Author Archives: Eric

Writer’s Fuel

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Being sick doesn’t have a lot of advantages, it’s mostly terrible with a strong amount of wishing to get better. One of the things being sick can do for you is give you fuel for your writing.

I couldn’t say if it was the self administered ‘cough medicine’ I had before bed combined with vapor rub fumes or not, but last night landed in a very weird place. That was terrible for getting some sleep and the rest needed to get better, but it was really great as writer’s fuel.

My dreams (nightmares?) took place in an expanded haunted house combination version of the place I grew up in Maine and my grandmother’s house. An old house with hidden storage under the eaves between closets where the walls didn’t get constructed all the way to the roof. I was hearing something that I couldn’t define, like I kept trying to tune in a fading radio station that was saying something important or something sinister and I couldn’t quite put a finger on it. The whole thing would fade when I got closer to being awake and then pick up just as I was really drifting off. Hazy, woozy and scrambling forward without being able to make any progress. I don’t really remember the details but the feeling was queasy and panicked. Not a great combination for rest, but just the sort of thing to put one in the right frame of mind for writing something moody.

What sort of fuel do you use for your writing?

Sick

International

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I’ve posted on here about podcasts before, but I’m going to put this one up here for more than just the podcasting aspect.

There has been more than one discussion at a Watch The Skies meeting (you should stop by if you’re in the area) about finding top quality fiction from places beyond that published by / for / in America. Getting a different point of view or a style that is something other than your ‘normal’ is important. It’s also refreshing and interesting. Hearing a voice that isn’t a homogenized version of every other voice tell you a story is no small part of the entertainment of the story.

That international flavor and alternate point of view is on display over at Escape Pod. The story is certainly worth the half hour to listen to, and particularly entertaining if you’re a fan of steampunk. Head over HERE and check it out.

EscapePodo

Semaphore

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I’ve posted before about podcasts. I think they’re a wonderful part of this golden age of fiction we’re living in right now. I found another podcast story the other day that is absolutely worth your time.

The Semaphore Society is a story from the point of view of a character that is disabled. The story handles this differently than I have ever seen it handled before.

Escape Pod is part of the Escape Artist family of podcasts. There are ones I’ve mentioned before PodCastle for fantasy and PseudoPod for horror. They are worthy of your time and if you’ve got the money they could definitely use your support. Check them out!

EscapePod

A Passing Moment

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I saw something depressing yesterday. It was a very small thing that likely wouldn’t have struck many other people the way it did me. I was in a store when I came across a used book that almost jumped off the shelf into my hand. I had to stop and look at it. It’s an old book that sent me down amnesia lane looking into the foggy memories of my childhood. It was in fantastic condition. It had to have been well cared for and held in high regard. I flipped it over assessing the spine and looking for damage. There was a white sticker slapped haphazardly across the back with the current shop’s price. That price was about forty percent of the original hardcover cost. That was disappointing. Being older, in fine shape and potentially more unusual (though, not particularly rare I suppose) I had somehow hoped it would have been taken as more valuable. That in and of itself wouldn’t have been bad but then I flipped the cover open. On the inside I could see the faint imprint of a name that had been erased. A name of somebody I knew.

This person, or somebody related to this person had taken something I believe had to be tied firmly in the past, very carefully attempted to erase their imprint and sold off a chunk of childhood.

Like I said, a small thing. The chance I would be in that store on a day when I would see that particular book, pick it up, open the cover and discover the name of somebody I recognized had to be diminishingly small. I probably should have bought a lottery ticket. It just made me a little sad to know that this person had let go of this book.

Clearly I was projecting. I have no idea if the book was as deeply meaningful to that person as it would be to me. I don’t think I would ever give up my copy. I suspect I will have my copy as long as I live (and if my daughter is interested it may stay in the family longer). I couldn’t imagine taking a part of my childhood and selling it off for a couple of bucks. The object holds value to me. Memories only have value to the people that keep them and they are not a commodity. The little steps we take each day with small choices can move us further and further down a path that may one day make us willing to part with a touchstone of childhood are easy to miss. It’s part of why I suspect people are surprised at certain parts of their life and have those times others label as ‘crisis’ when they suddenly try to retrace those steps and move back to a time when they wouldn’t have sold that book off. I hope that we all are able to retain that sense of wonder that a child has and never be willing to sell it off for a few bucks.

