Boy, it’s been a crazy day. I was afraid I’d never have a chance to write this post. But I’m in front of my computer, my homework for tonight is done, and I’ve called back everyone who’s left me messages, so here’s the post to celebrate the two-month anniversary of The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones, my collection of short stories and first published book.
So far, I’ve sold about 41 or 42 copies, which isn’t too bad given I’m still pretty new to the indie-publishing scene and this is my first book. In addition, I’ve got a 4-star average on Amazon at the moment based on four reviews, which makes me happy. I like to think that people like what I write, so the reviews are proof that at least some people like the book.
I’ve also gotten some interesting responses to my book. For instance, the first short story in the collection, “Addict”, has turned quite a few heads with its content. But it’s a story about a man with sex addiction, so I can see why that might attract some attention. I’ve also gotten some great feedback on some of the other short stories. My dad thought the titular short story, “The Quiet Game”, was very creepy and well-done, and coming from him that’s some really awesome praise. And of course Jason Haxton, author of the book The Dybbuk Box, loved my original dybbuk story, “Samson Weiss’s Curse”. He’s the one who gave me my sole five-star review.
If you’re interested in reading The Quiet Game, please check it out on Amazon and Smashwords, available in both paperback and e-book versions.
In addition to being the second-month anniversary of The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones (post to come later) this is also the day I do my weekly exercises. These flash fiction pieces are chances to practice my craft, chances to hear reader views, and shameless plugs to get you interested in my published fiction. And today’s the fifth one, meaning I can stick with this.
Remember, the exercises depend on reader feedback, so whatever you think, please let me know. I love hearing from you.
~~~
He had killed them all. A year ago, he and his wife had left a restaurant and they had jumped him, beaten him and given him a Glasgow smile, so now he always looked like he was smiling. He’d lived, but his wife hadn’t been so lucky. She had been raped and killed by the punks who’d cut his face open. The autopsy had revealed she was three weeks pregnant with their first child.
The police couldn’t find them. Didn’t have the time, with all the gang crimes in this city. But he hadn’t stopped looking for them. And he’d found them. And now they lay all around him, with eternal smiles full of blood on their faces. He looked at their pitiful faces, and then he left. He was going to put flowers on his wife’s grave.
Two reviews in one post. That’s a new one for me. But what do you expect from me? Two very interesting series having two significant events on the same night, one after the other? Of course I’m going to do a double review! So without further ado, let’s start the analysis and reviews:
Now that’s what I call graphics.
Sleepy Hollow Based on the famous short story by Washington Irving, Sleepy Hollow is an updated version of the classic tale, where Ichabod Crane is a Revolutionary War hero instead of a teacher. Get this: he’s the one who beheaded the famous Headless Horseman. Now the Horseman’s back, and Ichabod’s returned from the grave to stop him…and whoever’s controlling him. With some Biblical themes mixed in, some good ol’ fashioned American legend and folklore, and some superb acting, I think this could be the start of a great series.
So far I have only two complaints: one is that Ichabod, played by actor Tom Milson, seems not as culture-shocked as you’d expect for an 18th century man finding himself in the year 2013…or as torn up over the death of his wife Katrina, who appears to him in a ghostly dream. Also, I have a feeling that the series’ producers are trying to create a mythology from the first episode. While I admire that, let’s hope they don’t shove it down our throats. Give us the mythology too quickly and viewers may be turned off from it.
Other than that, the show seems really great. The characters seem very real to me, and the chemistry between Ichabod and Sheriff Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie) is already strong, like Mulder and Scully in some ways. Also the cast is very diverse, which both brings a little humor to the show (Ichabod is surprised that Abbie, who is a woman and African American, isn’t a slave and is instead a lieutenant, making everyone rolls their eyes or laugh with a knowing smile) and makes me think we’re actually making some progress in terms of race relations. Not much, but some. And the show is filmed in the actual town of Sleepy Hollow, New York. Yes, there’s an actual Sleepy Hollow. It changed its name from Tarrytown a few years back to honor the original Irving story, in which Sleepy Hollow is a part of the Tarrytown township or district or whatever. Who knew!
All in all, I’m giving Sleepy Hollow a 4.6 out of 5. I’m looking forward to the rest of the season, and seeing whether this show can keep up the momentum or…you know what, I’m not even going to finish that sentence lest I jinx it. Let’s hope for the best.
Purists hate this show, but most seem to love it.
