Joshua P. Simon's Blog, page 35

Anti Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is next Tuesday.

It's an awful, stupid holiday and I'm one of the few guys in the world lucky enough to marry someone who feels the same as I do regarding it. In fact, when Leah and I were dating, I was forbidden from buying her anything that related to Valentine's Day.

Paraphrasing, she feels that the holiday lays a huge guilt trip on men so that they feel as though they must live up to some unreal expectation that society has imposed on women to seek out. Those who do accomplish this goal are congratulated while those who don't are in the doghouse.

Her and I both agree that the true definition of showing your love for another should be acted out each and every day, not on one day of the year.

So, for all of you guys who aren't as lucky as I am...

New Spiderman Movie

I'm a big comic book fan and more specifically, I'm a big DC comics fan. Don't get me wrong, I like many of Marvel's characters but I'll take Batman, Flash, Superman, Aquaman, and so on over Marvel's flagship titles any day.

That being said there are several potentially great comic book movies coming out. The ones making the most noise are The Avengers and of course The Dark Knight Rises (WOOHOO!). I'm really liking what I've seen and read from both movies so far. However, the movie that is surprising me the most is the new Spiderman movie.

Originally I thought this reboot was done too soon after the Sam Rami movies and a big mistake. However, from what I've seen, I wouldn't be surprised if I like it far more than the Raimi films.

Here are a few reasons why:

They've de-aged Peter Parker and made the story focus around his high school years.They brought in the mysterious elements about his parents.The Lizard. I like that they didn't start off with the Green Goblin again. Goblin is to Spiderman as Joker is to Batman. Nolan in Batman Begins used a 'classic' but lesser known villain to start things off so the focus would be on Batman and not the Joker. I think this same strategy works for Spiderman too. Plus, by using a different villain (at least initially) with the Lizard, there will be fewer comparisons to the first Rami film.Andrew Garfield. I thought Toby McQuire did a good job as Spiderman, but Garfield more closely resembles the character in the comics to me.The sarcasm seems to be turned up. One of the best things about Spiderman is his quick wit and ability to make jokes regardless of what's going on around him. The original films did this a little, but not to the same level that I would have liked. Watch the trailer below and you can see that this Spiderman is kind of a jerk to the criminal element which is what you would expect from a teenage superhero.The costume design looks cooler.The action looks much cleaner. I know Garfield actually performed most of his stunts for the film and there seems to be less of a reliance on CGI (definitely a plus in my book).WEB-SHOOTERS!!! Like many fanboys the lack of web-shooters in the first movie drove me absolutely nuts and was a missed opportunity to showcase Peter's intelligence.
Check out the trailer below.



What do you think?

Music Monday - Jason Eli Becker

Taken from Wikipedia...

Jason Eli Becker (born July 22, 1969) is an American virtuoso neo-classical metal guitarist and composer. At the age of 16, he became part of the Mike Varney-produced duo Cacophony with his friend Marty Friedman. They released Speed Metal Symphony in 1987 and Go Off! in 1988. Cacophony broke up in 1989 and Becker began doing solo work, having released his first album Perpetual Burn in 1988. He later joined David Lee Roth's band and recorded one album with him. However, Becker's success was hampered by his then-diagnosed amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's Disease) and he was given three to five years to live. In 1996, Becker eventually lost the ability to speak and now communicates with his eyes via a system developed by his father. Despite his disability, he continues composing by using a computer and has since released Collection, a "best of" album of his favorite songs and three new songs.

It blows my mind how utterly amazing Jason was at such a young age. He had a short career but is still one of the greatest guitar players ever.

Perpetual Burn – Probably his most well known song.


Unbelievable improv solo at a demonstration.


Paganini's 5th Caprice (famous piece by a world renowned violin)


Here's how it sounds on violin


And Finally...

Cacophony – Speed Metal Symphony (with Marty Friedman)


Excuse me while I clean up the mess from my face melting off...

