Sidney Blaylock Jr.'s Blog, page 6

Gaming Disappointments

Source: https://makeameme.org/meme/disappointment-disappointment

A YouTuber that I sometimes watch by the name of Mortisimal Gaming recently did a post describing the most disappointing game experience that he’s had as a gamer. I liked the video and it got me thinking about some of the gaming experiences that I’ve had that were disappointing in some way, so I put together this post just to (briefly) talk about some gaming disappointments that I’ve had as well. I generally don’t have as many disappointments these days because I now generally wait on reviews, and thanks to school and work and all of my many responsibilities, I now end up getting games generally around Christmas time even though they are released during the year. In other words, it has to be a special game for me to purchase it during the year–most of my gaming purchases are now within the last 3-4 months of the year, so I have a pretty good consensus of what the game is like, what the reviews for the game gave it, and whether it is in my “wheelhouse” as a game I would probably enjoy. Basically, I’m pretty much always “late to the party” on all but a few of the “top tier” releases that I would enjoy. This has helped to greatly cut down on gaming disappointments for me (looking at you Cyberpunk 2077).

Sword of Sodan (Sega Genesis; published by Electronic Arts (EA)) Source: https://archive.org/details/sg_Sword_of_Sodan_1990_Electronic_Arts_Innerprise_EU-US_en

My #1 gaming disappointment of all time is Sword of Sodan published by EA (then Electronic Arts before it shortened its name to be more “hip”). Sword of Sodan was a game that I bought for my birthday and it was such a disappointment because I was really into Golden Axe at the time (beat em ups were extremely popular) and based on the back cover artwork and copy, it looked like a bigger, more intense version of Golden Axe, which is what I was looking for at the time. However, the game was a simple side-scroller, and worse yet, it was a mess of half-implemented ideas and terrible controls. It was ridiculously difficult to play and getting off of the very first level was both difficult and tedious. Worse yet, it was a birthday game, meaning it was the game that I spent birthday money on and so wasted that money for that year. And when I was a child, money (for games especially) wasn’t something that could easily be obtained, so I had to make every dollar count. Spending money on this game was a bitter lesson in advertising vs reality. And the final insult? I had to wait until Christmas to get any new games after I got my “birthday game.” Since my birthday is early in the year, that meant months and months of waiting–with only this crappy and poorly designed game as my only new experience for all those months. I learned the value of video game magazines and reviews and made buying issues of magazines a priority after purchasing this game. I still have the cartridge–to remind myself that “all that glitters isn’t gold.”

YouTube Longplay of Sword of SodanMass Effect Andromeda (Playstation 4; EA) Source: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1238000/Mass_Effect_Andromeda_Deluxe_Edition/

This game is one of the few times that I let my “hype” get in the way of my good sense. I had so enjoyed the original Mass Effect trilogy (especially Mass Effect 2) that I was completely “sold” on the idea of going to another galaxy and having an “open world” Mass Effect style of game, but that’s not what we got. To be fair, the ideas were there, but it needed another 6 months to “bake” to get rid of the bugs and another 1 – 2 years to “bake” to iron issues with narrative and story. This game had the potential to be something special, but was handicapped by EA’s need to release “under-finished” products to satisfy their investors and upper management. They’ve released too many products like this for my tastes (as if getting burned by Sword of Sodan wasn’t enough), so while I do still buy EA products, they go onto an “automatic waitlist” now. I will NOT buy an EA game without reviews/significant discount in price.

Evolve (Playstation 4; 2K) Source: https://www.pcinvasion.com/evolve-failed-because-4v1-didnt-work-pricing-and-more/

The final game for this post (don’t worry, there have been others that I could have talk about and I may revisit this topic again) is Evolve from 2K Games. Now, I could talk about 2K Games as its own separate post because none of the games from this publisher that I’ve purchased have been ones that I’ve enjoyed and the others in its catalog (Grand Theft Auto) are not ones that I care to play (despite their enormous popularity). Evolve was especially painful as the Playstation community never got the Left 4 Dead (L4D) games during the PS3/ Xbox 360 era, and I was especially looking forward to a sci-fi version of this (with aliens instead of zombies). However, their decision to make the “alien monster” a human player really robbed this game of any tension. Most of the time players chosen weren’t good monsters/enemies (myself included) and the few that were were “god-like.” This idea to have humans as monsters was great for the developer as they 1) didn’t have to come up with complex enemy AI and 2) 5 people had to buy the game instead of 4, but in terms of gameplay, this decision basically “knee-capped” the game and really robbed it of the chance to become as popular as their L4D games. I basically had written off this developer, but they’ve managed to redeem themselves with Back 4 Blood which I bought based on the strength of reviews and a demo. Without that, I probably would have passed the series up as I had been burned by the developer in the past. Still, Evolve could have been the series that brought them back, if they hadn’t chased “industry trends” and put the work and effort in to have developed an AI system for their sci-fi monsters. They ended up having to do it for Back 4 Blood, so imagine what a game like Evolve could have been if they’d been willing to do it sooner.

Well, that’s all I have time for today–have a great week!

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora WolfRead Childe Roland for Free at Electric SpecPurchase  HawkeMoon  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or eBookPurchase  Dragonhawk  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  WarLight  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  Ship of Shadows  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  Faerie Knight  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindleCurrently Working On (January 2022):The Runner (Fantasy Story–4000 words)
2022 Revision; Out to Market.Unhallowed (Weird Western Story–4400 words)
2022 Revision: Completed; Out to Market.The Independent (Science Fiction Story–4800 words)
2021 Revision:  ACCEPTED   FOR PUBLICATION

2021 Playstation Wrap-Up

Source: https://www.dexerto.com/gaming/how-to-get-your-2021-playstation-wrap-up-on-ps4-ps5-1744940/

So, I’m trying to get back into blogging in a small way as hopefully you all can see through this week’ posts. Today, I’m going to focus on the games that I played over the past year. Playstation is doing a yearly wrap-up of the games, by allowing players to log in and see their yearly stats. I will use screenshots from the Wrap-up to show what my year was like in gaming. I won’t do all of them, just a few of the ones that I think are the most important. I’m going to keep this introduction short, so without further ado, here are my Playstation 2021 Wrap-up Stats.

