I.S. Anderson's Blog, page 2
September 5, 2013
50 Shades casting reaction
A couple days ago, E.L. James went on Twitter and announced that there will be a 50 Shades movie, and that the parts of Christian and Anna were cast. Playing Christian Grey will be Charlie Hunnam, a television actor known mostly for his work on Sons of Anarchy. Playing Anastasia Steele will be Dakota Johnson, an actress who has had several minor roles in different movies and is the daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith.
When I first heard this news, I had to look them both up on Google to find out who they are. When the fans learned of this, there was an immediate outrage. People on Twitter claimed they both were not “Hot enough.” There was also a petition on change.org to get the cast changed. It had over 7300 signatures. Dana Brunetti, the producer of 50 Shades responded saying that there are factors that go into casting other than how the people look, which is true.
I do understand people’s disappointment. To be honest I did have my heart set on Ian Somerhalder as Christian. I also think Matt Bomer would have been a good pick. Many 50 shades fans wanted to see Alexis Bledel as Anna, another good choice in my opinion. I would have liked to see Mila Kunis or Emilia Clarke as Anna.
There is plenty of disappointment to be had by all. However, what I would really like to address is that despite the disappointment in the initial casting, we should not just let this sway whether or not we want to see this movie. There are some things I would like to point out about the casting process, what the movie will demand of the actors, and budget constraints that will hopefully, quell some initial concerns you have.
1. Have faith in Hollywood makeup artists.
I think what people are forgetting is that the pictures of Johnson and Hunnam right now, are not how they are going to look in the movie. Actors dye their hair all the time. Right now Hunnam looks ready to play Thor, or a biker thug… Give a stylist a few hours, and Hunnam’s hair will be dark and quaffed. His face will be shaved clean, and he will be in a suit. Johnson will dye her hair brunette just like Jennifer Lawrence did. They will use make up to make her eyes look bigger and any other trait you may expect from Anna.
2. These roles will require nudity, to say the least.
Everyone knows the story of 50 shades and the lifestyle it portrays. These two actors are going to have to be naked on screen at some point. They are also going to have to be in scenes that push the boundaries of sexual explicitness. Things like this make actors nervous. Believe it or not, even Hollywood actors can have body image issues. More than that, they also have a reputation to consider. Actors easily fall into the trap of being typecast. When people see actors playing a certain role, they expect them to be that way in real life. People wanted Alexis Bledel to play Anna, but she used to be the clean cut kid from Gilmore Girls. I think that would have left an uneasy feeling in most people who remember her from that show.
3. Well-known actors require more money.
Between the body image issues, the reputation, and the lifestyle they will need to highlight, actors will need to be paid more for these things. Well-established actors will require even more money. Actors who already have busy careers and established reputations have less to gain than actors who are still looking for that role that catapults them to the A-list. How much farther would Ian Somerhalder or Emilia Clarke be on the Hollywood food chain if they did this movie? For Hunnam and Johnson, this is a big enough opportunity for them that outweigh the difficulties they will face taking on these roles. If they manage to do the characters enough justice, it will mean great things in their future.
We always have ideas in our mind as to who should play what role in the movies we watch. I even have picked out a cast for Modern Disciples. However, we need to keep in mind that these are fantasies. In the real world, parts are played by actors who not only do not belong to us, but also need to think about what is best for them.
When I first heard this news, I had to look them both up on Google to find out who they are. When the fans learned of this, there was an immediate outrage. People on Twitter claimed they both were not “Hot enough.” There was also a petition on change.org to get the cast changed. It had over 7300 signatures. Dana Brunetti, the producer of 50 Shades responded saying that there are factors that go into casting other than how the people look, which is true.
I do understand people’s disappointment. To be honest I did have my heart set on Ian Somerhalder as Christian. I also think Matt Bomer would have been a good pick. Many 50 shades fans wanted to see Alexis Bledel as Anna, another good choice in my opinion. I would have liked to see Mila Kunis or Emilia Clarke as Anna.
There is plenty of disappointment to be had by all. However, what I would really like to address is that despite the disappointment in the initial casting, we should not just let this sway whether or not we want to see this movie. There are some things I would like to point out about the casting process, what the movie will demand of the actors, and budget constraints that will hopefully, quell some initial concerns you have.
1. Have faith in Hollywood makeup artists.
I think what people are forgetting is that the pictures of Johnson and Hunnam right now, are not how they are going to look in the movie. Actors dye their hair all the time. Right now Hunnam looks ready to play Thor, or a biker thug… Give a stylist a few hours, and Hunnam’s hair will be dark and quaffed. His face will be shaved clean, and he will be in a suit. Johnson will dye her hair brunette just like Jennifer Lawrence did. They will use make up to make her eyes look bigger and any other trait you may expect from Anna.
2. These roles will require nudity, to say the least.
Everyone knows the story of 50 shades and the lifestyle it portrays. These two actors are going to have to be naked on screen at some point. They are also going to have to be in scenes that push the boundaries of sexual explicitness. Things like this make actors nervous. Believe it or not, even Hollywood actors can have body image issues. More than that, they also have a reputation to consider. Actors easily fall into the trap of being typecast. When people see actors playing a certain role, they expect them to be that way in real life. People wanted Alexis Bledel to play Anna, but she used to be the clean cut kid from Gilmore Girls. I think that would have left an uneasy feeling in most people who remember her from that show.
3. Well-known actors require more money.
Between the body image issues, the reputation, and the lifestyle they will need to highlight, actors will need to be paid more for these things. Well-established actors will require even more money. Actors who already have busy careers and established reputations have less to gain than actors who are still looking for that role that catapults them to the A-list. How much farther would Ian Somerhalder or Emilia Clarke be on the Hollywood food chain if they did this movie? For Hunnam and Johnson, this is a big enough opportunity for them that outweigh the difficulties they will face taking on these roles. If they manage to do the characters enough justice, it will mean great things in their future.
We always have ideas in our mind as to who should play what role in the movies we watch. I even have picked out a cast for Modern Disciples. However, we need to keep in mind that these are fantasies. In the real world, parts are played by actors who not only do not belong to us, but also need to think about what is best for them.
August 6, 2013
We can learn from movies (if we pay attention.)
It is better to struggle through life than to exist in apathy. That is a lesson I learned watching two movies. One was Batman begins staring Christian Bale. The second one was Cyberbully, a serious look at online bullying and the effects it has on people today.
The line that really sticks out for me in Batman Begins is from Bruce Wayne. When he is returning to Gotham after his training with the League of Shadows, he tells Alfred, “People need dramatic examples to shake them out of Apathy.” This is a statement I thought true for a very long time. To an extent, it is, but unfortunately, sometimes not even dramatic examples can make people take notice.
This idea ties into the second movie I brought up. In the movie Cyberbully, a girl is bullied on line to the point where she attempts to commit suicide. She lives, and her mother takes action to try to stop the bullying. She goes to the bullies parents first, then the school principle, then the police, and eventually her state government. She is turned down at every stop. When we think of cyber bullying victims like Amanda Todd and Katie Web, we realize that this is not as far from the truth as we would like.
