Rachel Lynn Brody's Blog, page 10

Versatile Blogger Awards (Part 1: Blog Recommendations)

On Saturday, I found out that Christina Zarrella had awarded me a Versatile Blogger Award! Needless to say (but I’ll say it anyways), I’m so flattered that she thought of me when selecting her nominees! Christina’s blog, Turbulence in the Veins, talks about her journey from homeless teen to Yale grad, offering some incredible insight into the struggles she faced and overcame on the way and talking about issues faced by those in similar situations to hers. To be honored by such a blogger was immensely flattering, and I hope you’ll all check out her writing. She has a memoir, of the same title, on the way. Thank you so much, Christina, for your kind words about I Wrote This:

Rachel Lynn Brody’s blog is always informative – whether on tech/blogging/writing topics and tips: http://rlbrody.com

Part one of winning a Versatile Blogger award is nominating another 15 blogs – so here are my nominations (in no particular order)!

Sare Liz Gordy (Inspiration, One Day At A Time) www.sareliz.com - Sare and I have known each other for years; her blog, which she updates with regularity, is always a window into her attempts to view her world with clarity and self-knowledge. Whether she’s posting about migraines, Feng Shui or finding enlightenment, her blogs are always a focused reflection of the world around her.
Tony Noland (Landless) http://www.tonynoland.com/ - A Twitter acquaintance who I’ve known for a while now, Tony’s blog is a combination of his self-publishing exploits, flash fiction and the occasional DIY project. His sense of humor is always evident in his takes on everyday life.
Jamie Broadnax (Black Girl Nerds) http://blackgirlnerds.com/ - Jamie and I have been chatting on Twitter for some time now, and her blog is a phenomenal resource for all things nerdy. She runs a weekly podcast of the same name, and both outlets dig into comics, culture and more. Through Black Girl Nerds, she’s built a phenomenal community that’s well worth checking out.
C.D. Reimer http://www.cdreimer.com/ - This is actually a combination of three blogs, where C.D. posts about writing, Silicon Valley and poetry. His writing blog is incredibly informative and often offers helpful insights into the process of self-publishing.
Johann Thorsson (On Books & Writing) http://jthorsson.com/blog/ - Icelandic author Johann Thorsson writes short stories and novels (mostly in English). His blog is a collection of book reviews, photographs and excerpts from his essays for megasite Book Riot. As an added bonus, those who follow him on Twitter often get to see, via photo, how jealous we should all be that we don’t live in Iceland.
JC Rosen (Girl Meets Words) http://jessrosen.wordpress.com/ - Jess runs a few different book- and writing-related discussions on Twitter. She’s always supportive of writers and willing to chat about their work, and always able to give an encouraging word. Her blog includes flash fiction on diverse topics and write-ups of the different things she’s reading.
Emily Suess (Suess’ Pieces) http://emilysuess.wordpress.com/ - One of my first Twitter acquaintances, Emily also runs a copywriting business – and when I met her, had taken on the beheamouth of online vanity publishing services to try and help new writers avoid unethical treatment. Seuss’ Pieces has been retired and archived to this URL, but still contains plenty of advice for beginning writers.
Melanie Ardentdelirium (Lovely Like Beestings) http://lovelylikebeestings.wordpress.com - Mels is a Twitter acquaintance whose blog tackles issues of both mental health and Roller Derby. Her topics cover everything from broken bones to sick cats, all with a frank edge that gives you a real taste of her personality.
Jo Clifford (Teatro do Mundo) http://www.teatrodomundo.com/  – Jo, my former MFA supervisor, is also a well-regarded, talented and prolific playwright in Scotland. Her blog is both a resource for understanding what it means to be a playwright in today’s world as well as a rich collection of ruminations on personal experience.
Sarah Hartley (StoryGirlSarah.com) http://storygirlsarah.com/ - Sarah is a New York fashionista in the truest sense of the word, with her signature mod/vintage look stamped across her fashion and design work. (Did I mention she’s responsible for the cover of Hot Mess?) Follow her blog and on Instagram to get the full impact of her creative and clear-headed style.
E.M. Thurmond (Count My Stars) http://countmystars.wordpress.com/ - While it hasn’t been updated in some time, E.M. Thurmond’s blog tells the story of an aspiring TV writer in Hollywood. From interviews with women writers to accounts of her own experiences developing her career, it’s a place where readers can find insight in the crazy maze of trying to make it as a screenwriter while staying true to your goals and ideals.
Vossbrink and Kukurovaca (Hairy Beast) http://hairybeast.net/ - These two twitter acquaintances are quick-witted on Twitter, and the depth of analysis on this blog dealing with photography and culture will change the way you look at pictures. Well worth checking it out, but carve out enough time to really immerse yourself in the subject matter. You won’t regret it.
Debbie Vega (Moon in Gemini) http://debravega.wordpress.com/ - Another blogger I found through #MondayBlogs, Debbie covers writing and pop culture. She participates in a lot of themed blog events, like “The Great Villain Blogathon,” and offers anything from advice on how writers can improve their craft to her perspective on popular films.
NYPinTA (Talking to the Moon) http://www.nypinta.com/blog/ - Film, music, theater, travel and television all get their chance in the spotlight on NYPinTA’s blog. Her clear and direct writing style lets you enjoy her experiences as if you’d been there.
Hugh C. Howey http://www.hughhowey.com/ - I read Hugh Howey’s Silo Saga last year, and was blown away by his intriguing dystopian vision. Since then I’ve had the pleasure of chatting with him once or twice on Twitter, and the thing I love about his blog is how generous he is with his advice for aspiring indie authors. As someone whose self-published stories went from blog entries to Kindle novels to being picked up by a major publisher, he’s walked the road many indie writers want to follow on, and he offers a lot of insight along the way.

