Archive for July, 2013

Pregancy in Science Fiction and Fantasy

Posted: July 31, 2013 in Reflections, Writing
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Yesterday I saw a video on a Freshly Pressed post on pregnancy in science fiction and fantasy, particularly the “mystical pregnancy”. The full video is below:

This video got me thinking. First I started thinking about all the instances not mentioned in this video: Nymphadora Tonks in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Scully once again in the seventh-eighth seasons of The X-Files, Amy Pond in the sixth series of Doctor Who, Ruth Gallagher in the second book of The Age of Misrule trilogy, Lady Gaga in the Born This Way music video and live performances, Padme Amidala in Revenge of the Sith–you can stop me anytime, you know.

Then it got me thinking about the use of pregnancy in fiction, particularly the TV shows, movies, and books I like. It was a bit of a shock, how transparent and flat these women can become when they are impregnated by their writers. Some are barely there at all as characters. It’s a little sad, and kind of sexist, reducing an entire complex being to the process of pregnancy of birth. And if you need a great example, take a look at Padme in Revenge of the Sith. She gets maybe twenty minutes of screen-time, has very few significant lines, and in the end dies of heartbreak after giving birth. I think her most memorable line from that movie was “So this is how democracy ends: to the sound of thunderous applause.”

To reiterate, this wasn’t what fans were hoping to see.

But after discussing things with the Suspense/Thriller Writers group I belong to on Facebook and sleeping on the subject a bit, I came to a realization that while pregnancies, and mystical pregnancies as well, are used perhaps a bit too much in fiction, it’s the portrayal of the characters that matters the most. For example, Padme’s pregnancy is a very bad example of how badly the subject of pregnancy can be handled. However there are better examples, such as Aeryn Sun from Farscape. According to writer David Lucas: “Aeryn: surrounded by enemies, gives birth. Later, with the baby in a sling, emerges even stronger as a character and as a fighter as she has something even more precious to fight for.” Note this part of a FB comment, so that’s why there’s two colons there.

Two other writers, John Saunders and Annette Wright, points out the character of Sarah Connor in the first two Terminator films. In the first film, Sarah is naïve and has to struggle a lot. But her pregnancy and its aftermath helps hone her into a fierce fighting machine, pun totally intended.

Don’t mess with Sarah Connor, people.

And there are plenty of other examples where female protagonists and other characters have used their pregnancy to grow as characters rather than become one-dimensional breeding machines. For example, Adalind Schade from Grimm becomes even more of a schemer and antagonist, because now she has something over the other characters: the birth of a new prince. Ripley in Alien 3 had a chest-burster growing in her body, but instead of letting the men do the work, she worked proactively to defeat the Dog Alien and kill the Queen growing inside her (and yes, I’m counting that as a mystical pregnancy). And there are probably loads of examples I can’t even think of, showing that portrayal is most important in using pregnancy in science fiction and fantasy.

This was a woman who didn’t let an alien baby get in her way!

So for future reference, I’ll make sure to take a look at pregnancies in fiction and see how it’s portrayed, what works, what doesn’t work, and what can make up a positive or a negative portrayal. I may even write an article on this for Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors, if I can find the time.

Plus I’d like to check out the other videos in that Tropes vs. Women series. It looks interesting, and I might just learn something important that’ll improve my fiction writing in the future.

As always, thought and comments are welcome on this subject. What is your take on pregnancy in fiction, particularly mystical pregnancy?

The Quiet Game: Two Weeks Since Publication

Posted: July 31, 2013 in Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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tqg cover

It’s been officially two weeks since The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones became available on Amazon and Smashwords. In that amount of time, I’ve received a lot of encouragement and praise from friends and family. In fact, the number of copies sold has risen to nineteen paperbacks and eight e-books. I haven’t received any reviews yet, but I’m sure as more people read the book and get through it, they’ll write a review.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention it, but I’ve signed my first autographs! They belonged to my parents and my dentist, but I’ve signed some copies of the book. It was an exhilarating feeling, and it made me happy to leave personal messages to the people who bought my book. After all, even though they were family and friends, it’s still amazing that I’m published now, and I wanted to share the joy with the people who are helping to make this into a success, whatever that is in the difficult world of self-publishing.