What does this have to do with Apathy? To be honest, when I watched Cyberbully, I got emotionally involved to the point where I was getting upset. I thought about the suicides and school shootings that resulted from bullying of all types and realized that those two most dramatic examples there could possibly be were not shaking our society out of apathy, or at least not fast enough.
As I started thinking about this, I became more and more upset. Enraged is a better word. Then I realized why I was taking this personally: I was not allowing my dramatic examples to shake me out of apathy. I had a job I hated, and I was accepting it because I was too afraid to change the situation even though I could at any point. I was afraid of facing the fact that I would have to find another job.
Then I remembered a cold hard truth, how can I expect people to shake themselves out of apathy, if I do not do it myself?
That was why I quit my job today.
Yes, the prospect of needing to find a new job is scary. I will now be able to focus on my writing, which means I will be able to get more done. I guess the only thing I want to convey to my readers is this: Do not settle for a bad situation because it is easier than making a change. If you are in a bad place, just walk away.
The line that really sticks out for me in Batman Begins is from Bruce Wayne. When he is returning to Gotham after his training with the League of Shadows, he tells Alfred, “People need dramatic examples to shake them out of Apathy.” This is a statement I thought true for a very long time. To an extent, it is, but unfortunately, sometimes not even dramatic examples can make people take notice.
This idea ties into the second movie I brought up. In the movie Cyberbully, a girl is bullied on line to the point where she attempts to commit suicide. She lives, and her mother takes action to try to stop the bullying. She goes to the bullies parents first, then the school principle, then the police, and eventually her state government. She is turned down at every stop. When we think of cyber bullying victims like Amanda Todd and Katie Web, we realize that this is not as far from the truth as we would like.
What does this have to do with Apathy? To be honest, when I watched Cyberbully, I got emotionally involved to the point where I was getting upset. I thought about the suicides and school shootings that resulted from bullying of all types and realized that those two most dramatic examples there could possibly be were not shaking our society out of apathy, or at least not fast enough.
As I started thinking about this, I became more and more upset. Enraged is a better word. Then I realized why I was taking this personally: I was not allowing my dramatic examples to shake me out of apathy. I had a job I hated, and I was accepting it because I was too afraid to change the situation even though I could at any point. I was afraid of facing the fact that I would have to find another job.
Then I remembered a cold hard truth, how can I expect people to shake themselves out of apathy, if I do not do it myself?
That was why I quit my job today.
Yes, the prospect of needing to find a new job is scary. I will now be able to focus on my writing, which means I will be able to get more done. I guess the only thing I want to convey to my readers is this: Do not settle for a bad situation because it is easier than making a change. If you are in a bad place, just walk away.
July 6, 2013
Hunger Games VS. Battle Royale
One of the most popular stories of our times is The Hunger Games. It is destined to become a classic, the first book is already a movie, and even the more casual readers could have a long discussion on its impact in society. Yet despite how great it is, there is a dark cloud looming over it. Many people are saying it is just an imitation of the story Battle Royale.
I have read both books, and have seen both movies. It would be stupid to say that they do not at least invite comparison. In fact if you have read Catching Fire, there is even more room for it. While I do believe there is plenty of room for both stories in our world, I do feel a need to address this idea of Hunger Games just being Suzanne Collins version of a story that has already been done, and if so, does it deserve the praise and accolades it receives.
First, we will look at the basic premises. Hunger Games is a dystopian future in which children are chosen from twelve distinct districts to meet in an arena where they must fight to the death. Once a year each district holds a public “reaping,” where one boy and one girl are chosen at random by drawing their name out of a hat (or glass bowl if you want to get technical.) At this point, another child may volunteer to take his or her place assuming the volunteer is the same gender. This option to volunteer becomes a major plot point for both the protagonist and some antagonists.
Battle Royale also takes place in a dystopian future in which children are chosen at random to go to the arena and fight to the death. There is no public reaping. Instead a class of students are chosen by the government. They are kidnapped and taken to the secrete arena while they are unconscious. There is no volunteering, and you are giving no warning.
In the case of the Hunger Games, the reason for the tournament, or pageant as they like to call it, is to keep the districts in line. They pay this penance for rebelling against the capitol many years prior. In Battle Royale, there is no real set reason for it. The beginning of the book mentions experiments run by the government. The movie talks about a law that was passed to try to weed out who, in the government’s eyes, are week. I have read rumors about population control coming into play. The truth is there is no real logic behind it.
When it comes to premise, I say Hunger Games get the nod.
Next, let us compare our two protagonists. First, we have Katniss Everdeen, a young woman from the poorest district who struggles to survive while taking care of her younger sister and mother. She volunteers to participate in the Hunger Games when her sister is chosen. Battle Royale we have Shuya Nanahara. He does not volunteer. He is there because his class is. He does care about his fellow classmates, many of the girls have a crush on him, but in the end, he is just there to survive. If not for an alliance he forms, he would probably be dead. Point goes to Hunger Games.
Now lets look at some antagonists. I guess you could call each respective government the real antagonists. The immediate threats though are the people who the protagonists have to face in their respective arenas. In Hunger Games, Katniss must go up against volunteers who have been training their whole life to compete in the game. They are known as “careers”. To be honest, they are not the real threat they could be. They die quickly and when two of them are allowed to team up, they do not take advantage of it.
Battle Royale is about kids that are all from the same class. They have known each other for most of their lives and they had time to form friendships, relationships, and rivalries. The most dangerous classmate though is Mitsuko Souma.
She is the beautiful mean girl that takes her game up about ten notches and kills a good portion of the class before she is taken out. Two students have been through the program before the story takes place. One is Shuya’s ally; the other is the most feared male antagonist who dies last. In the book, it is his first tournament. All of these enemies are far more threatening than anything the Hunger Games has to offer. The point goes to Battle Royale.
The Hunger Games has a love triangle in it…. Yeah okay, point to Battle Royale on that one.
I think what it really comes down to is which is really the better story? I think one needs to look at the two authors and ask which one did what he or she set out to do. Suzanne Collins is a television writer, so she has extensive knowledge on how television stories go. She is also an American. Many Americans think the Hunger Games is where we are headed, or at least could see us going there. The Hunger Games are televised for all of the districts and the capital. It is made public so there is a lot of pageantry and forced drama. Are today’s television shows very different? Nobody actually dies in them, but with shock value becoming more sought after, and yet harder to come by, real deaths may be the path we are headed down.
Koushun Takami, the author of Battle Royale has a background in journalism before he became a novelist. He has lived in Japan his whole life. In his personal interview at the back of the book, he talks about how Japan has always felt constricting to him and how nothing ever changes because nobody ever demands it. The government makes a law that nobody likes, the people do nothing about it. Keep in mind these are the opinions of the author and not me. He has actually lived in Japan though and I have not.
I guess his point was that traditions are going to lead to people being sacrificed by the government for no discernible reason. He also has a great history of being a horror fan. He is a fan of both Stephen King and HP Lovecraft. Battle Royale may not be a scary book, but it is dark and Takami is not shy about violence.