Writing Update

It's been awhile since I've given an update on my writing so I thought I would do one now. The two projects receiving the lion's share of my attention are:

Walk Through Fire – A prequel novella which focuses exclusively on the Hell Patrol
The cover is done.I still need to write the description/blurb, but that shouldn't take too long. I probably won't concern myself with it until March.My editor currently has the actual manuscript. I hope to have his comments back within a week or so. Other than quickly reviewing them for major structural changes, I won't begin the next set of revisions until March. I'm doing this for two reasons:Given that the story is much shorter than a full length novel (a little over 38K words as of the last draft), I know I can make the changes fairly quickly and still get it ready for the April 1, 2012 target date.I really don't want to stop working on Book Two right now to do revisions…and that leads me to...Divide and Conquer: Book Two of the Blood and Tears Trilogy (tentatively titled)

Recently, I've been playing around with alternate titles to this book and I feel pretty confident it won't be called Divide and Conquer at publication. However, until I decide on a new name, it will have to do.No cover yet which isn't an issue since I'm shooting for a late summer release.No blurb for the same reason.I wrote all of the chapters relating to the Cadonian storyline first and after a very quick couple of edits, Leah is reading them over and giving me her initial thoughts on structure, plot, character, and so on in these chapters.I'm several chapters into the Heshan plot. I'm a pretty focused and determined writer, but to help me finish this plotline a bit sooner, I'm participating in a writing challenge several authors on www.kindleboards.com are doing. The goal is to write 60K words in the 29 days of February. Even though the words don't count toward my goal, I actually started the challenge on January 28th, holding myself up to the same standard of about 2100 words a day at minimum. So far I'm averaging over 2200 words a day. If I maintain that pace, it would give me about 73K words by February 29th. I originally estimated that it would take around 70K words to write the Heshan plot (shorter than the Cadonian plot), so I hope I can either finish or come really close to finishing the first draft within the month. Then, I'll become an editing machine in order to stay on pace for the goals I set at the beginning of the year.

On a side note, I've been looking at a couple of older short stories I wrote last year. My plan is to revise/improve them and then submit them to magazines (both online and print). I'm really hoping at least one will get accepted. If not, I guess I'll hold on to them for awhile longer and either include them in a future collection or perhaps, post them for free on my website. We shall see.

I don't know about you, but I'm tired. :)

What Makes a Great Story? Prose

The next installment of my series on What Makes a Great Story is about dialogue. To see the previous posts in this series, check out these links:
Openings - Part 1
Openings - Part 2
Description
Characters
Plot
Dialogue and Internal Thought

Prose is language that is not poetry. Prose is instead defined as writing or speech that is ordinary or matter-of-fact, without embellishment.

An author's writing style is defined by how an individual uses prose to convey their story to the reader. This style is what makes an author unique and separates themselves from their peers. Some writers spend a great deal of time on style and language. They want their writing to take center stage and many craft prose that has almost a lyrical quality to it. This can be a very time consuming process as one agonizes over every word. In the end, such a method can also backfire on the author since by focusing on language it is easy to lose the emotion and characters of the story. Patrick Rothfuss immediately comes to mind as someone who is able to successfully craft a great story while maintaining a beautiful style with his prose.

Below is a sample of his writing. Notice the easy rhythm of it.

IF THIS STORY IS to be something resembling my book of deeds, we must begin at the beginning. At the heart of who I truly am. To do this, you must remember that before I was anything else, I was one of the Edema Ruh.

Contrary to popular belief, not all traveling performers are of the Ruh. My troupe was not some poor batch of mummers, japing at crossroads for pennies, singing for our suppers. We were court performers, Lord Greyfallow's Men. Our arrival in most towns was more of an event than the Midwinter Pageantry and Solinade Games rolled together. There were usually at least eight wagons in our troupe and well over two dozen performers: actors and acrobats, musicians and hand magicians, jugglers and jesters: My family.

My father was a better actor and musician than any you have ever seen. My mother had a natural gift for words. They were both beautiful, with dark hair and easy laughter. They were Ruh down to their bones, and that, really, is all that needs to be said.

Save perhaps that my mother was a noble before she was a trouper. She told me my father had lured her away from "a miserable dreary hell" with sweet music and sweeter words. I could only assume she meant Three Crossings, where we went to visit relatives when I was very young. Once.

My parents were never really married, by which I mean they never bothered making their relationship official with any church. I'm not embarrassed by the fact. They considered themselves married and didn't see much point in announcing it to any government or God. I respect that. In truth, they seemed more content and faithful than many officially married couples I have seen since.

Our patron was Baron Greyfallow, and his name opened many doors that would ordinarily be closed to the Edema Ruh. In return we wore his colors, green and grey, and added to his reputation wherever we went. Once a year we spent two span at his manor, entertaining him and his household.

It was a happy childhood, growing up in the center of an endless fair. My father would read to me from the great monologues during the long wagon rides between towns. Reciting mostly from memory, his voice would roll down the road for a quarter mile. I remember reading along, coming in on the secondary parts. My father would encourage me to try particularly good sections myself, and I learned to love the feel of good words.

