Category Archives: Books/Literature

Books/Literature, Comic Books/Graphic Novels, Movies

Wanna get depressed?

Then by all means read this article from the normally very humorous Cracked.com, 3 Artists Who Got Screwed For Creating Iconic Characters:

http://www.cracked.com/blog/3-famous-characters-whose-creators-got-epically-screwed/

Though familiar with most of the creators described, I wasn’t aware of the Dwayne “The Rock” Hercules film being based on the writings of Steve Moore, though it doesn’t at all surprise me that like the other creators listed, he got nothing for his creative work when his work was translated into a film.

One thing that remains a certainty regarding all this: It’s all about the money.

When I first started getting into comic books in the very early 1970’s and over the years afterwards, one of the joys of reading books was the introduction of new, interesting (and sometimes not so interesting) characters.  They could be heroes or villains, civilians or aliens or something in between.  These new characters appeared in established books, often as co-stars or potential new rivals.  Sometimes the companies publishing the works felt strongly enough about the new character(s) that they merited their own book.

While many of those creations didn’t “click” with audiences either right away or at all, there were those that rose to starring roles.  Some, like Rocket Raccoon in the motion picture Guardians of the Galaxy, were essentially forgotten for decades before becoming popular.

Things changed in the mid to late 1980’s and into the 1990’s.  At that time comic book sales were very strong (though not as strong as in the Golden Age of the 1940’s) and some artists and writers made huge amounts of money from their works.  But at about that same time fans and creators alike realized many of the creators from the past, perhaps most notably Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster (the creators of Superman) and Jack Kirby (the creator/co-creator of almost everything Marvel), were shafted.  Despite companies making buckets of cash off their creations, these creators wound up receiving next to nothing.

At about that time, and with that realization, I noticed that “new” characters didn’t appear in comic books with the frequency they had before.  Sure, books kept being released, but the stories were more recycled and hardly ever featured new and interesting characters.  Because of the success of the Independent market, some big and not so big name authors and artists chose to release original stories featuring new creations that way, ensuring they retained control over their creative works.

Nonetheless, both Marvel and DC comics has benefited from, quite literally, over a half-century of creative works that were remained under their control.  And, in the case of the already mentioned Rocket Raccoon, this was a boon to Disney/Marvel…while Bill Mantlo, the creator of the character, was entitled to nothing.

But there is an interesting flip side to this particular coin.  If the studios can get away with using creations by (to the general public) unknown creators, they will also not hesitate in using the name of a “well known” creator to promote a work…if it helps create more exposure and money.

Witness the SyFy Network TV show Haven.  While not on the level with, say The Prisoner (one of my all time favorite TV shows), Haven is to me a very entertaining show featuring a scenic town and the oddball things that happen within it.  The leads are charismatic, the stories interesting, and I catch it whenever new episodes air.

Oh, and by the way, the show is “based on” The Colorado Kid, a novel by Stephen King.  What has the TV show to do with the novel?

Just about nothing.

In fact, other than a couple of characters work in the small town’s newspaper and something happened a few years before, there isn’t all that much resemblance between King’s novel and the TV show, yet it would be crazy for the producers of the show not to mention now and again the fact that the show is “based on” the King novel.

In the end, its all about money, right?

Books/Literature

Tipping point…

Driving home this morning under the threat of heavy rains -they arrived halfway to my destination- had me, for whatever reason, thinking about books I’ve read and authors I’ve enjoyed.

For someone who fancies himself an author, its funny to realize that I don’t tend to “follow” any authors out there, at least not slavishly.  I read what interests me and don’t what doesn’t.  Yet there was a time, up to even quite recently, that there were authors whose works I followed.

The first such author, really a ghost author, was “Franklin W. Dixon”, the pseudonym for the many writers of The Hardy Boys series of books.

These were the first actual “novels” I ever read as up to that time my primary source of reading entertainment was comic books, particularly those written by either Len Wein or Denny O’Neil.

