E.R. Torre's Blog, page 94

Hang on a second there…

Yesterday I posted an update of my latest Corrosive Knights book (you can read the full update here).  As I mentioned there, I’m now revising the first “full” draft of book #7 in the series, which will conclude the series’ main story.

Toward the end of the post, I created and put up this picture:[image error]I didn’t think all that much of it when I created and posted it in the still in-progress blog entry, but when I published the entry and looked back at the whole thing I got…

…emotional.

Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t tear up or cry or howl at the moon or give myself high fives.  Instead, seeing the published entry, I did have feelings.

Pleasant feelings.

The first, primary feeling was one of pride.  The second was one of relief.

The pride part is easy enough to explain.  Whatever job you have, and especially if it is one you enjoy, whenever you accomplish something “big” after plenty of hard work doing it and are happy with the way things turned out, then you should feel pride.  You should feel like patting your back.

I’ve noted far too many times before that writing a book is extremely difficult work, at least to me.  The amount of time spent on a single novel, much less eight novels that form a series, is very hard.  There are many characters and situations to keep in mind.  There are so many events and repercussions to deal with.  Finally, I was determined to deliver something fresh and new and interesting and was extremely careful not to have any story devolve into cliche.

So when I looked at yesterday’s post and saw that image, all that hard work was right there in that single graphic.

Sure, books #7 and 8 aren’t out yet, but at this time both novels are written.  The only thing keeping me from releasing them is the work needed to clean them up so they can be released.

Otherwise, this series -at least from the creative writing side- is done and, to my mind, done well.

That’s where the feeling of relief comes in.

After all these years -indeed much of my adult life- as of yesterday the process is almost done and, most importantly, it works.

After so many small and large steps, so many days and months and years of hard work, of whole days and weeks spent working on one particular segment of one particular book and sweating out how that would mesh with other parts of said book…

…I’m suddenly here, nearing the end of this long, wonderful journey.

As I said before, it has not been easy, but there’s nothing better than seeing the fruits of your labor and realizing you’re not just nearly done, but that you’ve done well.

I can’t wait for you guys and gals to see the next two books.

If you liked what came before, you will love what comes next.

Corrosive Knights a 10/25/17 update

Though the update is listed as today (ie, the 25th of October), this concerns yesterday.

Specifically, as of yesterday, the 24th of October, I finished the first detailed read through of my latest Corrosive Knights novel.  This will be novel #7 in the series and will conclude the story I began all those years before with Mechanic.

(A quick side note: Though this will conclude the main Corrosive Knights story line, there will be a book #8 which will offer an “epilogue” to the story.  For now I’ll say no more, other than that I have already written the first draft of that epilogue and it should come out very soon after the release of book #7)

Having now read through book #7 from start to end, I have a clearer idea of how the individual parts fit together.  When I wrote this book, I first wrote one major section and the conclusion then went back to write the second major section, a process that took me some time, before marrying the two elements together in one large file.

As I have mentioned before, this is the longest novel I’ve written so far, clocking in at 128,761 words (261 single spaced printed pages) and I suspect when all is said and done the word could will likely increase.

There are bits and pieces that need clarification and/or expansion.  There are less pieces here and there that require compression.

But the big question is: Does the book work?

It may seem like an odd question to make at such a late stage, but trust me, I was sweating for a while.  Because I did one large section of the book, put it away, then worked on the other section before merging the two, it had been a while since I read and revised the first stuff I did.  And when I merged the two together and started the full read-through, I was nervous, worried if everything would fit together and whether the story in full came together or, as I put it above, worked.

I’m happy to say it did.

Boy, did it ever.

Though there’s still much to be done, I’m extremely happy with what I have so far.  This is a book that will, I believe, very satisfactorily conclude the Corrosive Knights saga.  Those who have been following it, I feel, will be happy with this ending which deals with all the various plot threads I’ve opened but, up to this point, haven’t closed.

