Category Archives: Observations

About me, Observations

Church and State

A couple of years ago, I published a book. It was terrifying, especially in a niche genre as an independent. But then I was told I needed to take even more risks and talk about myself in public. I couldn’t just let my work speak for itself because that just isn’t how you sell books today.

For a while, I blogged about myself and my opinions on the world. But it always felt a little unrelated to what I was trying to sell. After all, since I wrote fiction, it felt difficult to talk about the real world and the fictional world in the same breath.

Over time I’ve realized you can’t separate the book from the author. My view, my experiences, and my opinions will always shape the world that I’ve created. I can limit and control that, but I can’t erase it.

So maybe it’s time I started talking about myself again. Continue reading Church and State →

Observations, Publishing, Writing

The Real Reason Shia LaBeouf Needs To Go Away

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As many of you have found out in recent weeks and months, Shia LaBeouf is a prolific plagiarizer. It’s not just that he has stolen whole works, but, in fact, even takes quotes as his own in the midst of interviews. Even his attempts to tweet apologies for his plagiarism are stolen material. In fact, as far as I’m aware, the only thing Shia LaBeouf has ever done that is 100% original to himself is say his name.

And while I’m willing to forgive that… he has to go. Continue reading The Real Reason Shia LaBeouf Needs To Go Away →

Observations, Publishing, Writing

A Word To Indies: Violence And Cultural Responsibilities

There’s a lot of pros and cons to being an Indie. On the plus side, you can determine your own fate and you can be at the helm for every major decision. On the other hand, you don’t have the benefit of the advice given to the traditionally published authors as they go through the process of entering the market. You don’t have an editor, a publisher, a publicist and an agent to tell you what’s the “right” and “wrong” of your work as you go out into the world. And for some people that can be terrifying, especially as we enter a time when independent works are so easily adapted into more mainstream formats. It is possible, today, that an independent author could have their work adapted into a film or something to that effect. And because of that, it’s hard to look at certain debates and not be concerned about what your role is in it all.

Continue reading A Word To Indies: Violence And Cultural Responsibilities →

Observations, Sci-Fi, Writing

Science Fiction as Metaphor

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A while ago I came across an article about science fiction that caught my attention. The article was a decent argument that I felt had at least some validity, so of course I shared “Our Science Fiction Movies Hate Science Fiction” on Twitter and mentioned I didn’t agree with everything in it. Sadly, 140 characters isn’t nearly enough to start talking about the failings of a fairly long article. So like any opinionated guy on the internet I decided to blog about it to those of you silly enough to give me the page views.

It all started with Elysium.

Continue reading Science Fiction as Metaphor →

Observations

A moment of common sense…

Hi there, sorry that I’ve been missing for so long. In fact, writing this, I see I’ve been gone long enough that blogger’s changed their layout, funny. It’s not that I’ve run out of things to say – I’ve just been in self-imposed exile to work on another novel and focus on relaunching my first novel in a more organized fashion. Essentially, I’m hiding to lick my wounds. But, I had to come out and say something because two things that I’m really passionate about came together in a bad fashion and I just couldn’t stay silent anymore: Gun Violence and Batman.

I’m not trying to make light of that by saying it that way, it seriously does bother me that Batman of all things became the scene of a crazed shooter. It’s not because of the fact I’m a fan of Batman – it’s because I’m a fan of kids. On that night in that theater, regardless of the rating of the movie or the fact it was midnight, there were going to be kids there because it was Batman. And you know what? There were.

Continue reading A moment of common sense… →

About me, Observations, Writing

Dangers of the Digital Age

As anyone reading this blog more than once could probably figure out, I’m a big supporter of digital formats being a way to bring the written word to the world quickly, cheaply and efficiently. There’s a lot of strengths to the format and I’ve talked about them frequently. But, while every format has its strengths, it also has its weaknesses. One of the weaknesses, I’m afraid, is that there’s no physical copy… who knew?

Continue reading Dangers of the Digital Age →

About me, Observations, Writing

Inherent BS: Reader-Writer Contract?

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This may come as a shock to you, but I’m not just a writer, I’m a gamer. Go figure, right? But the thing about it is that recently the two worlds have been merging more and more as games with real plots have started to become the standard bearers for the rest of the industry. Writing for games has actually, in some studios, become respectable. And at the forefront of a lot of this was a game series called Mass Effect.

And then they fucked it up.

I’m not saying that as a judgment of the quality of their last game but rather as a judgment of their position in the eyes of their fans. You see, if you’re unaware, there was a bit of a controversy not long ago about the release of the final game in the trilogy, Mass Effect 3. The ending for this game was apparently so counter to what the fans expected that there was what could be called a… nuclear meltdown. The fans of the series, at least a large portion of them, have said they felt betrayed by the results of Mass Effect 3’s last 10 to 20 minutes of game time. How betrayed? Well one person actually reported them to the Federal Trade Commission for, apparently, fraud.

Even the characters are confused

Continue reading Inherent BS: Reader-Writer Contract? →

Observations, Writing

Inherent BS: Writing Tips – No New Ideas?

The Hunger Games film has come out and it is currently doing spectacularly. In it’s opening weekend it managed to beat the first film in the Twilight Saga and several of my more feminist minded friends have cheered the fact that the current fad among teen girls happens to be centered on what can easily be defined as a strong willed, self sufficient and capable female lead that isn’t constantly helpless or tripping over herself.

katniss-everdeen-photo

This is progress people.

Continue reading Inherent BS: Writing Tips – No New Ideas? →

Observations, Writing

Inherent BS: Writing Tips – Don’t Make Up Words?

There’s a piece of common wisdom that has been around the writing community forever, especially in the sci-fi and fantasy groups. It is so old and so frequently echoed that I can’t even remember who first said it because every time you hear it someone presents it as something they came up with themselves. It changes from person to person, but the basic concept is always the same:

“Don’t create new words”

That’s it – clean, clear and simple. So, of course, that’s what you should strive to do, right? You should make every effort to avoid making up a new word if you can because the act of creating new words is the mark of an amateur that will live in obscurity for the rest of time. You know, like Shakespeare.

Continue reading Inherent BS: Writing Tips – Don’t Make Up Words? →

Observations, Sci-Fi

4 Reasons It’s a Good Thing George Lucas Retired

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If you’re a sci-fi geek like me, you’ve probably heard this already, but for those who haven’t heard it: George Lucas retired. For those of you who feel good about this announcement, you’re probably saying to yourself “he used to be awesome but lately he’s been ruining his movies.” For those of you who feel bad about that announcement, you’re thinking about the fact you’ll never see another Star Wars or Indiana Jones movie again. But I look at these two groups and I think that there’s a flaw: George Lucas’ ideas were always more impressive than his actual work.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Star Wars and Indiana Jones, I never stopped loving them and actually think that the prequel trilogy and Crystal Skull are entertaining in their own rights. But when I think about George’s work and the perception that the quality has decreased I start to think about what exactly has changed for people besides the nostalgia factor. When I watched the original Star Wars trilogy as a kid I thought they were fun but I didn’t see them as perfect and the same went for Indiana Jones. Yet there are fans dedicated to the point that they devote a great deal of time out of their lives to that fandom.

Obviously, for a fandom this dedicated to be so off-put by the recent projects from this man, something had to have changed. But when I took a closer look, something I love to do, I realized there were some key changes between George Lucas of the 80s and George Lucas of the last decade. In the end, I came to a conclusion that would have some people up in arms.

Often, the worst thing to happen to George Lucas movies… was George Lucas.

Continue reading 4 Reasons It’s a Good Thing George Lucas Retired →