Top Games of 221 https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/p/dragon-quest-xi-s-echoes-of-an-elusive-ageDragonQuest XI

My number one played game of 2021 was, according to Playstation, DragonQuest XI. I put in nearly quite a bit of time playing the game and beating it. It was a fun experience that I thought I’d “finished,” only to discover that I was only approximately 50%-60% through the game. I persevered and finished it right around September of 2021 (just as I was beginning my new job approximately). I haven’t yet gone back to see if I can get the Platinum Trophy yet, but I will give it a go when I finished my current playthrough of the games I working on right now. I do know that I’m not really a JRPG (Japanese Role Playing Game) fan, but for some reason, I really enjoyed my time with this game. I feel like it helped me get to grips with some of the conventions of the JRPG genre.

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/p/dragon-quest-xi-s-echoes-of-an-elusive-ageCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

So, this game is the one that I spent the majority of time with during 2021 for my online gaming. Now, obviously, I won’t be doing so now that Microsoft has bought Activision, but before that time, CoD was a favorite (mostly because my mother enjoyed watching me play). CoD has been slowly losing its relevance because they have refined the gameplay in such a way as to want to cater to those who will purchase their “battle pass.” I like the CoD shooting experience, but I no longer like the way the campaign is rendered (with stealth/stealth-like elements). I feel that I got fairly good with the game, but mainly because the time that I put in was in service to my mother so that she could watch the game. By myself, I probably would have put only “half” the time that I did for this game. While much better than Vanguard, this game started some of the egregious ideas that were fully featured in Vanguard.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/812140/Assassins_Creed_Odyssey/Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

The reason why this game is so high is that I basically played it over the tail-end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021 (1st 3 months approximately). I did the bulk of the game in 2020, but finished the game and worked for a Platinum trophy during the beginning of 2021. I don’t have the stats for my 2020 gameplay handy (I wrote them down in a notebook), but I felt that I spent quite a few hours building up my character and finishing the game, and then doing all the work for the Platinum trophy. I enjoyed this one quite a bit, but I thought AC Origins had a slightly better story. Both focus on family, but there are more choices in Odyssey which means that it couldn’t be as narratively focused as Origins.

Source: https://store.steampowered.com/agecheck/app/1151640/Horizon Zero Dawn

So, this one is complicated. I stared this way back in 2017 when it was released, but I kept trying to play it as an action game, when it is a “stealth” game first, action game second. While I played it on and off from 2017-2020, I finally figured out how to play the game late in 2020 after playing through Assassin’s Creed Origins and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. I went past the place in the game where I was stuck and I’ve pushed through, saw the story, and finally finished it (although this happened late in 2021 and early 2022). I enjoyed the story and feel that I’m now ready for the release of the next game, Horizon Forbidden West, a game I’m looking forward to when it releases in February.

https://www.codemasters.com/game/grid/Grid (2019)

This is, unfortunately, one that I spent far more time with than I should have based on how much fun I had. This game is a good looking game, but is very shallow. The cars don’t handle that well, the tracks are quite limited and repetitive, the AI is a bit suspect (sometimes they seem “god-like” and sometimes they seem fairly inept). Unfortunately, this is a game that looks better than it plays. The reason why played it for so long is that I bought it on sale and I got the game and all the extra content that came with it. I felt like I needed to finish the game and the DLC. While I did it, the game was simply too repetitive and I ended up stop having fun playing it halfway through the base game. I had to finish the game and then finish the DLC, all while disliking the game more and more with each passing day. I managed to finish my goal, but I’m not all that proud as I played a game to completion simply to say I had rather than having a fun and enjoyable experience.

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora WolfRead Childe Roland for Free at Electric SpecPurchase  HawkeMoon  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or eBookPurchase  Dragonhawk  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  WarLight  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  Ship of Shadows  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  Faerie Knight  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindleCurrently Working On (January 2022):The Runner (Fantasy Story–4000 words)
2022 Revision; Out to Market.Unhallowed (Weird Western Story–4400 words)
2022 Revision: Completed; Out to Market.The Independent (Science Fiction Story–4800 words)
2021 Revision:  ACCEPTED   FOR PUBLICATION

Microsoft Being Microsoft Yet Again: Or, THIS is the Reason Microsoft Should Have Been “Broken Up” in the 1990s

Source: http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/766881.html

MONOPOLY. Definition = a company or group having exclusive control over a commodity or service.

I just want the definition of a “monopoly” established at the outset. Microsoft and its many American fans would have you to believe the Microsoft isn’t a “monopoly.” Their argument, tenuous as it is, is that there are always other players in whatever market they dominate/want to dominate. Apple in the computer market/operating system market, Sony in the video game market, Chrome/Firefox in the browser market, Google in the Search Engine market, etc. and etc., ad naseum. There is always supposed competition in that market (even when there really isn’t). Let’s be absolutely clear: Microsoft is a monopoly and it uses its monopoly advantage to destroy competition in a market that it decides it wants to dominate to detriment to consumers.

I wrote a blog entry that Microsoft has projected a different “corporate image,” but that underneath, it is the exact same corporate culture practicing the exact same anti-competitive practices as always, and the recent acquisitions of Bethesda and Activision simply prove my point, no matter what their vaunted “marketing department” says about the company. The old adage proves true once again: if you want to know about a person (or in this case a company), watch what they do, not what they say.

Windows (Where is the Competition?)

Go to your local Target, Walmart, or other retailer and try to buy a PC with a different operating system other than Windows and report back when you do. Notice, I said, a PC, not a Chromebook, which runs on a different (much lower spec system than a traditional PC), nor did I say an Apple computer, which like a Chromebook, is its own separate classification of machine (just on the higher end typically). No, I said a PC. I’ll wait . . .

Still waiting . . .

And I could keep this going, but the realistic fact is, you can’t. Oh, if you know someone (or know how), you can use speciality OSs like Ubuntu and Linux, but in day-to-day reality, if you’re buying a PC, then you’re buying a computer running Windows for which Microsoft has been paid a licensing fee by the PC manufacturer, which has probably been passed to you, the consumer, in the purchase price of the machine. Now, multiply that buy how ever many PCs (not Chromebooks/Macs) are sold each year all around the world and you have 1) a de facto monopoly and 2) a revenue stream that completely dwarfs the GDP of many 3rd World Nations (Source: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-tech-giants-worth-compared-economies-countries/). And Microsoft knows that Chromebooks and Macs aren’t equivalent products to Windows (they don’t compete for the same customer base usually), but it has lobbying power to convince many techno-illiterate lawmakers otherwise who only see a computer as something with a screen and keyboard and who don’t understand the nuance behind it all.

