Austin Dragon's Blog, page 19

Robin and Lauren, Rest In Peace (Part II): Lauren Bacall

Last week we also lost Lauren Bacall. Ms. Bacall made her debut in Hollywood with To Have and Have Not 70 years ago! She still has one of the best and memorable movie lines from that movie. Said with her trademark sultry voice: “You know how to whistle, don’t ya Steve? Ya just put your lips together and… blow.” It was her first movie and it made her a movie super star overnight. The sad commentary on modern times is that “sexy” often means “raunchy,” but not “classy.” Ms. Bacall was the epitome of “class.”

She starred in Hollywood’s biggest and best movies of the 40s, four with her equally famous husband Humphrey Bogart, such as The Big Sleep (1946) and Key Largo (1948). They were the Hollywood Brangelina power couple two decades before Brangelina were even born. After Bogie’s death in 1957 she threw herself into theatre giving award winning performances. She also starred in some other old-time favorites of mine Murder on the Orient Express (1974) and The Shootist (1976)–John Wayne’s last movie before his death. And there also is 2004’s Howl’s Moving Castle, which I consider the second greatest Japanese anime movies of all time; Bacall was the voice of the Witch of the Waste.

The last of Hollywood’s Golden Age female movie titans is gone. Her great body of work is not only classic entertainment of an era past, but part of history—American history. She is described as a “sultry film-noir legend of screen and stage,” and she was, but she was also our very talented and engaging tour guide through a time that I suspect will be more and more appreciated by future generations.

We’ll miss you too, Lauren.

Lauren Bacall: August 12, 2014 to September 16, 1924 (Died at 89)

 

#Lauren Bacall #Hollywood

The post Robin and Lauren, Rest In Peace (Part II): Lauren Bacall appeared first on Official Website of Author Austin Dragon.

Robin and Lauren, Rest In Peace (Part I): Robin Williams

Last week we lost two greats in the entertainment world—Robin Williams and Lauren Bacall.

I was introduced to that bundle of seemingly uncontrollable, comic energy that was Robin Williams as a child watching the Mork and Mindy Show in the late ‘70s. From then on he was a star to watch and obviously a lot of people felt the same way over his long career in stand-up comedy, television, and movies. The man could make us laugh and he could (and would) perform anywhere to do so.

However, there was something unique about him to me. Through all the laughs, there was something that made me take notice of him from all other comedians. In 1994, one of the TV crime dramas I watched weekly, Homicide: Life on the Streets, Mr. Williams was a guest actor. The episode was “Bop Gun” and I remember thinking at the time, “this is Mork?” It was a dark episode, a married couple visiting America and the wife was murdered; Williams played the surviving husband. I saw, for the first time, that he was a great dramatic actor too. I saw more of his dramatic talents in other roles, most notably in Terry Gilliam’s the Fisher King in 1991 with Jeff Bridges—which I hadn’t seen originally in theaters, but later. Here he played an incredibly damaged character made so from an absolutely horrific event that happened to the character.  In other movies, such as Insomnia (co-starring with Al Pacino) or One Hour Photo, some dark, some creepy, I felt that the mask of tragedy fit this great performer better than the mask of comedy. It’s no coincidence that he got the Academy Award for a dramatic role, in Good Will Hunting.

I had always thought that a person capable of making people laugh non-stop—a truly wonderful gift—had to be completely made up of joy, every cell and every atom. But watching Mr. Williams, I started to suspect that it might be the opposite. Living in the land of Hollywood, I have met quite a few comedians and many, sadly, I’d have to characterize as miserable people. I do not ascribe that to Mr. Williams at all, whether true or not, is not my point. It is that a lot of people have problems and just because we may “live” with them in front of the camera and enjoy their work, doesn’t mean we know them. Ironically, despite their fame and fortune, they are still strangers. We must resist the impulse to make all kinds of assumptions about them and only judge them based on all we do know about them—their work.