After a few years of devouring every Hardy Boys novel I could get my hand on -and essentially reading the entire line!-, I turned to Nancy Drew and even The Bobbsey Twins books.

It was very shortly after I did so I grew tired of the sameness of the type of story presented in these three series.  I had reached a tipping point and no longer cared to follow what was until that point something so beloved.  (A few years back and if I were talking about TV series, we might have called it the “jump the shark” moment).

Part of what got me off the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew carousel was Vixen O3 by Clive Cussler.

I loved, loved, loved that book when I first read it.  So much so that I searched for and quickly read almost all the other books then available and written by Clive Cussler: Raise The Titanic!, The Mediterranean Caper, and Iceberg.  (I never found a copy of Pacific Vortex and therefore didn’t read it)  I found these books just as intriguing, though not quite as good, as Vixen 03.  I continued following Mr. Cussler’s output, but with diminishing interest.  Night Probe was only “ok” to my mind.  Same with Deep Six and Cyclops.  There was a fundamental “sameness” in the plots of these books, a feeling that Mr. Cussler was re-telling the almost exact same story but with a few minor differences.

And then came Treasure.

Ye Gods…

If I suspected a sameness in terms of plot in Mr. Cussler’s books, Treasure confirmed it.  Mr. Cussler’s novels, I realized, started in some distant (or not so distant) past, where a airplane/ship/train/whathaveyou is on what will turn out to be its final journey.  The doomed vessel’s cargo is something incredibly valuable…and dangerous.  The vessel sinks (usually) and is lost for a number of years.  We then fast forward to the very near future where intrepid Dirk Pitt and his crew uncover the lost item(s) in the lost vessel while battling bad guys intent on getting said cargo for their own nefarious reasons.

After Treasure, all interest in the works of Clive Cussler was gone.  Many, many years have passed since then and I know he’s written (and co-written) a number of books since that time so maybe he’s created some different types of stories.  If he has, I wouldn’t know as I’ve not given any of his books another look.

More recently, I found myself entranced with the works of author Michael Connelly.  His first several novels focused on L.A. detective and Vietnam veteran Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch.  The stories were fascinating in that there was an interesting continuity built in each new book.  We met recurring characters, lovers, and friends all the while our protagonist aged in real time.

Soon other major characters appeared and were featured in their own books.  I was particularly floored with the character of Terry McCaleb, featured in the novel (and Clint Eastwood movie) Blood Work, as well as Harry Bosch’s half brother Mick Haller, featured in several novels including The Lincoln Lawyer.

I was having a grand time reading each and every one of Mr. Connelly’s books until I reached his 2009 novel 9 Dragons.  After producing so many good to great novels, a bad one was to be expected, but 9 Dragons proved to be such a bad novel, in my mind, that it quite literally turned me off of Connelly and I haven’t read a book of his since.

I suppose if there’s a point to all the above it’s obvious: We can tire from things we once enjoyed, sometimes quite abruptly.

I suppose that thought came into my mind because as an author, I’m always trying my best to make sure my next work is as unique and interesting as I can make it.  I try not to stick to story “patterns” yet constantly worry that this could indeed happen.

It’s a balancing act and, despite losing interest in the works of the two people I mention above, I have no doubt they go through similar worries when they write their books.  Despite the romance associated with it, writing is not easy.

Books/Literature

H. P. Lovecraft and racism…

A fascinating article by the always readable Laura Miller for Salon.com explores the fact that there are those uncomfortable with author H. P. Lovecraft’s racism, and whether that should impact one’s feelings regarding his well regarded works of horror:

http://www.salon.com/2014/09/11/its-ok-to-admit-that-h-p-lovecraft-was-racist/

Ms. Miller has broached a topic that has intrigued me for many, many years: How do you -or even should you- separate the artist from the art they’ve created?

When one explores more deeply the writings/letters of Mr. Lovecraft, one quickly realizes the author did have some strong racist ideals.  One can attribute at least some of them to the times in which he lived in (Mr. Lovecraft died in 1937), but there are those who note that even for that era, his hateful views were very strong.

