David Foster Wallace has been praised as one of America’s finest authors by critics and fans alike.  But as it seems with some of the most prolific of artists out there, that genius is also mired by other personal problems, David Foster was no different.

Growing up in Champaign/Urbana Illinois David was not only a regionally ranked tennis player, but also a top student as well as astounding author.  He attended Almhurst college and majored in English and philosophy.  His philosophy thesis Richard Taylor’s Fatalism and the Semantics of Physical Modality, was awarded the Gail Kennedy Memorial Prize.  His other senior thesis would become his first published novel, The Broom of the System.

Wallace merged into teaching after graduating from college, and also published the novel that he is most well known for, Infinite Jest.

Jest is set in a post-apocalyptic North America in the very near future.  The novel, though fiction, does have several autobiographical points to it.  It deals with junior tennis, substance abuse, recovery programs, and depression.  All of which David had dealt with.

In 2005, Time included Jest in its list of 100 best English language novels since 1923.

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This is a novel I’ve been working through since high school.  Not only is it long, but the intricate language that David uses, and the hundreds upon hundreds of pages of endnotes makes it for quite a difficult read.  However it is one that I’m working towards…so stay tuned on Literary Wasteland!

Upon David’s death in 2008, his father came out stating that David had not only struggled with severe substance abuse, but also depression for some time.  He had not only been taking prescribed meds, but also tried electroshock therapy to help cure him.  However, after some time, the drugs stopped working and David’s depression worsened.

His final book, The Pale King, and unfinished work pieced together by handwritten notes was published by David’s long time agent in 2011, and a new biography is in the works to release in 2012.

The University of Texas purchased many of David’s estate.  They have hundreds of books, letters, and personal items of Davids for you to review.  The handwritten notes inside some of the books he used to teach with, the lot of self-help books that are sprinkled throughout volumes of Husserl and Borges, among other notable authors.

You can see more about this exhibit here.

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Robert Jordan, best known for his fantasy series The Wheel Of Time, is the pen name for James Oliver Rigney Jr.

Before becoming a full time author, and the envy of almost anyone who enjoyed fantasy novels, Robert was enlisted in the United States Army.  After doing 2 tours in Vietnam, and winning several awards (Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster, Bronze Star with a “V” and oak leaf cluster, and Vietnamese Gallantry Crosses with palm) he attended The Citadel, where he earned a degree in physics.  He later was employed by the United States Navy as a nuclear engineer.  It wasn’t until 1977 that he started writing.

Upon his death from cardiac amyloidosis in 2007, Robert had written eleven of the twelve books in his Wheel of Time series, and shared all of the crucial plot information on his blog.

But outside his life’s work in The Wheel of Time, Robert also dabbled in other series such as Conan the Barbarian, Fallon, and Infinity of Heaven.

Robert’s work was very influential on me as I grew my reading roots.  His books, alongside Tolkien, helped me develop a love for the fantasy genre.  In some ways I prefer his books to those of Tolkien, as they are more descriptive, and have much more interesting characters.

I highly recommend picking up the first three books in the Wheel of Time series, for any of you who are curious as to why people like fantasy.  You might just find that you will fall in love with it as well.

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How hilariously true it is.

I know that I’ve been a big advocate of going against the grain with reading.  No, I’m not a reading hipster.  It’s just that the concept of reading a digital book goes right over my head.

There is just something about the comforting feel of a book, the smell, the sound of the pages.  Books are just the greatest.  However, I stumbled upon something that might sway me a little from my soap box.

I was stumbling through Etsy the other day, and found something…amazing.

Super sweet hardback book covers for your Kindle and Nook!

Cover is handmade from a hardback book. The binding is reinforced and lined with fleece. Your e-reader is held in by riveted elastic straps. On the opposite side of the e-reader is an additional strap that can be used to hold a notebook. It also includes a strap attached to the back which wraps around to keep the cover closed securely.

All my covers are made from damaged hardback books that can no longer function as readable copies. You can have an awesome cover for your reader without destroying literature!

The interior of my covers are all about cradling your device, while the exterior gives a cool book-like appearance. Due to the nature of dust jackets, some might exhibit shelf wear.

This cover is made from a Star Wars dust jacket with a shiny finish. The opposite side of the kindle is another strap to hold a notebook.

Check out the rest of the selection they have up so far here.

It was as if Brain Lumley was destined to be a horror writer from birth.  He was born in the UK just nine months after H.P. Lovecraft had passed, and, to begin with, Lumley was a dedicated sci-fi fan.  It wasn’t until he started serving time in the Royal Military Police, stationed in Germany, that he found himself slowly being pulled in by the macabre.

It was in this time that he discovered a set of Lovecraft stories.  After reading them, he started searching for more, trying to find every available item of his work.  He even went so far as to reach out to Lovecraft’s publisher August Derleth in Sauk City, WI simply to purchase 2 volumes of work missing from his collection.  In his letters to August, Lumley included pages and excerpts from The Necronomicon and The Black Books series that he himself had written.  August enjoyed them so much he asked if he could use Lumley’s work in a compilation he was putting together.

Lumley went on to publish several Lovecraftian works, many of them using the infamous Arkham, MA as their setting.  These works also expanded upon and added to the Cthulhu Mythos.

When Lumley retired from the military in 1980, after have published several of his shorts during his tenure as a solider, he sought out to become a full time author.  He would finally see success with his publication of Necroscope.  This series follows around Harry Keogh, a boy who can communicate with the dead.

Since then, Brian has gone on to not only publish heavily in the horror genre, but also revolutionize literary horror itself.  He was elected president of the Horror Writers Association from 1996-1997, and his work has warranted several awards in the genre as well, it has also spawned it’s own convention series, Keogh Con.

If there is one horror author you should read before dying, Brian Lumley is it.

Check out Brain’s site.

Check out all of Brian’s works.

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It looks like everyone has really enjoyed my reading of H.P. Lovecraft’s The Picture In The House so much, that I actually found an old comic adaptation from1993 for you all to enjoy!

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a physician and writer who lived in Edinburgh, Scotland, who is most recognized for his creation of the famous detective Sherlock Holmes.  However, during his time as a writer Doyle also crafted worlds deeply rotted in both historical context as well as science fiction.

It was when he was in medical school that Doyle began writing short stories, his first appearing in Chambers’ Edinburgh Journal before he was twenty.  He then was employed as a ships doctor following his graduation from medical school.  It was shortly after this work that he joined his friend’s medical practice, however they had a falling out and spurred Doyle into opening his own practice.

The practice was so unsuccessful, that Doyle turned back to an old habit formed in medical school to pass the time while he waited for patients to come, writing.  It was during these long days that Doyle would publish most of his works, and create one of the most famous literary characters of all time.  Sherlock Holmes.

Holmes’ first appearance was in one of Doyle’s early works, A Study In Scarlet.  Sherlock was loosely modeled on one of Doyle’s old professors, Joeseph Bell.  He wrote in a letter to Bell:

“It is most certainly to you that I owe Sherlock Holmes. … [R]ound the centre of deduction and inference and observation which I have heard you inculcate I have tried to build up a man.”

After another failed attempt at opening a private practice, this time as an ophthalmologist (he claimed not a single patient walked through his door), he wrote his mother, explaining that he felt like killing off Holmes.

“I think of slaying Holmes … and winding him up for good and all. He takes my mind from better things.”

His mother responded:

“You may do what you deem fit, but the crowds will not take this lightheartedly.”

She was right.  The public’s enraged outcry when both Holmes and his nemesis Moriarty fell to their death from a bridge was so fierce that Doyle was forced to bring the character back from the dead, claiming that only Moriarty fell to his death, Holmes used his newfound cover to avoid several other villains who were after him.

Doyle’s creation of Holmes is said to be what made the crime fiction genre.

Curious into reading some of Doyle’s works?  Well we are in luck, they are online courtesy of the University of Adelaide.  This does include Holmes stories as well as The Lost World.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s online works.