I don’t know the particulars of Mr. Williams’ struggles with depression or substance abuse or any other factors that led to his suicide, and frankly, in deference to his family, it’s none of my damn business or anyone else’s. His widow has revealed that he was also suffering the early stages of Parkinson’s disease, but again the public should back off and be respectful. All I would say is that we will all always remember him and he has an impressive body of work with such movies as the Dead Poet’s Society and Good Morning Vietnam, the whimsical Jumanji, “small” roles like playing President Theodore Roosevelt in Night at the Museum with Ben Stiller, and many others.

Robin, we’ll miss you.

Robin Williams: August 11, 2014 to July 21, 1951 (Died at age 63)

 

#RobinWilliams #Hollywood

The post Robin and Lauren, Rest In Peace (Part I): Robin Williams appeared first on Official Website of Author Austin Dragon.

My New Author Website Is Here!

Welcome to my new official author website. For new visitors, my old one was centered on my debut science fiction series, After Eden—you can view the image of the old home page here for posterity. But as a compulsive planner, I’m looking at my writing projects one to three years out. I’ve grown a lot as an author in the last two years and now need to rebrand my website, not around one series, but around me as the author as I get closer to releasing not just one non-After Eden book, but multiple ones.

I became a published author for the first time in April 2013 with the first of my science fiction and international AFTER EDEN thriller series, Thy Kingdom Fall. The funny thing (at least to me) is that I would have released my first book back in 2012, but realized, while writing, that the book I was working on, Stars and Scorpions, was actually the second book in the series, so once it was done I had to go back and write Thy Kingdom Fall. In comparative terms, if Stars and Scorpions is a fifty-story building in terms of complexity, Thy Kingdom Fall is a one-hundred story building; it had to lay the foundation for all seven books in the series, in addition to being its own self-contained novel. In these past fourteen months, I have published a total of three novels and one companion novella. A lot accomplished considering I hadn’t written a word of fiction in over fifteen years!

As in any career, there are phases and my beginning phase is over. Clearly, I have no trouble writing and quickly settled into a very productive routine and schedule. I’ve also put together a great team of book cover artists, editors, etc. to put the best books out as possible on the market.

I love science fiction and probably will remain primarily a science fiction writer for my entire writing career, but like most of us, I like other things too. The first novel I ever wrote was a mystery, way back when I was in elementary school, so I want to write a few of those again. For 2015, I intend to release not just more science fiction, but mysteries, young adult, and horror. In fact, for any of those who have read the After Eden Series, you can see that I’ve already touched all those elements.

And then there’s fantasy. I never thought I would ever write one of those (though I’ve always loved the Lord of the Rings trilogy), but because of Game of Thrones (not what you think – I hate the TV series!), I’m taking an idea for an adventure series I was already going to write and simple re-imagined it as a fantasy series. All this writing madness of mine will all be under the umbrella of thrillers, hence my new website tagline: Thrillers in All Time and Space.

I’m not big into blogging. My goodness, I’m writing enough already, but I’ve decided to do something very simple and doable—a weekly blog post to keep readers and fans informed. With all these books scheduled for release next year, I have plenty of material to draw on and the new website will make blogging as easy as possible and provide a great platform for all this new and unique content.

Feel free to explore the site and let me know what you think.

 

#AfterEdenSeries #AfterEdenBooks #AustinDragon

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Writer Musings: After Eden Series’ Tek-Fall

One month before I launched our current After Eden Series crowdfunding campaign, I decided I wanted to offer another reward to supporters. So I decided to write another book. Two weeks later, I finished the novella Metal Flesh, the first of a two-part series.

For those who have read the any of the After Eden novels, it follows the people and events that lead to the explosion of World War III in 2125. In addition to key characters, religion, politics and technology also take center stage in the series. It is a dystopian series, but a very believable one—and some have even called it prophetic.

I think most good series have the potential for many side-stories, not essential to the main story, but offer readers a chance to spend more time with favorite secondary characters or further explore character backgrounds that wasn’t done in the main books.

