Mr. Holmes.  Bill Condon, dir.  In this adagio with significant meaning, Ian McKellan is great.  It is the story of the great detective trying to remember his last case; it’s also the story about his friendshiup with a little boy that bridges an immense generation gap.  It occurs after World War Two.  That last case caused Mr. Holmes to retire, seeking refuge in a country he owns.  The boy is the son of a widow, the housekeeper of the manor.  During his last days at the manor, we revisit that last case and one associated with prewar Japan in continuing flashbacks that are a bit hard to follow.

Fans will enjoy the references to the Holmes mystery stories, and the black-and-white film is pertinent too.  Most of all, you will see in-depth character studies not common in a film.  Is this Ian’s last?  I hope not.  But, if it is, he’s going out on a high note.  A+.

Minions.  Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda, dirs.  While kids will certainly enjoy this animated masterpiece, an adult background (40+ is recommended) is needed to pick up on the pop trivia references.  Not much escapes the lampooning here, including Richard Nixon, Queen Elizabeth, and many sixties songs, as the little fireplugs carry on their search for a wonderfully evil master, starting all the way back in prehistoric times.  This is the prequel to Despicable Me, and it’s great fun.

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(Bun Yom, Tomorrow I’m Dead, iUniverse, 2015, ISBNs 978-1-4917-5850-2 sc, 978-1-4917-5851-9 e)

Even with its simplicity of language and expression of personal innocence, this is still a powerful story that is more than a memoir.  It is a historical treasure because the author was a survivor of Cambodia’s Killing Fields.

The history of the twentieth century was filled with the good, bad, and ugly.  Good can be found in the advances in science and technology that have made life better in general and have specifically reduced hunger and suffering worldwide.  Communications and transportation advances have connected all human beings who now can potentially see we’re all in this together—Earth is one planet for all to enjoy and protect.

The bad appears in a century of fighting, its very deadliness added to by science and technology too.  We’ve suffered through two major wars, Korea, Viet Nam, and other skirmishes that illustrate human beings’ seemingly infinite capacity of doing harm to other human beings.  More bad and certainly the ugly can be found in the various genocides that occurred along with some of these wars.  The Armenian Genocide is associated with World War One and the Ottoman Empire; the Jewish Holocaust—definitely the worst in sheer numbers and suffering–is associated with World War Two and the Nazis; and genocides in the old Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Cambodia, and elsewhere have shocked us through the years.

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Item.  A humble thanks.  While I do so at the end of my ebooks, I’ll do it here too: If you’ve read one of my ebooks, I thank you.  Today there are so many reading choices, I have to feel humbled by the fact you chose one of my ebooks to read.  I write to entertain as well as present socially relevant themes, so your choice validates my writing and is the best form of compliment.

Not all readers are created equal.  Some read for pure entertainment, often escapist or adventurous thrill rides, but preferring a good read to passive TV fare and video games.  Some want to think about heavy social themes in a non-threatening, quiet, and enjoyable environment.  Others delve into history and philosophy or other non-fiction themes.

I salute you all, but I focus on the first two classes of readers as a writer.  I respect all your reading choices, though.  Reading is a disappearing pastime, I’m afraid, so we might be viewed like dinosaurs by future generations.  So let’s all give ourselves a pat on the back.  We are the champions!  We are the readers!

Item. Mockingbird sequel.  It’s out.  Is there dancing in the streets?  Is everyone out to lynch Lee for making Atticus a bigot?  I don’t see any of that happening.  The weather, Trump, and Chattanooga are grabbing the headlines.  I can’t do anything about them either.  One thing writers need to learn from all this: It doesn’t matter whether you can write or not; it matters whether readers recognize your name and want to read your book.  As McLuhan said, perception is reality.  Writer X can write the next great literary classic and die unrecognized; E. L. James can write crap and become famous.  In the world of literature, readers rule, even though some of the reading choices are hard to understand.  I didn’t like Mockingbird, and one critic has said the “new book” is just a first draft of that (historically that’s true).  But go for it if you’re curious, or just want to swallow a Big Five publisher’s hype.

