E.R. Torre's Blog, page 114

Universal Basic Income

Getting political again…so beware!

In these modern times, automation and computerization have the capacity to, let’s be frank, decimate many “human” jobs.  I’ve noted before my strong belief that automated vehicles will become the norm in the next few years and that some children living today may never have to learn to drive because it will be unnecessary.

As pleasant as the idea of having a self-driving vehicle is, there is of course a negative downside: Suddenly all jobs involving driving vehicles are in jeopardy.

All of them.

If/when self-driving technology becomes a reality, consider all the changes that will inevitably follow.  For one, I can envision large cities having a fleet of self-driving public use vehicles that anybody can summon and pay for, for much less than a taxi, with an app on their phone.  The vehicle comes to pick you up, takes you to where you want to go, then you’re there doing your thing and when you’re done, you whip out your cellphone and call a driverless car to come pick you up and take you back home.

Now consider who is affected by this.

First, taxi drivers.  Public transport drivers.  Car salesmen/dealerships.  Car companies.  Insurance companies.  Gas/chargin stations.  Mechanics.

Why the last three?

Because if you have an efficient fleet of self-driving cars, you don’t need to have a car yourself.  If you don’t need to have a car, there is less and less need for car dealerships and the employees within.  Also, car companies may downsize to make these public car fleets which, of course, will affect mechanics (no need to take in a car you don’t own to a repair shop), and gas/charging stations (you won’t be needing to do anything with these public cars…that will be taken care of by the fleet operations).  Finally, there is no need for you to bother with a car insurance as, duh, you have no car.

Needless to say, I’ve pointed out a rather HUGE number of jobs people currently have which may, in a matter of a single generation, go away.

Worse, this is but one of the things which may well change thanks to computerization and modern technology.

Which brings us to the topic headlined above: Universal Basic Incomes.

The idea being that people receive a “basic” income which will allow them to live outside of poverty.  This income will, hopefully, allow people impacted by modern technology to be able to live outside of complete poverty.

There are certainly positives to implementing programs like this, some of which are listed here:

Universal Basic Income Pilot Programs

There are, of course, negatives as well.  The idea of “giving” people money, even if it is out of the most basic decency to not allow people to starve, is unnerving to many who espouse capitalistic ideology.

In some ways it lies at the heart of the critiques of communism.  If everyone “shares” all the rewards for communal work, then what’s the incentive to make innovative products?  Indeed, what’s the incentive to do anything great at all?

On the other hand and as mentioned above, there are reasons, especially with today’s job sapping technologies, to consider this more than perhaps it was done before.

After all, do we really want to have a small group of “haves” and a very large group of people who, through no fault of their own, can no longer find a way to support themselves given their skill levels?

It’s a knotty question and I don’t have an answer to it.  However, as an author whose books are primarily in the science fiction field, this intrigues the hell out of me and makes me wonder where our future lies.

Fascinating stuff.

So…anything big happened this past weekend?

You know, I’ve been away these past three days and it feels like I’ve missed just about everything that happened this busy weekend.

What, you say Saturday Night Live had a Trump related skit that was hilarious but didn’t feature Alec Baldwin as President Trump?!  Come on, man, that’s not possi–

Oh my.  That is hilarious.  So funny that I’m sure if there was an Alec Baldwin President Trump skit, it must not have been that goo–

I stand corrected.  Keep it up guys and gals.

******

On Sunday we had this little sport event over here on our side of the pond (and within the borders of our country) which we call the Super Bowl.  It featured the surprising Atlanta Falcons, whom pretty much everyone hoped would win, against the (boo!  hiss!) New England Patriots.

I’ve mentioned it before but when I was young, I didn’t really care to watch sports.  It was really boring to me.  Sometime shortly after starting my first year in a University, I slowly began to appreciate sports.  Eventually, I became a sports fanatic, though my interests are most certainly local.

I’ve mentioned before how I saw, on TV, almost every single game played by the then Florida Marlins (They’re now called the Miami Marlins) back in 1997 for what turned out to be their first Championship series.  There was no way going into the season to think they’d make it to the playoffs, much less with the Championship, yet they did and I’ll be damned if I missed even five games of that season, so devoted was I to watching.