The two-part Tek-Fall series explores the creative “god complex” of man manifested in the series by the government’s quest to adequately prepare their nations for any future war. America follows two tracks with its clandestine “New People” Project: robotic warfare and genetic warfare. Episode I: Metal Flesh introduces the creation of “thinking” robots with quantum artificial intelligent “brains.” The upcoming Episode II: Hell’s Menagerie touches upon the creation of MMLs—man-made life forms, or as one scientist termed, “the freak show.”

The themes of both novellas give us a lot to think about, and the concepts have been explored by many writers and movies before. Is mechanical “sentience” possible? How far should we go with cyborg-technology? If we could “make” a dinosaur, bring back the woolly mammoth, or create a clone of Adolf Hitler, should we? Should we create creatures, just to see how amazing we are? Should there be laws against this—including governments? Should one life form have the cosmic right NOT to be altered by another life form?

Then we get to World War III and see the horrific results of such mechanical, organic and hybrid creations. But never as deadly as one creation—human beings.

#Writing #Sciencefiction #SciFi #Dystopian

Tags:  After Eden Series, Tek-Fall




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 A Living, Breathing (Tek) City  Inspirational: Lincoln Never Quit  What is “Wolf 359?”  Genesis of World War Three: Book Relaunch  June is Crowdfunding Month!Copyright © The After Eden Series [Writer Musings: After Eden Series' Tek-Fall], All Right Reserved. 2014.

June is Crowdfunding Month!

Last month was our “Future Imperfect” Blog Tour for the release of my latest book, Rising Leviathan. Author features, book reviews and series features at more than a dozen book  bloggers from around the world. This month will be our very own crowdfunding campaign which we kicked off last Friday with a message out to 1.2 million people.

What is Crowdfunding?

It may be the word of the day in some circles, but most people have no idea what it is. In fact, a survey of our own readers and supporters found that 64% had never heard of crowdfunding.

So what is crowdfunding?

“It’s the practice of funding a project or venture by raising small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via the Internet. While this concept has arguably been around for centuries, it is still formally recognized as a new industry to many consumers, particularly those outside the United States. Artists, musicians, and filmmakers have successfully raised funds and fostered awareness through crowdfunding.”

There are numerous crowdfunding platforms where consumers can safely ask for or donate money such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo, RocketHub, and Pubslush (which is exclusively for the literary industry).

There are three main reasons why people would support a project or business:

1. They connect to the greater purpose of the campaign.

2. They connect to a physical aspect of the campaign like the rewards.

3. They connect to the creative display of the campaign’s presentation.

Why are we Crowdfunding?

In thirteen months, the first three novels of my After Eden Series have been published. Not only do I want to quickly complete the final four novels in the series, but add the caliber of publicity we need to get the series in front of the widest possible audience.

The good news is that authors have more opportunities than ever before in publishing history to produce and publish their work. The “bad” news is that it is that very same thing. Forbes reported that there are now 600,000 books published annually—not too many years ago it was “only” 300,000. Therefore, it is that much harder to stand out in the crowd.

Why Pubslush?

For those who do know crowdfunding, Kickstarter is the most well-known platform out there. From high-tek to movie projects. Pubslush is the kickstarter for the literary world—only books, which is exactly the targeted audience we need.

Please take a look at our project page HERE. If you like what you see, consider becoming one of our supporters for this provocative sci-fi, international thriller series. We have less than 30 days to raise the funds and the first 50 supporters we’re giving away the exclusive After Eden companion novella, Metal Flesh: Tek-Fall – Episode I (not even available on Amazon yet).

The campaign has launched, but now the hard work begins to reach our goal.

#Crowdfunding #AfterEdenSeries #Pubslush

Tags:  After Eden Series, crowdfund, crowdfunding, Kickstarter, Pubslush




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 "Thy Kingdom Fall" Summer Gift Card Giveaway Contest Today!  The Meaning of the “After Eden” Series  Happy Memorial Day Weekend! (In Advance)  Genesis of World War Three: Book Relaunch  Twenty DaysCopyright © The After Eden Series [June is Crowdfunding Month!], All Right Reserved. 2014.

Help Us Spread the Word Like We’ve Never Done Before!

Combine your social network with ours for a one-time blast in 8 days!

