Bryce Moore's Blog, page 284

Vodnik ARC Giveaway Contest

Okay--I know this is long overdue, but I was waiting to run the contest until the rush of the holidays were over. So here we are. Rush. Over. :-)



As I posted earlier, I have a shiny new Advance Reading Copy (ARC) of my novel that I'm just itching to give away to somebody. Here's how this giveaway is going to work. Everybody can earn a certain number of entries in the contest (by doing various things, which I'll detail in a moment). I'll put all those entries into an Excel spreadsheet, number them, and then use random.org to select a random number within that range. If that number's yours, you win!



Pretty easy, eh? You'll be sent 368 pages of Slovak fantasy goodness--destined to be a collector's item. If you choose to donate your copy to the Smithsonian for posterity's sake, I'm sure the country will thank you years down the road. :-)



So how can you generate entries? Simple:


Comment on this blog post (either here or on Facebook) = 1 entry
"Like" this post on Facebook = 1 entry
Share this blog post on Facebook = 1 entry
Retweet this blog post on Twitter (my Twitter name is bmoorebooks) = 1 entry
"Like" the Amazon page for Vodnik = 1 entry
Blog about the book, or me writing the book, or . . . anything Vodnik and me-related (link back to here so that people can find out more about the book and go on to enter the contest themselves) = 5 entries


(If you "like" the page on Amazon, you'll have to tell me--either in the comments or via email or on Facebook or Twitter. They don't let me know who liked it.) If you helped me come up with ideas for this contest (per my previous blog post), congrats! You've already earned yourself one entry. :-)




I'll have this contest run through Groundhog Eve (February 1st, for those of you who don't take your rodent festivities as seriously as you should), and then I'll announce the winner in a big, elaborate blog post (or maybe a smaller, not as elaborate post--it depends on how my Groundhog Day is going) on Groundhog Day itself.




Sound like a plan? Then get posting!




For those of you coming here for the first time, click here to find out more about it.[image error]

Public Service Annoucement: Amazon Prices

Howdy folks. Today I'm here with just a brief bit of info that might make your life a tad better. Assuming you ever shop at Amazon, that is. Did you know that Amazon has a tendency to mess around with its prices? Not just a little, either. They don't have to have their minions scurry around with stickers to change their prices--they can do it with a click of a button. And they do.



A lot.


I have no idea *why* they change them as much as they do, but who are we to question the ways of the mighty Amazon? And in the end, why they do it doesn't matter. All that matters is to be aware of it and to know how to fight it.



Because if there's one thing any good librarian knows, it's that knowledge is power.



Enter Amazon price watchers, stage right. There are any number of these services online--the one I personally use is myPriceTrack, not because I think it's better than any others. It just happens to be the one that I found first. (If any of you out there have services you like more than this one, please speak up. I have no loyalty to this particular one.)



This handy tool allows you to cut and paste the web address of any Amazon product into its search engine, and it spits out the relevant price data for that item, charted over time. So in action, let's imagine you wanted to buy Adobe CS5. You go to Amazon's page for the item and see that it's selling for $650 (right now), marked down from $700. That seems like a pretty good deal, right? Well, when you go to myPriceTrack, you discover CS5 was on sale for $490 back on November 19th, and then again for $500 on December 17th. Maybe you ought to watch the price of it over the next while and find a better time to buy.



You can do this with anything on Amazon. Books, movies, electronics, music--you name it. It'll also show you the lowest "Buy Used" price on Amazon. The price doesn't fluctuate as wildly for some areas, but you really never can tell where it will and where it won't. When I go to buy something off Amazon these days, I almost always at least make a stop by myPriceTrack first to make sure I'm not getting ripped off.



Any of you have any tips you use for online shopping?[image error]

Thoughts on Downton Abbey: Season Two Premiere Review and Response

Yeah. I know. Me and Downton Abbey--I didn't really see this one coming. But I'd read so many positive reviews from my friends, that I finally caved and watched Season One a week or so ago with Denisa. Even with all the good buzz, I wasn't expecting to like it. I thought I'd just get over 15 minutes or so, and then be able to dismiss it.



