Adam Oster's Blog, page 38

Book Review: Steeple in the Distance by Deborah Ude

In my efforts to bring you ever more obscure and difficult to find books that you absolutely must read, I present to you, Steeple in the Distance.  How obscure and difficult to find, you may ask?  Well, as far as I’m aware, there are only two possible locations in which to get this book.  You can either get it through the CLC Bookhouse or through the author herself.  How did I happen to get my hands on a copy?  Well, the author just so happens to be the mother of one of my closest high school friends, and I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to give it a read.

At first glance, I fear many of you may be turned off by the fact that it sells itself as a wholly Lutheran piece of fiction.  I’m not going to lie to you, there is definitely discussions about God which occur throughout the novel.  But the heart of this story is so much more than that, so I truly hope that you give it a chance (should you find it in your hunt for great reads).  Set in the early 1900s, this is a beautiful period piece which painstakingly showcases what life was like at the time before and during the first world war for those living in the Midwest.  You see simple country life for a small family going through the crisis of losing their mother.  You see how something which today is still quite tragic, was capable of causing life to be almost impossible.

Even more than that, Ude does a marvelous job of striking impressively detailed images of a life without electricity (at first), phone lines (at first), and the Internet.  Where the car was something that you used only if absolutely necessary.  And where church was the main social gathering of the week.

I couldn’t help but be reminded of the Little House on the Prairie books,   Yet these are not books intended for young readers, these are books that are written for readers with a verbose vocabulary who can appreciate a talented writer taking her keyboard out for a long ride.

I honestly can’t express how fully impressed I was by this debut outing for a new writer.  Every page was filled with the results of dedicated research and endless knowledge of a life that disappeared well before the author was even born, a world that was quickly changed at the coming of the world war.

But even more than the detail and the quality of writing, is the uplifting tale of the central character, Nan, who time and again shows her dedication to keeping her family afloat and alive, although it might (and actually does, on several occasions) cause her bodily harm.  Nan is a great example of a strong female character capable of existing within the old world where feminism wasn’t quite yet the twinkle in the world’s eye.  Where women’s place was in the kitchen because the men were out in the fields all day.  Where the difference between man’s work and woman’s work was more a case of tradition and necessity than it was about keeping people within their gender roles.  Nan, among all this, is capable of showing that just because she was doing woman’s work, it wasn’t because it was what was expected of her.  In fact, over and over throughout the text, she chooses it, because she knows her family needs it.

I could go on and on about how spectacular this book is, but honestly, you should just read it. Seriously.  You can borrow mine, if you want.

For now, at least check out Deb’s blog where you can get little tastes of her poetic prose.

The evolution of man

Hey everybody! It’s been a while, hasn’t it?

Life has been busy for yours truly.  But I haven’t forgotten about you!

Anyways, I wrote a little something that I thought I’d share. It’s rough, it’s just a test of concept, it’s more than a little experimental, and it’s completely first draft with absolutely no edits made on it. But I’m sharing it anyway.

Here it is :

Evolution of man

 

Man starts out life small.  Very small.  Microscopically small.

In fact, when Man first starts out, no one generally notices him. Which he’s pretty cool which.  He doesn’t have much going on, doesn’t have many ideas or plans for the future.  He’s just there.  Chilling and having a good old time.

Things change pretty quickly from there for Man.  Before he’s even a blip on the screen, he’s suddenly growing all sorts of new body parts, and quickly gains a sort of sentience that causes him to be aware that there’s a heckuva lot more going on in the world that just around his simple little swimming pool.

There are noises.  Lights.  And all sorts of cool, amazing sensations like bouncing.  Life is pretty darn awesome.  Even if it feels a little lonely at times.  But it’s safe.  In fact, it’s so safe, Man hasn’t even gained a concept that anything could ever go wrong.  Life seems pretty damned cozy for our little Man.

But then things change.

Change is something that’s generally fairly constant for Man.  From day one to the last, things are always changing, even though Man might not always be aware of it.

The change that happens here, however, is not something that could easily go unnoticed.  It’s epic.  It’s life-changing.  It’s Man’s introduction to the world!

