News and Notices from the Writing Trenches #30…
#171: Inexpensive summer reading? For Kindle users, check out my entire catalog on Amazon. For Nook and other non-Kindle users, remember that Full Medical is on sale in Smashwords’ Summer/Winter promotion at 50% off. You will need a coupon and your code is SSW50. Better yet, buy the entire “Clones and Mutants Series” (Full Medical + Evil Agenda) for hours of entertainment and excitement—another type of roller coaster, perhaps. For young adults and adults young at heart, try The Secret Lab—also a bargain at $0.99, either on Amazon or Smashwords. For hardcore lovers of trade paperbacks, you will find those on Amazon too. Happy summer!
#172: Good plot, good acting, and good music. Moonrise Kingdom is a quiet but intense little movie even when the action picks up. Two young kids learn how to love, but this is not like a young adult novel. Well, maybe, because the adults are the flawed personalities here. Bill Murray and Bruce Willis shine as they take their acting to another level. I have two regrets: I would have liked to see a book where the character studies in the movie were made more profound as one can only do on the printed page; I would have also liked it to be a bit less predictable.
About the music: My first taste of classical music was Orff’s Carmina Burana. As with literature, I developed an appetite for the unusual early on. I can’t remember when I first discovered Britten’s Noye’s Fludde, but it wasn’t long after Orff’s masterpiece. In keeping with my rebellious nature, I didn’t hear Britten’s better known Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra until much later in high school. Moonrise Kingdom uses both Britten pieces in a clever fashion. The singing of the Victorian naval hymn “Eternal Father, Strong to Save” from Noye’s Fludde occurs as the hurricane floods the tiny New England island where the story takes place. Perfect! Maestro Britten must be smiling.
#173: LOL, OMG. Are people reading more? If I remember correctly (computer woes have numbed my brain—see #174), Fifty Shades will be the first eBook to hit 1,000,000 in sales on Amazon. (I believe someone else has sold more than 1,000,000 books, but he or she had several books.) Are people taking better care of themselves? The eBook about the OMG diet has taken off and earned its British author a juicy publishing deal.
In fact, both the answers to the questions above are “No!” People who read perhaps are reading more—inexpensive eBooks and eReaders have made reading easier—but people who download Fifty Shades or buy it in trade paperback format are not reading. They’re giving into their S&M curiosity, a pornographic voyeurism in non-visual format. In addition, the OMG diet is a fad and definitely not recommended to improve your health.
Of course, the morning ice bath in the OMB diet might help you cool down after a sizzling night of turning the pages of Fifty Shades. Or, maybe the latter should be on the list of non-fiction bestsellers as a how-to book? In that case, the morning ice bath might definitely be required.
#174: For writers and readers with blogs: Are you using WordPress? I recently upgraded to 3.4.1 and the editors “More” button stopped working. Returning to the previous version seems counter-productive because the upgrades are more in the line of security patches. However, the WP forums are mute about this problem. If you have any info about this, drop me an e-mail, please. Otherwise, readers of my posts will continue to see the full page. I like the “More” button on other blogs because it allows me to read a bit before deciding to read the whole post. I assume my blog readers feel the same way. If so, I apologize—but maybe you’ll find some rewards in those unusually pithy endings?
#175: Boycott of the new Tom Cruise movie? Will you join me in this? After umpteen novels about the iconic Jack Reacher, I’ve developed a mind’s-eye image of Lee Childs’ protagonist, even with Lee’s sparse prose. I’m surprised Mr. Childs went along with it (maybe he had no choice?), but Tom Cruise is about as far from my image of Jack Reacher as any male could be. What’s he going to do? Wear foot-high elevator shoes and shoulder pads and mess up that pretty face? I doubt it. This is one movie that I definitely won’t see! If you feel the same way, join my boycott.
By the way, I call the boycott “Steve Moore’s Anti-Cruise Missile.” I never thought Tom could act. Minority Report, a favorite Phillip K. Dick story of mine, was ruined by his acting. Jamie Foxx stole the show in another movie. I went to War of the Worlds and he and the screaming kid ruined that for me too. I didn’t go to any of the Mission Impossible movies, but just their trailers confirmed his lack of acting ability. Hollywood casting people have exhibited their stupidity by featuring him in too many thrillers. But casting him as Jack Reacher? C’mon people!
In libris libertas….