Social media has been a great way in expanding social democracy, but sometimes it’s difficult to be heard. That’s why we’re using the social platform Thunderclap. It will allow us to send a single message, all together at once, to be mass-shared, flash mob-style, so it rises above the noise of your social networks. By boosting the signal at the same time, we can exponentially expand our reach about our #AfterEdenSeries crowdfunding campaign.

Call to Action: Join our Thunderclap campaign here: http://thndr.it/1nqtl0O. Then on June 6th we’ll announce our crowdfunding campaign to the world together! Messages flying out on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr.

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 Cover Reveal and Russia  Book Release & Week One of My “Future Imperfect” Blog Tour  Inspirational: Innovate Like Great Explorers  A Very Busy May and June!  Thy Kingdom Fall Gift Card Giveaway Contest!Copyright © The After Eden Series [Help Us Spread the Word Like We’ve Never Done Before!], All Right Reserved. 2014.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend! (In Advance)

Have a Safe and Happy Memorial Day Weekend.  Here’s our latest email broadcast: aweber.com/t/N0sNF 

It seems like ages ago, but I’m a veteran myself (joined the Army right out of high school). Since some not so nice revelations (I won’t use the actual language I used in private last week to describe it) are in the news about our Veterans not getting the care and service they deserve and are entitled to, I wanted to also include this veteran charity website: http://www.charitynavigator.org

 

 

Tags:  After Eden Series, Memorial Day, Thunderclap, Veterans




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 Book Release & Week One of My “Future Imperfect” Blog Tour  Hello Readers!  "Thy Kingdom Fall" on Goodreads  "Thy Kingdom Fall" Summer Gift Card Giveaway Contest Today!  The Meaning of the “After Eden” SeriesCopyright © The After Eden Series [Happy Memorial Day Weekend! (In Advance)], All Right Reserved. 2014.

Fifteen Days: Blog Tours, Giveaways and a “Godzilla” Movie Review

Yes, just 15 days left until our “Future Imperfect” Blog Tour & Gift Card Giveaway ends.

Blog Tour

It seems that not everyone knows what it is. Simply put, a blog tour is a virtual book tour. The author “stops” at a particular blog with a guest post, author feature or interview, book feature or interview, etc. In the past, publishers would schedule their best-selling and up-and-coming authors on city-wide or national (real) book tours—endless stops at book stores to sign their books and meet fans. This was the standard and was done for every book release. Nowadays this is rare, except for top-selling authors.Why? Simply, there are not as many physical bookstores anymore, and financially it doesn’t make sense for most authors and publishers to do (flying authors around, having stacks of books ready at each location, size of audience is never a guarantee, etc.)

So the “tours” have gone digital too. For me, it is another way to interact with readers and fans. I’m also enjoying the bloggers I’m meeting, literally from around the world, who love books. It fits in nicely with my After Eden sci-fi series which is also an international thriller.

Gift Card Giveaway

Everyone loves a good giveaway, contest or sweepstakes. We did one earlier this year and we had to do another with the release of the third book Rising Leviathan. The main prize is the $100 Gift Card, but there are also two runner-up prizes of a $50 and $25 card. I always give the winners the choice of an Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or iTunes card, but everyone always chooses the Amazon Card. The last time all three winners had never won a giveaway before.

Movie Reviews

Okay, I don’t intend to do this often because I don’t see as many movies in the theater as I once did. When I lived in Paris in the early ‘90s, I saw one to three movies a week! Wow, how times have changed. For the most part, going to the movie theater isn’t as enjoyable: outrageous prices for their food, never-ending trailers—most of which I could care less about, and most of the movies are just…bad. Contrast that with watching the movie at home, on your big screen, with all your food (all your goodies!) and beverages, you can pause if you want, replay if you want—all this bliss for a fraction of the price of going to the movie theaters. Sorry, movie theaters you can’t compete with that. The one remaining exception is seeing it on the big screen.

I’m doing this movie review because I’ve mentioned two movies during my blog tour that I’ve been eagerly awaiting. One was Godzilla and the other is XMen: Days of Future Past. The former came out last Friday and the latter comes out this Friday.