Thanks to this de facto monopoly status, Microsoft has far more money than it should because there’s no real competition in its marketplace. If there was a, I don’t know, call it a “Portal OS” for lack of a better example, that controlled 40% of the operating system market, then 1) Microsoft’s profits would be far less because 40% of it would be going to another company and 2) Microsoft would have spend more money on R&D to keep their lead and stay ahead of “Portal OS” and not let them gain even more marketshare. Returning to the same example with Sony, for a moment, we see that in the TV space where Sony competes, there’s LG, Samsung, and Song, not to mention the TCL and Hisenses of the world. Windows has no real competition and it lets Microsoft get away with things that it normally wouldn’t be able to due (Microsoft Cloud Services, Gamepass’s low price subsidies, purchasing Bethesda and Activision, for example).

Bethesda and Activision

Why are these bad for consumers? Microsoft has the (ill-gotten) money, after all. These are bad for consumers because it removes choice from the equation for the consumer. If you want these brands that were once available to both/multiple consoles, now you have only one choice. You remove competition (the very life-blood that Americans say makes our capitalist system the best choice). See, we Americans want competition as it makes companies compete for our dollars and makes products better, until we rally around 1 dominant team/company/thing that we see as a “winner.” Once we’ve identified a “winner,” then all pretext of fairness goes out the (pardon the pun) window, and we back that one, even if it HURTS us in the long run.

Here, there’s no competition happening with the purchase of Bethesda and Activision. We have 1 winner: Microsoft and 3 losers: 1) Sony 2) Nintendo and 3) Competition. The only way for Sony and Nintendo to fight this move is to 1) retaliate in kind with other consolidations, forcing fewer and fewer choices on the consumer or 2) ignore Microsoft and hope that their own moves will be sufficient. At no point is the consumer served with less choice.

Now, I can already see some of my Microsoft X-Box adherents warming up their keyboards about Sony’s exclusive first party games. The difference there is that Sony had expend time, resources, and talent to create those games, market them, all under the pressures of competition in Sony’s respective markets. Sony doesn’t have/didn’t have a monopoly to gather unlimited resources; per my point with Windows, Microsoft did. Sony is, to use an Americanism, “succeeding while playing by the rules” in a market economy. Great games people want to play while having to compete in its various industries. Microsoft, not so much. Thanks to all the money its been able to wrack up year after year without a robust competitor, it can simply “cherry pick” and buy what’s hot/best without having to do any work. Microsoft is essentially given a “free pass” in the American market system while Sony has to fight on ALL FRONTS and then create a compelling game; Microsoft only has to see someone else develop a compelling game and say, “right, thanks to our pot on (again, pardon the pun) “Monopoly money,” we’re going to acquire that.”

Internet Explorer . . . Oops, I Meant Internet “Edge”

Now, we’ve already seen what happens when Microsoft comes to dominate a product category. In the mid to late 90s, everyone thought that the browser would be the ticket to internet dominance, not the search engine. Netscape Navigator was the king of the browsers and ran just fine on Microsoft Windows. However, Windows decided they wanted to be king of the browser space and leveraged their position as, say it with me, a monopoly, to bundle Internet Explorer in with every copy of Windows, thereby killing off Navigator and other Window-based browsers for a time. However, when it became clear that 1) Microsoft was number 1 in the browser wars and 2) that internet dominance would be fought in the realms of the search engine, Microsoft let IE languish. It was completely moribund product for several years until Chrome and Firefox came back on the scene, pushing the browser forward from Microsoft’s uncaring snubbing of their own number 1 product. A few years ago, IE was “retired,” and Microsoft “Edge” took its place. However, since it is no longer interested in “the browser wars,” Microsoft has chosen not to expend capital (i.e., money) to purchase ANY major browser technologies to push past its rivals. It is content, again because there’s no interest in the company in being number 1 in the browser category, to let both Firefox and Chrome claim the lion’s share of the browser market. It doesn’t have to “compete” in that market (no money/prestige to be gained), so it chooses to sit on the sidelines while other companies innovate. Because it is a monopoly, it doesn’t HAVE to expend resources, where another company (like Sony) who is competing has to compete in every market category it is a part of (video games, TVs, VR, headphones) or risk being overwhelmed by its competition. For example, Sony did the first lower priced VR headset and while it did well, wasn’t as well regarded as its more expensive (& feature rich) PC competitors. Rather than give up on the category (a la Microsoft with Internet Explorer or Zune or any of a number of failed Microsoft products/initiatives that I could name), Sony has had to spend time, resources, and money to create a successor product that seems to be more in line with what consumers value. Microsoft either buys a company in order to compete or it leaves the category all together.

The Media and Congress Should Know Better

In closing, I fault much of this on the American media and the American congressional system. Yes, Microsoft’s lobbying efforts and marketing are legion, but neither the media nor congress has done their jobs.

The media, instead of investigating and talking about these issues, act very much like cheerleaders and marketing arms for Microsoft. I hate to call out news organizations, but the video game arm of Forbes in particular, is one such outlet that I have to call out. I’ve regularly read their coverage on the video game industry for the past 2 years or so via their inclusion with the “Playstation News feed” on Google. I’ve found that they regularly act as a “cheerleading” arm for Microsoft with coverage that tend to favor Microsoft and whenever Sony is deigned to be mentioned, it is usually backhanded a best and downright negative at worst–so much so, that I’ve stopped reading them and I no longer consider them a credible/unbiased resource (at least for video game coverage). There are several other major organizations who should be looking at with a more jaundiced eye at this deal, but only a few are: Digital Trends for example. Why, I wonder, is Digital Trends doing the work that Forbes should have done? Even The Motley Fool seems to be more interested in the money/company strategies than Forbes is with this story and about Microsoft in general. Now, Forbes isn’t the only guilty party in terms of cheerleading rather than actually presenting news about Microsoft in an unbiased way–there are quite a few publications and outlets who have been gulled by Microsoft’s money, influence, and power, the same company, by the way, who only a few short years ago ticked them all off with their disastrous and abortive Xbox One strategy. Now, however, a few years of Gamepass (which is STILL $14.99 a month = $179.88 a year, I might add, which is over $350 for 2 years, closing in on the price a console or a budget TV, by the way), a couple of high profile acquisitions, and all these outlets are ready to bow down at the alter of Microsoft.

