Category: Review

I Answer Questions From My Fans #1

At last count, Hometown was up to 57 reviews, and most of them were very positive (52% 5 star and 25% 4 star bay-beee!). Unfortunately, I haven’t received the boost in readership that I expected when I hit fifty reviews. Apparently, while something does in fact happen at twenty reviews, the additional boost at fifty is a hopeful indie writers’ urban legend.

As I read through these reviews, though, I’ve seen a number with questions or issues that I’d like to address. And no, that’s not my way of saying I’m going to go through and curse out my 1- and 2-star reviewers. That’s just self-destructive and pointless. There’s some genuinely interesting stuff here.

Continue reading “I Answer Questions From My Fans #1”

Hometown Got A Wonderful Review!

Erik Henry Vick, another author at Bookbub, has given me a five-star review! Head on over and check it out!

Here’s a sample:

Where do I start?

Oh, how about this: You went to high school with these characters. Oh, sure, their names were different, and maybe even they were two or three people, but still… Every single one of them.

This book is set in small-town America (specifically in Upstate NY) in the ’90s. It’s your typical high school–drama club, psychos, chorus, child prodigies, football, monsters, field hockey (??), more monsters, preppies, murderers, homecoming, insatiable evil, racist assholes, prom, parties, ghosts, friends-turning-into-lovers, strict parents, bad parents, the hip hangout joint run by a hippie, lynchings, grandparents, a horrible, horrible past, and completely inedible school lunches. See? Just like your high school.

Check out the rest of the review! And when you’re done with it, check out Hometown!

Lenni Reviews Dreams of the Boardwalk!

Dreams of the Boardwalk got a review!  Head on over to Haunting Hypatia and check it out!

And if the review should inspire you to get yourself a copy, head on over to Amazon and get one!

(It’s not available on Kindle Unlimited for about a month, but don’t worry, it’ll be back soon.)

The One Rose Trilogy, Matriarchy and Following Your Own Rules

Compass Rose

(This review was first published on April 1, 2014, on my old blog.   The articles it refers to will appear here eventually, but this one had to go up now in response to this tumblr post.)

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post that used the Left Behind novels as a worst-case example for remaining consistent to the rules you establish in your story (as they are the worst-case example for so many things). In the same post, I included what I consider to be a good example of remaining consistent to the rules you establish: the One Rose trilogy by Gail Dayton.

Having had a bit of time to think about it, it seems that the positive example and advice for internal consistency deserves a bit more attention, as does the One Rose Trilogy itself.
Continue reading “The One Rose Trilogy, Matriarchy and Following Your Own Rules”

Reviews: Streets of Fire

streets_of_fire_poster

 

This review was first published on March 8, 2013, back on Dreams of the Shining Horizon.  I bring it here for several reasons.  First, I intend to bring  all of my reviews over – I believe they have relevance to writing theory and my philosophy as a writer.  I bring this review over  first because it was the first and, in my opinion, one of the best on the old site.  What’s more, this movie remains a great inspiration to me as I continue to write fiction about myths and dreams.  Finally, it’s summer time, and this is by far my favorite summer movie.  Enjoy.

On my About page, and again in my first post, I mention that one of the things I intend to write about on this site is movies.  It would be strange if I didn’t: I’ve been a movie buff ever since I was a little kid hanging out in the local video store, wishing I could take the entire stock home.  And while there are certainly movies I’m going to pick apart or hold up as examples of what not to do, most of them are going to be movies I love, or that inspire me in some way.

That’s why the very first movie review on Dreams of the Shining Horizon is going to be about Streets of Fire.  It fits into both categories, and I wanted to get the whole endeavor off to a positive start. Continue reading “Reviews: Streets of Fire“

Watched Thor Again Today…

Two thoughts:

  1. In every movie he has ever appeared in in the MCU, Thor has only ever worn his winged helm from the comics at his coronation.  I become ever more convinced that the elaborate “helms” that the royal family wear are actually their crowns.  The fact that Thor <i>always</i> takes his off when there’s serious trouble brewing, and Loki <i>always</i> has his on probably says something about their characters.
  2. I first saw this movie with a friend who grew up in Sweden.  She was very upset about the scene where Odin loses his eye in battle.  For American readers unfamiliar with Norse mythology, this is like arguing that Paul Bunyan is a warrior and that his axe is a battle-axe.  It’s not only wrong, it misses the whole point of the character.

A Quick Thought On A Great Movie And A Clever Writer

Not long ago, my fiancee and I had the pleasure of going out to see The Maltese Falcon on the big screen.  You have to take advantage of opportunities like that if you’re going to make living in New York worth the effort.  Anyway, while I was watching it, I had an interesting thought: if Dashiell Hammett is looking down from Writer’s Heaven, between knocking back shots with Hemingway, he’s probably laughing his ass off at how he’s put one over on four generations of censors.

Twice in the movie, Sam Spade calls another character a “gunsel”. This is because the pulp magazine that published the original serialized novel wouldn’t allow vulgarities, so Sam couldn’t swear. But if you look up “gunsel“, it doesn’t mean “hired gun” or “thug” like you might think. If that long-ago editor knew what he was printing (and those Golden Age of Hollywood censors knew what they were allowing to be said onscreen), they might have preferred to let Sam swear…