Geek Notes

Insidious? It's GOOD news!

2011-04-01T18:01:00.000-07:00

It's hard to miss all the ads lately for the new horror movie, Insidious:

"It's not the house that's haunted. It's your son."

Cue terrible horror with accompanying leitmotif. They treat that like it's such bad news, but let's think about this for a moment. The real estate market SUCKS right now. Even selling a non-haunted house at a decent price is pretty difficult. Unloading a haunted one? That's never going to happen! So, really, the quote above is good news! Now they can keep the house!

The rest of the movie is a two-word solution: MILITARY SCHOOL! Ship the little haunted brat out and make him someone else's problem. Now they've got a spare room for a den, or for guests, or even to turn into a bed and breakfast so you can help pay for the military school. Silly people.

Quite frankly, I bet the CIA or NSA would love to get its hands on a haunted kid. Let's put those ghosts to work protecting America's interests!

Technorati Tags: Insidious April Fools

More on Murdering Zeus...

2010-10-08T17:22:00.000-07:00

In my last entry I wrote about how I originally embarked on writing the (completed) manuscript I'm now calling Murdering Zeus for Fun and Profit. I wound up making a few veiled comments about what I was working on. "Somewhat less serious" was the phrase I used when comparing it to my previous work, but I didn't mention anything at the time about Greek gods.

Though it was slow going at first, I really had a great time writing it. While I loved writing my first two manuscripts, the freedom to inject more of my sense of humor into the writing (and the different "voice" used) added to the fun of it all. I also wrote Murdering... much faster than the other two. While part of that is due to a more disciplined effort on my part, I suspect the humor is to blame as well. By the end of November 2008 I'd dreamed up characters and the general outline of things and plunged in to the actual writing of it all. Aside from a bit of a slow-down during the holidays, I felt things were going well.

Then, when I was about a quarter of the way through writing the sucker, I wandered through the bookstore and saw something that just about gave me a heart attack: a display for Percy Jackson and the Olympians. I think it was for the first book in the series, but at this point, I don't really know.

I don't know if you've ever come up with an idea that you were absolutely in love with--not only for the idea itself but for the perception that it was actually pretty unique--but that was how I felt about Murdering.... Suddenly here on the shelves was a book that seemed to have used my same idea--independently to be sure, but nonetheless--and made it to publication before I had.

Thieves! Murder! Fire! I couldn't even bear to pick it up just then. (I may have also been on my way to the restroom after a period of writing in the bookstore's cafe, I suppose.) I went home, grumbling, frustrated, cheated, angry, hungry (unrelated), and despairing. Finally, I managed to pluck up the courage to wiki the sucker and see just what the book was about.

Relief.

More or less, anyway. Some comfort was the fact that Percy Jackson, with its Harry Potteresque hero, was aimed at a younger audience (the mortal characters in Murdering... are in their mid- to late-twenties). Further comfort was that it seemed to be playing everything straight rather than having my own comedic take on things. I did note later that both books contain a character named Thalia (again, a bit of a heart-stopper to learn that), but they're different Thalias. According to Wikipedia, Percy Jackson's Thalia has a mortal mother and is "a very skilled fighter" where as my Thalia is the mythological muse of comedy (and, more recently, science fiction) and can't hardly fight to save her life. (Incidentally, Thalia is one of the two mythological characters to appear in "Playing with Hubris" along with Apollo.)

I like my Thalia better, but then I'm biased.

At that point, I decided that I'd consider it a blessing. Percy Jackson is quite a successful series. It even got a movie. Anything that raised public interest in Greek myth can only help me by creating a market. I feel the same way about the recent Clash of the Titans remake, as terrible as that was. (It's getting a sequel. The mythology fan in me shudders at the thought, but the bit of me that cares about marketing is cheering for it.)

HADES =/= THE DEVIL!!

Sorry. Had to get that out. (Or, as Hermes tells a group of reporters, "He's actually a decent enough chap. A bit inexorable, a tad strict, sure, but it's his job to keep the dead out of the world of the living. You don’t want someone like me in charge of that. One good distraction and wham! Zombie apocalypse!")

So, as I've said, it's now complete. I'm shopping it around to agents and trying to find a happy medium between being bothered that I'm going to appear to have just been jumping on the bandwagon of existing mythology franchises out there and being thankful that they're creating a market.

I take comfort in the fact that mine may be the only one that has flying poisonous feral kittens, Ninjas Templar, and the Poseidon uttering the phrase, "This cannot be solved with baked goods!"

Also, immortal Zeus is assassinated in the first chapter, and hopefully that make at least some of you curious.

Origin Story

2010-10-05T17:23:00.000-07:00

Way back when I started writing--at least in any serious fashion--I had an idea about writing an original Greek myth. Not retelling the Odyssey or some such thing, but rather writing an epic of my own plotting, using the already existing (and public domain, obviously) characters of Greek and Roman mytholgy.

But let me step back a little further. Most kids go through a phase where they're fascinated about dinosaurs. When I was little, a mythology phase accompanied my dino-phase (isn't dino-phase one of the phases of cellular mitosis?), and I never really grew out of the former. I took three years of Latin in high school, which came with a dash of mythology along with regular Roman culture. College added still more fuel to the fire: Classics 210 remains one of my favorite courses (I actually still have my final essay test in the bag I carry my writing/laptop around in), in which I read (among other things) The Iliad. Another course a year or so later took me deeper, and while I no longer remember the course number of that one, both courses impressed upon me the idea that the Greek (and Roman) gods were really just supersized mortals: powerful but fallible, with gargantuan egos. How much fun would it be to take these characters and create new tales for them?

I loved the idea, but I loved it so much that I was afraid I wouldn't be able to do it justice. I'd envisioned something epic, set back in the time of ancient Greece, with divine political intrigue, monsters, adventure, suspense (and now I'm sounding like the grandfather in The Princess Bride--though I'd not envisioned any pirates), and most of all, epic. Yes, I'm aware I said epic twice, but this is my blog and you'll just have to deal with it. My plan was to wait, develop my writing abilities and only approach it when I felt ready.

Flash-forward to, oh, 2002 or so when, in a period of short story-writing, I came up with the idea of how amusing it might be to write something in the present day. How might someone in, say, a café react to a guy sitting down and claiming he was the god Apollo? How would mythology and modern times be reconcilled or viewed through our modern viewpoints? How would a sun chariot be explained when we can put spacecraft into orbit around the sun itself? I personally thought it'd be pretty darned funny, and wound up writing such a story just to play with the dialogue alone. That story, "Playing with Hubris," wound up being critiqued a bit in the Pacific Northwest Writers Association. At the suggestion of a friend, I at one point rewrote it as a one-act play for a contest (alas, I don't think I managed the conversion too well). The story then got put down for a while until I dusted it off and officially got it published in 2008.

In the intervening years I wrote two other stories in the same myth-meets-modern vein: "Snipe Hunt," involving a little girl, ditched by her brothers, who meets Hermes; and "The Atheist and the Ferryman," a mix of humor and the macabre about an atheist who finds a passage in his basement to Hades and accuses Charon of running a confidence scam. The former was published in a small speculative fiction magazine called "The Sink," while the other--despite being my favorite--is unpublished. In any case, it was a theme that was a great deal of fun to write.

So when I'd finished Legacy of Memory and was looking for a completely new book to write, the idea I finally decided on was to go back to my old mythological ambitions, tweak it in the flavor of the short stories, and see how things turned out. The result was Murdering Zeus for Fun and Profit, about which there is still more to say...

...In another blog entry.

The Legacy of Legacy of Memory

2010-10-03T18:14:00.000-07:00

Last month (give or take), I mentioned my decision to, for now, abandon any attempts at getting Legacy of Memory published and instead move on to focus on a new book entirely unrelated to either it or its self-published predecessor, A Shadow in the Flames. I'll write a little more here about the new novel (Murdering Zeus for Fun and Profit, for which I just sent out the first agent query yesterday) in a future entry. For now I want to explain a little more about why Legacy of Memory will sit on the shelf, at least for the foreseeable future.

First, my thanks to those who have written asking when they could read a sequel to A Shadow in the Flames. It's gratifying to know there are people out there who don't otherwise know me from Adam's housecat (whose name is Uriel, by the way) who have read the first book and are interested to know more about Michael, Felix, Gideon, and just what the heck is going to happen next.

The problem lies in A Shadow in the Flames being self-published. Yes, the publish-on-demand (POD) publisher I went through does screen books in order to elevate their offerings above other POD publishers, but self-publishing a fiction book still often carries about as much weight in the industry as a dead mule. I don't necessarily think that's unfair, either. (That said, I've received enough independent praise about ASITF to believe it's a decent effort. I wish I'd known more when I made the decision to go POD with it and at least tried going directly to some small publishers who take unagented fiction rather than going for agents or nothing, but no matter.) The point is, I don't want to self-publish again, and the chances of selling a second book in a series when the first book is so obscure are slim to none. My efforts are, unfortunately, better directed elsewhere.

Let me go back and say that I don't entirely regret self-publishing ASITF. I had a great need to get the story "out there" and read by at least some segment of the public. Part of that need translated into continuing the story into a second (and then planned third) book. There was a danger of my contracting "sequelitis" (see an explanation of that term in this blog by Nathan Bransford (an agent for Curtis Brown, Ltd. with a very helpful publishing blog) and continuing to write further books that had little to no chance of being published in a more traditional fashion. Self-publishing gave me at least some feeling of closure, allowing me to set the story and characters from ASITF and LOM so that I could move on and write my third manuscript.

This is not to say I relish abandoning those earlier books. (Nor is "abandoning" completely final in this case, either. Perhaps in the future I can return to the series, though my thoughts on that are probably another blog entry waiting to be written.) It pains me to think that LOM, by my estimation a much better book than ASITF, will remain read by only a few folks for a while. Yet of some comfort is the fact that I know that I learned quite a bit in writing those first two manuscripts. My craft has improved. I'm quite proud of my latest work (and I confess I cringe a bit when I go back and look at those first two novels) and I would not have been able to do the job on manuscript three without having written one and two. I only wish I didn't have to lose Michael, Felix, Caitlin, Marc, Marette, and Diomedes to a learning experience. ...Wow, my characters have names that start with M a lot, don't they? What's up with that?

So, for the moment, Legacy of Memory remains on the shelf. Three people have read the entire thing (besides myself), and it may continue to be so for a while. I may release it electronically somehow, someday. I may hang onto it and find some way to polish it up a little more. (I looked at it again a short while ago. The beginning needs more work than I recognized previously.) Time will tell.

They say a writer's first novel is a learning experience only, unlikely to see the light of day. That's not something one likes to hear when while spending so much effort to create it. Two manuscripts down the line, though, I think it's something I can accept.

And Murdering Zeus for Fun and Profit is a damned good novel. Okay, so I'm slightly biased. I'm also quite proud of it. More about that soon...

Back to the Blog

2010-08-24T17:09:00.000-07:00

That title needs work. I considered "Blog Attempt 2: The Bloggening," but decided I'm bad at titles.

It's been a long while since I've written here. I've been away (at least mentally), with little inclination to write in this space. Much better, I decided, to focus on writing my current novel in order to get it finished as rapidly as possible. It's also a lot more fun to write fiction than blogs, as it turns out.

Okay, so I already knew that, but it bears repeating.

Yet now that the book is complete (something of a contemporary fantasy adventure-comedy), I've got less to do while I wait for an editor to polish the manuscript a bit so that I can send it out to agents. While I wait for that to be done, I've been spending my time working on the synopsis and query letter, which, again, isn't nearly as fun as actually writing the book, even if it does need to be done.

This is part of why I'm back. I can't have my blog showing up in web searches not having been updated in years, can I? Writing here also gives me an excuse to do something other than work on my query--a stressful little part of selling a book, which no writer (and I feel comfortable saying this is NOT hyperbole) would ever wish to do if it were not absolutely necessary. Er, talking about queries, here, not book-selling.

This post has very little point, I'm realizing, other than to say that I'm back. On the other hand, if things on the Internet needed a point, we'd lose about 95% of all content [needs citation], wouldn't we?

So yes, I'm back, and I shall do my best to begin to write once again on topics both writing- and geek-related.

And turnips. Everyone loves turnips.

(More on the book later, though I will say it's very similar to a story I wrote called "Playing with Hubris," which is actually due to be re-published in NexGen Pulp Magazine's "best of" collection.)

Faster? Well, not yet...

2008-12-20T16:12:00.000-08:00

Another writing update for my as-yet-unnamed 3rd novel (which, again, is an entirely different animal than the first two)...

So far it seems that my attempt at writing this one a lot faster than the previous two is suffering a few setbacks. For the moment I'm choosing to blame this on a busy holiday season and the difficulty in starting a new book (establishing characters, not overdoing exposition, and so forth). I've rewritten the second chapter three or four times now, just trying to get it right, and it's still not to my liking.

On the plus side, I THINK that once I get over this particular hurdle, I'll have gotten over the initial creative energy hump. Then I can better continue forward with the proper momentum.

I realize I'm being terribly vague about all of this, but oh well. Right now Seattle's being hit by a rather nasty blizzard (by our standards, anyway), and my brain is iced. Here's hoping the power holds out...