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I read a lot of blogs.  A LOT of blogs.  They are all neatly organized in my Google Reader, and consist of The Chive, various forms of LOLs (cat, dog, or human), and of course, writing blogs.

On of the blogs/companies I follow is Apex Book Company.  Aren’t familiar with them?  Well you should be.  They are a Small press publisher of horror, sci-fi, and fantasy.  Their magazine is all done via digital publishing (i.e. Kindles) and their variety of stories/articles is excellent.

The post I read today on their site was particularly engaging.

For those loyal readers (thanks for that, I know my posts are sporadic at best), you’ll remember I did a string of posts called “Do You Have The Drive”.  In those posts I talked just about those hurdles we writers have to jump over, and hoops we have to jump through.  I also wanted to see how people reacted to all the work it takes to becoming a writer, because let’s face it, it’s tough.

This is the exact conclusion Kenneth Mark Hoover came to in the post I read over on Apex’s site today “Having The Courage To Fail”.

Kenneth does a great job of writing about not only how hard it is to become a writer, how “normal” people just don’t get it, and the reason a lot of us writer’s fail.

I can’t speak for others, but I often meet people who believe writers  “make stuff  up” as they go along.  I mean, gee, how hard can that be?  A little imagination, basic grammar, a fifth grade vocabulary at best … and you’ve got an instant best-seller with a movie option on your hands. Hey, that is not work. Right?

Another thing that I love to read is just what people do while they are making that climb up.  It let’s me know I’m not alone in this daily struggle of day job vs passion, and Kenneth tells all on his variety of jobs.

I have been a surveyor, a salesman, a teacher. That’s when I didn’t cut brush from sunup to sundown. I have dug ditches.  I have carried 120-pounds of cable and geophysical equipment without access to water. I have walked neck-deep through snake-infested sloughs in November.

This struck quite a chord with me.  Just knowing that there is an author out there (one who has published 50 short stories and articles) who has struggled with this, and struggles with writing period makes me feel so much better about my daily grind, and finding the balance in my life.

Click the links, read this article, I know that you writers will like it as much as I did!

Check out Kenneth’s page as well.

Paulo was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and attended a Jesuit school.  It was during his time there that he realized that he wanted to become a writer.  When he was seventeen he finally admitted this to his mother she responded:

My dear, your father is an engineer. He’s a logical, reasonable man with a very clear vision of the world. Do you actually know what it means to be a writer?

After quite a bit of research Paulo came to the conclusion that a writer always wears glasses, never combs his hair and has a duty and obligation to never be understood by his own generation amongst other things.  As he stayed stern on his decision to become a writer, his parents entered him into a mental institution.  He escaped three times before they finally released him at the age of 20.

After this stay in the institution, Paulo decided to follow his mother’s wishes and enroll in Law school, only to drop out shortly after enrolling.  He then lived as a hippie, becoming immersed in the drug culture of the 1960s, and started working as a songwriter.

This, however, also lead to trouble as the people he was writing songs with were heavily involved in the occult, and the government didn’t like that.  Coelho was arrested for “subversive” activities by the government and viewed his lyrics as left-wing and severely dangerous.

In 1986 Coelho walked the 500 mile Road of Santigo de Compostela in northwestern Spain.  It was then he came back to realizing his original love, to become a writer.  This walk also inspired his book The Pilgrimage.

His next book was The Alchemist. It was published by a small Brazilian publishing house, and they decided to print a run of only 900 copies and nothing more.  After this short run Paulo found a bigger publishing house, after The Alchemist became a best seller in Brazil, and the book has gone on to sell over 65 million copies worldwide.  This also makes it one of the best selling books in history.  It has also been entered into the book of Guinness World Records for most translated book by a living author.

Paulo is a big supporter of peer-to-peer sharing of his work, and has even gone so far as to personally upload his books on The Pirate Bay.  He provides free translations to all of his works.

If you aren’t fully convinced that Paulo Coelho is the biggest badass in the publishing world, it’s because you haven’t read his books.  Veronika Decides to Die and  The Alchemist are some of the most moving, thought provoking books I’ve ever read.  Buy your copies below.

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Check out Paulo’s website here.

This is sad news that I feel like I’m going to start having to report on more and more.  Just recently Borders filed for bankruptcy.  In light of this, they have also started closing down around 200 stores nation wide because of there insane deficit.

I went through this whole shebang once when I was working at Hollywood Video when Netflix was starting to gain traction.  I thankfully got out of that industry before I lost that wimpy job.  But this is an entirely different issue in my mind.

Can this problem for Borders be caused all because of digital readers?  I don’t think so, every time I’m in Borders there are loads of people mulling around (but that doesn’t mean they are buying).

Can this problem be because of loyalists that stick to the Barnes and Nobles and Book A Millions?  In some ways yes, but these store’s selection are absolute crap, Borders is way better.

Could this all be because of Amazon?  I think this is hitting the nail on the head a little better.

What I think it is is a combination of efforts here, with the digital revolution at it’s height, and the “trendy” thing to do now is to buy an e-reader and download your books, I think that stores are seeing there is too much overhead cost at keeping their doors open.  Why have an entire store, when people will order online anyway?

I also blame America’s rising illiteracy rates.  People have become so accustomed to just sitting down in front of the TV for any sort of information and jumping on the “I’ll wait for the movie” bandwagon that we are crippling an industry that was once one of the most powerful in the world.

Why do you think I started a “word of the week” section on Literary Wasteland?  It’s because people are stupid…just being honest.

So, for those of you readers that are concerned with your local awesome bookstore fading into the mist…I have a list for you thanks to Scribd.com.  Find out if your local Borders will be closing.

Now it’s time for my plea for reading.  A book isn’t a book unless it’s on paper.  I don’t care what anyone says.  Digital books don’t have the warmth, the smell, the comfort that an actual book does.  When people made the switch from CDs and DVDs to digital it was easy.  They were already digital discs, and all you were doing was cutting out the boxed clutter.  To take a book and to put it in the same context is a very different thing.  I don’t see how people can get interested in reading without a physical book, how can you get involved in the story?

Support your local bookstores, read more physical books, hell DO MORE READING!  It’s okay to turn off the tv for a while, I promise.  If your local Borders closed down find your nearest Half Priced Books, or used book store and buy as many books as you can, I guarantee you’ll find things you never knew existed.

Dan Simmons is an author from my neck of the woods, Peoria, Illinois.  His stories span the genres of horror, sci-fi, and fantasy…sometimes skewing the lines so that they all appear in the same story.  This has lead to him having won several different awards for his writing, but it didn’t start off easy.

In fact, he didn’t even start writing until 1982.  Before that he was a full time teacher for 18 years.  His first published story The River Styx Runs Upstream was published in the Twilight Zone Magazine, then in 1987 he decided to write full time.

Several of his works are set in small, mid-western towns that are similar to his own.  Stephen King has even praised Dan on the small town similarities between his book The Summer of Night and It.

His recent works have many similarities to classic pieces of literature, and his sci-fi series Hyperion has won both the Hugo and Locus award.

Since his success in the sci-fi/fantasy/horror realm, Dan has since turned to a few new genres…hard-boiled crime and historical fiction.  One of his historical fiction works, Drood, has been picked up by Universal and will be made into a movie with Guillermo Del Toro at the helm.

I personally have read Summer of Night and A Winter Haunting, and am very curious as to diving deeper into his works.  Drood has intrigued me for quite a while.  Stay tuned and get ready, because you might hear a Dan Simmons review soon.

Buy his work:

Check out his website

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Wanting to succeed by his own merits, Joe Hillstrom King has carved his way into the publishing world under the abbreviated name of Joe Hill, but he has followed in his father, Stephen King’s, footsteps as an author of horror novels and short stories.

He has won several awards for his work, from the Bram Stoker for best fiction collection to the British Fantasy Award for best collection and best new story.