Under the Dome In so many ways this show, based on the uber-long novel by Stephen King, who executive produced the show, departs from the original story. And as we saw tonight, it can sometimes stay true to the original tale. In the meantime, we’ve seen an incredible season. I was skeptical when I saw the first episode this summer (see the review here), but the story got better and better with every episode, taking the story in new directions, developing very real characters, and throwing in as many mysteries as it could without overwhelming viewers.
In a way, it’s really amazing how the show weaves in so many ideas and subplots and characters in a coherent narrative. That’s something I’d like to be able to do someday, and do it with ease as well. In any case, I’m not surprised that Under the Dome will be returning next summer for a second season, especially based on that very strange cliff-hanger of a season finale. If you haven’t gotten into the show yet, I suggest you look it up. Dean Norris from Breaking Bad could easily win an Emmy for his work on the show as town councilman James “Big Jim” Rennie, especially now that Bad‘s over and done with (at least I think it is. The series ended, right?). And Dale “Barbie” Barbara, the show’s lead played by Mike Vogel, looks underdeveloped as a character at first glance, but you find this bad-ass charm, mystery, and kindness on the second. I think it’ll be interesting to see what they do with him in the second season.
For the season finale, I give UTD a well deserved 4.6 out of 5. And for the entire first season…I’m awarding it a 4.8 out of 5, for taking a complicated story and a not-so-good start and making it one of the TV events of the summer. Yeah, I said that. Weep, Miley Cyrus. Your little freak-out on MTV didn’t hit my radar.
Expect more TV show reviews as new and exciting series, like Dracula or Marvel: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. begin this fall, and a few movies such as Carrie and Catching Fire come out. Not to mention the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor, comes out this November. I cannot wait!
Well, that’s all for now. Hope to do my weekly exercises tomorrow. Good night everybody!
I love it when I get nominated for these meme things! Thanks to theimpossiblegirl123 for nominating me for this award. And as with these memes, they’re are some rules to go with it (isn’t that always how it is?). First, I’ve got to thank the person who nominated me and link back to them (did that!). Next, post the Leibster Award symbol on my blog (it’s up above). Okay, next I have to…name 11 facts about myself. Haven’t done that yet. Okay, let’s do it:
1. I’m a Gemini
2. I meditate twice a day, usually in the morning after breakfast and in the evening before I go to bed.
3. I’m psyched for the premiere of the new Sleepy Hollow TV series tomorrow, as well as the Under the Dome season finale tomorrow night.
4. Despite my scary fiction writing, I can be funny on occasion.
5. I am able to do hypnosis on others and on myself, though I haven’t done it on others in a long time.
6. I have four younger sisters.
7. Both my parents are rabbis.
8. I read about 8 graphic novels a week on average.
9. My first PG-13 movie was Daredevil, and I still think it’s awesome, despite the detractors who hate it.
10. I find myself very confused and terrified by the phenomenon known as Bronies (if you don’t know what that is, you can Google it, but be warned. There’s a chance you may not come back the same from it).
11. The movie I’m looking forward the most to seeing at the moment is the remake of Carrie next month.
Alright, now I have to answer 11 questions from impossiblegirl123’s blog. Here I go:
1. If you could be a part of any story (book, movie or TV), what story would you choose? Ooh, that’s a tough one. I wish I could just one. There are a couple of manga and anime I would love to be a part of, including Neon Genesis Evangelion and Negima. Plus I’d love to guest star in an episode of Castle as myself. But if I have to choose, let me be the Doctor or one of his companions. That would be great! Danger, wonder, fun and wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey adventures! What’s not to love?
2. Tea or Coffee? Tea. I can’t get through the day without some tea.
3. Which fictional character bears the most resemblance to you, either in physical appearance, character, or both? Good question. I look a lot like Draco Malfoy, no doubt about it. But I think I’m very much like the Doctor (one-track mind, I know). If I were to play him, I wouldn’t be acting, I’d just be me with some very big words.
4. Summer or winter? Summer. I love the warmth.
5. Would you rather watch exclusively TV shows or movies for the rest of your life? If I have to choose, I’ll take TV shows. Always inspiration for great stories, characters, character development, and always room for further stories, rather than having to fit in everything in two-and-a-half hours. However, if one of my favorite shows has a tie-in movie edition, I want to see it!
6. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go? I’m going to assume based on the language that I can make this an extended trip with multiple stops, so I’m going to say: first a couple of weeks in Japan, then fly over to Europe for a tour of the continent, starting in England and ending in Poland, stop in Bolivia and Argentina for some fun, and then finish it off with a month in Israel, the home of my soul.