Honorable Mention:

Maybe it’s cheating to bring up a blog I help contribute to, but this list wouldn’t be complete without including Calming Brits & Irishmen. My friend @aboleyn started this Tumblr as a way to cheer me up after my back injury, and since then it’s gained nearly 4,000 followers and turned into a sort of Post Secret for Anglophiles. In addition to the meme-like photographs with calming sayings that we started out posting, we now answer anywhere between 3-15 “asks” a day – many anonymous – from followers dealing with upsetting issues from studying for exams to dealing with breakups, mental health issues and the deaths of family and friends — all through the medium of animated gifs of some of our favorite British and Irish personalities. Apparently the brings a smile to many peoples’ days, and if you’re looking for versatility, the topics it covers run the gamut of human experience.

There’s a second part of the Versatile Blogger Awards – sharing seven things about yourself – but as this blog is already topping 1000+ words, I’ll save that for a second part. Stay tuned tomorrow to learn more about me.

I’m currently seeking beta readers/advance reviewers for my upcoming collection of sci-fi and speculative fiction stories, SHORT FRICTIONS. If you’re interested, please click  here  to find out more. 

Writing Better: Call for Editing Exercise Suggestions

One of the most popular blogs on this site is the one where I took a page from The Hunger Games and explained why the writing needed a lot more work to be considered quality. I’d like to do another post like this, and need your help in picking a piece to go through.

Therefore, if you’ve read a book lately and thought, “this really could have used another draft or two,” I want to know about it! Grab your phone, snap a photo of the page and email it to contact@rlbrody.com; I’ll choose from the entries I receive and do another blog entry like that one. Here are the guidelines for submission:

1. Only traditionally-published books, please.

While I’m sure there are plenty of self-published books that could use another round of editing, the point here isn’t to pick on indie authors who are trying to make a name for themselves, and while I think using  an editor is a critical step in self-publishing, I don’t think it’s fair to go after those who may not have the resources to hire a professional editor.

2. I have to be able to read the page in you submit.

For obvious reasons. If the book (and page) you pick is available via Google Books, that’s fine – in that case, just provide a link!

3. Please include the title and author of your selection.

Also, I hope, for obvious reasons.

4. Recent, popular books will be given preference over older submissions.

Because I want to talk about books read by the widest possible audience.

Looking forward to receiving your recommendations!

Looking forward to receiving your submissions!