He currently has three books, 20th Century Ghosts a compilation of 14 short stories, Heart-Shaped Box, his first full length novel about an aging rock star with a collection of the macabre that is haunted by the ghost of a former lover’s father, and Horns, which follows Ig Perrish, who awakes one morning to find he has horns growing from his head and diabolical powers the day after his girlfriends mysterious rape and murder.

His latest endeavor, comic series Locke and Key has recently been picked up to become a TV series, and so far has almost 25 issues split into 6 issue story arcs.

Horns was nominated this year for a Bram Stoker award for Superior Achievement in a Novel.

Buy Joe’s work!

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Check out Joe’s website.

Follow Joe on Twitter.

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With the success of the Harry Potter series worldwide, it is not a far stretch to hear about someone selling you a bootlegged copy of the newest Harry Potter film on the cheap.  In fact, the bootlegging industry is so big in the Chinatowns and China itself that they have gotten into an offshoot I’d only ever heard of once before.

The bootlegged novel.

This actually isn’t the first time that I’ve heard of this happening, but bootlegging novels is a rarity in this day and age.  I was almost dumbfounded when I heard that this was a huge industry, what an odd profession to have, “novel bootlegger”.  Before the Harry Potter bootleg news, I had only ever heard of the bootlegged versions of Lord of the Rings.

These bootlegs were done mostly in the 60s at the high of the hippie craze.  Someone went through and rewrote the entire trilogy, but made it filled with drug use.  Yes that’s right, someone actually took the time to make Lord of the Rings a drug novel…I can’t tell you how much I want to read these bootlegs.

Until then, I leave you with several interesting Chinese bootlegs of Harry Potter novels.

“Harry Potter and the Leopard Walk-Up-To Dragon”

From the portions of text I have found, the first chapter does read fairly much like a Harry Potter novel…but then, at the beginning of chapter 2…things start to get…hobbity.

There was a hobbit, who didn’t even know how to return home. He lived in a hole in the ground, and didn’t know where he came from or where he was going to. He even didn’t know why he had become a hobbit. This was Hogwartz School of Witchcraft and Wizardry 5th year apprentice Harry Potter.

Harry lived in a hole in the ground. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat…

According to the translator of this book, it is virtually an exact, word for word bootleg of the hobbit, only with Harry’s name.  Oh, they did leave Gandalf in the novel as well.

At a crossroads Gandolf said goodbye to them, because he wanted to return to Hogwartz. Just before leaving he told Harry he should return to his uncle’s house at number 4, since he had disappeared for a month, and who knew what trouble those moron muggles would get into.

After Gandolf left, the five of them rode their brooms, travelling with the wind. Trees and cars along the roads below receded. Only when they encountered the occasional passenger jet, the pilot and passengers would cry out, “Hey! Flying people!”, or “Hey! Aliens!”

Not far from the small town they found an isolated place to land, and walked back according to the school rules.

“Bless me! What’s going on?” Harry had hardly walked into his Uncle Vernon’s house when he cried out.

In front of Uncle Vernon’s front door was a great commotion, and people of all sorts, police and kind-hearted neighbors. On the grass in front of the door police cars were parked with their sirens still going off.

In the distance he saw that fat pig Dudley. He hadn’t seen the jerk for more than a month, but there he was, certainly several pounds heavier, happily rubbing his stomach.

“Harry! Harry is over here!” Dudley called.

Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia turned their heads and looked at Harry, so angry they were not even able to think of punishment for an instant.

“You juvenile delinquent, where the hell did you run off to? We thought you were gone without a trace.”

“Look, the police are all here! You disobedient child!”

Fat pig Dudley ran over, pointing at his nose and saying loudly, “Harry,why did you go away?”

Harry ignored them all, and along with Ron, Malfoy, Hermione, and Peter, with head high and chest thrown out walked into the house.

The owl hooted a greeting and flew over, stopping on the porch. A pair of owlish eyes stared fixedly at all the Dursleys, and they all nervously shut their mouths.

“Harry Potter and the Chinese Overseas Students at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry”

Voldemort is growing in strength, the entire wizarding society is in danger.  So Dumbledore does what any concerned headmaster would do…he hires the Chinese sorcery school Nine Mysteries for help.  They send over six teenage wizards who astonish Harry and his friends.

Long story short, Chinese wizards are always better wizards.

During the time the six wizards are at the school, they help Harry, Ron, and Hermione break free and defeat Voldemort.  However Draco breaks free, and leads an attack against Hogwarts with werewolves, Deatheaters, dementors, and giants.

But it seems someone is coming today. Look.” Hermione made them look where Professor McGonagall was standing. There was the Sorting Hat to the side, and she, Dumbledore and the other teachers seemed not to care about the food on their plates. They looked to the doorway from time to time, as if expecting something.“Sorting Hat? Are new students coming?” Ron said with confusion, stretching his neck to see what was outside.

At that moment, Hagrid’s broad silhouette appeared. He had a smile on this face and strode towards Dumbledore, saying, “Here they come.” Dumbledore smiled with relief, as if a long-awaited thing had been finally realized, and he declared with joy, “Let them in, quick!”

He slowly rose up, making an announcement to all the students: “Attention, everybody. Let’s welcome these overseas students from China’s Nine Mysteries School. They’re going to study in Hogwarts starting today.

Harry Potter and the Chinese Porcelain Doll

Apparently Harry morphs into Jerry Lewis in this one.

Voldemort finally realizes he needs help, so he reaches out to his Chinese cousin, Yandomort.  Harry is one step ahead of the game though, and he travels to China to find the Chinese Porcelain Doll that will defeat Yandomort.  A Chinese horcrux perhaps?

Along the way, Harry befriends a Chinese acrobat, (do you smell an Oceans 11 plot brewing here) named Naughty Bubble (direct translation).  Voldemort murdered Naughty Bubble’s mom, Big Spinach (direct translation).

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blooded Relative Prince”

This novel takes an odd twist, because it sounds very familiar to the actual version of the novel.  This one comes with a twist so epic I can only assume M. Night Shyamalan had a hand in it.

Harry, displeased with the progress he is making at Hogwarts, so he transfers to the Chinese wizarding school, Qroutes School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  He becomes evil, and a group of Asian wizards have to kick his ass.

“Harry Potter and the Showdown”

This one is so great, I’m going to let 11points.com just take it away to describe it to you.

The title isn’t flashy but the back story is great. Li Jingsheng was a manager at a textile factory in Shanghai who read (legit) copies of the first six “Harry Potter” books to his son. The son demanded to know what would happen in the seventh, so Li started making up his own story. As he would tell it to his son every night, he thought, “Hey, this story is kinda good”… so he started staying up late, typing it up.

The end result was a 250,000-word novel… right on point with Rowling’s length after she got too powerful and stopped having to pass her books through an editor. He put the book online, people loved it, so it was printed up and put on the market.

The plot is crazy in this one. It takes place after the events of the real first six “Potters”, so Dumbledore’s gone and Professors McGonagall and Slughorn have to reopen Hogwarts.

Cho Chang, the Asian character from the real “Potter” series, introduces everyone to a genius Eastern wizardry book called “36 Strategies”… which gives them a plan to get at Professor Snape. (Remember, this guy wrote it before Snape’s name got cleared by Rowling.)

The plan looks good until Gryffindor’s sword makes a heel turn and kills McGonagall. (In the author’s defense, that’s a totally viable Rowling plot twist. She nver had any problem killing anybody.) Harry and his friends do manage to press on, though, and defeat Voldemort.

It’s not quite a happy ending, though, as Harry’s caught in a love triangle with two girls! (I’m guessing it’s Ginny and Cho, although who knows what this guy was thinking, it very well could be two Chinese exchange student supermodel gymnast rocket scientists who have the magic power to only give birth to boys.)

“Harry Potter and Beaker and Burn”

Do you really care what the plot is based on this cover?

