The Crimson Pact Volume 2 is released!

It’s official, The Crimson Pact Volume 2 anthology is now for sale. Here at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. There are 28 stories in this anthology, one of which is mine titled “A Requirement of Blood.” These are all fantastic stories and just for $5. While this is Volume 2 and some stories are sequels or continuations, you don’t need to have read Volume 1 to enjoy yourself. Mine is a standalone story as are many of them.

Here is the Product Description:

The Pact is back and demons are as devious as ever in The Crimson Pact Volume 2.

Read 28 original stories (over 500 pages in print!), including many sequels to stories in volume one. Suzzanne Myers’s powerful flash fiction piece, “Withered Tree” continues with the exceptional short story, “Seven Dogs.” Chanté McCoy’s “Inside Monastic Walls” is followed by the literally gut-wrenching follow-up short story, “Body and Soul.” Urban fantasy mayhem is off the charts with rising star Patrick Tomlinson’s “Monsters in the Closet” and Robert D. Hamm’s “Karma.” Steampunk your thing? EA Younker’s steampunk apocalypse tale “Stand,” Sarah Hans’ sequel about professor Campion, “A More Ideal Vessel,” and Elaine Blose’s steampunk Western “Wayward Brother” will whet your appetite. The dark fantasy and adventure continues in “Dark Archive,” Sarah Kanning writes how Danielle from “Hidden Collection” must deal with the lingering effects of being possessed by a demon. Volume two mixes sequels from Gloria Weber, Justin Swapp, and Isaac Bell with new stories from Lester Smith, Kathryn McGee, Adam Israel, Valerie Dircks, T.S. Rhodes, Elizabeth Shack, Daniel Alonso, and Nayad Monroe.

New York Times Bestselling author and Campbell award nominee Larry Correia presents an exclusive short story, “Son of Fire, Son of Thunder” co-authored by Steven Diamond, about an FBI paranormal investigator and a bad ass marine who knows the exact moment of his own death. Travel to the alternate history Earth of the “Red Bandanna Boys” by Patrick M. Tracy and find out how ruthless you have to be to survive the slums of St. Nikolayev. Follow “The Trail of Blood” by Alex Haig, a horrifying Western about a bounty hunter who wants vengeance, not money. Hunt for Nazis in a disturbing 1950’s America in “Hunters Incorporated” by Kelly Swails. Patrol the steaming jungles of Vietnam with a squad of soldiers in Lon Prater’s “Last Rites in the Big Green Empty.” Then enter the mind of a godlike demon in Donald J. Bingle’s ambitions tale, “Dark Garden,” or visit the creepy shadow world created by Richard Lee Byers in “Light and Dark.”

Watch your back, the demons are coming.

Crimson Pact Volume 2 “A Requirement of Blood”

Here it is everyone. My story, “A Requirement of Blood” is being published in The Crimson Pact Volume 2 anthology. Check out my story trailer below.

Writing/Editing Begins Anew

It’s been a hectic week and a half. My wife and I moved 4 states from where we lived in Texas and we’re now in Florida. Yay! My wife got a “real” job making “real, adult” money and finished her PhD. Since I can work from everywhere (except the cold, my brain doesn’t work so well if it’s consistently below 50 degrees) we moved, and thank God that’s over.

I’ve been going crazy lately for a number of reasons. For one thing, moving is stressful, even if other people are paid to move you. There’s still a ton to organize and oversee, not to mention the waiting for your stuff to arrive at your new home. Then, surprisingly, we received a phone call from the Bichon Frise (small puffy white dog) breeder my wife really wanted to get a puppy from. So, the day we left, we picked up our little guy, Asher is his name, and drove 14 hours. Wheee. That wasn’t bad, actually, it was the most relaxing time during this period.