Want to flex your own critical muscles? I’m accepting beta readers/advance reviewers for my upcoming short story collection SHORT FRICTIONS and would love to see your name and email address on the list!

 

 

Want to flex your own editing muscles? I’m accepting applications 

Sexy* No-Interest Lending

Kiva is a micro-financing site. Its business model lets individuals make “micro-loans” to entrepreneurs starting or trying to sustain small businesses around the world. The money is paid back over time (although you don’t earn interest), giving a leg up to those who need it and helping sustain their local economies.

I got the opportunity to try the site, risk-free, when a friend sent me a $25 “bonus” loan. I found a small tailoring business in India, where the location of the shop was proving to be a hindrance to obtaining new customers. The owner sought a loan move his business to a higher-traffic area. The business proposal was clear, the tailor was already established, and I took the plunge, adding my $25 to funds other Kiva members had already invested in the project.

A couple days ago I got an email from Kiva letting me know that the final payment on the loan had been made. My “investment” cycle was now complete. When I checked my account, I was thrilled to see the tailor’s business was now thriving in its new location. Calling the feeling I got a “warm fuzzy” would be a complete understatement.

So why am I blogging about this today?

Kiva has a referral bonus program that requires no investment from new users.

If you sign up for Kiva using this link, I get another credit of $25 to loan to another small business. You don’t have to spend any money, and you help me help another small business owner.

Businesses on Kiva range in location, product, requested loan amount, mission and more. There are businesses in the US, businesses run by women, and businesses in all kinds of industries. They’re diverse and help people follow their passions. The repayment rate is high, and the model allows people dignity and resources they might not otherwise have access to. The site sends very little email, based on your stated preferences, so it’s also convenient and innocuous.

Given all this, would you consider signing up for Kiva via my referral link?

It only takes a few minutes, and the warm fuzzy feeling is worth it. If you already have a Kiva account, consider adding comments about your experiences below. The more people who understand what a great site it is, the better!

 

*The other day, I read Google results for blogs that have three-word titles beginning with “Sexy” are prioritized in search results, and if a blog entry was ever worth trying to promote through organic search, it’s this one.

Clarification: An earlier version of this blog post was unclear about the “no interest” aspect of the loan – while the person making the loan does not receive interest back, the individual receiving the loan pays a small amount of interest on the loan, which supports the loan facilitator but is significantly less than other types of loans would incur.

Thinning the Book-Herd

I was reading this article from the Guardian Saturday morning, and it reminded me of my own recent library purge.

I’ve always loved books. When I was in elementary school, I used to walk through the halls reading a book. While I never crashed into anyone, my teacher had a prejudice against allowing this kind of nerdery to go unchecked. Similarly, I (though not other children) was banned from bringing a book to the cafeteria for lunchtime. (This problem was solved by reading over a friend’s shoulder – we were both obsessed with The Babysitters Club, so it worked out well.)

Over the years, I built up quite the collection: science fiction, historical fiction, foreign fiction fiction-fiction, mythology and more. Once, I calculated the cover value of my Star Trek novels alone – it amounted to several thousand dollars, and I was only in my mid-teens. Growing older, moving to college and then graduate school and then to live on my own, however, my collection was slowly pared down. First, the books moved to my parents’ basement and garage. Every time I’d come home, I’d go through them and winnow them down to fewer and fewer volumes. Several boxes came to New York City with me, but as my apartments grew smaller and smaller, even these – which I had thought of as the books I could never part with – became fewer in number.

The last few months have seen another reduction, setting bags on the stoop of my building with signs: “FREE BOOKS!” on sunny weekend mornings.

In her article (an excerpt from her book) Linda Grant writes:

“The methodology I used for my cull was very high-minded: I would preserve those books of literary merit, the books I had not yet read but wanted to and the books given as gifts with an inscription on the flyleaf. “

This reasoning approximated my own library reduction. I kept the sci-fi greats, books I would not be able to easily replace. Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg, Robert Heinlein, Orson Scott Card – these were books that remained on my shelf, in part because their writing styles always inspired me but also partly because I can’t imagine going out and re-buying these books.