Godzilla

I remember seeing the cheesy, obviously a-man-in-a-suit Godzilla movies from the sixties and I loved them. So as an adult you have a built-in nostalgia factor for the franchise. Hollywood attempted it once with the pathetic 1998 remake—I will say nothing more on that.

SPOILER ALERT: If you are planning on seeing this movie still I’m about to reveal everything so don’t read past this sentence.

The second best part of the entire movie was the opening. It’s impressive how it starts with old, black-and-white photos, redacted classified documents, and military personnel from the ‘50s. Then there’s the nuclear bomb blast which we know were “tested” quite a bit back then—or were they trying to kill the monster? It sets a serious tone and that’s what we want.

The best part of the movie, were the two main actors—or so we were lead to believe—in Bryan Cranston (best work in Breaking Bad) and the always lovely and impressive Juliet Binoche. Well, one dies dramatically, and the other dies, not so dramatically. No offense to the other actors in the movie, but it was like you went to a movie to see Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt and they are killed off in the first ten minutes and then you’re stuck watching these “other guys.” After the exits of those actors, the movie becomes very formulaic and…boring.

In the ‘70s when Hollywood learned how to make real-looking blood, they had to “show off” by making bloodier movies. In the ‘80s, they learned how to blow crap up very effectively so that’s we got. Now we’re in the era of the CGI “magicians.” Picture this: a 400-foot creature is ravaging through the city and the people are just standing there like props to scream and run away when it’s right on top of them. Hello Hollywood? These are 400-foot creatures that the people would hear coming for many miles away and they would not be waiting there to be stepped on; they’d be long gone. This kept happening and over again and there was even a pathetic scene where Godzilla sneaked up on another monster like he was some kind of ninja. For the filmmakers, showing buildings being destroyed by gigantic monsters with the people right there, looks far better than just the monsters battling it out in an empty city. The only problem is what “looks” better is not realistic.

The other unbelievable thing was when the military set-up on a bridge to shoot at a monster. Think about that for a moment. You have a 400-foot monster and you set up heavy guns and tanks on a bridge, rather than solid ground. Then said military shut down the bridge to only one lane for people to escape (including buses with children) and seemed annoyed that the people had this uncontrollable urge to escape from the gigantic monsters. The final piece of ridiculousness was the military opened fire on the monster, including shooting at the bridge with civilians (including buses with children). None, I repeat, none of that would ever have happened—ever. The military, nor you and I, would use a bridge as a base, we would help–not block–people trying to escape, and we would not shoot at people on the bridge (including buses with children) trying to escape. They’d all be sued (successfully) for “godzillions” of dollars and many would be convicted of crimes. Yes, shooting at unarmed civilians, especially with heavy weapons is actually a crime.

It’s very sad to see a movie that opened with so much promise degenerate into a real mess. Special effects and CGI, just like explosions and gun-battles of the past, do not and will never substitute for a well-written good story. The effects compliment the story, not become the “star” of the movie. Don’t know what that means? Go watch the classic The Exorcist or, as of the now the best super-heroes movie, The Avengers (Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Captain America, etc.) These are great stories on their own that the special effects only made better. My recommendation is to skip Godzilla, don’t even bother to watch it for free on TV, and just watch the ‘60s Godzilla movies with your kids for a good nostalgic laugh.

Tags:  A Future Imperfect Blog Tour, After Eden Series, Amazon $100 Gift Card, Godzilla, Movie Review, Rising Leviathan




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 "Thy Kingdom Fall" Summer Gift Card Giveaway Contest Today!  "Thy Kingdom Fall" on Goodreads  Inspirational: Innovate Like Great Explorers  A Living, Breathing (Tek) City  What is “Wolf 359?”Copyright © The After Eden Series [Fifteen Days: Blog Tours, Giveaways and a “Godzilla” Movie Review], All Right Reserved. 2014.

Book Release & Week One of My “Future Imperfect” Blog Tour

Thanks!