By that point, however, I watched the Florida Panthers, I watched the Miami Heat.  And of course I watched the Miami Dolphins, my gateway drug team.

You would think after such a magical year of viewership, culminating in “my” team getting the ultimate prize, I’d become a full-fledged MEGA-fan.

This was not to be.

While I had great fun watching “my” team through that year, after the glow of the ultimate win faded away, I thought back to all those hours I spent watching the games and realized how incredibly lucky I was to see a season end this year…and how very, very, very unlikely it was I’d have that chance again.

I also did the math and realized I had spent and awful lot of hours watching sports when I could have been doing something else.

You know, like writing.

So I dialed it all back.  Waaaaaay back.

I still like catching a game here and there, though I’ve for the most part given up completely on Hockey and Baseball.  Yeah, I may be a “fair weather” fan, I suppose, as both our Hockey and Baseball teams have seen better days.  I barely catch Miami Heat games nowadays and, again, that could be a sign of my fair weather nature.

Yet I do catch the Miami Dolphin games and, of all sports, Football seems to be the one I stick with the most.

Part of the reason is that it doesn’t require quite as big a time investment as the other sports.  A Football season lasts 17 weeks and each team plays 16 games (each team has a 1 week “bye”).  In theory and if you make it to the playoffs, you may have another 2-3 games to play before its all over, depending on your rankings going into the post season.

Getting back to this Super Bowl, it featured the greatest comeback by a “down” team to win.  Of course, that team was the (boo! hiss!) New England Patriots and this article by Drew Magary pretty much explains why…

No One Is Happy For The Patriots

It encapsulates my feelings as well.  You can be a good team, hell, you can be the BEST team ever with the best Quarterback ever and the best Coach ever, and still be reviled for what’s been found out about you.  Specifically, your history of cheating.  Or, to be more clear, of being caught cheating.

Still, since I’ve become less of a sports fanatic than before (trust me, it is true), I’ve come to the realization that there’s no reason to get so damn emotionally invested in these games.

Sure, I’d love my Dolphins to rise up from the pit they’ve been in for far too many years and finally return to the glory they once possessed, but let’s face it: The Dolphins, and indeed every team in the NFL, is part of a business organization that looks out for their bottom line.  They all have high paid athletes whose emotional investment in the games they play is far above and beyond any fans’ investment as they are, you know, actually playing the games.

Further, sports is one of the most cut-throat goal oriented businesses out there.  You’re either good or not and the proof is spelled out by the score at the end of the game and your record at the end of the season.

The Patriots are good.  My Dolphins, not so much (though after this past year, there’s some hope!).

Though there is no love for the Patriots in me, I caught this article over at Huffington Post and even those most repulsed-by-the-Patriots, those who think Tom Brady should take a long walk on the proverbial short pier, should read this:

Tom Brady’s Mom Has Been Quietly Undergoing Chemo Therapy This Entire Season

I don’t know about you, but if there’s one pleasant thing to glean from the Patriots’ latest Super Bowl win is the thought that it gave Galynn Brady, Tom Brady’s mother, a reason to smile.

Even the most cold-hearted anti-Patriot fan should take a look at this photograph and recognize that it, if nothing else, is reason to be, if not happy for the Patriots, at least feel happy for Galynn.

My best wishes to you.

Better to laugh than cry…

Gettin’ political again, so for those who are faint of heart, look away!

To the rest: So yesterday Kellyanne Conway, President (wow that’s hard to write) Trump’s campaign adviser was interviewed by Chris Matthews and said the following (the clip I’m including does a good job at pointing out the *ahem* inaccuracies in her statement)…

To quote Ms. Conway: “Masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre”.

Which, of course, set off a hilarious twitter reaction, many of the responses which can be found here:

Kellyane Conway literally fabricated a massacre to Justify Trump’s Immigration Ban

To all the twitter writers posted in the above article, my hats off to you.  You’re creative, ingenious, and, especially, hilarious.

It’s so hard to point out any one twitter reaction as the best of the lot so you’ll have to trust me: They’ll all worth checking out.

Do so, now!  That’s an order, son!

