C.J. Moseley's Blog, page 124
March 15, 2015
psychofactz:
More facts
Yeah, but Watson’s an optimist…
Yeah, but Watson’s an optimist…
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More facts
Yeah, but Watson’s an optimist… appeared first on CJMoseley.com.
March 14, 2015
watercolorteas:“And then he went home, And the world turned…
“And then he went home, And the world turned towards morning”
-Night Watch
Thank you, Sir. Your words were there for me when a lot of other things weren’t. Safe journeys.
At least two worlds mourn his passing…
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asylum-art:
asylum-art: Pixel Pancho’s “Memory Of Our Life” at…
Pixel Pancho’s “Memory Of Our Life” at StolenSpace Gallery
Known for his retro-futuristic murals, Italian artist Pixel Pancho has a show coming up at London’s StolenSpace Gallery on March 12 titled “Memories of Our Life.” DIY, steampunk-inspired robots are a common motif in Pancho’s street art, which we previously covered on the blog here. For his exhibition, he will transform one of StolenSpace’s galleries into an immersive installation that will transport viewers into the world of his surreal automatons. With his latest work, Pancho says he is exploring man’s impulse to play god
Woah.
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asylum-art: Pixel Pancho’s “Memory Of Our Life” at… appeared first on CJMoseley.com.
March 13, 2015
The significance of plot without conflict
In the West, plot is commonly thought to revolve around conflict: a confrontation between two or more elements, in which one ultimately dominates the other. The standard three- and five-act plot structures—which permeate Western media—have conflict written into their very foundations. A “problem” appears near the end of the first act; and, in the second act, the conflict generated by this problem takes center stage. Conflict is used to create reader involvement even by many post-modern writers, whose work otherwise defies traditional structure.
The necessity of conflict is preached as a kind of dogma by contemporary writers’ workshops and Internet “guides” to writing. A plot without conflict is considered dull; some even go so far as to call it impossible. This has influenced not only fiction, but writing in general—arguably even philosophy. Yet, is there any truth to this belief? Does plot necessarily hinge on conflict? No. Such claims are a product of the West’s insularity. For countless centuries, Chinese and Japanese writers have used a plot structure that does not have conflict “built in”, so to speak. Rather, it relies on exposition and contrast to generate interest. This structure is known as kishōtenketsu.
Interesting.
However, to my mind, the twist and unification are a form of mystery, an apparently unrelated thing that is then connected, this makes it almost a riddle, a contest between reader and writer. A conflict (if only between the enigma and eventual solution) therefore, is not embodied in the plot, but still drives the narrative.
Still a fascinating article.
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March 12, 2015
magictransistor:
Raymond Bernard. The Hollow Earth. 1964….
magictransistor:
Raymond Bernard. The Hollow Earth. 1964.
Still looks fresh
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Raymond Bernard. The Hollow Earth. 1964…. appeared first on CJMoseley.com.
March 11, 2015
A load of robots and a rather out of place alien cyborg
A load of robots and a rather out of place alien cyborg
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March 9, 2015
archiemcphee:
Just how did Boba Fett manage to escape from the…
Just how did Boba Fett manage to escape from the belly of the dreaded Sarlaac? And would you like a refreshing glass of Sarlacc’s Nectar to drink while you listen to the story? LEGO builder Daniel Stoeffler created this awesome LEGO model, entitled Sarlacc’s nectar or the DarkSide of the Sarlaac, that reveals how Jawa Juice is actually made and how its hidden production facility enabled the famous bounty hunter to avoid being digested by the horrible beast and make his escape. It’s a wonderfully creative piece of Star Wars fan fiction illustrated with a massive and incredibly detailed cross-section diorama.
Click here for the Daniel Stoeffler’s complete narrative and more photos.
For still more photos of this amazing MOC, head over to Daniel Stoeffler’s Flickr page.
[via The Brothers Brick]
Some people have too much time on their hands… And too much Lego.
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Just how did Boba Fett manage to escape from the… appeared first on CJMoseley.com.
March 8, 2015
syfycity:
When they were young interns
:)
syfycity:
When they were young interns
:)
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When they were young interns
:) appeared first on CJMoseley.com.