It wasn’t until yesterday I was able to set up my command center in my office and I didn’t even turn on the computer until this morning. Up to now, I felt like an addict suffering major withdrawal symptoms. I hadn’t written or edited anything over this period of about 9 days and I was feeling really shitty about that. I have deadlines to meet, you know, and I get really jittery and just plain foul when I can’t work when I want to. That’s not to say I don’t go days or even a week or two without working on my writing, but I always choose those times and this move plopped into the middle of my “shut up, I’m working” stage.

So when I pushed the power button on my computer tower and saw the blue lights of my case light the room to the soft whir of fans, I felt like a new man. Ah, the freedom of choice is such a grand thing. Now I just need to reenter the realm of productivity.

Captain America

I saw Captain America during the opening weekend in 3D. This was a movie I wasn’t sure I wanted to see, but after seeing movie cash for it if you bought the Iron Man Blu-rays or DVDs at Best Buy, I sprung for it. My reasoning for not wanting to see the movie had to do in large part to the 1990 Captain America film which has similar plot elements.

The 1990 film was in a word, horrible. I saw it twice when I was a kid and I thought he was the worst superhero ever created. He looked silly in his suit and I was never quite sure what was really going on in the movie. Oh, and the Red Skull in this movie scared the hell out of me. Really, he looked freaky. He is a cross between a burned out Anakin Skywalker and the new Red Skull played by Hugo Weaving The new Red Skull looks quite tame in comparison.

The 2011 Captain America was good. It was a solid movie with a plot that made sense (for a superhero movie) and gave a good sense of who Captain America was as a person. Like most superhero movies in the last 10 years, the character of the Captain was exaggerated, so much so that I winced at the climax scene when he swears to do something. Chris Evans didn’t deliver the lines poorly or anything, it’s just one of those “superhero” moments that these movies just can’t do without.

As for the rest of the movie, it was predictable in that once you saw where the story was going, it was easy to see how it would be done. Predictability isn’t a bad thing, but rewatches are less exciting and you walk out of your first showing merely satisfied instead of wowed.

I take that back, I walked out of the theater wowed simply because of the 3D. It was awesome. Nearly every scene was obviously crafted to look great in 3D and it brought to life 1940s America. 3D is all about visuals and immersing the viewers and it did just that. In fact, the 3D was so good that I almost want to forgive the movie of it’s storytelling flaws, much to my great shame. I guess seeing 3D so well done in a live action movie just overwhelmed me. In fact, I’d go so far to say it was better than Resident Evil: Extinction quality of 3D. To me, Captain America proved once more that you could have fast paced 3D and have it look good.

The Green Lantern

I saw Green Lantern the other day and I kinda liked. I know the movie received mostly negative reviews from critics and mostly positive reviews from viewers (non-critics). In this case, I feel the viewers were more correct in their assessment of the film. It was good.

That being said, I realized I had lowered my expectations for comic book superhero movies when I walked out of the theater. GL just wouldn’t have been a comic book movie without the requisite awkward scenes (at least 2, no more than 3. Any more would be too much) and the feeling that I already know what’s going to happen. The awkward scenes were for the most part reserved for Hal Jordan and his lady love. They were awkward in that the dialogue was poorly written. Yes, I know their reunion was awkward in and of itself, but come on, say something more in character Hal Jordan.

As for predictability, I realize (and so should everyone else) that the superhero IS NOT GOING TO DIE in the first movie, if at all. This should mean that we already know our hero is going to live and triumph over evil some way or another. Therefore, the tension during physical confrontations isn’t if he will live or die, but in how he will triumph. Honestly people, after all the Spidermans, Batmans, Supermans, X-Mens, and every other superhero show out there, we should understand that a bit of predictability comes with the territory. I mean, these stories have hundreds of comic issues behind them at the very least. I think we know that short of nuclear bombs, dismemberment, or disintegration that most of our heroes are going to survive.

So, go into this movie expecting a bit of predictability and a handful of awkwardness and you will come out entertained and not too bothered by its shortcomings. At least, unless you’re a fanboy/girl and then that’s a different story entirely. GL, like the other good comic movie adaptations, does a good job at setting up the story and universe within the modern day. Hal Jordan is likeable in his recklessness because he is vulnerable (albeit cliche) and the visuals are pretty neat.