Mechanic: Resurrection (2016) a (mildly) belated review

How can a film with a relatively big budget (as these things go),with plenty of exotic locale filming, with some pretty good stuntwork, with some intriguing stars…turn out so damn dull?

As I started up Mechanic: Resurrection, the sequel to original 2011 The Mechanic (itself a remake of the far better Charles Bronson/Jan Michael Vincent film of the same name released in 1972), I had trouble getting into what I was seeing.

The opening action sequences were decent enough and helped re-establish the assassin/hitman character of Arthur Bishop (Jason Statham, natch)…and yet with each passing minute I couldn’t help but fight a too-strong sense of “been there, done that” with the proceedings, which involve Bishop trying to flee his previous life but getting “sucked back in” because he falls for Gina (, not bad in the damsel in distress role but I really thought there would be one more twist regarding her character at the movie’s end) which allows the bad guys to kidnap her and force Bishop to take on three contracts.  In theory, they will let her -and he- go after these three assassinations.

Yeah, sure they will.

So we follow Bishop to different locales around the world (the film’s makers were going for a James Bond/Mission Impossible vibe) as he takes out his targets while figuring a means of getting his girl free.

The movie features not only Mr. Statham and Ms. Alba but  in a completely wasted/pointless role.  I can’t believe the film’s makers snagged one of the top Asian female action stars and put her in an action film yet couldn’t figure out a way to show off any of her athleticism or dexterity!  That’s right, kids, Ms. Yeoh has zero action scenes in this film!

Then there’s the extended cameo toward the end of the film by .  He plays Max Adams, the last of the three targets Bishop is being forced to kill.  It is a testament to Tommy Lee Jones’ acting skills that when he appears in the film’s last quarter he single-handedly enlivens this whole dull mess with nothing more than solid, cheerful, and charismatic acting.

Again, I’m at a loss: How could a film with, at least on paper, so many positives turn out so damn bland?

Mechanic: Resurrection should have been far better than it is.  Unfortunately, it fails to offer everything it promises and instead gives us a thriller without many thrills and a suspense film devoid of suspense.  A big disappointment.

PERSONAL DISCLAIMER:  Neither this film nor the original The Mechanic (Both the Bronson and Statham ones) have anything -other than the similar title- to do with my 2009 novel Mechanic, the first book in my Corrosive Knights series.

I admit the 1972 Bronson film was very familiar to me -indeed, I like that film and its nihilistic ending quite a bit- when I named my book, but the term “Mechanic” was used for many years before the release of that film to refer to hitmen and, at least in 2006/7/8/9 when I was working on the novel I figured no one remembered the Bronson film so there would be no confusion between it and my book.

Ah well!

Amid all the depressing news…

…there appears stories like this one, found on CNN.com and written by Andreas Preuss, involving a WWII airplane restoration, and…mystery!

WWII-Era Plane Mystery: Who Are Eva and Edith?

I don’t want to ruin the whole story (you really should click the link and read it), but the I suppose I will:

When a P-47 Thunderbolt in the process of being restored was disassembled, the signatures of two women, Eva and Edith, was found written in a grease pencil inside the airplane’s wing.  Likely these signatures were from two of the women who worked on the airplane when it was first assembled back in 1944 in the plant in Indiana where the aircraft was known to have been built.

There’s not much more to the story than that.

And yet its a wonderful story, in my opinion, as well as a beautiful link to our past.  72 years ago these two women, whom the people behind the restoration hope to eventually identify, likely worked at the Indiana plant where this aircraft was originally put together and signed their names on a part of the plane which, very likely, would never have been seen by anyone…that is, until the restoration process was initiated.

Who exactly were Eva and Edith?  Did they have a pleasant life following the war?  Did they live to a rip old age and get to see the world change around them…and could they still be alive?

One wonders…and hopes for the very best for these two ladies who, in their way, helped the war effort.

Interesting…if grim…news

Found this via a link (I actively avoid Fox “News” therefore the only way I found out about this article was by this secondary link):

2 Days after death, some life continues in body

It’s soooo tempting to make a joke about a certain new administration’s head and…

Nah.

Interesting stuff, nonetheless.