That’s right, suddenly Man is expelled from his warm womb into the hard cold world.  And how is he greeted?  With being made to cry.  Yep.  If Man doesn’t come into this world crying already, his betters are damned sure to make him.

This concept is one that will not be foreign to Man as he continues to evolve.  Although Man may adapt and learn to hide his tears, life will, time and again, give him a hard smack on the bottom to cause him to show he’s still alive.

Because that’s what those tears really mean, right?  That he’s alive.

But this is a dangerous time for Man.  He’s weak.  He’s vulnerable.  He’s fragile.  That’s why most Men, at least the lucky ones, are placed with Caretakers.  Larger beings who can provide for him during this period of evolvement.

Life takes a quick turn here for Man.  He goes from a comfy body-temperature pool where he is constantly connected to his lifeline where he doesn’t even need to wake to be fed, to one where everything is a struggle.  He needs sleep.  He needs food.  Where previously his awareness of any stimuli was minimal, now he is inundated with it.  Hugs, kisses, goo-goo noises, and a whole host of different ways to amuse himself that it’s no wonder that sometimes there can be too much and all Man can do to deal with it is scream.

And there’s also that whole mess with those special undergarments he’s forced to wear.

But Man is adaptable.  He evolves.  And before long, he’s gotten the routine down.  He’s so good at the routine that sometimes he has to remind his Caretakers that they may have forgotten a piece of it.

And as time continues, he learns that sometimes it might be necessary to just take those matters his Caretakers have forgotten into his own hands.  That is, of course, after he has evolved into a mobile being.  One of autonomy.  Of action.

Where previously Man led a life far removed from the world in which he lives, now Man has learned how to interact with it, how to manipulate it.  Man has, in his own mind at least, evolved into something god-like. No longer must he wait for his Caretakers to provide him with his needs.  He can provide for himself.

And this is when the ever-evolving Man is first introduced to a concept which will haunt him for the rest of his days.  Rules.

Man hates Rules.  By their very nature, Rules can only do one thing: Keep Man from evolving into his fullest potential.  So it’s no wonder than Man instinctually resorts to his oldest response to new stimuli.  He cries.  He cries to let the world, and his Caretakers, that he is alive.  That he is here.  And it works.

Where his tears had, at once point, served as a beckoning method for his Caretakers, Man suddenly learns that his declarations of life can also bend their will.  Man learns that he has a power.  A special power that can allow him to manipulate his situation.  To manipulate The Rules.

But this power doesn’t last long.  Man soon learns that the more he uses his newfound power, the less effective it appears to be.  Until the day where Man puts all of his energy into that very same power that seemed capable of moving mountains, only to find himself splayed out on the ground, covered in his own tears, and still not any closer to his goal.

And Man evolves again.  The evolution here is one of many points in which Man’s path may divert from one another, but in each and every situation it does one simple thing.  It causes Man to realize he’s not as powerful as he once thought.

In fact, the evolution of Man is filled with such moments.  Where Man starts out life feeling as though the world is nothing more than something placed there to amuse him, he learns throughout his many stages of evolution that the world expects something back from him.

Which is when Man is introduced to the two-sided coin that is Adolescence.

Adolescence is both wonderful and terrible.  The wonders of Adolescence seem to be more apparent to those who have already evolved past it, but they are there all the same.  The terribleness of it, however, is all too obvious to Man.  Now that he has evolved to a point where he can interact more directly with the world, those Rules seem to become even more demanding.  He sees his Caretakers do many things that he knows full well that he can do with ease, yet his Caretakers seem to want to keep him from reaching his full potential .  Whole areas of his living space are declared off-limits, although easily in reach. Many parts of the world, in fact, are simply prohibited from his involvement.  Items which he may have held only moments prior, with his Caretaker placing the item in his hand, are stated to be not for him to utilize.  The world is a place of contradictions for Adolescent Man.  Contradictions that are difficult for him to reconcile.  Contradictions which will cause him great trouble if he doesn’t quickly grasp them.

And so Adolescent Man learns something new.  Although he is powerful, the Rules can, and often will, strip him of such power.