I want to thank Liz of Liz Loves Books in the UK, and US bloggers Jason at Chill Reviews and Brenda at the Daily Mayo for kicking off week one of the “Future Imperfect” Blog Tour.  There will be thirteen more stops until the June 4th. I’m having a lot of fun talking about the After Eden series, about my inspiration for the series, and what I do when I’m not writing at light-speed like a Stephen King.

Next week it will be another three bloggers. The full Blog Tour Schedule is here and also don’t forget our Giveaway Contest here! I like to give away free stuff whenever I can.

May 4th Release!

Rising Leviathan (After Eden Series, Book #3) is out and available on Amazon. The print versions will be released on the last day of the blog tour on June 4th. It will also be available on Barnes & Noble, Kobo and Apple.

Press Release

The response has been great. Who wouldn’t love a sci-fi thriller series that takes you all over the world?

Enjoy!

Tags:  A Future Imperfect Blog Tour, After Eden Series, Rising Leviathan




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 "Thy Kingdom Fall" Summer Gift Card Giveaway Contest Today!  "Thy Kingdom Fall" on Goodreads  Writer Musings  A Living, Breathing (Tek) City  Inspirational: Innovate Like Great ExplorersCopyright © The After Eden Series [Book Release & Week One of My “Future Imperfect” Blog Tour], All Right Reserved. 2014.

A Very Busy May and June!

In two days the e-book version of my latest novel, Rising Leviathan (After Eden Series, Book #3), will be released. The very day that the Star Wars Universe has its own holiday—May 4th (“May the Fourth Be With You!”) The print versions of the book, both paperback and hardcover, will be released on June 4th.

There’s so much going on with the series: blog tours, contests, campaigns and free stuff. So to make it easy to follow all that’s happening this month, I’ve created a list:

Now through May 3rd – Goodreads Giveaway! (Free Stuff #1) You can enter to win one set of two autographed copies of my first two After Eden books, Thy Kingdom Fall and Stars and Scorpions. But don’t wait; the giveaway contest ends this Saturday! You can enter here: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/89747

May 4th – E-book Release of Rising Leviathan! Purchase on Amazon. It will also be available on Barnes & Noble and Kobo the next day.

May 5th through June 4th – A Future Imperfect Blog Tour! I will be spending some time with almost 20 bloggers from around the world to talk about the latest book, the After Eden series and science fiction. Follow along here: http://www.afteredenbooks.com/future-imperfect-blog-tour/

Each stop will be broadcasted out through Twitter.

May 4th through June 4th – Rising Leviathan $100 Gift Card Contest! (Free Stuff #2). We had one earlier this year, now here’s the next giveaway contest for three lucky winners. See details here: http://www.afteredenbooks.com/latest-contest/

Now through June 5th – “Kick Start” Our Very Own Crowdfunding Campaign! Crowdfunding is very popular and venture capitalists, filmmakers, and musicians have been doing it for years. Now it has come to publishing! We are crowdfunding the final four books of the After Eden Series. Book #4 will be in Neo-Asia, Book #5 will be back in America, Book #6 is the Resistance’s desperate attempt to survive…World War III in Book #7.

There will be almost a dozen cool rewards for supporters on our crowdfunding campaign from free books to having characters named after you and more. It will launch June 6th, but you can sign-up now at our pre-crowdfunding page here: http://www.afteredenbooks.com/kick-start-our-crowdfunding-project/ Here’s our article published in the Digital Journal on May 1st.

With so much activity this month, we want to do one big campaign this month (blog tour and contest) and dedicate June for our crowdfunding campaign.

So join, get involved, and spread the word for one or all of contests and campaigns!

Tags:  After Eden Books, After Eden Series, Amazon $100 Gift Card, Barnes and Noble $100 Gift Card, contests, crowdfunding, Rising Leviathan




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 Inspirational: Lincoln Never Quit  The Meaning of the “After Eden” Series  "Thy Kingdom Fall" Summer Gift Card Giveaway Contest Today!  Online Event: You’re Invited!  Genesis of World War Three: Book RelaunchCopyright © The After Eden Series [A Very Busy May and June!], All Right Reserved. 2014.