So again the question arises: Can you separate the artist from the art?

I happen to love, for the most part, H. P. Lovecraft’s stories.  I believe he was a giant in the field of horror, second only to Edgar Allen Poe (high praise indeed!).  Yet I can acknowledge that Mr. Lovecraft was a man whose world views are very contrary to mine.  It is entirely possible that if he were alive today and I should meet him, I may well find him hard to take.  For that matter, given some of the things I’ve read about Edgar Allan Poe, I might well feel the same about him, too!

Moving along, I love the music of The Doors, yet much of what I’ve read about lead singer Jim Morrison makes me cringe.  He was a man of many vices and, again, I suspect that if I could somehow meet him I might not have all that much to talk to him about, other than to praise his work.

More recently, Hollywood has turned on actor Mel Gibson because of his “extracurricular” activities.  Like most others, I found these episodes cringe-worthy, though it has been a few years since he’s made it into the news in any negative way.  Does his highly questionable behavior make it impossible for me to continue loving The Road Warrior, the movie that made Mr. Gibson a superstar and one of my all time favorite action films?  Not really.

But for others, the real life of the artist has an impact on how and whether they like the art, and I can totally understand that.

Returning to H. P. Lovecraft, I suspect its easier to accept/ignore his racism while still enjoying his literary work because, let’s face it, the man has been dead for nearly eighty years.

But looking at what has happened to Mel Gibson, I can’t help but wonder: What if there was a huge literary figure out there today, one admired for their work and who has sold many copies of their books, and it is discovered s/he is a racist who has views similar to those of H. P. Lovecraft?

Would accepting his/her racism while still enjoying their works still be an option?

Books/Literature

7 Things You Probably Didn’t Know about Edgar Allan Poe…

…at least according to Paul S. Collins for Huffington Post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-s-collins/edgar-allan-poe-facts_b_5698360.html

Edgar Allan Poe is one of my favorite all time authors.  He had an ability to create works of horror that crept under your skin like no other.  Though I’m not the biggest fan of poetry, his poems really get to me.

So naturally, any list regarding Mr. Poe is something I’ll gravitate to.  What I found most intriguing about the list is the fact that many of the items in some way or another relate to the fact that this was a person who was in financial difficulties and had to find creative (!!!) ways to lose his creditors.

As good an author as Mr. Poe is/was, he fell into that unfortunate group of authors whose works weren’t really appreciated until after they passed on.  Sadly, he like H. P. Lovecraft or Joseph Conrad or Robert E. Howard never really enjoyed the fruits of their labors.  Certainly not in the way they should have.

Books/Literature, Movies

Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guides ending…

The 2015 edition of the book will be the final one:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-leonard-maltin-is-ending-his-movie-guides/

I used to really love Leonard Maltin’s movie guide.  So much so that there were several years in a row that I would buy each new edition and hungrily look through it to see what was new and what were the opinions of recent movie releases.

I used to also love seeing the lists presented in the back of the book of directors and actors (an incomplete list, granted, with a focus on bigger names in the industry) and seeing the works they were involved in, particularly earlier in their career.

Of course, this was all before the internet came and, like so many other things, rendered the Movie Guide pointless.

For lists of actors, writers, directors, etc. etc., one has to go to IMDB.com, click on the “search” function, and type in the person you’re looking for.  In a second you’ll have a pretty complete list of all the works said actor/writer/producer/etc/etc. was involved in with links to said movies/tv shows/etc.

The reviews in the Leonard Maltin Guide were sharp, to the point (they tended to be a few sentences long each), and in the case of really bad films, often quite hilarious.  However, what you had was only one review, a review by one “individual”.  Not to sound too snarky, but I couldn’t help but wonder how many of the reviews were actually penned entirely by Mr. Maltin versus those that came from his staff of writers.  Still, I could ignore this and had fun reading these concise opinions.