Item. Pre-Release Excerpts.  OK, I forgot the one for More than Human: The Mensa Contagion.  The ebook’s out now, so you can use Amazon’s “Peek Inside” feature (Smashwords has something similar, I’m sure—maybe you can even download a few chapters there?—I frankly don’t remember).  This was an excusable error.  With my detective series, I tend to include a pre-release excerpt in each ebook.  For example, in #5, The Collector, you’ll find one for #6, Family Affairs, and in that one you’ll find one for #7.  I recommend that every indie writer put a pre-release excerpt out there to whet readers’ appetites.  I don’t recommend what Big Five authors often do, namely sell the first few chapters of a new book.  That’s simply gouging readers, unless those excerpts or chapters are free.  (More on gouging readers below.)

Item. Old friends.  Author Lee Gimenez started out in sci-fi too, but has added detective stories to his catalog.  I probably overlooked this development—we all get busy in our own thing.  Starflash, his new novel, is about a PI under contract to the FBI (there was at least one previous book in this series with those same two characters).  It sounds sci-fi, but it is only in the sense of a new designer drug that blows the user’s mind.  Lee’s had a lot more success than I have, so I congratulate him and wish him luck with this new ebook.  Check him out.  You might consider this a proto-review—I’ll be downloading Starflash soon—but it’s an endorsement only in the sense that Lee has a proven track record for writing entertaining thrillers (my endorsements aren’t worth much but here it is).

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If you read Joe Konrath (I still lurk there, even though I’m against his exclusive by-invitation-only policy for his book borrowing effort), or you’ve just experienced it en carne propia (Spanish for “in your own flesh,” meaning personally), you’ll have heard that Amazon’s bots search for links between reviewer and author and erase the review if they find them.  What?  Authors can’t be reviewers?  I read a lot, and I review a lot of books.  My reviews tend to be longer than most Amazon reviews—even on Amazon—but maybe Amazon only cares about those star assignments and is perfectly content with one- or two-liner reviews?  Are they just trying to stop review exchanges?  I don’t support those either, but how do they know?  At any rate, I won’t be posting reviews on Amazon anymore, except for Bookpleasures reviews I repost there because the author requests it (we do that, but I won’t do that anymore either if Amazon forces me to pare down the review to 500 words, something they often also do).

All that said, these are Amazon’s problems, not mine, so let me just say they need a new book review paradigm that makes book reviews something more than voting on American Idol.  But I think I can generalize that comment to book reviews in general.  A new paradigm is needed to add some seriousness into the reviewing process again.  Book reviews nowadays follow Sturgeon’s Law.  I realize that there are many authors, publicists, and publishers seeking reviews.  Publishers often pay for them, so indie writers and their publicists are also asked to pay (Kirkus is the most common pay-for-review source, but many online review sites also ask for payment).  Like gushing blurbs from famous authors (yesterday I reviewed an ebook praised by James Rollins, for example—the book didn’t satisfy, to say the least), paid reviews are useless to readers (probably the gushing blurbs are about all Big Five authors are willing to write—they’re usually not reviewers).

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[The first two and last ebooks reviewed here shows that it’s worth searching for older novels in a writer’s catalog, something Smashwords doesn’t seem to recognize with their searching options—Amazon is many things to many people, but it does that well.  The last two try to outdo Dan Brown.  Note to readers: These reviews express my opinions—your results may differ.  These reviews will not appear on Amazon, and I refuse to use their star system.  Note to authors and publicists of the ebooks reviewed here: you are free to quote from any review, but please give me credit.  And, can you tell, TV and movies are really bad this summer?!]

Outsider in Amsterdam.  Janwillem Van De Wetering, author. (1975, 2013).  Police procedural or mystery?  No matter.  There is a great deal of tongue-in-cheek here, plus the interesting question about whether a murder is ever justly committed.  Weight-challenged Det.-Adj. Grijpstra and handsome lothario Sgt. De Gier, a bit of a bumbling and chaotic pair, manage to get the job done.  Set in Amsterdam at the crossroads of European and Southeast Asian culture, this offers a peek into the city’s drug scenes and historical sins.  A wee bit of nostalgia too because I recognized some of the settings.  For some reason, I recalled Father Brown, Chesterton’s character.  Maybe not for everyone, but I enjoyed this.