Michael G. Munz
www.michaelgmunz.com

"Pre-production"

2008-11-30T14:02:00.000-08:00

So I'm back to blogging after having taken an even longer break from this place than my previous one. What have I been up to? I'm glad you asked, imaginary person! In my last blog I wrote a bit about coming up with ideas for a third novel; not the follow-up to Legacy of Memory, but rather an entirely unconnected stand-alone with something of a different tone than what I've written for novels before. As I said, working with an entirely blank slate is both freeing and frustrating. As I write this, I'm sitting in a Barnes & Noble café having just finished the step-sheet for what I hope to be a darned amusing book.

In case you're wondering, the step-sheet is basically a rough outline of the scenes (or at least the general happenings) of the plot and character development. Before I did that, I had to come up with the whole freaking premise of the setting (which wasn't TOO hard, as it's actually set in the present day with one liiiiittle difference--and no, I'm not telling what that is yet), at least a general idea of what the major characters are like (I'm fairly sure about most of the details now on those, but they still need the breath of life that only actually writing the book will give, I think), and the whole darned premise of the story. The step-sheet helps me to make sure all the Chekhov's guns are in place, the exposition is portioned out properly (without being overwhelming), and helps me to see where possible problems are--or at least realize what sort of details I still need to come up with.

This particular novel is going to be…somewhat less serious than my previous ones. I suppose, given the stakes involved, it may be considered "epic," but it's my plan to thumb my nose at such things and have little or no respect for my own work. …If that makes sense. Actually, it doesn't, but oh well. A better way of putting it is that this novel is not going to be taking itself seriously--at least that's the plan. It won't be entirely comedy, either. If anyone's read my short story "Playing With Hubris" or maybe even "Finding Victor," that would be something akin to the mix of humor that I'm going for. But I suppose I'll know more once I start the actual writing and find the right voice.

Choosing just HOW to start the book is giving me some trouble, though. I've got two different options, and while I think one might be a better hook plot-wise, it doesn't involve any of the main characters. I need to talk over my ideas with some folks and see what they think, because right now I'm rather torn.

It's my goal to write this one a LOT faster than the previous two, which will take a bit of discipline on my part. I suppose that's part of why I'm really taking care to line up all of my ducks at the moment so once the actual writing starts, I know the characters, I know the details of the setting and everyone's agenda…and I can just shove everyone into the arena and let them do their thing.

…And if anyone gets out of hand, I'll zap 'em with a lightning bolt.

What I'm Currently (Back to) Writing...

2008-10-06T17:56:00.000-07:00

The 5,000 or so of you out there who read this blog without commenting (and I know you're out there! Don't try to deny me my fantasy, you imaginary people!) may have noticed I haven't written in a little bit. It's a side-effect of a week-long writing break I've been on until, well, today. (Bonus points if you can guess when I started.)

A quick writing update: While I wrote an ending to Legacy of Memory at the end of June, I've since been tweaking and rewriting, little by little. This is based both on my own general read-throughs as well as comments from a few people I've got reading. (Thanks again to you three, by the way. And Joe? Hurry up with those final chapters!) A couple of weeks ago, having gotten to a place where I didn't want to tweak any more until I heard back from said readers, I decided to turn my attention toward writing something else.

This wound up presenting a problem as my momentum from trying to finish one book carried over into my trying to start another, and like a rollerblader who speeds down a hill off of smooth cement into mud, my creative feet got tripped up plowing through the thickness of an as yet undreamt-of plot and sent the rest of my creative body hurling head over heels into the writing miasma...or something. Clearly the metaphor's buckling under it's own weight here, but you get the idea. So I opted to take a week off, not think about ANYthing related to writing, publishing, or blogging, and just let my brain reboot itself a little.

So I'm back! Now for those of you wondering about what the new book is about, the short answer is I'm not sure. I've always said that Legacy of Memory was only the second in a three-book arc, so it would make sense that I'd now be working on the third and final book, right? Ha! Shows what you know. I'm the guy who came up with the battery-powered battery recharger and once folded an 10' origami crane on the middle of the UW campus at 2am, so if you're expecting me to make sense all the time, rabbit football doodlewhomp.

While it is possible that the next book I write will be a sequel to A Shadow in the Flames and Legacy of Memory (and I've always liked the title Here Be Dragons for that one, but who knows?), I may instead try to publish a single, stand-alone book that will hopefully get me further into the publishing world than I currently am and thus help get more attention to the three-book series. The up-side of writing something completely new is that the utterly blank slate gives me a chance to scratch some creative itches that I haven't yet been able to explore in novel form. The down-side is that it's an UTTERLY BLANK SLATE! So for the moment I'm mostly in what Terry Brooks would call the dreaming stage, which essentially involves a lot of walking into things while pondering my creative options (when I'm not in a café doing the same thing only sitting down and caffinated). It's both fun and frustrating, which I suppose describes a lot of things in life.

I've got a few ideas that I'm working on exploring, but no one thing that I've decided on. I suppose I could tell you at least one: rabbit football doodlewhomp.

...I'm probably not going to go with that one.

Michael G. Munz
www.michaelgmunz.com

(Technorati tags: writing, fiction, Legacy of Memory)

Heroes Premiere Blogging

2008-09-23T12:09:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned a few entries back, I'm trying to decide which Fall show to follow regularly in my blog. Heroes is the second contender. Tonight I'm going to experiment a bit and try some stream of consciousness comments. So here we go, the Heroes 2-hour third season premiere...

Nathan's dead. But I'm sure he'll be fine. Yup. He's fine--and quicker than I expected.

MISHTOH MUGGWLES! Mishtoh Muggwles is the herald of doom! (Okay, I'm sorry, I won't do that again.)

Sylar's sacrificing opportunities to grab Claire in order to be creepy for the audience's benefit. Boo!

There better be a good reason for keeping Hiro's half of the formula in existence at all if it's so dangerous. (And for the record, I'd be almost as bad at Hiro's first quest as he was.)

"Save ourselves. Save the world." Sounds like their next catch phrase. (Frankly those have bugged me ever since the beginning.)

There's the damn 10% brain usage myth again. Writers Guild membership should come with a card that states something like "This is just plain wrong. Stating this in anything you write is like stating that Hawaii is adjacent to Kansas. DON'T DO IT."

Mohinder's being an idiot. No, wait, he's being Mohinder-Fly! Someone get Jeff Goldblum, they can double-date and compare scripts.

Well, the world's blowing up. Again. Come on, folks. Is this all you can come up with? ("Look out, Radioactive Man! The sun is exploding again!")

Mrs. Petrelli is the Kwisatz Haderach!

A talking space coyote tells Matt to find his soul mate! (Well, not really, but that's what I was thinking when he started talking to the turtle.)

Linderman's turned Harvey.

Sylar's still alive…WHY? (Same question for all of the people held in Level 5, really. The Company has had no problem with putting OTHER heroes down.)

I don't think I'm going to blog on Heroes too much—at least not weekly. There's so much stuff going on that I'd just lose track in all the nitpicking. I don't envy the chaos the writers have created for themselves, though. Two people warping around in time? It's hard enough to keep things logical and coherent with just one, and Hiro at least knew what he was doing. I think Ain't It Cool News puts it quite well: "I think we just have to assume at this point that Peter is the stupidest guy ever to graduate nursing school." With characters that can do so much, they need to be REALLY careful that their plots don't require constant use of the idiot-ball, and I'm not so sure they're off to a great start.

I guess we'll see.

Someone get Mister Muggles a syringe of that formula.

Michael G. Munz
www.michaelgmunz.com

(Technorati tags: Heroes, NBC)

Have a watch: New Knight Rider

2008-09-21T10:50:00.000-07:00

Okay, I am NOT going to do a full blog on this one, but in the interest of keeping people informed, the new Knight Rider series has released its first post-pilot movie episode on Hulu, a week before it actually premieres. If you're entertained by things that are so bad they're good, you should check it out.

This show is gleefully terrible. That's the best way I can think of to describe it. As someone commented on Hulu, "It looks like KITT can now turn into a train and a wreck."

I'm thinking there's definitely a reason Val Kilmer, who voices KITT, doesn't let his name show up in the credits. I honestly hope this show makes it. It's so awful that it's hilarious.

Michael G. Munz
www.michaelgmunz.com

(Technorati tags: Knight Rider)

Sarah Connor Chronicles: Samson and Delilah

2008-09-09T09:28:00.000-07:00

I'm looking to do an episode-by-episode blog of one of the shows premiering this fall, but I've not yet decided which, so I'll try doing so with each of the premieres and see which feels the best. I've never tried to do this sort of thing before. I'll be learning as I go, so bear with me, if anyone's actually reading this. For the first, the second season premiere of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. There WILL be unmarked spoilers.

My mental state:
I've been borderline on this show since it began, torn between my desire to see the expanded back story (or future-story) that it promises to reveal and my inability to find the actual storytelling or characters compelling a majority of the time.

Thoughts while watching:
The very beginning is reminiscent of the end of the first season finale what with the semi-slo-mo and music. It feels like it's trying too hard to recreate that, but maybe it's just me. Then again, I didn't like it the first time, either. On the other hand, this SHOWS what's going on instead of having it happen all off-screen for an extended period of time. (I suspect they just couldn't come up with a reason for Cromartie to kill everyone and throw them into the pool, so they just did it off-screen and got "artistic.") THIS, however, just goes on too long while showing us everything. "Yes, episode, you're very smart. Shut up."

Cameron looks pretty unscorched for just having been in an exploding car. And an exploding house. Perhaps Skynet adds a little asbestos to the human flesh terminator coverings now.

For some reason Cameron needs Sarah to call to John. It's odd how they keep doing this (happened in T2, too) after showing us that terminators can imitate voices easily enough.

I'm noticing that Cameron continues flip between being be less able and more able to pass for human than the T-800, as she has during the entire series. In her defense, she is a little scrambled right now, I suppose. But then she's back to being all convincingly emotional when she's smashed between the trucks. So hmm. I guess it's dependent on the needs of the script.

John's cut off his hair, going back to the Samson and Delilah theme. If Cameron's secret plan is not to kill John but instead to make him emotionally attached to her and weaken him thusly, I shall be very put out.

Post-viewing thoughts:
It was average, with much of it just being an extended chase scene. I have to admit the surprise at the end with the G-1000 (that's the lead singer of Garbage crossed with the T-1000, though a friend of mine just wanted to call her Dick Jones after this scene) was pretty darned high on the cool factor. Not sure if they'll ever explain why there's a second prototype, but I guess the timeline's been mucked around with so much that it's not a detail to worry about.

John's an idiot for putting the chip back in, of course. He's clearly still having issues from dropping Daddy Terminator in the molten iron in T2. Call me crazy, but giving a gun to a terminator only moments (from her perspective) after she tried to throw a wrench through his head just isn't the best idea. If being blown up can flip her from good to evil, and being hit by a truck can flip her back, do you REALLY want her walking around with you, John? What if you accidentally bump into her in the hall or sneeze in the wrong direction? All back to evil! I can understand John doing this. It makes sense for his character, but I can't understand Sarah not trying to stop him.

So...meh. The characters still continue to bug me, being as foolish or intelligent as the writers need at the time. I've never cut the writers much slack in this show, and that cynical attitude may be why I can't seem to get into it very much. It's possible I'm still stuck on something that's bugged me for the entire run of the show: the dual question of just what sort of terminator Cameron is (we know she's "special," but have been given few details) and, more importantly, why she refuses to say. Her refusal magnifies the mystery, and yet it's now the beginning of the second season and we've gotten no progression on this. You can only string the audience along on a mystery so far before you have to pay it off, at least partially, and they've strung us along so far on this one that I'm now thinking that a bit of intrigue that got me to watch before was just some gimmick of audience manipulation that they had no idea what to do with.

"Hmm, how can we make it more mysterious? People love mysterious, look how well Lost is doing!"
"Uhh, how about we have her refuse to give details about herself?"
"Ooh, that's GREAT! I love it! Why doesn't she give details?"
"What, are you writing a book? Who cares? It's cool!"

So I guess we'll see. Bit of a jumbled mess, this blog, but hey, I'm still getting my recap-legs. I don't know that I like Sarah Connor Chronicles enough to do this every week, though...

Michael G. Munz
www.michaelgmunz.com

(Technorati tags: Terminator, Sarah Connor Chronicles)

Stargate: Atlantis Cancelled, Universe on Its Way...

2008-08-22T13:42:00.000-07:00

Here's a bit of two-for-one geek-news: The Sci-Fi Channel continues its tradition of cancelling shows that people like. This time on the chopping block, Stargate: Atlantis. At the same time, it's green lit a third Stargate series, Stargate: Universe, to air in early 2009.

Okay, so I was miffed when they cancelled SG-1, severely irritated when they cancelled Farscape way back when, and continually bothered to find out that the new Battlestar Galactica was still on the air. (It's going to be gone after this season, fortunately, and I'll have to rely on possible reruns or episodes on Hulu.com to remind me just why I disliked it so much. At this point I can't remember specifics, and I suppose I'm not likely to bother re-watching to let myself be reminded. Darn.)