So today I start the revision process on the computer and, when I’m done with it, I’ll print the whole thing out and give it another read and do the pen revisions before once again doing revisions on the computer.

Hang in there, folks.

[image error]

They’ll all be out before you know it!

Where has the time gone…?

I’ve heard it said that for every decade that passes in one’s life, time feels like its going faster and faster and faster.

For me, its passing at light speed.

While doing my usual search through the internet for interesting stories, I came upon this one at thehollywoodreporter.com.  The article was written by Lesley Goldberg and concerns…

Zoo Canceled at CBS After 3 Seasons

If you’ve never heard of the show, it is based on a James Patterson novel (he’s the producer of the show as well) that concerns a world where animals attack our protagonists.

While I had heard of the show, the extent of my actually watching it is limited to seeing, perhaps, two or three commercials of it here and there.

Having said that, I was stunned to find the show has been on for 3 years.

3 years.

Holy cow.

I won’t miss the show but I will wonder what happened to those three years.

Has it really been that long?!

Blade Runner 2049 (2017) a pretty much on time review

Released a couple of weeks ago to glowing reviews, Blade Runner 2049, the very belated sequel to the original 1982 Blade Runner, arrived with plenty of good reviews and buzz but delivered an underwhelming box office.

In fact, its safe to say the film is on its last legs in theaters though, perhaps like the original film, cult status beckons.  Still, one can’t help but wonder what went wrong.

Welp, I just now came from seeing the film and I have some ideas about that.

The first, and predominant one relates to the film’s runtime.

2 hours and 44 minutes.

You read that right.

That’s an awful long time to spend on any film and, if you’re going to ask audiences to stick around that long, you better make damn sure the film is worth that much time.

That, to me, proved to be problem number one.

I’ll cut to the chase and say that I felt the film was good.  Further, I have no problem recommending it, though I strongly suspect fans of the original film will find more to love than newbies.  Thing is, unlike long -but mesmerizing- films like Lawrence of Arabia or 2001: A Space Odyssey, I feel this is a film that would have benefited greatly from some skilled editing.

Nonetheless, the main story is easily the brightest element of the movie.  As much of a fan of the original Blade Runner as I am, I was skeptical what sort of story could merit a sequel to that movie, especially one that somehow logically brings Ryan Gosling’s character, a replicant Blade Runner (ie Replicant killer), to eventually cross paths with Harrison Ford’s Deckard.

The basic elements there work really well (I won’t go into Spoilers… at least not here), but the problem is that there are too many other things brought into the movie that could have either been pared down (ie skilled editing) or eliminated altogether.

Again, without getting into spoilers, Jared Leto shows up for a whopping 2 scenes but, frankly, they could have cut that down to one scene or, with some minor story modification, eliminated altogether.

Robin Wright, so damn effective in a small role in Wonder Woman, isn’t nearly as effective, or effectively written, this time around.  Her character could also, IMHO, been pared down to one scene or eliminated all together without affecting the story being told all that much.

Then there’s Edward James Olmos, playing a character returning from the original film, who is also given a scene that plays out like fan service more than necessity to plot.

When we finally get to Harrison Ford’s Deckard, it feels like we could and should have gotten there sooner.  Even then, we’re given a fight between Ford and Gosling which feels like action presented just for the sake of giving us something exciting after too long not getting much of it.

Still, I can’t hate the film.  While the story could have been firmed up, like the original Blade Runner 2049 immerses us into a bleak future that feels organic and makes us care for its lead characters.  Ryan Gosling’s “K”, the Replicant Blade Runner, is quite good and his journey is emotional and, in the end, satisfying.  I recommend the film, though I lament the fact that it could and should have been even better than it was.

I know what you’re thinking:  How would you have made the film better, smart guy?

All right, here we go.