Captain America: Civil War (2016) a (finally got to it) review

I’ve owned a copy of last summer’s blockbuster Captain America: Civil War (CACW from here on) for many months now and consider the previous Captain America film, The Winter Soldier, which was also directed by the Russo Brothers, one of the best superhero films ever made.

Yet I’ve actively avoided seeing CACW until last night.

Part of the problem lies in the fact that all I’ve read about the film suggests its plot is incredibly similar to that of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, a film that got almost no love at all from critics and even today harshly divides fans.  If you’ve read my blog here for any length of time, you’ll know I love BvS and feel in time it will come to be regarded as one of the better superhero films made. (Just for context, my three favorite superhero films  at this point in time are Superman (1978), Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Batman v Superman.)

The backlash against BvS was so damn strong in some parts that, against my better judgment, I found myself defending the film against its critics in some comment boards.  A silly thing to do, I know, as opinions are just that and can be strong and ingrained and implacable.  Nonetheless I attempted to express my opinions while not slamming others’ yet one thing recurred:  People compared BvS with CACW, with CACW being held as a great feature while BvS being belittled by those who hated it as crap.

So as much as I wanted to see CACW, in time I feared these comments/comparisons threatened to taint my opinions of this movie.  To put it bluntly: I worried that because I enjoyed BvS while others gleefully ripped it apart -and professed such love for CACW– I might take the opposite track and head into CACW with a far more critical eye than I should.

It’s happened before.  I’ve had experiences where “everyone” says a film is great and you go into the theater carrying high expectations only to be disappointed because the film wasn’t as great as you thought/hoped it would be.  On the other hand, I’ve also experienced occasions where “everyone” tells you a film is crap and you wind up being pleasantly surprised by what you’ve seen.

The bottom line is that I I don’t get to see as many films as I want to and when I do, I’m hoping to enjoy myself, not look for defects or carry burdensome expectations both pro and con.  Thus I avoided seeing CACW because I feared the opinions revolving around the movie and its “rivalry” with BvS might impact my own enjoyment of it.

So time passes and yesterday turns out to be really rotten, weather-wise.  It’s rainy and grim and the wife and I ventured out only once earlier in the day and were hunkered down at home for the rest.  Come 7 P.M., we’ve seen some stuff we’d recorded on the DVR and its too early to head to bed and we’re wondering what to do.

I decide its time, finally, to see CACW.

As the movie opens, the inevitable comparisons to BvS start.  Though I already knew this to be the case from so many spoilery blog entries, I’m nonetheless still surprised by how remarkably similar these stories are as they both involve our heroes dealing with the ramifications of the destruction they’ve made and ending in their confrontation.

In the case of BvS, the fight Superman had against General Zod in Man of Steel is witnessed first hand and on street level by Bruce Wayne (Batman), and after seeing this fearsome display, and the many thousands who died due to it, these visions unhinge the man to the point where he decides Superman has to go…something Lex Luthor is more than happy to exploit.

In CACW we have the Avengers being called out for the destruction they’ve caused in the previous films (and the current one) and they are told (not asked) to sign the “Sokovia Accords”, which will place them under a World/UN-type supervision.  Captain America isn’t interested in signing the agreement while Tony Stark (Iron Man) is and this, along with the fact that evidence suggests the Winter Soldier is involved in some terrorist activities, drives a wedge between the superheroes.

What follows is a broad, filled-to-the-brim Superhero spectacle that was very enjoyable to watch, even if it didn’t reach the levels, to me, of Captain America: Winter Soldier or -gasp!- Batman v Superman.

The first problem is that unlike Winter Soldier, I couldn’t help but feel this particular plate was over-filled.  CACW isn’t just a “Captain America” film and is too filled with characters to be an “Avengers” film.  It is perhaps the first “entire Marvel Universe” film.  I suspect that had the movie’s makers the ability to do so, we’d have seen the Fantastic Four and the X-Men in here as well…

…and it wouldn’t change the fact that this film’s plot, when all is said and done, isn’t all that great nor warrants such a large cast.  The two biggest “new” add-on super-characters are The Black Panther and a “new” Spider Man but unlike others who loved seeing them I found their appearance OK at best though it was an interesting choice to have Marisa Tomei play the venerable Aunt May.  Considering her character has always been presented in comics and film as a very old, very gray grandmotherly-looking person, the choice to cast Ms. Tomei is certainly interesting.