And he will cry.  Often.  And although the Caretakers may attempt to console him, Man has again been changed.  He has evolved.

This evolution period can take some time.  It does not generally happen overnight, but when it does, Man will find himself a new creature.  Prepubescent Man.  Prepubescent Man is one who seems to have forgotten much about the previous evolutions.  His tears have brought about something that doesn’t seem to care.  He will dive headfirst into the things that interest him and gain as much power over it as he can.  Because here is where Man learns that the true power is knowledge.  His ability to interact with his fellow Man decreases at this point.  He’s learned that he is weak and will do anything he can to keep from appearing as such.

This is also when Man learns something new about his tears.  They have now become a weakness.  What was once his greatest power is now the thing which can most destroy any semblance of power he is able to produce.  So now although Man still continues to cry, he does so in secret, so as to keep from allowing his weakness to be known.

If there is one thing that Prepubescent Man needs more than anything, it is power.  And since he feels powerless, he retracts from the world, hiding within himself until he can find his way back on top.

And then something happens.  Man evolves yet again.  Yet this time we see an evolution unlike anything we’d seen before.  His voice changes, his body changes, he grows hair in previously unseen locations.  His body now produces new smells and he feels new emotions.  Man is born anew and all those previous uncertainties begin to melt away, bring Man into the new period known as Pubescent Man.

This Man bursts from his cocoon like a new Man, ready to use his new features to craft himself anew.  And the world itself seems to have changed for Pubescent Man as well.  He becomes aware of things he had never noticed before.  Particularly Woman.

Pubescent Man himself is a contradiction. His new awareness brings about new uncertainties.  Yet his changed features brings about new power as well.  Pubescent Man is constantly on the brink between attaining everything he wants and losing it.

One thing that seems to stand in the way most of all are his Caretakers and their Rules.  But Pubescent Man has learned from his previous incarnations.  The Rules, while seeming to have contained great power previously, appear to be only as strong as The Caretakers themselves.  And Pubescent Man has learned something in his newest evolution.  The Caretakers aren’t truly as powerful as they had once seemed.

This realization can, and often does, cause a rift between the Caretakers and Man.  This rift is necessary, although quite painful for both parties.  Man is at the most vulnerable period in his evolution here.  He has reached the point where he must find his power and use it before it is lost for good.  Because of this, he must push back his weakness, making sure his tears are no longer holding him back.  He must assert himself.

He must become Fully-Realized Man.

This process in the evolution is difficult and depending on how Pubescent Man makes his way through it, can cause great differences in his interaction with the world.  The period immediately preceding his evolution into Fully-Realized Man is the one which will determine his power for the rest of his incarnations.

But this evolution generally goes unnoticed.  Suddenly Fully-Realized Man is fully self-sufficient.  He no longer requires The Caretakers, or their Rules.  He provides for himself now.  He has finally attained precisely what he had been working toward since he was Adolescent Man….and he begins to wonder whether it’s as great as he had thought it would be.

Fully-Realized Man looks back on Adolescent Man and wonders why he would ever have wanted to evolve past that period. He idolizes that period within his own evolution and looks to find ways to return.  Many Fully-Realized Men will actually return to the Caretakers, hoping to gain back some version of the Adolescent Man that he has lost.

But ultimately, he can’t go back.  He has already evolved past that point.  And he wants to cry.

Yet he can’t.  He evolved past that weakness, although he’s now realized its power.  Fully-Realized Man has now become trapped in a whole new world of Rules, crafted by an entirely different group of Caretakers.  And now he has the added concern of Responsibility, leading him to feel even more powerless than ever before.

This causes Man to evolve yet again.  He is now Middle-Aged Man.  And Middle-Aged Man feels more powerless than any other version of Man.  Yet since he has evolved past any form of emotional outbursts, he is left feeling empty.  Yet, Middle-Aged Man has found a way to go back along his own timeline.  Here he returns to the routine of his origination.  Eat, Work, Sleep.  This becomes his life day in and day out.  Middle-Aged Man finds himself stuck within a loop.  Man is powerless. And most importantly, he has lost his sense of life.

