What Turns My Crank in Writing (spoilers ahead)

I know, I know, I still owe you the one on what I hate about my writing.  That is in the works.  I thought I would discuss some of my favorite series that I have read through the years.
The first one that comes to mind is Isaac Asimov's Robot Series.  Asimov painted one hell of a galaxy with only one main species:  man.  In it, Earth is a populated by a society afraid to go out into the outdoors (agoraphobia).  Elijah Baley is a cop who is teamed up with a positronic cop, R. Daneel Olivaw.  Throughout their adventures we see Baley go from a human afraid to venture outside, to one who has to go to other planets and ultimately leads into him leading the second wave of colonization, much to the chagrin of the spacers.  The spacers are the people from the first wave of colonization that inhabited 40 other worlds, and in the case where man went to these alien words, their lifetimes are extended greatly, because they no longer are facing typical earth pests.
What I really liked about this series is that Earth was portrayed as the scum of the galaxy, one man, a cop, overcomes his fears to lead a second wave of colonization, and it is perhaps R. Daneel Olivaw that led me to try and work with beings who are alive for millennia.   For R. Daneel Olivaw by the end of the Foundation Series by Asimov, we find out that everything is being controlled by R. Daneel Olivaw, who is still going millennia after he first meets Baley.  And of course, R. Daneel Olivaw is doing all of this because of the 4 Laws of Robotics.
Another series that I have talked of often, is the Dark Tower Series.  King weaves one hell of a tale over 7 volumes that leaves you wanting more.  I followed it for close to 20 years (I can still remember being in high school and seeing book 1 in the bookstore and freaking, because he had released a single novel called the Dark Tower, which covered the entire story).  He has a way of describing the setting that, well hell, made me want to cross a bridge and go into another world.  Roland is essentially a loner, all his friends killed off years ago in a war that devastated his world.As time goes on, he faces the Dark Man (who is in other stories) and forms a new Ka-Tet with new friends.  I won't go too much into details as I don't want to spoil it, but there are a few things that I really like.  First off is the almighty Dark Man, aka Randall Flag, is killed like he is nothing.  Me and a friend of mine always take opposite sides on discussing this, in particular, for my point, King is showing how the almighty can easily fall, while a friend of mine is saying it is wrong for him to die how he did and an insult to readers.  I also like the many different characters that King introduces into the story, and some are just there for a few pages, but he puts equal amount of work in there.
Other stuff I like reading include Clive Cussler, he makes it easy for light reading.  I will lave Paul O. Williams for another day, I can go on about this stuff.

Man I sure hope Randall Flag is not real. Please, oh please.

Creation of Characters

Well here we are, yet another blog entry.  I know I promised something on what I hate about my writing, but let's do that when I am writing parts I hate to write, it will be more entertaining for you for sure.  Tonight, let's talk about the creation of characters.
I have had more than one person comment on how nasty Lons and Skardo are in Desperation (subliminal message:  buy Desperation).  Just what went into Lons and Skardo?  Well many bottles of wine were drunk while writing them as it fully releases what my creativity can do (the scene where they are driving down the street just randomly killing for fun was a night where I downed 3 bottles of wine).  When I set out writing these two, I didn't think they would turn out this way, but they did.  I often push the ball with some of my characters, it keeps me happy.  And why not, it doesn't happen enough in creative writing these days.
That being said, I often look at serial criminals, mainly serial killers, for inspiration for some of my villains.  I look at what they did and how they did it and think about how I can spin that in my stories.  And then add in just how someone 110 000 years old, who was already somewhat of questionable personality, is like after all that time and doesn't give a shit how he treats others, you get in part Lons and Skardo.
Add to that, they only care about one thing, and don't care what others think of them.  The creation of Lons and Skardo was easy, but as I work on my new piece, I have come to realize that I need to create 2 new villains.  Just how in the hell am I going to beat Lons and Skardo?  And do I even try?  The one thing I fear is that I may end up with the Jar-Jar Binks of villains, but I will do my best to not do so.
With character creation of course comes character development.  That is a whole other aspect because in that I now have to dream up their entire lives and what key point or points in their lives influenced them to turn out the way they did.  Of course, it gets even more complex if you are using a real person from history, which I do dabble in when it comes to a few bits that no one has seen yet.  One, unless working on an alternate history piece, is obliged to do the research.
So at the end of the day, I really have a much greater appreciation for authors who do an excellent job with the characters and their development, and even a more dim view on those that do not.

I am a victim of bad character development....

 

Hmmm, What Do I Post About Tonight?