William Hurt and Martin Freeman also show up for what amounts to cameo roles and while Mr. Hurt’s Thaddeus Ross finds relevance in the story I felt Mr. Freeman’s Everette K. Ross didn’t need to be there other than to lock up the other half of the Sherlock duo into the Marvel film universe.

Going back to the movie’s plot, it is best not scrutinized too terribly much.  While the villain of the piece has a genuinely good -perhaps even great!- reason to want to break up the Avengers, the way he goes about it involves so many things working out so very well that its impossible a single person, even a gifted intellectual one, could devise and execute this plan.  Worse, am I wrong but I don’t believe his character knows, at least until close to the end of the film, if that one last piece of information (MILD SPOILERS: a video) which he hopes to use to break the “friendship” between Captain America and Iron Man, even still exists?  He has gone through this insanely intricate process to get not only himself but the main heroes to place X to find and play said video without knowing if it is still there or has deteriorated to the point of being un-viewable.  Had that been the case, then what?  Did he have a plan B?!

Despite this, CACW is a fun, if sugary, roller coaster ride whose highlight is an airport fight between the various superhero factions.  Unlike BvS, the movie’s makers never go as “dark” as that film and while the characters fight they did so in such a good-natured way and while issuing wise-cracks that you never took anything too terribly seriously…until the last fight that is, which is presented in a more “serious” manner.  The movie ends on a curiously unresolved note and that, too, bothered me a bit as I wonder if these plot points will be dealt with later on, especially considering the next Avengers films seem to be going in the direction of outer space.

CACW is a good, if not quite outstanding chapter in Marvel’s highly successful movie universe.  It’s not a bad way to spend your time but one can’t help but feel but the Rousso brothers took a step back from what they did the last time around.

Warlock (1959) and Warlock (1989) a (very) belated double feature review

To begin: Other than their identical names, the two films reviewed here have absolutely nothing to do with each other, OK?  It just so happens I saw them both this past week and couldn’t help but review them together.

Beginning chronologically, the 1959 film Warlock features a trio of big name actors in the principle roles.  Here’s the movie’s trailer…

Though  at that time was likely the biggest “name” actor in the cast, the movie’s main character is Johnny Gannon (, quite good), a member of a group of roughneck cowboys who, in the movie’s opening minutes, are shown to terrorize the town of Warlock (that, folks, is where the movie’s name comes from).  In those opening minutes it is clear his character is very conflicted.

Even in the opening minutes its clear he’s a conflicted person.  While his brother and friends are part of this group of roughnecks who, in the movie’s opening minutes run the town’s sheriff out, it is clear he feels they’re going too far.  As the film’s story is revealed, there is very good reason for his conflicted feelings.

One day, the roughnecks go a little too far and one of them murders the town’s barber.  The town folk meet and decide they will hire a “Marshall” to come in and make law and order.  The man they hire is Clay Blaisedell (Henry Fonda) who brings along his companion Tom Morgan ().  The two are fearsome gunfighters and, upon meeting those who hired them, Blaisedell tells them at first they’ll love him for what he does but eventually they’ll come to fear -and hate- him for what he does.  Indeed, the implication is that Blaisedell and his companion move from town to town ending the rampant violence caused there but when the job is done, not only are they no longer needed, they’re no longer wanted.

Into this mix come two female characters, Lilly Dollar (, quite good as a woman with a grudge against Blaisedell) and seemingly meek townswoman Jessie Marlowe (, absolutely stunning, who develops feelings for the same man).

The movie, directed by the legendary , creates a Greek tragedy-type drama with the notion of mercenary justice versus proper law and order.  While Blaisedell is presented as a decent man, the fact is his job involves being a greater terror to the people who are are terrors to others.  Meanwhile his good friend Tom Morgan uses his own means of keeping their partnership going while Gannon wrestles with family issues (his brother is a member of the roughneck group) while wanting to bring genuine law and order to this town he lives in.