If you haven’t checked out The Quiet Game yet, then you can read a description of it on the Short Story Collections page, complete with links where you can get a copy (should you so desire to buy one). I promise you, it’s a chill of a good time.

Video Rage: One-Sixth Of The Way In

Posted: July 30, 2013 in Living and Life, Novel, Progress Report, Writing
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I was hampered by a little writer’s block today, but after a pasta dinner, a nice walk and a shower, I was able to get a lot of writing in. And I’m happy to say, I got through Chapter Six of Video Rage, the sequel to Reborn City. Like I’ve stated previously, Video Rage takes place about two or so weeks after RC ends and a lot has changed for the characters. People are pushed in ways they’ve never been pushed before, secrets are revealed, and the whole world is after them now. It’s a pretty crazy trip, but it’s fun writing.

Writing these first six chapters has been a lot of work. I had to re-immerse myself into the world of Reborn City, and since the plot of this novel takes place outside of Reborn City, I had to invent a lot of new aspects in terms of that universe’s society and culture. It was a little difficult at first, especially writing a good hook for the opening, along with showing what the Hydras have been up to and how they’ve changed since RC closed, but now it feels almost natural to go back into that world. Kind of like jumping down the rabbit hole, I guess.

I also had to split up Chapter Four into two parts while I was writing it. I realized that as a chapter it would be packing too much in, so I had to split it into two separate chapters. In terms of character development and storyline, I feel it was the right thing to do. I still have 31 more chapters to write instead of 30 like the original outline intended, but it’ll be 31 better chapters thanks to the split, if you ask me.

Tomorrow I hope to start Chapter Seven, if I can get through Chapter Six of Laura Horn quickly. Working on two novels at once has its drawbacks, but I’m getting a lot of work done, and I’m having fun with it. If I can, I’d like to make a habit of working on two novels at once from now on, if I can. Of course, when senior year comes around and I have a thesis to write, I may have to focus on just one novel! Good thing that’s a year away, right?

I hope to have more good news tomorrow. In the meantime, good night and have a lovely sleep.

Review: The Wolverine (2013 film)

Posted: July 29, 2013 in Review
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Go see the movie. You will enjoy it.

I wrote “2013 film” in parentheses because there’s a million different “The Wolverine” out there, and not just that team up north in Michigan, of whom only about 20 fans of I like. If you don’t get that, you don’t know Ohio or Michigan or college football.

I’m a huge fan of Wolverine, and I love Japan (total otaku), and I love action movies, so I was psyched to see this film, especially since it was supposed to be so much better than X-Men: Wolverine. I was not disappointed. The story follows Wolverine as he is taken to Japan to pay his respects to a dying man whom he saved when the second bomb fell and exploded in an unrealistic fashion. However once he gets there, thing start to get strange, and Logan has to protect the daughter of a business tycoon while all sorts of dangerous forces come after her…and Logan! Plus romance and new friendships and enemies and a ninja with hair dyed deep-red wearing casual clothes make for a great afternoon well-spent.

Of the actors, Hugh Jackman is always great playing the role of a surly tough guy, while Tao Okamoto playing Mariko Yashida touched my heart. Rila Fukushima is awesome as ninja psychic Yukio, while Hiroyuki Sanada as one of the main villains in the story is scary. And watch Svetlana Khodchenkova as the Viper puts the” fatal” in femme fatale. Also, watch for cameos from Famke Jessen (Jean Grey), Patrick Stewart (Professor X), and Ian McKellan (Magneto). And stick around after the credits, you’ll get a hint of what’s coming next year in X-Men: Days of Future Past, where the latter two show up.

Also be aware of some awesome special effects, including the Silver Samurai character. And there are some great fight sequences between Logan and the many Yakuza and ninja enemies he has to take on, especially since he’s taking them on with some handicaps (you’ll find out all about that when you see the movie).

All told, I’m giving The Wolverine a 4.5 out of 5. Can’t wait for next summer. Actually I can, I’ve got Elysium next month and two or three movies in October that will hopefully scare the crap out of me. I’ve got plenty to look forward to.

The Pope’s New Stance On Homosexuality

Posted: July 29, 2013 in Living and Life, Politics and Leadership, Progress Report, Social Activism
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I think, now more than ever, I like Pope Francis.

