Joshua P. Simon's Blog, page 14

Music Monday - Simon and Garfunkel - Homeward Bound

Finally, after more than three weeks away, we made it back home to GA last night. More details about our trip coming up later in the week. Until then…

Homeward Bound

Looking Back at 2013 and Forward to 2014

In January of 2013, I posted the following writing related goals. The results are bolded.

1. Publish Trial and Glory, the last book in the Blood and Tears trilogy. DONE.

2. Secret project for Rise and Fall: Book One in the Blood and Tears Trilogy. DONE. This was the audiobook. I’m happy to say that all three books in the trilogy are now available in audio form.

3. Write and finish Forgotten Soldiers - Book One in The Saga of Tyrus. DONE.

4. Write and finish Book Two in The Saga of Tyrus. NOT DONE. I’m only about halfway through with this. The reason is because I shifted gears and instead wrote the first two books (and started the third) in the Epic of Rondel and Andrasta series. I consider that a pretty decent trade-off.

5. Decide how I want to approach publishing The Saga of Tyrus. DONE. These will be indie published for now.

6. Write four to six short stories. I have outlines for three of these. The ones I have in mind would run the gambit: a post-apocalyptic modern world, sword & sorcery, and science fiction. NOT DONE. I think I only finished one short story in its entirety and I decided to hold on to it for a while. I actually started four to five others, but just lost interest. I don’t know what the deal is, but I just don’t generally enjoy writing short stories like I do novels...therefore, unless a short story idea really moves me or I have the time to pursue them at my leisure, I won’t be worrying about them for some time.

7. Possibly indie-publish one to three short stories. NOT DONE. See note six above for why. However, I do have an older short story that is in good shape I might try to put up next year.

8. Finish outlining and start writing Book Three in The Saga of Tyrus. NOT DONE. As mentioned in point 4 above, this is because I switched gears in focusing my time in the second half of 2013.

Overall, I’m pretty happy with the way the year has turned out as I’ve managed to write well over 300,000 pretty clean words (much more if you count the short stories started, but not finished). Although my focus shifted temporarily from one series to another, I really didn’t miss a beat. Because I wrote so much, I should be able to make up for only publishing one novel in 2013.

2014 Writing Goals

I’ve decided to keep this list pretty simple this year.

1. Write two to three books. This will probably be Book Three of the Epic of Rondel and Andrasta  (currently working on this…about 35K into the rough draft), completing Book Two in the Saga of Tyrus, and either working on Book Three in the Saga of Tyrus or going back and doing Book Four of the Epic of Rondel and Andrasta series.

2. Publish four to five novels. This will be the first three books in the Epic of Rondel and Andrasta and at least the first book in the Saga of Tyrus. I’m hoping I might be able to publish the second book in the Saga of Tyrus as well, but I’ll have to play that by ear. If I do get it out it will probably be around December.

So, those are the main goals. I’m sure I’ll try to do more, but so long as I do the above, I’ll consider it a very successful year.

What are your 2014 goals?

Music Monday - The Tokens

Presented without comment.

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

Top Ten Books I Read in 2013

10. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

Finally got around to this classic. Great read. I found the stories improved as the book went on.

9. In the Realm of the Wolf by David Gemmell

I finished my read of the Drenai Saga this year. Gemmell is definitely one of my favorite authors now. I can’t wait to read his other books.

8. Hyperion by Dan Simmons

This is such a weird book and actually took me a bit to get into. However, it is well worth the effort. Awesome originality. Will be reading the sequel shortly.

7. Passage at Arms by Glen Cook

It’s Glen Cook. That should be really all I need to say. Awesome Sci-fi military. Another book that starts a bit slow and really picks up as the story progresses.

6. The Emperor’s Soul by Brandon Sanderson

I was really surprised how much I enjoyed this one. One of Sanderson’s better releases.

5. First Chronicles of Druss the Legend by David Gemmell

Possibly my favorite of the Drenai Saga as it had one of the better endings.

4. The Tyrant’s Law by Daniel Abraham

Each book in this series gets better and better. And thankfully, book four is scheduled for a 2014 release.

3. The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks

Weeks is really coming into his own. I was sort of indifferent to the Night Angel Trilogy. This series (especially this book) has moved him up on my list of authors to keep track of.

2. Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein

A classic I’m glad I finally got around to reading. Worth every bit of praise it’s ever received. And now I fully understand why Heinlein fans hated the movie so much.

1. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Another classic I finally got around to reading this year. Very original for its time and copied quite a bit since (Though none have done it so well). Full of heart and emotion. A must read.