I seem to have lost my train of thought here. Oh! (Yes, revel, revel in the concise blogging style!) My point is that I find I honestly couldn't care less about Atlantis getting the axe. Sure, I watched some episodes--some were quite good, some not so great--but I never really got deeply into the story or anything. I couldn't tell you much about the Wraith (aside from my finding them rather dull) or the various characters, few of whom really got me to care. (Okay, so McKay's always fun, and it was nice to see Jewel Staite working after Firefly, but that's about it.) My impression, admittedly fragmented, was that the show seemed to be in search of a purpose but often failed to do anything unique or better than what SG-1 had done before it.

And, really, enough with the Replicators, huh?

As for Universe, Sci-Fi describes it as follows:

After unlocking the mystery of the Stargate's ninth chevron, a team of explorers travels to an unmanned starship called the Destiny, launched by The Ancients at the height of their civilization as a grand experiment set in motion, but never completed.

What starts as a simple reconnaissance turns into a never ending mission, as the Stargate Universe crew discovers the ship is unable to return to Earth, and they must now fend for themselves aboard the Destiny.

The crew will travel to the far reaches of the universe, connecting with each of the previously launched Stargates, thus fulfilling the Destiny's original mission.

Challenges will arise though as the ship comes into range of Stargates placed centuries ahead of the Destiny, but only for a brief period of time before carrying on with its pre-programmed navigational schedule. If someone is left behind, there is no way to go back for them, adding to the drama of encountering new races, enemies and adventures.

"A grand experiment set in motion but never completed." Hey, good trick. They've created a plot device that doesn't need to ever be explained because it was never finished! :D There's a mystery of the ninth chevron? That's a new one on me, but maybe I'm just not up on my lore.

As for the rest of it...I guess we'll see. I'll give it a shot, but the description isn't wowing me. Maybe it's just that I miss the SGC and O'Neill. It sounds somewhat like Star Trek meets Sliders, which is...workable. If they can come up with some engaging characterization, it could be decent, though I'm leery of the statement that Universe will have "a cast that gives it a younger vibe." Something about that just smells a little too much of executive tampering. Perhaps they took an O'Neill template, made him an experienced twenty-two, gave him some "attitude," and then Rasta-fied him "by about...ten-percent or so." [End Simpsons reference.]

So I'm not holding my breath. What with professional wrestling, Ghost Hunters, and constant monster-of-the-week movies penned by monkeys at best (at worst, by the folks who bring us Epic Movie, Disaster Movie, Lousy Movie, and Meet the Spartans), Sci-Fi seems, like Atlantis, organizationally confused and in search of a purpose. Or maybe some Replicators.

But that's another blog.

Speaking of other blogs, click here for the full story in The Hollywood Reporter by James Hibberd.

Michael G. Munz
www.michaelgmunz.com

(Technorati tags: Stargate, Atlantis, Universe, Sci-Fi Channel)

Speedily Submitting Short Stories (or something)

2008-08-13T13:53:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite quotes (which for the longest time I mistakenly attributed to Dan Simmons, having read it first in Hyperion--it's actually Peter De Vries) is "I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork."

I bring it up in this case because actually SUBMITTING my writing for publication is something I don't do nearly enough as I probably should. I like writing stories, I hate writing cover letters (or even the short email prefaces for electronic submissions).

However, since it's been a little while since one of my short stories found a home (okay, not too long; "Playing with Hubris," one of my favorites, was in NexGen Pulp a few months ago), I've thrust my butt into the self-booting machine ($199.95, Sharper Image catalog) and sent out a flurry of submissions.

...by which I mean about four. Here's a quick teaser/rundown of the stories I've sent to various fiction magazines, otherwise known as a few children I hope to hear about finding homes for soon:

"The Atheist and the Ferryman"
Many of us have lots of things in our basement. Old clothes, washing machines, giant Olmec heads of Xtapolapocetl, etc. Marcus just happens to have a cave leading to Hades. This is one of my favorite stories that I've written, if not THE favorite, though I've not yet found a place for it. Do I like it so much that I can't see it's flaws, I wonder? Then again, it mixes Greek myth with modern times and a somewhat macabre sense of humor, so it IS an odd one to try to squeeze into a genre label.

"Beyond Memory"
This one's a bit different from what I usually write and probably closest to magical realism than anything else I've written. If you could connect with the actual spirit of a lost loved one when you dreamed, would it be worth it if you couldn't remember when you woke? What price would you pay to not forget your time together? I came up with this one for a PNWA contest a while back, but at the time I had to rush it and quite honestly it wasn't ready then. After some polishing, I'm sending it out into the world once more.

"Katy's Deal"
This is a short one that I wrote a while back and recently polished. It's pretty short (only 975 words) and makes for an amusing diversion if you like the idea of a technophile teenager trying to both get a job as Death's assistant and help him to get Wi-Fi access. (Yeah, I write weird ones.)

"Pen Pal"
Another short one, this time without humor and going more toward creepy. How would YOU feel if after three years of agoraphobia you started receiving death threats demanding a murdered man's gold watch hidden in your attic?

(Hmm. Attics, basements. I should write something dealing with a scaaaaaary linen closet! The towels! The towels are scratchy! Ruuuuuuun!!)

Michael G. Munz
www.michaelgmunz.com

(Technorati tags: speculative fiction, short stories)

Visual Geekmusement

2008-08-09T10:47:00.000-07:00

My week's been pretty busy with somewhat dull stuff, so this blog entry's just going to be a few simple (but amusing) things. Then again, life's made up of simple (but amusing) things (e.g. Ralph Wiggum), so yes! This is a celebration of LIFE!

(What, too exuberant?)

First, under not terribly geeky but still pretty darned neat is this video from Today's Big Thing: Slow-motion lightning! The beginning in particular is spectacular. What I want to know is how long it took them to GET that shot, and whether or not a DeLorean was involved.

(Blogger seems to be having trouble with the embed, so here's a direct link.)

Following sight, now we go to sound...or sight and sound, I suppose, which is what makes this next video so cool. The best way I can think of to describe it is Half-Life 2 meets the iPod advertising crew:

Continuing on the Half-Life 2 trend, this is probably the funniest thing resulting from fan-fiction that I've ever seen. Half Life: Full Life Consequences is apparently the result of a 9 year-old's HL2 fan-fiction and a bunch of animators with a good collective sense of humor. Sure, it's essentially the visual equivalent of a kid playing in his backyard with his action figures, but then again so was Star Wars: Clone Wars.

And finally some non-video...sort of. Language translation in the film industry is tricky, at best; more so when it comes to pirated movies. And so it came to be that copies of Revenge of the Sith turned up in Hong Kong were translated as "Backstroke of the West." I could say more, but frankly this blogger does it much better, so link on over to take a look at what happens when you translate "Jedi Council" into "Presbyterian Church." Here's the link. (You'll have to scroll down a bit there to get to the content.)

Michael G. Munz
www.michaelgmunz.com

(Technorati tags: geek, lightning, Half Life, Star Wars)

Stargate Continuum DVD Review

2008-07-31T17:11:00.000-07:00

So Stargate Continuum, the last (for now, anyway) made-for-DVD Stargate SG-1 movie came out a couple of days ago. I originally started watching the show about midway through its ten-season run and caught up on the episodes I'd missed in reruns on Sci-Fi. Though it wasn't the same show by the time the final season rolled around, I was still sorry to see it go, so I gladly picked up the DVD. Without further ado, here's a brief review. (Rhyme not intended.) This ought to be as spoiler-free as any of the ads are, so feel free to read on mostly safely...

An initial summation for those of you with no patience: I'd have to say it's above average. It's not great, but good, and enjoyable enough for the time it asks of us. With the Goa'uld once again as the main antagonists it's actually quite reminiscent of the earlier seasons, especially when a number of familiar faces start showing up. I won't say just who here--and there are a number of them--except to mention that it's good to see (spoiler-text follows) the late Don S. Davis again.

But what's that you say? Didn't the Replicators utterly wipe out, put in a box, and stick a fork in the Goa'uld? (Yes, I can hear you; it's the magic of the Interwebs!) Well, let's just say that Baal's a jerk, and he's got a time machine.

Yes, it's a time travel movie, which will likely turn some of you off, but even so it's decently done. One thing I liked was how they came at it in part from an angle that's not seen quite so much--that of the point of view of those people who've lived their lives in an alternate (and screwed up, from SG-1's point of view) timeline. To them, it's SG-1's timeline that's the alternate; they like their own just fine, thank you very much, and why the hell should they bother to help and mess up THEIR billions of lives? (As an alternate-Landry put it, "The arrogance of what you're asking us to help you do is mind-boggling!") Who's to say which is more correct? This question leads to a middle of the film that's really rather poignant and interesting in terms of the characters themselves.

I'm not sure if SG-1 virgins or casual viewers would find that section quite as interesting, however, as they're not nearly so familiar with these characters. As a fan of the show it's hard for me to judge. I will say that the writers did do a decent job of catching up the new viewers to the Stargate setting without getting bogged down with it.

The plot as a whole is pretty well done, at least until you get to the end, but I'll talk about that in a moment. There was one genuinely unexpected twist that I was quite happy to see. I only wish they'd had more time to develop the ramifications of it. That's perhaps why the ending is where I had the most problem. It's just...missing something. (Jack O'Neill maybe? He's in much of the first half before fading away.) It all wraps up too quickly, and I found myself wondering what they could've done if this were a four-episode arc of the show. One thing I will say: Character death shouldn't be milked for tragedy points when you're operating around time machines--or at the very least, not when you're standing IN time machines. Going to slow-mo just gives the viewer more time to realize that, oh, hey, they can fix that fairly easily right now.

One more thing I did find interesting: Baal's a jerk, yes, but oddly he's NOT quite up to his old tricks. He seems to have learned from his mistakes...or at least most of them, which leads into part of that twist I mentioned.

As for the DVD extras, along with the usual DVD previews there's a commentary by the writer and director as well as three featurettes. I haven't yet had time to listen to the commentary, but I did take a look at the featurettes.

First, The Layman's Guide to Time Travel. Being a speculative fiction writer, I have a weakness for scientific theories like time travel, alternate dimensions and such explained in layman's terms so those of us who don't have the benefit of a PhD in mathematics can see the wonder in them. My only complaint here is that at nine minutes, it's too short. It would've been great to see them explore the two theories of how time travel might work a little bit more, for instance. Still, what we do get is interesting and fun, at least for us geek-types.

The twenty-minute Making of Stargate Continuum featurette is fun to watch, too. (Anyone who's seen any of the SG-1 making-of specials that have aired on the Sci-Fi Channel knows what they're in for here, style-wise if not content-wise, so I won't go into detail.)

The best of the three would have to be the Stargate Goes to the Arctic featurette, which documents the experience of actually traveling to the Arctic Circle to film on a sheet of ice in negative twenty-degree temperatures. With all of the to-do about the cast and crew filming on-location (seen online and on the preview for Continuum on the Ark of Truth DVD) I was expecting more of the movie to take place there than we see on-screen. Don't get me wrong, the Arctic is certainly in the movie, but I suspect that going there was a much bigger deal for the actors and crew than it is for us viewers who sit down to watch in our warm living rooms. Indeed, the twenty-two minutes of the featurette certainly show a more interesting (real) adventure. In fact it may be my favorite part of the entire DVD, and I say that with no slight to the movie itself.

So, bottom line, if you're a fan, it's worth picking up. (And that means YOU, Denise.) If you've never seen the show, well, at least give it a rental so you can help support the show, 'cause I want another DVD, dangit! :)

…And I really did mean for this to be a BRIEF review when I started. Ah, well.

Michael G. Munz
www.michaelgmunz.com

(Technorati tags: Stargate, Continuum, DVD review)

Mass Effect for PC: A Review

2008-07-24T11:03:00.000-07:00

A while back I mentioned that I'd be sharing my thoughts on Mass Effect. I finally got my act together and put down some of my thoughts, so, at last, I give you my "official" (ooh, ironic quotation marks!) review...

I'm not a console gamer. Since I sold my original NES back in 1991 or so to buy a VGA monitor, I've been reliant on the PC for my video gaming experiences. (Okay, so I owned a SuperNintento for a short time in college and I've got a GBA stashed somewhere, but aside from that, I'm "pure.") That being the case, I essentially missed most of the hype about Mass Effect when it came out for the X-Box 360 last fall.

Oh, sure, I heard the media buzz about how it's a revolution in RPG gaming, an incredible interactive story, and all that claptrap from blogger Kevin McCullough about how it's a sodomy simulator. (I don't know WHAT game HE'S playing, but it's certainly not Mass Effect, which has about as much to do with sodomy and--as McCullough put it--"virtual orgasmic rape" as Monopoly has with clubbing baby seals. But hey, why bother to research what you're talking about when you can just make up inflammatory crap that'll get you attention, right? But I digress; time for an end parenthesis.) Even so, as I had no ability to actually play it, ME mostly passed under my radar until I heard a little while ago that there was now a PC version.

I asked a friend of mine, who seems to invariably know more about things on the Interwebs than I do, just what sort of game Mass Effect is. "It's like Knights of the Old Republic without all the Star Wars trappings," she said.