In Closing

“Major” PC Operating System(s): Windows

Game Engines: Unity, Unreal, CryEngine 3, IDTech, Luminous, Frostbite, etc.

TV Manufacturers: Sony, LG, Hisense, TCL, Samsung, Vizio, Panasonic, etc.

Phone Manufacturers: Samsung, Apple, Xiaomi, Huawei, etc.

“Major” PC Operating System(s): Windows

Again, the criteria here isn’t that there aren’t other operating systems, but rather, are there viable alternatives that you can go to a store and buy? Can you get an OS on PC that you purchase in general circumstances, Walmart, Bestbuy, etc. that you can generally walk in and buy. Both Chrome OS/MacOs requires purchase of a particular type of hardware and, in general, Linux requires you to put it on your system after purchase or during a “build.” In reality, there’s only 1 operating system for PCs and as the definition above states: 1 = a monopoly.

While I have no illusions that Microsoft will ever be broken up (we Americans no longer have the stomach for such things now that “business people” have inculcated themselves in the American political landscape), but at least there are still people in America who aren’t Microsoft cheerleaders and are willing to at least “question” the legality of Microsoft’s moves, even if it will (most likely) come to nothing: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/19/microsoft-has-avoided-hot-seat-years-its-new-mega-deal-may-change-that/.

Microsoft’s recent moves are nothing short of using its lack of competition to its advantage. Now, business is business, but I have to question this fact: if competition makes it better for the consumer, why is no one questioning the lack of competition that Microsoft has in its PC Operating System and why is no one questioning how the money/revenue/profit is being used. I’m going to end this post with the words of Jesse Lennox from Digital Trends:

“Games have already been feeling less risky and exciting with development taking more time and money than ever before. Bringing more studios under a single roof is only going to exacerbate this stagnation. I pray this is the last acquisition we see Microsoft make, but can’t realistically think it will be. Until it risks an actual monopoly, it’s going to keep pushing. It probably won’t be in the next couple of years, but the repercussions of this deal are coming — and I don’t think we’re going to like them.”

Jesse Lennox (https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/microsoft-activison-blizzard-monopoly/?utm_campaign=169212_Editorial_Decrypted_01192022&utm_medium=email&utm_source=dotdigital&dm_i=6MG2,3MKC,1335D0,H540,1)

Amazing what insights a real journalist can come up with when that person is actually not cheerleading for a particular “side.”

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora WolfRead Childe Roland for Free at Electric SpecPurchase  HawkeMoon  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or eBookPurchase  Dragonhawk  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  WarLight  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  Ship of Shadows  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  Faerie Knight  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindleCurrently Working On (January 2022):The Runner (Fantasy Story–4000 words)
2022 Revision; Out to Market.Unhallowed (Weird Western Story–6600 words)
2022 Revision: Completed; Out to Market.The Independent (Science Fiction Story–4800 words)
2021 Revision:  ACCEPTED   FOR PUBLICATION

State of Writing 2021 — Yearly Summary

Source: https://www.ayudainc.org/craft-research-paper/computer-history.asp

I got the idea for this blog post from a couple of different places. Two YouTube channels that I watch do “State of” videos to showcase their own interests: one writing, the other gaming. PlayStation also does a “State of Play” to showcase upcoming games, so I thought I’d use this forum to talk about the year that has passed in terms of my writing, especially since I had a 3 month long break from the blog. This won’t be in-depth, but will give a “snapshot” of the year that has just passed.

Stats

I sent out 3 stories last year: Unhallowed, The Independent, and The Runner. According to Duotrope, I sent out the stories a total of 12 times total for the year. Of the those 12 submissions, I had 1 Acceptance and 11 Rejections. However, this stat is a little misleading, as I will explain shortly. I didn’t jot it down, but I think the percentage of Acceptances to Rejections was (guesstimating) 7.21% or something similar (this is from memory–yes, I could do math and figure it out–my Mac’s calculator says 8.3% approximately, but it is obviously under 10%). Yet, even under a 1 in 10 chance, my average was STILL higher than the “average” of people submitting on Duotrope. This is why writing is so discouraging–in American Baseball, you’re a good “player” if you hit in the “250s” (2.5%), a great player if you hit in the 200s (280s-290s), and an exceptional player if you hit significantly over 300 (325-330s). That’s 3 hits out of every 10 swings. Now, compare that with writing where you’re getting 1 in 12 (less than 1 time for every 10 submissions) and that’s considered good. That’s why writing (& particularly publishing) is so demoralizing and why so many have left that traditional model for self-publishing. Okay, editorializing over.

Now let’s look at the individual stories:

Unhallowed

So, this is my Weird West fantasy story featuring an African American female bounty-hunter, Arizona. This story went out 7 times in 2021. While I did send it to 1 major market in 2021, for the most part, the rest were middle range markets. It was rejected all 7 times, but 1 market, Mythaxis, liked it and sent me a personal rejection letter. Basically, they felt it was too long for publication in their magazine. As a writer, I felt that, had the story been shorter, I would have had an excellent chance of getting it accepted for their publication. While they didn’t offer the option to revise and submit, I went through and I eliminated 2 of the 3 sections with backstory elements for the story (I felt I needed the first backstory section to explain the world/worldbuilding of the story as that’s where it all happens). I cut it down from 6, 600 words to 4, 400 words, and it is currently out to its next market with this trimmed down version of the story. If it gets accepted and published somewhere, my goal is to utilize the “origin” story to create a Graphic Novel/Comic Book adaptation of the story (for my longer, original vision).

The Independent

This one is a complicated one. This is my “Space Truckers” story. It only had 2 submissions for 2021. It was accepted by Mythic, a market I’d been trying to sell to for quite a while (at least since I started writing again “professionally” when I started blogging). I heard that I was accepted shortly before I started my new job as a Visiting Scholar in Residence. I was ecstatic! I signed the contract and focused on the job.

However, time went by and hadn’t heard anything. Then, a few days before Christmas, I got an email from the editor informing me that he was closing Mythic. The last issue was to be #17 and my story had been slated for #18. I was, of course, gutted, but also prosaic about it. The last thing I’d want is for someone to bankrupt themselves trying to fulfill a dream when it is obvious that the dream is “drowning them.” Something I learned during my time as a PhD student is: “if you’re in a hole, stop digging.” I wished the editor well and got on with my holidays, resolving to find a new market and send it out after the Christmas/New Year’s Holiday.