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I guess the Donald believes the adage “Any PR is good PR” (“the Donald” is the New Yorkers’ nickname for real estate mogul Donald Trump, who has his eye set on owning the White House—and turning it into a casino?)  As of today (7/21), he’s leading the other GOP presidential hopefuls in a poll taken after the anti-Mexican immigrant spiel but before the attack on John McCain.  Maybe that will change.  But the GOP has to be careful.  If Trump the Chump leaves the GOP to form a third party, they’re setting themselves up as victims for the third party jinx.  It’s probably more beneficial for them to leave him alone because he makes the other fifteen clowns almost look sane.

Of course, Trump is appealing to the dark side of the GOP with his anti-Mexican immigrant comments.  It’s clear a lot of frustrated, angry people blame immigrants, legal or otherwise, for all their financial woes.  “What the hell?” they say.  “I join a union that’s supposed to protect me, and if the company doesn’t ship my job overseas, they give it to some damn immigrant who’s not even American.”  Never mind that the immigrant works harder for less and is often exploited.  Never mind that the immigrant actually knows how his government functions when s/he becomes a citizen.  Never mind that the immigrants’ sons and daughters go overseas to fight for this country when Trump took five deferments.  Never mind that the disgruntled worker’s family tree contains members who were also immigrants at one time (the only native American is a Native American!)  Every political hack knows how to hide her/his failings by creating a scapegoat and pointing the finger.  And Trump is a political hack.

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Item. Big deal?  Go Set a Watchman is creating a media and reader frenzy.  What’s the big deal?  Will Lee get her second Pulitzer for it?  I hope not, especially if it’s as badly written as To Kill a Mockingbird.  N. Scott Momaday’s House Made of Dawn, also a Pulitzer winner, is a novel providing better insight into an unusual culture (Lee’s is the South, Momaday’s is North American Indian).  Momaday has few competitors.  Lee has many—Faulkner is just one example.  I’m about as excited about this book as I was about Rohling’s detective novel, that is, it produces a yawn.  It would be nice to see Lee beat out E. L. James, though, just to set the Universe right again.

Item. More than Human: The Mensa Contagion. “People of Earth!  You’ve just won a complete makeover of your society that brings peace and prosperity.  What will you do next?”  “Why, go to Mars, of course!”  This epic sci-fi tale relates how an invading ET virus affects Earth’s social structures and subsequent space exploration.  Some time ago, I wrote two sci-fi trilogies, “The Clones and Mutants Trilogy” and “The Chaos Chronicles Trilogy,” but I’ve returned to the hard sci-fi genre with this stand-alone.  This new novel might seem like a combination of Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land, Crichton’s Andromeda Strain, Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama, and Weir’s The Martian, but I’m hoping readers will find it to be a new and exciting story about new beginnings for humans on Earth and beyond; it’s full of both weirdness and hope.  Now available on Amazon, Smashwords, and most other online retailers for $2.99.  Who knows?  Maybe there will be a sequel.

Item. My publishing team.  They’re the best, most efficient team in the indie publishing business!  I’ll start with Debby and Carol, my beta-readers.  They find logical flaws and catch those last few editing errors all the while reading a raw manuscript (MS) on their laptops.  Donna, a fantastic author in her own right, runs Carrick Publishing with hubby Alex.  She does a great job of formatting and proof reading, taking that raw MS and turning it into a high quality ebook for your enjoyment.  For More than Human (see above), that formatting was double trouble, because I release sci-fi ebooks on both Amazon and Smashwords.

Sara, my creative cover artist, reads the raw MS for cover ideas and comes up with a work of art that relates to my story.  Finally, someone who I often fail to acknowledge at the end of my ebooks but a person who plays an important role after the book is released, is my online PR and marketing guru Amanda, of Book Buzz.  She offers quality services at reasonable prices that help launch an ebook.

