Posts Tagged ‘review’

An Announcement on the Amount of Blogging I Do

Posted: August 14, 2016 in Living and Life, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
6

Hey Followers of Fear. I actually have some bad news to dispense today. Yeah, I know, bad news. That’s not something I usually put out on this blog. I prefer to keep things upbeat and kind of funny here, because I’m a naturally upbeat and kind of funny guy. But occasionally I have to dispense with some bad news, and this is one of those times.

The fact of the matter is (this is not the bad news. That comes later), I’m writing slower than I used to. And I mean much slower: I started working on the third draft of Rose back in June. It’s August, and I’m still working through Chapter Five! Usually at this point of a draft I should be finishing up the edits, but I’m still in the early stages!

What’s to cause this slow-down of work? Well, the main reason is that I’m working a full-time job now, and that’s pretty time-consuming in itself. And unlike other jobs I’ve held in the past, there aren’t as many moments where there’s not a lot to do and I can sit back and write. Even Germany had more than a few of those moments. But in my current position, there’s always plenty to do, so I don’t exactly have that many moments to get out the laptop and work on a manuscript.

And when I get home, I don’t exactly have that much time either. I have to eat dinner, take a shower, make my lunch for tomorrow, and go to sleep at an earlier time so that I can get up early and be at work on time. That leaves only a few hours to write in the evening. Sometimes less, if I have errands to run after work.

With that in mind, I’m cutting a few things out of my life to make more time for writing. I’m cutting out the number of shows I watch so that when the fall television season starts, I’m not spending hours and hours streaming what I missed (I don’t have a TV or Cable yet). I’m also cutting back on the amount of time I spend on YouTube, because as fun as those videos can be, some of them can be pretty time-consuming (especially those videos of gamers playing horror games that I like so much). And–and here’s where the bad news really comes in–starting in September, I’m cutting myself back to two blog posts a month.

Now, I’m sure one or two of you are saying, “But Rami, we like seeing at least two blog posts a week from you!” Well, I like blogging around 2-3 times a week as well. But blogging also takes up time. Depending on the post, it can take quite a bit of time to write. Time I could spend getting through whatever story I happen to be writing or editing. I’m taking up time just writing this post! And because of that, I feel that I need to spend less time on this blog and more on the stories that I love writing and I love people reading.

So, unless something special comes up–a new review or interview, an important update on the projects I’m doing, or I’m pissed off at a recent tragedy in the world and need to vent my frustrations–you’ll be seeing much fewer posts here than before. This also means that I’ll stop doing #FirstLineFriday after August 26th. Not permanently, I may do one or two on occasion for an upcoming book or some other special occasion. But I won’t be doing one week after week. It’s just too time-consuming. I may try to come up with some other tag or meme where I do something similar to #FirstLineFriday (I know a lot of you enjoy those posts, and I do too), but at the moment I really can’t afford to keep doing this week in and week out if I want to get more writing and editing done.

On the bright side, I’ll have the opportunity to do more Reflections posts about the writing craft or about my own work. I used to do those quite a lot, and people really enjoyed them. However, I don’t do those much anymore, mostly because they’re the most time-consuming of blog posts. Now though, with hopefully a bit more time, I can write at least one a month and share my thoughts or have interesting discussions on writing and daily life.

I hope no one decides to stop following me because of this (I know some people stop following YouTubers if they don’t constantly put out new videos, so I assume the same can apply for blogs), or that they leave me because #FirstLineFriday was their favorite thing ever. It’s not because of you guys, it’s just hat I need to write, and if I don’t write, nothing gets done, and I get angry at myself. And that’s not something anyone wants.

Have you ever reduced the amount of blogging you do so you could focus on other things? What were the results of that?

Review: “HEX” by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

Posted: July 31, 2016 in Novel, Review, Scary Stuff
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
2

I came across this book while looking for something new and scary to read. It looked and sounded good, and it apparently had only just come out in the US, so not many people were talking about it yet. I figured I’d give HEX a try.

And it definitely didn’t prove boring.

So, what’s it about? HEX is about the small town of Black Spring, New York, which is under the curse of an apparently immortal witch named Katherine van Wyler, who wanders around town with her eyes and mouth sewn shut (nightmares right there). Anyone who lives or moves to Black Springs is trapped there by the witch, with attempts to leave longer than a week or two leaving residents feeling depressed and suicidal. With every attempt in history to get rid of Katherine meeting with tragedy, the town has isolated itself from the rest of the world, with the HEX office controlling who moves into town and what Outsiders see when they visit, as well as monitoring the witch’s movements at all times using the latest and greatest in technology. Unbeknownst to HEX and the townsfolk, however, some teens in town are trying to study the witch with the hope of breaking the curse and leaving town. The results of that meddling cause a chain reaction leading to something no one in Black Spring will ever forget.