My books of “literary merit” also included classics and old books inherited from my grandparents. I have an entire set of the complete works of Tolstoy, of Sir Walter Scott, of Victor Hugo. The Tolstoy was published in the early 1900s and the author himself was consulted on the translation; I can’t see how reading another version of War and Peace will take me closer to the original Russian, which I don’t read and can’t see myself learning.

Then there are the plays I’ve seen and loved: mostly scripts purchased from the Traverse Theatre or the Royal Court, or gifted to me by playwrights like Alan Wilkins or Jo Clifford.

There are books of sentimental value: my complete set of Moomin novels, by Tove Jansson, or Avi’s The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. And there are many books I haven’t read yet, but want to, but suspect I may not: Heaney’s Beowulf, some Balzac, a few graphic novels.

What remains on my shelf is eclectic, and still takes up an entire shelf on my wall, but it is pared down. There is a surprising amount of nonfiction, for someone with reading

roots so deeply associated with sci-fi and other imagined worlds. And these days, I hardly buy books any more: I check out digital editions from the library or purchase copies of the books I want from Kindle. If they’re classic, there are almost always free digital versions (or low-cost ones) and if they’re new I can usually borrow the digital copy from a friend, or occasionally spring for it. I read more indie novels, paging through Wattpad in search of samples that get my mind going.

While Grant laments having gotten rid of so many of her books in her move, I find that I rarely miss the physical volumes I’ve let leave my life. Once or twice I’ve wanted a quote only to find that the book in question left me long ago, but for the most part I have what I need. Most of my college textbooks are finally gone – if I want to get back into filmmaking, rather than scriptwriting, there are websites and other resources where I’ll be able to refresh my memory. I no longer felt attached to my British editions of Harry Potter, and kept only a handful of my favorite Star Trek novels – mostly by Peter David and Daffyd ab Hugh (whose no-holds-barred stories satisfied my affection for bloodthirsty sci-fi, as a teen).

What I realized the other day – and what I found a bit upsetting – is how few of the books on my shelf are written by women. While it’s not yet time for me to rebuild my library – that will have to wait until I own my own home instead of rent a small shoebox – the temptation to refill my shelves with Margaret Atwood, Joyce Carol Oates, Poppy Z. Brite, Octavia Butler, Anne McCaffery, Diana Gabaldon and more is difficult to resist. They and others are finding their place on my virtual bookshelf, but it’s clear to me that I need to put more effort into reading (and buying) non-white, non-male authors.

What books do you read? What are some that you’d recommend? Leave a comment to let me know, and don’t be discouraged by the weird error message that comes up when you click “submit” – the comments are posting, there’s just something wrong with the blog.

 

Like reading? Enjoy writing reviews? I’m currently seeking beta readers/advance reviewers for my upcoming collection of sci-fi and speculative fiction stories, SHORT FRICTIONS. If you’re interested, please click  here  to find out more.

Win a $15 Gift Code to ThinkGeek.com!

Since Short Frictions, my upcoming short story collection, includes a number of science fiction stories, I thought it would be appropriate to offer a geeky gift code giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

ThinkGeek.com is full of fun, nerdy collectibles. T-shirts, toys, robotic knick-knacks and more. Whatever your geeky obsession, from TV shows like Star Trek, Doctor Who, Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad to tech-themed house or office gadgetry and beyond, ThinkGeek.com has loads of fun distractions.

From today through June 29th 2014, you can enter the contest by participating in this Rafflecopter giveaway.

Using the above Rafflecopter entry form, join my mailing list, then earn extra “credits” towards winning by sharing this giveaway on Facebook and Twitter – which you can do every day. If you’re already on the mailing list, go ahead and enter your address again – you’ll still only get one copy of each email, and that way your entry will still count towards the giveaway!

List members receive special previews and announcements of upcoming productions and publications, and as always, I promise not to share or sell your email address.

The giveaway results will be announced on June 30th – will you be the winner?

In addition to the giveaway, I’m also currently seeking beta readers/advance reviewers for SHORT FRICTIONS. If you’re interested in an advance copy, writing a review and being thanked in the digital copy’s acknowledgements, please click  here  to find out more!