Music Monday - Top Five Albums of 2013

5. Alice in Chains – The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here
I love AIC. One of my favorite bands of all time. Black Gives Way to Blue was my 2nd favorite album of theirs after Dirt. Though the latest release is still a solid album, it remains my least favorite in their catalog. The beginning of the album just doesn’t shine like rest of the songs.

Phantom Limb


4. Megadeth – Super Collider
Is this a different album than Endgame or Thirteen? Yes. Is that a bad thing? No. Not every song needs to sound like Hangar 18. A great release by another of my favorite bands.

Dance in the Rain


3. Ashes of Ares – Ashes of Ares
I had high hopes for this album, and was pleasantly surprised to find that they were met and then exceeded. Can’t wait for the next release. Don’t let this one slip under your radar.

The Answer


2. The Winery Dogs – The Winery Dogs
A supergroup in every sense of the label. Great musicianship, songwriting, vocals, and vibe. I didn’t expect to like this album nearly as much as I do.

Time Machine


1. Killswitch Engage – Disarm the Descent
Hands down, my favorite album of the year. Top to bottom, a great effort. I think of anything negative to say about it.

No End in Sight (best track, IMO)
I apologize for the “video.” It was the best version of the song that I found.


What are your thoughts? Suggestions?

I've been pirated...

No, not that kind of pirate. Though it would be funny if those who illegally download an artist’s works wore this outfit when doing the activity

Long story short, I got a Google alert about the audiobooks for Steel and Sorrow and Trial and Glory today. Apparently, someone illegally uploaded the MP3 files to a website for anyone to download for free. Two people commented on the links asking if the person was going to post the first book (Rise and Fall) as well since they would obviously need to listen to that one first (Duh!).

I have mixed emotions about this whole thing. On one hand, it sucks that people are essentially stealing something that I created. On the other hand, the people who usually steal books, music, movies, etc. would normally never buy those products anyway so it’s likely I’m not really “losing a sale.” Plus, I seem to recall Neil Gaimen proving that pirated works actually have an overall positive impact on the product itself since it is just one more way of getting your name out to the general public.

That being said, my first reaction was neither of the above. Instead, it was “wow, that’s kind of cool in a weird way.” This person uploaded my MP3 files beside some pretty big heavyweights in fantasy like George R.R. Martin. So, in a roundabout way this is maybe one more marker in my career of having “made it.”

Ha.

http://www.flamesrising.com/wp-conten...

Music Monday - The Outfielders - I Don't Wanna Lose Your Love Tonight

I’ve been traveling to Pittsburgh for work lately. While there, I listen to a station that plays a pretty wide range of music...60s/70s/80s/90s/00s rock, pop, metal and so on. Pretty cool actually.

Anyway, the below song came on the other day which brought up a lot of memories from my childhood of watching MTV for hours on end (back when they actually played music).

I hadn’t heard the song in years and as an adult the lyrics took on a whole new meaning for me when I realized that the line preceding “I don’t want to lose your love tonight” is “I just want to use your love tonight.”

Yep, definitely not the “love” song I remember it being as a kid.



This had me thinking that as an adult there are quite a few songs out there that don’t mean the same as I thought they did as a kid. Am I alone in this? What are some other examples that you can think of?

Top Ten Christmas Movies/Shows of All Time

I love top ten lists which is why I do them quite frequently. And since it’s Christmas time, today’s blog post only made sense.

I’m not including movies “set around” Christmas on this list. The list consists of only movies about Christmas. Therefore, Die Hard, Gremlins, etc, are not included because they are not specifically about Christmas (though I still do enjoy watching them over and over again).

10. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
I used to enjoy this special a lot more when I was younger. However, the more I watch it now the more I realize two things, Santa is a huge jerk and Rudolph’s dad (Donner), isn’t too far behind. Even at the end, they accept him only because his nose is useful…not because of who he is.

Regardless, Yukon Cornelius makes this still worthwhile which is why it made my list.

9. Elf
Will Ferrell in one of his best roles. A fun movie that is slowly becoming a must watch during the holidays.

8. A Christmas Story
A classic. Oddly enough, my favorite scene is probably not the one most people point to….

7. White Christmas

Tell me you didn’t at least chuckle at that.

6. Frosty the Snowman
One of the best holiday villains of all time. I use the “Busy Busy Busy” voice all year long actually.


5. Garfield Christmas Special
This is one that outside of me and my sister, few people ever reference. However, there is some classic quotable stuff. “Hey, kids!”


