I’m going to go out a limb and post my initial reaction to a short film from San Diego’s Comic Con, which I will link you to right here. Holy. Shit. I haven’t said a lot about Marvel’s character of Frank Castle, a.k.a. the Punisher, since way back in 2010 when I wrote about our… Continue reading Punishing Dirty Laundry
Spectacles with Smarts
There was a time when I could buy the argument of a fictional work being fun for its own sake. Specatcle that aims to be nothing but spectacle has its place, usually in the skies above parking lots as fireworks explode in the darkness. But in the arenas of storytelling, be it printed or in… Continue reading Spectacles with Smarts
Flash Fiction: The Android and the Wondering Chamber
I must say this one owes as much to The Protomen as it does to Chuck Wendig. The noticed android walks past a wondering chamber. It’s unclear when wondering chambers came into being. Their use has become so pervasive that record maintenance had fallen by the wayside some time ago. Low energy usage coupled with… Continue reading Flash Fiction: The Android and the Wondering Chamber
Writer Report: Have A Plan
So while I continue to come to grips with the pulp science fiction yarn I want to spin, I may have started on a sequel to Cold Iron. On the one hand, it may be a bit presumptuous to already be writing a second story in a series when the first hasn’t been printed yet;… Continue reading Writer Report: Have A Plan
That Darn Cat
Meet Spark. Spark is a cat I adopted a few years ago when I moved out of my parents’ house. Living on my own proved to be a bit lonely, and I knew a friend who had been made aware of a cat coming from a broken home. The poor guy had been between a… Continue reading That Darn Cat
Shifting Tone
I was bantering with some friends recently about True Blood, and how this season feels different from the previous one. There is a lot more emphasis on vampire political and para-military shenanigans, and less on messy or convoluted love triangles. It’s a shift in tone that, personally, I am 100% behind, and it makes me… Continue reading Shifting Tone
Constructive Communication
Given the debacles of the last week or so, and the ways I’ve seen back-and-forth going on several issues, it is past time for me to voice a gripe I have with certain behaviors people exhibit here in the wilds of the Internet. I will avoid naming names, but since without context I may as… Continue reading Constructive Communication
Flash Fiction: The Red Hood
For Chuck’s flash fiction challenge, Fairy Tale Upgrade. Grandmother’s house was deep in the forest on the edge of a lake. At her top speed, it took the Red Hood less than a minute to fly there from the city. She did a circuit around the lake, peering into the trees. She didn’t have any… Continue reading Flash Fiction: The Red Hood
Writer Report: Traction
Starting a brand new story is proving more difficult than I thought. I’ve tried to start Captain Pendragon and the Planet of Doom twice, now, and I’m struggling, likely because there’s a part of me that knows this sort of thing has been done before. I’m trying to shake off the negativity and nay-saying, and… Continue reading Writer Report: Traction
Execution by Plot
If you want a surefire way to kill your story and slay any interest a potential reader will have in it, let the plot drive. Looking back on some of the books I’ve read in my formative years, a host of franchised novels many of which I’m likely to donate to a library when I… Continue reading Execution by Plot