Thanks to 11points

The New York Times

One thing I really want people to start appreciating is H.P. Lovecraft more.  So many people know of him, but have never really made an attempt to read his work.  Some of those who have made that attempt don’t understand what the hell they just read afterwords due to the fairly archaic format, odd references, and sometimes complicated explanations of different dimensions and other-worldly creatures.

I want to ease you into things with this great comic I found from 1974.  It is based on the story, The Rats In The Walls.

I’m not sure which comic publication this is from, so if you have any idea please let me know so we can credit them for this awesome contribution.

The Rats In The Walls Synopsis:

“The Rats in the Walls” is narrated by the scion of the Delapore family, who has moved from Massachusetts to his ancestral estate in England, known as Exham Priory. On several occasions, the protagonist and his cats, specifically his favorite cat, “Nigger-man”, hear the eponymous sounds of rats scurrying behind the walls. Upon investigating further, he finds that his family maintained an underground city for centuries and that the inhabitants of the city fed on human flesh, even going so far as to raise generations of human cattle, who eventually began to de-evolve due to their sub-human living conditions.  In the end, the protagonist, unknowingly maddened by the revelations of his family’s past and driven by the stronger force of his own heritage, attacks one of his friends in the dark of the cavernous city and begins eating him. He is subsequently subdued and locked in a mental institution. Soon after, Exham Priory is destroyed. The protagonist of the story maintains his innocence, proclaiming that it was “the rats, the rats in the walls,” who ate the man. The rats still persist, however, as he continues to be plagued by the sounds and sights of rats in the walls of his cell.

Margaret Weis (left) and her partner Tracy Hickman (right)

Margaret Weis is best known for her work done on the Dragonlance series of novels, co-written with her partner Tracy Hickman, but she has a hand in all different types of genres, not just Dragonlance world.

Margaret, a Missouri native, discovered the joy of fantasy while attending college at the University of Missouri.  A friend had loaned her a copy of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, after that, she was hooked, but never had any intention of writing fantasy.

She worked as an editor a a publishing house in Independence, MO and during her time was able to write children’s books, books about computer graphics, robots, and an adventure novel for 2nd graders (though the target audience was more geared toward prisoners).  It was about this time that she grew tired of this work, and realized she needed a change, that is when she saw an ad for TSR.

If you aren’t familiar with TSR they are the company that started Dungeons and Dragons, and was purchased out several years later by Wizards of the Coast.

She was hired on as a book editor, and her first assignment was working with Project Overlord. This project was to be a novelized book series that would accompany a trilogy of RPG gaming modules.  Project Overlord spawned a series of three books Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night, and Dragons of Spring Dawning, the first three books in the series known as Dragonlance.

With Dragonlance’s success behind her, Margaret kept on writing.  She has put out several successful series post TSR.  The Darksword trilogy, The Deathgate Cycle, and The Star of the Guardians.

Pyramid magazine named her as one of The Millennium’s Most Influential Persons in 1999, stating that Weis and Hickman were responsible for the entire gaming fiction genre.  She was then inducted into the Origins hall of fame in 2002.

She is currently the owner and chief officer of Sovereign Press, a game publisher in Lake Geneva, WI, and her newest company Margaret Weis Productions, LTD, publishes RPG lines based on several successful franchises.  Franchises like Sernity and  Battlestar Galactica.

The Dragonlance series is easily one of my absolute favorite series of books next to LOTR, and the Robert Jordan Eye of the World series.  If you aren’t huge into fantasy, this is an easy place to get hooked.  I highly recommend purchasing everything you can!

Check out her homepage and buy something why don’t ya!

Click me to go back to Literary Wasteland on the My Remote Radio Podcast Network

No, it doesn’t involve directly downloading books into your cerebral cortex…yet.  This, in my opinion, is just as cool though.

Now I’ve not loaned a book from a library in probably close to a decade.  I only stepped foot in my college library a handful of times.  I just don’t see any use for them, and would always prefer to own a book rather than loan it.  The library was always quite an ordeal as well.  Figuring out the Dewey Decimal system, and then navigating the numerous rows of stale books.

Well now there is a better way!  The people of Polk County, Florida are taking a very Japanese way to get their books.  Through vending machines.  Simply swipe your library card and enter your book selection!  No grumpy teller, no Dewey Decimal!

I think that this “red box” type of book loaning might actually get people back into reading.  They’ll see the books front and center, and there wont be any effort taken to get the book.  The only excuse they can make is the ones so that they don’t have to read it.

I like it, do you?

Thanks io9

Well I guess I could even make this title “Why, James Patterson, Why?”

If you follow me on Goodreads you’ll have noticed that just last week I started reading a James Patterson novel, Along Came A Spider, this is the first novel in a series of books featuring the character of Alex Cross.  Alex is a psychologist, police detective, and all around badass.  You could almost think of him as a black Robert Langdon, only like ten times more badass.

I’m not sure of the full run of books featuring Alex Cross, but I do know that other than Along Came A Spider the other book is called Kiss The Girls.  Both of these books have been adapted into films.  Alex Cross was portrayed on screen by Morgan Freeman.

I’ve never seen any of these movies, but I was familiar with Morgan Freeman playing the character of Cross…so now that I’ve been reading the book, it’s Freeman I see and hear.  That makes the book that much more of an enjoyable read.

So you can understand my frustration when I read over at ComingSoon.net that Tyler Perry is now set to play Alex Cross in the film I, Alex Cross.

THIS. IS. BULLSHIT!

It’s not that I have anything against films changing actors in a series, I mean look at what is being done with Superman, but its the principle behind hiring Tyler Perry to do it.  I don’t think he can pull this off.

The only thing I’m going to see when this movie starts is an unfunny actor making an attempt to play a very serious character role.  So why did they choose Perry?  Well I have a notion.

In Along Came A Spider, Alex Cross lives in the rough part of D.C. with his two children and his mother.  HIS MOTHER!  I hope Eddie Murphy is listening, because I think that the studio heads want to pull another Madea on us and make Tyler Perry play Alex Cross and Nana, Alex’s mother.  I can see it all happening now.

Alex Cross is thrust into the media spotlight after messing up a ransom drop, so he comes home upset, when who is in the kitchen?  Why it’s Tyler Perry dress as Nana, the cast of Meet The Browns, and House of Payne and the kids are playing with the cast of Are We There Yet!  It’s genius!

Tyler Perry, alongside Winona Ryder, ruined the new Star Trek film for me.  Seriously, they just stick out like a sore thumb.  I don’t care if they are fans of the show, they should have just stayed fans.  Same with this project.  I want Tyler Perry out, and a new person cast as the lead for Cross.

What do you think?

Phew, glad you made it over from the My Remote Radio post.  If you haven’t read that one new readers, swing over to it to read part 1.

I know in part 1 I really ragged on the tween reading genre with how bland it’s selection of books are nowadays.  No wonder books like The Hunger Games get picked up for movies…it’s so different from everything else it stands out like a sore thumb!

But no matter how much we want to believe it, the adult publishing world is just as fickle and bland as well.  As I make my way into the basement of Borders books to check out the insultingly tiny horror section they have, what am I greeted with?  A full bay dedicated solely to Stephen King (he deserves it), a full bay for Dean Koontz (he kinda deserves it…I mean I guess), then just zombie and vampire novels as far as the eye can see.  Really, it’s just like the teen section, only the adult version of these stories are far more grotesque and a heck of a lot less lovey dovey.

The publishing world has put out every sort of scenario for zombies too, humorous, biological, apocalyptic, mad scientists and on and on.  So in a wimpy 6 bay section of horror books, if we subtract the Stephen King bay, the Dean Koontz bay, and all the zombie/vampire novels, I get about 1 solid row mixed with short stories, Joe Hill, and Dan Simmons.

Don’t get me wrong, I love these authors, but damn, I only get 1 row!!!!  I mean there aren’t even any Clive Barker books to choose from!  That my friends is an atrocity, and it got me thinking.