My mother and I would make up songs together. Other times my parents would act out romantic dialogues while I followed along in the books. They seemed like games at the time. Little did I know how cunningly I was being taught.

I was a curious child: quick with questions and eager to learn. With acrobats and actors as my teachers, it is little wonder that I never grew to dread lessons as most children do.

The roads were safer in those days, but cautious folk would still travel with our troupe for safety's sake. They supplemented my education. I learned an eclectic smattering of Commonwealth law from a traveling barrister too drunk or too pompous to realize he was lecturing an eight-year-old. I learned woodcraft from a huntsman named Laclith who traveled with us for nearly a whole season.

I learned the sordid inner workings of the royal court in Modeg from a . . . courtesan. As my father used to say: "Call a jack a jack. Call a spade a spade. But always call a whore a lady. Their lives are hard enough, and it never hurts to be polite."

Hetera smelled vaguely of cinnamon, and at nine years old I found her fascinating without exactly knowing why. She taught me I should never do anything in private that I didn't want talked about in public, and cautioned me to not talk in my sleep.

And then there was Abenthy, my first real teacher. He taught me more than all the others set end to end. If not for him, I would never have become the man I am today.

I ask that you not hold it against him. He meant well.

Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind

Steven Erikson is another favorite author of mine who has a pretty unique style. It isn't as elegant as Rothfuss, but there is something very distinctive about it that I enjoy.

THERE WAS LIGHT, AND THEN THERE WAS HEAT. He knelt, carefully taking each brittle fold in his hands, ensuring that every crease was perfect, that nothing of the baby was exposed to the sun. He drew the hood in until little more than a fist-sized hole was left for her face, her features grey smudges in the darkness, and then he gently picked her up and settled her into the fold of his left arm. There was no hardship in this.

They'd camped near the only tree in any direction, but not under it. The tree was a gamleh tree and the gamlehs were angry with people. In the dusk of the night before, its branches had been thick with fluttering masses of grey leaves, at least until they drew closer. This morning the branches were bare.

Facing west, Rutt stood holding the baby he had named Held. The grasses were colourless. In places they had been scoured away by the dry wind, wind that had then carved the dust out round their roots to expose the pale bulbs so the plants withered and died. After the dust and bulbs had gone, sometimes gravel was left. Other times it was just bedrock, black and gnarled. Elan Plain was losing its hair, but that was something Badalle might say, her green eyes fixed on the words in her head. There was no question she had a gift, but some gifts, Rutt knew, were curses in disguise.

Steven Erikson, Dust of Dreams

Personally, I don't feel I have the talent to write something similar to either Rothfuss or Erikson. It's just not who I am as a writer. Then again, few are. Many writers prefer a more straight-up approach to their prose/style. I recently read a quote from legendary science fiction writer, Isaac Asimov, which made a lot of sense to me.

I made up my mind long ago to follow one cardinal rule in all my writing—to be clear. I have given up all thought of writing poetically or symbolically or experimentally, or in any of the other modes that might (if I were good enough) get me a Pulitzer prize. I would write merely clearly and in this way establish a warm relationship between myself and my readers, and the professional critics—Well, they can do whatever they wish.

I think that's what I strive for in my own writing. To be as clear as possible. Granted, I may have a cool phrase or line in there (by accident probably). However, the goal of my writing is not to showcase language. I'm just not the person to do that.

Now, just because an author doesn't write a beautiful piece of prose doesn't mean they can't knock you out with their style. Here are two great examples that to me, fall in the latter group.

Captain Lasmark thrashed through the barley at something between a brisk walk and a jog, the ninth company of the Rostod Regiment following him as best they could, dispatched towards Osrung with the ill-defined order to "get at the enemy!" still ringing in their ears.

The enemy were before them now, alright. Lasmark could see scaling ladders against the mossy logs of the town's fence. He could see missiles flitting up and down. He could see standards flapping in the wind, a ragged black one over all the rest, the standard of Black Dow himself, the Northern scouts had said. That was when General Jalenhorm had given the order to advance, and made it abundantly clear nothing would change his mind.

Lasmark turned, hoping he wouldn't trip and catch a mouthful of barley, and urged his men forward with what he hoped was a soldierly jerk of his hand.

Joe Abercrombie, The Heroes

By the sea, Rictus had been born, and now it was by the sea that he would die.

He had thrown away his shield and sat on a tussock of yellow marram grass, with the cold grey sand between his toes and a blinding white lace of foam from the incoming tide blazing bright as snow in his eyes.