As far as my original question of does the Hunger Games deserve to escape the shadow of Battle Royale, let me ask a question. How many of you would have heard of Battle Royale if not for this controversy.
Yes, Battle Royale did have a following before the Hunger Games came out. Yes, I am sure it was very big in Japan and that particular region of the world. Hunger Games though has reached a world audience. It is because of that sphere of influence that people are comparing it to Battle Royale. While Battle Royale, may have a deeper meaning, and more of an emotional impact as far as how the characters are effected, the Hunger Games is better written, is better at holding a reader’s attention, and has a more focused premise. Battle Royal may have done it first, but Hunger Games did it better.
I have read both books, and have seen both movies. It would be stupid to say that they do not at least invite comparison. In fact if you have read Catching Fire, there is even more room for it. While I do believe there is plenty of room for both stories in our world, I do feel a need to address this idea of Hunger Games just being Suzanne Collins version of a story that has already been done, and if so, does it deserve the praise and accolades it receives.
First, we will look at the basic premises. Hunger Games is a dystopian future in which children are chosen from twelve distinct districts to meet in an arena where they must fight to the death. Once a year each district holds a public “reaping,” where one boy and one girl are chosen at random by drawing their name out of a hat (or glass bowl if you want to get technical.) At this point, another child may volunteer to take his or her place assuming the volunteer is the same gender. This option to volunteer becomes a major plot point for both the protagonist and some antagonists.
Battle Royale also takes place in a dystopian future in which children are chosen at random to go to the arena and fight to the death. There is no public reaping. Instead a class of students are chosen by the government. They are kidnapped and taken to the secrete arena while they are unconscious. There is no volunteering, and you are giving no warning.
In the case of the Hunger Games, the reason for the tournament, or pageant as they like to call it, is to keep the districts in line. They pay this penance for rebelling against the capitol many years prior. In Battle Royale, there is no real set reason for it. The beginning of the book mentions experiments run by the government. The movie talks about a law that was passed to try to weed out who, in the government’s eyes, are week. I have read rumors about population control coming into play. The truth is there is no real logic behind it.
When it comes to premise, I say Hunger Games get the nod.
Next, let us compare our two protagonists. First, we have Katniss Everdeen, a young woman from the poorest district who struggles to survive while taking care of her younger sister and mother. She volunteers to participate in the Hunger Games when her sister is chosen. Battle Royale we have Shuya Nanahara. He does not volunteer. He is there because his class is. He does care about his fellow classmates, many of the girls have a crush on him, but in the end, he is just there to survive. If not for an alliance he forms, he would probably be dead. Point goes to Hunger Games.
Now lets look at some antagonists. I guess you could call each respective government the real antagonists. The immediate threats though are the people who the protagonists have to face in their respective arenas. In Hunger Games, Katniss must go up against volunteers who have been training their whole life to compete in the game. They are known as “careers”. To be honest, they are not the real threat they could be. They die quickly and when two of them are allowed to team up, they do not take advantage of it.
Battle Royale is about kids that are all from the same class. They have known each other for most of their lives and they had time to form friendships, relationships, and rivalries. The most dangerous classmate though is Mitsuko Souma.
She is the beautiful mean girl that takes her game up about ten notches and kills a good portion of the class before she is taken out. Two students have been through the program before the story takes place. One is Shuya’s ally; the other is the most feared male antagonist who dies last. In the book, it is his first tournament. All of these enemies are far more threatening than anything the Hunger Games has to offer. The point goes to Battle Royale.The Hunger Games has a love triangle in it…. Yeah okay, point to Battle Royale on that one.
I think what it really comes down to is which is really the better story? I think one needs to look at the two authors and ask which one did what he or she set out to do. Suzanne Collins is a television writer, so she has extensive knowledge on how television stories go. She is also an American. Many Americans think the Hunger Games is where we are headed, or at least could see us going there. The Hunger Games are televised for all of the districts and the capital. It is made public so there is a lot of pageantry and forced drama. Are today’s television shows very different? Nobody actually dies in them, but with shock value becoming more sought after, and yet harder to come by, real deaths may be the path we are headed down.
Koushun Takami, the author of Battle Royale has a background in journalism before he became a novelist. He has lived in Japan his whole life. In his personal interview at the back of the book, he talks about how Japan has always felt constricting to him and how nothing ever changes because nobody ever demands it. The government makes a law that nobody likes, the people do nothing about it. Keep in mind these are the opinions of the author and not me. He has actually lived in Japan though and I have not.
I guess his point was that traditions are going to lead to people being sacrificed by the government for no discernible reason. He also has a great history of being a horror fan. He is a fan of both Stephen King and HP Lovecraft. Battle Royale may not be a scary book, but it is dark and Takami is not shy about violence.
As far as my original question of does the Hunger Games deserve to escape the shadow of Battle Royale, let me ask a question. How many of you would have heard of Battle Royale if not for this controversy.
Yes, Battle Royale did have a following before the Hunger Games came out. Yes, I am sure it was very big in Japan and that particular region of the world. Hunger Games though has reached a world audience. It is because of that sphere of influence that people are comparing it to Battle Royale. While Battle Royale, may have a deeper meaning, and more of an emotional impact as far as how the characters are effected, the Hunger Games is better written, is better at holding a reader’s attention, and has a more focused premise. Battle Royal may have done it first, but Hunger Games did it better.
April 3, 2013
Modern Disciples Volume 3 Announcment
Coming soon to Amazon!Just wanted to let everyone know that Volume 3 of Modern Disciples will be coming out within the next couple of months! I don't have an exact date, but I predict it will come out at the beginning of May. It will be available in paperback on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. It will also be available on Kindle and Nook.
Brief Synopsis: For those who did not read the ending of Volume 2 (or forgot) the story takes place in Japan where a mysterious storm has devastated most of the country and the storm cloud hangs over all of Japan, blocking out the sun. Spawn run rampant, mortals are getting killed, and things are blowing up, how cool!
This story is deeply immersed in Japanese Mythology. The spawn are all taken from Japanese Mythology and Shintoism. Fans of anime will like this one a lot.
Now, for those of you wondering about Volume 4, I have not started it yet. However I am going on a research trip that will hopefully give me all the background I have planned for Volume 4. I cannot say where I am going because that will give to much away. I will say though that it is a city in America, and it has a very rich and diverse history that lends itself to many types of mythology.
In the mean time, keep your eye out for Volume 3 and enjoy!
January 31, 2013
Show don't tell? How about show don't pad?
You ever hear the phrase “show don’t tell?” Writers, film students, and other artists like to brow beat that phrase every chance they get. Don’t get me wrong. It is a good rule to live by and is essential to good story telling no matter what medium you use, when you really understand what it means. Lately I have found that people seem to think it means use as many words as possible. There is a difference between showing us what is happening, and telling us what is happening in a long-winded fashion. That’s why I want to introduce my version of this phrase: Show don’t pad.