BEWARE SPOILERS

I would have begun the film exactly as it begins, with our “hero”, replicant Blade Runner “K” goes to a distant farm and confronts Sapper Morton (Dave Bautista).  Everything here is ok, but by the time the scene ends, have K discover what he discovers (I know I said there would be spoilers, but I’m not going to give it all away) but have HIM get to the material.

He returns to the big city and presents the material to an uninterested coroner who doesn’t care much for another body in an overlarge city filled with them.  So K examines the material, discovers what he discovers -is also stunned by something carved on the tree- and then goes to his superior and asks if he can continue the investigation.  He keeps the carving a secret but, it turns out, his superior officer doesn’t much care one way or another.

At this moment there aren’t many/any other replicants worth pursuing (I would make the entire police department a non-factor in this story and thus shave a lot of time spent on them) and therefore the Lieutenant humors K when he asks if he can further investigate this case.  To her, K is like a wind up toy and, what the hell, it gets him out of her hair.  This would be the one and only scene with that character, again saving time and getting us faster to where we should go.

This leads him to Wallace industries and it is they who take an interest in his investigation and follow him along but, like the Lieutenant, they don’t appear all that interested in K’s investigation.  We don’t need to meet Wallace at this point, instead have him be a ghostly figure who may even not exist for all the audience knows.  Also, keep the fact that our main antagonist, who we are introduced to at this point, is a replicant from the audiences as well.  Have her be like everyone else in K’s world, on the surface looking uninterested in what K is up to but gradually reveal she’s incredibly interested.

When she steals the material K (in my scenario) has found, we don’t even need to show it was her, but have K realize he isn’t simply spinning his wheels.  The coroner could well be killed (or not, it doesn’t need to be the case) and K digs deeper, this time thinking he may have secrets of his own (ie, the memory stuff presented in the call back to Blade Runner’s oddball pseudo sequel, the Kurt Russell film Soldier.  Only the big time Blade Runner fans will pick up on the dumping grounds’ meaning!).

K keeps the memory information to himself, partly because no one else seems to care and partly because now he’s very invested in the mystery.  This can be left for the viewer to imagine.  He meets with the memory specialist just like we’re presented and then moves his way toward finding Deckard.  After he does, they’re ambushed and it is there and then that the replicant identity of the antagonist is finally revealed.

K barely escapes with his life but Deckard is captured.  He now knows Wallace is behind everything and we can then have his single scene where he reveals all and menaces Deckard with considerable torture.

But K hunts down the kidnappers, saving Deckard right in the nick of time and noting, as he does in the film, that Deckard, as far as the world is concerned, no longer exists.  We then have the ending as presented and fade out.

So that’s my scenario.

Hope it makes some kind of sense!

Sketchin’ 34

Really poured my heart into this one and I’m really happy with the results.

Ladies and gents, Michelle Pfieffer’s Catwoman from the very quirky Tim Burton directed Batman Returns (1992)…

[image error]Even for someone as quirky as Tim Burton, Batman Returns was a decidedly oddball film, filled with astonishing visuals and eerie, bizarre sexual themes.

Catwoman’s character, who looks like a mix between a Dominatrix and the Bride of Frankenstein, was probably a big reason (the other being the very murderous Penguin!) why the folks at Warners decided to move in another direction and got themselves another director for the next two Batman films, which were decidedly campier and far less edgy.

I don’t feel Batman Returns is a “great” Batman film.  Nonetheless I strongly agree with one long forgotten critic who said (I’m paraphrasing here) that the movie is “great” whenever Pfieffer’s Catwoman is on screen, but not so great when she’s not.

Loved her version of Catwoman and, frankly, wished Mr. Burton had stuck with her character as the main villain (though in truth the character of Catwoman has always skated the line when it comes to being an out and outright villain) and left Penguin for another time.

Ah well!

As with all the “sketches” I’ve posted, click on the above image if you want a closer look at the art!

News of the weird… in film

Opening today, October 20th, is the film The Snowman.  Here’s the movie’s trailer…

Looks ok, no?