After the holidays had passed, I printed out a copy of the story, to do my new routing of an “Annual Revision Pass”over the story, when I got another email from the editor. He wanted to continue the publication (just in a smaller format), but wanted to know if I still wanted to publish the story in the magazine. Of course I did, so I agreed, and that’s where we are right now.

Last I saw, he was running subscriber drive/Patreon drive for the magazine. I don’t normally do this, but how about throwing him a few “bones” (slang for dollars) if you have any extra money. I’ll probably end up donating at least a part my own “fee” back to him for at least a 1 year subscription. Anyway, here’s a link to his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/mythicsffmagazine/

The Runner

This is a new fantasy story that I finished this year. It is a story about a fictional human civilization on an island with creatures that the humans consider deities. This story was submitted to the LeVar Reads contest in August of 2021. I felt like the story had a good chance as it met all the requirements of the contest page and was really fun to write. Also, it didn’t have (or need) a complicated backstory to fill in the world, so I could just concentrate on the characters and the plot. This one was a MAJOR “almost” as I came very close with this one. There could only be 3 winners (a first place and two runners-up). Out of the 708 submissions to the contest, I made it to the FINAL round of 12. LeVar read those 12 stories (mine and 11 others) and made the final decision. I, unfortunately, wasn’t one of the eventual winners, but as the “rejection letter” proudly noted, my story made it the Top 2% of stories for this particular competition. Essentially, I was able to make it to the Olympics, but I wasn’t able to bring home a medal (to continue the sports metaphor from earlier). Still, my only goal for this competition was to have my story read by LeVar Burton and I accomplished this goal, so while I’m disappointed of course that I didn’t “win,” my story was good enough to do what I hoped it would: have a celebrity like LeVar at least read some of my work!

So that’s it. A fairly in-depth recap of my year in writing. I’m working on a new story now. Hopefully, I will be able to add it to the State of Writing 2022 summary next year!

Have a great one!

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora WolfRead Childe Roland for Free at Electric SpecPurchase  HawkeMoon  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or eBookPurchase  Dragonhawk  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  WarLight  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  Ship of Shadows  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  Faerie Knight  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindleCurrently Working On (October 2021):The Runner (Fantasy Story–4100 words)
2022 Revision: Completed; Out to Market.Unhallowed (Weird Western Story–4400 words)
2022 Revision: Completed; Out to Market.The Independent (Science Fiction Story–4800 words)
2021 Revision:  ACCEPTED   FOR PUBLICATION

When I’m Overwhelmed, I Triage

Image Source: https://imashleymi.com/tag/triage/

So, I promised a blog post detailing why I’ve not been posting for the last 3 months or so, and the answer is both simple and complicated at the same time. However, I’ve learned some things about myself and my response to stress that may be helpful going forward, so while not blogging wasn’t a planned or ideal situation, it was, at the very least, a learning experience where reflection as allowed me to see what I do when I’m stressed.

New Job

I started a new job last August. It is a 1 year appointment, but I wanted to do really well in the job. However, the job wasn’t in Chattanooga or Murfreesboro, but was in another state which meant a four hour commute (2 hours each way). The first class I taught was at 8:45am. Now, luckily, it was Central time and I live in Eastern time zone, so I had an hour’s difference that I could “play” with, but it still meant getting up fairly early (around 5 or so, so that I could be on the road by 7am at the latest (so that I could get there about 8am their time) to give myself enough time to get prepped before class.

Dissertation

On my “off days,” I would work on my dissertation. I was able to completely finish the Introduction and Chapter 1 of my dissertation last semester, even while teaching 2 classes and commuting for 4 hours 3 days a week. I had a weekly Writing Center (MTSU) appointment and I made sure that I had something ready for each weekly meeting. So, whenever I wasn’t teaching, grading, or doing lesson plans, I was writing my dissertation.

Triage

As you can tell, with me doing all of this every day, left very little time for me. I found that, fairly predictably, other things that I would normally have done, just fell to the wayside. Essentially, when I’m stressed or overworked, I unintentionally practice triage. I only focus on those things that must be done and I slowly shed everything else until I feel that the situation is once again manageable. This would explain my long “absences” when I write creatively (not just the blog, but other writing as well). Writing is something that I need to do, but when the work-life balance gets thrown out of wack, I start taking away both leisure activities and writing activities in an attempt to keep from “sinking.” I don’t know if there’s a way around this, but at least I now know that this is something that I do.

So, I hope this serves as a rationale as to why I sometimes don’t write/work on the blog (as I personally found it helpful as to why I sometimes step away from creative writing). My mind simply can’t cope with too much happening in my life and makes “adjustments” to keep me going until the workload balances out and I can get back to being “me” again.

Sidney

Happy New Year 2022

Source: https://parade.com/1291304/kelseypelzer/new-year-wishes/

Hello Everyone!

This is just a quick message to wish everyone a happy and safe 2022! I am still here and I will be returning to blogging. I will work on shorter blogs over these next two weeks before school resumes on Jan. 12th. After that, I will work on shorter, less intensive blogs (hopefully) and will put them out 2-3 times a week. I’ll probably not be able to do the full 5 – 6 day a week schedule that I used to do for a while–probably not until summer, at the earliest, but I did want to let you all know that I’m still here and writing (somewhat) and that I do intend to be more active on the blog. My next post will explain my absence in a little more detail, but suffice to say, I hope that all the readers of the blog, both new and old, will have a very wonderful 2022!

Sidney

Acceptance! “The Independent” is Accepted for Publication!

Image Source: https://www.contentcreatorz.com/short-story-writing-guide-three-steps-to-short-story-writing-success/

Hi Everyone!

This is just a short blog post to let everyone know (well, reiterate what the title already says) that my short story, The Independent, has been accepted for publication by a market! To say that I’m ecstatic would be an understatement! So, which market is it? Well, I’ll let everyone know once I’ve signed the contract and it gets closer to release. I’m so very excited by the chance to publish in this market, however, as it is one that I’ve been submitting to with my stories since I discovered them through Duotrope.