In a stunning reversal of traditional Catholic policy, Pope Francis I took a more positive approach to homosexuality than his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI. While speaking with journalists on the plane ride back to Rome, the Pope was asked how he would react if he were to learn that there was a cleric in his ranks who was gay but not sexually active. His reply: “Who am I to judge a gay person of goodwill who seeks the Lord? You can’t marginalize these people.”

God bless the Pope!

I’ve always been a little wary of the Catholic Church as an entity, though I know and I am friendly with regular Catholics. There’s a deep-rooted history of animosity between the Church and Judaism, exacerbated over recent years when Holocaust-denying clergy were allowed to continue practicing in positions of power. That, plus their views on LGBT and  women’s rights, mixed with pedophilia scandals have really made me and other people, if not detractors, then angry with it.

But with the election of Pope Francis, who sets out to be a reformer of the Church like his namesake St. Francis, I have had some new thoughts. This pope seems much more down-to-Earth and of the people, and he’s already instituted a number of reforms in Church policy. This latest change really makes me happy. Not only does it signal a possible change in the Church’s policy towards the LGBT community–which has regarded homosexuality as a disorder, and in recent years barred gay clerics from practicing–but it also signals a change for the Pope, who as a cardinal wrote a few papers condemning people who were LGBT.

If this is an indication of which direction the Pope might go in terms of the Vatican’s relationship with the LGBT community, it could signal a major change around the world. In several nations, from Iran and Russia to Uganda and Zimbabwe, there are laws in place or in process that would seek to rob the LGBT community of their human rights, and in countries where laws support the LGBT community, such as England, France, and certain areas of the United States, there is still an uphill battle to give the LGBT community the same rights as their straight neighbors. If the Pope’s statement signals a reversal in policy, several countries may face a rise in support for the rights of LGBTers.

And another thing that I’ve noticed is that the Pope said “You can’t exclude these people.” While I do note that calling an entire community that spans the globe “these people” sounds a little exclusionary in itself, to me the greater message sends out more powerful vibes. For years, exclusion of those unlike yourself or the main part of a group has been a too-widely accepted policy. It was believed that if you excluded someone unlike yourself–because of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, etc.–they would either change their ways, learn their place, or go away. But nowadays most people don’t bow so easily to the majority, and everyone from women to gays to Hispanics to everyone in between is speaking up for their rights, and it is working for the most part.

Something like this in the future would be nice.

If the Church is going to end its exclusionary policies, then that could lead to better relations between them and gays, particularly those who want a relationship with God and the Church. And it also shows that those who want to exclude gays from society or outright ban them may have lost a powerful ally in the Church. Which if you ask me, can only be a good thing.

I look forward to seeing where the Pope goes with this. Hopefully it’ll lead to more pro-gay reforms in the Church policy, making Catholicism and possibly Christianity in general more accepting to the LGBT community, and to people in general.

In the meantime, I’d like to say a prayer from Judaism that is said when something that hasn’t happened before happens for the first time: Baruch atah Hashem, Elocheinu Melech Ha’olam, Shehechianu v’kiamanu v’higi’anu lazman hazeh. Blessed are You, Lord Our God, Ruler of the Universe, who has granted us life, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this occasion.

An occasion I hope will lead to something good.

Laura Horn: Prologue’s Done

Posted: July 24, 2013 in Novel, Progress Report, Writing
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Looks like all of my goals for today are done. I stopped by the library, saw The Conjuring (and really enjoyed it) and I finished the Prologue section of Laura Horn. Not a bad day’s work, considering I slept in late.

I’m not sure if I write prologues the same way as other writers do. Most only use a single chapter, but I use several chapters, each no more than 10 pages, to tell a short scene that sets the mood for the novel. In this case, I wrote three chapters, about ten pages total, to start the mystery that is at the center of Laura Horn and will affect our heroine later in the story. It worked very well for Snake, so I’m doing the same thing here, but I still wonder what other people–especially other writers–make of my use of prologues.

Did I mention Laura doesn’t show up in the Prologue? It’s true, she doesn’t make an appearance till Chapter Four, and we don’t see things from her perspective till Chapter Five. Why do I do that? Well, I guess she didn’t need to appear in the story till that point, and in order to understand Laura, it’s best we find out what happens to her in Four before we see things through her eyes, which I save till Chapter Five. Besides, if Harry can wait to appear till the third chapter of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, why can’t Laura Horn make her first appearance four chapters into her own novel?