Add to the mix a delightful turn by as Curley Burne, one of the roughnecks who just may, in the end, renounce his ways and you have an entertaining film that lands, IMHO, just shy of some of the great westerns of that era even as it strives to join them.

The problem with this film is that we’re presented an awful lot of characters with various motivations and, while the film runs a healthy 2 hours, it feels like at times the film presents these motivations -and changes in the characters- a little too abruptly for my taste.  The movie was based on a novel by Oakley Hall and, while I never read the novel, it is my understanding the book presented far more characterization than the movie could, and certain characters were discarded which may have hurt the overall presentation.

Still, the film was entertaining and, while it may not have quite delivered a High Noon or Shane-type classic western experience, if you’ve got the time, you’d do far worse than giving Warlock a try.

And now for something completely different…the trailer for the 1989 horror film called…Warlock!

Taking its general plot -and inverts it- from (of all things) The Terminator, Warlock is nonetheless and entertaining, if somewhat dated, horror film involving two time travelers, one of which is a…witch.  Or rather, a Warlock, the male version of a witch.

The Warlock, played with a delightful evil edge by , is apprehended in the late 1600’s and set to be executed but manages to use a spell to escape to the movie’s present (ie, 1989).  Hot on his tail and entering the spell as it is cast is Giles Redferne (, also quite fun), that era’s Witch Hunter.

They land at separate points and the Warlock starts his search for the three parts of the “Devil’s Bible”, an artifact that when put together reveals the true name of God, and can undo all of creation.

His search takes him to a home in which Kassandra (), a down on her luck (money wise) new wave woman lives.  Within the home and hidden in a table the Warlock finds the first of the three parts of the Bible he seeks.  He also takes out the home’s owner and casts a spell on Kassandra which ages her very quickly and will kill her in a matter of days.

Redferne appears, hot on the tail of the Warlock, and together with Kassandra they set out to find -and stop- the Warlock before he finds the last two parts of the Bible and destroys all of creation.  So, like The Terminator, we have time traveling duelists coming to the present but, as mentioned above, the plot is inverted because the bad guy is the one being pursued by the present day female and the good time traveler.

Warlock’s screenplay was written by David Twohy who today is probably best known for writing and directing the “Riddick” films, from Pitch Black to The Chronicles of Riddick to Riddick to the upcoming Furia.

The movie is at times cheesy and I suspect many of its scares have been diluted with the passage of time.  While reading some of the original reviews/opinions regarding the film, it appeared when it was originally released it was considered very scary but in watching it today, nearly thirty years after its original release, I suspect the film could be shown intact on TV today and nobody would blink an eye.  Worse, some of the special effects presented have aged tremendously and are pretty weak.

Still, the interactions between the characters was fun and, while cheesy, the film created an interesting reality in which the fight against the Warlock incorporates some (I’m assuming) historical methods for dealing with the beast.

Though I enjoyed seeing the film, I have to admit this is a hard one to recommend, especially to today’s audiences.  While fun to watch, Warlock is most certainly a product of its era and, when viewed today, may try people’s patience, especially with regard to the not so-special effects.

Nonetheless, if what I’ve written above intrigues you, give the film a try.  It might just entertain you as much as it did me.

Time inevitably continues its march…

A couple of days ago it was announced that Mary Tyler Moore, perhaps one of the biggest female TV stars of the 60’s and, especially the 1970’s, passed away at the age of 80…

Mary Tyler Moore, beloved TV Actress, dies at 80

I can’t say I was a big fan of The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-66), perhaps Ms. Moore’s breakout role which featured her as Mr. Van Dyke’s wife Laura Petrie.  The show aired a little before my time and while growing up I can’t recall finding it in reruns like many other 1960’s era shows and therefore never was exposed to it to any great degree.

However, I do recall being entertained by the Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-77) and the cast of characters she worked with (the seemingly immortal Betty White being among the featured co-stars!).  Perhaps the most famous element of the show is its opening crawl which concludes with Ms. Moore famously throwing her hat in the air (the below clip also features the very last scene from the very last episode of the show)…

I have to admit, back then I -and I’m sure just about every male watching- had something of a crush on Ms. Moore.  She, and her character, were charming, likable, and had charisma to spare.  It’s indeed sad to read of her passing.