We’ve maxed out zombies, we’ve maxed out vampires, and werewolves were maxed out long ago.  So where do we go from here?  What is that next gem that the publishing world will be looking for to squeeze every dollar from the author’s tit?  There is only one answer I can come to.

Cthulhu.

Yes, Cthulhu is  on the more hardcore spectrum of geekdom, but the followers are harder than all the vampire, zombie, and werewolf fans combined.  Cthulhu fans have not only read through all of the mythos (both Lovecraftian and non-Lovecraftian), and have probably found a way to really appreciate Lovecraft’s first person narrative for all of his stories, no matter how far fetched as they can be.

I am one of these nerds.

Over the past few years I’ve seen the Cthulhu fanbase grow, and with that growth, new merchandise has been made available.

People are making Cthulhu masks, knit caps and gloves.  I’ve seen Cthulhu board games releasing all over the place, a book called Mall of Cthulhu, and even a flipping Alan Moore comic!

Lovecraft has been around for ages, and has inspired some of the greatest writers of our lifetime, so why hasn’t this caught on sooner?

My personal opinion is because of Lovecraft’s writing style.  His form is all told in first person narrative, and is fairly archaic.  He’s created an entire new world on the East coast, the town of Arkham and surrounding cities, and never really has a story that introduces you to everything, you just have to know.  Also, Lovecraft loved math.  So many of his stories deal with mathematics and alternate universes that it goes right over some people’s heads.  Lovecraft walks a very thin line of horror/fantasy.

Ok, so why is Cthulhu getting so popular?  What the hell is it?

Well, nobody really knows.  It doesn’t have an origin story.  Here is what we do know.  Cthulhu is the high priest to the Great Old Ones (an ancient extraterrestrial group of powerful beings).  It has never been fully described.  Though we know it is a gigantic creature, with a mass of tentacles around it’s mouth.  It lives in the underwater city of R’lyeh.  This city was on Earth long before man, and it sank to the bottom of the sea ages ago, only revealing itself when it resurfaces.

Here is a small excerpt description from Call of Cthulhu describing the beast.

A pulpy, tentacled head surmounted a grotesque scaly body with rudimentary wings.

A monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind.

the green, sticky spawn of the stars, with “flabby claws” and an “awful squid-head with writhing feelers”

As people catch on to the fact that the shows/movies they’ve been watching and books they’ve been reading are the same regurgitated drivel over and over again they’re going to look for something new, and that’s when they will find Lovecraft, that is when they will wake Cthulhu from his slumber.

Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn

What do you think?

]]> http://www.andrewmarcec.com/will-cthulhu-be-cannibalised/feed/ 0 http://www.andrewmarcec.com/author-spotlight-george-r-r-martin/ http://www.andrewmarcec.com/author-spotlight-george-r-r-martin/#comments Wed, 26 Jan 2011 03:10:46 +0000 Andrew Marcec http://www.andrewmarcec.com/?p=3640

Bryan’s claim to fame has come with the success of the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels, but he has been working on comics for quite a while before the fame of Pilgrim came into the picture.  As a child he realized his love for the comic medium and decided then and there to make it his vocation.

In college he dabbled with film and music, under the alias Kupek.  Kupek was a one man band project that released seven albums, all of which can be downloaded on his site.  Bryan then got a job lettering for Oni Press, the same company that would move forward and publish both of his titles to date.

His first was called Lost at Sea, that tells the coming of age story of Raleigh, who believes her soul was stolen by a cat, and the road trip she takes across the United States with people she barely knows.

Buy your copy here.

Scott Pilgrim came several years later.  The name is derived from a song by Plumtree, a band from Nova Scotia.  Scott Pilgrim was heavily influenced by the manga style of Beck, which is also a comic about a bunch of kids that start a band.  The series ran six issues long, and has been adapted into a feature film starring Michael Cera.

Buy me!

Buy me!

Buy me!

Buy me!

Buy me!

Buy me!

Trailer:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Buy me!

Check out Bryan’s website

Kupek’s music

Bryan on Twitter

While he is known today as one of the most influential authors in the horror genre, H.P. Lovecraft was relatively unknown during his time.  He has come to be an influence on some of the most prominent people in the horror society today.  People like Clive Barker, Stephen King, Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, and countless others cite Lovecraft in their works.  Though he post-humanly enjoys the recognition every author desires, his life was filled with hardship that helped formed the ideas and themes that we praise today.

Howard Phillips Lovecraft was born in Rhode Island to a traveling salesman and his wife.  He was frequently ill through the duration of his childhood, much of which doctors assumed was psychosomatic.  He was sickly, argumentative, and near anti-social (he was pulled from school several times, never really assimilating into society until he entered Hope High School).  He suffered from night terrors, and when his father’s mental breakdown from Syphilis landed him a permanent home in the local asylum, the doctor’s feared that the disease might have passed on to H.P.

It was Lovecraft’s grandfather that encouraged him into the life of literature.  Reciting made up Gothic horror stories for him, and providing him with classic books like Arabian Nights, The Illiad, and The Odyssey.  It was during this time that he became enamored by chemistry and astronomy, two elements that play a huge role in many of his stories, especially the Cthulhu mythos.

In the earlier part of his life, the prime focus of his work was on poetry.  He was a hermit during this time of his life, only keeping contact with his mother.  His life changed forever in 1913 when he wrote a letter to The Argosy, a pulp magazine, complaining of the insipidness of love stories.  This letter caught the eye of the magazine’s editor, who invited Lovecraft to a meeting with the UAPA.

This meeting reinvigorated Lovecraft, and he started publishing more of his works.  Stories like The Tomb and Dagon were some of his first stories published in Weird Tales.

Lovecraft’s work has been split into three separate categories, as his themes and stories changed throughout his life.  The earlier part of his work is referred to as the Macabre Stories.  This is when his work was most influenced by his night terrors and his deep affection for the work of Edgar Allen Poe.  This was also when he incorporated the infamous Necronomicon into his works.

The Dream Cycle period is set in a world called the Dreamlands, and this is where we start seeing the formation of the Great Ones and Elder Ones.  These works were influence heavily by his discovery of Lord Dunsany.

The Cthulhu Mythos is the last part of his story cycle, this revolved around the Old Gods and Elder Ones.  It incorporated the great Cthulhu, Narlyothep, and Yog-Shothoth.

All of Lovecraft’s work had very similar and prominent themes that spanned all three of his categories of work.  Themes of Forbidden Knowledge, Inhuman Influence on Humanity, Inherited Guilt, Civilization Under Threat, Scientific Risks, and Religion are very easily spotted.  He also had many stories revolving around the fragility of the human psyche, and how easily it could be broken.

Probably his most notable creation is of the Elder God Cthulhu.  Pronounced many ways, it is one of the Great Old Ones that had inhabited the Earth long before humans.  It now lives in the sunken city of R’lyeh, deep under the Pacific Ocean.

Cthulhu is never fully described in detail, but we get our best idea for what it looks like from it’s introductory story The Call of Cthulhu:

A pulpy, tentacled head surmounted a grotesque scaly body with rudimentary wings.

Cthulhu is featured in many of Lovecraft’s later works, whether it be by a worshiping cult, or by an actual discovery, Lovecraft made sure it blended seamlessly into the world of Arkham.

Arkham, is a fictional New England city where most of Lovecraft’s work took place.  It is home to the infamous Miskatonic University (where several stories take place, and a large amount of his characters study.  Its library also houses the only copy of the Necronomicon).  Its exact location is unknown, but it is said to be close to Innsmouth and Dunwich.  Just north of Boston.

Lovecraft’s works are exciting, confusing, mind-bending, and completely terrifying.  It’s no wonder, in an age of recycled stories and cheap rehashes that we cling to his ever creative work to excite us.  His works haven’t been confined to the pages either, there have been many films based on his writings (most by Stuart Gordon).  One of the most notable pop culture references to him is in the Necronomicon. There have been several reproductions of this book, as well as having it featured heavily in the Evil Dead series of films, among many others.

