Bringing focus back

I've realized my blog has started wandering, but a sharp crack of the mental whip brought things back on course.
As I suspect with most writers, good ideas keep popping up before we're finished with the old ideas, causing the happy dilemma of many concurrent projects. I'm capturing mine here, sharing my schizophrenic ADD with an unsuspecting world. And to mark the occasion, I've updated the look of the website a little too. Look around and enjoy!

Mary Leakey's 100th Birthday

Mary Leakey (6 February 1913 – 9 December 1996) was a British archaeologist and anthropologist, who discovered the first fossilized Proconsul skull, an extinct ape now believed to be ancestral to humans, and also discovered the robust Zinjanthropus skull at Olduvai Gorge. For much of her career she worked together with her husband, Louis Leakey, in Olduvai Gorge, uncovering the tools and fossils of ancient hominines. She developed a system for classifying the stone tools found at Olduvai. She also discovered the Laetoli footprints.

She had no formal education in archaeology or paleontology, but Leakey’s eye and passion guided her to many significant finds. (thenewstribe.com)

Over her lifetime Mary Douglas Nicol Leakey has been the recipient of numerous awards. Her Honorary degrees include: D. of Science, University of Witwatersrand(68), D. of Science Michigan University(80), D. of Social Science Yale (76), D. of Litt Oxford(81).

Photo of reproduction of her Paranthropus boisei skull (supposedly 2 to 3 million years old):

Photo of modern gorilla skull:

What Happened today in History!

December 17, 1903: First Airplane flies

Near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright make the first successful flight in history of a self-propelled, heavier-than-air aircraft. Orville piloted the gasoline-powered, propeller-driven biplane, which stayed aloft for 12 seconds and covered 120 feet on its inaugural flight.

After exhaustively researching other engineers' efforts to build a heavier-than-air, controlled aircraft, the Wright brothers wrote the U.S. Weather Bureau inquiring about a suitable place to conduct glider tests. They settled on Kitty Hawk, an isolated village on North Carolina's Outer Banks, which offered steady winds and sand dunes from which to glide and land softly. Their first glider, tested in 1900, performed poorly, but a new design, tested in 1901, was more successful. Later that year, they built a wind tunnel where they tested nearly 200 wings and airframes of different shapes and designs. The brothers' systematic experimentations paid off--they flew hundreds of successful flights in their 1902 glider at Kill Devils Hills near Kitty Hawk. Their biplane glider featured a steering system, based on a movable rudder, that solved the problem of controlled flight. They were now ready for powered flight.
In Dayton, they designed a 12-horsepower internal combustion engine with the assistance of machinist Charles Taylor and built a new aircraft to house it. They transported their aircraft in pieces to Kitty Hawk in the autumn of 1903, assembled it, made a few further tests, and on December 14 Orville made the first attempt at powered flight. The engine stalled during take-off and the plane was damaged, and they spent three days repairing it. Then at 10:35 a.m. on December 17, in front of five witnesses, the aircraft ran down a monorail track and into the air, staying aloft for 12 seconds and flying 120 feet. The modern aviation age was born. Three more tests were made that day, with Wilbur and Orville alternately flying the airplane. Wilbur flew the last flight, covering 852 feet in 59 seconds.

A Post for Halloween

Normally Halloween isn't really a holiday I celebrate (though the candy is good, and the scary movies), but I just discovered the (fantastic) artist Bernie Wrightson today, and his artwork fits with the day so I thought I would share it with everyone. Enjoy!

If you enjoy his art, google-search Bernie Wrightson images for a lot more!

After a slight delay...

Chapter 3 is up - not on schedule, but I was working on changes, and the story is so much better for it! It's all up on the Advent Chronicles page (and fyi - work has been resumed on Book 2 in the series, after a bit of a break, like all summer).
Have a great rest of the week! I'll post Chapter 4 next Monday - October 1st (yes, you read that right - October is fast approaching!)

The Next Chapter posted!

As promised, I've added Chapter 2 to the Advent Chronicles page. It's entitled Signs of Passage, and thickens the plot with a complication that blindsides everyone! Head over there and enjoy, and let me know what you think...

Doing the Bad Guys some Justice

It's interesting how we find things we need in places we don't expect...As a writer, I'm always working towards improving my skill and my stories. I'm also a fan of the game Space 1889. I follow the game creator's blog, and was pleased when he posted on how to write villians better. Stories need a good great antagonist to drive the motivation and plot forward. I love it when my hobbies and my writing intersect! So if you're a writer, I have a link to his very helpful post here.

