Posts Tagged ‘living and life’

The Quiet Game: My First Amazon Review

Posted: August 11, 2013 in Review, short story, Writing
Tags: , , , , ,
2

tqg cover

It finally happened, ladies and gentlebloggers! The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones finally got a review on Amazon. As most authors know, especially self-published authors, reviews are a major component, along with word-of-mouth, for getting your book out there and getting people to buy or download copies of your book. So now that I finally have a review on Amazon, I’m very happy!

And guess who gave the review? My dear mother, Rabbi Wendy Ungar. Now wait, before you judge and say something like, “She probably gave a positive review because it’s her son”, let me remind you that this is my mother we’re talking about. She introduced me to most of my influences, she’s honest when it comes to a book she’s recently read and she voices her opinion on it, and she knows I like it when she gives me a sincere opinion.

So what review did she give me? A 4-star review, with these notes to go with:

“I thought these stories would be scarier than they were, but it was a great read and a good effort from the first time author. These stories were more in the genre of creepy rather than scary, but what I really liked was that it made you think of them long after the book ended. The themes of addiction, of sweet innocence gone bad, and of the sins of the fathers being visited on their descendants were very well dealt with, and caused the reader to think of them even after finishing the book. I’m looking forward to more from this new author!”
If you didn’t know we were related, you’d think she was talking about someone she didn’t know. But still, coming from my mother this means a lot to me. My mother is one of my biggest fans and I’m always happy when she gives me her thoughts on the book. So thanks Ima. I always appreciate it when you tell me your thoughts on something I’ve written.
If you haven’t read The Quiet Game yet but you’re interested in checking it out, you can check out the Short Story Collections page, or you can check it out on Amazon and Smashwords.
Also, expect another post on The Quiet Game soon. I got interviewed not too long ago, and the interviewers finally sent me the transcripts for my blog. Check it out when it comes out.

An Open Letter to Stephen Moffat

Posted: August 9, 2013 in ideas, Living and Life, Writing
Tags: , , , , , ,
16

(For all you non-nerds out there, Stephen Moffat is a writer and current show-runner for my latest obsession, Doctor Who. You may skip this entire post if you would like. I understand that not everyone is a fan of the show. Though if you are interested in checking out the show and want to know what the heck I’m talking about, please check out the show. It is mind-blowing.)

Stephen Moffat, current showrunner of Doctor Who.

Dear Mr. Moffat,

First off, congratulations on the selection of a new Doctor. Peter Capaldi, although not the actor I thought would play the Doctor, seems like a good choice and will do well with the part as long as he doesn’t wear the Master’s beard in the role.

Second, I’d like to suggest some ideas for future stories or story arcs for the upcoming series of Doctor Who. Now I know you are a busy man, and that you have enough on your plate and enough talented writers with much more experience than I do when it comes to Doctor Who. But I have plenty of ideas that I can’t just keep stuck in my head, so I thought I’d share them on my blog. If ever this letter goes viral and you stumble upon it, I hope you at the very least take a look at them, just to see what you think of them.

Okay, here’s some stuff I think could be interesting to use in Series 8 and 9:

A new villain. Yes, I know every story in DW has a villain of some sort, whether it be Vespiform, Sontaran, or Martian water virus. But I’m thinking more about an iconic villain, something on par with the Daleks or the Cybermen. With the Master dead and the Daleks and Cybermen being the most used (and therefore most easily defeated) villains, I’m thinking a new villain that will challenge the Doctor and come back several times to haunt him. Some suggestions include:

Imagine Peter Capaldi against this femme fatale.

