A Hole

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There’s a hole in my blog. We’re going to call that hole August and September.

Most people have the overwhelming urge to apologize for not posting. There will be excuses and statements declaring passion and a list of things that are going to show how the blog has not faded and will be moving forward at a great pace!

That’s not me.

Yes, I probably could have been on here and working at keeping this up. Probably. Maybe not. Sometimes other things get in the way. Life happens. The day job stomps in and grabs up all your time like it was lunch money and you were the kid on the wrong end of the deal.

Sometimes depression sneaks in and strangles your creativity. It uses stress to open the door and before you know what’s happened you’re sitting and staring at reruns because they don’t challenge you and it’s nice to laugh sometimes… right?

I have never actually been diagnosed with depression or anything so official. It certainly felt that way. I didn’t read. I didn’t write. I didn’t paint or draw or create in any way. It was rotten and miserable. I really was busy and the day job was crushing. Lots of things to adjust to in my life added up to me just not having the drive or motivation to do anything but sit and stare. More than once my declared intention was to get home and stare at the wall.

The good news is that seems to be getting better. I’m still crazy busy but certain aspects of things seem to be getting better. Sometimes hanging in there is all you can do. I was hanging and not falling – and that’s the part that really counts.

So – no apologies or grand plans. The hole in the blog remains. I’m starting to work again and we’ll see how that turns out on here together.

Military Science Fiction Giraffes

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I have read and reviewed at least one book by author Marko Kloos in the past. I remember it only in vague terms. I DO very much remember that he wrote my favorite story from Love Death + Robots on Netflix. I was distinctly in the category of MEH when I saw a new book coming out from him. Then I read his words in “The Big Idea” and I was sold. This has the potential to be a very cool book indeed.

Check out what he said here.

Read the first chapter here.

To blatantly self promote along with this ~ IF you like military science fiction there is another work out right now that you can get and it even has one of my stories in it! There is a plan in motion to make an appearance at Shore Leave this Friday to celebrate the new book. Feel free to come on out and see us!

Hop on over to a new tab and order up your copy of DTF: In Harm’s Way!

Far From Home

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Non spoiler review of the movie right here

The family and I went to see Far From Home on this opening weekend. I’m going to hit potential spoiler stuff in here. I’ll try to avoid it, but if you don’t want spoilers you should see the movie before you read my review.

Going to see this movie felt different than other super hero movies since Endgame did what it did. This movie had a lot of ground to cover that wasn’t about Spiderman at all. In the end, it did exactly what it needed to do in that department. There was an explanation of why after 5 years these kids were still in school. There was (albeit brief) discussion of what happened when people “blipped” and found the world they returned to completely changed. It was a good thing to see these questions addressed.

It was also interesting to see the film makers continue to use “what people will believe” in the story line. It maintains all the crazy that has gone before and uses that to advantage in pushing this story forward.

Not being someone who read the comics or watched a great deal of preview stuff worked to my advantage on this film. I didn’t know Mysterio or anything about that character other than a vague recollection of a cartoon involving him in the distant past. I was able to take what was given and just enjoy the ride. I didn’t think too hard about it, and was able to be surprised at little turns the film took.

The biggest thing I can’t say I enjoyed landed right at the end in the first post credits scene. The bad guy pulls something off that did NOT sit well with me. It’s exactly the sort of thing that shows how well a character is written ~ because I loathed that it happened and wrecked the happy ending. I like heroic movies with happy endings and this dug under my skin. I could have done without it at all and been much happier.

IF you’re invested in the MCU, this movie definitely continues that work. IF you’re not, this is still a decent Spiderman movie, but you’ll miss a huge amount of the emotional impact without some background. I hope they get as many of these movies filmed as they can before Tom Holland moves on. I’m now impatiently waiting for the next one…

Here are two spoiler filled links about things to love and lingering questions.

Collapsing Empire

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I posted this review to my Goodreads account first. There was something in the book that didn’t make it into that review that I think is worth considering. I want to note it here because there’s a better than fair chance that I’ll forget by the time we get to discuss this book at Watch The Skies.

The acknowledgements at the end of the book talk about the coincidental timing of the book title vs. the current political climate in the United States. I think it’s noteworthy that the author claims no planned connection. I also believe that however ‘futuristic’ a work of science fiction is, it can not ever be taken apart from the time when it was written. Science fiction is inherently commentary on the time and culture when it was written. While not planned, I don’t think this book is an exception to that.

The Collapsing Empire (The Interdependency, #1)

The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I got this book as a free download from the publisher. I have read some Scalzi before and had a level of expectation going into reading this book.

This book was a little difficult to get into at first, but it became a quick and easy read within the first couple of chapters.

This book was a far reaching scope and still managed to pull it off. I found myself hoping that good things would come about for the Emporox and go badly for those looking to disrupt her. It took me a while to appreciate Lady Kiva, but in the end I could work around the constant “F” bombs.