Note that when reading Lovecraft’s work, I would recommend finding an annotated collection.  These notes will give you more insight into character relation into other stories, or simply just a better explanation of what is going on.  I recommend Dreams in the Witch House: And Other Weird Stories or Bloodcurdling Tales Of Horror and Macabre.

Lovecraft wiki

]]> http://www.andrewmarcec.com/h-p-lovecraft/feed/ 0 http://www.andrewmarcec.com/how-do-you-choose-your-books/ http://www.andrewmarcec.com/how-do-you-choose-your-books/#comments Sun, 03 Oct 2010 20:08:05 +0000 Andrew Marcec http://www.andrewmarcec.com/?p=3602

This question has plagued all of us entertainment junkies for ages.  Film presents us with a very casual entertainment, and delivers a much more effective impact on story viewing.  I would never try to read Rambo: The Book.  The impact of what the movie brings just couldn’t be matched.  Likewise, I would never want to watch a cerebral novel turned into a movie, just look at Naked Lunch.  This William S. Burroughs novel is totally mind bending, even when you read it you don’t really know what the hell you just read.  However watching the film adaption is just…well I can’t even begin to really encapsulate that experience.

This is one of the normal scenes.

It seems that when there is a book and then a film adaptation, there is a deep line drawn in the sand.  People choose sides and then don’t budge.  The Harry Potter and Twilight fans I think are the most lax on which side they choose.  It seems as though they have reached an equal compromise that both book and film are equally entertaining.  Then again, the fan base on these aren’t as disgruntled and hardcore as some of the larger fantasy based books like Lord of the Rings.

I can see both sides of the story with this argument.  There are books out there that I’ve read where I genuinely love the film adaptation.  For example, let’s take a quick look at Stephen King’s The Shining.

The book is a little on the slow side, but it builds character, just like the character of the hotel.  As you read it, you can almost feel the tension, and every hotel you walk into will seem a little off after you finish reading it.  You keep thinking “if these walls could talk”.

The fear in the novel is very mental.   Is Jack crazy?  Or is he really seeing ghosts?  It makes you question the things you see when you spend a weekend home alone, was that noise in the basement the furnace?  Or is someone breaking in?  It plays with your mental insecurities and escalates those little fears you didn’t think you had.

The movie is a monster entirely of it’s own.  Stanley Kubrick used the novel almost as a jumping point, and twisted it until it was his own creation.  Some of the more notable scenes in the film (the twins in the hallway) aren’t even in the book, and the endings are both completely different.  Both having a powerful effect on you.

Not in the book

The fear in the film is a more subtly obvious terror.  What does that mean?  I mean Kubrick shows you that fear so up front, and so honestly, that we are jaded to it’s presence.  This was the point behind Kubrick’s The Shining.  We’ve seen it all on TV, so we don’t even notice the terror.

Take a step back and look at the main premise of the film.  A man goes crazy and tries to kill his wife.  How is that NOT terrifying on its own?  Most of us though, look at this like its just another humdrum plot point, and we are waiting for ghosts and goblins to jump out of the walls.  With how much death and destruction we are subjected too, it seems these types of actions are almost expected in normal life.  That’s why I mentioned the “we’ve seen it all on TV” statement earlier.

The Donner Party? It’s okay…he saw it on the TV.

Go back, re-watch the film and look at how many lines are pulled from TV shows, or how many times TV is mentioned.  The Simpsons’ Halloween special The Shinning was more accurate than they know.

This big fear difference is one reason why people prefer the book to the movie.  That feeling of intense dread, knowing the one person you love and trust with your life is coming to hurt you is fully explored and analyzed in the book.  This is something the movie can never do.

So where do we draw the line on where we stand to allegiance?  How do we know which side of the fandom line we fall on?  It’s simple, read the book, watch the movie, and see what you prefer.

Recently I finished reading Wizard’s First Rule by Terry Goodkind.  This series was spun into the TV series Legend of the Seeker.  I was a huge fan of the show, it blended a great amount of fantasy with actuality, and had an excellent plot.  However I can safely say that after reading the first book in the series that I will not watch the show ever again.

There were concepts in the book that the TV show had to dumb down for its audiences, and so many plot-lines that they simply discarded, probably due to budget.

That’s the real difference between the two mediums…with a book the vastness of what you create relies only upon your imagination and the readers ability to relate.  With a film it all depends on how deep your pocket book is.

Do you agree?  Which movie to you prefer to it’s book counterpart or vice versa?

In my updates post I talked about things that I had noticed I was doing that was hindering my progress on my success.  I felt this would have made a good point, but needed to be an entire post in itself, because I’m quickly seeing just how important it really is.

When you read the title of this post, what did you immediately thing I meant?  Immersing yourself in a book?  A TV show? A lifestyle?  I guess it all depends on what your goals in life are, and how badly you want them.  When I say Art Of Immersion I’m taking the side of immersing yourself in the world of the goal you want.

So for me, my goal is to become a writer, so here are the things I realized I needed to further immerse myself in, that I wasn’t doing before.

Reading- This is a crucial step for me to get better at writing.  You need to read to keep your mind sharp, keep your vocab growing, and keep your ideas churning.  It doesn’t matter what you are reading, just make sure you’re enjoying it.  Don’t jump into reading Tolstoy or Proust if you know right off the bat you’re going to loathe it.

To some people I read trash.  I think what I read is pretty genius.  Authors like H.P. Lovecraft, Terry Goodkind, Orson Scott Card.  I love the horror/sci-fi/fantasy world, it’s an escape.  At the same time, it helps me in what I try to do with my writing.  New analogies, new ways to describe things that seem to get repetitive or boring, it’s all in the pages.

Zines- This goes hand in hand with reading, but there are so many great publications on the market today that will help you with getting your goal.  I was mulling around a Border’s bookstore one day, knowing I needed more resources for success.  I thought that mostly all short story zines had gone digital, but there are still several publications I found that still offer print!  There was still some Asimov collections, and other short story zines for several different genres, here were a few I picked up:

Cemetery Dance – This is a great magazine that featured six or seven short horror stories, long enough for me to read on the train into my day job.  It also featured some excellent interviews with authors, and book reviews.

Reading zines like this is great, because these are the people you want to submit to.  Forget those humdrum indie sites that are offering no money and no dual publishing.  Go for more credible sources.  One trick that they all recommend is to read the stories they prefer to publish.  This will help you craft your stories tone, and know if you have a good fit.  Otherwise you get the rejection letters that say “Though we liked your story, it doesn’t fit what we are looking for at this time.“  Trust me I have quite a few of those.

The Writer Magazine – This is more of a tool kit rather than submission machine.  In this magazine they interview successful and published authors of all genres.  They give you insight into the publishing world and have specific sections that help you with story progress, and keep you inspired.  This is one magazine I urge all of you to subscribe to!

Self  help books- Now this isn’t more under the impression of “I’m fat and wanna lose weight”.  No, we want to really look into the area of “I want help with my writing.  I need something that I can reference when I’m stuck on something.”  Thankfully, there are more books that I can even fathom on this very subject.  Books that are specifically tailored to your medium (i.e. short story, nonfiction, bio), and then there are books that focus on the syntax of the writing process (grammar, brevity, wording).

I would say go with the syntax books.  Those at least I have found help me the most.

So when I say “I’m immersing myself” in these things, I mean that I am doing everything I can to get involved in a writer’s lifestyle.  Getting involved with writing boards, reading, really learning how the industry works and fully understanding just how much work has to go into this.  I’m trying to get involved with writer’s boards and make connections, networking is KEY!

What have you found works out really well?  Is there anything you see as a keystone to the writer that I have not mentioned?

Well, well, well, what a while it has been since last being on here.  I know you all have been anxiously waiting for some new posts on here, and just your luck…I’ve got some!