—The Rani: A Time Lady full of evil and a love of freaky experiments, it would be a great throwback to the classic series if the Rani returned to menace the Doctor and Earth. And I know that all the Time Lords are supposed to be dead, but if the Master could survive the Time War, why can’t the Rani?
—An anti-UNIT organization: UNIT protects the world from alien invasions and works for the good of humanity. But what if there were people who collected alien technology and monitored their movements just to take over the world? It’d be Torchwood meets the Master, in a sense, with a bit of James Bond SPECTRE mixed in. It would certainly be a change of pace for the Doctor, considering he likes to see the good in all people and here he’s seeing the worst of humanity with the worst of alien tech.
—Something from the Time War: The Doctor mentions in The End of Time that the last few days of the war were hell, with “the Skaro Degradations, the Horde of Travesties, the Nightmare Child, the Could-Have-Been King with his army of Meanwhiles and Never-Weres”. What would happen if something from that era made an appearance in the Doctor’s current time? The Doctor would have to confront some really dark memories and defeat an impossible enemy that would wreak all sorts of destruction like in the Time War.
—Something from before the Universe: In DW and its spin-offs, there have been villains who are said to have come from before Time itself (ex. The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit, End of Days, Secrets of the Stars). What if there was an arc where the Doctor encounters several different creatures and forces that existed before the Universe, and none of them being exactly good or evil? Sounds like a lot of fun, if you ask me.
—The Valeyard: An enemy of the Sixth Doctor, the Valeyard is supposed to be an amalgamation of the Doctor’s dark sides from every previous incarnation that shows up between his twelfth and final incarnations (between Peter Capaldi and whoever comes after him, in other words). Evil and scary, he could be brought into being through some wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey trick and cause all sorts of havoc, the kind the Master never could create. I’d love to see that!

Who would work best with our new 12th Doctor?

New companions. I’m not saying you should get rid of Clara Oswald. I like her, and now that the mystery of her appearance in other eras has been solved, we can delve a bit deeper into who she is as a person, which to me is a pretty big mystery in itself. I’m thinking a companion to go with her, or to come after Jenna Louise Coleman decides to retire. And here are my suggestions for that:
—Luke Smith and K-9: Last seen at the end of The Sarah Jane Adventures, Sarah Jane Smith’s alien/human hybrid son Luke had just gone off to college with mechanical K-9 in tow. Now that Sarah Jane’s actress Elizabeth Sladen is dead, I’m wondering what happened to Luke afterwards? Perhaps he and K-9 could meet up with the Doctor and go for some rides on the TARDIS, reminisce about his dear old mum, and maybe even form a father-son bond. If you ask me, Luke’s like a younger version of the Doctor in some respects, so they’d probably hit it off as mentor and protege. And I know there may be copyrights issues with bringing K-9 on, seeing as he has his own show in Australia, but it’d still be fun to have him along.
—Someone more enigmatic than the Doctor: In some books and movies, you get a character that’s so mysterious, that’s always keeping a secret hidden, who always seems to know more than you do. They don’t lie, but their words are so wrapped up in riddles that you have to really figure through their words to understand them. Pair that with the Doctor, who always is keeping secrets even when you think you have him figured out, and it could make for some interesting conversations.
—Jenny: The Doctor gained a daughter through some weird technological bio-genetic processes in Series 3. He thinks she’s dead, but she’s still alive. What would happen if she popped back in for a visit?
—A grade schooler: I know, the Doctor doesn’t usually take anyone younger than 14 onto the TARDIS, and when he does usually it’s at the behest of one of his companions. But imagine if the Doctor was forced to take a child onto the TARDIS with him, perhaps one that has been displaced in time and space, and take care of said child for a story or two? The Doctor hasn’t had any parenting experience for a while, so at the very least he’ll be able to give us a few laughs and one or two heartwarming scenes.

New Stories. Yes, every series has new stories with new aliens and new villains and whatnot. But here’s my ideas for some new stories:
—A Visit To Earth’s First City: The Doctor stops at a Mesopotamian city that has been forgotten by history. There, he encounters aliens trying to pass themselves off as gods, and not the benevolent kind.
—The Big Race: When setting the TARDIS on random, the Doctor lands at a space port where every year there’s a space race. When the Doctor’s companion(s) are held for ransom as prizes, the Doctor has to use his wits to win the race and save the day with the TARDIS.
—TARDIS-Hunters: The Doctor encounters a group of aliens who hunt down TARDISes and their pilots. Why are they hunting TARDISes? And what do they plan to do with the Doctor’s TARDIS?
—The Convention Center: Landing in 21st century Los Angeles, the Doctor finds himself at a convention for a TV show that bears a remarkable similarity to his own life. Why does such a thing exist? And who is behind it? Or what?