“Space Trucker” Story

Older readers here will remember that I’ve been working on this story for a while now. The genesis of it came about during my regular commutes from Chattanooga to Murfreesboro as I was beginning my PhD program at MTSU. I won’t go into too much detail as I’ve already written on it extensively and I’ve also devoted another full blog post on the genesis of the story. The short version is that there is a “truck rest area” on the drive up to MTSU, and I imagined what happened if there was a sci-fi version of that rest area in space. Along the way, the actual story has changed (quite dramatically) from the original idea, but the core idea and characters still remain.

So, What Happens Next?

So, the next step in the process is the contracts. The editor will send a contract, and I’ll sign it and send it back. I’ll also need to send a short bio as well. Usually, the editor will then compile the issue with the other stories, poems, features, and art. When it comes together, the editor will then send out “proofs/galleys” where the author has a chance to make corrections/changes (minor) to the story. Once that’s done, then I’ll probably be at a stage where I’ll be able to share more details about the market and I’ll have a better sense of when the issue will be coming out and I’ll publicize it here.

Happy Dance!

So, with that, I’ll close out for today! While I’ve done some grading, I’ve still got some more grading to do tonight, so I’ll go ahead and stop here. I’ll close with a gif of one of my favorite “happy dances” from The Peanuts. Enjoy and have a great day!

Image Source: https://giphy.com/gifs/thegifys-gifys-5xaOcLGvzHxDKjufnLWSidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora WolfRead Childe Roland for Free at Electric SpecPurchase  HawkeMoon  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or eBookPurchase  Dragonhawk  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  WarLight  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  Ship of Shadows  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  Faerie Knight  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindleCurrently Working On (October 2021):The Runner (Fantasy Story–4000 words)
Completed: 2021; Out to Market.Unhallowed (Weird Western Story–6600 words)
2021 Revision: Completed; Out to Market.The Independent (Science Fiction Story–4800 words)
2021 Revision:  ACCEPTED FOR PUBLICATION Starlight, Starbright (Science Fiction Story–3500 words)
2021 Revision: Completed.Project Wall (Science Fiction Story)
In Progress–First Draft: 925 words (10/9)

Movie Review: Mortal Engines

Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_Engines_(film)

Sorry that I’ve been away from the blog for a while. I have a new job that I’ll hopefully talk about soon. However, between the commute (which is sizable) and the developing of the courses, along with teaching, and I’ve unfortunately not had a lot of time for much of anything. However, I’m trying to get back into a more normal swing of things and part of this was watching a movie that I bought on sale. The movie Mortal Engines and it is one of several movies that I’ve wanted to see for a while. I thought I’d get back into blogging with a simple review of the movie

Mortal Engines Movie Trailer on YouTubeNot That Bad, Actually . . .

So, I’ve had the chance to see it once or twice before (thanks to a sale), but I didn’t pull the trigger to the low Rotten Tomatoes scores. However, I feel that people have been overly harsh on the movie as I don’t think it is as bad as the RT scores indicate. I think this is a feature of the “crash” of Young Adult (YA) movies that occurred after the success of Twilight and Hunger Games. I really don’t feel like this movie is all that bad.

The Good

I like the characterization of most of the main characters. While I would have liked more, I thought the motivations and the actions were consistent with the world. I also liked the plot (less so) and the special effects (more so). While the plot was a bit derivative in terms of YA movies/stories, the setting and the special effects were highly imaginative and I felt like the world was at least a plausible one and a fairly exciting one to inhabit.

The Bad

In this case, the bad was the fact that there were too many characters. Characters that were introduced early didn’t always stick around through the entire movie (or were characters just there to move the plot forward like the guy who only existed to see the hero’s “weapon/artifact” stash so as to give the information to the villain). Tied to this fact was the introduction of major characters–the robot and the freedom fighter, for instance–well into the 2nd act of the movie. Those characters should have been established earlier and yes, I remember that the freedom fighter had a “wanted” poster early in the movie, but after that, the character is not referenced again until the heroes need a “savior.”

The Ugly

[Spoiler Warning: skip this paragraph if you want to go into the movie blind]

For me, what kept this just average is the fact that there are simply too many YA tropes that are happening in the story. From the “romance” subplot, to the contrivances needed to save the heroes, there are just too many things that I’ve seen before in a YA story. For instance, when the freedom fighter mentioned that she wanted her ashes spread on the wind, I knew that she was going to die. There was no subtly to the line, to the foreshadowing, or to the execution. It really followed right along with what the audience expected, and the entire movie felt like that for me.

I feel like I’ve seen this movie in Seventh Son, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, and the Percy Jackson movies. There are also other movies like Clash of the Titans (2010), Jack and the Giant Slayer, and The Last Witch Hunter, which aren’t YA movies, that seem to have the same type of structure. There are others, but for the interests of time, I’m going to stop with these examples. I think that the book might have had something to do with this, but I’m not sure as I’ve not yet read the YA series on which it is based. Still, I think that if the writers (who worked on the excellent Tolkien movies) had maybe have focused on one theme and followed it all the way through the movie: “love conquers all,” “the power of friendship,” “gender doesn’t define one’s capabilities,” or even “ultimate power corrupts,” among all the various threads in the movie, I feel that the movie could have been a much stronger one, maybe even a genre defining one like The Hunger Games or Harry Potter.

Overall Rating: B-

Rating: 4 out of 5.

This one should probably get a C, but I personally liked it and thought that it did just enough to rise above the mediocrity that many reviews positioned it to be. Yes, it was a little generic, but its heart was in the right place and the special effects were good, so I give it a slight “bump” in my rating. Still, I would have liked a little more distinctiveness and originality to the movie for it to have moved beyond other movies in the same type and for it to have really become one of my favorites. This one is a good movie that is held back because it is just too similar to many others that have come before, in my opinion.