For Self-Published Authors, Restoring Your eBook Price Comes With A Catch-22

If you’ve self-published an ebook, you’re probably aware of the disclaimer most sites hold regarding pricing: namely, that they’re allowed to change the selling price of your ebook whenever they want, without reason given or consultation.

Practically speaking, this generally comes into effect when there’s a discontinuity between prices set on different sites. For example, if you’re charging $2.99 on Amazon and $.99 on Smashwords, Amazon will most likely adjust the price of your ebook downward so it’s competitive with its competitor. Some writers have even found a way to game the system in order to give away free copies of their books permanently, and rather than just use the five free days Amazon Kindle Select users are entitled to, they price their ebooks as free on Smashwords then self-report until Amazon lowers their selling price to zero.

Here’s the problem: if, at any point, a writer wants to push the price of their ebook up, coordinating all these sites’ pricing information (and we’re not just talking Amazon and Smashwords – there’s also Nook Publishing, and if you manage sites like Kobo, etc. independently, those can also factor in) can be a logistical nightmare. Smashwords’ distributors can take from one to three weeks to reprice your book. Amazon won’t raise the price if it’s offered for less elsewhere. And who has any idea how Barnes & Nobles manages their Nook site; I can’t quite figure out who’s buying self-published books over there, anyways.

The solution seems, at first glance, simple: just withdraw your book from publication until you’re down to one distributor (ideally the one you’re making the most sales on) then add back the other retailers at your new price point. The problem is that this leads to lost sales metrics and an effect on your overall ranking, as Smashwords so carefully warns when you go to “unpublish” a book.

I’m not sure what the solution is, but self-published authors may want to consider this difficulty when they’re choosing what platforms to use and where to set their original price point. While you can always adjust the List Price of your book upwards (and may want to consider doing so, since it can give customers the impression that they’re getting a deal), moving it up from a lower price point once you’ve published on multiple platforms is nowhere near as easy as you’d think.

I’d love to hear how other authors are dealing with the issue of having publishers slash their ebook prices, since I couldn’t find information online with some quick googling. If you’re selling across platforms and want to raise an ebook price back to its original list price after your distributor has lowered it, what’s your strategy to coordinate all the different timelines involved?

Additional reading:

Who Controls Your Amazon E-Book Price

I’m currently seeking beta readers/advance reviewers for my upcoming collection of sci-fi and speculative fiction stories, SHORT FRICTIONS. If you’re interested, please click here to find out more. 

Blog Housekeeping

This week, I did some tinkering with the way my blog is set up. In the past, it’s been hard for people to find additional entries on topics that interested them, so I took a long hard look at how to set up a more straightforward interface with the site.

1. Simplified Categories

When I started this blog, I didn’t quite grasp how categories worked, and treated them more like tags – creating new ones willy-nilly, using highly specific language. Over time, I realized that I was writing primarily about a handful of topics: writing, science and technology, lifestyle (health, New York City stories, etc.) and activism and politics (including rants about feminist issues). So on Wednesday, I found a plugin (sort of a tiny app just for the site) that helped me change the categories of my entries in batches, and moved some of the more esoteric, rarer categories into some of the broader ones. Hopefully that will help newcomers to the blog focus their reading in whatever area it was they came here to read about.

2. Simplified Pages

The second component of the blog’s menu bar are the static “pages” that make up information including my bio, where you can see my work covered in other media, what books I have for sale and signing up for my mailing list. By combining some of these pages and deleting others, I condensed what had been seven or eight pages down to just a handful. Again, hopefully that will help people navigate the site with a little more precision.

Early Results

I made the changes on Thursday morning, and I’m happy to say the analytics from day one appeared positive. Page views per visitor went up, average time on the site went up, and my bounce rate (the number of people who come to visit one page then go) fell. Only time will tell if it keeps up, but this certainly indicates that a little organization goes a long way!

Are there other things about the site that you find difficult to navigate? Are there features you’d like to see, or ideas you have on how I can make it more user-friendly? If so, please don’t hesitate to let me know – either in the comments below or via email.