Padding is adding extra words to your narrative, over describing, or using redundant scenes that may seem to have a purpose but in the long run just make your story longer. Plenty of successful authors are guilty of this unfortunately. Like most things though, the more successful you are at something the more you can get away with. When you are first starting out, it may be better to keep things short and to the point. You will impress people a lot more if you can say more with fewer words.
For this demonstration, I will use an example inspired by the wedding feast scene from “A Storm of Swords,” book three in the Song of Ice and Fire series by George RR Martin. First example will be tell.
There really was a lot of food at the wedding feast. Three tables were filled with food and drink. There were three different kinds of meat. There was every kind of bread you can think of, including Pumpernickel, Rye, and Whole Grain. Several different kinds of sticky cakes lined all the tables. They were covered in several different types of frosting. Three different flavored cakes towered over the ends of each table. They were chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. Bob looked over at the tables and thought that it was wrong that there was so much food here when the peasants were starving.
An extreme example I will admit. Now I will show you how to pad this.
Bob saw no less than three tables buried in food. The tables were hand crafted especially for the wedding feast. The king had every carpenter in town working day and night to get them ready for the feast. The craftsmanship had been unmatched and the designs would have been breath taking if not hidden by the tablecloths and the food on top.
Three different carcasses were being carved for the guests. The first was a black pig that had reached maturity not three days before. The pig had been roasting for hours while being basted and spiced with sauces and seeds imported from every corner of the kingdom. It had been roasted to a succulent brown. The second was a turkey. They were difficult to find, so difficult Bob was surprised they had one. One man tore off a drumstick and put it on his plate. Other people picked at it with their hands. The last was a large side of beef. One man from the kitchens was using an axe to cut off pieces for the attendants.
Most of the second table had different types of bread arranged on it, dark loaves, light loaves, some in between. Each loaf gave off its on aroma as if just pulled from the oven. The patrons all used their own daggers to cut off their own slices. Some of them put it on their plate, others at it whole while still at the table.
Let me stop right there. If you are not bored reading the padding, just imaging you are trying to get through a 500-page book. Also, keep in mind that you know it is a wedding feast. Were you expecting them to just serve pigs in blankets and call it a day? Also, are there any concepts in this chapter that you are having trouble wrapping your head around? Of course, there are different kinds of meat and breads. Of course, people are serving the food. Of course, people are helping themselves to other portions. It has been proven in many studies that people who read tend to be more intelligent. It is alright to assume your audience can figure things out themselves, especially when it does not add to the story.
Here is how I would show this scene.
Bob remained in his seat as the guests lined up beside the three tables being smothered by the feast. He took a sip of his mead while the kitchen hand cut a piece of flesh from a pig that Bob probably saw out in the pens that morning. One of the guests wiped his mouth after not waiting to return to his table to try the beef. All the guests laughed and talked over the assorted breads and sticky cakes
Bob rose and turned from the table electing to stand in the windowsill, leaning out with his hands on the wall. He surveyed the townspeople down below. He wondered how many of them knew what a cake looked like, let alone seen three different cakes in the same room. He turned to look at all the guests swarming around the three tables and found it difficult to count them all considering several were big enough to count as two people. He looked back down at the townspeople, not finding one that he would consider large. His ride through the square introduced him to countless outstretched hands that could barely feed a crow if left on the ground. Bob gripped the wall tightly as he bent over slightly closing his eyes. His only comfort came from the image of him grabbing the pig off the table, and throwing it down to the people below.
You will notice in that the food was barely mentioned in the last passage. The scene is not really about the food. It is about the upper class gorging themselves, while the commoners are starving. People do not read fiction to get a grocery list. They read it for compelling stories.
Padding is adding extra words to your narrative, over describing, or using redundant scenes that may seem to have a purpose but in the long run just make your story longer. Plenty of successful authors are guilty of this unfortunately. Like most things though, the more successful you are at something the more you can get away with. When you are first starting out, it may be better to keep things short and to the point. You will impress people a lot more if you can say more with fewer words.
For this demonstration, I will use an example inspired by the wedding feast scene from “A Storm of Swords,” book three in the Song of Ice and Fire series by George RR Martin. First example will be tell.
There really was a lot of food at the wedding feast. Three tables were filled with food and drink. There were three different kinds of meat. There was every kind of bread you can think of, including Pumpernickel, Rye, and Whole Grain. Several different kinds of sticky cakes lined all the tables. They were covered in several different types of frosting. Three different flavored cakes towered over the ends of each table. They were chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. Bob looked over at the tables and thought that it was wrong that there was so much food here when the peasants were starving.
An extreme example I will admit. Now I will show you how to pad this.
Bob saw no less than three tables buried in food. The tables were hand crafted especially for the wedding feast. The king had every carpenter in town working day and night to get them ready for the feast. The craftsmanship had been unmatched and the designs would have been breath taking if not hidden by the tablecloths and the food on top.
Three different carcasses were being carved for the guests. The first was a black pig that had reached maturity not three days before. The pig had been roasting for hours while being basted and spiced with sauces and seeds imported from every corner of the kingdom. It had been roasted to a succulent brown. The second was a turkey. They were difficult to find, so difficult Bob was surprised they had one. One man tore off a drumstick and put it on his plate. Other people picked at it with their hands. The last was a large side of beef. One man from the kitchens was using an axe to cut off pieces for the attendants.
Most of the second table had different types of bread arranged on it, dark loaves, light loaves, some in between. Each loaf gave off its on aroma as if just pulled from the oven. The patrons all used their own daggers to cut off their own slices. Some of them put it on their plate, others at it whole while still at the table.
Let me stop right there. If you are not bored reading the padding, just imaging you are trying to get through a 500-page book. Also, keep in mind that you know it is a wedding feast. Were you expecting them to just serve pigs in blankets and call it a day? Also, are there any concepts in this chapter that you are having trouble wrapping your head around? Of course, there are different kinds of meat and breads. Of course, people are serving the food. Of course, people are helping themselves to other portions. It has been proven in many studies that people who read tend to be more intelligent. It is alright to assume your audience can figure things out themselves, especially when it does not add to the story.
Here is how I would show this scene.
Bob remained in his seat as the guests lined up beside the three tables being smothered by the feast. He took a sip of his mead while the kitchen hand cut a piece of flesh from a pig that Bob probably saw out in the pens that morning. One of the guests wiped his mouth after not waiting to return to his table to try the beef. All the guests laughed and talked over the assorted breads and sticky cakes
Bob rose and turned from the table electing to stand in the windowsill, leaning out with his hands on the wall. He surveyed the townspeople down below. He wondered how many of them knew what a cake looked like, let alone seen three different cakes in the same room. He turned to look at all the guests swarming around the three tables and found it difficult to count them all considering several were big enough to count as two people. He looked back down at the townspeople, not finding one that he would consider large. His ride through the square introduced him to countless outstretched hands that could barely feed a crow if left on the ground. Bob gripped the wall tightly as he bent over slightly closing his eyes. His only comfort came from the image of him grabbing the pig off the table, and throwing it down to the people below.