7. Gummy bears or chocolate? Chocolate. DUH!
8. What’s the first movie you really remember? And what made it so memorable? I don’t know! I’m seriously not sure!
9. What song do you listen to on repeat for hours? Can’t say I have any song like that.
10. Comedy or Horror? Horror, of course! That’s the whole purpose of this blog.
11. Which Big Bang Theory character are you? I’m a male version of Bernadette with writing skills. My roommate is a cross between Howard Wolowitz and Leonard Hofstadter. We get along very well.
Next, I have to nominate 9 other blogs for the award. I hope I can come up with 9 bloggers.
Okay, I’ve run out. I managed to come up with 6 blogs though, so it’s good right? Right! Now I have 11 questions for the nominees. You’ll have to answer this on your own blog, and then come up with 11 questions of your own for your own nine bloggers. Ready? Okay! Here are your questions:
1. Do you consider yourself a spiritual person?
2. If you could meet any historical personage, who would you meet and what would you say to them?
3. What scares you the most in the world?
4. Morning, afternoon, or evening person?
5. What was the worst job you ever had the displeasure of holding?
6. If you could dress up as anything for Halloween this year, regardless of price, what would you dress up as?
7. What’s your dream job?
8. If you could be somebody else for a day, who would you be? (This could be anything from an actual person–President Barack Obama or Vera Farmiga, for example–or it can be anything as simple as “a dancer” or “a music producer”)
9. What is your favorite color?
10. What do you think you’ll be doing in 10 years?
11. If you had to brave some sort of apocalypse or natural disaster in your city/town/village, who would want to brave it with?
Alright. There are my award questions. Good luck nominees and let me know when you write up your own post.
I’m on a writing craze lately. In the past two days, I’ve finished a chapter of Laura Horn, wrote an entire chapter of Video Rage, and even did an entire article for Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors. This time around, I did a little research on The Length Debate, seeing all the opinions on how long a piece of flash fiction, a short story, a novel, and/or everything in-between should be. It was a fun article to research, and I hope you read it and share your thoughts on the debate too.
And as always, I encourage you to subscribe and follow Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors. If you independently publish, it’s a wonderful site full of information for authors on everything from creating your own cover to information on developments with CreateSpace and Kindle Direct Publishing to just general tips on writing fiction of any sort. I’m sure you’ll find it extremely helpful and informative, just like I did the first time I logged on.
Oh, before I forget and sign off, I just wanted to let you know I updated the About Me page on this blog. It’s just a little bit more general information, but if you’re curious, go ahead and check it out. You’ll find my somewhat-funny bucket list among the material I’ve added there.
See you in the morning, everybody. Have a good night, and I hope you don’t have any dreams about people with schizophrenia performing exorcisms in the street like I did last night (yes, I dreamed that. It seems even in my dreams I can’t escape the weirdness that is my somewhat macabre interests and hobbies).,
(This is the sequel to my previous post The Rabid Fans. In this installment, the fans are nuttier, the anger is much more bloodthirsty, and the references to Charlaine Harris’s work…is basically not part of this post. Sorry, but it’s an old story, and frankly there’s more to this phenomenon than vampires in the Bible belt. Onto the sequel, which may or may not be better than the original, depending on your opinion)
He’s Batman, deal with it.
Hollywood is being terrorized. Well, not really terrorized. More like annoyed. A few weeks ago, Warner Bros. announced that in the Man of Steel sequel, good ol’ Bats will be played by Ben Affleck. Now personally I have no problem with Affleck. He’s a capable actor, I liked him in Daredevil, and I’m sure, given the chance, he will break new ground in the role of Batman (if they force him to play a Bale copycat or something else that’s been done before, then God help the producers of the film). However, some fans were not so happy with the casting decision, taking to Twitter to voice their discontent in a tweeting storm. Many sent angry letters to Warner Bros. to tell them they hated their casting decision, and some even started a petition on the White House We the People page to get the White House involved.
That petition was taken down because, for all the obvious reasons, the White House isn’t going to take part in a casting call in Hollywood. They’ve got some bigger problems to deal with, in case you haven’t noticed. But then things got crazier, when this past week Universal Pictures and Focus Features announced that Sons of Anarchy star Charlie Hunnam and Ben and Kate actress Dakota Jonston were cast in the roles of the leads for the upcoming film adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey. Moms and middle-aged women and a former neighbor of mine who just happens to be a fan weren’t happy when the announcement came out. Instead, they started a petition, this one on Change.org apparently, asking that instead of Hunnam and Johnston, Matt Bomer and Alexis Beidel play the roles.