Actually, I have a lot of posts coming forth here, so get ready to start checking back here quite often because things are about to get meaty.

If you don’t see a post on here one day, and are craving some that I write, I highly urge you swing over to My Remote Radio and check out all my posts there.  It’s on My Remote Radio that I do a lot of my more geek/media centric posts.  I want to keep this site only about writing/reading.

So, onto the updates.

Update one:

For the time being, I’m going to be putting a halt to Oasis.

I’m not sure what people’s thoughts were on this series so far, but in my honest opinion it was just developing too slow.  That just lead to frustration.  The concept I have for this story is huge, and I’m really just hitting a tip of the iceberg with it.  So, there is more research, more story crafting, more everything that needs to be done to it before we can really appreciate Soleas.

Update Two:

I have a Goodreads account!

That’s right, now you can meticulously follow my progress through all the books I’m reading!  What brought about this sudden surge of reading?  I’m glad you asked.

As we know I am a writer in a digital world.  This is so excellent for me and all the other budding writers out there because the opportunities that are in front of us are vast…and also cheap.  To really submerge myself in the digital writing world, I want to get an eReader.  Before I dive headfirst into that investment, I made a promise to myself that I would finish all the unread books on my bookshelf before I do that.  I can’t stand having unread books.  I’ve got several under my belt already on the site, and be ready for reviews up here as well.

Follow my Goodreads here.

Update Three:

I took a big step back to look at my daily habits.  Writing, time management, everything.  I wanted to see what it was I was doing that was getting me so frustrated, making me feel so pressured and sometimes struggling with words.  Then something clicked with me, I had a few things I was doing that were hindering my progress, or so I felt.  Small distractions many of us didn’t notice seemed to be growing into bigger and bigger distractions at an alarming rate, so I decided to nip those in the bud.

What were they you ask?  Afraid you might be hitting them too?

1. Xbox 360- yes this was a huge distraction for me ever since getting Final Fantasy 13.  Granted I didn’t play it every night, but when I would play it was in 3-5 hour stints…NOT GOOD!

2. TV- I’m not saying a little TV isn’t okay, in fact I think its a necessity, but limit your intake of it.  I had it on from the moment that I came home, until the moment I went to bed…even while working.  With some projects I do work better with the background noise, but it just can’t happen while writing.

3. No defined work area- I used to write on the floor.  No chair, no desk…the floor and a coffee table.  That was also in front of a TV.  Bad news bears.  I’ve since purchased an incredibly cheap desk off a friend, moved it into a different room, and my productivity has started to soar!

4. Bad reading habits- TV didn’t just hurt my work progress, it hurt my reading time as well.  Case and point, if you don’t read, your writing won’t be as good as it can be.  Reading challenges your mind to become more vivid, more sharp, and your vocab grows with each page.

I now read every single night again (which works beautifully with my Goodreads project), and I’ve noticed that my nightly word count, ease of writing, and vocab has improved vastly.

So that’s kinda what I’ve been up to in a nutshell.

Now, though Oasis is on hold for a moment, I’m working on a new short as we speak, a horror short.  Keep your eyes peeled, hopefully that will be my first published piece.  Until then keep your pencils and minds sharp!

____________________________________________________

Synopsis:

With the realization that almost all of the water in Soleas had been drained from the vat in town, four men take it upon themselves to venture out into the uncharted desert outside Soleas in hopes that they will be able to find a new water supply.

When people talk about their favorite books, notice that they don’t always bring up the author’s perfect grammar, his grand diction, or heck, they won’t even bring up the author at all sometimes.  Authors, like directors, are invisible to the common reader.  They understand that the person wrote the novel, but that is where their knowledge of that person usually ends.

What we normally become extremely attached to are the characters in those stories.  We put ourselves in their shoes, and sometimes grow so attached that when a story ends we feel it emotionally.

So when we talk about the best book series out there, we aren’t really talking about the story arch, but more the character arc and how those characters we love change and react to the events in the story.

This poll isn’t for single serving characters, I have picked some of my favorite series of books and made a poll.  What I want you to do is tell me what you think is the best book series out there.

If I missed on, add it down in the comments section and we can lobby this against my choices.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

I’ve written posts to everyone about my struggles as a budding author, and (hopefully) you all have been reading my stories and checking out Oasis (again, sorry for the delay on ep 3).  There is one thing, however, that I’ve never really touched on because I personally have yet to experience this.

Agents and getting published.

Hard to believe isn’t it, the guy that doles out advice on a fairly regular basis, is also a guy who has yet to acquire an agent or even get published.  Today I stand before you saying that none of that matters….well the agent part at least.

Here is what I have found with the many stories that I have sent out for publication.  That my story, though fitting the genre of the publication, is sometimes just not the right “fit” for them at that moment.  In my eyes that means, “great, thanks for trying, but you’re a little too dark, you’re story isn’t conforming to the popular and current horror trends that will not only allow us to please our loyal readers, but also bring in new ones”.  I understand this viewpoint, I mean, the goal of publications is to have a wide circulation.

Somehow I always end up asking myself “well who does want to read this?”  This is a question that will sometimes keep me up at night, who would want to read my stories?  Now, in this digital revolution, I can find out exactly.

I was talking with my best friend, biggest motivator, and co-host of My Remote Radio Doug the other day about some of the amazing new releases that are coming with the iPhone 4g.  How it can seamlessly integrate with your iPad (should you have one), and allow you to have virtually everything at your fingertips.  One of those tools is iBooks.

Sure, many people will go on record as saying that this is all nothing more than an over glorified Kindle, but lets sit back and think about this for a second, all iBooks go through the iTunes store.  As we know, anyone can submit podcasts or audio for people to download through their iTunes store.  So why not iBooks as well?

Give Steve Jobs a kiss the next time you see him, because he’s thought of this already, and I have to say, it’s sweet.  No longer will we, the budding authors who fall between the cracks of publications, be forced to deal with those publications, or agents who just don’t have enough time for people like us.  We can now control this.

WE control how much we charge per story.  WE control how many countries we want this publication to be available to (so long as they have an iStore).  We also will get the same exact deal that all app publishers get, a cool 30/70 split (Apple takes 30%, we take 70%).  How awesome is that?!  All your stories, at the fingertips of the world!

Now, as with anything there are certain requirements everyone must meet.

• ISBN numbers for the books you want to distribute
• the ability to deliver the book in EPUB format
• the book pass EpubCheck 1.0.5
• a US Tax ID (sorry world, this is only open to the US at this point)
• an iTunes account backed up by a credit card
• a fairly good idea of where you’ll sell and how much you’ll sell
• an Intel-based Mac running OS 10.5 or better (sorry PC users, their game, their rules) and meet some reasonable technical requirements

This is certainly the way of the future, this is the straw that is going to break the publisher’s back.  I know in the past, self-publication has been the dirty word of the publishing industry, but now, I see it as becoming the most reliable.  Any publishers that conform to this new standard, will no longer look upon self-publishing as a stigma, but as a jumping grounds to success!

I am truly excited for this new trend, and will be doing everything in my power to be a part of it.  How about you?

One thing that I love next to reading and writing is film.  From the good to the bad, and yes to be punny and honest, even the ugly.  One common trend you’ll see that I write against a lot over on MyRemoteRadio.com is film re-makes.  However there is one type of film that often is forgotten about, or not praised as much as it should be.  That is the adapted film.

Sure there is a category in it for the Oscars, and sure the films are usually far superior to films that have been written for the screen.  However, why do the novels never get as much recognition as the films?  Why is the author of the book not talked about as much as the director of the film?

If anything, film adaptations are excellent because if you have a hard time creating a visual image in your mind’s eye, this gives you one to work off of.  Also, it can create incredible conversation amongst friends, poking holes in the plot, noticing things left out that we wish we could see.

Most recently “Precious” was an adapted film that everyone was talking about, however I didn’t really like this one as much as others.  I’ve put together a quick list of some of my favorite adaptations, but I want to hear yours as well!