This movie was a solid introduction into the GL universe. It wasn’t mind-blowing like  the Nolan Batmans or the Singer X-Mens, but it isn’t bad. Now, the producers and other people attached to the film or film companies were saying this had the potential to be the next Star Wars. Yeah…I’m going to call bullshit on that one. At least right now. Give me a sequel that nears perfection and then we’ll decide if it can become as big and loved as Star Wars.

The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks

I’ve been in the assassin mood for a couple of months now and I wanted to read something about these silent masters of death. Assassin’s Creed, as awesome as the games are, and I have some of them, just hasn’t been doing it for me. Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb isn’t what I want to read either. Don’t get me wrong, Hobb’s Farseer Trilogy is fantastic, but for me it requires an attention to detail with regards to the writing that I don’t want to commit to right now.

About a year ago, during a rare moment of entering a brick and mortar bookstore, I roamed the Science Fiction and Fantasy section and saw The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks. It instantly stuck out to me and I put it on my monstrous “To Read” list. The time has finally come.

Last night on my shiny new Kindle, I read the first 13 chapters. By the time I hit 10, I thought to myself, should I read this? Should I look for something else? Then I thought for a minute, “Dude, you read 10 CHAPTERS. Of course you should read this.” So, I got the entire Trilogy for $20 on Amazon ($4 cheaper than if you bought each book separately). And I’m excited. I’ll post a review when I’m done.

Network TV: Why all the Cancellations?

Spring 2011 is now being known as the U.S. Massacre of TV Series. I was going to make a list, but there’s no need. Just Google or Bing! this and you’ll find many of them. Instead, I want to explore why so many TV Series suffered cancellation from August 2010 to May 2011.

But first, I’m biased toward shows that tell great stories, ones that are character and plot driven. Reality TV is based on experiences of contestants without plot and over-hyped drama that in the end, matters little. American Idol and related shows do a great job of entertaining, but that’s it. Other reality TV is a manipulation/threatening/pleading/melodrama fest between people that serves no larger purpose. There are people out there, and lots of them, like me who want to experience dynamic characters, intricate plots, vivid settings, and quality acting of shows that tells us a story. Mankind loves stories — our history is rife with them. Everyone loves a good story. So why are so many getting cancelled?

Thor – Spoiler Free

I saw Thor and decided to go big with IMAX 3D. I figured what the hell, it was my birthday and only a dollar or two more expensive than 3D, which I’m a huge supporter of in case you didn’t know. For me, movie watching should be an experience, and 3D offers what surround sound began in the mid-90s: immersion.

The 3D in Thor was actually impressive, especially the scenes in Asgard. I found out afterwards that the movie was a 3D conversion; it wasn’t filmed in 3D stereoscopic format. Thor ended up being a great 3D movie unlike other 3D disasters like Clash of the Titans and Avatar: The Last Airbender. If you haven’t heard by now, the latter two films had flat, 2D scenes scattered throughout. While I felt that some scenes in Thor were flatter, I don’t remember losing the 3D effect that was obvious in other, earlier 3D conversions. The quality of Thor’s 3D actually bodes well for 2D-3D conversion software that many of the mid to high end 3DTVs have incorporated. This makes me really excited for taking my favorite shows and movies and watching them in converted 3D.

The previews of Thor made the movie look amazing, and it did. It hinted at an epic story with lightning quick glimpses of Asgard that became fully realized in lengthy scenes throughout. What really happened, was that Thor was a solid hero story. While many of the character conflicts and story developments were cliche and easy to guess, it didn’t matter because the movie had great pacing and focused on fun. Just because a story is cliche or simple or transparent doesn’t make it bad. That being said, if the music wasn’t as good as it was and the cinematography wasn’t effective in maintaining my interest, I would have felt cheated and Thor would simply have been an overjuiced WWE character with a pimp cape – and some kind of magical ability fueled by his yelling.