Just as this news made its way to the various websites came word that Mike Connors had also passed away.  Mr. Connors is best known for playing the lead role in the detective drama Mannix which ran from 1967 through 1975.  This show was a favorite of mine while growing up and I’m not ashamed to say I have the entire eight season run on DVD.  Like the Mary Tyler Moore Show, Mannix featured a very memorable opening…

Mr. Connors was 91.  Over on this article regarding his passing –Mike Connors, B-Movie Actor Who Found Stardom on TV’s Mannix, dead at 91– a humorous tweet is presented from Mike Barnes who states:

By one count, (Mike Connors’) Joe Mannix was shot 17 times and knocked unconscious another 55.

Eight seasons playing a gumshoe will do that to you, I suppose.  Had such a person existed in real life, its extremely doubtful he would have made it to 91.

Rest in peace Ms. Moore and Mr. Connors.  You enlivened this young boy’s early years with a combination of laughs and suspense.

On Writing…getting the plot

Yesterday was a particularly good day for my work on the latest Corrosive Knights novel (this will be book #7 and will conclude the main story I’ve been working on for nearly a decade now).

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Why was it a particularly good day?  Because as I was thinking the novel’s plot over (something I tend to do with my latest works all hours of the day), the synapses in my brain figured out a way to bring various elements of the beginning and end of the novel together and in a matter of a half-hour and while on the computer I created a beautiful, exciting outline of the bridge linking the two ends of the book.

Mind you, I came up with some far rougher general ideas as to what was going to happen in the middle of the book before but those thoughts were far less complete than what I came up with yesterday.  Indeed, yesterday I filled almost all of the gaps of that middle section of the novel and this will obviously be a tremendous help.

I’ve written about this before but it bears repeating: Authors, like all working people, have their strengths and weaknesses and likes and dislikes.  I’ve heard of authors who have a tough time “beginning” a novel.  I’ve heard of authors who have difficulties wrapping things up.  Indeed, one of the greatest complaints I’ve read against Stephen King’s work (I only wish I could write as much as he does!) is that his novel endings tend to be weak.

For me personally, starting and ending a novel hasn’t, to date, been all that much of a problem.  In fact, whenever I start a new novel I tend to have strong opening and closing ideas.

Where my problem lies is in providing the tissue connecting those two elements.  Further frustrating me is the fact that I strive to make my novels as original as I can and want readers to be surprised by the twists and turns leading to my novels’ endings yet everything must come together by that ending.

Trust me, that’s not an easy task!

Throughout my life I’ve sought out interviews with noted authors about what motivates them and how they work.  Some authors revel in what I consider a “mythological” take on their writing.  To them, writing may be described as akin to creating “magic.”  I’ve read more than one author talk about how their fictional characters take charge of the story and dictate its direction, as if this fictional character the author’s created has taken hold of the story being told.

I think a lot of that is bunk.

I know I’ve said it before but writing is, first and foremost, work.  Plain and simply.  In my case this work can be very hard and mentally exhausting.

On TV, shows like Murder She Wrote and Castle present a fiction of an author who seems to do their writing in their spare time, creating their “best sellers” in a matter of a few hours while otherwise living a fabulous, carefree life.

The reality, at least for me, is one of almost obsessive mental concentration.  Though you may not believe it, I do indeed spend almost every waking hour thinking of my latest novel/story.  I don’t think a minute passes where some part of my brain isn’t obsessing over some detail, big or small, within my latest work.

The thing is, while I tend to get the opening and closing acts of my works out of the way pretty quickly, that middle connective section requires a great deal of care and thought and, to date, I’ve yet to have a middle section of my book come to me as “easily” as my novel openings/closings.

Regardless of all the work involved, I freaking love creating stories.  As difficult and as frustrating and as time consuming and as un-sexy as the act of creation may be, when all that hard work is done and I hold in my hands my latest novel and then add it to the stack of novels I’ve already written, I’m in heaven.  It is as pure a moment of pride and unadulterated joy as I can have.

And I can’t wait to get to work on the next one.