After this loop has run its course enough times, Middle-Aged Man begins yet another transitionary period, one in which Man himself attempts to develop a new power.  This transitionary period is known as The Mid-Life Crisis.  Middle-Aged Man has found himself with a new power called Money.  And with this Money he had determined a method for traveling back along his own timeline and reentering a previous step in his own evolutionary chain.  Through a sudden burst of excitement and energy, Man uses Mid-Life Crisis as his new tears, his new method for declaring that he is alive, only to find that his plan is doomed to failure.

Once this transitionary period has finished, Man enters what, for most Men, may be their final evolution: Mr. Man.  This period is so named by Man’s sudden realization that he is now being referred to by other Men by new terms, generally involving the use of the preface Mr. or Sir.  Although Man might battle this change, he has attained a new form of power.  Wisdom.  He is able to look at the world from an outsider’s perspective, while still being able to interact with that same world.  He can now see the world for what it is: a testing ground.  This world which has hardened him time and again as he sought out power, now seems to hold little power over him.  He has learned how to manipulate his surroundings to allow himself to do what he wants.  He has found a way around The Rules, around The Caretakers, and around all those things which make him feel powerless, so that he can finally find his period of piece.  He may not have power, but he has his own corner of the world in which to assert himself.  For many Men, this occurs only within the confines of their own mind, causing many Men to pursue solitary pursuits.  But Man has come to terms with the world in which he lives.  And whether or not he likes it, he has finally come to terms with it.

And he’s learned to cry again.  Although generally not in the same way he once had.  This man has often shut himself off from showing his emotions publicly, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel them.

And they do give him power.  As well as weakness.

Book Review: Secret Origins by Michael C. Bailey

I got this book a while back as part of the Superbundle at Storybundle.com.  As I whittled my way through my book queue this summer, this was one that I somehow kept overlooking.  And I wish I hadn’t.  Although at first glance this book does come off as pretty standard YA fare, it’s much much more than that.

Bailey takes those basic ideas of what a teen would do, should they happen upon superpowers, and turns it into a real coming of age story, where the authority figures are the established superheroes and life lessons come from taking down supervillains with cool tech-manipulating powers.

But this ain’t no lofty tale of kids going through metaphorical puberty.  It’s a kick-ass book about some talented youngsters learning to work together as a team to show those old fogeys what for.

And at the heart of this first book in an on-going series, is a strong female figure who reads like a real live person who, you know, doesn’t always know what to do, but it still pretty darn capable of getting the job done when she needs to.  You know, like any high schooler.  But she just so happens to have to do this while dealing with the fact that some alien gave her superpowers.

This book is goofy, but serious at the same time.  And it’s seriously great.

Honestly, I can only believe that the rest of the series gets better.  Will have to move those books up in my reading queue a little higher…which means I should get to them sometime around 2018 :/

Seriously, pick up a copy.  Especially if you dig some superhero fantasy fun in your books.

Buy it now!

Movie Review: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Of course I made it out to the opening night for the cage match all superhero fans have been waiting for. And I was nervous. Heck, back when they announced it I was concerned over the scope of the film. As details emerged, I became more and more concerned that the scope of the film would exceed what could be done over the course of a couple hours (which the running time of the flick does exceed, but not quite enough for the story they needed to tell).

When the reviews started rolling in and were primarily negative, I was feeling somewhat heartbroken, although still hopeful since most of these folks seemed to need to comment how marvel could do no wrong (meaning they must have missed iron man 3 and age of ultron).

Needless to say, although I’m one of those folks who consider man of Steel to be a solid flick, I feared this movie could mark the death of superman in film.

After seeing the movie, I find myself incredibly conflicted. Although most of the negatives stated by others against the film, it still has so much amazing stuff going on in it.

So, let’s start with the negatives. This film suffers from trying to do too much. Not only do we get the requisite batman origin story (something that was needed to set up who this batman is, but could have been done without using the way overused death of Martha and Thomas sequence that every bat-flick has to steal from frank miller), but we also get the titular battle, background on what’s been going on the last two years, origin on lex luthor (only sorta),  and a whole host of things that just mentioning could be considered spoilers. This movie is stuffed to the brim with set up, both for this flick and the upcoming ones. My guess is that just like age of ultron had to much studio involvement for the purposes of building a franchise, this flick was doomed from the start.