You will notice in that the food was barely mentioned in the last passage. The scene is not really about the food. It is about the upper class gorging themselves, while the commoners are starving. People do not read fiction to get a grocery list. They read it for compelling stories.
December 2, 2012
Don't blame Mrs. Meyer
Recently I finished listening to the Dracula audio book. Yesterday, I also downloaded and watched the 1931 film starring Bela Lagosi. I am not going to go into these products in depth because believe it or not, I found most of what they had to offer boring. What I would really like to bring up today is the 1992 film starring Gary Oldman, and Winonna Ryder. I was watching some videos from it comparing it to the book and the 1931 film, (or the parts I did not sleep through.) This is when I had my epiphany: Stephanie Myer is not responsible for emasculation of vampires.
Now before anybody starts jumping to conclusions about this being a pro Twilight and Stephanie Meyer rant, it is not. I just want to show that what she did was the inevitable conclusion, not the cause. People sure do like to rant about how the Twampires do not fit into the more traditional tropes of what vampires are supposed to be, and they do not. Stephanie Meyer did not research into vampires and made up something that drank blood, but was no vampire.
The 1992 Dracula film is when this began. They took a character that was an unseen monster and turned him into this tragic, hopeless romantic, who only did what he did for love. He did bad things but it was all okay because they were all justified in some way.
Dracula was originally written as a rapist. He violated those women. His motives were rarely presented but when they were, it was either revenge or just spite. You hardly ever saw him. Usually what you saw was the aftermath of his presence, and it was not pretty. Two of the best examples of this were a ship floating into a dock by itself with no crew except the captain tied to the wheel, and Lucy looking like a living corpse after she slept. There were no romantic candlelight dances, no signs of remorse from Dracula, and certainly no “love never dies” catchphrases.
Let us compare how the book and the 1992 movie handle Mina’s infection with vampirism. In the movie, Dracula wanted to turn her so that she would join him in eternal life and he loved her. In the book he wanted to make her just another slave like the other three brides he already had and because she was helping Van Helsing against him. In the movie, Dracula decides not to do it because “I love you too much.” Good point there Dracs. Mina then manages to talk him back into it in less than ten seconds with “take me away from all this death.” Death that he caused, but I guess that is irrelevant. In the book, Dracula has Mina’s hand held over her head and forces her to drink his blood despite her protests.
Another thing that the movie does in that scene is bring up Lucy’s death. The book does not. I find it interesting that Mina realizes that he killed Lucy and is all mad punching him and then gets over it real quick and okay, turn me now. Lucy’s death is the most painful and tragic in either the book or movie. The difference is the book plays it like a tragedy, and you do feel her pain through her ordeal. The movie happily justifies it, and then sweeps it under the rug. It uses the old Hollywood standby justification of “she was a slut and had it coming.” They even make her decapitation into a joke by cutting to a pot roast, classy.
Now you are probably thinking I hated the movie. As a movie, I think it was good. It did tell the story much better than the book did. The actors in it were great. It was visually striking. My problem is that they told the wrong story. They turned it into something that it is not. You can have romantic, or heroic vampires, or at least not all be rapists, but do not do that with an established character like Dracula. Would it make any sense to make Atticus Finch into a character that did what he did only for somebody’s love? No, it would not.
So the next time you want to go on about how Twilight vampires are not real vampires and how Stephanie Meyer ruined vampires, think of what Hollywood did with them long before Stephanie Meyer had a dream about a sparkly vampire in the field with his girl, especially Dracula.
Now before anybody starts jumping to conclusions about this being a pro Twilight and Stephanie Meyer rant, it is not. I just want to show that what she did was the inevitable conclusion, not the cause. People sure do like to rant about how the Twampires do not fit into the more traditional tropes of what vampires are supposed to be, and they do not. Stephanie Meyer did not research into vampires and made up something that drank blood, but was no vampire.
The 1992 Dracula film is when this began. They took a character that was an unseen monster and turned him into this tragic, hopeless romantic, who only did what he did for love. He did bad things but it was all okay because they were all justified in some way.
Dracula was originally written as a rapist. He violated those women. His motives were rarely presented but when they were, it was either revenge or just spite. You hardly ever saw him. Usually what you saw was the aftermath of his presence, and it was not pretty. Two of the best examples of this were a ship floating into a dock by itself with no crew except the captain tied to the wheel, and Lucy looking like a living corpse after she slept. There were no romantic candlelight dances, no signs of remorse from Dracula, and certainly no “love never dies” catchphrases.
Let us compare how the book and the 1992 movie handle Mina’s infection with vampirism. In the movie, Dracula wanted to turn her so that she would join him in eternal life and he loved her. In the book he wanted to make her just another slave like the other three brides he already had and because she was helping Van Helsing against him. In the movie, Dracula decides not to do it because “I love you too much.” Good point there Dracs. Mina then manages to talk him back into it in less than ten seconds with “take me away from all this death.” Death that he caused, but I guess that is irrelevant. In the book, Dracula has Mina’s hand held over her head and forces her to drink his blood despite her protests.
Another thing that the movie does in that scene is bring up Lucy’s death. The book does not. I find it interesting that Mina realizes that he killed Lucy and is all mad punching him and then gets over it real quick and okay, turn me now. Lucy’s death is the most painful and tragic in either the book or movie. The difference is the book plays it like a tragedy, and you do feel her pain through her ordeal. The movie happily justifies it, and then sweeps it under the rug. It uses the old Hollywood standby justification of “she was a slut and had it coming.” They even make her decapitation into a joke by cutting to a pot roast, classy.
Now you are probably thinking I hated the movie. As a movie, I think it was good. It did tell the story much better than the book did. The actors in it were great. It was visually striking. My problem is that they told the wrong story. They turned it into something that it is not. You can have romantic, or heroic vampires, or at least not all be rapists, but do not do that with an established character like Dracula. Would it make any sense to make Atticus Finch into a character that did what he did only for somebody’s love? No, it would not.
So the next time you want to go on about how Twilight vampires are not real vampires and how Stephanie Meyer ruined vampires, think of what Hollywood did with them long before Stephanie Meyer had a dream about a sparkly vampire in the field with his girl, especially Dracula.
August 29, 2012
Movies better than their books.
We have all heard it. “The book is always better than the movie,” or “The movie just left too much out.” To be honest I do agree with this sentiment. The vast majority of the time, the movie fails to capture the essence of the film, leaves to many important things out, or just plain disappoints. Sometimes they are disrespectful enough to just take the title and have nothing to do with the story.
However, despite what some people will tell you, there are instances when the movie does exceed the book. These are rare I will admit, but they do exist. When I tell people this, I always get the same reaction: give me one example. Therefore, I decided to write this blog to give people the examples I have come across in my lifetime.
A little background first. They are in no particular order. I could not do this as a top ten list because well, I could not really think of ten. (I do believe I said these were rare instances.) In all instances, I have at least read the book, or seen the movie. In most cases I did both.