We finished the season in about three days. (Granted, this is a British production, which means the seasons are significantly shorter, but still--we were hooked.) What was it about the show that kept me captivated? The characters, or course. It's almost always the characters that keeps me watching more. In this series, you have a great contrast with the lives of the nobility and the servants who keep them running. (Plus, Denisa and I can have an endless conversation wondering what exactly the nobility *do* each day to pass the time. No wonder some of them scheme so much. There was no Netflix.)


Better yet, season two started last night, and PBS is one of the two channels our antenna picks up, so we could watch this one "live" along with the rest of the country. So. If you haven't seen season one, you owe it to yourself to go and watch it now. You also should read the rest of what I'm going to write now, because it won't make any sense, and it'll spoil some of the first season for you, and we don't want that.



If you haven't seen episode one of Season Two, you also would be better served watching it and then coming back to read my comments, since I'm assuming that readers have seen it. Okay? So SPOILER ALERT if you haven't seen 2.1.



My thoughts:



I like the WWI developments. It's a way to keep the show fresh and new--so that it avoids just going over the same old same old in a tiresome treadmill. Yes, I still care about whether Bates and Anna get together or not, but it's good to have a bit of a mix up to start the season. Jumping forward two years was also a great idea (though I find it a tad strange that more hasn't changed in some of the side plots in the intervening time--though I'm happy to just smother that nitpick and move on.)



Seeing Thomas figuratively soil himself in the trenches of WWI was great fun, though if he'd been shot in the head instead of the hand, I might be a bit happier. Getting him and O'Brien back in the same town is nothing but trouble. (Seriously--why in the world is Cora so blind to the fact that her maid is the spawn of Satan? The woman's a witch across the board. Also, remind me why in the world the Crawleys would do something nice for Thomas, who proved himself to be a Grade A Weasel in Season One? I suppose it's just the Crawleys being all nice and good, which is what (some of them) do best.)



I don't like the new redheaded maid as much as I liked Gwen, the last redheaded maid (what was the job announcement like? WANTED: A cute red head to be our maid. Ideally, she should be like our last maid (have dreams at bettering her station in life), just not as likable.) Still, one tends to think they're developing a good subplot where I'll end up liking her despite myself. It's interesting to me though that the two characters are so similar, and yet my response to both of them is quite different. All in the attitude of the character . . .



Molesley is a grimy, yucky, icky man who I no longer care for at all. Of course, I wasn't crazy about him in the first season--it was more of a neutral feeling. But with the one two punch of his cowardice and trying to go for Anna so soon after Bates' departure . . . not sure if he can regain his standing in my eyes. Which is too bad. I feel like the whole "I don't want to go to war" subplot could have been better handled. By sticking it with the guy who viewers will hate for trying to take Anna from Bates, the producers don't even seem to give it a fair shake when it comes to making a case.



I'm curious to see what dark nasty secrets Lavinia is trying to hide, but I have little doubt that Mary and Matthew will end up getting together, just like I believe Anna and Bates will end up married, at some point. Why? Because Downton Abbey has to have a Season Three, and to have that, they need to still have fans, and if they did something as awful as permanently separating either of these couples, there would be mass hysteria among their fan  base. (So maybe I'm too cynical. But tell me I'm wrong.)



And Mary dating a newspaper tycoon? The girl sometimes makes the most self-destructive life choices I can imagine. What's her thought process? "I've got this huge, terrible secret, and if it ever gets out, my family and I could be ruined. Maybe I'll date the guy who'll want most to print it, just to give him the best chance at finding out." Silly rabbit.



Anyway--that's all I have time for today. I loved the premiere, and I'm looking forward to watching the rest. How about you? Are you still hooked? Or do you think I'm silly for caring about a British costume drama? Do tell . . .[image error]

Video Game Review: Rocksmith

I very rarely review video games, mainly because it's not that often I have a chance to really play a new one. However, when Rocksmith came out, it really perked my ears up. I got an electric bass a few years ago, and while I've had fun fooling around on it now and then, I'd never really found a way to have fun with it and actually improve my playing.



Full disclosure: I an acoustic guitar class at BYU for a semester. I have an acoustic, as well, and I really liked playing on it. Mainly strumming chords. Nothing too elaborate. Bar chords tended to intimidate me, if that means anything to you.