To Snyder’s credit, most of this set up fed directly into the current movie, but still caused the whole thing to feel bloated. And most importantly, it meant that time had to be taken away from the pieces that would have made the movie make a lot more sense. I’m guessing there’s a five hour director’s cut somewhere that causes many of the narrative issues to be patched up.

The other big complaint is about character choices. I honestly like most of them. Lex was annoying, but no more annoying than gene Hackman’s version… And much more maniacal. Batman goes back to his initial roots, and I could talk for hours about how I appreciate how they’re building superman to become superman, as opposed to him just starting out as perfect. The build of his dichotomy between god and man could end up to be brilliant (more later on how a lot of my feelings toward this and MoS rely on how the franchise moves forward).

There is plenty of places where this movie falls short. I think the characters choices aren’t one. These are some heavily beloved icons of pop culture who mean something to almost everyone.  That’s why everyone freaks out every time a new batman is announced. They have their expectations and anything that goes against them immediately causes an outcry. I think if you look at the comics, you’ll easily find these characterizations have a place in the character histories (just realize that The Watchmen was initially written with batman as rorschach and superman as Dr Manhatten, and I think you’ll note some easy similarities to what’s being done here) . And, more importantly, these characterizations have an amazing story they could tell.

I think that’s even more apparent when you note how very few people seem to care that Aquaman looks nothing like any version of him we’ve ever seen ever. Or the fact that wonder woman has only 16 lines (based on some random Internet source), seems to be based off the least beloved comic version of the character, and she is being touted as the best part of the movie (I’ll admit, she’s definitely a strong highlight).

But the point I’m wanting to get at here is that I think this movie is good. Maybe not the movie I wanted it to be, but definitely better than Age of Ultron, which is a fairer comparison than most Marvel flicks, considering scope of story being told. Civil War will be an even better comparison when it finally comes out.

And I want to highlight that I believe this is a highly superior movie to Ultron. You marvel fan boys can disagree all you want, I’m digging in my heels on this one.

And here’s why :

First, batman and superman aren’t moody, they’re men with the weight of the world on their shoulders. The avengers spend their time playing and partying when they’ve got time off, this batman and superman don’t have time off. And every failure in their performance causes them to sink even deeper into their own personal abysses.

There’s a wonderful scene between Clark and Lois/Bruce and Alfred that highlights this succinctly.

But this movie also shows that this may be the end of that. The ideal behind the justice league, as Bruce discusses by the end of this movie, is that this world saving business can’t be done alone. This movie ends with a sense of hope, coming from batman himself, a character who, in film at least, has not had a hint of hope at all.

Where I see the true brilliance in this movie is that it harbors a literary allusion to the end of the dark and grim DC and a beginning to one that fights to make things better.

But there is so much more to love about this movie than just that. So much. If only people will give it a chance. Sure, the bat-dreams get confusing and are mostly unnecessary, but they do give us a glimpse that Crisis is coming.

And watching lex have a full fledged strategic plan to take down the one man he considers a threat is a lex that the movies has never done justice, and honestly the only reason comic book Lex is actually a bad guy.

You should love this movie because it has the prospect of being so amazing in retrospect. Like Empire Strikes Back. I cant imagine folks left the theater entirely happily when that movie first came out, and they barely knew the characters. But coming from Jedi, that movie makes a lot of sense, and it considered by many to be the best of the original trilogy.

There are some serious storytelling issues with BvS, but it’s also the most real superhero flick I’ve seen. And I think it did my man Supes a heck of a lot of “justice”.

 

Minor updates

Hey folks, figured it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything and I found myself with a spare minute or two and thought I’d give you all some updates on the world of your favorite small time mogul.

As has been the case lately, there are very few notable updates in the realm of writing lately, which is something I’m incredibly sad to admit.  Life has been busy.  Between the new jobs and the schedule changes and, well, just a whole host of stuff that’s been going on, by the time I’m able to actually sit behind a keyboard and get down to business, my brain has already determined the day should be over.