Longer than I thought

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I’ve seen a of folks out there posting about the new year. A number of them spent time talking about how much 2015 wasn’t great (some I know personally and they’ve got reasons I agree with). A lot of folks were all about goal setting and calendar year based stuff (that I’ve posted about before). Some folks looked back and discussed anniversaries of things.

It struck me that I didn’t know how long I’ve been writing The Pretend Blog. It’s not something I ever expected to go anywhere or mean anything to folks other than me (and maybe my wife) so I never tracked it.

As it turns out I started right about this time of year (my first two posts being December 28 and January 7) back in 2008. That means I’ve been at it for 8 years. That’s actually a shocking number to me. I didn’t realize I’d been at it that long. The funniest part? I may have grown and changed in some ways, but a number of things really haven’t changed at all. Blimps are still pretty pimp, and the ultimate showdown still amuses me to no end.

Here’s what I posted 8 years ago:

The Pretend Blog. Being the anal-retentive (with a hyphen, not a colon – thank you John) type that I am, I naturally didn’t want to jump into this until I had a better handle on what I would be doing and where it would all be going and what the potential legal ramifications would be etc., etc.. In November of 2006 I started a Word document and called it The Pretend Blog. It was my way of actually writing stuff down and ‘getting started’ rather than just jumping in cold and trying stuff out.

More than a year later – here it is. I kept the name and put it out there. There are maybe three people that actually care about this other than me. It seems a little pretentious to think that there will ever be a day when a whole crowd of people will be interested in what I might have to say here.

I went back and looked at the rambling stuff I wrote over the past year (about a page worth or more per month). Most of it is annoying and angst ridden – so I chucked it. This journal is my stream of consciousness stuff that’s for me. I’ll probably post a bunch of stuff I like and not worry about all the other pretentious, whiny stuff that worried me before. Besides, how else would I get these things stuck in other peoples’ heads?

Blimps are pretty pimp

Ultimate Showdown Good guys, bad guys and explosions. Thank you Lemon Demon.

Good guys, bad guys and explosions!

Good guys, bad guys and explosions!

Happy New What?

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Consistency matters – and not just when you’re cooking. It’s actually something I tend to be good at. I am consistent. I suspect that will make some folks think this “new” New Year’s post is somehow cheating, but it’s not. It’s consistent. That’s the sort of thing that make a resolution something more, makes it a real change. Another year down, another year sticking to a resolution I made many years ago…

Resolutions Past

Happy-New-Year-2016

Going Dark

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Going Dark (The Red Trilogy Book 3)Going Dark by Linda Nagata
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This review is also posted at
IF you’ve gotten this far I suspect you’re on board no matter what my review says. This is the final book of The Red trilogy. We’ve followed Shelley on his journey and are along for the ride as the series comes to a dramatic, destructive conclusion.

My biggest struggle with this book (and to be honest most books like this) is the amount of physical damage the characters take along the way and yet continue to function at a higher than average level. I credit the author that she builds story time for recovery and maintenance, it’s more than many others do. There are still issues of how much a man can take in my mind, but if you can get past that you’re all good.

There are lots of excellent questions about fanaticism to be discussed in this book. I think if Shelley were shown to be working for the best interests of any country other than our own this book wouldn’t be nearly as successful. It’s better when the fanatic is on your side, right? It was nice to see doubts and changes in how characters acted.

This was a really well done wrap up to an exciting series. Solid action, good characters and a conclusion that should satisfy everyone. Once again worth the read. Fans of military science fiction will really enjoy this one.

An important side note – I really appreciated the way the publisher handled the release of these three books. I’m not as certain of the pricing scheme, but I think if I hadn’t gotten all three of these books at roughly the same time they would have been less successful.

View all my reviews

The Trials

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The Trials (The Red Trilogy Book 2)The Trials by Linda Nagata
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This review is also posted at MilSciFi.com

I looked at this book with trepidation. I had a fear that the story was going to slide into the land of courtroom drama. It did, but only for about a third of the book. I should have listened to my own review of Ms. Nagata’s previous book. She tells a compelling story.

The story of Lt. Shelley continues in this book. There are repercussions for his actions in the first book and all of that is reviewed early on. There was a lot of real world knowledge going into the court room portion of the story. I’m glad it didn’t go on longer than it did. This was an important piece of the story but I don’t believe it would have sustained an entire book.