Now, you have rotttentomatoes.com with its list of critics (and links to their reviews) along with a statistical analysis of the overall critical opinion and the overall audience opinion.

The bottom line is that, for me, two websites rendered the Leonard Maltin Movie Guide obsolete.

The last Leonard Maltin Movie Guide I bought was the 2009 edition.

Until I saw the above article, and much to my surprise considering how much I liked the Guide, I hadn’t given it much thought.

The moral?  If there is such a thing for this, I suppose its the validity of the old adage regarding the “better mousetrap”.  The internet, in this case, left poor Leonard Maltin and his Movie Guide in the dust.  Perhaps he should have invested in this technology and made a website that would have combined the IMDB.com and rottentomatoes.com concepts.

Too late now.

And time marches on.

Books/Literature

GHOST OF THE ARGUS

A few days ago (you can read it here) I made my last update regarding the fifth book in the Corrosive Knights series.

I’m proud to say that over the weekend I finished work on it, doing a few more revisions to a couple of sections but felt, as of Sunday, that the book was about as good as it was going to get.  So here, the announcement I’ve been dying to make for a very, very long time:

Ghost of the Argus, the fifth book in the Corrosive Knights series, is available via Amazon!  (Click on the picture to get to the Amazon website and order it!)

Ghost of the ArgusNow, some background information.

The Corrosive Knights series, at this moment in time, consists of five books which, taken together, form one “large” story that concludes –with a couple of cliffhangers!–in Ghost of the Argus.  Please note, just because Ghost of the Argus concludes the first major Corrosive Knights story, it does not mean the series itself is over.  In fact, I already have the skeleton framework for the next Corrosive Knights novel written out.  That novel begins almost immediately after the conclusion of Ghost of the Argus and, if all works out, should be one hell of a ride.  I also have the actual, final Corrosive Knights book in my hard drive in a very rough form!

So with Ghost of the Argus we reach the conclusion to my original larger Corrosive Knights story line, the one that came to me all those years before when I started working on Chameleon (book #3 in the series).  For those who have read the previous four Corrosive Knights books, it should come as no surprise when I say that Mechanic, The Last Flight of the Argus, and Chameleon, the first three books in the series, can be read in any order.  None of them requires you to read the previous book to understand just what the heck is going on.

When I wrote Mechanic and The Last Flight of the Argus, I set the works in the same “universe” but during far different epochs.  Mechanic takes place in a dystopian Earth some three hundred or so years into our future while The Last Flight of the Argus was set in a much, much farther space opera future.

Corrosive MACN Covers

Though these original two books were linked by that shared universe and certain terminologies, it was only when I began writing Chameleon, which takes place roughly in our “present” time, that I realized there was a larger story to be made incorporating all three of these books into it.  So, for those keeping track, it wasn’t until I reached book three in this series that I realized I was actually writing a series!

When Chameleon was done, I got to work on Nox, a novel that is a direct sequel to Mechanic but whose story is also intricately tied into the events of Chameleon.  This, the fourth book in the Corrosive Knights series, was the first one that began putting the larger story pieces together.

As I was writing Nox, I was also working out elements of what became Ghost of the Argus.  I had a general idea of where I wanted to go, but as with all stories the devil is in the details.  Because this novel was a conclusion to the first “big” Corrosive Knights story line, in my mind it had to be bigger and better than all the books that preceded it while delivering on the promise of concluding this first major story line in a rousing manner.  With that goal set and after finishing Nox, I went to work.

Did I accomplish what I wanted?

I sure hope so.

I’ve given Ghost of the Argus more attention and spent more hours working on it than I have any of my previous novels.  It usually takes me about a year to write a novel and approximately six or seven drafts before I’m satisfied all is well.  For Ghost of the Argus, its taken two years to get her done.  I’ve gone through thirteen full drafts and at least ten or more “partial” drafts.  I’ve started, I’ve stopped, I’ve changed directions and deleted dead ends or misfires, I’ve streamlined, I’ve expanded.  In the end, I have twelve pounds of paper to show for it.