While that is something I’m very disappointed to announce, some happy things have been happening, like The Legend of Buddy Hero spending a couple days as the number one superhero novel on Amazon. In connection to that, Rise of the Fat Mogul has seen its best sales since its release, meaning people must be digging the first book enough to keep reading the series.

I doubt I need to express to you how excited and surprised I am by this turn of events. These are, by far, my favorites of the books I’ve written, but tend to not get as great of a response from readers as most of the rest. It’s nice to see them get some limelight.

As I believe I mentioned on here before, I’m still slowly working on adapting The Long Chron into a screenplay. It’s actually going incredibly well when I get moving on it, but reference earlier discussion of what happens behind keyboards to understand why that still isn’t complete.

It’s been an odd transition this past year, going from daily writing, editing, and marketing, to barely being able to respond to emails. I’m working on getting a routine that brings some of that back soon.

On the personal front : I miss my family. Sure, I see them more right now than when I was a mailman, but for the first time in almost 7 years, I’m not at home all day, where my wife was just down the hallway. It’s been an adjustment for all of us, but one that will be positive in the long term.

Oh, and I almost forgot! The murder mystery I helped write for ECCT met oversold performances, something that I feel quite proud of. Of course, that could have been due, in part, to an angry parent posting to their Facebook page about how it was inappropriate for children (the regional dinner theater equivalent to a book burning?)

Needless to say, it’s been quite the eventful year already, and we’re only a quarter of the way through it.

 

Alright, I’ve overextended my time, gotta get back to work.

Have fun out there!

Fat Mogul vs. Boredom

After the year I’ve had these past twelve months (this week marks the one year mark since I left my old cushy work-at-home desk job and began an amazing adventure as a stay-at-home dad), I’ve had very few opportunities to use the word bored.  Heck, with a baby in tow pretty much 24/7, boredom was something that sounded like a blessing.  Then moving on to the post office, I was too exhausted to be bored.  I mean, I was exhausted being dad all the time, but sheesh!

I am now just a little over one week into my new cushy (not work at home, unfortunately) desk job, and I’m finding the adjustment to be rather…um…difficult.  You see, after 12 months of basically non-stop activity, my body is finding it hard to, you know, stop.

Heck, even when I was working from home, I had the tendency to walk around a lot, just because I’m not a big fan of sitting around for hours on end…but when you’re new and have no real excuses to escaping your desk often, the only real option is to keep that butt parked as much as possible.

Which means, in the not-yet-two months since I left the Post Office, looking as trim as I have in decades, I’m already beginning to notice the pudge come back in full form…something I’m in desperate need of attacking through a schedule adjustment that will allow for some real exercise.  Actually, on that point.  I get two breaks and a lunch.  Outside of eating lunch, I spent that time walking….still haven’t met my phone’s daily 10,000 step goal.  Something I’ve never had problems with attaining just by being me.

However, this is all a little off topic and probably sounds a little complain-y…which isn’t not.  Not exactly.  It’s actually a note regarding the human condition.  A note that hasn’t really gotten to the point where it focuses on the human condition.

You see, for the past few months, I’ve been noticing that at some point in the past few years, I started going to bed earlier and earlier.  As opposed to the 2am bedtimes of years past, my bedtime had become 10pm…that’s a huge difference.  No longer was I spending hours at my computer after everyone had gone to sleep, relishing the quiet time for a  few moments to get some work done.  Instead, I was out like a light, sometimes before my wife was.  This became even more true after I became a mailman.

Now?  It’s 4:21am and I’ve been up for 2 hours because I was awoken from sleep due to a car alarm going off outside my house, a noise that doesn’t actually carry well into my house, which means I was sleeping quite lightly (something I’m definitely not known for, ask my wife).

And I questioned why.  Until I realized that this has happened several times over the course of the past week.  Now, obviously a week is not long enough to really extract any trending data in order to come to any worthwhile conclusions, but I’m going to do it anyway, because I know something about myself.  I know that my brain, when waking up at 2:30, is waking up fully awake, filled to the brim with ideas and thoughts and whatnot…ready to go.

