Alex C. Telander's Blog, page 24
December 1, 2015
Book News: Literary Podcasts, Vonnegut Heads to TV, The Great Reading Slump & More
Adaptation
23 Science Fiction books that are currently being adapted for the big screen, or your screen at home.
Cat’s Cradle
The Kurt Vonnegut bestseller is being adapted into a limited TV series.
Truthful YA
Some Young Adult books that have been given their truthful titles.


November 24, 2015
Book News: Weeding Your Home Library, Beautiful Bookstores, Nanowrimo Inspires & More!
Book Advent Calendars: If you like advent calendars and books, here are some truly great ones.
Parenting as a Reader: As a parent choosing which books you read to your child is an important life decision and here’s some advice on that.
Nanowrimo Inspiring Words: Some inspiring words from authors for those plowing through the challenge that is Nanowrimo.
[read more . . .]


November 20, 2015
“The Author or The Character’s Short Living Story” by Facundo Raganato (Kindle, 2015)
They say that authors love controlling their characters and they love nothing more than to torture them and kill them off if necessary. But readers might not know that there is a cardinal rule with writing that all authors must adhere to: writers must remain true to their characters. For characters to be real people, they can only do certain things certain ways and some things they simply cannot do, for it is “not part of their character.”
Facundo Raganato’s The Author or The Characters’ Short Living Story is a fun literary adventure which has a lot of fun with the notion of what happens when an author creates six characters in his own setting and tries to control and guide them, but ultimately lets them act as the characters they are. The Author also shows up routinely in the story, interacting with the characters, perhaps guiding, perhaps changing their direction, no one really knows. However, all the characters and the Author know there is a Reader out there following the story along and giving the characters life.
The story begins with the Author setting the scene, like sculpting a piece of art, and on a meta level talking about writing and characterization. Then the reader is introduced to the six main characters, who have generic names like Kimberly and Leo and seem unimpressive at first. They are all together in a strange place but have no memory of who they really are – other than their names – and what lives they have come from. As the story progresses, they constantly discuss if they are actually real or just fictitious creations.
As they get to know what little they know about themselves, as well as getting a little info from the Author, they must begin their quest of sorts, working together and facing nonstop conflict and obstacles like a surrounding wall of mirrors or a sewer grate locked tight which they must somehow get open. But their ultimate challenge is when they must each go their separate ways, passing through doors bearing their names, not knowing where they will be taken and if they will ever see each other again.
The Author works on many levels, stimulating the mind about writing and characters working together, but also what it means to be uncertain where the next step will lead, especially when there is a trickster Author involved, and how sometimes working together may be the only way to survive. The few typos in the book do throw the reader out of the story as the writing has a unique style to it that is enjoyable to follow. Reading what little description there is about the book, would-be readers may have some preconceived notions about what to expect from the book, but they will be well surprised as it is a unique work that they have likely not come across before.
Originally written on October 12, 2015 ©Alex C. Telander.
To purchase a copy of The Author from Amazon, and help support BookBanter, click HERE.


November 18, 2015
Book News: The Talented Ms. Highsmith, Children’s Adventures ,Lovecraft Loses His Bust & More!
Amazon Books Gets Showroomed With the opening of the new Amazon bookstore, they get a bit of their own medicine.
Patricia Highsmith Most people know her for The Talented Mr. Ripley and not much else. Here’s much else.
World Fantasy Award Bust The World Fantasy Awards have made a great move in changing the bust of their awards from Lovecraft to something else, which is immediately a million times better.


November 13, 2015
Olague (2): Shutting Down for the Year
With the holiday season now in full swing; Thanksgiving just around the corner, and Christmas racing closely behind and arriving in now time, it means that my work is kicking into high gear and each day becomes a 10+ hour day with even less days off. This naturally means I’m more tired and have less energy to write.
So I’ve made the call to shut down writing on my novel Olague for the year. I’m just not going to be able to dedicate the time and work I want to it each week, let alone each day, and it just feels right to put it on hold until 2016. I will likely still continue with brainstorming, idea making, and plotting, which I tend to do while working, and will continue to add notes and details to the outline. But as for actual writing, the word count is going to hold at 4,492 for the rest of the year.
But I’m still extremely happy with what I’ve accomplished so far. My writing goal for this project for the year was at the very least to get started with writing it, maybe a page or two, and I’ve surpassed that with completing the prologue and working through Chapter One right now.
I’m planning on starting up the writing January 1, 2016 and making it the big focus for the year. And in the meantime, in addition to doing some outline work on this project, I can also work on some other things I’ve got going on.
Also with future Olague updates I’ll start including quotes from the novel.