On Villians

Steampunk Batman

With the new Batman film riding a theatrical high, now's a good time to highlight artwork by artists that have imagined the Dark Knight if he lived in the 1800's...(and some Batgirl as well - equal time, after all)
Make your way to The Steampunk Hallway!

Overhaul complete!

Welcome! I'm a writer, but have taken a couple days off of writing to re-do my website. My novel (soon to be self-published) has undergone so many changes that this site needed to reflect that as well. The novel, long entitled "Mortar & Pestle", is now the first in a series that will encompass a much larger scope. It's called "The Advent World Chronicles", with Book 1 entitled "The Nightmare Plague". Click on the link above to begin exploring! My plan is to start including a new chapter every week until it's published. If any artists out there want to maybe design the book cover, let me know! (Or if you're a comic book artist and want to collaborate on my other project "Tempesttt", contact me)

Advent: defn: The coming or arrival, especially of something extremely important.

My Last Negative Rant, I Promise (at least for the foreseeable future)

I know I was rough on the Spider-man movie. Sorry. I'll try to be more upbeat...after this.

The Hobbit will be out this December, and Peter Jackson with New Line Cinema have just announced that it will now be a 3-parter.
Hoo-boy.
I should be excited, but I'm scratching my head.
The Lord of the Rings trilogy were the very definition of epic, and The Hobbit was meant to be a nice, fun prequel to "warm-up" to the world of Middle-Earth (I don't know if that was ever Tolkien's intention, but that's how it feels in retrospect). Of all Tolkien's works, The Hobbit is my favorite, just for that reason; a wonderfully succinct story that succeeded in creating an entire world in less than 300 pages. Not many High Fantasy novels can claim that distinction. Then why must it be dragged out into 3 complete films?
I grumbled a little when they told us it would be 2 parts, but now it will cost me between $25 and $30 to see this book brought to the screen.
And I'm not going for it.
Yep, instead of now feeling like they needed 2 movies to do the book justice and be true to the subject matter (which was okay), it now feels like they want to pump the paying public for every dollar they can. They crossed the line from honoring a great literary writer and his work to pure commercialism.
Don't misunderstand me - I hope it's great, I hope it's true to the book. But now I will wait for the DVD release so I can watch the whole thing at once. My family will probably disown me.

Review - the Amazing Spider-man

Turning wristwatches into web-shooters so you can know exactly what time you snagged the bad guys

There have been numerous movies that have been remade within a year or two of the original, but they have always been foreign films re-imaged for their domestic audience. With Spiderman, we have something new; the retelling of a story for the same audience a mere ten years after the original (Sam Raimi’s Spiderman was released in 2002). You’re bound to have comparisons.
(Actually, one remake movie beats this timeframe, but you have to go back to 1940 when Waterloo Bridge came out 9 years after its previous incarnation in 1931. So there you go.)

It must be a sign of how fast our times are changing, but the new Peter Parker is edgier and more angsty than Toby Maguire’s Spiderman, driven by a sense of ill-executed vengeance. I also had a harder time swallowing Andrew Garfield as the geeky science nerd that Maguire nailed to near-perfection. Maybe it was all the skateboard shredding in a hoodie, I dunno. I felt like the poor writers were forced to sit down and come up with a different way to tell the same story, and that’s exactly how it felt - forced. How Peter Parker decides on a costume, the crime he sidesteps which results in the death of his uncle, the moment in time when he realizes he must use his abilities to help people - they’re all there, just tweaked a little - and lacking heart.

And apparently everyone but Aunt May has worked for OsCorp somewhere in the past; Peter Parker’s father, a smarter-than-Peter-Parker Gwen Stacy (um, what?), the Lizard and ultimately Peter himself (selflessly without a paycheck, too, I noticed. Nice to know this new Peter doesn’t have the financial worries the old one did). I know you’ve got to pull the cast together somehow, but this was the easy way out. And where was Norman Osborn? At home with the sniffos. Note to the writers: if you’re going to give the future Green Goblin an incurable deadly disease, take a few minutes and explain it, please.

Although, here's a universe I want to live in: a weak, unpopular kid stands up for a fellow victimized schoolmate, gets beat up for it, and for that one act earns the undying love of a stunning beauty. Sign me up.

Oh, and a quick word about webbing (small rant here) - one strand of this new stuff can pull a Boeing 747, but the Lizard can tear through ten of them at one time. Move over Hulk, there’s a new green guy in town. Now that I mention it, the display of super-strength throughout the film seemed wildly inconsistent and a vehicle for worn-out laughs (yes, flimsy bathroom, I’m talking about you).