Like KOTOR? Well hey, that pretty much sold me right there; if I were to make a top ten best games list, KOTOR--with its immersive story, addictive gameplay, and replayability--would be on it. (To be fair, I may be combining KOTOR and KOTOR2 into one game with the strengths of each making up for the other's weaknesses, but that's an entirely different blog topic.) So, because I don't have enough diversions in my life (yes, kids, that's sarcasm!), I picked it up.

Mass Effect in fact comes from Bioware, the same developers who brought us KOTOR and the Baldur's Gate series, and the flavor of those earlier works--more so the former--most certainly echo in Mass Effect. The story that drives the gameplay is excellently crafted both in the motion of its plot and the setting through which it weaves. The political structures, alien races, and technology of the galaxy are so developed as to be contained with a codex that the player can read (or in some instances, listen to) as they encounter the subjects in question. It's so detailed that it's pretty much a sourcebook for the game's universe; you'll certainly never need to know everything listed there, of course. Heck, I suppose you could easily play through the entire game and not open it once, but it does provide an extra bit of insight into things for those who just can't get enough. (On a side-note, one wonders if they originally designed it that way or simply figured that putting it ALL into the actual gameplay and dialogue would make things too wordy for some players, but didn't want to throw out all their painstakingly crafted background.) As for the story itself, it makes great use of all that setting (well, okay, not ALL of it, but it IS an entire galaxy, and there are at least two more games to come), and, while not as surprising as KOTOR's or as philosophical as KOTOR2's, was more than enough to keep the length of my individual gaming sessions much longer than I often planned just so I could find out what happened next.

The combat portion of the gameplay is, again, quite reminiscent of KOTOR, but with some differences. For one, rather than just queuing up an action and watching it happen, you're controlling pretty much everything your character does in real-time, ducking behind cover, choosing when to pop out and fire, when to duck back, etc. You're responsible for targeting exactly where you want to fire, throw a grenade, or aim a biotic power, so it's much more reflex-based. On the other hand, if you're controlling your own character so completely there's no way you'll also be able to do so for your two ever-present squad mates. They act on their own based on both simple scripts (which you partially control in that you designate how much they use their special powers) and individual commands. You can't tell them exactly when to fire, but you can let them know when to hold, when to follow, what enemy to attack, and what powers to use. I've heard varying player opinions on how well this works, but for the most part (the weaker characters seem to have an alarming lack of appreciation for cover), it worked for me.

But Mass Effect isn't without its problems. As I mentioned before, a number of reviews and forum-postings I've seen have declared it a revolutionary new RPG experience, tossing about hyperbole the way only the Internet (and marketing) can and calling it the RPG's answer to the Halo series. While I believe that's true, I also don't consider it the high praise that it's intended to be.

The problem with space, as Douglas Adams observed, is that it's BIG. Give your players a spaceship that allows them to travel to a bunch of different planets as part of a sandbox and you've given yourself a problem. There are lots of planets in ME that you can visit that have little or nothing to do with the main quest. These planets look great when you first arrive. Sweeping rocky landscapes, anomalies to investigate, crash sites, ruins...except after a few planets, you realize that they're all pretty much the same, differing only in the color of the rocks, the placement of the ruins (check!), anomalies (check!) and crash sites (check!). Oh, and if there's a big flat open plain, you WILL run into a thresher maw (...check!). It's all so cookie-cutter that it loses its wonder...though in fairness I will admit that the first thresher maw I saw had me springing out of my chair.

This problem bleeds over into the items available as well. Part of the fun of a game like this is exploring and finding some interesting little doo-dad that helps you in some way, enhances your character or just opens up an interesting story branch. In ME, you'll either be finding a pistol, an assault rifle, a shotgun, a sniper rifle, armor, or various exciting plug-ins like "anti-personnel ammo III," which is just like anti-personnel ammo II, but a little better. The weapons work that way, too, as does the armor. (And why the heck are crashed space probes stuffed full of armor and weapons?)

The game tries to give you a sense of exploration by letting you find insignia of lost members of alien intelligence communities or writings of an Asari matriarch. When I first stumbled on one of these I was expecting that there was some sort of story involved, that a bigger picture of what was going on with them would form as I found more, or at least that something neat would happen when I found them all. Nope! All it gets you is a little check box in your character history saying you found them all, with no real payoff. It's like playing Doom and running around to collect the red, blue, and yellow keys not to open doors that get you to anywhere new or interesting, but just to be able to say you've got them. I understand these sorts of things are called Achievements in the X-Box community, but frankly I'm the sort of gamer who cares less about a score and a LOT more about having, you know, actual fun in gameplay.

It's like they wrote the main plot, then figured they'd better puff up the universe a bit and at least provide the illusion that there's interesting stuff out there. (Sort of like in the last scene of Star Wars when they put a few real people lining the aisle of the award ceremony, then got cardboard cut-outs for the rest?)

Getting back to the idea that Mass Effect is the RPG answer to Halo, it is. The problem seems to be that what's new and innovative in certain genres to console gamers is old hat to PC folk. Halo was at best a mediocre first person shooter. Fun? Yes! Engaging? Yes, but awfully repetitive in places, and nothing particularly new compared to PC titles. It just had great marketing and the benefit of (I think, correct me if I'm wrong) being new to console gamers. Likewise with Mass Effect. KOTOR/KOTOR2, Baldur's Gate 2, Deus Ex, Oblivion...all equal or better RPGs which came before. Don't get me wrong, Mass Effect is fun, worth picking up, and well-written. It does some things in new and refreshing ways, but much of what I've seen touted as "revolutionary" isn't all that different from what's come before.

It's a good game. I'm looking forward to Mass Effect 2. Just don't get lost in the hype.

Wow, this was a long one, wasn't it? All done now...

Michael G. Munz
www.michaelgmunz.com

(Technorati tags: Mass Effect, game review, Bioware)

The Dark Knight: A Mini-review

2008-07-19T00:00:00.000-07:00

Okay folks, I just got back from the theater, and here's my review condensed into a single sentence:

The Dark Knight is decently written, well-directed, really well-acted, and lasted about half an hour beyond the point where I started to wonder just why the hell I should care.

Okay, two more things:
#1, Gotham City has, apparently, a massive security problem. (Spoiler warning! Highlight below for inviso-text:)
How the hell did the Joker manage to sneak THAT much explosive into the hospital without anyone noticing? Likewise with the ferries, and THOSE you'd figure they might've checked BEFORE leaving the dock.

and #2 (more inviso-text below):
So, okay, you want to save Harvey Dent's good name and don't want him blamed for the five or so murders he did toward the end. Fine. I get that. But hey, since we're pinning them on someone who DIDN'T do it and therefore have no real evidence anyway, how about we pin it on, oh, say, ANYONE other than Batman? Gosh, if only there were a homocidal lunatic running around that the public would be more than willing to unquestioningly accept as a scapegoat. Ah, well.
Talk about manufactured pathos.

It was a decent movie, just...a lot more "meh" than a lot of the critics are saying. But hey, they get paid to review things, right? So what do I know? ;)

Michael
www.michaelgmunz.com

(Technorati tags: Dark Knight, Batman)

Terminator 4: The Teaser

2008-07-16T19:06:00.000-07:00

The first teaser trailer for Terminator 4 (or Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins for you sticklers who like long titles) is out. Teasers in general don't really do much more than let the public know a movie's coming, so it's not really fair to judge the film on it--not that it won't stop lots of people from doing so. It doesn't show us much, and I'm still hoping that it doesn't turn out as bad as I'm fearing.

Anyway, here's a link!

-Michael
www.michaelgmunz.com

(Technorati tags: Terminator)

Hellboy 2 Heralds Hobbits!

2008-07-15T14:50:00.000-07:00

A brief geeknote on Hellboy 2:

I saw it Saturday night, and I have to say any anxiety I had about Guillermo del Toro directing the upcoming Peter Jackson-produced Hobbit film (and its bridge-to-LOTR sequel) is now completely squashed. Okay, so I didn't have that much anxiety to start with; the man seemed pretty darned competent already, but then he DID direct Blade 2. (My problem with those movies primarily stems from the source material itself, though. The vampires in Blade's world are laughably weak.)

There are scores of Hellboy 2 reviews all across the Net, so I won't bother with one here other than to say that the extent to which del Toro is willing to commit himself to a fantasy world is extraordinary. This is--in spirit, at least--the faerie world of Gaelic legend, where faeries are as like to rip the flesh from your bones as they are to dance for you*. If you've read any reviews, you've heard about it before: the savage tooth faeries, the mind-blowing troll market, and the ruthlessly evil (yet somewhat sympathetic) elf prince who'll have the geekier folk in the audience thinking "Hey, a bladesinger! ...With a spear." It's a wonderful movie, provided there's still a part of you that's willing to embrace the fantastic.

~~Quick spoiler alert~~
Was anyone else pleasantly surprised that the confrontation with the tentacular forest elemental--which, again, anyone who's seen the trailers knew was coming--happened in the middle of the movie rather than the climax? Along the same lines, was anyone rather irked at the prince for forcing it, the last wonder of its kind, into a battle rather than keeping it safe and perhaps finding a way to spawn more of its kind? This guy's supposed to be fighting humanity to safe such things, yet he's immediately willing to sacrifice something so rare. Slight flaw in character writing, or the writing of a flawed character?
~~End spoilers~~

So, bring on The Hobbit!
*sits, checks watch*
Is it out yet?

-Michael G. Munz
www.michaelgmunz.com

*"What, you learn about faeries from that Walt Disney guy? Want I should wear a tutu and prance around with some bloody unicorn or something? (Unicorns! Sanctimonious bastards, don’t you get me started on them!) That Disney-man has spread so many lies about us Faerie-types that I’ve ‘alf a mind to get a group of spriggans together and bite ‘is arms off!"
--Excerpt from "Squirrel!" (by Michael G. Munz, published 2003)

(Technorati tags: Hellboy, Hobbit)

I made my deadline!

2008-07-03T11:16:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I didn't make my previously stated goal of updating this thing EVERY Thursday, but I did make my self-imposed June 30th deadline for finishing the first draft of Legacy of Memory. I still need to run it all through my assembled reading group to see what they think, not to mention do a lot of polishing that I see the need for already. There's a few continuity issues that need ironing out as well, and one or two things I just want to develop a little more.

One example: There are two female characters in LoM, Caitlin (whom readers will recognize from A Shadow in the Flames) and a new character. There are definite parallels between them in terms of a situation they're both dealing with, and I want to do a better job of contrasting the different paths they take.

One of my readers is currently 2/3rds of the way through it; I did something that surprised the heck out of him and, in his view, upped the stakes for the characters in a way the reader really feels. I love trying to do stuff like that, and it's a fantastic feeling to know I've managed to pull it off.
So there's an ending now, and I'm even fairly certain (no bets, though) that the last paragraph will remain completely untouched in the editing process. (I'm tempted to quote the whole paragraph verbatim here, since it's a line of dialogue from a character the reader hasn't seen talk much that I think really gives an exciting punch to the very end--there will, of course, be a third and final book--but I don't want to spoil anyone. ...Actually, that's not true, I DO want to spoil people, but I know I'd regret it. But hey, I'm excited about it!)

As for the whole "every Thursday" blog thing, I'm actually having some alternate ideas for just how this blog will be developing, but I'm still working on that. Be sure to check back soon to see what happens...

Michael G. Munz
www.michaelgmunz.com

Writing Update (and Mass Effect)

2008-06-19T13:56:00.000-07:00

Blogging note: I've decided to try to update this blog once per week on Thursdays, so be sure to check in every week for writing updates and general geekery!

I'm looking at (let's see, what day is this?) eleven more days before my self-imposed deadline to finish writing Legacy of Memory (pre-polishing). At the moment, I think I'm doing pretty well. The denouement of anything is always a difficult thing for me to write; having to tie together so many things and give a little resonance to the entire thing without it coming across as cheesy or forced is a challenge.

With the help of a mocha, I just finished the "final" chapter, and have only to write the epilogue. Once that's done, I go into full editing mode, polishing language, fixing continuity issues, and generally making sure the characters are both ringing true and have made the transition from my brain to the page. This isn't to say I don't edit as I go, of course. The way I generally write is to get a chapter down, then go back and massage it into better shape before moving onto the next chapter. There are certain things you can only see once you've got the entire thing written, however. It's both due to the fact that no matter how well you (or I, at least) outline something, it always evolves a little in the process of getting it onto the page, and the fact that it's easier to see where some small things need fixing once you've got it all done and can stand back and view it as a whole.

We'll see how quickly THAT stage goes, I guess. One of my chief readers is currently in the middle of selling his house, so he's selfishly slacking off in his critiquing duties. I suppose I can forgive him.

In other news, I mentioned Mass Effect in my last blog. After a quick RAM upgrade (RAM is CHEAP these days!), I've been playing through it and finding myself surprisingly addicted. It's got a great many of the good qualities of two other favorites of mine: Deus Ex and Knights of the Old Republic. I've been playing through it this first time Diomedes, reacting as he would (sticking to a plan, motivated by money, and being a general surly hard-ass). It leaves a lot of game branches and dialogue options unexplored, so it gives me a fun way to experience the game while at the same time leaving a lot for a second playthrough with a different (and more benevolent) attitude. No major review from me yet, though.