November 10, 2015
Book News: Amazon Opens Physical Bookstore, Potter Prequel Peek, Pullman Gets Golden Adaptation & More!
Fantastic Beasts
The “Harry Potter Prequel” has some new photos and character details.
His Dark Materials
The BBC is adapting Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy for TV.
The Amazon Bookstore
Continuing to stick it in everyone’s faces, Amazon has opened a physical bookstore in Seattle.


November 6, 2015
“The Lost Codex” by Alan Jacobson (Open Road Media Mystery & Thriller, 2015)
Karen Vail, renowned FBI profiler, is back in her next adventure, only this time she’s doing something a little different: serving as a crucial member of an unusual team designated OPSIG Team Black as they attempt to unravel the story behind two ancient biblical documents.
With the first terrorist attack on US soil in some time, Karen Vail finds herself pulled into something much bigger than she can imagine. As she puts the pieces together and learns of the significance and implications of this attack that will likely turn to more, she is pulled into an elite group sanctioned by the President of the United States. The trail will take this crack covert team from DC to New York to Paris to England and eventually to Israel.
The first sanctioned Bible is purported to have been first recorded in 930CE, and after this document is rediscovered, in 1953, half of it goes missing. Then another document around the same time is discovered near the Dead Sea. Both items have potential revolutionary effects, depending on whose hands they end up in. Naturally there are many people from various “arenas” who would love to possess them, and it ultimately all comes back to the cradle of western religion.
There is good and bad with The Lost Codex. The bad is that since Vail is part of a team, the book doesn’t feature Vail all the time as readers have enjoyed in the past. However, the good is that this crack team has to use the various skills of each member to remain incognito and get to the bottom of these series of attacks. Jacobson has already proven he knows how to write a thriller, and in The Lost Codex, he leads his characters all over the world, infiltrating, researching, following up leads, and doing their jobs to the best of their abilities. It’s a thrilling book with a complex and fascinating story that pulls the reader in.
Originally written on October 27, 2015 ©Alex C. Telander.
To purchase a copy of The Lost Codex from Amazon, and help support BookBanter, click HERE.
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November 3, 2015
Book News: Autumnal Bradbury, A Return To Hogwarts, Fate of The Drunken Reader & More!
Why Autumn Belongs to . . .
Some authors can be attached to a certain season, and fall clearly belongs to the late great Ray Bradbury.
Sherlock Coming to Big Screen
With the new season of Sherlock coming soon, the premiere is planned for January 1 with plans to have it show in select theaters.
Neil Gaiman News
Gaiman is having more of his works adapted to the TV screen, this time short stories to being filming this month.


October 30, 2015
Book News: Halloween Reads, Amazon Turns a Profit, Literary Costume Ideas & More!
Literary Halloween Costumes
Halloween is real close now and you may still be at a loss for a costume, well here are 9 lazy literary ideas.
Scary Books
Here are ten perfect Halloween books guaranteed to keep you up at night.
Horror Reads
If you’re a fan of certain horror movies, who are some horror recommended reads.


October 27, 2015
Some Free Halloween Audio Tales
It’s been some time since I’ve talked at all about the awesomeness that is LibriVox. Essentially it is an organization of volunteers who record and produce audiobooks of works that are in the public domain and not under copyright. I’ve actually recorded a few myself. I’ve also recently been enjoying some great readings of some of Dickens’ works.
And then I recently thought with Halloween nigh upon us, why not . . . and have since enjoyed some great Halloween-related audio titles that are a blast.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving is of course a well-known Halloween classic. And this particular reading is a joyful one to listen to.
What Halloween reading isn’t complete without some tales by the one and only Edgar Allan Poe. This collection, Twelve Creepy Tales, features all the “big ones” from Poe with a great variety of readers and is worth the listen.
And if you’re looking for something else in the horror vein, you can browse through the Horror and Supernatural Fiction Section.