People complained a little that The Avengers took a while to wind up and get started. Prepare yourself for what feels like about twice as long at the crank. We’re tided over by some sleuthing as Peter tries to track down the disappearance of his father, but about halfway through the story this thread vanishes faster than the webbing around Gwen Stacy’s waist, never to return. I take it back - it does pop up in the little bonus sequence during the credits that we’ve now come to expect in all superhero movies, but this super-short tidbit does nothing to build on the mystery or even cause us to care about it anymore. Oh, well. Thank goodness they didn’t make us sit through the entire credits to see it. I can’t shake the feeling that a Disney executive board was behind all this. Why else are we seeing something so similar so soon? Marvel has a rich universe to draw from - Disney, broaden your gaze and share the wealth.

Or perhaps something a little scary...

Delve into a mystery~~

Books Are Doorways!

Go ahead and open one...

Watch Out! Oh, never mind...

Being that I love Calvin and Hobbes, and am a Spiderman fan, I found this artwork by Timothy Lim and just had to share it! I found it on a site called Comicsalliance, which assembles top comic artwork every week.

Calvin vs. Venom - hmmm, I wonder who would actually win...

And Now for Something Completely Different...

For you writers out there - if you’re working on a project and get stuck, or hit a brick wall, try this; jump to a different project - either something new or one you haven’t touched in a while. This may help in three areas.

One - many writers have said to continually write, almost every day if possible, to keep the gears oiled. If you find you can’t write one story, write another, and this way you’re still writing something.

Two - giving your brain a break from a story may help solve the problem. It’s believed that even while we’re not actively working on a problem, some part of our brain is still chewing away on it, and when we come back to it, the answer is sometimes just waiting to pop to the surface. This has worked for me on more than a few occasions.

Three - You may find that the “interim project” you pick up actually has much merit and may end up being your next great novel. Who knows? At the moment I have three different story ideas currently in the works. This way, if I “dry up” on one, I have two others that inspiration may strike for.

Now, all this is to lead up to one of my “interim projects”. While I’m trying to fix issues with “The Nightmare Plague”, my daughter told me that an acting troupe she has performed with wanted to bring some gothic horror to the stage. My mind immediately jumped to the scariest stuff I’ve ever read; the works of HP Lovecraft. Now, most of his stories could never be depicted on a stage (if you’ve ever read his stuff, you’ll know what I’m talking about, or just look at the picture),

so I took this as a challenge. Could I turn one of his stories into a stage play? As I perused his stories, one stood out as a possibility. I dove into it, and as a result, ended up having a great time adapting it. There were inherent problems, the result of the difference between the framework of a book and the limitations of a stage, but solving them was a fun mental exercise. And I think I succeeded. Writing it took about 6 months, and the script is right now in the hands of one of the lead actors. Hopefully the play will see the “light of day” on the stage (or more fittingly, perhaps I should say the play will see the “gloom of night” on stage!). Anyways, the play is based on Lovecraft’s “The Thing on the Doorstep”, and since other acting companies may want to perform it, I am posting a portion of Act I in a link on the right side. If a group is interested in performing it, contact me and I’ll provide the script. It’s a full-length 2-act play, a labor of love, and I humbly think it’s one of the best stage adaptations of an HP Lovecraft story. Enjoy!

Updated page!

The World of Mortar & Pestle link to the right now has new information (Thrannynn has revealed his sources so people won't think he's crazy (er)), and I've added a synopsis of what my novel is about. Let me know what you think!

Crossover Pt. II

You’re sitting there in your recliner, remote in hand, and the game is blacked out. Frustrated, you could throw your can of beer at the dog, but it’s still half full. That’d be alcohol abuse. “Ma, is there anything on the tube tonight?” you ask to the delicate, house-coated flower slouched on the sofa.

“Nope,” she drawls back at you, scratching at a roller in her hair.

A wistful look crosses your face. “You know what I could be in the mood for?”

“Nope.”

“A movie. An Action, Comedy, Martial Arts, Paranormal, Fantasy Romance movie. And maybe has trucks in it. And beer. Oh, and gorgeous women, too.”

You get a dirty look from your sofa sweet-potato. Then a snort. “Ain’t no movie like that, Klem. Not in all of God’s green goodness.”

But she’d be wrong. There is such a movie, Klem. An underrated gem from the mind of John Carpenter, called…

BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA

This movie clearly had to be the next choice for recognition, because it actually contains pistons and potions! I love this film, cheesy lines and all. And the opening scene sets the stage marvelously.