I thought that HEX had a lot going for it. For one, Heuvelt tells the story beautifully through the POVs of four of the townsfolk: Steve Grant, a doctor and father who tries to live in a rational world despite the fact that there’s a witch in his town; his eldest son Tyler, an idealistic youth and YouTube vlogger who leads his friends to study the witch; Robert Grim, HEX’s irritable leader (whose description in the book makes me think of Mitch Pileggi of X-Files fame); and Griselda Holst, a woman with a past who practically worships Katherine as much as she fears her. They’re all very well-written characters, and you really come to sympathize with each and every one (though occasionally I wondered if Griselda might use some therapy).

Heuvelt also knows how to tell a story, taking it in directions I didn’t think the story would go, and making the surprises genuine, even if some of them, in retrospect, could be seen coming. He also manages to create this atmosphere and dread that sticks with you and makes you want to know more, punctuating it with these moments involving the witch and her magic that really gets you.

I can’t really think of anything bad about this book. Nothing about it particularly struck me as bad or as needing improvement. I could nitpick that it may be a little too perfect, or that it could’ve dealt a bit more with the social media aspect of the story, but like I said, it’d be nitpicking.

The interesting thing about HEX is that the English version is really the second version: Heuvelt is a Dutch author, and HEX was originally published in Dutch with Dutch characters and a Dutch setting back in 2013. But in the acknowledgments section at the end of the book, Heuvelt explains that he was asked to make some changes for the America edition, and he ended up doing a sort of HEX 2.0, as he called it, rewriting the novel in English (apparently he’s fluent), giving it an American setting with American characters, and even a new ending.

So of course, one would wonder after reading the English version what the Dutch version is like. Well, Heuvelt won’t tell. His only advice is to “go bribe a Dutchman” (and oh darn, mine just happened to disappear in a flash of bright light). But even if you never find out what the Dutch version is like, you can be satisfied that the English version is pretty awesome as well.

All in all, I’m giving HEX a 4.3 out of 5. It’s creepy, has a great premise and characters, and is brilliantly written. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to read something new and different and scary and happens to see this on the shelves.

That’s all for now. Remember, today’s the last day to submit questions for a Q&A in honor of my five-year blogging anniversary (details here). You’ve got till midnight, and then I’m working on that post.

Until next time, my Followers of Fear!

Review: The Witch (2015 film)

Posted: July 24, 2016 in Review, Scary Stuff
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

So this film has had some buzz around it for a while. It was made on three-million dollars, earned forty-million at the box office, and apparently scared the likes of His Royal Scariness, Stephen King. Naturally, when it hit theaters back in February, I wanted to see it, but no theaters near me were playing it. When I found out last month that it was on DVD, I immediately went to my library’s website to reserve it…only for some punk to steal my copy when it came to me (a curse upon them, preferably involving witches!). But this week I got my copy, and I sat down over dinner to see what the big deal was.

The movie follows a family of 17th-century Puritans–parents William and Katherine, teenagers Thomasin and Caleb, and twins Mercy and Jonas–as they’re banished from their Puritan settlement because apparently Will’s interpretation of the Bible is too extreme for the community (not sure how that is, but maybe I’m too Jewish to notice). They settle in a field on the edge of a vast forest, unaware that there’s a witch living in the woods.

What surprised me most about The Witch is how it differs from other horror films. It’s not a traditional film, in the sense that there’s a central evil that’s pretty obvious and the majority of the horror comes from that villainous evil. In fact, the titular witch is pretty peripheral in the story, acting more as a catalyst for the horrors of the film. I actually struggled to find the terror in the film until I realized that it wasn’t the witch that was the source of the terror (though she is pretty powerful, visceral, and primordial), but the family itself. Once the witch interferes with this family, they start to slowly implode upon themselves. It’s a really dark, psychological descent into hatred, fear, and suspicion, with the occasional intervention of the witch and a lot of heavy Bible speak. And it is scary to watch what happens to this family.

I also really liked the attention to detail. The filmmakers went to great lengths to find a remote location for the setting, and from there hand-build the house and farm, as well as the clothes the actors wore, and just about everything else. They even had museums consulting on this project, which goes to show their dedication. The authenticity, coupled with sparse lighting and the dirty feel of the place, adds to a very creepy atmosphere. And the music, usually involving a fiddle or zither, invokes 2001: A Space Odyssey in its ability to place us in the story.

Despite how scary it was and the research that went into the film, The Witch did have its problems, though. There are some scenes that felt more like they belonged in a novel, rather than in a movie, quiet moments where characters are thinking and not speaking, and we can’t read their minds.It’s in these scenes that we have trouble connecting to the characters, which is bad when this film is so reliant on its characters to begin with.

There’s also an unresolved subplot involving Caleb and his relationship to his older sister Thomasin that’s never really resolved, and I would’ve liked to see where that could’ve gone.  And like I said, it took me a while to realize what sort of horror film this was, though maybe that’s just me going in with certain expectations and being confused that they’re not being met.

And the old-fashioned dialect, plus the heavy accents and sometimes raspy voices, can make it difficult to understand what they’re saying. I had to turn on the subtitles about ten minutes in just to make sure I wasn’t missing anything.