I’m surprised this is being made into a movie, but hey, if it makes money, why not?
Obviously, Hollywood ignored both outpourings of fan reactions. And I’m not surprised. After all, a lot more goes into a casting besides good looks. Talent, availability, willingness to play a role, chemistry, and a bunch of other factors go into the casting of a single character. And if the fans don’t like it, that’s their decision. In a meantime, there’s a movie to make, and not enough time to bother with annoyed men and women on their computers.
That’s Hollywood’s line of reasoning, anyway. But honestly, I think even the elites in LA are a little annoyed and worried. Heck, I find it worrying. Fans these days seem so…entitled. It’s not just casting calls, but demands for sequels (or threats should a sequel/remake be made), certain characters be made couples or else. It’s insane.
So let me take this moment to let all you rabid fans out there know one very important thing: THERE’S A F***ING LIMIT TO HOW MUCH OBLIGATION HOLLYWOOD HAS TO YOU, AND YOU’RE BLOODY WELL OVER THAT F***ING LIMIT!!! I mean honestly, the people who make these pieces of entertainment don’t have to make these films/shows/books. They could easily find other things to do or make. Yes, they’ll try and stay close to the original vein of the story, and they will do what they feel is best. You may not like it, but to assume that you know better than the producers and directors and writers is just plain snobbish arrogance. I mean come on! They have money and creating a brilliant story on their minds when they make these things. To assume they’re not trying to make the best story possible or that for some reason a simple fan knows better, well before the story is even made, seems imbecilic to me.
Yes, I understand there are people who want sequels to John Carter or Dredd 3D despite their miserable box office intakes (I wouldn’t mind the latter personally). And I know you want the characters you love to be portrayed by competent actors who look like they would fit the parts (I’m a little skeptical because the person playing Sue Snell in the Carrie remake isn’t a brunette). And I know you want certain characters to end up with each other at the end of the series (I was a Harry-Hermione supporter until Book 5 or 6, I’ll admit it now). But listen, you’ve got to let these things go. Give the filmmakers and writers and directors a chance, and stop thinking you know better. I’m willing to see if the new Sue Snell can impress me. I want to see if Affleck can break new ground at the Dark Knight. And I think Harry-Ginny and Ron-Hermione has a sort-of harmony to it.
There will not be a sequel. Harassment must cease. Failure to comply will result in the ultimate punishment provided by law.
Besides, the world won’t end if there’s no sequel to your beloved film. People won’t die if the favorite actor/actress plays a certain part. The universe won’t cause a storm if Character A and Character B end up in love and having cute babies together. The world moves on, because everything I’ve listed above–50 Shades, Superman vs. Batman, Carrie and John Carter and Dredd 3D and others–they’re all FICTION. Not real, fake, born from the imaginations of people who are paid to lie. Yes, they feel real and I understand that, but at the end of the day, it’s all fictional and therefore irrelevant to the workings of the world.
Help those being treated like mutants now.
Stop Assad with me!
If you must get angry about something, then think about this: people in Syria are being killed like humans when faced with General Zod. In many nations, LGBT communities and women are treated like Marvel’s mutants. In many nations, women can’t decide between two hunks who look good without their shirts on or have sex with mysterious and tortured partners. They get married off to men sometimes much older than them by their parents and if they protest they can get tortured or killed without any protection from the law.
Now that’s something to get upset about!
But if you still disagree with me on all that I’ve discussed above, I’ve some friends I want you to meet. They’re very animated, but I think they’ll take good care of you and you’ll learn a lot from them and their foundation.
Get the picture? Good. Have a lovely evening, everybody. Hope you’re not planning on sending me hate comments or discussing casting and writing decisions for the latest Star Trek movie (yes, there were obvious flaws in that movie, but that’s a post for another time. Probably never).
It’s time for my weekly exercises. These pieces of flash fiction are part chance to practice my craft, part oppurtunity to get reader feedback on what’s scary and what’s not, and part shameless marketing ploy to get people interested in my published work. Remember, these exercises depend on reader feedback, so please give me your thoughts, good or bad, on the piece below.
The sky turned black as midnight. Everyone stared towards the heavens and the inky blackness. A moment ago the sky had been bright and blue, the sun still high above at four in the afternoon. But then it had turned pitch-black, like looking into an inkpot. No moon, no stars. Not a single source of light burned in the sky, and not even street lamps sensitive to changes in light could dispel away the darkness.