I like that the story threads wrapped up in this book, but there is enough world building to make me interested in what comes next. I suspect I will be looking the next book up when it comes out.



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Writing along still

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It’s always tempting to start with excuses about not blog posting, but I would rather tell you that something new is out there!

My latest story is available now! E-spec books is now selling In Harm’s Way (Defending The Future Book 8). This features my story Sympathetic is in there!

You should pop over to wherever you get books from and get a copy. Then you should get a copy that you can give to a friend. Then you should tell others to go and get one too!

Check it out on Amazon here.

Whodunnit?

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Cremains of the Day (A Tallie Graver Mystery #1)

Cremains of the Day by Misty Simon

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I picked this particular book up for two main reasons. One – it’s a cozy mystery and that’s one of the categories on teh “Read Harder” challenge this year. Two – the author is local and a supporter of my favorite book store.

Three stars is a little low. It’s honestly 3.5 stars. Reading cozy mysteries is outside where I normally go for entertainment, so please don’t let my review put you off. This book had a consistent pace and solid characters. The writing was easy to read and went really quickly for me. I can say I hadn’t picked out the killer by the end when the revelation happened, so that was decent too.

If cozy mysteries are a thing for you, this is a title worth checking out.



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Musical

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Music plays a significant role in getting me through my days. I am fascinated by it, but it is something that is opaque to me. I am terrible at musical things. I can’t keep a beat. I can’t hear all the parts I’m supposed to and I tend to like things that others tell me sound terrible. I have talents (admittedly small) in myriad other areas, but when it comes to music there’s only one way to put it. I suck. I can’t sing, I can’t play any instrument, nor can I dance to any of it.

I’m still hooked. I won’t say all kinds of music because that’s not true. There are some types of music that simply do not appeal to me. That’s OK because it gives the things I do like a frame of reference. The second blog post I ever made had a link to two different musical bits. I’ve been listening to what makes me happy for a long time.

I have a pair of wireless headphones that I use every day in the office. I have an almost constant stream of music rolling. While the music has changed and grown over the years it is something that has been constant for me. Don’t get me wrong – I’m no Henry Rollins, traveling the globe to hunt down music festivals in Timbuktu – but I listen. I prefer recorded stuff these days. I don’t want to go to music festivals or stadium shows anymore.

I’ve been told that I should listen to music for the sake of listening to music. I can and have, but on a day to day basis I *use* it. Music becomes the thing that keeps me focused while I’m struggling with something OR conversely it becomes the escape when I hit some problem that makes me need to let my mind wander.

Internet streaming services have made this infinitely more interesting and viable. It’s fantastic for finding new stuff or reviving old stuff I haven’t heard in an age.

When I started writing this I’m certain I had a link in mind for sharing the musical bit that inspired this… and now I’ve cycled through a bunch of other stuff and appear to have lost it.

What sort of things do you listen to?

OVERWERK

Hit and Miss

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Target Rich Environment

Target Rich Environment by Larry Correia

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I enjoy reading Mr. Corriea’s work. There were a couple of stories in here that I’d read before, but reading them again was not necessarily bad. It was fast, light and generally what I was looking for.

I enjoyed the concept of the insurance story that was the last in the collection, but putting in so many personal jabs at particular political stances detracted from the story.

Decent. Looking forward to more monster hunter stuff should it come out in the future.



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Bingo

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Bingo Love

Bingo Love by Tee Franklin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Read this on loan from a friend. This was something I would not have normally found. Part of the reason I enjoy things like the read harder challenge is finding things that don’t fit my ‘normal’ reading patterns.

I enjoyed this. It was a nice story. I’m super glad there was a positive message and a positive message in here.

I’m not a fan of ‘come to the pay web site to get more story’ bits built into the comic panels, but creators need to make money. It didn’t detract too much, but it did detract for me.

Overall – worth the read.



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49

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Yes, it’s my birthday. Yes, I am totally cheating and setting this up to post when it is NOT actually my birthday (computers and schedules and technology helping me out on this one).

I’m not going with the posts you see from so many about how birthdays don’t feel all that different, etc. but instead will say this one DOES in fact feel different. This year is a weird one. It’s close to a big birthday, but not quite there. I’ve started to feel like I’m just getting started on so many things and that certain aspects of my life are really starting to take off. Other parts of my life I wonder what the hell I;m doing and why things I truly enjoy are floundering and waiting and taking so much time with no clear results.

The world clearly doesn’t particularly care that it’s my birthday. It’s Monday and I’ll be at the office as usual. I don’t tell folks there when my birthday is nor do I expect them to celebrate in any fashion. A quiet and productive day would be enough.

I look forward to seeing some close friends and having a good dinner for my birthday. I’ve gotten a couple of fantastic gifts so far – and I’m very thankful for them. I haven’t asked for anything – it’s all from people who thought it would be nice to give me something. I have fantastic family and friends. That makes any day better, but birthdays in particular.

I wonder if next year will be better or weirder or just different? Guess I’ll just have to forge ahead and see what this year brings!