It's June, but here in Seattle it still feels like March. At some point I suppose the sun might come out, but I'll believe that when I see it.

-Michael G. Munz
www.michaelgmunz.com

Terminator 4, and a little Mass Effect

2008-06-05T17:34:00.000-07:00

Geek alert.

A word of warning: This entry will touch on a recent rumor about Terminator 4 that, according to Internet scuttlebutt, may actually be a lot more of an actual spoiler than the insane foolishness that it originally appeared. If you don't want to be spoiled (though I honestly don't figure there are a lot of folks out there anymore with enough faith in the series who are both looking forward to this movie AND want to remain spoiler-free), feel free to skip ahead to the last paragraph, which is a short little bit about Mass Effect.

So this rumor/spoiler in a nutshell is this: John Connor dies at the end of the movie (killed by an Arnold-model terminator), and in order to keep the morale of the Resistance up, they take a good cyborg and alter its face to look like John. From what I understand, the good cyborg isn't actually a terminator but the product of an experiment by Skynet on a previously executed criminal.

Ooookay, then.

Stupid, you say? Gimmicky? A twist for its own sake? Well, if you did say that, I fully agree with you, and if you didn't say that, then...you're entitled to your opinion, I suppose. (I know, I know, I'm breaking one of the unwritten laws of the Internet by not hurling derogatory profanity at you or finding colorful ways to suggest where your head might be, but I'm trying to start a trend.)

This isn't to say that I'm wildly up in arms about this or planning to start some sort of letter-writing campaign to McG. (Side note: "McG?" Really? His choice, I guess.) I wouldn't call myself a Terminator fanatic, but I do think the first two films hold a well-deserved place in sci-fi culture. I even thought Terminator 3 was passable entertainment that gets a little extra-credit for nuking the world at the end--an opinion which I realize puts me at odds with the large number of the fan base who prefers to think that T3 never happened.

On the other hand, the storyteller in me hates to see this sort of thing happen to any creation. When I first heard they were making a T4 (which turns out to be the first in a planned trilogy) dealing with the fight against Skynet, I was curious but worried. Finally we'd get to see more of the struggle of a human race pushed to the very brink of extinction (as Reese said in T1, "We were close to going out forever.") against an artificial mind bent on finding new and better ways to kill them. The possibilities just for human drama alone in that premise are fantastic, not to mention the fantastic blockbuster setting of futuristic things blowing up that, frankly, draws a lot more of our interest than some of us would like to admit. No longer would we get glimpses in flashback-forwards (flashforward-backs?), but an entire tale that explains just how the pieces fit together.

The problem is perhaps best illustrated by many fans' issues with another certain trilogy detailing the fall of Anakin Skywalker: there's a risk that (at best) things will unfold differently than we'd always thought would be better, or (at worst) the whole thing will fall apart, blow continuity out the window, and just wind up being a product to sell rather than a story to tell.

Ignoring for now the fact that T4 has the additional task of making sure the time travel mechanics of the first three movies, well, work (I'm one of those people who believes that, in fact, they do--perhaps even in spite of themselves, but I won't go into that here), they also have to make sure to treat the characters and established continuity of the series with some respect. This rumor makes it sound like they thought they needed some big twist (executives LOVE "twists" these days), and, perhaps taking a cue from the Battlestar Galactica folks, thought "OO! Connor's a ROBOT!" and completely ignored the previous three films' build-up of Connor as a leader. Essentially it takes the idea of the indomitable human spirit and guts it.

Maybe the movie's smarter than I'm giving it credit for, but right now this seems rather pointless. Perhaps it's a bid to throw some drama into things by having robot-Connor malfunction, or have the Resistance's PR plan backfire when the word gets out that they're being led by a robot. In another story, maybe that would work, but do they REALLY need to add extra sources of drama when they're already talking about a story where humans overthrow the concentration camps they're in, fight a war they're massively unequipped for, and manage to finally destroy Skynet while having to deal with not one, not two, but THREE attempts to send things back in time to screw them?

James Cameron, who started it all, is no longer attached to the story, and it seems like those currently involved just don't seem to get it. In an early teaser trailer for T2, we saw an assembly line stamping out terminator after terminator. Maybe T4 and its successors will wind up being well-crafted tales that hold together with the rest to become a true saga, but right now it's just looking an awful lot like the series has shifted to an assembly line milking brand-recognition that simply and thoughtlessly pushes out product after product.

Maybe it's just a rumor. Head on over to Ain't It Cool News* where I first read about this and see what you think.

And now for the promised bit about Mass Effect: The much-praised console space-RPG is now out for PC. I've not paid too much attention to it so far (aside from getting a fantastic laugh about THIS), but when someone described it as being "like Knights of the Old Republic without the Star Wars trappings," I got curious. I've only just got it--and really should be focusing more on writing to make my deadline--but look for more musings on my experience with it on this blog soon. For the moment, I can only report that having three immediately recognizable voice actors in the opening, while not good for immersion, is still rather cool. (Carth's talking to Oz! Okay, more Geek Points™ for me.)

-Michael
www.michaelgmunz.com

*But for the love of all that's holy, do NOT look at the AICN Talkbacks! On ANY article! They're just pure concentrated EVIL!! :)

I Have Thirty-One Days...

2008-05-30T12:25:00.000-07:00

I've set a goal of finishing Legacy of Memory by June 30th.

I almost always blow self-imposed deadlines. (The boss is such a pushover.) Nevertheless, I'm optimistic that this may be one of the times I actually meet one. It will still need a lot of tweaking and polish at that point, but there will at least be a "complete" manuscript with a final chapter.
It's been slow going recently, and much of that is owed to the fact that there are so many threads to tie together. While A Shadow in the Flames is mostly focused on Michael Flynn's story, Legacy of Memory is much more of an ensemble tale. Michael has his arc, of course, again caught up with Diomedes, but the former doesn't even appear in the book until a fifth of the way through. Along with them (minor spoiler alert), there's Felix and Caitlin, Marc and Marette (both with parts much larger than what they had in ASITF), and Gideon and Ondrea, the latter of whom is entirely new. (And yes, I said Gideon.) Their paths and arcs all intersect in various ways. The Northgate/Moon situations, mostly separate (though distantly connected) in the first book are now fusing together in what I think is a quite exciting way. Pulling that off, especially with so many people and agendas smashing up against each other, has been a challenge, so I'm taking my time.

It's not that I haven't outlined where things ought to be going, of course. It's just that fleshing out the details once I've written to particular points on the outline isn't always as easy as I imagine it. It's a fun challenge, though sometimes maddening. (Once or twice I had a plan for how something would play out that looked just fine in outline form, but when I got down to writing it, I immediately realized it just wasn't going to work, and it was back to the drawing board.) Equally fun and maddening are when I've planned for a character to be doing something or reacting to something in a certain way, only to have them turn to me in my head and tell me in no certain terms that there's no way they'd ever do THAT. Instead they're going to do/say this other thing whether I like it or not, and if I know what's good for me I'd better follow THEM thank you very much. Sure, it plays a bit of havoc with the outline, but it's already made for some more interesting drama.

Then again, sometimes they just have to die. (Insert evil author's laugh here.)

So we'll see if I can make the June 30th deadline. Then we'll see how much needs polishing (and, he said with not small amounts of dread, how much needs a complete overhaul).

In other news, Indy 4's good, but not great. My thanks to Mr. Spielberg and Mr. Ford for reigning in Mr. Lucas as much as you managed. I may blog more about that if enough people want me to. :)

-Michael
www.michaelgmunz.com

Regarding Indy 4...

2008-05-19T16:37:00.000-07:00

(I've said that this space is for me to blog about my either my writing or more general geek-related topics. Today deals with the latter...)

Did you hear? Indiana Jones is back! At long last, he has returned as promised after all these years to unite the fans, absolve our geekish sins, and deliver us from the Nazis...or something like that. At any rate, that seems to be how many are viewing the coming release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Some Other Words We Decided Not to Add to the Title. Some look forward to it as if it were the Second Coming, while others, stung by their Star Wars prequel hype disappointment, fearfully await it as if it were a tetanus shot from a one-eyed doctor. People have asked me, "Mike, you're a geek, what do YOU think about Indy 4?" (Actually no one's put it in quite those terms, but for the purposes of this blog we'll just pretend they did.) I can sum up my answer in three simple words:

I don't know.

But hey, no one likes a summation, especially if it doesn't really say anything. (Well, okay, political ad-makers do, but that's a separate topic.) So with apologies to Inigo Montoya, let me explain...

Being thirty-three, I first saw Raiders of the Lost Ark as a kid. It was one of the first movies I ever watched on that amazing new device called a VCR that my dad rented from the store. I can still remember sitting in my living room watching that guy with the bullwhip elude traps, fight Nazis, and have the good sense to stay tied to a pole when peoples' faces started melting off. (Being an easily scared kid, that whole bit scared the bejezzus out of me, which may be likely why I wasn't taken to the theater to see it!) Temple of Doom was experienced first as a photo book that I got because I was too excited to wait for the movie. (I also seem to recall finding out later that my family went to see it without me when I was away at a friends' house. My parents were quite strict on the PG-13 thing, as I recall.) The Last Crusade was, I think, the first one of those films I actually saw in the theater, and I can recall feeling just a bit sad at the end, knowing there'd be no more Indy. (Heck, I even bought that he WAS dead when the tank went off the cliff, knowing it was to be the last film. On the other hand, I'm not always too bright.)

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (okay, I'm NOT typing that out again, so I'll just call it IJatKotCS for shor--screw it, it's Indy 4) will be the first Indy movie I've seen in the theater as an adult. That alone is cause for, well, pause, at least. How much of my enjoyment of the first three comes from seeing them through young-Mike's eyes? It's a common question in situations like these after all, especially since the Star Wars prequels came out and failed to live up to fan expectations. Ever since then there's been a debate in fan circles about how much of the prequel disappointment is due to that phenomenon versus the quality of the films themselves. Will Indy 4 fail to live up to the first three such that there will be a similar debate about it, or will it be so great as to please (most) everyone and be considered a true success?

For my part, I'm approaching it with a slowly-decaying guarded optimism. There's a friend of mine who tends to view unreleased sequels with a pessimistic attitude in order to avoid getting herself too hyped up about it. If the movie DOES turn out to be great, she's pleasantly surprised, and if it's as bad as she's expecting, then at least there's no disappointment. (Plus she also gets the pleasure of being smug.) I usually view that as self-destructively denying an opportunity for happiness; after all, anticipation can be fun, right? But I've found my earlier positive attitudes about Indy 4 eroding lately, slipping more in line with her way of thinking. Part of that is due to having heard some negative opinions on what insiders have seen, but part may also be due to my having a greater-than-realized emotional investment in this series. Like my friend, I don't want to set myself up for disappointment. I want to keep the positive attitude (Spielburg! Ford!), but I've also cause to be wary (Lucas!).

And then of course there's the approach another friend of mine is taking: I believe his exact words were, "If it doesn't kick ass, I'm going to have to kill someone." I'd like to think I'm not QUITE that far gone, though. (I recently saw Iron Man with him, by the way, and at the end he happily declared that no one would die today.)

The Indiana Jones series is a curious thing; it's got a broad following of fans wistfully recalling the three stories that brought adventure to life under the brim of a fedora, and yet there is so little out there BUT the movies. If one compares it to that other Lucas/Ford pairing ~~American Graffiti~~ Star Wars, Indy's few movies are dwarfed by the "expanded universe" of Star Wars, which features novels, comics, animated shows, video games more novels, and twice the number of movies. I should be fair and point out that Indy HAS had video games and the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, but it's my understanding (and correct me if I'm wrong) that Young Indy is sort of the equivalent of Mark Hamill's guest spot on the Muppet Show in terms of how much people really care about it anymore. While Star Wars's expanded universe has taken on a life of its own (a life that some would argue eclipses the films), Indy is just about the movies.

Indeed, Indiana Jones is the epitome of the popcorn movie--and I mean that in a good way. No deep back-story, no nuanced myth arc, no Nazi goons turning out to be Indy's father, just pure adventure tales with a fun character. There were the good guys, the bad guys, and very little grey in between. Yes, life is seldom so clear-cut, but that's part of Indy's appeal. It's not about the dark questions that torment men's souls, it's about fun. You don't watch Raiders of the Lost Ark to contemplate the human experience that is life, you watch it to ENJOY life.

I suppose it's for such reasons that we shouldn't be too disappointed if Indy 4 isn't absolutely fantastic. It's not something that's completing a saga or filling in a part of the universe that we've always speculated about like the Star Wars prequels were. It's not an adaptation of a beloved book that we always wanted to see as a movie and hope to God they do right, as the Lord of the Rings films were for many. It's just another couple of hours with a character with whom we've always had fun. When you see an old friend whom you haven't seen in a while, do you compare your new time with them against the old days and, should they fail to be QUITE as much fun, chastise them for it? Or should you just be happy you got to see them again?