Clockwork Orange

With the use of some incredibly psychedelic sets and costumes, along with phenomenal casting, Stanley Kubrick really bought Anthony Burgess’ novel to life.  He kept faithful to the novel, even having dialogue coming verbatim from the pages of the book.  The only glaring difference between the two is the fact that in the novel Alex is 14, and in the film he is noticeably older.  This is an understandable change though.

The English slag being kept in the film is still a lingo used by cult film watchers to this very day!

The Shining

Plain and simple, this is a masterpiece.  Not only is this based on one of Stephen King’s most successful novels, this film really has a life of it’s own.  With heavy differences from the book (the biggest being that the twins play no more a role, other than furthering Grady’s character development) this film has really held up through the test of time, unlike the Mick Garris mini-series.

According to trivia, Stanley Kubrick used to call Stephen King at 3 in the morning and ask him questions like, “Do you believe in God?  Do you believe in hell?”  He was also notorious for putting the actors through hundreds of takes of one scene causing Shelley Duvall’s hair to fall out and bringing Scatman Crothers to tears.

Requiem For A Dream

Not only is this one of the most difficult books I’ve ever read, next to “I Know This Much Is True”, but it is also one of those films that I’m in love with, but never watch.  Both the cast and crew went to pretty extreme measures to really capture the reality of drug addiction.  Jared Leto befriended many heroine addicts in research, and Darren Aronofsky attended several sex parties like the one Big Tim throws at the end of the film.

They were also lucky enough to be able to bring Hubert Selby Jr. on set and read directly from the book before they would shoot the scenes.  This helped Ellen Burstyn perform, quite possibly one of the most heart wrenching scenes in cinema, as she told her addict son Harry about how lonely it is to grow old, and to only have a dream so far out of reach to look forward too everyday.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

The most exciting film and book in the Harry Potter series in my opinion.  As Harry enters his third year at Hogwarts, and his third teacher for the Dark Arts, we are introduced to the more nefarious side of the wizarding world when the Dementors make their first appearance, and we find out exactly what Azkaban is, and what they do to prisoners.

Alfonzo Curan did a marvelous job not only with leaning more toward the darker tone that the novel set, but also to keep a fast paced directing style, that always kept the viewers excited to see what would happen next.  His vision of the werewolf was also one adaptation I found incredibly creative.

Lord Of The Rings – Fellowship Of The Ring

Whether you’re watching the theatrical, or the extended versions, Fellowship of the Ring is one of the most faithful adaptations to a novel I’ve ever seen.  The set design was spot on, and minimal yet incredible use of visual effects allowed us to really become submerged in Middle Earth…and nobody misses Tom Bombadil!

Trainspotting

Irvine Welsh is a very under appreciated Scottish novelist, that has written one of the most entertaining books that turned into an awesome film that most every college kid watches on loop for at least a year.  This also launched the career of Ewan McGregor and director Danny Boyle.

High Fidelity

High Fidelity wasn’t a huge deal when it released, but now, with the miracle of word of mouth advertising, Netflix, and the big named stars that are in it everyone knows it.  Jokes about Evil Dead 2, Kathleen Turner Overdrive, and a phenomenal selection of music all revolving around the one thing everyone has in common, feelings of inadequacy after a failed relationship, make this movie an instant favorite.

There are so many other amazing adaptations out there.  I personally think that Stanley Kubrick was the adaptation king.  They don’t advertise a lot of his movies were based off of novels, I mean it’s kind of hard to believe that a film like “Full Metal Jacket” was based off a book of short stories called “The Short Timers” isn’t it?

What is your favorite adaptation?

“It’s a fact, sure as day follows night, sure as eggs is eggs, sure as every odd-numbered Star Trek movie is shit.”

-Simon Pegg

Now I know that Simon here isn’t really referring to writers block per se, but I find that the quote works very well for this post.  A writer’s most lethal and deadly enemy is the dreaded curse of writer’s block, and you will get it.

No this isn’t a disease we catch, and you can’t diagnose it by looking at someone.  Writer’s block is an incredibly frustrating thing that nobody other than a writer can possibly come to understand.  It torment’s us through the day, it causes us to lose sleep at night, and the worst is it can bring on an apathetic mindset.

There is no way to prevent it, and you might not even realize you have it right away.  The only good defense against it, is a good offense.

I can speak from the heart on this, I recently did battle with this heinous syndrome a few weeks back as I worked on the latest episode of Oasis.  While I was working on the newest episode (due sometime soon), I just couldn’t think straight.  I had all of my ideas mapped out, knew where I wanted the story to go, but just couldn’t figure out how to get there for the life of me.

Many people will try their best to give helpful insight, saying things like “well, if you have it all mapped out just feel your way through it as you write and you’ll get there”, or something along the lines of, “it’s all in your head, so get out of it”.

However, though all advice is always welcome and appreciated, none of it is that simple.

As all writers know, we pretty much know the ins and outs of our stories before we sit down to write, but these ins and outs aren’t as detailed as one would like to believe.  These insights are more like glorified bullet points that we have really flushed out.  Once we have that flushed out bullet point, we then mold the story around that, adding dialogue, description, and action.

So where does the block come in?

It’s subtle, maybe you have a day where nothing seems to fit, as corny as it sounds, you just can’t find the right words to convey what you are looking for.  Maybe you spend the time you allot yourself for writing starting at a blank page, watching your cursor blink for an hour.  It sounds cinematic, but it really happens, sometimes you just can’t get words on the page.  Before you know it, a week as passed and that same blank page is glaring at you, or you re-read your third draft and realize you need to scrap and start a fourth.

Writing is a tedious process, it’s different from drawing a picture, or making a movie, or cooking a meal.  The time slot you want to hit for page count, word count, or deadlines will indefinitely end up varying.  You can’t put your story on 400 degrees and cook for 25 minutes and be done, I wish I could tell you all it was that simple, but it isn’t.

So how do you combat writers block?

Exercise – That’s right all you couch potatoes, you gotta get off your butt and get moving.  Getting that blood pumping through you, and having those endorphins release is a phenomenal way to take your mind off of the pressure you’re putting on yourself and just settle.

I recently started training for a marathon.  Which marathon?  I have no clue, but I’m doing one.  I’m about a month into my training, and I find on my off days from running (Monday and Friday) I have a substantially harder time getting not only motivated to write, but I find I have to force things sometimes.  Words don’t sound right in context and I hit that backspace key way more than I should.

After working out, I have a clear head.  All the stress from my day job is gone, and any stress from my personal life is put to the back of my mind.  So I have total focus on my work.

Now I say working out because I want people to pick and choose what works best for them.  You can run, walk, lift weights, anything so long as you’re moving.  I personally use my lunch hour at work to hit the gym and lift weights, then run immediately when I get home.

Showers- These are not just for getting clean people!  When you’re feeling your mind come to a strained halt get the steam room going and hop in!  The scents from the shower, and the hot steam will relax you, and the repetitive motions you make while cleaning yourself might just take your mind off of its grinding for a few moments and give you some great insight!

Sleep- Now I’m not saying take a nap.  I’m saying lay down and close your eyes, keep a clear mind and wait for that moment when you are just on the cusp of sleep.  You know that feeling, when your body feels like it is rocking back and forth on a boat, and your mind is racing through odd dreamlike images.  Once you feel this urge come on, go with it and then wake up and think about those dreams you had.  You’ll be surprised.

I’m plagued with nightmares, seriously, I have more nightmares than anyone I’ve ever met, but I welcome them because that’s how a lot of my stories get formed.

Those are just a few of the things that I do to keep  on the right track.  I’ve found that they work pretty well, they helped pull me from my writers block, and honestly I’m feeling very confident about this newest episode that will be released.  It was a rough month for me with the block, some family stuff, and then busy weekends, but I’ll get there.  So if you’re in the same boat as me, don’t get discouraged, get proactive!

What ways do you battle writer’s block?