A Chinese tour bus driver, Egg Shen, gets hauled in for questioning regarding some bizarre events in Chinatown. With an skeptical look on his face, the lawyer asks, “Do you really expect me to believe in Sorcery?”, to which Egg replies, “of course…”

This is the audience’s cue to hold on for one of the most twisted rides of their lives, at breakneck eighteen-wheeler speed. There are more genres crammed into this movie than you can shake a pair of chopsticks at. When truck driver Jack Burton (played by Kurt Russell) rolls into Chinatown in his rig, he is unprepared for the series of events that will entangle him in a web of gang wars, kidnappings, ancient specters, demon curses, underground slave rings and alchemy.

While most of this is commonplace to the denizens of Chinatown, its great fun watching a bumbling truck driver try to make sense of it all, and not lose his brash bravado in the process. Jack Burton meets the forces of darkness, natural and supernatural alike, with heroic lines like: “It’s all in the reflexes!” and “I was born ready!” Cheesy – yes, but all delivered tongue-in-cheek and with a knowing wink. This movie is too fun not to watch.

To give you an idea of what you’re in for, one of my favorite scenes in the movie has the heroes looking, dumbfounded, at a mystical creature of legend through which the evil Lo Pan is talking. Jack quickly wearies of the menacing monologing, and proceeds to plug the monster in the head with a bullet. To everyone’s surprise, it actually has the result of driving the beast away, screaming in pain. Jack’s reply to their amazed looks? “Hey, you never know until you try!” 

Good words, not only to take with you into this film, but to live life with as well. Go shake the pillars of heaven!

The Crossover Conundrum

I love mixing genres. Why merely read a mystery, when you can read a paranormal/fantasy/mystery? Why watch an action movie, when you can revel in a comedy/horror/action movie? Not only do I get more bang for my buck, but the blending of genres often produces a synergy that creates more than the sum of its parts. A more complete world. After all, don’t we find humor and disgust, benevolence and violence, banality and mystery all around us, all the time? So I find myself searching it out in media as well, and I present the start of a new blog thread, where I will highlight some of those gems that are sometimes overlooked, oft scorned, but such fun to those willing to look in a different direction.

Because I am mixing genres – obviously Fantasy and Steampunk – in my novel, I first turn my eyes to other entries in that same arena. So today’s entry is…

HELLBOY

There is Steampunk and Fantasy all through this film (technically, it’s more dieselpunk than steampunk, but that’s a discussion for another time), based on the gorgeous comics by Mike Mignola. A perfect example appears in the first ten minutes of the film. Pictured here is the electric-and-vacuumtubed glove that is donned by Rasputin to open a portal to the prison-dimension of the Ogdru Jahad.

And then there's Kroenen, clockwork assassin who is forever tinkering with himself. The final battle of the movie takes place in a vast underground complex riddled with gear and pendulum traps.

But in contrast, we have Hellboy himself, a creature of fantasy, who is equally at home with charms and talismans as he is with a steroidal sidearm.

The second movie, HELLBOY II THE GOLDEN ARMY, has even more of the mix, as Big Red squares off against an ancient race from the time of fantasy who commands a mechanical army. My verdict: underrated fun! More to come...

It’s a Bi-Polar World After All…

My apologies to those of you who have subjected yourselves (or been forced to be subjected by an insistent child) to the Small World ride at Disneyworld – because you probably have a certain tune now pierced into your head like a talon (and it never leaves! For days!) Force yourself to think of something else. Here, I’ll help: Why is Jarick and Janthine’s world so messed up? I thought who better to explain it than an actual denizen of that world – the master Alchemist Thrannynn! You can read his notes under the "World of Mortar & Pestle" link to the right and gain a rare, behind-the-scenes look at what awaits within the novel. Enjoy!

God may have done it in six days - mine's taking a little longer...

Done what in six days? What am I blathering about? World-building, of course. It may have started on earth, but when you write Fantasy, strange things happen along the way. Sometimes I feel like I'm in control of creation, but other times the world takes on a life of its own and we just have to try and hang on for dear life...Such is the case with my current project - Mortar & Pestle and the Nightmare Plague, a middle grade novel in which a brother and sister, Jarick and Janthine Grimes, must confront deadly forces on a bi-polar world. Split-personality earth? Well, their world has a north and south pole, so I guess bi-polar is accurate...but no! I have given it a split personality (poor thing), and no fun for the people living on it! To find out what's going on there, I will have a link put up soon for you to check out, and I will post more about the book's publishing as new updates come in. Thanks!