I suppose I'll see how well I can adopt that attitude when I see the movie. ...I'll let you know if my second friend has to kill anyone.

Michael G. Munz
www.michaelgmunz.com

A Little Writing Advice...

2008-04-30T13:30:00.001-07:00

Since publishing A Shadow in the Flames, I've been asked in a few interviews and such what tips I have for aspiring authors. Teaching is not a skill that comes easily to me, and as such, thinking of an answer to that question is often difficult, but as I was writing today, one thing did pop into my head:

Make detailed notes.

This is actually something I'm still trying to teach myself. I'll be writing with certain things in mind and then I'll be forced to stop writing and expect I'll remember certain details later when I come back to it. When I do, I find that I've not retained it mentally as well as I thought (or worse, forgot there was a detail I was even trying to remember). It's like an artist painting in front of a landscape, then going home and doing the rest from memory. This invariably leads to time lost as I either try to recall the details I'd conceived (and failed to remember), or go back and reread earlier chapters just reacquaint myself with something that I could have better kept track of with a written note or two.

That's not to say I never make notes. I make a LOT of notes (character sketches, what's going through someone's mind at a certain time, neat little ideas, chapter outlines, etc.). Heck, I've got an entire page outlining how much and when to reveal about a certain character's background. Even so, there are still occasional things that I think I can remember and consciously decide not to write down, or things it doesn't occur to me to keep track of until later when I realize I need to know something.

Case in point: I'm working on finishing up the sequel to A Shadow in the Flames, and multiple plot threads have come together as one, resulting in a lot of characters running around. Certain characters know certain things (some know quite a lot, some only a little, and some only THINK they know a lot) and have certain competing agendas that dictate how much they want others to know. I'd been keeping track of who knows what and when in my head, and I suddenly realized today that I was starting to lose my grip as one character started treating another like he knew something he shouldn't, and worse, downright contradicting something he'd told him a little bit before. Now I'm faced with rereading the previous fifty pages or so and taking notes on my own writing, just to be certain things are still fitting together properly. Not the end of the world, but it'll eat up time.

I suppose one could argue that by not stopping to take notes as I wrote, I was allowing my creative momentum to continue unabated, but even so, I should have at least paused between chapters to take stock of where everyone was. I was already pausing to look at other things (so there was certainly time), but this one aspect snuck by me. Certainly fixable, but a wee bit of a pain. On the other hand, it's a learning experience that'll help to make me a better (and faster) writer, which should be good news for those of you who've asked that I hurry up so you can read more.

...And now I have something new to say when asked for advice! (It IS tempting to just tell them, "That gum you like is going to come back in style," though.)

-Michael
www.michaelgmunz.com

Earth Day Bloggin'

2008-04-22T18:18:00.000-07:00

Well, it's April 22nd, and April 22nd is Earth Day. (Actually it's a few other things as well, of course, like Jack Nicholson's birthday, Discovery Day in Brazil, and something else I won't talk about here, but for the purposes of this blog, it's JUST Earth Day. Sorry, Jack.) Now it's not my intent here to debate the merits of taking responsibility for our environment, nor to discuss whether or not global warming is something we should worry about. (I personally think it is, but I'm not going to make a case for it here other than to say that when an *overwhelming* majority of those who've spent their lives and educational careers learning about and studying such things agree there's a problem, it's just a wee bit arrogant for us laypersons to dismiss it out of hand.) What I would like to mention here briefly are two meaningful (and really rather simple) ways to reduce the negative impact we have. These are both places I've only recently discovered myself, so I present them not as an expert on either. I simply want to say hey, this looks rather cool and useful, and maybe you should check it out. Anyone out there who's had experience with these places or others like them is more than welcome to comment and let us all know more.

First off, if you're like me, 99.9% of the catalogs you get in the mail are really only good for one thing: Exercise. They provide just a little more extra weight in your walk from the mailbox to your home before getting tossed, and at least, hopefully, recycled. (I get to have EXTRA exercise because after having my parents' mail sent to me for a year back when they were touring around the country with no permanent address, their names are still in some far-off database as being at my address. I'm not even going to bother explaining why I still sometimes get mail for my grandfather, who lived in PENNSYLVANIA and passed away OVER SIX YEARS AGO!) It's not only annoying, but printing and delivering all that junk takes I don't know how many tons of paper and gallons of gas, all to give you something you don't want. Nice and wasteful, eh?

Well it seems there's a place by the name of Greendimes.com that will help you get off all of those lists. In looking at their website, they offer a free service and two "premium" services, both of which last for 5 years. The free service gives you links to take yourself off of mailing lists, and at the very least makes for a nice hub of helpful links that will aid you in stopping a lot of this stuff from ending up in your mailbox. The premium services have Greendimes do the work for you, filter out catalogs you actually DO want to receive, and monitor mailing lists to keep you from being put back on without your really wanting it.

Frankly, I'm considering one of the premium services, as I'm a lazy, lazy man. Given the fact that their MOST expensive five year service breaks down to 60 cents a month ($36 for 5 years) and gives you two--everyone say it with me, you've heard these words before by now, I'm sure--energy-saving compact florescent light bulbs as part of the deal, I figure it's easily worth it. 60 cents a month? Darn, I'll have to get by without that pack of gum.

The other place is TerraPass, which I actually noticed from seeing a bumper sticker on the back of someone's car. TerraPass is, to quote Wikipedia (told you I was lazy), "a social enterprise that provides carbon offsetting products to individuals and businesses. ...Terrapass uses proceeds from member purchases to fund greenhouse gas reduction projects such as wind farms and methane digesters." Basically, you can calculate your carbon footprint (for example, driving 8,000 miles per year in my Honda Civic EX has a footprint of 5,397 pounds of C02), then purchase a "carbon offset" based on that amount. As stated above, they take that money and put it toward alternative energy production, tree planting (trees take in C02 and give back oxygen), and pollution cleanup, all of which is calculated to offset the C02 that the car puts out. You can also buy offsets for things like air travel and home energy usage.

To insure they're not just taking the money and running, they're independently audited according to standards established by the Center for Resources Solutions (www.resource-solutions.org), and the audits are available on TerraPass's website.

Now I understand that some consider this to be a bad thing, encouraging irresponsibility that can simply be purchased away and throwing money at a problem that should be solved by behavioral change. While I do see the point to this argument, isn't the fact that people are doing SOMEthing rather than nothing helpful? Being willing to make a monetary sacrifice for environmental causes constitutes a shift in one's mindset, which I would argue is likely to lead to other shifts along those same lines. The point is, it gets people thinking about it, and the money certainly does go to good causes. The more money spent on alternative energy sources, the more corporate interest it draws, and the greater the chance of those sources being developed further. Besides, you're going to take that trip to Vegas anyway, right?

So there it is. I'm not saying you have to do these things. I'm still looking into them, myself, after all. But if you're looking for ways to create a little environmental change, there you go. Two ways to be a little more environmentally conscious, along with bringing your own reusable bags to the grocery store, replacing your light bulbs with compact florescents, and turning your computers OFF when you're not using them (I really don't understand why people leave them on all night, anyway.) I also recommend limiting your useage of "Li'l Lisa's Patented Animal Slurry."

I shall now get down off my soapbox.

Michael G. Munz
www.michaelgmunz.com

Why Hyperion: The Movie Worries Me

2008-04-07T17:48:00.000-07:00

Hyperion: The Movie.

Yes, that's what I've recently heard (or, more accurately, heard a while back, forgot when the news bore no fruit, and then heard again recently with renewed momentum). As someone who counts Dan Simmons's Hyperion Cantos among his favorite books, I meet this news with a mix of excitement and dread...but frankly a lot more of the latter.

Let me step back a moment. I first read Hyperion in college when a friend passed it on to me, mentioning his awe of the story (and also, frankly, just how damned cool the concept of the Shrike was). I was soon reading this Hugo Award-winning sci-fi novel, eagerly sifting through the pages and searching for not only what would happen next, but also what had happened previously and what the hell was happening NOW. (It's quite an impressive feat when a writer can give you just enough to fuel your hunger for more information without making you feel completely lost.) What the heck IS the Shrike? Who sent the Time Tombs back? What is the TechnoCore up to? Where in the bloody @#%&*@! did Het Masteen go?! Pausing only to beat my book-recommending friend over the head with same upon reaching the abrupt-yet-tantalizing ending of Hyperion (How DARE he not warn me?!), I was swiftly continuing to devour the sequel (more continuation, really), The Fall of Hyperion.

A great deal of what amazed me about the book (and the thing that still inspires me as a writer to this day) is the masterful way Simmons weaves the myriad of plot and character threads together so cohesively. The story is epic, and keeping it all straight as a reader--and I say this in the best way possible--requires a fair bit of focus. Keeping it all straight as the author must have been an intense task. I would later recommend the book to friends and then, as they related to me their own reading experience, I'd find myself frustrated for not being able to completely recall the part of the book they were experiencing at the time due to its complexity and the years that had past since I had read it myself.

It's this complexity that fills me with dread. They're supposed to be making a SINGLE movie out of both Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion, and I just don't see how that's going to be possible without straining a good deal of the complexity out. Obviously this is the problem with translating any book to the screen. It's not impossible, if done correctly, but the likelihood that it WILL be done correctly is not (to my admittedly cynical thinking), a large one.

The usual perils a film--especially a science fiction film--must go through in the process of production as executives attempt to dumb it down ("viewers are morons") are bad enough. (Apparently the humans-in-vats idea of The Matrix was originally conceived of as a big neural network for the computers on which to exist rather than to just use the human body as a battery, but this was changed because execs didn't think people would get the idea. Unfortunately the battery thing makes no sense. ...Then again, a number of other things about those movies made no sense, but that's a topic for another day.) Hyperion's labyrinthine (pun intended) complexity necessitates pouring a gallon jug into a drinking glass. How much can be cut for time without making a mere skeleton of what remains? The idea of those with no exposure to the book seeing the movie and going either "I don't get it" or "This is supposed to be a masterpiece?" frankly bothers me. Remind me to elaborate on that general concept in another blog.

Even splitting it into two films doesn't seem workable. Granted, this would certainly give the story more room, but I just don't see a studio signing off on two films when the first one, really, doesn't end so much as it stops. Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter had the benefit of having such a gigantic audience already familiar with those books that it's less of a risk. Hyperion, while spectacular, just doesn't have quite the built-in audience (at least that's my impression; I've done absolutely zero research in making that assertion). Two films would be great, but exceedingly unlikely, especially as they've already announced it as one.

Now like I said, it's not that it CAN'T be done, but it would seem to be a daunting task. Just ask David Lynch why his name isn't on the theatrical print of Dune. Now there's another epic sci-fi novel that was done MUCH better in a mini-series format. (Yes, I know, there are those of you who think the mini-series has its problems, but the general consensus seems to be that it's quite well done, and certainly an improvement over what was released in theaters in 1984...even if Sting is sorely missing.) ;) I would love to see Hyperion/The Fall of Hyperion done as a mini-series and given enough time to develop. Even the mini-series format isn't without it's development dangers (just ask Ursula K. Le Guin), but it's better than a feature film, at least from a storyteller's point of view. On the other hand, I suppose I can't pine for a mini-series when they've already announced it as a feature film, so I suppose all this is moot anyway.

So that's what's got me skeptical about the whole idea. Of course, it's entirely possible it'll be sunk into Development Hell anyway and will never see the light of day. I suppose in Hyperion's case I'd rather see no film than a poorly done film, but there's little I can do about it but sit and wait...and possibly reread the books again.

"And that's all I have to say about that."

Michael G. Munz
www.michaelgmunz.com

Stupid difficult characters...

2008-02-09T13:40:00.000-08:00

When writing my novels, while I will shift poins of view between different characters from time to time, I generally stick to one POV per section. As such, when I do so I tend to get into the headspace of the character I'm writing so as to better present things from his or her point of view (what he or she sees, how she interprets different things, even the style of his or her--or its--thoughts, etc.).

Sometimes this is easy--especially if I'm writing from a character I particularly like. (Felix would be one of these.) Other times, it's less so. Heck, there's one character from my first book whose part I wound up toning down because he was such a pain in the ass to write. (That'd be Brian, if you're curious. He's such a putz.) It's interesting, though, to see how I'm feeling after I finish writing certain characters. In the second book, for example, I'm occasionally writing from the point of view of Diomedes, and let me tell you, that's a draining place to write in. It takes me a little while to switch gears back to myself, which I suppose might sound weird to some of you.

Right now, I'm working on writing a small section from a character who is SO alien to my own personality that it's very, very slow going. Quite frankly it's draining, both because it's so hard to translate my own thoughts into this character's to write the POV properly, and because the slow going makes me feel like I'm just plain going too slow. If I go to slow, I start feeling blocked, which only makes me go slower. It's like a slog through the mud, really, and I have to work to make sure that READING it doesn't feel like slogging, too. I don't think it does, but making sure it comes out right is important to me. I suppose I should think of that part of the writing process as a 9-hour flight to a vacation spot. Sure, the flight (or the writing process) isn't the most fun, but once it's over, I'm in a spot I really want to be.