Other than those points, though, The Witch is a terrifying descent into religious mania and terror in a dark situation, with supernatural twists and a lot of religious overtones worthy of discussion by theologians (which apparently has happened). I’m going to give this film a 3.8 out of 5, and recommend you watch this one with the lights on while you’re at it. A wonderful debut from writer and director Robert Eggers. I hope I get to see more of his work in the future.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. Make sure to read about the giveaway and submit your questions and comments for the Q&A happening on August 2nd (details here). I’ll check in again very soon, believe me. In the meantime, a good night to all.

Hopefully free of supernatural beings, right?

The Quiet Game: Three Years Since Publication

Posted: July 17, 2016 in Living and Life, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

tqg cover

Three years. How time flies.

On June 17th, 2013, my first book, The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones, was published on Amazon and Smashwords. The book, a collection of original short stories I wrote while I was working through the editing process of Reborn City, actually did pretty well for itself, with eight paperback copies printed and quite a few e-books downloaded in the first month, which, for a first-time self-published novelist, was actually pretty good. And I had a much smaller reach then than I do now.

Now it’s three years later. A lot has changed since then: I’ve published three more books, I graduated from college, had an internship in Germany, and I’m working for the government again in a position I hope I will work in for several years to come, among other things.

And The Quiet Game still gets some readers every now and then, plus it has the distinction of having the most reviews of any of my books. Most of those reviews, I’m happy to say, have been rather positive. Here are a couple of them:

5 wonderfully crafted tales! I purchased this as an eBook originally and put off reading it for quite a while, I really wish I hadn’t waited. Sometimes when one purchases a collection of short stories you expect some of them to be less entertaining or of lower quality than the others, but none of these disappoint. Well worth the money, especially considering after you read each story the author gives you creative insight into what inspired him to write each tale, which is really wonderful.

–Jeff D

I liked that each story was unusual. I think that the book was appropriately named. I prefer chilled bones rather than scared out of my whits since I am a bit of a chicken

–ENJ

Imagine if you will a young Stephen King penning dark scenarios inspired by his youth, and what you get is this anthology. Through this collection of short stories, Rami Ungar brings us into the world of dark urges, childhood traumas, ghosts, phantoms, and dark psychological thrillers. An inspired creation, and definitely a good intro to this indie author’s world!

–Matthew Williams, author of Whiskey Delta and Papa Zulu

I always enjoy being called a young Stephen King. It makes me feel like I can someday catch up to him and be regarded as a great horror author like him some day.

So if you’re interested in a quick collection of short stories, and you like them short, sweet, and to the creepy point, perhaps you’ll like The Quiet Game. From ghosts to dybbuks to ogresses and a few other things besides, you’ll have a scary good time. I’ll include the links below, if you’re interested in at least checking out the book.

And if you do end up getting a copy and reading it, I do hope you give me your thoughts, whether in a message, a comment, or a review. Positive or negative, I love feedback from my readers, and I would be happy to hear from you (especially since I become a better writer when I get feedback from folks).

That’s all for now. Got a busy week ahead of me, so I’m going to get to that. Have a great day, my Followers of Fear!

Links: Amazon, Createspace, Barnes & Noble,iBooks, Smashwords, and Kobo

Review: Ghostbusters (2016 film)

Posted: July 16, 2016 in Review
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
6

Before I start this review, I’m going to lay some ground rules. I don’t tolerate sexism, angry nostalgia, or anything of that sort. So if you read this review and want to comment something about the actresses in this films, or you want to tell me that the new film is ruining your childhood (what sort of childhood did you have if Ghostbusters was the most important thing in it and a new film is enough to ruin everything?), then save your breath. I don’t care, and I don’t want to hear it. And if you think it’s such a bad film, then don’t go see it! Honestly, leave it alone and let it flop on its own, like the JEM film did. Either that, or watch this video, which I feel will leave you feeling vindicated.

All good? Great! Let’s begin.

So my sister and I went to see this film today, and we have to say, we thoroughly enjoyed it. We were actually worried about how it would do, but it was funny, it had great action sequences, and it even had its scary moments (mostly my sister got scared though, because my sister has a lower scare threshold than I do).

So what’s the plot? The movie follows Erin Gilbert (played by Kristen Wiig), a physics professor up for tenure who finds out a book on ghosts she co-wrote with her old friend Dr. Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy), who manages to get her to come with her and Dr. Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon) to a haunting. The result reignites Erin’s interest in ghosts, and, after some other stuff, forms the titular team above a Chinese restaurant. They are soon joined by the dreamy but dumb Kevin (Chris Hemsworth) and MTA worker/amateur historian* Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones), and find themselves following the trail of an inventor whose devices are causing paranormal activity throughout Manhattan, with a very dark end goal in mind.

