Robyn Paterson's Blog, page 39
May 15, 2013
The ePublishing Scammers come out to play…
Author David Gaughran has posted an article over on his blog warning about the growing minefield of people out there looking to sell overpriced services to self-publishing authors under the pretense of being real publishing houses. The sad thing is that the real publishing houses have smelled money and are now also trying to get into the game!
Most of this is being done by Author’s Solutions, a modern Vanity Press company David gives these stats about:
1. 150,000 customers have only published 1...
Marvel’s (White) Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
So, ABC finally made the obvious official- there is a new TV series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe called Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. For which you can watch the first trailer below…
Looks amazing, doesn’t it? Gonna be a heck of a show, and I’m seriously looking forward to it. But, there is something that bothered me about it, and I think I can demonstrate with the official cast picture…
Look, I’m not someone who thinks every cast needs to be equally male and female, nor am I someone who belie...
May 14, 2013
Fan-Translated Manga I’m Reading at the Moment
One of the great things about the Internet is that many things which aren’t considered considered commercially viable are distributed online by people who have a passion for them. This can be people sharing recipes, fansubbing their favorite TV shows from other countries, or fan-translations of Manga.
There are a couple Manga that I really enjoy which don’t have a strong enough English fanbase to actually publish for profit, but which fans have translated for fun. All of these titles can be ar...
May 1, 2013
Feeling a Little Evil? – Method to the Madness has been Unleashed!
The long-awaited handbook that belongs on the shelf of every world conquerer has finally been released upon the world!
Want to know the in’s and out’s of supervillain fashion? It’s in there!
Want to know about care and feeding of your minions? It’s in there!
Want to know how to decorate that new lair just right? It’s in there!
Want to know about how a real supervillain handles a public relations crisis? It’s in there! (And I should know, I wrote it!)
The world’s 24 worst villains were asked to pro...
April 29, 2013
Shinobi: Heart Under Blade Review
I finally got around to seeing Shinobi: Heart Under Blade, after many years of almost seeing it but getting distracted by other things. I just re-joined Netflix, and am using it to catch up on movies that I haven’t seen for one reason or another but want to, such as this one.
In short, I found it pretty dissappointing.
The premise is interesting enough- the Warring States period has come to an end and the Tokugawa Shogunate decides that these superpowered ninja it’s been using as weapons are no...
April 25, 2013
April 21, 2013
A Neat Trick for Finding and Getting Rid of Passive Verbs in MS Word
I was hunting for a good site today to give advice on Passive vs. Active verbs to another writer and came across this little nugget. The article it’s from is good, but this part is gold! Serious kudos to the author!
“MS-Word has a great and quick method to finding those “to Be” verbs.
The “Reading Highlight” feature is one of the most useful tools in the MS-Word arsenal, but the RH is an especially neat way to check your writing for passive voice use.
What Reading Highlight does is perform a sea...
April 20, 2013
Choudenshi Bioman- The First English Dubbed Sentai Series
Contrary to popular belief, the first Sentai completely dubbed into English wasn’t Zyuranger (Power Rangers Season 1, in 1993), it was 1984′s Bioman! A Filipino TV network dubbed the whole series in English in 1987, and released it to some success on the local TV stations. Now a kind Youtuber has put up the whole series for you to check out!
Bioman is the story of 5 young people (isn’t it always?) who become the agents of the Biorobo and are given superpowers to fight against the evil Doctor M...
April 19, 2013
Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing: Writing Fast
Dean Wesley Smith wrote a good piece on his blog about writing speed, quality, and productivity. I definitely recommend reading it if you have the time.
Writing Slow Equals Writing Better is a complete myth, a nasty sacred cow of publishing that hurts and stops writers who believe it.
— The truth is that no two writers work the same and no book is the same as the previous book or the next book.
— The truth is that writing fast is nothing more than spending more time every day writing.
— The truth...
March 16, 2013
Young Justice Ends
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I just watched the series finale for Young Justice today, and I have to say it ended like it began- with a resounding thud!
I found the very first episode of this series clunky and a little dull, and this finale was pretty much the same- it was supposed to be cool and epic, but instead it came across as rushed and kinda forced. The cool finale was really Episode 2×19- The Summit, and this episode was just 20 minutes of housecleaning that felt like a really forced attempt to bring together all...