March 7, 2015
March 6, 2015
Dead Heat Review
Zombies are a delicate topic in the Moseley household, while pregnant with our first born son my wife had a series of nightmares, each night she had to defend herself against zombies, each night the zombies got smarter, faster and the situations more dire. These nightmares installed in her a completely understandable, if still irrational, 'Kinemortophobia' - that's a fear of the moving dead.
We're not talking girly squeamishness here, she originally trained as a medic and unlike most people has removed and dissected a human brain, but it meant that Zombies went off the viewing and reading menu (even the excellently silly Shaun of the Dead is considered too terrifying to consider) - which leads me to my point in bringing this up, which is that I am a little behind the times on my zombie movies and books.
I follow MG Mason's excellent blog Sweat, Tears and Digital Ink and saw that he was working on a zombie novel, and when he posted the blurb and cover I offered to tidy the cover image and give it a read.
It's the sort of thing that can really help an Indie Author out, and I got to read the book before any of you for free, which is always nice.
It's an ebook (which I honestly prefer as a format as I not only can carry thousands of books at once, but have multiple available screens to read on) for kindle and is available from here for £3.25.
The book is a Novella length, which means it could fill an afternoon or a few days of piecemeal reading, but I wish it was longer. Because of the restrictions of length we barely scratch the surface of a zombie apocalypse, or eldritch uprising, and the short length can make the pacing feel accelerated and a little hurried, but with story being about a zombie run that takes a sharp turn into the Twilight Zone that pace works brilliantly.
The story follows a trio of guys who are running in a zombie run on a small British Island (we're technically an archipelago of over 6,000 islands don't you know) as part of a "Team building exercise" - which sounds horrific enough, but then their day gets a whole lot worse.
I'm trying not going to post spoilers as that would ruin the surprises and funnies that claw their way through the text like a Zombie through freshly dug earth. Instead I'll talk about briefly about structure, characterization, the conflict and why I have problems with Comedy-Horror generally.
Structure
Novellas are fast-paced, they rarely have much of a side-plot and try to focus on a single plot. In survival horror that plot is a very simplistic one, simply for one or more characters to not die as something tries to kill them over and over again. Survival horror usually passes through three phases/acts and Dead Heat is no exception. First we meet our characters, then all hell breaks loose and they start dying occasionally adding another survivor to extend the story, before finally they are either all dead (rarely), or someone survives and escapes (more normally).
Characterization
Our heroes are a trio of friends, all from the same town and working in the same export company, this gives them similar voices, although they quickly differentiate themselves through their reactions to the events.
Tony is a horror-geek (or Zombie-nerd, if you prefer), but he's dour and hurting (a bit) from a failed relationship. He gets some emotional growth, but is important early on for his Zombie-knowledge.
Jim is a joker, that blokeish, single, slightly-leery joker that you know down the pub, irreverent, sarcastic and sceptical, but he mellows later.
Mike is the last of the gang, he starts out as a bit of an enigma, but soon reveals that he's a level-headed thinker and is the most sympathetic character for me.
Once the zombie shuffle gets going, the friends inevitably pick up other survivors, first is Kate. Kate has insider knowledge of the island as she's done a few of these runs, and acts as a 'love-interest' of sorts and as a foil for Jim. She's sharp-witted character and has much of the funniest dialogue.
Later there are other changes in the group that lead to moments of pathos and tragedy appropriate for the character's growth and the plot. But this is a comedy-horror novella so we don't really see in-depth character development, but just enough to keep it interesting from that point of view.
Conflict
In this case the central conflict conforms rather nicely to Man vs The Supernatural. The Supernatural in this case are ancient eldritch horrors that are hungry and animate the dead to sate that hunger.
Zombies are hungry, but lack the romance of the more sexualised vampiric hunger, and as human-shaped (mostly) monsters their beast is within, in an inversion of the accursed pathos of the werewolf which preserves the humanity (and its guilt) within the beastial form. If the vampire is the embodiment of deadly sin of lust and the werewolf the embodiment of wrath, then modern zombies embody gluttony, greed and avarice at once, or consumerism as the marketeers have rebranded them).