If he lifted his head there was real snow to be seen also, on the shoulders of Mount Panjaeos to the west. Eternal snow, in whose drifts the god Gaenion had his forge, and had hammered out the hearts of stars.

As good a place as any to make an end.

He felt the blood ooze from his side, a slow promise, a sneer. It made him smile. I know that, he thought. I know these things. The point has been made. A spearhead from Gan Burian has made it.

He still had his sword, such as it was, a cheap, soft-iron bargain he'd picked up more out of a sense of decorum than anything else. Like all men, he knew his real weapon was the spear. The sword was for defeat, for the black end when one could no longer deny it.

And he still had a spear. Eight feet tall, the old, dark wood of the shaft scored now with new scars of white. It had been his father's.

My father. Whose home, whose life I have now thrown onto the scales.

Paul Kearney, The Ten Thousand

Here's a quick excerpt from my own writing in comparison to the above:

A deafening silence filled the inner courtyard. Massacred bodies with faces frozen in fear and despair covered the space once home to beautiful gardens. Nothing stirred except for the five High Mages fanning out amongst the motionless forms, each searching for a sign of life. The smell of burnt flesh enveloped Amcaro and worked its way into his nostrils and robes. More than two dozen royal guards lay dead, joined by half as many servants—charred husks against the white stone floor.

Standing amid the devastation, Amcaro's mouth hung open in disbelief. "One Above, how did this happen?" he whispered.

After feeling the immense wave of sorcery, he and the only other mages powerful enough to teleport had arrived from afar. He wanted to help search for survivors but he couldn't turn his attention away from the woman before him. Her beautiful face unrecognizable, her body blackened, there was no denying that the dark red remnants of her robes belonged to one of their order, a High Mage. She was one of only seven in Cadonia. Amcaro felt his gut tighten at the realization that his former pupil, Fei, was dead.

Joshua P. Simon, Rise and Fall

In closing, regardless of your style or prose, the most important thing to me when telling your story is being able to convey your story to the reader in such a way that they want to come back for more.

Whose style/prose do you enjoy? Why?

Music Monday - Motorhead

Motorhead is one of the few bands who successfully blended elements of punk and heavy metal. Just about every metal band has cited them as an influence (especially thrash). Their catalog is massive, but here are a few of their many great songs.

Overkill – this song is considered one of the first songs to utilize double bass drums.


Bomber – Good live version from back in the day.


Killed by Death – This is probably my favorite Motorhead song. The video is so bad it's good. Ha.


I Ain't No Nice Guy – A rare acoustic song from Motorhead. Who says Lemmy doesn't have a soft side?

What I've Been Reading

Despite a pretty busy schedule, I've actually been able to get some decent reading done lately. I think I've finished on average a book a week over the last two months which is pretty good for me since I don't have a lot of spare time. Rather than talk about every book I've read recently, I want to focus on two which I feel really stand out from the rest.

The first one is actually more of a series than just one book.





Here is the official blurb for the first book:

Five days after Owen Zastava Pitt pushed his insufferable boss out of a fourteenth story window, he woke up in the hospital with a scarred face, an unbelievable memory, and a job offer. It turns out that monsters are real. All the things from myth, legend, and B-movies are out there, waiting in the shadows. Officially secret, some of them are evil, and some are just hungry. On the other side are the people who kill monsters for a living. Monster Hunter International is the premier eradication company in the business. And now Owen is their newest recruit. It's actually a pretty sweet gig, except for one little problem. An ancient entity known as the Cursed One has returned to settle a centuries old vendetta. Should the Cursed One succeed, it means the end of the world, and MHI is the only thing standing in his way. With the clock ticking towards Armageddon, Owen finds himself trapped between legions of undead minions, belligerent federal agents, a cryptic ghost who has taken up residence inside his head, and the cursed family of the woman he loves. 

Business is good . . .

Welcome to Monster Hunter International.

I read the first book in Larry Correia's Monster Hunter series (Monster Hunter International) at the beginning of 2011. Leah and I both loved the book, but it took awhile for us to get to the sequels. I just finished the third book, Monster Hunter Alpha, shortly after completing Monster Hunter Vendetta.

As a result of the series, Correia is becoming one of my favorite authors. His POVs are distinct and enjoyable. Although he relies on standard tropes throughout the series, Correia is able to put a unique spin on many of them. Generally the dialogue is great (though there are a few cheesy moments). The action/fight scenes (lots of guns and big weapons) are a huge strength of the series and coupled with brisk pacing, it's not hard to finish these books fairly quickly.