4. How the Grinch Stole Christmas
How many people can make the villain the hero and you love him in either role? Dr. Seuss knew his stuff.


3. Mickey’s Christmas Carol
The best version of a classic story. So many great moments, but none beats Donald’s “I’ll be dog gone.”


2. A Charlie Brown Christmas
Depressing? Maybe. But I have a tendency to gravitate toward the depressing. I’ve always loved anything Charlie Brown. “Good grief” has been part of my vocabulary for decades because of him.


1. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
Easily one of the most quotable movies of all time. My family watches this every year together and every year we recite the lines. Yet, we laugh all the same.


Honorable Mention: Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas
A nice little story that doesn’t get talked about much. However, it holds a lot of good memories for me.

Music Monday - Iced Earth - Dark Saga

Violate


I Died for you


The Hunter


And one of the greatest vocal performances of all time…

Question of Heaven

Man of Steel Review

So, Man of Steel came out on DVD recently which meant that I finally was able to watch it on Amazon Prime. Though I didn’t dislike the movie, it definitely was a disappointment from what I wanted it to be.

I give it a 6.5/10.

WARNING: Spoilers Below.

Pros:

Visuals of KryptonThe fact that Zod was trying to do his job by protecting Krytpton when staging a coup, rather than just trying to seize power. It gives his motives more depth than just making it a power grab.Fight Scenes are pretty much perfect.Special effects are dead on.Casting across the board was great.I like that Lois figured out his identity. It validated her more as a reporter.I like the idea of a more paranoid Jonathon Kent doing whatever he could to protect his son. More realistic.The destruction of Metropolis. This was FAR more realistic considering the parties involved then what happened in the Avengers. I like both movies but when heavy hitters are slugging it out, this is what would really happen.Killing Zod both made sense from a practical standpoint (no prison could hold him) and a Superman mythos standpoint. Superman has killed Zod in the comics (as well as others way back in the day) and in Superman II with Christopher Reeve (Zod died by falling to his icy death).As long as they use this death to drive character development in future films, I’m good.I find it strange that everyone made a big deal about him killing only Zod and not the fact that he damned all the other Kryptonians to the Phantom Zone where it was said they would starve to death. Plus, he heat blasted all those babies in the Genesis chamber…….

Cons:

Most of my issues stem from the actual script itself and the editing.Too many short and choppy scenes left everything feeling like it lacked emotion.Dialogue was sometimes too on point.Humor was severely lacking. It came in spots at the end but by that point it felt out of place considering the tone. I’m all for a darker tone to Superman, but even Batman (in Nolan’s films) had levity from time to time (which makes the darker moments more effective).Despite the great casting, several people were grossly underutilized.Diane Lane and Kevin Costner had some solid moments with a young and even older Clark. The problem is that they were all just a bit too quick (a problem with the flashback method). Therefore, some of the tender moments didn’t fully work.In the case of Jonathon Kent, the paranoia went a bit too far. How does Clark ever develop any sense of morality when his dad tells him not to help people so he can stay a secret. Very inconsistent. Plus, this paranoia didn’t allow for some of the more grounded childhood friendships Clark is known to have with Pete Ross and Lana Lang.Awful decision for Jonathon to die in a tornado and totally unbelievable. No son would allow his dad to die like that, regardless of the consequences. It was much more poetic for Jonathon to die via a heart attack since Superman with all his powers was helpless to save him.Really inconsistent power levels between Superman and the other Kryptonians. There is no reason why Zod and the others could all do the same things as Superman with a similar power level. The whole throwaway line that Zod was military trained so he could adapt quicker was weak. Plus, it matters little since his cells hadn’t absorbed yellow sunlight for 30+ years.Of all the changes in the Superman mythos, this lack of consistency was what I had the biggest issues with.Too many things happened out of convenience such asThe kryptonians going to the Phantom Zone in a spaceship so they could easily escape.Jor-El (a scientist) being able to easily defeat trained military personnel (including Zod). Plus, the fact that he can magically appear and do amazing things to help both Superman and Lois Lane when they need it most.Though they did show Superman save a few people in the fighting (Lois and a random soldier), this wasn’t shown enough. It would have made far more sense if part of why he was getting his butt kicked early on was because he was busy trying to protect people.The whole choosing Earth over Krypton scene really didn’t hold any weight for me. This is because the entire movie up to that point showed a Clark Kent who did not feel accepted by anyone other than his parents. He was alone and an outcast who never belonged. Why would he give everything up so easily? It didn’t ring true to me.The Lois Lane and Superman dynamic wasn’t developed enough.