And it’s just good fun! The story is very well-written, managing to sneak in references to the original film and to the haters on the net without feeling forced or weird or cheap, but actually add to the humor. The actors are all awesome, it goes without saying. I especially love Kate McKinnon’s character, Jill Holtzmann, who is like “I’m-insane-but-adorably-harmless-and-life-is-just-so-much-fun.” I bet life in her head is just a blast. Hemsworth as a hunky buffoon was never dull. And the supporting cast is wonderful, especially Karan Soni (the taxi driver from Deadpool), who I was delighted to see in the film. And five of the cast members of the original film show up for some hilarious cameos, including Bill Murray as a supernatural skeptic and Dan Aykroyd as a taxi driver. And the special effects…well, yeah, the ghosts look CGI, but it’s a good CGI. It works for these ghosts, makes them look strange and somewhat otherworldly. And they’re much more believable than the effects from the movies in the 1980’s.

I only have a few critiques of this film. One is that the villain, played by Neil Casey, is pretty bare-bones. His motivation and background were explained in a monologue, and it’s not much. But for this movie, it works well. Another is that the last fight scene feels like the filmmakers were going for an Avengers movie getting mixed with Godzilla and adding in a moment from Big Hero 6. I would’ve preferred more humor than was already in there, but it was still very fun. And finally…well, there’s a very funny scene in the credits that looks like something out of a Michael Jackson music video. I feel that scene would’ve been better placed right before the big battle, but I guess the studio thought it detracted from the mood they were going for with the climax. Don’t get it, but whatever. I think it would’ve worked in the main movie, it would’ve gone well as part of what Ghostbusters is about.

I'm excited for some ghosts! Photo courtesy of Adi Ungar

I’m excited for some ghosts! Photo courtesy of Adi Ungar

All in all, though, I enjoyed this film. It was funny, well-written, full of great actors, and I would say it’s on par with the original film. Not better, not worse. Just about equal, a 4.4 out of 5. Definitely go see it and have yourself a few laughs. Also, stick around for an after-credits scene. Trust me, you don’t want to miss it. It has a nice reference to the original film.

*Now, before you lay into Jones’s character, let me mention that yes, she doesn’t have a doctorate, but she might as well. Remember that historians as we know them didn’t appear until the nineteenth century in Germany. Prior to that, historians were basically anyone with enough education to read, write, and interview people in order to best record historical events. Her character’s not inferior to the others, she’s a throwback to tradition. And it becomes important to the story, believe me.

#FirstLineFriday

Posted: July 15, 2016 in ideas, Living and Life, Novel, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

It’s Friday again, so you know what that means. It’s #FirstLineFriday!

Now if you don’t know what #FirstLineFriday is, let me explain the rules. On Fridays, you:

  1. Create a post on your blog entitled #FirstLineFriday, hashtag and all.
  2. Explain the rules like I’m doing now.
  3. Post the first one or two lines of a potential story, a story-in-progress, or a completed or published work.
  4. Ask your readers for feedback, and encourage them to try #FirstLineFriday on their own blogs (tagging is encouraged but not necessary).

As I said in my last post, I’ve been having a lot of great ideas for stories. And on Monday, I had this rather strange and unique idea for a novel, inspired by Japanese mythology and culture (one of my best sources of ideas, by the way), and has an interesting structure to it that would be unusual and fun to write. Obviously, I can’t go into more details without giving away the plot (and I hate to give that sort of thing away). But I can hopefully give you a very good opening for this story, while maybe adding a hint in that opening.

Anyway, enjoy:

Almost everybody has a bucket list, along with something on that list that they want to accomplish before they graduate or leave town or die: to learn how to code (the dream of my somewhat nerdy brother Eric, as well as my somewhat cool boyfriend Luca), to go to a heavy metal festival and see their favorite bands perform (my friend Rudy, who plans to do just that after graduation), or to confess their feelings to the rebellious, cool-as-hell River Fuhrmann (my friend Lavender Murphy, who has no idea that the rebellious, cool-as-hell River also has a thing for Lavender, but is too proud to admit it). I have my own bucket list, but mine is rather unusual, as at the top of my list was ghost stories.

Thoughts? Overly long? Any errors? What’s on your bucket list*? Let’s discuss in the comments below.

And while you’re at it, why not try #FirstLineFriday yourself? It’s easy, it’s fun, and it’s great practice for authors of all stripes. Sadly, I’m taking a small break from tagging, so you’re safe from my torture for now. But if you want me to tag you, consider yourself tagged. Or better yet, let me know. I’ll catch you next week.

Anyway, that’s all for now. I’m hoping to see a movie this weekend and maybe write a review of it. If not, you can expect a blog post this Sunday.

Until the next time, my Followers of Fear!

*Mine involves meeting and/or having my books read by Stephen King and/or Anne Rice, going ghost-hunting with the Ghost Adventures Crew, having a custom car made from a hearse, and writing for Doctor Who. Does that surprise any of you?

Thoughts on Lovecraft: Part 2

Posted: July 10, 2016 in Living and Life, Review, Scary Stuff, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
1

So I recently got back into reading The Complete Fiction of HP Lovecraft, after about a year’s gap since I last dove into his work on my Kindle. I actually got from 15% to 32%, which for a 1112-page book is pretty good, if you ask me.