Ghost of Argus DraftsIn sum, Ghost of the Argus just about killed me!

And you know what?  I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Sure, I would love for the novel to have come together all at once and with minimal effort.  But that just isn’t the way these things work.  Contrary to what is often shown on TV or in the movies, writing is not some leisurely activity one does after an eventful day traipsing around the countryside and finding the love of your life or after solving mysteries while accompanied by your very hot partner, one that you are secretly in love with.

No, writing is hard work that requires many, many hours of intense -solitary!- concentration.  At times it can be agony.

But the pleasure you feel when the work is “done” and you hold your novel in your two hands…that’s pure bliss.

I couldn’t be happier with the Corrosive Knights series.  I feel that I’ve accomplished what I’ve wanted to and delivered a group of books that should satisfy anyone looking for good, suspenseful, action packed sci-fi.

And more than anything else, I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed getting it done!

Now, off to book #6!

Books/Literature

Corrosive Knights 7/31/14 update

1 Comment

This will be short n’ sweet:

It’s been ten days since my last update (you can read it here) for the fifth book of the Corrosive Knights series.

Blur

The very good news is that I’m done with the full drafts of the novel.  Approximately 80% of the book required very minor edits and I think those parts are now good to go.

The not so good news is that there remains about 20% of the book, approximately 40 pages spread out through three or four sections, that I’d like to go over at least once more, to make sure they’re just as good as the rest.

I will be done reading the material today.  I should be done editing it by tomorrow or Saturday.

The book will be available via Kindle and barring any other problems by sometime next week.

Keep those fingers crossed! 😉

Books/Literature

Corrosive Knights 7/21/14 update

1 Comment

In my last Corrosive Knights update of 7/10/14, I stated the following:

Having finished draft 11c (of the fifth book in the Corrosive Knights series) just a few minutes ago, I am very, very optimistic about the novel now being just about done.  So much so that I intend to print the whole thing out later today and give it one more complete read through.  If all looks good, draft 12 will be the novel’s last draft.

Estimated time to get it done?  Another week to a week and a half.

Keep your fingers crossed.  You know I will!

Ok, first the bad news: Draft #12 is not the final draft, though as I predicted it took me a little less than a week and a half to finish it up (a blazing speed, considering that when the novel was in its early and very rough stages it would take me a couple of months to do a draft).

The good news?  Draft #13 (lucky number!) will be the final draft.  No ifs, ands, or buts about it.  When I went over Draft 12, I found exactly three things that needed to be fixed post-draft, and they all involved roughly one-two pages each of fixing.  The first involved explaining a certain technology.  The second involved cutting down on one of the characters explaining something that had previously been shown (repetition is my mortal enemy!).  The third involved changing some dialogue as it “fit” another character saying it much better than the one I had saying the lines.

So Saturday the 19th I finished the draft and went back and fixed those three items.  Out of an abundance of caution, I made the decision that I should print the whole thing out and give it one more read-through, just to be absolutely sure everything was good.

Last night, Sunday, while sleeping, the realization of how close I was to finishing this book finally hit me.  I woke up some time between 2-4 in the morning (I didn’t check my clock) and felt…giddy.

Happy.

Ecstatic!

Trust me, it was very hard to get back to sleep and I’m feeling a bit of a lag as I type this out.  Still, those good feelings remain.  For me writing is an at times very difficult process which requires a great deal of effort to get the work completed in a way that satisfies/pleases me.  This book, the fifth in the Corrosive Knights series, has probably taken the most effort out of me of all my previous books.  And it rightfully should have.  This book is, after all, the culmination of the first Corrosive Knights story and ties everything, and I do mean everything, together.

If you were wondering how Mechanic, The Last Flight of the Argus, and Chameleon, three novels that can be read as “stand alone” actually fit together, after reading this new book, you will wonder no more (I already had two of the books come together with Nox, the fourth book of the Corrosive Knights series).