So what's my point? I don't really have one, I guess, but I wanted to take a break from trying to write this character's point of view and switch back to my own brain, 'cause today I'm a lazy, lazy man. :)

24-Hour Short Story Contest

2008-01-27T16:07:00.000-08:00

Yesterday (or January 26th, at least, if you're not reading this on the 27th) I took part in something I discovered a few years ago: WritersWeekly.com's 24-hour Short Story Contest. Basically everyone signs up to compete (well, everyone or 500 people, whichever is smaller), and at noon Central Time the day of the contest, they email out the contest topic. Everyone's got 24 hours to turn in a story, constrained only by the topic and a word count, which in my experience is usually around 1000 words. The topic itself is a few sentences that begin the story, though writers are allowed to change it around a bit (altering genders, names, ages, etc.) so long as the concept remains the same. Never one to be able to focus on one thing at a time (I blame it on a decade of working office jobs that force me to multitask), I decided to keep a blog as I worked. Below...is my journey. (Ah, I'm such a melodramatic guy...) The blog is in local time, so as I'm in Seattle I got the topic at 10am. Some of this stuff is written after-the-fact, but close enough. ;)

9:45am: Got up, rode the exercise bike for 10 minutes just to get the blood flowing, as I hear blood pumping in the brain is a good thing, and the brain seems to be used for writing, unless you're penning something like "Meet the Spartans." Ate breakfast. Food good for thinking, too!

10:00am: Checked email for topic. Nothing yet.

10:01am: Checked email for topic. Still nothing.

10:02-10:05am: Repeat previous entry.

10:06am: Realized I was checking the wrong email address. Got story topic that was mailed six minutes prior:

She always kept the object safe and close to her. Mama made her repeat the promise over and over again during those last days. "I will never show it to a living soul. I will never show it to a living soul."

She cried about Mama less now, not as much as she had before. She was missing Mama now as she did each night when she removed her scuffed shoes. She then carefully peeled the gray sock off her foot, and waited for the familiar object to fall out. Nothing happened. Panicked, she quickly turned her sock inside-out. It was gone.

Hrmm. Sounds like the main character's a little girl, which I'm not crazy about (writing kids is not my strength), but it's better than the time they had a bunch of kids on a school bus. (I never did come up with a good story for THAT one.) I note it's "never show it to a living soul," not "ANOTHER living soul." Maybe the girl is dead or a ghost?

10:07am: Jumped in the shower to get myself presentable and brainstorm ideas. Running water is, apparently, also good for creativity. (Note: This fact offered by sellers of running water desktop fountains, so is likely suspect.) First thought: I really don't like that "Mama" in there, and I don't quite know why. So far, however, no really good ideas for the rest of the story are jumping out at me.

10:30am: Done with shower and dressed. I've gotten an inkling of a kernel of an idea that I like well enough to try to develop, and I can somewhat see where the story might go, but nothing's exciting me yet. I'm fairly certain I'm going to go with the little girl being a ghost, but I'm worried that might be too cliche or predictable. One thing I don't want to do is come up with something that 499 others went with.

10:45am: After more pondering and writing a few notes down, I'm taking a mental break to let things percolate. The subconscious shall work on the story, while the conscious plays a little game of Civilization 4. Maybe I'll try using the Zulus. I've never tried them before.

11:45am: After numerous game restarts, have come to the conclusion that the Zulus suck, at least for me. On the plus side, I've gotten a few other ideas/idea fragments written down as I played. I'm off to the cafe to apply caffeine and sugar to the situation. I don't have a full story yet, or even a full story arc...or even any real characters in mind, but at least I have a kernel to work on so that my brain won't completely explode out of frustration. I'm a little cranky that nothing's really grabbed me yet, though.

12:15pm: At the cafe. I really need to stop sitting at the drafty table, but oh well. My kernel of an idea hasn't popped. In fact, with further thought, I don't quite think I can make it work--or at least not in 1,000 words. I still like the idea of the girl being a ghost, but I'm not married to it. Hey, what if the mother's still alive, but a vampire?

12:30pm: Still working with the vampire idea, but it's gotten more complex, and in an 1,000-word story, complex is NOT my friend.

12:45pm: Abandoning the vampire idea. It's just not quite working for me.

12:50pm: Spent 5 minutes staring at a blank paper and watching other patrons, completely devoid of ideas. I suppose I could just give up, but I really want to get SOMEthing written, especially now that I've got the book out. Nearly out of caffeine.

1:05pm: I think I might have something...

1:35pm: Okay! Not only do I have a feasible idea, but I've got a full outline written for the story! Or most of an outline, anyway. One of the characters isn't quite fleshed out yet, and there are various technical details that I need to do a bit of quick research on, but I've got an idea that I can work with. This is going to be one messed UP story. My main character needs therapy. Headed home.

2:15pm: Back at home, having just researched a bit of the things I need to know, mostly having to do with horses. (I say "researched," but mostly I just asked people. Thanks again, if you're reading this!) Time for another break, frankly. I should revisit the Zulus.

2:45pm: Definitely not good with the Zulus. Okay, I really ought to start getting this story WRITTEN, huh? As Dan Simmons once wrote, I love being a writer, it's the paperwork I can't stand. Okay, focus...

4:00pm: Going little by little here. I'm easily distracted right now, and working my way through a paragraph at a time. I've forgotten to give my characters names, so right now I've just got placeholders. I'm terrible at naming. Curious note, the placeholder names I've got all seem like they belong in the Old West, though the story is set in Britain maybe 300 years ago or so. I'm blaming this on the fact that I'm reading Lonesome Dove right now.

6:00pm(ish): First draft...mostly written. Kind of. Well, sort of. More or less. The beginning is going to need tweaking (I want to change what they gave me to give it a little more of a hook and to help it stand out from the other entries), and the end doesn't QUITE work for me. I think I may be hanging onto an element that shouldn't really be in the story anymore, but I'll see. The placeholder names are still there, and some of the dialogue seems to be skewing Old West, too. (Durn you, Augustus McCrae!!!) Sending the story off to two friends online at the moment for reactions, and to see if they think the ending doesn't work, either. Oh, and I ought to eat.

6:15pm: Sounds like they both actually like the ending. Hmm. Maybe I'm better than I thought. One of them even called me a rat, which in this case is a good reaction. (I TOLD you this would be a messed up story.) The beginning does need work, though. And I need better names. Someone suggested Genghis for the name of the horse, but as this is a kindly, gentle old horse, I ain't namin' him Genghis, gol durnit! I'm going to do a little more tweaking and then take a break. A friend has persuaded me to go see Cloverfield tonight anyway, and that sounds like a good break.

6:45pm: Off to Cloverfield. Hope I won't need a Dramamine.

10:00pm: Back from Cloverfield. If I get my act together I'll have to write an actual review of that movie. I'm not sure which was more indestructible, the monster or the camera. Back to the story, though. Time for more tweaking, plus I have to get the word count down. The first draft was about 1079. Right now I'm at about 1020 or so. (I was at 1010 at one point, but I had to redo stuff.)

11:00pm: Okay, getting closer, dangit. It just occured to me that I have to TITLE this thing. Ah, well. At least I've gotten proper names for the characters now.

11:30ish: 997 words! ...Er, wait. 998, not counting the title or "The End." Still needs a title, though.

12:00pmish: (Okay, so the last few things I didn't blog at the time and a making up as I type this now.) I really hate coming up with titles. Took me a while of pacing and throwing stuff out to come up with something I liked. I kept coming up with stuff that I figured 75% of the other stories might be titled, so I threw those out after realizing that. I'm going with "Troy," which is the name of the horse. Plus it's also got some nice subtext relating to the whole Trojan War...which I hadn't even planned on, but it makes me look clever. (My subconscious is smart!)

12:05pm: Story's been submitted. Hopefully the caffeine I just had won't keep me up TOO late...

So I hear about how I did in about a month. The first time I entered, I won (2nd place), and each time since I've tried not to expect that I'd do as well so as not to be disappointed, but each time I do anyway. Who knows, maybe this one'll win. I'm pretty happy with it, at least.

Christmas Eve Rambling

2007-12-24T12:07:00.000-08:00

So it's Christmas Eve already. I honestly didn't realize it had been so long since I'd written here, but I suppose that's the holiday season for you. I've no particular thing in mind to blog about today, so this is likely to be something of a stream-of-consciousness entry...and I warn you, my consciousness can get a little weird. On the plus side, I haven't just consumed an entire box of chocolate-covered espresso beans. (THAT resulted in some interesting writing, let me tell you. I wonder if I still have that? Maybe I should post it here just for people's general amusement/horror.)

Side note: There's a line in Legacy of Memory where Felix makes reference to a similar situation for no particular reason other than he's Felix. (I was going to put it up here, but, oddly, to it would require a rather lengthy lead-up, so I'll hold off on that for now.)

I think Mike's Focus Pendulum(tm) has now swung back the other way, toward writing the second book and away from marketing A Shadow in the Flames. I've said it before and I like to repeat myself: marketing is draining and not very much fun. On the plus side, I've heard from numerous people now (some of whom I've never even met, which is even more cool) that they're enjoying/enjoyed the book. Some have even ordered more copies to give to friends as gifts, which frankly is a great compliment to me.

Random tidbit about the cover of ASITF: though the city of Northgate is fictional, there IS a location in the book that is actually visible on the cover. The Aristarchus crater, in which a small part of the book takes place, is visible and actually prominent on the image of the moon. See that light spot in the dark grey a little above the nine o'clock position? That's Aristarchus. I honestly had forgotten exactly where the crater was since I looked it up a long time ago and needed a crater name, so I thought that was kind of neat. I've actually no idea where those buildings actually exist, though. (I can tell you that they don't exist so close together like that, though. It's an image composited from a larger skyline. Each building, wherever it stands in the real world, is actually at least a few blocks from the others.)

I suppose I should get back to working on LoM--not to mention some final preparations for Christmas with my family tomorrow--so I'll leave you with a piece of music that someone made me recall last night. It's from the Children of Dune miniseries from the Sci-Fi Channel, and apparently written in the fictional Fremen language. The hearing the lyrics but not understanding their direct meaning has the effect of turning the vocals into another instrument in the mix, and just creates, as someone put it, a more pure and personal feeling in the listener. (It's also used to pretty good effect in the miniseries itself.) It's on YouTube (paired up with a fan-created montage) at www.youtube.com/watch?v=znJdaWzoRYw.

So that's it for now. Thanks again to all who've read the novel so far, and Merry Christmas! (Or, at least, have a festive holiday celebration of your cultural and/or personal preference! There. Now everyone can be happy.) ;)

Mike
www.michaelgmunz.com

Hello from the Wayward...

2007-12-08T13:10:00.001-08:00

Hey, that title sounds like some sort of arthouse play, doesn't it? Actually the Wayward is the name of a cafe here in Seattle (www.waywardcoffee.com) where I come sometimes. I only recently discovered it, but it's a nice place so far. They seem to be major Firefly fans here, too.

For the moment, it's Saturday and I'm taking a short break from doing a bit of book-marketing online to blog a bit. Marketing continues to take up more of my time than I'd like--or at least thinking about marketing and doing what I can about it. (No idea how effective I've been just yet, but I suppose every little bit helps.) I'd much rather be working on Legacy of Memory, but I suppose I've said that before.

Speaking of Legacy of Memory (the sequel to A Shadow in the Flames), I am making headway, if slowly at the moment. Right now, as I've been in an ASITF headspace for the past month or so, I've decided to reread what I've got of LoM just to refresh myself and recall various themes and character arcs. Of course I can't help but make a few minor edits as I go. Minor tweaking is something that's difficult to stop doing. I've purposely not reread the first book even after I got my printed copy because I'm sure I'd see something I want to change.

I'm pretty excited about book 2, even though it's not done yet. I just think it's a better book--not that the first book isn't good, of course. It's just that I can develop characters more and build on things from book 1 now that things are established. It's also fun for me, as a storyteller, to take elements from book one that I'd purposely cooked for development later and do what I'd planned so long ago. I also think my writing skill has just plain improved a bit, as happens with most writers, so I'm necessarily more proud of this one. Now I just need to finish the first draft, do some major tweaking/editing/revising/etc., and...well, see how well I can get it to press. Then the process of writing book 3, looming on the horizon, shall begin. (If you're curious, I'm currently thinking of Here Be Dragons for the title of that, though I originally had a different title in mine for Legacy of Memory, too, so that's subject to change. And NO, I won't tell you what I was originally going to call LoM. It...it wasn't good.) :)

A Shadow in the Flames is now the #2 best-selling sci-fi book from VirtualBookworm.com! Thanks to everyone who's helped get me there!

Mike
www.michaelgmunz.com

Amazon and B&N Slowly Getting There...

2007-11-28T14:04:00.000-08:00

Well, the book is now up at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com, though they still haven't gotten things QUITE right. B&N has the synopsis up now, at least (they didn't before), but they still need to put my middle initial back. They've got me listed as just "Michael Munz," which wouldn't be so much of a problem if I wasn't putting my "official" author name out there as Michael G. Munz. Right now, if people do a search for Michael G. Munz there, they get nothing. Of course, a title search for A Shadow in the Flames works, at least.