Even when I was at my last desk job, I had found a way to cure the boredom with little leaps into the creative realm…something that’s not possible while actually at my current job…which is okay.  But just as I’ve been coming to the realization that I need to start exercising my physical muscles again, based on a growing belly, I’m realizing that I need to start exercising my mental muscles…based on a few sleepless nights.

It’s amazing how the human body works.  To see how it adjusts to change, and how it still lets you know that it has its requirements (although we humans definitely have the ability to ignore those requirements and cause larger issues for ourselves).  I’m sitting here at way too early in the morning writing a blog post about how I’m sitting here at way too early in the morning, all because my brain is bored and needs to be let out for a walk (which this walk is about the equivalent of letting the brain out on a leash in the backyard).

This isn’t an announcement of any sort of new changes coming to the blog, or new decisions regarding new books.  I’ve still got some work to put into the stuff I’ve already written to try and get those books out to new readers.  But, I’m guessing you’ll probably see more of me on here once again…at least if my brain has any say in the matter.

I’m going to head back to bed to see if I can get a couple more hours of sleep before heading off to work.

Have fun out there!

Book Review: Time Out by J. Cassidy

Although this book is only 16 pages long, it tells a story that could easily have been a novel.  Yet, that’s a credit to Cassidy’s talent, in that she (he?) is capable of condensing something so dense down to so few words without making it feel like anything was left out.

Here we see a rather fantastical time travel tale, but one that, although at first seems quite light-hearted, ends up being one of the darkest of such tales I’ve ever read…and the most thought-inducing.

I loved this book and have a very difficult time reviewing it without giving too much away, but if you’ve got a spare thirty minutes (you know, for you slow readers), I’d highly suggest you pick this one up immediately!

Buy it now!

Updates on the Mogul

Hey friends, family, and readers.  Just wanted to take a moment to give an update on how things are looking for the near future for yours truly.  As many of you are aware, 2016 has been a bit of a wild ride already, mostly occupationally speaking.  Things are getting to be a bit more stable, as I do have a job again and I start it on Monday, and it should allow for some great prospects in the future…even if the present is not quite what I had planned.  I’m actually quite excited for what this new job (which is a lot like my old job (and I really mean old)) could mean.

Which leads me to the stuff that you’re actually interested in, dear readers.  You see, I love writing, I really do.  I’ve missed putting out my daily updates on here and my daily word count quotas and all those other things that got lost due to my change in occupational status last March.  The creative process, although quite challenging for me, is honestly one of those things that keep me sane in a world that sometimes seems to be a little too nuts for me.

However, ever since I began attempting a career in the creative realm, I’ve been putting too much of a focus in making sure I produce content and not enough of a focus on actually finding avenues to sell that content.  I’ve got 6 books on the market right now (not counting the two anthologies that have pieces from me) and another book nearly complete and sitting on my hard drive, and I make almost no money off them.  Tis the world of the self-published author (as well as the traditionally published author, from all I’ve read and heard).  I’m not complaining, just setting the stage.

I think I’ve got some great stories.  In fact, I know I have some great stories, even if you want to discount them for the writing style I utilize.  But I’ve come to the realization that books might not be the best avenue for them to be enjoyed through.  Hence the reason I haven’t actually written anything since October.  I just haven’t seen how releasing my work into the world is worth the stress of preparing it for such.

But I love my stories, and I really want them to be enjoyed by more people than are currently able to enjoy them, based on how difficult it is to get books into people’s hands.  So, I’m working on some new plans, new strategies for the current stories I have written.  I’m in the process of adapting The Long Chron into a screenplay.  I’ve got some ideas for radio drama-style podcasts.  And a few other ideas which are so ridiculous that I don’t even want to mention them here.