I’m currently seeking beta readers/advance reviewers for my upcoming collection of sci-fi and speculative fiction stories, SHORT FRICTIONS. If you’re interested, please click  here  to find out more. 

Would You Like a Robot on Your Board of Directors?

Back in its day, ENIAC was pretty darn advanced, too. [Photo credit: PD image of ENIAC. Two women operating the ENIAC's main control panel while the machine was still located at the Moore School. "U.S. Army Photo" from the archives of the ARL Technical Library. Left: Betty Jennings (Mrs. Bartik) Right: Frances Bilas (Mrs. Spence)]

I’m geeking out over this article.

While the title of that piece is a little misleading (the artificial intelligence tool in question, called VITAL (from Aging Analytics Agency), will be used to create comprehensive reports but humans will still be making the decisions), this is the kind of piece a sci-fi junkie salivates over. One more step on the way to the singularity, Skynet is just around the corner, etc., etc. A venture capitalist firm called Deep Knowledge Ventures, where board members wait for reports from a robot before making decisions? I can already see the film rights getting optioned.

As the above article points out, of course, this isn’t the first time machines have been entrusted with making decisions that affect the course of human business. Remember the Flash Crash of 2010? The Dow Jones lost around 1000 points within a matter of minutes, all because a computer algorithm misfired. (As far as I’m aware, the issue quickly self-corrected when the programs in play recognized the sharp drop and shut down trading.)

While one likes to think that VITAL won’t have that kind of access to major markets, it isn’t hard to see where it might have deeper repercussions for both venture capital firms and the field of life sciences research. It will be interesting to see how other venture capital firms react. If the machine works as advertised, the firm will be able to make safer investment bets on new companies, operating less on human emotion than on raw data. If one VC firm is able to make decisions that pay off with more regularity, it’s almost guaranteed that others will want to use this technology as well, just to remain competitive.

Think about it as a data arms race between private companies. Where could it wind up? And what does it mean to the life sciences companies? (And what consequences could it have for disease and other biological research?)

I’d like to know more about how VITAL will calculate an investment with the potential for success – in knowledge gained? In jobs created? Or (as I suspect) in terms of the most profitable bottom line?

It’s definitely a story I’ll be trying to stay informed on.

Additional Reading:

Defend Net Neutrality

For various reasons, it has been a very taxing day. So I give you this video from someone on YouTube, explaining the importance of Net Neutrality. Happy Wednesday, everyone.

Additional reading:

Netflix, Comcast and Pay-for-Play in a Post-Net-Neutrality World 
Killing Net Neutrality Till It’s Even More Dead
In Protest of SOPA and PIPA
[Subject Redacted] [See: CISPA]

David Tennant & An Accent Piece: Broadchurch, Gracepoint, FOX & Adaptations

Let’s talk about David Tennant, and let’s talk about American drama.

I first saw Mr. Tennant on stage at the Royal Court Upstairs in a production of PUSH UP in 2001. It was a small play in a big theatre (though spatially tiny) about grasping upwards at corporate promotions. How prescient. Tennant played a young executive working on an ad campaign to be shot in New York. The play was mediocre. Tennant was dynamite.

Press photo courtesy of The Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh

It wasn’t until 2005, at the Royal Lyceum Edinburgh performance of the Bush Theatre’s Look Back In Anger that I realized the actor I’d seen at that tiny upstairs theatre was about to blow up: ready to take a part in the BBC’s Casanova; and shortly thereafter? Doctor Who.

Look Back in Anger was the kind of theater piece a critic hungers after, and reviewing it, I wrote, “what the actors bring to the story simply elevates the [written] play to a whole new level of intensity.” (British Theatre Guide).

In this production, Tennant and were incendiary, electric. They were an example to writers of what kind of passion could be set ablaze on stage, and how much trust one could place in theatrical performers when it came to representing one’s vision. I learned a lot from them.

Subsequently, Tennant was given command of the TARDIS, and post-Who, he’s appeared in a number of British dramas.

