays before his death? Even though this title is a novella, it works at an even pace, getting you comfortable with the story as well as the new techno gizmo that is the Kindle. I could just imagine King tinkering with it, jumping from his seat and bolting to his writing den to pound out the story as he examines every button on the kindle. But that's the draw of King. He gets us where we live. He always starts fresh with what is new, foreign or, quite possibly, alien to us.
I mean, think of it. A plastic box which holds thousands of books that you can just have zapped to you every time you press a button? Imagine what it was like in that pitch room. Look out Radio and TV, there's a new revolution in town. But such is the Pop of King. He tackles the things of today, haunts them tomorrow then serves them to us thick with the aroma of mystery, intrigue and horror. Twice already he's terrified me with vintage cars: From a Buick 8, Christine. He's turned the common cold into a plague: The Stand. He's turned our phones against us: Cell. Our dogs are against us: Cujo. Any way you slice it; nothing is safe from King.
With UR (read in two sittings) I'm glad King has stuck to his guns when it comes to having story be the key driving point and wait for plot later. There were a couple of times where I thought I could predict the outcome, but he cornered me with my suggestions and addressed what we were all thinking in the story. Not only does the Kindle device have lost literary titles but it also has alternative newspaper articles...I'm going to leave it at that. One reviewer called it brain candy and I'm willing to agree with them. It was so intriguing I didn't want it to end. All I can say is that I can see a second part to this fantastic tale. But what would the title be? Kindle 2: UR IT? Or maybe Pinky's Revenge? In any case, this is one title I'm willing to re-read over and over again.
By the way, there were, in King's own way, hints of other books. I'm noticing a lot of connections and crossovers in his works. Most notably, the Dark Tower Series has some relevance to the plot. I guess there's never a stand alone work when you're as prolific as the master storyteller himself.
Thanks, King. I've had the damn Kindle for less than two days and already you have me edging away from it in some cases and watching it from a distance the next. Will I discover another, terrifying literary underworld? One can only hope.