I love writing, and I love the readers I have.  I absolutely adore knowing that people are out there digging the stuff I’ve been putting out and I have continued to put my focus in my books over these last 4 years because of all of you.  The idea of delaying completion of The Agora Files series alone causes me a bit of a personal dilemma (partially because I’m eager to see how the endgame I have planned actually plays out once put to the page).  But I also know that with the way things are currently, my focus will never be able to be strong enough on these projects because of how it is all just a side-project.  A hobby, to be completely honest.  And because of that, I know that I’m not putting out the quality of work that I truly wish to be.

So, for those of you anxiously awaiting to know about new book releases, this is my official announcement that there will be a delay.  I’m not entirely certain how long of a delay (especially because I still continue to go back and forth on this, and I’ve been simmering over this concept since October).  But new book projects are officially on hiatus.  At least until I get a better grasp of how I might be able to promote them effectively.

Also, I want to note that this is not a financially charged decision (although money would definitely motivate it to go in a different direction, depending on where that money came from).  This is a decision on how best to express my creativity where it’s actually being seen.  How best to actually do what I do.  I’ve tried a majority of the standard book promotion practices (outside of things like conventions, simply because I don’t have the time or resources to go off and do such things).  I’ve watched my very talented author friends do the same.  And time and again, I’ve found that the market is just so damned polluted right now that it’s difficult for anyone except the top authors to get any sort of recognition for their work.

And I don’t need accolades.  And this isn’t just for myself.  I want to find a method in which all authors who produce quality content can actually be found by readers.  I’ve read so many indie books over the past four years, and I’ve found that the best stuff right now seems to languish at the bottom of the pile, left to rot in obscurity.  And that’s disappointing.  In fact, it’s downright frightening, when you stop to think about how this relates to the book market in general.

Why do you think books are so unpopular right now?  Is it because of the plethora of other, simpler, entertainment options?  Possibly.  But I honestly believe the real reason is because it’s so damned hard to find something worth reading.

Now, all of that gets to be rather grandiose in scope, and I don’t, in any way, believe that I’ll be capable of changing the market in any such scale.  But I do hope to find more readers, more people looking to find something new, something unique, something truly wonderful that just so happens to not meet the standards of the folks on the top for whatever reason (more often than not due to genre than anything else).

So, I’m going to spend some time with my completed works, find ways to make them bigger, better, and stronger.  We do have the technology, after all…

With all that being said, this could all change tomorrow when I decide that I really want to see what happens next with Cyrus and Eve and The Geek :-)

Alright, gotta get out and get some nice clothes for the new job.

Have fun out there!

Hearts and Other Dead Things: A Cake and Quill Anthology

Jeremy wants Maggie back. Rosa hates Simon. Adam can’t get laid. Graham hates cats. Maisie brings her new boyfriend home to meet Mom and Dad. Yuki wants revenge. Jake really should get over his dead girlfriend. Bradley gets offered a donkey. Doris should know better. And Peter calls a number, hoping for a good time.

A handpicked collection of sad, mad, bad stories and poems from the realms of romance, sardonic or macabre, infused with woe or mirth, to make you glad you’re single – or wish you were.

All proceeds will go to HOME, a charity in Singapore which works for the rights of migrant and domestic workers, and against sex trafficking.

I’m incredibly proud to be a part of this amazing anthology.  And very happy with the story I submitted.  I think it might be one of the best things I’ve ever written.

Buy it now!

Watch the trailer!

 

 

 

Book Release: Hearts and Other Dead Things: A Cake and Quill Anthology

Jeremy wants Maggie back. Rosa hates Simon. Adam can’t get laid. Graham hates cats. Maisie brings her new boyfriend home to meet Mom and Dad. Yuki wants revenge. Jake really should get over his dead girlfriend. Bradley gets offered a donkey. Doris should know better. And Peter calls a number, hoping for a good time.

A handpicked collection of sad, mad, bad stories and poems from the realms of romance, sardonic or macabre, infused with woe or mirth, to make you glad you’re single – or wish you were.

All proceeds will go to HOME, a charity in Singapore which works for the rights of migrant and domestic workers, and against sex trafficking.

I’m incredibly proud to be a part of this amazing anthology.  And very happy with the story I submitted.  I think it might be one of the best things I’ve ever written.

Buy it now!

Watch the trailer!