So hear they are in no particular order:
The Wizard of Oz
Let’s be honest. Sometimes Hollywood does cut out the right parts. The original story by Frank Baum was a great children’s story in its day but it missed the mark in many ways. It was just one big conglomerate of Dorothy and friends having a bunch of adventures that made little to no sense. The witch was only a minor character in the book rather than the main antagonist and there was a lot of unnecessary filler.
The movie on the other hand is a timeless classic. It is a lot more focused due to the need to keep it under two hours. The witch is a much better antagonist than any villain in the book is. The movie is memorable and has spawned some of the most memorable songs in movies. “Over the rainbow,” and “Follow the Yellow brick road” are two good examples. I do not know too many people who read the book. I do not know anybody who has not seen the movie.
Jaws
The ironic thing about this choice is that so many things went wrong in the making of this movie it was a wonder it got finished let alone become the cultural icon that it did. The best example was the shark itself. The production team had so much trouble getting the thing to work that they could not show it for most of the movie. What was the result? The suspense of not seeing the shark made the movie even scarier, which is what the movie was going for.
What’s the first thing you think of when you hear Jaws? The first thing that pops into my mind is that music. You know what I’m talking about. Let’s see you swim in the ocean after listening to that for ten minutes.
The book got off track by actually introducing a love triangle. Now I’m not here to spew venom at the concept of love triangles. If done right, and put into a story that it can enhance rather than derail, it can work. It does not work when your title is Jaws. It’s about the shark people. All this thing does is swim, eats, and makes little sharks…
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
I know I may catch heat for this one, but keep in mind this is my blog. I tried to read this series, honestly. I could not get past the heavy-handed writing style, the useless characters, and the feeling that the main characters did not want to be in the story, not just the situation mind you, the story itself.
Peter Jackson in my mind did brilliantly. Not only did he manage to bring this saga to life beautifully, but also he was innovative in ways to save money. He shot all three films at once, reducing the cost and keeping the audience’s attention easier by allowing them to come out in three consecutive years. After the movie came out, everyone was quoting Golem. There’s one thing you cannot say about the books.
The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
This time I am not talking about the series as a whole but just this one book. I have seen several adaptations of this story. I can clearly say that the 2005 movie was my favorite. The characters looked good, they captured all the important parts of the story, and the battle scenes were just epic. I know people have an aversion to C.G.I., but you have to admit a phoenix bursting into flame midair and leaving a wall of flame, cutting off the enemy army is pretty cool.
The book, while charming and well written was written for small children. While there is nothing wrong with a children’s story, it does not have the mass appeal of the movie. When I read the book, I never got the feeling of the epic battles, the opposing armies facing each other, or anything that would make it bigger than it was. Overall, the movie has much more appeal to it.
Beowulf
Those of you who read my review of the book may remember my sentiments about this book. For the rest of you here is the nutshell: The story belongs in a museum. Only authors and English majors should read this, and the rest of you just watch the movie. Now I have experience both versions of this story and I know they did not follow the book to the letter. In fact, they added a couple twists that pretty much altered the essence of the story. In my opinion, this is usually and insult, but not this time.
Not only do I like the alterations of the story, but also how it is told. I can get over the old language used in the book but personally, I don’t see why Beowulf has to keep bringing up the fact that he killed Grendel throughout the entire book. Yes, that is what he is best known for, but the entire event barely takes up a whole page. Moreover, he has things more important ahead of him. You have to kill his mother now. Get over yourself!
The Song of Ice and Fire series, a.k.a The Game of Thrones
Yes I know that this is not a movie and really a series on HBO but let’s not worry about semantics shall we? Anyway, the book suffers from the same problems as the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Martin is excessively heavy handed and he puts in more detail and history than the human mind can consume at one time. The story is very compelling, and most of the characters are well done and well thought out. There is just too much to sift through to get to that though. At the time I’m writing this I am listening to Storm of Swords on audio book and I have come to Joffrey’s wedding feast. I keep saying aloud “I get it there was a lot of food. Can we please get to the point of this chapter?”
The series concentrates on what is important: the stories, the characters, and how the petty struggles of the powerful are played out. Martin himself actually writes the screenplay for the show. It’s amazing to think that despite the book’s size he had to add elements to the story just to fill ten episodes. Most books that size could easily fill twenty if you put everything in. This destroys the most common argument of books being better than movies: you find out more from the book.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Wow, now I’m really stepping in it. I know the die-hard fans of the books think the movies cut out too much, or change to many things and on all the other movies I agree with them. With Phoenix, however I thought they managed to cut out the parts not needed and enhance what should have been the best parts of the book. I have to defend the fifth book to many people mainly because of Harry’s attitude. I guess they were turned off by the teenage angst. The movie shows this but Harry gets over it much quicker.
The one moment where the movie shines bright, enough to blind the book is the attack on the department of mysteries. In the book, you did get the feeling that the wizards were dueling each other and there was a confrontation between Voldemort and Dumbledore. The way the movie brought this to life though was epic. In the book, Voldemort and Dumbledore spent most of the duel trading banter. Voldemort tried to kill him with Avaracadavra a few times which Dumbledore managed to block with a few well-placed rocks and a sacrifice by his pet phoenix. In the movie all the stops were pulled out. Voldemort summoned a giant snake made of fire. Dumbledore tried to drown him with a globe of water. I was in awe when I saw that duel. That was what a battle between the two greatest wizards on the planet should look like.
I’m sure that there are other examples I could have put on this list, but for the time they have alluded me. Feel free to comment if you can think of any examples yourself.
However, despite what some people will tell you, there are instances when the movie does exceed the book. These are rare I will admit, but they do exist. When I tell people this, I always get the same reaction: give me one example. Therefore, I decided to write this blog to give people the examples I have come across in my lifetime.
A little background first. They are in no particular order. I could not do this as a top ten list because well, I could not really think of ten. (I do believe I said these were rare instances.) In all instances, I have at least read the book, or seen the movie. In most cases I did both.
So hear they are in no particular order:
The Wizard of Oz
Let’s be honest. Sometimes Hollywood does cut out the right parts. The original story by Frank Baum was a great children’s story in its day but it missed the mark in many ways. It was just one big conglomerate of Dorothy and friends having a bunch of adventures that made little to no sense. The witch was only a minor character in the book rather than the main antagonist and there was a lot of unnecessary filler.
The movie on the other hand is a timeless classic. It is a lot more focused due to the need to keep it under two hours. The witch is a much better antagonist than any villain in the book is. The movie is memorable and has spawned some of the most memorable songs in movies. “Over the rainbow,” and “Follow the Yellow brick road” are two good examples. I do not know too many people who read the book. I do not know anybody who has not seen the movie.
Jaws
The ironic thing about this choice is that so many things went wrong in the making of this movie it was a wonder it got finished let alone become the cultural icon that it did. The best example was the shark itself. The production team had so much trouble getting the thing to work that they could not show it for most of the movie. What was the result? The suspense of not seeing the shark made the movie even scarier, which is what the movie was going for.