Now, if you don’t know who HP Lovecraft is, he was kind of the King of American Horror between the reigns of Edgar Allen Poe and current monarch Stephen King, though he didn’t really achieve any sort of fame or influence until after his death. When I read him last year, I found his style old and outdated, and while some of his stories were actually pretty creepy, others were just strange or boring (see my thoughts in Thoughts on Lovecraft: Part 1).

So what were my thoughts one year later, having read several more stories? Well, he still prefers to write like a contemporary of Poe, one of his main influences in writing, which I find still rather irksome (I could parody it here, but I did that well enough in Part 1, so why try and repeat it?). I’m not that big a fan of that style, as I find it stuffy and somewhat boring, so occasionally that made for an annoyance to get through.

And Lovecraft is still a proud and unrepentant racist and xenophobe. Seriously, “The Horror at Red Hook” manages to drag so many non-white ethnicities, including Kurds and Yazidis, through the mud.

And he’s the only author I’ve ever met who’s used the word “eldritch,” meaning sinister or creepy (why didn’t he just use those words?).

But other than those problems, the tales I read in this section of the book were much better than the ones I read in the last one. Sure, the short story “Azathoth,” which was the first mention of the Elder God, is actually just a fragment of a novel Lovecraft never got around to finishing, which was annoying. Imagine, I get to the end of that short piece, and I was like, “Wait, that’s it?” Thank goodness for Wikipedia, which explained to me why I shouldn’t be so angry.

And there was that story, “Imprisoned with the Pharoahs,” which got a little dense with the language and made it annoying to get through, though as a fictional account of one of Harry Houdini’s adventures, it is pretty cool in retrospect.

But other than those two, these were very good stories. They were creepy, dark, and had some pretty nice twists and turns in them. I can see why a few of them have been adapted several times into movies or radio plays and the like. “Herbert West–Reanimator” is a fun tale about one man’s growing obsession with overcoming death and extending life (very Frankenstein), and how that obsession causes a domino fall of events that shows the readers the price of obsession. “The Lurking Fear” felt like a Stephen King novel from an earlier age, filled with elements of insanity, the supernatural, and insane tastes. And “Shunned House” needs to be made into a movie by Blumhouse Productions, because it is freaking scary! It’s a vampire novel that hearkens back to the days when vampires were barely human, and is probably the best of the stories by him I’ve read so far. Imagine a movie version, with James Wan in the director’s seat! No one would see it and think of vampires with Twilight or any of that other sentimental crap out there ever again.

Eek! Rats in the walls! Now I can’t sleep.

Also, “The Rats in the Walls” is great if you want to scare anyone around a campfire. Just saying.

You know, the more I read of Lovecraft’s work, the more I see why he’s been so influential. Sure, his early stories could be rather pointless or silly, and never approached scary, with the exceptions of a few, like “The Tomb” and “The Temple.” But as time went on, as tends to happen, he got better. He figured out what worked and what didn’t. He learned how to get into our heads and make us tremble, make us wonder. He pushed the envelope for his day, introducing elements of cannibalism, satanism, gods that care nothing for us except maybe as snacks. And he did it so well.

And even now, after I’ve decided to take a break from him, I still find myself getting inspired by him. I’ve already gotten a few new novel and short story ideas from his stories, particularly “The Lurking Fear.” I have no idea when I’ll write them, but I think that when I do, they may even chill me.

So yeah, I think I’m definitely a Lovecraft fan now. Last year I wasn’t so much of a fan, but now I think I am. He’s definitely grown on me. And I think I may visit him again someday, perhaps even before the end of the year. Especially if he gives me so many good ideas. And if you like a good scary story and can handle some old-timey writing style, then I suggest you visit Mr. Lovecraft too.

Well, that’s all for now. I’ve got my own stories to work on, so I’m going to get on that. In the meantime, I hope you have a scarily good time, my Followers of Fear. Until next time!

Big News on the Reborn City series

Posted: July 1, 2016 in Living and Life, Novel, Progress Report, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
10
Reborn City and Video Rage, side by side.

Reborn City and Video Rage, side by side.

So it’s been a month since Video Rage, the sequel to Reborn City and the second book in the Reborn City series, came out. And I’m happy to say that it’s doing not too badly. In fact, some of the copies that have been sold have been bought by people other than me or my family. That’s a new one, LOL (in all seriousness though, a lot of copies have been sold. And I think my parents and my sister are the only people in my family who have copies besides me, so that says something). I think an author friend or two have been reading the books. And even Reborn City has had an uptick in sales, which I think says some good things.

And even better, I already have one review, which I encourage you to check out.

So with that in mind, I’ve got a few announcements I hope you’ll take the time to read. I’m certainly excited about them:

1. Some price changes on the e-books. I’ve expressed my regrets on this subject before, but I only have so much control over the price of the paperbacks (otherwise each paperback would be between eight and ten dollars, so they’d be a bit more affordable). However, I have plenty of control over the e-books, and I’m glad to say that I’m doing something different with the e-books of Reborn City and Video Rage that I’ve been wanting to try for quite some time.