I'd played Guitar Hero and Rock Band some, but I couldn't help feeling kind of silly--like I was playing on a pretend guitar. Probably because, you know, I kind of was. Games like Guitar Hero do a great job of making you feel like you're actually good at playing guitar, without actually being good at playing the guitar. Devoting the kind of practice necessary to really get good at the game felt pointless to me. I might as well devote the time to learning the actual instrument.



Enter Rocksmith.



It works with any electric guitar (and they're promising a bass add-on in the not too distant future). It's got a similar "note highway" that everyone's familiar with from Guitar Hero--it's just that this one incorporates fret numbers and six different strings. I got it (and an electric guitar) from Santa for Christmas for me and TRC, who (as you'll recall) has been wanting a guitar for Quite Some Time. In an ideal world, this game would actually help me learn how to play the guitar better, and I'd enjoy doing it.



It has exceeded my wildest expectations.



I can play for hours on end (not that I do--I usually have to force myself to stop playing after an hour, since I do have other things I need to be doing besides learning to play the guitar. Although I don't feel too bad, because I'm actually learning something, as opposed to perfecting how to play a plastic toggle.) It scales the difficulty to your ability, automatically. Basically, it does everything I dreamed it might do. It makes me feel like I'm playing along with the song in question, it's improving my ability, it's a blast. In the few weeks I've had it, I've already seen my skill go up noticeably. It's taken me from a general knowledge of the guitar to actually being able to play solos on some of the songs.



If you're not a guitar player and never hoped to be one, then this game obviously isn't for you. And if you're an expert who shreds out songs like they're nothing at all, then you might want to think twice about this one, too (although it really does a great job of making you feel like you're part of the band--and it has some really fun guitar-based games on it, as well). But if you're like me--a novice or intermediate player, or someone who would really like to play, then this is perfect for you.



Once TRC gets a bit older, and once they have the bass add-on out, I could totally see me playing with my son. I'm really excited for it.



There are two versions--one with just the game and the cord you need to connect your guitar to your console (it's running for about $60 on Amazon right now), one bundled with an electric guitar (that runs for $200 normally, though the price on Amazon is now up to $250). The bundled guitar is supposedly just fine. Not fantastic, but very usable. Rumor has it Santa got my guitar separately for $99 (on sale from $200) through Amazon, and the game just might have been on sale for $40 over Christmas.



Expensive? For a video game, yes. For an actual learn-to-play the guitar course? Not so much.



Anyway--there you have it. If any of you have questions, I'm happy to answer them. Meanwhile, I think I have to go practice some Lenny Kravitz.[image error]

Movie Review: The Adventures of Tin Tin

Right before Christmas, I took TRC to the movies to see Tin Tin. Sorry this review is coming so late, but hey--that's what you get when you've got me on a holiday.



I've read some reviews of Tin Tin where people were disappointed in the film, and part of me can see why they would be. You've got the ingredients for a perfect storm. If this were a weather system, you'd have forecasters calling for feet upon feet of snow. Spielberg and Jackson? Tin Tin? John Williams? And when the storm arrived and you only got a foot of snow, you might be let down some.



But a foot of snow is still a lot of snow, people.



Again, it was also hurt by a bit of the way it was marketed. People were saying "It's going to be like Indiana Jones, but digital!" When you start throwing comparisons like that around, you're setting yourself up for disappointment. You can't compete against a classic like that. Too much baggage and memory in people's lives.



I really enjoyed Tin Tin. The plot was exciting. The action scenes were thrilling. (My favorite had to be the one where essentially two pirate ships are dueling--it'll make sense once you see it.) The score added to the whole mood. The 3D was fun and added to the experience. The digital motion capture wasn't distracting for me, either. I liked that it wasn't trying to be photorealistic. It seemed real, but not real--if that makes sense.



This is a movie I'd like to see more like. I'd love for Peter Jackson to be able to direct his version now. This wasn't a perfect  movie, and it wasn't Spielberg's best, but that's a really hard measuring stick to use to evaluate a movie like this. He was aiming for a fun thrill ride, and I think he succeeded. Unfortunately, the film isn't performing as well as it ought to, and that might make the sequel doubtful at best. Then again, if Peter Jackson wants to do it, I think the man can do just about anything he feels like.



Three stars for me on this one. Recommended for a fun time. Any of you already seen it? Thoughts?