While I may be fannishly biased, I think it’s fair to say Tennant is the sort of actor one delights in watching. He can bewitch (Harry Potter IV’s Barty Crouch), chew scenery (St. Trinian’s 2, Fright Night), lend gravitas (The Escape Artist), play the male romcom lead (The Decoy Bride, opposite Trainspotting legend Kelly MacDonald), or be personally and politically despicable (The Politician’s Husband). One endearing turn even saw him playing a primary school teacher with Daddy issues. 

In short, Tennant inhabits various roles as easily as some of us inhabit the rooms of our houses. But one of the biggest successes he’s had since leaving the TARDIS behind has been, (well, arguably) his role in the ITV series Broadchurch.

Click below to see what I mean

Broadchurch, for those who don’t follow British drama (and don’t have the time to watch the above clip, which – are you sure you don’t have time to watch the above clip?), is the story of a small seaside town and the murder that rocks it. Tennant plays Detective Inspector Alec Hardy, with Olivia Coleman (you probably know her as the wardrobe mistress from Ugly Betty) as his somewhat-disgruntled second.

Broadchurch‘s first season (ITV’s second is upcoming) focused on the murder of a young boy, and how the community he was a part of subsequently tore itself apart. By the time you reach the final episode and the series’ denoument, it hardly matters who the killer is. Everyone (including Steven-Moffat-Era-Doctor Who’s Arthur Darvill) has something to hide, and everybody loses in the end.

Last year, it was announced that an American version of Broadchurch was being filmed. Fans were hesitant. The original was so tightly-wound, what could be gained from remaking it, from rebroadcasting ITV’s nation-wide hit? It emerged that Tennant would be recreating his role as Hardy; would new layers be added to the story?

via The Huffington Post

Welcome to 2014. FOX’s trailer has arrived – the new series is called Gracepoint, and co-stars the fantastic Anna Gunn (previously seen on Breaking Bad as Walter White’s beleaguered wife Skylar). Shot-for-shot, the trailer makes it look like not a lot has been altered (aside from Mr. Tennant’s accent, which is no longer Scottish, more’s the pity) in the remake, and maybe that’s as it should be: after all, Broadchurch was a masterclass in whodunnits, though looking back there were plenty of folks who coulda dunnit when it comes to Broadchurch’s final crime. Will Gracepoint follow the lead set by its British predecessor? Will they choose a new villain, or even new shots, somewhere along the line?

With Broadchurch set to hit its second season on ITV, and should American audiences respond as well as British ones, will FOX find a graceful way for Mr. Tennant to leave the show (thereby making way for the woman who played one of the most hated wives in television to take over the spotlight), or are we watching the beginnings of an intercontinental balancing act?

While I’d love — and still hope — to be able to say that fans win either way, the truth is my heart lies in hearing more of Tennant’s Scottish accent rather than in the plot of this modern mystery masterpiece. Making television and film concepts “accessible” to American audiences through the changing of settings and accents, or through the amping up of romantic storylines (sending up a Hail Mary, right now, in hopes that there’s no such storyline change between the two lead characters in this production) is a concept both belittling and isolationist. Why can’t Americans be expected to appreciate the artistic contributions of other countries without those contributions being made “more palatable”? In this interconnected digital age, is there a reason Americans can’t follow and enjoy a British television series (that was gripping, heart-pounding and – given its subject matter - a little sickening) without its being repackaged? We don’t seem to have a problem with Downton Abbey, after all.

While locovore tendencies are admirable in terms of organic matter, carbon footprint and personal nutrition, when it comes to a television diet, one can afford to range further afield. Americans should be happy and excited to digest quality entertainment nutrients from other cultures and countries, and while I’m thrilled that both Mr. Tennant and Ms. Gunn are drawing paychecks from my countrymen’s willful ignorance, a rather substantial part of me wishes that we weren’t more or less re-dubbing a taut, attuned thriller for the sake of network execs too afraid to trust us with those ever-so-complicated Motherland accents, or unwilling to commission new, unproven series.

That said, I’ll do my best to watch Gracepoint - if only because its two leads are actors more than worthy of drawing compensation from FOX, and because after so many years, I trust Mr. Tennant to bring something new (and thrilling) to his new interpretation of this role.

Allonsy, after all.