VR CS front cover

Previously, all my e-books, with the exception of The Quiet Game, have retailed at $2.99. However, from now on, on all the platforms, the e-book of Reborn City will be $0.99, and the e-book of Video Rage will be $1.99. I’m hoping that this will make it a bit easier for people to get their hands on the books and enjoy them. I’ve heard from other authors who have used this method and have had very good results from this, but I’ve never had the chance to try this until now. And now that the opportunity has arrived, I thought I’d give it a try, see what happens.

So if you’ve wanted to read my science-fiction novels on your Kindle or Kobo or whatever but price has been a problem, I hope this helps.

2. The final book in the series will be my NaNoWriMo project this year. I know I said I was going to do a ghost story as my project for National Novel Writing Month, but I changed my mind for two reasons. One was that I wanted a bit more time for me to figure out the best way to tell this particular ghost story (I don’t normally write ghost stories, and I want to get it somewhat right when I do the first draft). The other is that I don’t want three more years to pass before I get out the next book in the series. Unless you’re writing Harry Potter, I don’t think that’s a good gap between books if you can help it. So I’m putting the final book ahead of the queue, with the hope that maybe I can get out maybe ten or twenty-thousand words this winter (I doubt with my schedule I’ll get close to fifty-thousand, though I can certainly try. And I got thirty-thousand of Snake written out back in the day, so who knows?).

I’ve actually done a little work already on the third book, which I intend to call Full Circle (my newest tag). I’ve come up with a bunch of new characters, including the villain(s) of the new book (if you haven’t read VR yet, I do give hints on who that might be, so go check it out so you can start theorizing), and written out the first couple chapters on an early draft of an outline. I also know some of the events that will come later, and I’ll be doing some research later this year so I can get some aspects of Islam right (it’s amazing how often Zahara’s religion comes up in the story).

Get excited, because this is probably my most ambitious novel yet, especially with all I have planned with this story.

RC cover

3. The Reborn City audio book is going to take some more time to bring about. Back in November, I said the audio book was on the way and I had a narrator. And since then, I really haven’t had any updates on this. Well, that’s because of embarrassment. You see, my narrator and I had to dissolve our contract due to some problems on both our ends. Since then, I’ve been trying to find a new narrator, and I may have one, but it depends on her schedule when she finishes her current projects early next month. I didn’t say anything because…well, who wants to admit that the audio book they were so enthusiastic about and which they were saying was going to be done as soon as possible is having technical difficulties?

I do still hope to have a Reborn City audio book out someday (and Snake, I’m working on that as well), though it may take a bit more time. Hopefully though, they will happen, and those among you who enjoy audio books will be able to enjoy them.

 

That’s all for now, Followers of Fear. Shabbat is coming in, so I have to get ready for that. You all have a wonderful weekend, and I hope I can check in at some point soon. In the meantime, the links for both books are below. Make sure to check them out if you’re interested. And if you do decide to read them, please do me a favor and leave a review so I know what you thought. Positive or negative, I love feedback, and it makes me a better writer too.

Until next time, then!

Reborn City: Amazon, Createspace, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Smashwords, and Kobo

Video Rage: Amazon, Kindle, Createspace, Barnes & Noble, iBooks,Smashwords, and Kobo

Top Villains 2016 #5-1

Posted: June 28, 2016 in Living and Life, Reflections, Review, Scary Stuff
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
8

(Again, slight spoilers on this one, so be careful going own. You may learn something you were hoping to be surprised about)

Well, we’re back. I’m listing the five greatest villains I’ve seen throughout the past year. Will your favorite appear on the list? Who will win the number one spot? And will I use a real person or one of my own villains (no on both of those)? Let’s dive in!

Also, check out #10-6 if you haven’t already.

5. The Society (Red Rising trilogy)

The society pyramid

Big thanks to Kat Impossible for introducing me to this series and getting me hooked on it.

Now, if you’re not familiar with this trilogy, let me explain the premise: imagine about 700-1000 years in our future, mankind has evolved and divided itself into colors: Blue, Green, White, Pink, Red, Obsidian, etc. And on the very top are the god-kings, the Golds, who use the system they helped create to become rich and powerful.

But even if the Golds are the ones who benefit most from this system, and even if there plenty of Golds who alone would qualify for this list (I’m looking at you, Jackal!), none of them on their own are the true villains. If you ask me, the Society as a whole–one that enslaves some of its citizens, and kills others in order for the strongest to survive and rule–is the true villain. It’s a system that takes the very essence of humanity and destroys it for the sake of economic power and prosperity, where those who are compliant can get power even if they’re not Golds or any of the other High Colors. The Society molds the monsters it creates, and the people who fight against it, all at once.

For that reason, I’m nominating an entire civilization for #5 on this list.