In Which I Sacrifice My Phone to the Ice Fishing Gods

You ever wish life had a rewind button? At least one of those "back 30 seconds" buttons. That happened to me on Saturday. New Years Eve.



I was out ice fishing. In the rain. It was my second time ice fishing over Christmas break. The weather was supposed to be drizzly at first, then clear up. It was clear at first, then poured for about two and a half hours straight.



This is just to say that when my phone rang at 11:30, I was a bit busy. Why? Well, I had an umbrella in one hand, an fishing jig in the other, I had mittens and gloves on, and a hat. My coat was wet, my hands were wet, and I'd caught two fish over the past three hours. Neither of them were good (a yellow perch and a chub).



Despite all of this, I was having a great time. I know--I have a problem, clearly. But Denisa called me, and I cheerfully got out my phone and started chatting away, holding it between my cheek and my shoulder.



If my cell phone had been any bigger, I wouldn't have any problems. It would have stayed where I put it. But I had a new phone. A small phone.


A phone that slipped on my wet coat and went tumbling to the ice.



Or so I thought.



The hole I was fishing was seven inches across. Maybe. The LG Octane is over 4 inches long. Definitely. The odds of the phone falling right in that little hole? Gotta be slim to none.



But that's where it fell.



Time slowed down. I looked at the phone, and saw it floating in the hole. It wasn't sinking. I snatched off my glove and mitten, threw down my umbrella and jig, and dove for the phone. It could still be okay. A bit of uncooked rice--it would fix it right up. My arm plunged into the hole up to my elbow as the phone sunk faster than I'd hope. I got a last touch of it on my fingertips, and it was gone.



Eight feet down. A five inch layer of ice between me and the phone.



Gone goodbye.



Moral of the story? Don't ice fish and talk on the phone.



Also, don't try calling me or texting me over the next few days. I have to reload.



The good news? I ended up getting a trout. Denisa enjoyed it very much.



I still want to go ice fishing. But next time, I've told Denisa that if she calls me, I'm just going to let the phone ring.[image error]

Family Newsletter 2011

That's right, folks. It's time for me to post the yearly newsletter (sans the short story I write each year for Christmas, which is available only in the print version--sorry). This year's newsletter contains such gems as my guide to growing a beard and Denisa's overview of Breadweaver business. If you're remotely interested in my life at all, this'll probably be worth a gander.



If you're not . . . have you ever asked yourself why in the world you're reading my blog?



Click this link, and enjoy![image error]

Bring Your Son to Work Day

Wonder of wonders! I actually made it to work one day this week, so I must not be dying, after all. It's been TRC and my tradition the past three years to have him come with me to work for a half day right before Christmas. He helps out around the library, reads books, plays with my business cards and such, and then we go buy a present for Denisa from the kids, and follow it all off with a movie. Up today? Tin Tin. Hoping it's great.



It's fun to have TRC with me at work. He doesn't get in the way at all, and really enjoys being helpful however he can. Today he made me a "DO NOT ENTER! Librarian at Work" sign, complete with a skull and crossbones. If that doesn't keep people away, I don't know what will.



Rumor has it that there are some Munchkins from Dunkin Donuts downstairs. This will have to be thoroughly investigated, of course.



In any case, I hope you all have a loverly holiday/winter break/Christmas vacation. It actually snowed last night, so things are looking much more Christmasy. Bonus!



Not sure how much I'll blog next week. I've taken the week off (and really hope I'm not sick), so it'll all be kind of loosy goosey. I hope to get some ice fishing in, as well as play with as many toys as possible.



Catch ya on the flip side![image error]

My Online Undead Will

I'm not sure about the legal ramifications of this document, but I'm pretty sure no lawyer would be willing to write up an official one (well, they'd doubtless be willing--but they'd also no doubt charge me for the opportunity). I've seen far too many zombie movies and read way too many zombie books for my own good, but in watching all of these movies, it seems quite clear that the sole reason a zombie apocalypse is able to really gain critical mass and take over the world comes down to one basic reason:



People are stupid.



Seriously. Everybody seems to somehow think that they'll be immune to the zombification process. They get bit. Or scratched. Infected. And instead of doing the reasonable thing--liquefying their brain as quickly as possible--they try to ignore it. Maybe they'll get better. Maybe this time will be different.