Individually they are less threatening, easily outwitted, outrun, and due to their rotting state are often easily disabled (although how 'skeletal' zombies hold together is a mystery that has yet to answered), the real threats of the zombie are inevitability (they never sleep, they never tire, they never get bored, they don't drown, they have glowing red eyes --- wait, that's terminators), contagion (those who are killed by a zombie, rise as a zombie, for some reason) and therefore strength of numbers.
Dead Heat's restless dead tick all these boxes, they are unsanitary rotting flesh walking about, if they get you then blood poisoning is almost inevitable even if they don't eat you alive, zombie skulls and necks don't stand up well to a good crack from a willow bat, and they tend to finish a meal unless you do something that looks particularly appetising, or the meal goes too limp and uninteresting.
In terms of the Man vs Supernatural conflict though there is rarely real resolution in survival horror, you can get away, escape, but only rarely is the Eldritch power defeated, in Dead Heat the eldritch antagonists are not even directly confronted, but lurk on hungry ever after.
The Problem With Comedy-Horror
Comedy-Horror is one of those genres that often for me, usually doesn't work. The two parts of the genre are constantly undermining each other. Horror builds tension, it requires it for atmosphere, it needs to put the reader on edge. It thrives on dark emotions, tragedy, and certainty. Comedy is its opposite, it relieves tension -- the moment we laugh we relax -- it thrives on light emotions, jokes and confusion. This makes comedy-horror really tricky to get right, movies find it easier, because you can build tension with background music and lighting, toss in a quick sight-gag to break that tension and then blind-side the watcher with a sudden jump-scare. The audience can laugh-scream their way through the ordeals and be entertained. It's a lot harder to do in a book, where jump-scares are never going to make someone jump, in fact I can't recall ever hearing anyone jump or scream while reading, but I know a horror story is good when I'm not sure I want to go to bed yet...
Laughs on the other hand, do happen when reading something funny, but don't think that makes comedy easier to write. Comedy is possibly the hardest thing to write, as it's easy to resort to situation comedy and over-emphasised slapstick moments, that never really work like they would in a visual media. Horror tensions and sensibilities can reduce the effectiveness of humour too, reducing what could be a laugh out loud moment to a wry amusement. So writing Comedy-Horror really is a potential minefield with your comedy ruining your horror and vice-versa, the genre can veer from trying to be funny to trying to be spooky without ever managing to be anything but trying.
Dead Heat avoids most of the problems, the tension that builds is sometimes defused by the jokes, but as often it uses it to good effect as creepy horror. There are some issues caused by funnies (which tend to be pop cultural references, subverted tropes, or satirical devices rather than one-liners or puns) defusing tension, but they never detract from the enjoyment, although there is more of an issue with the horror reducing the humorousness there are still really good LOL moments and running jokes. Especially the comedic use of a cricket bat to end more than one undeath, seriously that cricket bat is so much a part of the story that it practically needs a name and an entry in the Dramatis Personae, and I don't count that as a spoiler.
Also Comedy-Horror isn't big on exposition, you might found out a few creepy facts about why this is happening, but its not about resolution of the apocalypse or even really explaining why it's going on. Dead Heat is not an exception here, we get creepy, disjointed passages that fill in some of the blanks, but ultimately we never get a real sense of the actual antagonists, and if that's going to bug you then you'd better wait, as later in the year the "Mirror Story" to Dead Heat is going to be released, set on the same island, only in an alternate universe where the events centre is now a prison, Dead Lock will be a darker version of the same tale. Where I hope the few problems that the Comedy-Horror genre has brought to Dead Heat will be washed away by a cocktail of real creepiness, gore, hyper-violence and some probing of the dark enigma of the zombies' existence.
Overall
Dead Heat is a great comedy-horror novella, avoiding most the problems of its genre. It's high-speed and humorous, fast-paced and fun throughout.
It's packed with good stuff, it has the 'feels', the 'Lols' and the 'creeps' but somehow for me (perhaps because I haven't been getting my fix of rotting, inevitable, metaphors for consumerism for a decade or so) it could have pushed harder, the dark parts could have been darker, and the funny parts consequently more ridiculous, but the balance is there and the pace is excellent (it might have cost pacing and swollen into a short novel, but it would have been nice to see a few more comedic-deaths of characters we had come to know, as well as more comedy zombie dispatches). I can't wait to see what MG Mason does with Dead Lock when it comes, with a grimmer look at the same.
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