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Category: Books, TV Shows, & Movies

Markets and Economies in Fiction, or Effecting Change through Story

Markets and Economies in Fiction, or Effecting Change through Story

Cory Doctorow wants to save the world. I just finished reading Makers, Doctorow’s (fictional) treatise on the entrepreneurial spirit and the effects of a free (ish) market in a microcosm, or rather, the effects of the entrepreneurial spirit when said spirit ignores the “rules” imposed by outside forces. If you haven’t read this surprisingly addictive narrative, I highly recommend it. It’s a good story, after all, full of love and friendship and enough business and gadget ideas to float the…

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The Mummy (2017) and Double Mumbo Jumbo

The Mummy (2017) and Double Mumbo Jumbo

We went to see The Mummy yesterday and, to no one’s surprise, three out of three people in our crowd disliked it, including the person who wanted to see it most. For me, the biggest fails came through the multiple times my suspension of disbelief was tested. As screenwriter Blake Snyder says in Save the Cat: The Last Book On Screenwriting That You’ll Ever Need, “…audiences will only accept one piece of magic per movie.” (Emphasis in the original.) There…

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The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod
The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod

The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod

I released the first edition of my first novel, The Prophecy, a little more than three years ago today. Since then, I’ve worked hard to refine my writing process, increase my writing and story crafting skills, and fulfill my ultimate long-term goal as a writer: To earn a full-time living writing fiction. About a year and a half ago, a series of events interrupted what had previously been a well-oiled writing process. I’ve spoken about those before in other places,…

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Mega SciFi and Fantasy Sale: 100 Books at $.99 Each!

Mega SciFi and Fantasy Sale: 100 Books at $.99 Each!

Fantasy author Patty Jansen is hosting a mega $.99 sale on over 100 books in the genres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Paranormal, Dystopian, and Post-apocalyptic fiction, plus SciFi and Fantasy Romance. Hop on over and check out the excellent selection! Hurry, though. The sale ends tomorrow, February 5.

Review: The Gunslinger (Dark Tower, Book 1) by Stephen King

Review: The Gunslinger (Dark Tower, Book 1) by Stephen King

Stephen King was an oft-read author during my teen years, primarily because he’s one of my father’s favorite authors and his books were in our home library. King’s dark imagery has the infinite power to draw the reader in, like a spider luring a fly, and snare the imagination in the vividly drawn worlds he creates. The Gunslinger in its revised and updated version is no different. While King readily admits in prefatory comments to updating the language of this, one…

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Smoke in the Franklin, NC, area. Photo courtesy of Chris Bessette.
Friday Finds

Friday Finds

Header image: Smoke has become a real problem across Western North Carolina and the surrounding areas as wildfires burn in several national forest locations. Photograph courtesy of Cris Bessette. A roundup of interesting books, movies, and tidbits, some old, some new, and some stuff I just wanted to share.

Dreamland

Dreamland

I just finished watching both series (seasons) of Dreamland, originally titled Utopia, an Australian satire mocking bureaucratic waste and inefficiency centered on the fictional Nation Building Authority. The show is part of the research I’m conducting prior to traveling to Oz in the next couple of years. I want to have a good feel for the culture and language before I go, as I intend to set a story there. Why else would I travel halfway around the world?

Book Love: The Last Hour of Gann by R. Lee Smith

Book Love: The Last Hour of Gann by R. Lee Smith

Note: This post originally appeared on the Lucy Varna blog on 19 July 2015. My thoughts: So. About this book. Let’s start with what it isn’t. It’s not erotica, not at all, though it’s classified that way. It’s also classified as paranormal. Nope. Science Fiction is good, but the length is more like Epic Fantasy, and in a lot of ways, that’s exactly what The Last Hour of Gann feels like. So imagine an Epic Fantasy-length Science Fiction novel with a really…

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Found at Last: 200 Years to Christmas

Found at Last: 200 Years to Christmas

Note: This post was originally published on my Lucy Varna blog. The primary joy of my pre-teen and teenaged years was reading, and I occupied myself in that way wherever I could find a book. If we visited family and friends and I brought no books with me (a rarity, I promise), I picked one off of their shelves and read it while my brother and sister played with cousins and family friends. I spent a lot of time that…

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