You don't have to read fantasy to enjoy this series. Do yourself a favor and give it a shot.

The second book is called Flee.



Here's the blurb:

CODENAME: CHANDLER

She's an elite spy, working for an agency so secret only three people know it exists. Trained by the best of the best, she has honed her body, her instincts, and her intellect to become the perfect weapon.

FLEE

Then her cover is explosively blown, and she becomes a walking bulls-eye, stalked by assassins who want the secrets she holds, and those who'd prefer she die before talking.

Chandler now has twenty-four hours to thwart a kidnapping, stop a murderous psychopath, uncover the mystery of her past, retire five highly-trained contract killers, and save the world from nuclear annihilation, all while dodging 10,000 bullets and a tenacious cop named Jack Daniels.

This was both my first time reading a JA Konrath novel and also the first time I've read anything in the thriller genre. Needless to say, I'll be trying out more by Konrath, especially within this series. The best compliment I can give the book is that I felt like I was watching a huge Hollywood blockbuster while reading it. The pacing was great, the protagonist suffered a lot, and the POVs were very tight and well written.

My only real complaint is an overly graphic sex scene. As I've discussed in a previous post, I just don't like reading about sex in my fiction so I skipped over it, stopping only when I thought there might have been something relevant for character development. It turns out there wasn't. I feel like the scene could have happened off camera and the story would have been just as strong.

Besides that, this is another story worth your time.

So, what have you been reading?

Walk Through Fire Cover Art

Walk Through Fire officially has a cover!

Walk Through Fire is a prequel novella set ten years before the events of Rise and Fall: Book One of the Blood and Tears Trilogy. Unlike Warleader, which focused on Tobin and Kaz ten years before Rise and Fall, the focus of Walk Through Fire will be the Hell Patrol. I haven't written the official description yet, but you will get a lot of back story on certain characters like Yanasi, Kroke, and Krytien as well as see how Jonrell became commander of the mercenary outfit.

Right now, the target release date is April 1, 2012.

Check out the cover below and leave a comment on your thoughts. Personally, I think this is my favorite of the three so far. Also, I love looking at each side by side. The theme I was going for really is starting to come together. Three more covers to go (one novella and 2 books)!



If you're interested in procuring her services, please contact her at the following:
Brooke White
Sprout Studio (in Houston, TX)
www.sproutstudio.us
brooke@sproutstudio.us


Don't forget to leave a comment about your thoughts on the cover!

Music Monday - Gonna Fly Now

Rocky is hands down my favorite movie of all time. I can quote them all with ease. Bill Conti's Gonna Fly Now is one of my favorite songs of all time and obviously it has almost everything to do with the emotions I get from watching the movies. It's hard not to get pumped up when the first few notes kick in.

Someone hand me some raw eggs!

Rise of the Ereader (in my house)

It's funny that a couple of years ago I would never have wanted to read a book that wasn't in paper. Now, my wife and I both read quite a bit through our Digital reading devices. In our case, we have yet to buy an official device like a Kindle, Nook, IPad, etc. Instead, we've downloaded the Kindle App to our smart phones and do a lot of our reading there. Since getting that App, I generally read two books at once, one in Digital form and one in Paperback.

Right now my unwritten rule is I continue to buy my favorite authors in paperback since I own their previous work in that form already. Older books that have not moved to a digital format are also bought in paperback since that is really my only option. However, most (but not all) new authors are bought in ebook form. At first, reading digitally took a little getting used to. After all, I like looking at the books on my shelves. However, the ease and portability of carrying entire books in your pocket is just too good to ignore. This point has especially been driven home since our daughter was born in December. She is definitely an arm baby and therefore, it can be quite difficult reading a paperback book with one hand while holding a baby with the other. A phone however, is no problem.

My wife has been flying through books at a pace of almost one every day or two lately. I don't think that would be possible without her phone.

Then, there is price….many independently published authors like myself price their books between $.99 and $4.99 which is significantly less than those from major publishing houses. Traditional publishers have started to jump on the bandwagon and recently began running sales on some of their authors where they will drop the price of a book (usually the first in a series) for a short time.

I'm not ready to give up paperbacks yet, but I can see that in a few short years most of my purchases will be ebooks…if not sooner. Besides, there is already a movement to get rid of Mass Market paperbacks (the cheap ones) and replace them with larger trade paperbacks and limited edition hardbacks. Those are great in some cases. However, I can't see paying $25 for hardbacks when I can buy several ebooks of comparable quality at the same price.

How do you feel about reading digital books?