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[This short story could be considered segue to my sci-fi thriller Full Medical, the first novel in the “Clones and Mutants Trilogy.”  Enjoy.]

The Call

Copyright 2015, Steven M. Moore

                Dirk Eddy looked more like a jockey than a thief, but that was his secret weapon.  His size was an asset in his business.  He could squeeze through tight spaces and slip by security guards and cops like the invisible man.

With penlight in his mouth, he walked around the mansion, selecting his loot.  A decorative chalice here, an iPhone there, but focusing more on lightweight items he could run with if needed.  He was a pro.

In a bedroom closet, he saw the flashing red LED light on the security panel.  He’d tripped a silent alarm.  He removed a gold crucifix from the wall and a pearl necklace from a dressing table drawer and was on his way out when the phone rang.  After two rings, he picked it up, thinking it was a security company checking for a false alarm.

“Hello?”

“Just you and wifey in the house?”  The connection wasn’t great, but Dirk knew it was a man—the voice was a deep baritone.

“Yes,” he said, thinking he’d just report a false alarm.  That would eliminate any visits by security agents or cops.

“The truck’s almost there.  Get the garage open.”  There was a click and the line went dead.

What the hell?  Truck?  The call wasn’t from security at all.  Do they assume I’m the homeowner? Read the rest of this entry »

Veinte de Julio — Colombian Independence.  Many of my readers know I spent many years in Colombia, South America, making many new friends, adding an international side to my family, and absorbing a culture that has influenced my life and my fiction (some of that “absorbing” came in liquid form, of course–cerveza and aguardiente became an important part of my Spanish vocabulary!).  Colombia’s recent history, from La Violencia to the FARC, right-wing death squads, and the war on drugs, has been filled with struggle.  The income gap there can make Americans stop and wonder what we’re worried about in the U.S.  But these struggles have tempered the steel of the Colombian people, as it has in many Latin American nations.  Let’s all salute the good Colombians on their day of independence!

Item. Mockingbird follow-up.  Well, well, yet another case of the media looking for scandal!  It turns out that the sequel to Harper Lee’s classic is creating a scandal because the grown-up Scout, after living in NYC for some time, returns to Alabama to find old Atticus has become a racist bigot.  I found To Kill a Mockingbird a rough ride—disorganized ups and downs as the two different stories unfolded (only the trial appeared in the movie)—so maybe I’ll like this one better.  I don’t have any emotional stake in Atticus the good guy v. Atticus the bad guy.  The author wouldn’t get away with that today.  Critics are saying that Lee’s old editor knew what he (she?) was doing by rejecting the original and encouraging a rewrite.  Maybe not.  This sequel, written before the famous novel, might have been the better book.  Of course, coming out now, it’s a poignant reminder that racism and bigotry is still a national problem.

Item. A thank you.  Authors don’t do it enough, but I want to express my thanks to all readers who take the time to review the books they’ve read.  I don’t have many reviews, but I value every one of them, even the negative ones, because the person took the time to review.  Through reviews an author can learn the likes and dislikes of his readers (but email correspondence works too).  While readers often use more than reviews, and should (see below), when selecting their reading material, it’s clear that reviews can provide useful information for doing just that.  So, thanks to all the reviewers out there.

Item. Star reviewers.  Don’t worry, writers: I’m not creating a list to compete with Amazon’s star reviewer list.  One not containing 90% product reviewers is sorely needed, but I don’t have the time or the data.  No, here I’m talking about the wide range of reviewers’ interpretations of the Amazon star ranking system.  Many book bloggers use it, and there’s a wide range there too.  Let’s face it: the star-system isn’t uniformly applied, it’s primarily a convenience for Amazon (they can computerize all their book reviews), and readers often take the shortcut of counting stars instead of reading the review.  I’d do away with it, period, because achieving consensus about its application is impossible.  (I won’t use it in book reviews here and, in my official book reviewing capacity at Bookpleasures, it’s not used.  Of course, Goodreads uses it—their nexus is far too tight with Amazon.)

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