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora WolfRead Childe Roland for Free at Electric SpecPurchase  HawkeMoon  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or eBookPurchase  Dragonhawk  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  WarLight  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  Ship of Shadows  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  Faerie Knight  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindleCurrently Working On (October 2021):The Runner (Fantasy Story–4000 words)
Completed: 2021; Out to Market.Unhallowed (Weird Western Story–6600 words)
2021 Revision: Completed; Out to Market.The Independent (Science Fiction Story–4800 words)
2021 Revision: Completed; Out to Market.Starlight, Starbright (Science Fiction Story–3500 words)
2021 Revision: Completed.Project Wall (Science Fiction Story)
In Progress–First Draft: 544 words (10/3)

Author’s Note: The Runner

Image Source: https://ultrarunninghistory.com/tarahumara/

It’s been a while since I was able to update everyone on my writing journey. However, I am happy to announce that I finished another story this year! The story is titled, The Runner, and it was formerly known as “Project Runner.” I’ve added it to my list of projects finished at the bottom of my “Signature” line. It is currently under consideration to a market. While I will talk a little more about the inspiration, drafting, and deadline for this piece, I just want to say that I’m fairly proud of myself for meeting the deadline for this work under some fairly trying circumstances. Even if it doesn’t manage to do all that I hope that it can accomplish–i.e., the compromises that I had to make due to time– I still think that I like the piece and how it ultimately turned out.

Inspiration

This piece has a number of inspirations and no one inspiration was more important than another. They all sorta’ blended together to help me come up with the story. There are too many to mention here, but I did want to talk about a couple of the more interesting ones.

The first one is the idea of a “Spear-Bearer.” I’ve always been interested in the “bo staff” and I was intrigued with the way Brandon Sanderson essentially takes a master of the bo staff and turned Kaladin into a spear-bearer in his Way of Kings novel. I, too, wanted to have a hero who was a master of the staff and created a female character (islander) who was good at the staff. However, being an islander, she would most definitely use a spear and not a staff due to the fishing community that her people would have started as in their history on the island, so I made my hero a spear-bearer as well.

Another one is the idea of a “Runner.” I knew that this hero would run the length of the island. I was already creating a running character when I happened across the development of a video game that described a Mexican culture (Tarahumara) that actually has “runners” as their warriors. The video game, Mulaka, had a developer’s diary video on the Playstation channel that helped me figure out that my “runners” weren’t warriors, per se, but more like “police/ambassadors.” They kept the peace between the human tribes and the fractious non-human “gods and demons.”

Finally, the major inspiration for this story was a tourism video on Vimeo about the island of Bali. Bali is actually known as the “island of gods and demons” and as a history minor (and some one who knows quite a bit about the world’s mythologies, I’d not heard that and was super curious to find out more. After I read about Bali a little more (I’d known of it, but not in a major way–my parents were meticulous on social studies as were my elementary school’s textbooks–while I can’t tell you exactly where every country is, I can generally point out on a map the general location of most countries in the world). I remember thinking that about the phrase “gods and demons” and taking it into my “Dungeons and Dragons” experiences and wondered what if these “gods and demons” were actually just fantasy races that were thought to be “gods and demons” because of their influence on the island. This really kicked the formation of the story into high gear and it was my need for a way to have the humans come to understand that these other races weren’t really “gods and demons” that drove me to create my hero and the story itself. I don’t have access to the original video, but here is a representative video from YouTube that shows the beauty and majesty of the island.

Drafting the Story

So, this was one of the stories that I worked on over the summer with my new way of working/writing. I took the summer to do all of the “Pre-writing” for this story. I worked on my story outlines, I worked on my character sketches, I worked on writing down a “rough draft” in my notebook (hand-written). I then transferred that hand-written rough draft to my computer. And I wrote a “possible” first paragraph for the story.

I set it aside and then I did the same for several other stories this summer. I then saw a “submission call” in which a TV personality was teaming up with a magazine to do a competition for stories that dealt with several subjects, with “gods” being one of those subjects. I decided that this would be a perfect time to go ahead and complete this project and try for this particular competition.

The deadline was fairly tight (August 31), but I was helped by the shortness of the piece. I’d wanted to make it more elaborate, but I didn’t have the time, so I stuck with three sections, a beginning section that worked as exposition and inciting incident, a second section that worked as raising the stakes, and a third section that worked as climax and resolution. I didn’t really have problems drafting the story, except that I found that I needed to add a section “3.5” in order to get to the resolution and anti-climax. I’d envisioned a much grander (cinematic) fight scene, but I just didn’t have the time. Instead of “war” between the three factions (gods, demons, and humans), I had to settle for a fairly terse personal challenge between three representatives of the factions. Still, I think that it worked out well.

Deadline

The deadline for the story was submission no later than 11:59pm on August 31st. I’d written approximately 800 words or so before I saw the listing–most of the first section. I devoted several days throughout the middle of August working on section 2. It was here that I realized that I was going to have to scale down the story I had in my mind and eliminate a couple of the longer scenes (running from village to village) in order to meet the deadline.

I promised a draft to one of the Writing Center consultants who wanted to read the story and who offered to give me feedback. Since the 31st was on a Tuesday, I worked most of the weekend on Section 3 and finished it and sent it to her so that she could give me feedback. I integrated the feedback on Tuesday afternoon and sent it off. I probably won’t hear anything back until late Sept. (if I didn’t make the 1st round), or mid-October, if I did make it to the 2nd round (2nd round are the “winners”–3 stories, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place).

Overall

Overall, I have to say that even if the story isn’t chosen, I’m happy with it. It may get a 2022 “revision” (I plan to read over all my stories that haven’t sold and revise as necessary), but mostly I’m happy that I was able to write and finish the story in a reasonable amount of time (about two months, give or take a week or two) and get it off in time to meet the deadline. I’m working on “Project Wall” now, but that is going much slower because I’m devoting more writing time to the dissertation and teaching my classes. I’ve not yet figured out how to “re-intergrate” creative writing with dissertation writing. It seems to be either one or the other (The Runner was written during the time when my director was looking over my Introduction and while I was doing the edits for the intro). My mind seems to only want to focus on one project or the other, so maybe when I finish Chapter 1 of my dissertation, I can move to “Project Wall” and make progress on it as I did with The Runner.

Anyway, there’s a look at my process for this story! I hope that it might be helpful to other writers out there! Have a great day!