Based on one of the several bestselling Harry Hole (don’t snicker… that’s the name given the detective protagonist) novels by Jo Nesbø, the film features a cast that’s quite literally to die for.  You’ve got in the role of primary role of Harry Hole, (the standout actress, IMHO, in the last Mission: Impossible film and, hopefully, the one to come), the always reliable , the also always reliable , and one other big name actor who I will mention in a moment.

The film is directed by , who gained very positive reviews for Let The Right One In as well as (though I didn’t particularly like it) Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

Unlike those last two films by Mr. Alfredson, The Snowman, carries all kinds of hints it might be a disaster.  To begin, the film is being released in a relatively dead period of time, movie-wise.  Trailers, though they certainly exist, are hardly being shown on TV.  Fans of the books, likewise, can be forgiven in that the film’s lackluster advertising barely makes mention of the movie being related to the Jo Nesbø book(s).  Was this done on purpose?  Is the author himself not terribly thrilled with the film?

Let’s cut to the proverbial chase: You don’t have to be a psychic or a tea reader to feel the studios know they have a stinker on their hands.  They are essentially dumping it into theaters in the hopes they recover some of the budget spent on it yet it is equally clear these same studios aren’t getting their hopes up.  They refuse to spend on advertising -the also proverbial spending good money after bad- a film with this pedigree might merit.

Finally, the very early reviews (those that beat the movie embargo) are almost all negative.

The reason for my posting about the film is not because of the film itself but rather based on the following fascinating article concerning the actor I didn’t mention above, .  He’s in the film, though based on this article, by Sam Adams and on Slate.com, his work here is very weird…

Val Kilmer’s Hacked-Up, Redubbed Role in The Snowman is Incredibly Bizarre

I really hope you click on the link above because it is a fascinating article that gave me memories of the late Bela Lugosi in Plan 9 From Outer Space.  Without giving too much of the article away, it would appear Mr. Kilmer’s role in this film is something akin to Mr. Lugosi’s role.

If you find inside Hollywood stories as fascinating as I do, you’ll enjoy this article.

It was bound to happen…

When one releases one’s own works to the general public, it stands to reason that not everyone will love what you do.  This goes for people who draw, paint, sing, play instruments, direct, act, etc. etc. etc.

As an author, my hope, as should be the hope of all artists out there, is that the number of people who like your work will be far greater than those who don’t.

At this point, I have 44 ratings on Goodreads.com for my works.  In total, the reviews for all my works merits a 3.89 rating out of 5, a number that frankly thrills me to no end.

Reading over the reviews, there are the positive ones.  Look, I’ve got an ego and, like everyone out there, I love to have my ego stroked by people who love what I’ve done.

To them: Thank you.  Thank you very, very, very much.

But some of the reviews make me chuckle.

Over at Amazon.uk (the British Amazon service), a reader named “sonnet” offered a four out of five star rating for my novel Haze and wrote that it was A surprisingly good read.

Again, I really appreciate the review but also couldn’t help but think that the reader was genuinely surprised an independent writer could do something “good”.  Was the surprise based on this?

Who knows.  Perhaps I’m reading too much into this.

Over at amazon.jp, the Japanese amazon service, I received a 2 star out of five review from Orezqtotter for my graphic novel The Dark Fringe and his/her review, under the heading of Too Simple, was Everything goes like as I could expect and nothing unpredictable.

Again (part deux), I don’t expect everything I do will appeal to everyone, though I do take issue with the notion that The Dark Fringe’s story is “too simple” or predictable.

But, again, this is this reader opinion and I can respect it didn’t turn him/her on, its his/her absolute right to have an opinion of said product.

Then there are these types of reviews, reviews that, frankly, irk me.

A few days ago on amazon.com my latest novel, Foundry of the Gods, received a one star review.

The review, under the headline “One Star“, is by Tony6232 who wrote: Did not Order this.