Just saying, is all.

Anyway, I’m satisfied with the Prologue. I may have to take a couple more looks at Chapter Three, I feel like something’s missing from it, but I’m not sure what. Chapters One and Two are pretty good though. Very dark and very informative about what’s to come in the novel. Just need another run-through on Chapter Three when I get to editing the first draft.

Tomorrow I’ll switch back to Video Rage, work on a chapter that includes some nasty character conflicts. After that I’ll start Part I of Laura Horn, which is where things start to get moving. I’m enjoying being busy with two novels. Perhaps it’s something I should make a habit of. Could lead to faster publications, at any rate.

And by the way, what do you think of the picture above? I personally like it, and I think Laura would like it too. She’d draw it herself…if she was good at art and wasn’t so badly traumatized. If we had the former, her subject matter would definitely be more dark, and if we had the latter…where would the story be for me to write?

Review: The Conjuring

Posted: July 24, 2013 in Review, Scary Stuff
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You will be afraid.

When I went to see this movie, the woman behind the counter at the concession stand told me it was really good. When I came out of the theater, she was still there. She asked me what I thought. I replied by doing a comically frightened pose and saying, “EEEEK!”

The Conjuring is definitely a thrill-fest. It tells two stories at once: one is the Perron family, who have just moved into a house with a very hostile spirit living in it (some days you wish you could sue your realtor for that). The other story follows real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga in this adaptation, who are trying to continue ghost-hunting and solving the supernatural in New England while also acknowledging that their work is dangerous and could kill them (or their  marriage).

The movie’s director, James Wan, said he wanted to get away from Saw with this film, and I’d say he did a very good job. With just a minimum of blood, guts, and gore and more of an emphasis on the strange and the unknown and the just plain creepy, we are given a terror show of scariness, with plenty of jumps and freaky things that will have you hugging the arms of your seat. At one point I jumped back in my seat and said quite loudly “Oh my God!” That’s how good it is.

You also see a very accurate portrayal of how ghost-hunting is done, though usually an exorcism is not in the mix. And the build-up of suspense is done masterfully. Plus you’ll never want to play any sort of game related to Blind Man’s Bluff or Marco Polo or hide-n-seek after this film. And with some really awesome special effects, you’ll think to yourself, “This movie can’t get any better. It’s already scary good!”

For the whole movie, I give The Conjuring a 4.5 out of 5. Bring your friends, because you’ll need someone’s hand to hold by the end of the show.

Also, they say this movie is based on a true story, but I have a feeling they fudged some things in order to make the story fit a movie. Still pretty darn good.

The Quiet Game: One Week Since Publication

Posted: July 24, 2013 in Progress Report, short story, Writing
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tqg-cover[1]

It’s been one week since The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones was published in an elaborate post meant to take the place of an actual launch party (see here). I’m starting to wonder if I should’ve just said “The book’s out, here are the links to purchase it”. But anyway, it’s been a week since The Quiet Game came out, and since then I’ve sold about 10 print books and 8 e-books, with more to come as people tell me they are planning to buy it or will buy it as soon as they get home (thank you, everybody!).

And I’ve gotten some reviews, as well. One was from my mother, who said she can’t read me at night anymore (and has since given me a full report over the phone over what she liked and disliked), while the other was from Jason Haxton, author of The Dibbuk Box, which indirectly inspired one of the short stories, Samson Weiss’s Curse (apparently he really liked that one). As Jason told me, he thought the book was a strong start and wished me a hearty congratulations. Thanks Jason, I really appreciate the feedback.

And with other friends promising reviews I cannot wait to see what people think. In fact, this whole journey in publishing The Quiet Game has been a blast (except for the wait to get the copyright, but I won’t let that ruin the whole thing). I’ve learned a lot, had some great help from friends and family, and got to express myself as well. Maybe in a few books’ time I’ll write another collection of short stories, and it’ll be better than The Quiet Game! Sounds like fun, right?

If you’re interested in reading The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones, you can purchase it off of Amazon or Smashwords, in both print paperback and e-book. And if you do read it, please let me know what you think. I always appreciate feedback, even negative feedback. It makes me want to work harder for my readers.