Well, that’s really all I have to say in terms of what you should do for the upcoming series. I hope you like these ideas, should you ever read them. And if you want me to, I’d be happy to write some of these ideas into episodes. I’d literally hop across the pond on one foot, if that’s what it took.

I wish you luck with the upcoming episodes of Doctor Who and I hope for at least another 5-10 years of the Doctor at least.

Hoping you are well,

Rami Ungar

PS Before I forget, can you do a spin-off of Doctor Who featuring Vashtra, Jenny Flint, and Strax, aka the Paternoster Gang? Torchwood‘s on hiatus for nearly two years, The Sarah Jane Adventures has ended, and the K-9 TV series is not really a Doctor Who property, so a show revolving around Vashtra and the gang would be great entertainment, especially if they clash with Torchwood sometimes.

We Haven’t Eliminated Racism Yet

Posted: August 7, 2013 in Politics and Leadership, Reflections, Social Activism
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
6

I may or may not have mentioned it before, but I’m a fan of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (or these days, The Daily Show with John Oliver, seeing as Jon Stewart is in the Middle East directing a drama). The show makes digesting politics a bit easier for me, the way they lampoon everything that’s happening in our broken political system. No subject is safe or free from exploration, and that can sometimes lead to some very interesting epiphanies on our society in general.

Last night I had one of those epiphanies. The show’s two women correspondents (and considering that every correspondent has at least a dozen different correspondent titles, from tax reform to royal family to fishing and wildlife to weird news, they really are the women correspondents for the show), Samantha Bee and Jessica Williams, did a segment on how people are afraid to talk about race and racism in this country, and how far we are from eliminating it. If I am successful, the video should appear below. If not, I apologize and I advise you to follow this link.

Although very funny, this video shows some incredibly thought-provoking things. For one thing, those who don’t experience racism on a day-to-day racism in New York–those with white privilege, in other words–feel that because of President Obama and other factors, racism is on its way to being eliminated. However those who experience racism on a daily basis–the members of the black panel–have a much more cynical view. And why shouldn’t they? They face discrimination, profiling, problems getting good jobs, and utter cluelessness on the parts of certain members of the white panel. I mean talking about race exacerbates the problem? Black people should be interested in your fashion-related job?

First off, does talking about the things in your life that can cause you depression exacerbate the problem? Therapists don’t believe so, and they’d advise you to discuss it rather than not talk about it. And as for black people not being interested in your job despite the job being fashion, does it seem a little stereotypical that you think that they should be? I mean, there’s more to white people than the clothes they wear, so why can’t it be the same for minorities.

And like the one panelist said, this affects more than just black people. Hispanics face the stop-and-frisk policy too, and crooked police will use this policy to intimidate, hurt, and deport Hispanics unfairly and on bulls**t charges. Muslims, particularly Arab Muslims, face a constant PR campaign to let the world know that only a tiny minority of Muslims actually have radical leanings, let alone terrorist ties or inclinations. And in many areas of the country, the LGBT community has to struggle not just for marriage rights, but for the right to housing, jobs, insurance, security, and other rights that their straight neighbors taking for granted.

And finally, to the fashionista in the white panel, even if an issue doesn’t affect you, you should still take part in it! Why? Because it’s the right thing to do. I’m pretty sure that the genocide in Eastern Europe during the 1940s didn’t affect mainstream Americans, but still it became a part of the war effort to stop Germany. And for a more modern example, though the tsunami in Indonesia, the earthquakes in Haiti and Japan, and the ongoing genocide in Darfur (yes, it’s still happening, and rapes over in that area have skyrocketed with it), we still intervene, even though it doesn’t directly affect us. Why? Because we have a moral imperative to do so.

So even if you’re not directly affected by the plight of minorities because of your race, your religion, your nationality, your ethnicity, your gender, your sexual orientation, or any other factor, you should still try to help. Otherwise, when you’re affected by an issue and nobody’s speaking up for you, you’ll feel pretty ashamed that you didn’t do a single thing to help others out in their time of need.