Amazon.com allows you to see the reviews of the people who post and, curious to get an idea of Tony6232’s reviewing, I found that on that same date s/he wrote the review for my novel s/he wrote three other one star reviews with the very same Did not Order this comment.  Of the four items s/he reported, mine was the only novel.

I’m assuming Tony6232 is sincere in his/her comments that, perhaps, someone illegally took over his/her amazon account (the Gods know this can happen!) and purchased things s/he didn’t want.

However…

…what the reviewer did was take out that anger/frustration on a product instead of where it should have gone to, however that order was made.  And by offering the one star review, his/her opinion brings the overall reviews of my novel down as well, especially when the book hasn’t received all that many reviews to this point.

I can’t help but think there will be people who look at the overall review numbers and, unless they scrutinize the reviews, will think the book isn’t good because the overall ratings are low even if it is no fault of the product itself.

Understand: I know I’m not the first person with a product placed on amazon that has faced a bad review for something unrelated to the product itself.  It is, however, the first time it has happened to me.

For example, I’ve read many poor reviews for products where, it turned out, the reviewer was upset not about the product but rather that it was delivered damaged to their door.

Think about that.

You order a book or movie or CD or whathaveyou and it is delivered to your house and the box is smashed and, unfortunately, the product within is damaged.

Instead of contacting amazon or the postal carrier and complaining about the delivery, you give the product a one star review even if you note that its because of a damaged product.  Unfortunately, there may be people out there unlike me who do not read the reviews and think the one star review is for the product itself.

So what can one do?  For me, I replied to Tony6232 with the following comment:

From looking at your profile, it is clear there were three other products you “reviewed” with a similar statement, ie that you “did not order this”.

While I appreciate reviews -positive or negative- of my novels, it seems your issue is not with my book but rather with Amazon.com itself. I hope you get the issue resolved.

There’s little else at this point one can do.

2 Sentence Halloween Story

Over on Goodreads.com authors were asked/challenged to provide a two sentence horror story in honor of Halloween.

Here’s mine…

Deep under the earth and in the bunker, Earth’s last survivors let out an anguished cry when they heard the approaching noises. Those vile, terrifying creatures could gnaw through concrete and metal just as easily as human flesh.

Random musings…

After finishing that last Mad Max picture, I was thinking about Mel Gibson’s career and the movies featuring him.

As should be obvious, my favorite Mel Gibson role is certainly Mad Max and my favorite film featuring Mr. Gibson is The Road Warrior aka Mad Max 2.

Easy peasy.

But then I thought: With The Road Warrior my favorite Mel Gibson starring feature, what would I consider my second favorite?

I thought about that for a while.  The original Lethal Weapon was a damned good movie, even if it felt like director Richard Donner and company threw the script away soon after starting filming (I always chuckle at the grim tone of the movie in its opening minutes and then how quickly it becomes a slapstick action/comedy!).  There are plenty of others to consider, from Braveheart to The Year of Living Dangerously to (yeah, I liked it) Maverick, etc. etc.

But the one that seemed to come back to my mind over and over again was the 1999 film Payback.  Now, to be very clear, I saw the film when it was original released to theaters and hated that version.  But a few years later director version of the film, Payback: Straight Up, The Director’s Cut, was released and that, my friends, was a whole different animal.  (The below trailer is from the theatrical cut)

Based on The Hunter, the first of the Parker novels by Donald E. Westlake (writing under the pen name Richard Stark), this version of Payback was a lot closer to said novel and a hell of a lot better overall as a movie.

As good as that film was, and bear in mind I’ve already stated it is my second favorite Mel Gibson film, it isn’t nearly as clever and strong, IMHO, as the original movie version of the same novel, this one released in 1967 and starring Lee Marvin.  I’m referring, of course, to Point Blank…

Point Blank was, if memory serves, not terribly well received upon its initial release but, over the years, it has attained a cult following and is considered by many today among Lee Marvin’s best works.