On the other end of the spectrum, for some reason at Amazon the TITLE isn't searchable, but my name is. Of course, for some reason there's a comma in my name (and it's not "Munz, Michael G." it's "Michael, G. Munz" which, frankly, is just weird). Those things should both be fixed soon, though, hopefully.

I also just discovered that B&N also allows reader reviews, so if anyone out there has positive things to say about the book, I'd love for you to share your comments on B&N as well as Amazon. (Every little bit of word of mouth helps!)

Of course, things still go better for me if people actually purchase from VirtualBookworm's site, but hey, obviously the big two reach a wider audience. My contact at VB tells me the book is currently doing pretty well, so thanks to everyone out there who's helped in the budding success!

-Mike
www.michaelgmunz.com

A Shadow in the Flames now available!

2007-11-23T10:25:00.000-08:00

"His family is gone. His home is destroyed. Now all Michael Flynn has left to him are his dreams and a friend who could crush his soul. As far-off events conspire to alter his destiny, can he find the strength to learn the truth?"

Well, it's out! A Shadow in the Flames, my debut sci-fi thriller, is now available from the website of my publisher, Virtual Bookworm.com. In a little while, it will also be on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com, but they're still getting things set up on that side. (It's actually better for me if people order directly through VB.com, but Amazon and Barnes and Noble obviously reach more people, so it's not a bad trade-off.)

I'd love for you all to check it out, and if you're interested, order a copy! (Why not order ten?) ;) If you've read through this blog, you've already seen a little about the book, but there's a whole lot more at my official website, www.michaelgmunz.com, including a the first chapter, a FAQ about the book, and more information about my writing in general. Check it out!

I'd love to hear what you think of it, and invite you to post any positive reviews at the book's Amazon.com page as well once it's active. (I don't have a major marketing engine behind me just yet, so every little bit of good word-of-mouth helps!)

-Mike
http://www.michaelgmunz.com

Market One, Write the Other...

2007-11-19T20:08:00.000-08:00

The release date for A Shadow in the Flames is nearly here, and I've been doing what I can to work on promotion. Self-marketing has never been my strong suit, and it's draining, but at least I'm making a little progress. Some stuff I'm still working on, and I'll talk more about that when it's done.

One thing I've been doing is working on a press release to send out to local papers and such. I've decided that I hate writing press releases more than I hate writing author bios, but not quite as much as I hate writing agent query letters. (It's a very close second, though.) Talking about myself in the third person always feels weird and arrogant, like I'm Miss Manners or something. (Side note: Have you ever seen this woman's column? All her answers refer to herself in the third person. I've often thought about writing to her with a question like "Dear Miss Manners, I know someone who often refers to herself in the third person. It comes off as extremely conceited, and I'm not quite sure how to tell her to come out of her ivory tower and stop pretending she's better than the rest of us. What would you suggest?")

In other news, I'm realizing that all the prep for ASITF has me neglecting the work on my second novel. I've gotten a little bit done (mostly edits of the latest chapter), but I've lost momentum there. Usually what I do when that happens is go back and reread the last few chapters I've done, but right now I'm not sure if I'd have time to do more than read it before losing momentum again. It's not a major concern, I suppose; I'll have time again soon enough. It's just that I'm getting near the end and looking forward to finishing...not that I won't be going back over it a few times for extensive tweaks and rewrites.

Blogging/Blathering About Vista

2007-11-10T12:50:00.001-08:00

Hey, look at that, I've figured out how to put the novel cover on my blog. Ain't technology amazing? (Sometimes I think of that and wonder how quickly any one of us nowadays would get burned as a witch if we suddenly found ourselves in the dark ages with so much as a beeping digital watch...I suppose there's a short story in that. Hrm.)

So on with the whole geek/laptop experience, I suppose. I'm currently in a Tully's with a mocha, actually able to type this live because they've got free wi-fi. It's rather surprising that Starbucks and Barnes & Noble don't have that--I don't imagine it would cost that much to set up, and I'm sure places that have free wi-fi are able to pull away some of their customers. Then again, there's a thing such as brand loyalty or just plain habit, so maybe they don't have to. But hey, I wasn't going to be talking about that, was I? Maybe later.

This laptop is my first experience with Windows Vista, and so far it's actually not too bad. Oh, shocking, the Mac vs. PC ads overstated the problems once again. (I really do hate those ads...not really because I'm an avid PC supporter so much as I just dislike strawman arguments. Well, okay, so I dislike commercials in general. Someone needs to start a fund to get Jared from Subway ejected into space.) The whole issue with Vista asking you if you REALLY want to do something you just told it to do (User Access Control) isn't that big of a deal, mostly because it's quite easy to turn the sucker off. I suppose I really ought to turn it back on now that I've got it set up the way I want it so it can actually do what it's designed to do--keeping spyware from messing with the system. Even before I turned it off, it wasn't really that big of a deal. Oh, no, an additional click or two! Whatever shall we do! Precious seconds lost! Come on, people, you know you'd only waste them anyway, right? Oh! Maybe we can all get a class-action lawsuit going against Microsoft for all those lost seconds? ...Okay, maybe I shouldn't blog while shot full of caffeine.

Other than that, it's not too terribly different from XP. I'm a little torn with regard to the new Start Menu in Vista. I like some things about it--the search function, for example, that pops up a program if you type it in--but I miss the way XP would expand the programs with just a mouse-over. In Vista you have to actually click it, which is a little more of a pain if you're on a laptop using a touchpad. Maybe there's a way to change it, but I'm not sure. Then again, on my XP machine at home I use the classic start menu, so maybe even XP doesn't do that. The file explorer windows are different from XP, too. So far they just seem to be different for the sole purpose of being different; I haven't noticed any more easy of use. Actually one thing I miss is the button that let you go up a level in the directory. I realized after a while that I can do that by clicking on the names of the directories in the top bar there (okay, so I'm not enough of a geek to know all the technical terms), but so far I've yet to learn to do that instinctively the way I have with XP. Perhaps I have issues with change.

The Aero graphics are kind of amusing, and certainly pretty (okay, so I've played with the window-tab thing that gives you a 3-D scrolling list of all your open windows a bit too much). As many have said before me, you could just as easily turn it off and free up a bit of computing power, but I rather like having it on. It doesn't really help me, but there is something to be said for feeling like I'm using the latest new thing. (I paid for a new laptop, it should at least FEEL shiny and now, yes?)

I don't really have a specific point about Vista so far. If anything this is less of an intelligent article on the subject and more just stream-of-consciousness rambling on a subject I only so far have a passing familiarity with, but it's good to just write sometimes, if only for the practice. Plus this way I can look like I'm doing something important while I sit here at Tully's.

I should talk about something more fun next time. Civilization 4 anyone?

Rambling avec geek

2007-11-07T19:14:00.000-08:00

And this would be blog entry number three. So it's been a little longer since writing here than I'd intended, but hey, I'm still getting the hang of this blog thing. I suppose part of the problem with being someone who's really more of a listener is I'm less inclined to get on a soapbox or just start typing without having a story to tell. Or maybe it's just blog performance anxiety? (Join the fight against Blog Performance Anxiety! We can wipe out BPA in our lifetime!)

My original intent for this entry was to talk about my novel, but quite frankly, I've done an awful lot of that lately what with setting up the official website and taking care of looking over the text and cover proofs. (That's finally done, by the way--and more relieved/panicked I could not be--and the novel should be available in a couple of weeks.) Besides, all of that information is set up on the website that links to this blog anyway, so to borrow a favorite phrase from a former boss of mine why re-invent the wheel? (He was also rather fond of "like pushing a noodle up a rope," but I'll save that for later use. Then again, I can't imagine any instance in which I'd WANT to push a noodle up a rope, but life is filled with surprises, isn't it?) My whole point here is that if you're curious about A Shadow in the Flames--and really, why not be curious?--check out Michaelgmunz.com.

So now the question is, what SHOULD I talk about? Rather than try to work out a specific theme for my blog, I'll likely be all over the map, at least until some sort of theme or focus emerges...if it does at all. That said, there will likely be a great deal of geekish leanings here, because to say I don't have a bit of geek in me would be to deny the facts. (Ah, I can just see my parents, if they read this, getting ready to try to tell me otherwise, but don't worry, I use the term with no negative connotation. Besides, saying you're a geek on the Internet is rather like saying you're a carnivore in a steak house, isn't it?)

Subject change! I'm sitting here writing this from my first ever laptop computer (Well, okay, SLIGHT subject change) in the middle of a Barnes & Noble café...and I just discovered that alt-130 doesn't seem to work to make an accented e on this thing. Hrmm. I've owned a computer since my parents got me a 286 in 1990 (which ran at a lightning-fast 12Mhz and is now likely somewhere in the Smithsonian), but I've never had my own laptop before. It's actually strange how many people assume I would have one just based on the fact that I'm a writer and I like to write in cafés, but I've never wanted to spend the money, and frankly I enjoy writing with a pen first before typing things up. It occurred to me, however, that I seem to now be able to type faster than I write (legibly, at least), so getting an inexpensive laptop to take with me might be a good idea. ...And okay, fine, part of it was just the whole allure of expensive electronics, but still...

I'm still getting the hang of it (as evidenced by the aforementioned alt-130 discovery), but so far it's okay. Of course I can't always get online. I discovered that the wi-fi in my usual café isn't exactly free (in fact it's no where near exactly free, it's not free at ALL, so why I'm using the phrase "isn't exactly free" I've no idea), so I'm actually typing this up in Notepad and planning to upload it to the blog once I get home. (And I'll probably also fix the unaccented es, too. Oh, won't that be exciting?)

So I think I just spent a lot of time saying essentially nothing. Looks like I'm getting the hang of this blog thing, eh? Maybe next time I'll ramble on about what I think of Windows Vista, which is weird and disturbing...and on my new laptop. In the meantime, think of some inspirational words pretend I said them, and I'll see you later...

Ack! (But excited!) ...but ack!

2007-10-09T18:18:00.000-07:00

I'm planning to write more here about just who I am, what I do, and what I write (including more info about my novel, A Shadow in the Flames), but for the moment I've been busier than I'd like. On the other hand, what I've been busy with involves setting up my writing website and finalizing things with my publisher, so at least it's not a bad busy...but it is at least a little stressful. So are many little choices that I'm probably over-obsessing over.

Today they sent me the proof of the text of the novel. There it was, all laid out, typeset, my name and the title at the top of the pages... It hit me, this is actually going to happen. It's exciting, but more than a little nerve-wracking, too. It's like I've got myself all packaged up and ready to release upon the world, both for the enjoyment (excited!) and judgement (nerve-wracking!!) of anyone who reads it. I'm confident in what I've written, but I suppose even the most confident writer still has at least a LITTLE shyness about what he or she has written. (Look at me making blanket statements I can only partially support! Woo hoo!)

They're still working on the cover, but...wow. Things are shaping up.

I'll be customizing this place a little more soon enough, and hopefully then I'll have time to blog a little more about what it's all about. ...or just yammer on about my idea for a battery-powered battery recharger.

Jumping on the Blogwagon

2007-10-06T19:01:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my first ever blog entry!

...Hmm. There was no trumpet fanfare like I was expecting. With all the hype about the "blogosphere," I expected my own private parade or something. Not that I really need a parade--though don't get me wrong, I wouldn't mind one. I suppose the logistics of the thing are a little too complex to accomplish instantly. Street closures, band bookings, and then they'd have to reserve a date, make sure it works for everyone... Come to think of it, I'd probably have to show up to the parade--I mean, it'd be rude not to, really--and frankly, I'm not sure I've got a parade-shaped gap in my schedule at the moment as I'm too busy with getting my novel to press and all that entails. (Yes! Shameless plug!) Perhaps it's just as well there's no parade. I don't know, though, not even a trumpet fanfare? Ah, well. Somehow life goes on.

So yes, first ever blog entry! This isn't to say I'm completely new to the concept, of course; I've written short stories, one and (so far) 3/4ths novels, essays, journal entries, forum posts--I've even written four movie scripts in college, but we won't talk about those--but I've never officially blogged. (Ah, noun-verbing. Gotta love it.) I think part of the difference is that the word "blog" seems to carry with it a connotation of some sort of importance given how they're always talking about "what the blogs are saying" in political discussions. Great, so now I have to write important things? Ack, the pressure! I'm a writer, but I'm much more used to writing things that are meant to be entertaining rather than "important."

Then again, entertainment is important, right? (I mean, it must be; there's an entire section of the newspaper devoted to it!) Besides, given how many Hollywood blogs are likely devoted to tracking the minutiae of Paris Hilton's dog's dietary choices ("Is she depressed about the size of Leona Helmsley's dog's inheritance? Oh, noes!") I guess I'm safe. So if you've found this blog, hi there, and keep reading! I'll do my best to make it interesting.

And I guarantee you here and now that this is the last time I'll mention Paris Hilton or Leona Helmlsey in this space! (Legal Dept. note: This is not a guarantee. Offer void where prohibited by law. Blog should not be taken internally.)

Quote of the Arbitrary Time Period: "Anything that is in the world when you're born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. Anything that's invented between when you're fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things." --Douglas Adams