So, if all goes well, I will be finish this new novel by later next week.  Then I’ll prepare it for release and it could well be available for everyone else to read by this time two weeks from now.

Meanwhile, here’s the cover of the book.  I’ve blurred the book’s actual title because I still want to keep it my little secret.  Nonetheless, if you look hard enough, you may just “get” it:

Blur

Books/Literature

Isaac Asimov’s ridiculous limericks…

Fun, though brief, article by Maddie Crum for The Huffington Post regarding one of the lesser known literary interests of proficient sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov.  Specifically, the fact that he penned several books on *ahem* dirty limericks:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/17/asimov-limericks_n_5523627.html

As big a fan as I am of Mr. Asimov’s classic sci-fi works (in particular the original Foundation series), when you write as much as he did in his lifetime, I suppose you’re going to find the oddball works here and there.  According to this article, Mr. Asimov wrote or “presented” at least 9 dirty limerick books!

 

As to how good or bad these particular works may be…based on the examples presented in the article, I doubt I’ll be headed to Amazon anytime in the near future to purchase any of those books! 😉

Books/Literature

Why do some Authors just fade away?

Interesting little blog entry for i09.com about the above, comparing the long term “fate”, as it were, of Robert Heinlein versus H. P. Lovecraft:

http://observationdeck.io9.com/why-do-some-authors-just-fade-away-1604291883/all

It is interesting how, during his lifetime, Robert Heinlein was one of THE most successful sci-fi authors of them all.  Yet after his death, his works have begun a long fade and today those who know him, if at all, are more familiar with the movie adaptation of the novel Starship Troopers rather than any of his actual works.

On the other hand, H. P. Lovecraft was barely recognized during his lifetime and died in poverty, yet since his death his stories have only grown in popularity.

I posted a response to one of the comments, which I reprint almost entirely here:

We don’t have to look far from the sci-fi genre to find examples of other authors who, in their prime, were extremely popular and today simply are not. When I was young, the steamy works of Harold Robbins were incredibly popular with adults. I don’t think today’s adults remember him, this despite having sold a whopping 750 million copies of his books! In the action/adventure genre, Alistair MacLean was the “go to” guy, with many of his novels being converted into film (the best remembered today probably being The Guns of Navarone, though I have a personal soft spot for the Richard Burton/Clint Eastwood Where Eagles Dare). In the hard boiled detective genre, you have Mickey Spillane and Ross MacDonald, the former of which created the very well known P.I. Mike Hammer but whose death in 2006 seemed to hardly be noticed by the public at large. Ross MacDonald, whose novels tended to read perhaps a little too much like those of author Raymond Chandler, nonetheless was a very popular author in his lifetime yet today Chandler remains well-known but MacDonald seems to have faded away. And on and on…

The big question of why authors who are very popular at one time start to fade while others do not, in my mind, relates to how “timeless” the individual works are.  While H. P. Lovecraft’s books were set -for the most part- in the author’s “present” time, they are works that have an eerie, nightmarish quality and linger in readers despite the chasm of time from their creation.

Heinlein, it seems to me, and most of the authors I mention in my comment above, were very much of their time.  Their works were great for those people reading them at the time of their release but in the intervening years whatever shock/surprise/interest they held has eroded.

For example, Harold Robbins’ stories were considered shocking and explicit to readers in the 1960’s and 70’s but are fairly tame by today’s standards.  So too were the early works of Mickey Spillane.  Alistair MacLean’s action novels were pulse pounding when they were released, but the action genre has moved on from his works and, today, they may seem a little too “sedate”.

In sum, there are authors whose works hit the ground running and are tied into the pulse of today’s readers but, as the years pass, their works may prove to be of their time.  There are others who create works that for whatever reason can be admired even as the years pass.

In the case of H. P. Lovecraft, perhaps his works were simply too good for “his” era, and this is why he never achieved the success he would until many years after his death.

In sum, don’t be too surprised if today’s “hot” author proves to be tomorrow’s forgotten author.