Posted in Writing, tagged #amwriting, modern poetry, Poetry, short fiction, vignettes, Writing on 11 Mar 2021| 3 Comments »
Fingers deep in waking earth
clearing ferns from wintry somnolence
Their feathered, spiked, serrate fronds
release spores in ochre clouds
Raindrops drum my hat brim
enthusiastic paradiddles of spring
Hands set blade to swordleaf
trimming old stems and rusted detritus
From the center I lift accreted duff
revealing curls, verdant and sleepy
Nestled in that fiddlehead crown
is the confidence of rebirth
Hope is spring’s eternal gift
a promise of life
and all it contains
Posted in Politics, Writing, tagged acab, binary thinking, critical thinking, Poetry, prejudice on 11 Feb 2021| Leave a Comment »
I do not believe
. . . that all cops are bastards
. . . that all pharmacists want us sick
. . . that all lawyers are heartless
. . . that all Republicans are stupid
. . . that all Democrats are socialists
. . . that all conservatives are evil
. . . that all progressives are anarchists
. . . that all Blacks are criminals
. . . that all Whites are racists
. . . that all Arabs are terrorists
. . . that all Hispanics are gangsters
. . . that all men are pigs
. . . that all women are bitches
The world is greyer than this
Much, much greyer than this
On these points
And a million other ways
Thinking so
Denies
Everything
Posted in Books, Writing, tagged book reviews, books, Firefly, Serenity, tim lebbon, Titan Books on 18 Nov 2020| 2 Comments »
As I mentioned a while ago, my mind is once again calm enough to allow me the enjoyment of reading fiction. In fact, I’ve read four novels in the past few weeks, which is about three more than I read in all of 2019.
Seriously. It was that bad.
The first books had been in my TBR pile for a while, but this latest one was a recent arrival, and it was a serious break from the “literary” works I’ve been reading. Written by Tim Lebbon, Generations is not only science fiction, but (gasp!) a television “tie-in” novel, the fourth novel set in the Firefly ‘verse.
The previous titles in this series, all written by a different author, were (to put it mildly) a tremendous disappointment. I reviewed the first two (here and here), but frankly, I didn’t see the point in bothering you with a review of the third one, so I read it and tossed it aside.
Seriously, they were that bad. (more…)
Posted in Culture, Writing, tagged Poetry, RBG, SCOTUS, SQL on 24 Sep 2020| Leave a Comment »
SELECT Intelligence, Knowledge_of_Law, Dignity, Determination AS GRIT, Strength AS RESOLVE, Empathy, Insight FROM SCOTUS_Requirements INNER JOIN Virtues LEFT JOIN Womens_Rights LEFT JOIN Equal_Treatment WHERE Moniker = 'Notorious' AND Initials = 'RGB';
*Yes, yes, I know this isn’t strict SQL.
Poetic license and all.
Posted in Books, Creativity, Writing, tagged bad writing examples, self-publishing on 11 Jun 2020| 1 Comment »
It’s been a tough week for us all, one way or another, and one reason is that it is now obvious that all this . . . [gestures to everything] . . . is not going to end any time soon. In addition, I took my own advice and spent much of the week listening and learning from diverse voices. I’ve been rethinking and reevaluating many long-standing notions of society and America. You might have been doing likewise, and like me, you may have found it both depressing and exhausting.
But this post isn’t about any of that.
This post is about how I’ve been taking a moment here and there to brighten these dark days with a really, really bad book.
After sharing what I previously described as “the worst piece of professionally published fiction I have ever read,” a friend loaned me a book he felt was even worse.
And boy-oh-boy was he right.
It’s a self-published work, so my stance on “Man-Gods From Beyond the Stars” remains unchanged, but while “self-published” is by no means a synonym for “crap,”—I’ve self-published a few works, myself—there is a lot of the latter contained within the former. A whole lot.
And this book, well, it is utter crap.
And it is also absolutely adorable.
Seriously, it’s just adorable. From the mistake in the dedication straight through to the formatting error on the last line, it is chock-a-block with typos, malaprops, misused homophones, and errors of grammar and punctuation. Stylistically, it’s a hot mess. Unwieldy character names abound, used in every line of dialogue and the attached, adverbially enhanced avoidance of the word “said” (e.g., “Not to worry, Gondranth. I’m a trained professional,” stated Ik’nolt greedily). It has (dis)continuity issues that make you flinch and wonder if you’ve just had a minor stroke. And there is So. Much. Telling.
But here’s the thing: it’s just so earnest, so fervent, and so . . . enthusiastic . . . that it’s impossible not to cock your head to the side and say, “Awwww, how sweet.”
I won’t mention the author or title or even the genre here, because my point is not to humiliate the pen that created this trashy treasure. This book is an obvious labor of love, a gift to friends and family, and the author isn’t trying to be famous or “strike it rich” as a bestselling novelist, and isn’t complaining about the heartlessness of the publishing industry. This author just wanted to write a book, an homage to their favorite genre, and share it with others, and I will not make them feel bad about that.
I haven’t, and I won’t read the book in its entirety—frankly, I’m not sure that’s possible—but when I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed by [again, gestures to everything], I will pick it up, open it to a random page, and chuckle at such fervid prose so inexpertly crafted.
We should all be that passionate about something. I’m glad this author found their dream and congratulate them on achieving the goal.
k
Posted in Books, Writing, tagged 1970s, bad writing examples, Marvel, Marvel Presents on 14 May 2020| 1 Comment »
As a youth, I was not “into” comic books. The reason for this was two-fold.
First, the nearest store that had a rack of comic books was a two-mile walk from my house. Now, a two-mile walk wasn’t unusual for me—I spent all summer and many school-day afternoons with friends up in the hills, trekking miles from our suburban homes—and a gaggle of us would frequently walk or ride our bikes down to that store, but once there, the primary reason came into play: as a kid, I was never given an allowance. (more…)
Posted in Culture, Writing, tagged building believable characters, coronavirus, COVID-19, creative writing, novel writing, world building on 23 Apr 2020| 1 Comment »
First, a bit of business.
My third Quarantine eBook Giveaway is live, today through Monday.
Free books! Tell a friend.
Now, onward to a writing quandary that has been rattling around in my pea-brain this week.
When I was writing speculative fiction (alternate history, high fantasy, science fiction), my process was unaffected by changes in modern life. I was writing about times past, alternatives to the present, or imagined futures, so I didn’t have to worry about current trends or innovations. At most, if a piece was set in the near-future, I might have to extrapolate forward from the day’s news, but in general, I had free rein and could build the world as I wished. (more…)