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora WolfRead Childe Roland for Free at Electric SpecPurchase  HawkeMoon  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or eBookPurchase  Dragonhawk  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  WarLight  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  Ship of Shadows  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  Faerie Knight  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindleCurrently Working On (September 2021):The Runner (Fantasy Story–4000 words)
Completed: 2021; Out to Market.Unhallowed (Weird Western Story–6600 words)
2021 Revision: Completed; Out to Market.The Independent (Science Fiction Story–4800 words)
2021 Revision: Completed; Out to Market.Starlight, Starbright (Science Fiction Story–3500 words)
2021 Revision: Completed.To Dance the Sea of Storms (Fantasy Story)
Prewrite: Completed, Plan & Outline: Completed, Write a first draft: Completed, Revision: In Progress

Movie Review: Godzilla vs. Kong

Image Source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5034838/

Over the Labor Day Holiday Weekend, my family and I watched a movie: Godzilla vs. Kong. We’ve seen all the other Godzilla movies and this is the only one left on the list. While we wanted to watch Black Widow, it was still on “Premiere Access” (along with Premiere Access prices on the Apple Store), so we decided to save it until Thanksgiving. While I thought it was pretty good, I don’t think that it was the best movie in the series. I think that the idea of pitting these two monsters against one another got the executives excited, and I’m not sure they thought about it except for the awesome fight scenes that could be shown on the screen. The script really was a tale of “two scripts”–one fairly good one and one really bad one.

The Good

I feel that this is a pretty good movie–it’s just that it could be much better. I liked the “A” plot story with the young girl, her guardian and Kong and the way they use the girl character to communicate with Kong. I thought that was a pretty good story and felt that’s probably what the movie should have been–getting Kong to see that fighting didn’t have to be the only way of existing. Conflict can be expressed in many different ways and based on Kong Skull Island we see that Kong is the “alpha” of his island–but why not express “alpha” traits differently than fighting?

Also, the visual effects were also good, although I didn’t think they were as amazing as the were in Godzilla King of Monsters. I still liked them, however, and the “hovercar” sequence was still pretty amazing. It ultimately wasn’t as relevant to the plot as the sequences were for GKoM, but they were still fairly inventive.

I also liked some of the humor–and I do say some. I don’t think I’m becoming an “old fogey,” but some of the humor seemed appropriate and some seemed like humor just for humor’s sake (this is a movie and we need people to laugh so what jokes can we add in). I guess I didn’t see the humor as organic in this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odM92ap8_c0The Bad

There’s quite a bit–again, not to beat a dead horse, but some of the humor didn’t work for me. I found that I was rolling my eyes at some of the jokes/setups in the movie.

Also, the “B” and “C” plot lines (Godzilla as “bad guy”) and father-daughter “tension” brought back from GKoM didn’t really work for me. First off, having watched all the Godzilla movies (some old ones and all the newer ones), I know that Godzilla’s not a “bad guy” monster and, as such, one or two throwaway lines trying to address how Godzilla has “gone rogue” and is now a threat to humanity doesn’t really address/rationalize Godzilla’s new “evil” status. Screenplays always want to seem to throwaway entire movies worth of characterization with a few lines of dialogue and/or a couple of weak set-ups because they want to throwaway the old and try something new, and then writers/producers/directors seem to get upset when audiences don’t support their movies. In my mind, GKoM did the “little things” right where this movie, Kong vs Godzilla doesn’t.

Another thing that irked me was the unnecessary integration of songs into the storyline. I’ve seen two movies now, this one (GvK) and Army of the Dead that had songs peppered throughout the narrative that didn’t need them to be there. These movies aren’t Guardians of the Galaxy and they don’t need the songs to tell their stories–these just seem like songs that the director liked and put them in without any regards to the story, characters, or situation. Music is subjective, but for me, there were one or two songs that actually worked against the narrative and pulled me out of the story, whereas in a movie like, Transformers, the music choice when Bumblebee has to escape from the police interceptor is perfect because it heightens the emotion and tension of the scene. I’ll be glad when this particular fad has run its course.

Music choice starts at 2:21 in videoThe Ugly

Finally, GvK commits two sins: 1) it has its protagonists mixed up. The movie is even entitled Godzilla versus Kong, but Kong is clearly the protagonist of the movie. We’ve seen one Kong movie from the studio and several Godzilla movies–you would have thought that Godzilla would be the protagonist, but that’s not the case. While I don’t mind it, it would have been nice to have presented a “balance” of the two perspectives. An increased focus on Godzilla–something is driving him crazy (along with Kong) and both sets of “humans” (each who like their respective monster) have to figure out what is going on and how to prevent the “alphas” from destroying each other. That would have made a far more compelling plot in the movie than what is actually presented.

2) The second sin that it makes is that the first 30-45 mins is a lot of that “character building” that modern movies seem to do now (again, Army of Darkness also falls into this category), where they try to establish character and make you identify with the characters before getting into the action/story proper. While this is a way of doing things, it’s not the only way–a Raiders of the Lost Ark where you have both Godzilla and Kong tearing things up and acting wildly out of character might have been a stronger start to the movie and then (again) you could introduce each of the groups of human characters as they try to figure out what’s wrong with their respective monster.

Overall Rating: B-

Rating: 4 out of 5.

This one had so much potential, but the script and some of the choices really let it down in my opinion. There were so many ways in which this one could have been a stand-out movie, but because of the script and the choices that were made for this movie, I felt that, while good, it was definitely a step down from Godzilla King of the Monsters, which is currently my “high water mark” for the series of movies (and surprisingly, Kong Skull Island) would be second on that list, so this really should have been topnotch for me.

I can’t give half stars on here, so since a B = 4 stars that’s what it gets, but it really is only 3.5 star movie as the special effects and some of the plot and characterization push it out of the average category and into the (just barely) good category.

I really think that the producers should have thought more about the set-up and what the humans were going to be doing in the movie and not just about the awesome fights that they could have with characters like Godzilla and Kong. Those fights, while epic, are only the cherries on top of a cake that is, unfortunately, fairly bland and a little soggy overall.

Sidney

Please consider supporting these fine small press publishers where my work has appeared:

Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora WolfRead Childe Roland for Free at Electric SpecPurchase  HawkeMoon  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or eBookPurchase  Dragonhawk  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  WarLight  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  Ship of Shadows  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindlePurchase  Faerie Knight  on Amazon.com (Paperback) or KindleCurrently Working On (September 2021):The Runner (Fantasy Story–4000 words)
Completed: 2021; Out to Market.
Unhallowed (Weird Western Story–6600 words)
2021 Revision: Completed; Out to Market.
The Independent (Science Fiction Story–4800 words)
2021 Revision: Completed; Out to Market.
Starlight, Starbright (Science Fiction Story–3500 words)
2021 Revision: Completed.
To Dance the Sea of Storms (Fantasy Story)
Prewrite: Completed, Plan & Outline: Completed, Write a first draft: Completed, Revision: In Progress