Family huddled together in fear. Lovers held each other, comforting each other in order to forget their disorientation and confusion. People left their offices, homes, and stores just to stare at the impossibly-black sky. For maybe five minutes, nothing changed and nobody moved, just looking at the sky in terrified wonderment.
And then a giant, skeletal hand appeared from the inky blackness and reached down as if to grab them all and take them away. Maybe that was its purpose. And the people who saw the hand and the long arm attached to it screamed.
I’m done with my writing break, and I started with a new article for the blog Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors. This article’s topic is Resources For Researching The Unfamiliar. I thought it might be helpful if I wrote an article that gave authors ideas for places they can go if they want to know more about a subject they may not know much about. And who knows? Other authors might have more tips which I can be incorporated into the article at a later time and date.
I hope you check out the website. Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors is a wonderful blog that can help authors of all types and stripes and is full of useful information. Also, look forward to more posts, because I’ve got plenty to write about now that I’m off my writing break.
I’ve mentioned in many previous posts that I am working on a novel called Snake, about a serial killer in New York who is hunting down members of a powerful mafia family. In the most recent posts, I may have also mentioned that I am working with my friend and fellow writer Angela Misri of the blog A Portia Adams Adventure to edit Snake and make it ready for publication in Spring or Summer 2014.
As of this evening, Angela and I are officially a quarter of the way through the hundred chapter book and are getting the book done on schedule and will probably be done by New Years. I’m very happy with how speedy the process has been and how diligently Angela’s been working on looking through and critiquing my manuscript. Thanks for your hard work and taking time out of your schedule Angela!
Also, I would like to mention that just because the book’s a hundred chapters doesn’t mean you shouldn’t read it. Each chapter is less than ten pages, so I wouldn’t be surprised that by the end of this, the whole book will be less than 400 pages (we’ll see). The only reason you shouldn’t read it is if you think it’s not your type of book (follow this link to see if it is).
I’ll let you know when there’s more news on the editing and publishing front. Wish us both luck and definitely check out Angela’s blog. It is definitely worth a read.
I’m going to share with you a story that’s been developing all this weekend, and has had me pretty steamed off every time I think about it. I had one of my blog posts plagiarized. Yes, plagiarized. Someone took one of my blog posts and tried to pass it off as my own work. Anyone who creates something, puts their heart and soul into it, and gives it to the world fears that someone will try to take advantage of their work for reasons we can’t understand. And it happened to me.
I found out about it because I left links to other blogs and blog posts in my post. Whenever someone on WordPress gets their blog or their blog post linked to another blog or blog post, they get a funny little comment in their comment box that shows how the link was used. You know, it looks like this:
[…blah blah blah, this was the link, blah blah blah, are you smiling reading this right now?…]
One of the links in a recent blog post I wrote linked to another post on my blog. So when someone decided to copy and paste the text and pictures from my blog onto a post of their own, they inadvertently pasted in a link to my blog and I was alerted that someone had left a link in the form of one of those comments. I followed the link to the blog of the person who had used the link to my blog, and imagined how surprised and then angry I was that someone was trying to pass off my work as theirs. Because there was the blog post in its entirety, against a green background and with the author’s name at the bottom of the post, trying to suggest he wrote it.
I looked up Word Press’s policy on this and I sent a warning to this guy, whose name and blog I will not mention because A) he doesn’t deserve getting mentioned and B) I’d like to think he’ll learn from this lesson, so a public shaming won’t be very conducive to that. It was suggested by WordPress that I leave a comment asking him to take down the post. I did so, but I never heard back. So I told the DCMA, the authorities who monitor WordPress blogs for this sort of stuff. They were on it and within a day they’d taken down the post and notified me.
I checked the blog for the last time to see if my stolen post was still there. It wasn’t. And I felt such a well of happiness, like all that simmering anger had been swept away.
I’m telling you, plagiarism is a nasty thing to happen to you. But the good news is that I was able to handle it in a mature way, that the guy made no money off of it (which would mean his troubles would be far from over if he had made money off my work), and that now I can put it all behind me. And if, God forbid, any of you get plagiarized, you can fight back. Not just for blog posts, but for any work you create (helps to get a copyright for things you intend to make a profit off of, by the way).
But right now, I’m glad this business is behind me and I won’t have to deal with it again, at least not any time soon. And for anyone who’s been plagiarized before, you have my sympathy and my understanding. It’s horrible when it happens, but we can fight back. And we become stronger when we do.
Rami Ungar The Writer 