And if you haven’t read this series, I highly recommend you do. The characters are awesome, you never see where the story will go, and it constantly finds ways to surprise you and keep you reading. I highly recommend it for anyone who has a thing for science fiction, or just good stories in general.

4. James Patrick Marsh (American Horror Story: Hotel)

I said in my review that AHS: Hotel was my favorite season of the series so far, and March was a big part of that. Played by perennial series mainstay Evan Peters and based partially on real-life serial killer HH Holmes, March is a serial killer who builds the Hotel Cortez to be the ultimate murder palace. After his early death, he mentors other killers as a ghost, inviting people to stop in his hotel to learn the art of murder from him, and even doing a few kills here and there as well.

There are so many reasons to love him as a villain. For one, he’s just so much fun! He’s like Walt Disney turned into a murderer, full of old-fashioned charm and bravado. He’s literally the sort of person you would want to meet in a bar and have a drink with. Whenever March appears on screen, he steals the scene, and no one seems to have more fun with him than Peters himself, who looks like he’s having so much fun playing this murderous hotelier.

Another good reason to like this guy is that everything that happens in the show, you can trace back to him. Even when he was alive, a lot of his actions tended to have far-reaching effects, some of which are felt in the modern-day events of the season. I love a villain who only needs to flip a single domino and then sits back to watch the chaos unfold, and March does it with just a few words and a charming smile. His spot on this list is well-deserved.

3. Whitney Frost (Marvel’s Agent Carter)

Season 2’s villainess is definitely a unique woman, and that’s why she’s so high up on the list. An actress who moonlights as a world-class genius physicist for her husband’s company, Whitney has always been told that, as a woman, her value is in her looks, not in her brains, and is upset when her film roles start to dry up because she’s considered “old” (though if you ask me, her best days are still ahead of her). Because of that, she helps to develop, study, and eventually become one with a strange and destructive substance known as zero matter, which allows her to break down and absorb the people and objects around her. After that, she starts using zero matter to gain power, creating even more so that she can become even stronger.

What’s interesting is how she’s such a contrast from series’ lead Peggy Carter, and yet so very similar. Both are women, very pretty women, and because it’s still a male-dominated age, men continually underestimate them and think they’re better off as secretaries or housewives. However, Peggy proves herself time and time again by taking on the cases and getting the bad guys, while Whitney uses crime, her looks and brains, and zero matter as a way of gaining power in order to validate herself. She’s kind of a dark Agent Carter, in a way, and her evolution through the season and her war with Peggy Carter make for a fascinating battle of the beauties. For that, I give her #3 on this list.

2. Helmut Zemo (Captain America: Civil War)

The penultimate entry on our list is another Marvel villain, this time Baron Zemo’s film portrayal in Captain America: Civil War. Now, I know that the film version, portrayed by Daniel Bruhl, is extremely different from the comic book version. The thing is, I don’t read the comic books (too many continuities and canons to keep track of), so I really have only this version to go on.

And what a version it is. He goes to great lengths and does such elaborate things to carry out his plan. And what is his plan? Simple: to manipulate the Avengers so as to fracture them. And he does it! He breaks the Avengers apart with more fireworks than any boy band could muster, and he almost gets away with it! In fact he does, he just gets captured at the end. This probably makes him the most effective villain in the MCU, and definitely worthy of the Number Two spot on this list.

And he does it all because his family was murdered in Age of Ultron. That’s anger and dedication mixed with patience and intelligence. Seriously, the #2 spot is definitely deserved.

1. The Dread Doctors (Teen Wolf)

Teen Wolf has produced three members of this esteemed list, including last year’s #1 spot. And this year, without a doubt, goes to Season 5’s villains, the well-named Dread Doctors, who I knew as soon as I saw them were going to be somewhere high up on this list.

A group of long-lived mad scientists who have taken the supernatural powers of the world and bent them to their own purposes, they produce hybrids of humans and the various creatures that the show’s famous for. A mix of steampunk fashion, Dr. Frankenstein, Venice plague doctors, Darth Vader, and a few other things, they take teens from Beacon Hills and experiment on them. And all for a very sinister purpose.

Creepy, ephemeral, and willing to go to any lengths to reach their goals. I seriously wish I’d created the Dread Doctors before the show did (or wrote the novel about the Dread Doctors that appears in the show). They deserve the #1 spot, and if you haven’t already, I seriously think you should go online and find some footage on them. You might get some nightmares from it, but it’s definitely worth the risk.

 

That’s this year’s list. But tell me, what did you think? Did you enjoy the list? Any entrees you disagree with? Who do you think should’ve made the list? Let’s discuss.

Top Villains 2016 #10-6

Posted: June 26, 2016 in Living and Life, Reflections, Review, Scary Stuff
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
10

(The following post may contain spoilers for certain TV shows and movies. Be warned before going in)

It’s that time of year again. I’m counting down the Top 10 villains that have seriously impressed me over the past year. I’ve been doing this for the past three years, and now I’m on the fourth year, so I’m very excited. Anyway, this year I had a hard time choosing villains for this list. Not because there were so many great villains (though there are plenty of those), but mostly because the villains felt slightly lackluster this year. Only a few really stood out this year for me. Not sure why, but it is what it is. Maybe this coming year, we’ll see some much better villains (especially with some creepy horror games coming out this year and all that).