What’s the first thing you think of when you hear Jaws? The first thing that pops into my mind is that music. You know what I’m talking about. Let’s see you swim in the ocean after listening to that for ten minutes.
The book got off track by actually introducing a love triangle. Now I’m not here to spew venom at the concept of love triangles. If done right, and put into a story that it can enhance rather than derail, it can work. It does not work when your title is Jaws. It’s about the shark people. All this thing does is swim, eats, and makes little sharks…
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
I know I may catch heat for this one, but keep in mind this is my blog. I tried to read this series, honestly. I could not get past the heavy-handed writing style, the useless characters, and the feeling that the main characters did not want to be in the story, not just the situation mind you, the story itself.
Peter Jackson in my mind did brilliantly. Not only did he manage to bring this saga to life beautifully, but also he was innovative in ways to save money. He shot all three films at once, reducing the cost and keeping the audience’s attention easier by allowing them to come out in three consecutive years. After the movie came out, everyone was quoting Golem. There’s one thing you cannot say about the books.
The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
This time I am not talking about the series as a whole but just this one book. I have seen several adaptations of this story. I can clearly say that the 2005 movie was my favorite. The characters looked good, they captured all the important parts of the story, and the battle scenes were just epic. I know people have an aversion to C.G.I., but you have to admit a phoenix bursting into flame midair and leaving a wall of flame, cutting off the enemy army is pretty cool.
The book, while charming and well written was written for small children. While there is nothing wrong with a children’s story, it does not have the mass appeal of the movie. When I read the book, I never got the feeling of the epic battles, the opposing armies facing each other, or anything that would make it bigger than it was. Overall, the movie has much more appeal to it.
Beowulf
Those of you who read my review of the book may remember my sentiments about this book. For the rest of you here is the nutshell: The story belongs in a museum. Only authors and English majors should read this, and the rest of you just watch the movie. Now I have experience both versions of this story and I know they did not follow the book to the letter. In fact, they added a couple twists that pretty much altered the essence of the story. In my opinion, this is usually and insult, but not this time.
Not only do I like the alterations of the story, but also how it is told. I can get over the old language used in the book but personally, I don’t see why Beowulf has to keep bringing up the fact that he killed Grendel throughout the entire book. Yes, that is what he is best known for, but the entire event barely takes up a whole page. Moreover, he has things more important ahead of him. You have to kill his mother now. Get over yourself!
The Song of Ice and Fire series, a.k.a The Game of Thrones
Yes I know that this is not a movie and really a series on HBO but let’s not worry about semantics shall we? Anyway, the book suffers from the same problems as the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Martin is excessively heavy handed and he puts in more detail and history than the human mind can consume at one time. The story is very compelling, and most of the characters are well done and well thought out. There is just too much to sift through to get to that though. At the time I’m writing this I am listening to Storm of Swords on audio book and I have come to Joffrey’s wedding feast. I keep saying aloud “I get it there was a lot of food. Can we please get to the point of this chapter?”
The series concentrates on what is important: the stories, the characters, and how the petty struggles of the powerful are played out. Martin himself actually writes the screenplay for the show. It’s amazing to think that despite the book’s size he had to add elements to the story just to fill ten episodes. Most books that size could easily fill twenty if you put everything in. This destroys the most common argument of books being better than movies: you find out more from the book.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Wow, now I’m really stepping in it. I know the die-hard fans of the books think the movies cut out too much, or change to many things and on all the other movies I agree with them. With Phoenix, however I thought they managed to cut out the parts not needed and enhance what should have been the best parts of the book. I have to defend the fifth book to many people mainly because of Harry’s attitude. I guess they were turned off by the teenage angst. The movie shows this but Harry gets over it much quicker.
The one moment where the movie shines bright, enough to blind the book is the attack on the department of mysteries. In the book, you did get the feeling that the wizards were dueling each other and there was a confrontation between Voldemort and Dumbledore. The way the movie brought this to life though was epic. In the book, Voldemort and Dumbledore spent most of the duel trading banter. Voldemort tried to kill him with Avaracadavra a few times which Dumbledore managed to block with a few well-placed rocks and a sacrifice by his pet phoenix. In the movie all the stops were pulled out. Voldemort summoned a giant snake made of fire. Dumbledore tried to drown him with a globe of water. I was in awe when I saw that duel. That was what a battle between the two greatest wizards on the planet should look like.
I’m sure that there are other examples I could have put on this list, but for the time they have alluded me. Feel free to comment if you can think of any examples yourself.
April 8, 2012
ForeWord Review of Modern Disciples Volume 1
I while ago I sent a copy of MDv1 to Foreword/Clarion reviews. Here is what they thought:
ForeWord Clarion Review
FANTASY
Modern Disciples: Volume 1
Ian Anderson
Outskirts Press
978-1-4327-7270-3
Three Stars (out of Five)
In Modern Disciples (Volume I), Ian Anderson conceives a brilliant concept: invite the reader to
drop into the hallowed halls of the pantheon of gods—Odin, Zeus, Brahma, Horus, Quetzalcoatl,
Amaterasu. But all is not well in the realm of the otherworld. There is nothing but trouble, in
fact, namely that their sworn enemies—the Titans, a race of giants—have populated the earth
with spawn in order to spread chaos and eventually avenge imprisonment by the gods. The gods
decide to produce children with the mortals and orchestrate the banding together of mortals—
disciples—to combat the efforts of the Titans’ spawn that are poised to wreak havoc on earth.
Back on earth the stage is set for Ryan Hunter, a lover of mythology and aspiring bounty
hunter. One day he finds himself “tapped,” that is, awakened by his divine mother, Artemis, the
goddess of the moon, the hunt, and fertility. Later, Ryan encounters a mysterious woman who
takes him on a life-changing hunt. On the way Ryan is joined by other disciples who eventually
team up on a mission to the Everglades to destroy the monstrous Nemean alligator possessing
Titan energy. Bestowed with supernatural abilities, including his magical bow and a sidekick
scorpion, Ryan and his team (each member embued with their respective divine patrons’ special
powers) are led into dangerous clashes with the Titans and their evil spawn.
Next, the disciples encounter strange mortals in a small town called Citrus Grove, not unlike
fictional Stepford where there are no children and the women are completely submissive to their
husbands. Ryan and his mates discover that these seemingly idyllic people are actually controlled
by menacing dark forces plotting to destroy anything that stands in their way. The team succeeds
in uncovering intrigue after intrigue, with the suspense building and building until the team
confronts terrifying creatures, including satyrs, maenads, vampires, werewolves, and a powerful
creature with which Ryan may have met his match.
A colorful panoply of mythological characters makes Modern Disciples an edifying and
entertaining read. Well-researched mythological lore, humor, adept character development, and
well-thought out plotting keeps the pages turning. What’s more, this moving tale avoids the
simplistic trope associated with adventures of comic book superheroes. Instead, mere mortals
will experience the rare pleasure of shooting an arrow from a magical bow and having their
“ichor” tapped by a god. Perhaps, as the story suggests, the gods are real after all and mythology
turns out to be true. Readers will doubtless find themselves anxiously waiting to continue their
mythological journey when volume two comes out in print.