Thor was a simple story about a hero who loses everything and embarks on the road to redemption, thereby learning what it means to be a true leader of men (or Asgardians). What critics seem to forget (or never knew in the first place) was that Thor transitioned from the simple bloodthirsty warrior in constant search for glory into a more complicated being warring with love and hate, and compassion and mercilessness. Many people have compared Thor with Ironman 1. I say that one is not overall better than the other. They both do different things very well and I think they tie for the spot of top Marvel comic movie.

Authors Involved With Movies

In the last year or year and a half I read The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. Mockingjay (Book 3) came out August 2010 but I only managed to fit it in my reading a couple weeks ago. While this series has been popular for quite some time now, it’s receiving even more exposure now since casting for The Hunger Games movie was completed and with filming slated to have begun in February 2011.

An interesting fact is that Collins is adapting the screenplay herself which is quite awesome. I feel that authors should have more of this kind of responsibility when their work is making the transition to a TV series or movie(s). We’ve all seen the book to TV conversions that managed to get things horribly wrong. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The Golden Compass, Battlefield Earth, X-Men 2 and 3, to name a few. The novels/stories are extraordinary and you should go read them, but the movies…ignore them. However, there are ones that got it right: Lord of the Rings (even skipping tons of content, the story was pulled together into a followable and effective narrative), Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, and The Princess Bride. What makes some suck where others succeed? I think it’s all about the adaptation and understanding what makes the individual stories work.

By keeping the writer “in the loop” or even assisting and consulting on the screenplay, costuming, scenery, etc, it’s possible to have not only a movie that is entertaining and visually stunning, but one that is true to the story. Take Starship Troopers. That movie is over-the-top with its melodrama and violence, but by itself it actually somewhat works. I’ve seen the movie several times and if I want mindless macho-ness and blowing up aliens, Starship Troopers is on the list. But the book — it was so different. The issues Robert A. Heinlein explored had him accused of all sorts of things, fascism, utopianism, militarism, and racism. He explored these issues and crafted them into an entertaining story that did something many storytellers tried to do: get people to question their morality, belief system, the status quo, and the effects beliefs have on individuals and society.

It is my hope that with Collins taking such a role in film-making, that the story of the Hunger Games will be preserved in all of its violence, dystopia, and how-the-hell-is-the-Capitol-STILL-getting-away-with-this thoughts. The Hunger Games trilogy was a thrill ride of elation and depression, horror and bravery. She wrote a trilogy that is R-rated even though its considered YA fiction. Her portrayal of society in her world and the actions are for a mature audience, or at least a prepared one. The themes she explores and the everyday struggles of Katniss, the main point of view character, are eye-opening and will have you thinking for days.

I’m not saying that movies should mirror the books that spawned them, but they at least need to be able to stand on their own. I think we watch movies based on books we like because we want to see the story translated faithfully to the silver screen. We want to know what people look/dress like. How majestic is Lothlorien really? How does it look to crash through the jungle with a pissed T-rex on your ass? We expect to see the same stories; we expect to visually relive the characters’ journey. Who can get this done better than those who came up with the stories in the first place?

The Kingkiller Chronicle

The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss consists of two novels in print, The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man’s Fear. The third book of the trilogy is tba, but I expect it to be at least two years before we see it. The Wise Man’s Fear just came out last month. I finished The Wise Man’s Fear a week or so ago and I was blown away once more.

First, the series is fantasy, but it’s unlike much of what’s currently in print. That makes this series neither good nor bad, but different. Rothfuss tells us a story about a man, Kvothe, who is found by a historian of sorts to take down his story for the rest of time. Kvothe tells him it will take three days, hence setting up the trilogy format, and what unfolds is beauty incarnate.

Below the cut is a bit more about the series in general and the latest book specifically. Some people will consider what I have to say spoilery, some not.