The plot of these movies are essentially the same: Lee Marvin, like Mel Gibson, plays a version of the character of Parker (in Marvin’s case he’s named Walker, in Gibson’s its Porter).  He is involved in a heist along with his wife/girlfriend and best friend and the two betray him and leave him for dead.

Parker/Walker/Porter come back, seeking their fair share of the money and revenge… though one can’t help but wonder if the character’s interest is more in getting that money versus getting that revenge.

Here’s the thing though, and the reason why I like Point Blank more than Payback: Director John Boorman and his screenwriters crafted a fascinating new addition/wrinkle to the story, one that, IMHO, elevates the material into the stratosphere.

What they have done is taken this tale of criminals, revenge, and stolen loot… and made it a ghost story.

Yeah, you read that right: Point Blank is a ghost story.

We have in the opening minutes of the film the heist and the betrayal and Walker is shot.  He collapses to the ground and, his best friend and wife/girlfriend believe, is dead.

In Payback, he’s clearly not.  In Point Blank, though, if you pay close attention to you come to realize that Walker is no longer among the living, but that he’s a vengeful ghost.

First thing to note: His hair is dark during the heist.  After the heist and after “recovering”, his hair is (ghost) white.  As the movie progresses and he goes after the people who betrayed him and demands his money back, you notice a second thing: Walker does not kill anyone in the course of the film.

Yeah, he roughs people up, but the ones that die -and there are several that do- do so either by other’s hands or their own.  Further, Walker’s obsession with getting his money appears to be so all consuming that it seems to be the only reason for anything he does.

And, BIG SPOILERS, by the end of the movie, after he’s run down the Outfit to the point where those that remain in it finally decide to give him his damned money, the movie ends on an extremely curious note.

We return to the scene of the original crime, Alcatraz (this location is not featured at all in Payback), where Walker and his partners did the original crime and where he was betrayed and “died”.  The money he’s sought all this time is delivered by a Mob boss.  The exhausted mobster yells out that the money is there for Walker to take.

Walker, hiding in the shadows, watches the delivery and the mobster but doesn’t leave his hiding place.  The audience, feeling there is another betrayal coming, understand Walker’s hesitation.

But…

After a while, the mobster shrugs.  He leaves the package with what we assume is indeed the money where it is and gets back into his helicopter and departs.  Silence follows.  The money remains where it is and there are no other people around and, we realize, there is no chance of another betrayal.

Still Walker remains in the shadows, not saying anything nor going to get the money.  Instead, he retreats further back into the darkness, until he’s completely swallowed by it.

Fin.

My take?

Walker’s ghost has gotten what he wanted and can now rest in peace.  The irony is that a ghost -of course!- doesn’t need the money.  But by going through all he has and delivering revenge to those who deserved it while getting his proper cut of the loot, he can now rest in peace and does so when he disappears into the shadows that final time.

As someone who fashions himself a writer, that ending, and that ingenuity of writing, absolutely floors me.

The upshot of all this is that a) If you haven’t already, you should see Payback: Straight Up, The Director’s Cut.  Even more importantly b) you should see Point Blank.

It’s worth the trip(s).

Sketchin’ 33

A few days back I did a Mel Gibson Mad Max -from The Road Warrior aka Mad Max 2– sketch and…

…doing that one illustration didn’t scratch the itch.  Not entirely.

So…[image error]I know many people today can’t stomach Mel Gibson and, frankly, I can’t argue the point.  What he did, though it was an awful long time ago, was nonetheless nasty as hell.  Clearly Mr. Gibson was in a dark place fueled by what appears to be heavy drinking and his actions and statements are both hard to comprehend and even harder to forgive.

For me, I knew and loved much of Mr. Gibson’s work prior to his melt-down and the work he did before that moment, especially in The Road Warrior/Mad Max 2, was terrific stuff.

I suppose this is a case where I’ve divorced the work from the artist themselves, because even I have a hard time comprehending the things he did.