The author is a scholar of mythology and has a degree in creative writing and journalism
from Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio.
Gary Klinga
ForeWord Clarion Review
FANTASY
Modern Disciples: Volume 1
Ian Anderson
Outskirts Press
978-1-4327-7270-3
Three Stars (out of Five)
In Modern Disciples (Volume I), Ian Anderson conceives a brilliant concept: invite the reader to
drop into the hallowed halls of the pantheon of gods—Odin, Zeus, Brahma, Horus, Quetzalcoatl,
Amaterasu. But all is not well in the realm of the otherworld. There is nothing but trouble, in
fact, namely that their sworn enemies—the Titans, a race of giants—have populated the earth
with spawn in order to spread chaos and eventually avenge imprisonment by the gods. The gods
decide to produce children with the mortals and orchestrate the banding together of mortals—
disciples—to combat the efforts of the Titans’ spawn that are poised to wreak havoc on earth.
Back on earth the stage is set for Ryan Hunter, a lover of mythology and aspiring bounty
hunter. One day he finds himself “tapped,” that is, awakened by his divine mother, Artemis, the
goddess of the moon, the hunt, and fertility. Later, Ryan encounters a mysterious woman who
takes him on a life-changing hunt. On the way Ryan is joined by other disciples who eventually
team up on a mission to the Everglades to destroy the monstrous Nemean alligator possessing
Titan energy. Bestowed with supernatural abilities, including his magical bow and a sidekick
scorpion, Ryan and his team (each member embued with their respective divine patrons’ special
powers) are led into dangerous clashes with the Titans and their evil spawn.
Next, the disciples encounter strange mortals in a small town called Citrus Grove, not unlike
fictional Stepford where there are no children and the women are completely submissive to their
husbands. Ryan and his mates discover that these seemingly idyllic people are actually controlled
by menacing dark forces plotting to destroy anything that stands in their way. The team succeeds
in uncovering intrigue after intrigue, with the suspense building and building until the team
confronts terrifying creatures, including satyrs, maenads, vampires, werewolves, and a powerful
creature with which Ryan may have met his match.
A colorful panoply of mythological characters makes Modern Disciples an edifying and
entertaining read. Well-researched mythological lore, humor, adept character development, and
well-thought out plotting keeps the pages turning. What’s more, this moving tale avoids the
simplistic trope associated with adventures of comic book superheroes. Instead, mere mortals
will experience the rare pleasure of shooting an arrow from a magical bow and having their
“ichor” tapped by a god. Perhaps, as the story suggests, the gods are real after all and mythology
turns out to be true. Readers will doubtless find themselves anxiously waiting to continue their
mythological journey when volume two comes out in print.
The author is a scholar of mythology and has a degree in creative writing and journalism
from Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio.
Gary Klinga
December 16, 2011
My Intro
My name is Ian Anderson. I am an avid student of Mythology, fan of comic books, and I am the author of Modern Disciples.
I am on the verge now of publishing my second novel which will be Volume 2 of the Modern Disciples series. I find myself thinking of all the research I did before I published Volume 1. Not the research I did for the story itself, but all the research I did for publishing and how to get started in the business.
Something I kept finding over and over again was experienced authors giving advice for “young authors” a.k.a people who wanted to be published but were not published yet. Most of the advice consisted of how to write, where you can get your inspiration from and a whole lot of “just do it” talk. It’s strange how none of them mentioned how you may want to get some tips on marketing your product.
The landscape of publishing is changing so radically these days. We are seeing more and more people are turning to e-readers and e-books as appose to paperbacks and hard covers. The Kindle and the Nook being the two most popular e-readers but there are also a lot of web site for downloading e-books to read on your computer.
There is some resistance to the change, as there always is. The most common arguments against e-reading are that people prefer to feel the book in their hands, they like the smell, they stare at a computer screen enough as it is… Let’s be honest about something though, e-reading is a lot more practical. It’s much easier to distribute, a lot faster, and highly cost effective. This translates into cheaper prices for consumers and even higher profit margins for the authors.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying traditional books are bad and people have every right to smell the pages of the new book and stare at the cover for fifteen minutes if they like it enough. I still like to stare at the cover of my book. When I look at the sales of my book for the Kindle I often think to myself, “How am I supposed to sign those?” Is it possible that hard copy books will become a luxury?
We are in interesting times, although change can be scary as well as exciting. As scary as it can be though I think the whole practice is starting to make a change for the better.
More and more new authors are going the route of self-publishing. Oh sorry, that wasn’t very P.C. of me. More and more new authors are going the route of independent publishing. Yes, that’s way better, more syllables.
What I think this means for the industry is that there will be more out there for readers and not the same cookie cutter stories that have been clogging the book store shelves. There may be a chance to appeal to new readers that have yet to discover there is a world of reading after you are done with Harry Potter. There are so many new possibilities, way too many to cover in one posting.
Here’s to some exciting times.
I am on the verge now of publishing my second novel which will be Volume 2 of the Modern Disciples series. I find myself thinking of all the research I did before I published Volume 1. Not the research I did for the story itself, but all the research I did for publishing and how to get started in the business.
Something I kept finding over and over again was experienced authors giving advice for “young authors” a.k.a people who wanted to be published but were not published yet. Most of the advice consisted of how to write, where you can get your inspiration from and a whole lot of “just do it” talk. It’s strange how none of them mentioned how you may want to get some tips on marketing your product.
The landscape of publishing is changing so radically these days. We are seeing more and more people are turning to e-readers and e-books as appose to paperbacks and hard covers. The Kindle and the Nook being the two most popular e-readers but there are also a lot of web site for downloading e-books to read on your computer.
There is some resistance to the change, as there always is. The most common arguments against e-reading are that people prefer to feel the book in their hands, they like the smell, they stare at a computer screen enough as it is… Let’s be honest about something though, e-reading is a lot more practical. It’s much easier to distribute, a lot faster, and highly cost effective. This translates into cheaper prices for consumers and even higher profit margins for the authors.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying traditional books are bad and people have every right to smell the pages of the new book and stare at the cover for fifteen minutes if they like it enough. I still like to stare at the cover of my book. When I look at the sales of my book for the Kindle I often think to myself, “How am I supposed to sign those?” Is it possible that hard copy books will become a luxury?
We are in interesting times, although change can be scary as well as exciting. As scary as it can be though I think the whole practice is starting to make a change for the better.
More and more new authors are going the route of self-publishing. Oh sorry, that wasn’t very P.C. of me. More and more new authors are going the route of independent publishing. Yes, that’s way better, more syllables.
What I think this means for the industry is that there will be more out there for readers and not the same cookie cutter stories that have been clogging the book store shelves. There may be a chance to appeal to new readers that have yet to discover there is a world of reading after you are done with Harry Potter. There are so many new possibilities, way too many to cover in one posting.
Here’s to some exciting times.