So let’s start that discussion about race. Here’s a start: racism is still a long way from being eliminated in the United States, no matter what race you belong to or where you’re from. What is something you can do in your community to fight against racism and foster equality?

Taking A Break For Today

Posted: August 5, 2013 in Living and Life, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
0

I love writing. It’s my passion, it’s my dream, and it’s what I’m good at and getting better all the time at. But it’s also consuming, not just in time and energy, but in creative steam, that wondrous element to a writer that allows us to continue writing book after book, chapter after chapter, page after page, sentence after sentence, word after word.

That’ll be me after work today, mark my words.

Between Video Rage and Laura Horn, I’ve written fourteen chapters total, almost non-stop. Each book is challenging in its own way, and writing both at the same time, even though I’m switching between books every time I finish a chapter, is a lot of work. It’s like this: I immerse myself in the world of the Hydras and I’m writing about how they’re narrowly avoiding a drone or encountering someone from their past at a diner north of Denver, I write anywhere between five-hundred and four-thousand words, I finish and save the chapter, then I find myself in Washington DC about four years from now right before the 2017 Presidential Inauguration, getting into the complex thoughts of a teenager who has never properly dealt with her trauma, and writing about how she reacts to the world (and this is all before she gets wrapped up in the main plot of the story, which will be in about two or three chapters from now), write anywhere from five-hundred to twenty-five hundred words, and then finish and save that chapter!

Frankly, it’s a lot of work, and I need a bit of a break or I’ll suffer burnout and not want to write another words for days or weeks or even months at a time. So for today, and hopefully only for today, I’m taking a break from writing. By that, I mean any sort of writing. I’m only writing this blog post because I wanted to announce the darn break.

And instead of writing, I’m going to spend the day reading several graphic novels from the library and catching up on my shows. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll be able to resume writing at some point, but for now I just need to relax and take a personal day. I’d like to go to a spa and get pampered with a massage or maybe go to a video arcade and play some games, but I don’t have the time or money for that, so I’ll just read, watch TV, and maybe fit a walk in if I can. By the time I’m done, I’ll be at full writing capacity again.

See you after my break!

Rami Ungar The Writer’s Second Birthday

Posted: August 2, 2013 in Living and Life, Progress Report
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
6

Happy Birthday to the blog

Happy Birthday to the blog

Happy Birthday to the blog

Happy Birthday to the blog

Two years ago, at my local library branch, I signed onto WordPress for the first time and wrote a little post saying what I wanted to do with this blog I was writing. A year ago, I wrote a post during my lunch break at work about how a year had passed and what had changed for my blog (you can read it here if you’d like). And today, I am happy to announce that Rami Ungar the Writer is now two years old (I’m seriously hoping blogs don’t have terrible twos). It’s been an amazing journey these past two years, filled with meeting new friends, plenty of fun and new experiences, and even a published collection of short stories! Let me tell you, it’s been fun.

As my blog currently stands, I’ve written 527 posts and 4 pages, which has led to the blog being viewed a total number of 14,231 times at the time of posting. It has also been commented on 1,110 times, and has garnered 328 followers. And to all who’ve been following me and supporting me up to this point, I would like to thank you kindly for your help. It means a lot to me that you would continue to follow me after all this time, giving me your support and your love, and even occasionally reading or even buying my published writings.

Today I’ll be working hard to continue bringing awesome horror fiction to the world. I’m going to start Chapter Seven of Video Rage later today and hopefully finish it by the time the Sabbath comes in. And while I’m writing it, I’ll keep in mind all of you, you who have helped me, read my work, and supported me these past two years.

Have a lovely day, everybody!

Pregancy in Science Fiction and Fantasy

Posted: July 31, 2013 in Reflections, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
4

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
Tags: , , , , , , ,
9

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
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
2

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.

The Pope’s New Stance On Homosexuality

Posted: July 29, 2013 in Living and Life, Politics and Leadership, Progress Report, Social Activism
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
4

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.

The Quiet Game: One Week Since Publication

Posted: July 24, 2013 in Progress Report, short story, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

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.

Older Entries
Newer Entries