I suppose I can understand this mindset for the people who get infected. Liquefying your own brain is no doubt a scary prospect. But it's different for the person's loved one--you know the one I'm talking about. Maybe it's the person's sister. Spouse. Parent. Child. Whoever it is, they're always there when you get infected. Every. Single. Movie. Mary gets bit, and Johnny wants to hold on to Mary for as long as he can, denying that she'll really turn. And then Mary becomes a zombie and Johnny either has to shoot her anyway, or else she bites Johnny and down they both go.



(Note: one possible explanation for this is that all people in zombie apocalypses live in worlds that never speculated about a zombie apocalypse. Maybe they're in some strange alternative universe, where George Romero was hit by a car when he was a kid or something. At this point in time, can't we all assume that anyone involved in a present day (or future) zombie apocalypse is familiar with how this is going to play out?)



In any case, it's for this reason that I'm writing up this online undead will, which delineates what my wishes are in the unfortunate event that I turn into a zombie.



Please, loved ones. Neighbors. Military. Do whatever you need to do to turn my brain into mush before it's too late for me. No shots to the abdomen or heart. There's only one way to take me out once I go zombie.



Off with my head.



You can use a cricket bat, axe, oar, shotgun, pistol, sniper rifle, proximity mine, club, baseball bat, sledgehammer--anything that happens to be handy when I turn. Just get it done fast. No tears. No drawn out dramatics. I'm a zombie, people. Take me out.



If everybody would just do that right when their loved one gets turned, then we all can avoid the impending doom of the zombie apocalypse.



Thank you--that is all.

Heard Back from My Agent on Tarnhelm

For those of you playing along at home, yes--I'm still sick. Really hacking and wheezing today, and it doesn't help that I can't seem to sleep past 4 in the morning. Sigh. There's always tomorrow.



In the "Good News" category, I heard back from my agent yesterday. I'd sent him the latest draft of Tarnhelm about a month ago, and he'd read it and evaluated it. Verdict? I'm 80% of the way there. He had some very solid observations about key elements of the book that need to be tweaked and improved so that the whole thing works together. Better yet, they're fixes I can actually do. :-)



Of course, there's always the dreaded "will there be an audience for this book" issue to deal with. If you've read much of my stuff, you might have noticed that sometimes I don't seem to end up writing books that are very mainstream. Ichabod is an exploration of reader response theory mashed up with Woody Allen's Purple Rose of Cairo. And can we say talking alpacas?



Tarnhelm is a YA Noir with (mostly) light fantasy elements. If you look over the bookshelves in YA sections of bookstores these days, you might notice that there aren't really a whole lot of YA Noir books out there to begin with--let alone fantasy noir. (Actually, if any of you know of any books in this vein, please pass them on to me. I'd really like to see any you've come across.)



So I'm not really following any current literary trends by writing this book.



But there *have* been precedents, at least in TV and movies. Veronica Mars, Brick, and the Assassination of a High School President are three examples that leap to mind. And I loved Veronica Mars, really enjoyed Brick, and found Assassination intriguing. That's good. But audiences didn't flock to Veronica strongly enough to keep it alive past three seasons, and Brick only managed to squeak past the 2 million mark domestically. So . . . not exactly a horde of pent up desire for the genre, it seems.



Why did I write it? Because I wanted to. Because it was a book that had been kicking around in my head for years, and it was time to get it out there and see what it could do. Because I think it's a pretty fun read.



In the end, all it takes is for an editor to see the same things in the book that I see. I can't be the only person to love Veronica Mars (I know I'm not)--and if someone told me there was a book out there like Veronica, but with a bit of fantasy thrown in on the side, I'd be all over it. (But of course I would--I just wrote a book like that. I'm clearly part of the target audience). And if the book did some cool riffs on a Maltese Falcon theme? I'd be even more excited.



So . . . we'll see. I'm going to revise the book one more time (hopefully finishing before the end of January), and then once it's looking good to me and my agent(s), then it's time to send the little bird out of the nest and see if it flies or splats. And while it's struggling to gain altitude, I'll be at work on my next book: a fusion of Ocean's 11, Mission Impossible, and Holiday Mythology. It's a YA heist fantasy.



Because there are *tons* of books like that out there. I'm totally chasing the market now. Right?