So without further ado, let’s jump into the first half of these villains. Remember, I’m not including any villains of my own creation (that’s cheating) or any real-life people. These are fictional villains, and they’re the cream of the crop.

Also make sure to check out the lists from 2015 (Parts 1 & 2), 2014 (1 & 2), and 2013 (1 & 2) and see which villains made the list those years.

Let’s begin.

10. Lex Luthor Jr. (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice)

A lot of people had some mixed feelings about this movie, and more than a few hated this rendition of Superman’s arch-nemesis, played by Jesse Eisenberg. However, I personally enjoyed this film, and I enjoyed watching Eisenberg play this version of Luthor. For me, he felt like a villain I would create: rich, intelligent, but psychotic and willing to go to great lengths to reach his goals, including creating great and terrifying monsters. Perhaps this villain being Lex Luthor might not have been Zack Snyder’s best choice, and perhaps his goals were a little convoluted, but he was still fun for me, and I feel he should be on this list.

9. The Pale Man/Edgar Mullens (Haunter)

This movie came out in 2013, but I only saw it this past month, and IT SCARED ME! And the villain, the Pale Man/Edgar Mullens, played by Stephen McHattie of Pontypool fame, was a big part of it. A serial killer who died in old age and continues to kill in the afterlife, he enjoys keeping the souls of his victims trapped and repeating their final days on this Earth until he kills him. His soft, silky confident voice and that chilling but pleasant smile, that casual manner he shows at nearly every moment, make him so terrifying to be watch. And when you find out the full extent of his crimes, it’ even worse.

Haunter‘s definitely worth a viewing, and this guy’s definitely worth hiding behind the couch from.

8. Jim Jacobs (The Veil)

Based on Jim Jones of Jonestown infamy, Jim Jacobs and his ghostly followers are the antagonists of Netflix’s horrifying creation The Veil. A preacher who believed it was possible to free oneself from the cycle of life and death, he had a very radical interpretation of theology that actually turned out to be true, but before he and his followers could free themselves, the local authorities interfered, leading to the deaths of everyone involved. Now their ghosts wait, and watch, and hope for the day when they can finish their work.

What’s even freakier about this guy is not only is he able to deliver on his promises (that’s a first), but that you actually like him! Yeah, even as he scares you, you find yourself liking him. Not hard to imagine why though: he looks like John Lennon, has a pleasant voice with a Southern accent, and he makes it sound like everything will be alright, even if everything you’re watching is horrifying!

But what really clinches the deal is how he closes out the movie. I won’t give it away here, but he has this really triumphant moment, talking about how his people will now usher in a new era in humanity’s history, and then in the same tone of voice, remarks on the day’s weather! And it closes out the film so well.

If you’re at home and you want a good scare, join Jim Jacobs for a service. You will become a believer!

7. The Nightcomers (Penny Dreadful)

When is the third season hitting Netflix? Anyway, second season’s villains, the Nightcomers, are freaky to behold. Witches who are in league with the devil, they are a family coven who are out to do harm to the show’s protagonist, Vanessa Ives. They are led by Evelyn Poole, a woman who sold her soul simply to be beautiful (you know, that old chestnut), and her daughter Hecate, who has her own agenda in this Apocalypse-bringing cult.

What’s scariest about them though is not just their magic and their allegiance to the devil, but their true forms: hairless women with big, gaping holes in their bodies, like a monster slashed them wide open but didn’t kill them. I would not want to meet them in a back alley, no matter what era it was.

6. Piper Shaw (Scream TV Series)

I don’t know how many of you have watched the TV series reboot of the 1996 slasher cult classic, but Scream is a very solid TV series (loving Season 2, by the way), and has done better than anyone ever expected (even me, who thought the first episode was completely silly the first time I saw it). And the woman behind the mask in the first season, Piper Shaw, is a force to be reckoned with.

A reporter for a true-crime podcast, she arrives in town to cover the murders taking place, and befriends a few of the main characters, including protagonist Emma Duvall. However, it’s revealed in the last episode that she’s the killer, which I did not see coming, and that she has a very good reason for becoming a serial killer (not that there’s ever a good reason, but you get my point). What makes her a great villain though, is how she manages to insinuate into the characters’ lives, become someone they can count on as an ally, and then when she reveals herself in the last episode, it is such a shock.

I don’t know how the rest of the series will do, but Piper Shaw is part of why the first season was such a success, and I encourage you to check out the show if you haven’t already.

 

That’s all for now. I’ll post #5-1 when I get the chance. Until then, what do you think of the villains on the list this year so far? Any you would have included? Let’s discuss, Followers of Fear.

Older Entries
Newer Entries