Characters Taking Over The Story

Posted: July 22, 2013 in Novel, Reflections, Writing
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I belong to a group of suspense and thriller writers on Facebook, and occasionally the subject has come up in discussion on characters taking over the plot of the story and acting in defiance to the author’s expectations for the story. Until recently, I had no idea what that meant, though I may or may not have said that I did. With my stories, especially my novels, I wrote an outline, then I wrote the story. The characters mostly followed the outline, and any changes, such as certain areas of the climax of Reborn City, I felt were my own creative decision.

It wasn’t until this morning, waiting for the bus to work, standing in the pouring rain, that I had a little epiphany of the subject. I remembered when I first started writing the outline for Reborn City, back in high school when publishing a book was still just a very far-away dream. Originally I’d planned for bad-boy Rip to be the star of the show, and Zahara Bakur to be the deuterogamist (secondary protagonist for those of you who don’t know that term). But as I started outlining the novel, I saw that Zahara was taking up more of my attention and more of the story than Rip was. Consequently as time went by, Zahara went from deuterogamist to co-protagonist, and by the end of the outline, she’d gone to leading lady, with Rip being the deuterogamist.

Reborn City

And you know what? I thought the novel benefited from that. Sure, the Hydra leaders have a plethora of problems, and having Zahara around doesn’t exactly make them easier. But I think they benefit in some ways from Zahara, and she’s the one who goes through the biggest transformation of all. Heck, I’m only two chapters into the second book of the series (three if I can stay on track for tonight), and I’ve already noticed that she has a confidence that wasn’t present in the first book.

Sure enough, my characters are having more of a say in how the story turns out than I am. If anything, Zahara’s dictating her story to me, rather than I’m coming up with it. It’s a weird feeling, but it’s also kind of fun and exciting, and I get to experience my characters’ growths, decisions, and tribulations with them. And isn’t following a character through all that just the reason we pick up books in the first place and read them?

I’m looking forward to see what happens from here on out. I’m also hoping to see if I’ll write any more stories where the characters do more of the dictating than I do. If I do, it’ll probably be sometime soon, especially since I’m working on two novels at once!

Review: Whiskey Delta by Matthew Williams

Posted: July 20, 2013 in Review
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Yesterday I finished one of the first books on my new Kindle, and I’m happy to say that it was by a friend of mine. And since Matt’s done a lot for me and I for him, I thought I’d give him a review of his novel. So Matt, know that what I say here, I say as a friend giving his honest opinion. And I know you wouldn’t want me to just give a gushing review if it wasn’t truthful, right?

So my friend’s novel, Whiskey Delta, is about a world terrorized by zombies. Sounds familiar, right? But there are some key differences between this novel and other works featuring zombies. For starters, the military is actually giving an adequate response to the zombie threat. That’s something you usually don’t see in the zombie literature/films/movies. For another, something about these zombies makes them very different from regular zombies, though I won’t reveal what because that would be a huge spoiler alert. The book itself follows a group of soldiers sent into Los Angeles on a covert mission in order to retrieve something important for the war effort. What happens there will change each and every soldier profoundly.

I thought the story was an entertaining zombie novel. It’s rare to show the military doing anywhere near a good job in a zombie story, so I commend my friend Matt for doing so. Also, I thought the twists in this novel were very interesting, especially in terms of what we thought we knew about these zombies–known as Whiskeys in the novel–and what the truth of the matter turns out to be.

I did think that certain characters such as Kobayashi and Saunders were introduced so quickly that I didn’t even have time to process them into the group before they were in the group, and that the main focus of the novel seemed to shift between characters rather than focusing on one character and saying “Here’s our protagonist”. But it’s a military team, so I’ll let it pass.

I also thought that more character development would’ve been nice, as I seem to know supporting character and all-around hillbilly Whitman better than I know main characters Braun, Dezba, and Saunders, which doesn’t seem right to me. And all the military terms were hard to follow. I’m not overly familiar with the military, so things like claymores, SCARs, and Stryker left me a little confused and I had to rely on my imagination for most of it.

However it was an entertaining story and by the end of it I was glad I read it. For Whiskey Delta, I award it a 3.9 out of 5. I’m looking forward to what the sequel, Papa Zulu, will produce.

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