After the political maneuvers are settled there is a brief glimpse of civilian life. Shelly shows characteristics of PTSD and it is not something treated lightly. Of course paranoia doesn’t mean you’re wrong either. The action ramps up again quickly.

Solid action, good characters and a really well thought out continuation of the world the author created.
Once again worth the read. Fans of military science fiction will really enjoy this one.

View all my reviews

The Red

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The Red: First Light (The Red Trilogy)The Red: First Light by Linda Nagata
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This review also appears at MilSciFi.com

This was a really well done book. I had actually read one of her other works Limit of Vision and really enjoyed that as well. She is now on the list of authors whose work I will check out every time. She tells a compelling story.

The story of Lt. Shelley dragged me through this book in about a day. It’s a fast read with believable characters. I could see and feel the near future setting. The story has a number of interesting things worthy of conversation – sometimes right up front, sometimes just lurking in the background. I could relate to the hero of the story.

Relating to the hero and having a good conversation is really what I want to recommend about this book. It’s got such a solid world and fast paced action where the danger is real that I just sort of absorbed that and really wanted to dig into motivations of the players. It is particularly relevant right now given our political atmosphere.

I have no idea if this is an acceptable thing or not – but I want to contrast this book with Control Point by Myke Cole. Both of these authors are looking at the lives of soldiers and the changing nature of what warfare is going to mean. They handle it in different ways and their protagonists work things out differently but they are both tackling difficult real world issues by way of their fiction.

Absolutely worth the read. Go and get this book.

View all my reviews

Star Wars TFA

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There’s an awful lot out there talking about Star Wars. I’m adding to it and you can’t stop me! There will be HUGE spoilers, so if you don’t want to be spoiled, I’ll give you a warning before I start on that bit.

I am one of the many that watched the original films in the theater. I was 7 when the first film came out and I was totally into the space ships and laser sword fights. I’m still into them.

There’s nothing I can say about the “fixes” made to the original series or about the other three films that hasn’t been said many other places, many other times so I’m skipping past that.

My first reaction as I walked out of the theater was “That was magnificent”. It’s true. I was in there for more than two hours and I was superbly entertained. Maybe it was that I had relatively low expectations and they were surpassed across the board. Maybe it was nostalgia and this movie hit at just the right time for me to really enjoy it. Maybe I missed a bunch of things that when I think about them later will make me less happy with the movie.

It’s probably something of all those things combined. In the end I was happy with my experience seeing this on the big screen. Happy enough that I’m likely to go back and see it again before it leaves theaters. Yes (secretly of course) I am hoping this film knocks Titanic off the top of the all time movie money list – that’s a fluke. I’m certain a number of people were duped by the fact that it was a James Cameron film…

Anyway – Happy. Happy with Star Wars in a way that I haven’t been for a very long time. Author John Scalzi has a very well phrased (non-spoilery) review posted over at Whatever where he says a lot of what I’m thinking.

MAJOR SPOILERS LIVE BELOW THIS POINT

ShootFirst

I’m not going to get too deep into why bringing Jar Jar back as the Dark Side’s Yoda equivalent was a terrible idea…

Seriously, that’s just for those folks that don’t really want to be spoiled but can’t help but look.

There’s one thing that I’m mulling over that just doesn’t feel completely right. I know it’s going to be endlessly debated by fans for a long time to come, but it doesn’t seem right that Han Solo ends the way he does. The thing that bothers me most is that it’s a classic film maneuver – the obscure character death. There’s no Darth funeral pyre, there’s no Jedi robe stomping, just a fall into foggy darkness. I suspect the actor wanted out, so the writers gave it to him but it was ignominious. It’s not at all what you expect despite being the one part of the story that was clearly telegraphed to the audience. It’s kind of like General Patton surviving all the crazy war stuff he did in his life and then dying in a freaking fender bender car accident. It just doesn’t feel right. It’s that one bit that is just stuck in my head and I can’t put the right words to it. I’m looking forward to discussing this with other folks that have seen the movie already – am I the only one?

I’m clearly not the only one who loves the original movies (and all the nostalgia that goes with them). I have hope for this franchise again. That’s the biggest thing the new movie could have given us and it certainly did give me that.