Alright, the codeine has kicked in for my weather caused migraine (4 weather changes in 6 hours is fucking hell, and it has to be bad for me to take codeine since that in itself can cause migraines).  Well I have two topics in mind, I either write about what I hate about my writing, or about how I hate Hollywood doing all these re-treads of movies.
Ahh let's do the second one tonight, and I will leave the other one for the next day.  Ok, I was very worried about the Star Trek reboot, mostly because I have been a fan of it my entire life.  It is one thing to do the early part of how they came together, but to do a complete change to the story, especially this one, well, I had my reservations.  I watched it, and well I loved it.  They did it beautifully, and artfully.  The story was solid.  But I wonder if they knew the whole scary thing that would happen in Hollywood because of this.  We are living in the era of the re-treads (most of the reboots are not good enough to call reboots).  Since Star Trek came out, we have seen Spiderman go through it (no time travel to cover the differences), X-Men done so badly no one really took notice that in the beginning of X-Men 3, that Prof X was walking, while at the end of the early life, an essential reboot, he was already in a wheelchair.  This is almost as  bad a fuckup as when they determined hair colour on Quincy from a thigh bone in the late 70s (yeah that writer got cornered and had the shit kicked out of him by a bunch of coroners for that, true story).  Ahh Spiderman, it wasn't bad enough they made Spiderman 3, but now they are into the 2nd movie, and there was barely any time between 3 and the new one.  Hell, we are even expecting a Fantastic 4 reboot already. There should be rules about this, but quite frankly, what it is coming down to, is that it is easier to do a re-tread and than come up with a new movie.  I am just hoping that they will soon get off this kick and get us back to some good old movies.  But in the meantime, let's do a few reboot ideas of our own:  Night of the Lepus would be awesome, nothing like watching 6 foot tall killer rabbits, Deliverance, Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry, and I did hear tell that they are re-doing Easy Rider.  Notice the general era of these movies.

Yup, let's just take a bad idea and retread it.

It still sucks at the core.

A Classic Argument, but I'm Right on This One

Alright, I decided to step in it tonight, but then as I am taking a break from writing, to do more writing, well the hell with it, it works for me.  This post is going to return to examine an argument we've all heard for a long time, and well the issues I have with this argument is that both sides are missing the target.  The argument:  Who is better?  Kirk or Picard.
For the love of whatever deity you worship, neither is better.  Picard is a wimp, always has to throw a damned temper tantrum before he even attempts to win something (Star Trek VIII, his temper tantrum where he destroys his little toys).  Hell, I am going to say it:  by far, Picard and the Next Generation series is the worst of the Star Trek Saga Era.  Need I remind you of Wesley Crusher???
The original series, now that is better, but once again, Kirk is not that great of a Captain.  He's a bully, fucks every creature of every colour of the rainbow (OK, in some books, this is good), he can't do anything without pausing in a sentence at every word, he is just a space cowboy with a laser gun.  The only reason the Enterprise even survived was because of Spock and McCoy.   Don't get me wrong, I grew up on this series, and I feel if you were to take a survey, those that like the original series, most likely grew up watching it, and those that like Next Generation, most likely grew up watching it.
So, who is my choice for the best Captain?  It is none other than Captain Benjamin Sisko.  And what are my reasons?  The man is somewhat the reluctant hero, while using his dark side to win a war.  The episode that sticks out in my mind is the one where he is describing how he brought the Romulans into the Dominion War, where he ordered data be forged to give to the Romulans, then his buddy Garak, blows up the ship, with the false data on board and it is believed that the Dominion was responsible and voila, the Romulans are in the war.  Sisko clearly regrets it, but knows that without the Romulans, the war is lost.  Not one of the others would have the balls to go through with this.  So forget Kirk and Picard, Sisko is the best.  And of all the Captains that Star Trek ever offered, Sisko is the one that had the best character development.  Well back to writing, enjoy this little interlude.

 That's right, you heard it, I am the best!!

So What is New and Upcoming with My Writing???

Morning all, after my rant about Star Wars Yesterday, I decided to do a bit of a nicer one (well I have been writing a letter to my local newspaper about the destruction of one of my gardens by some morons who were installing fibre optic cables and such, but that is another story).
Anyway, this year is going to be I hope a good year with what is left.  We are in May already.  Well I do have plans for releasing quite a bit of new material, and I will post a page off the old website, with some sneak previews.

One of the big things I've been working on lately is a novel called Saba'tah of the Endless Winds.  This story takes place over a few hundred years and brings a lot of my characters together in a light that, well you just don't get to see in my other novels or stories.  It is co-written with Trevor Patrick.  It is one of those stories that well in a way defines the world I created and links up many of the story lines, some of which you haven't been exposed to yet.  In short, it is not quite a coming of age story, but rather how one man learns a lot about himself and compassion for others that have literally terrorized him.   This is the first book of this series and it may be quite some time before another one comes out.

Also this year, is Anthology of the Guardians:  Huntercats.  It is the next installment in this series and it focuses a lot on the culture and society of the Pruchocks.  But in building the society, comes the biology of such creatures, which I can tell you both Trevor and I debated quite a bit.  This was the first story he co-authored with me and it was what got him interested in the world I created. In this story, we also see how a man can learn to respect and love his enemy too.

Later this year will see two more entries in the Triumvirate Chronicles.  The first one, Conquest and Liberation, a novella, will fill in the details of some events between Desperation and Triumvirate (Book 2).  In it we see the struggles of free Lonsatia and how an immortal begins to deal with the fact he really is dying.  The true antagonist is also introduced and we see how he deals with Veloxora.   

The second installment of the Triumvirate Chronicles will see the further decline of the Territories and their struggles to survive.  New characters are brought in, while old ones must face the truth about what is really happening and who is behind this invasion.  If I say much more, it will give too many spoilers, but look soon for a sneak peak.

Finally, another project I am writing is tentatively called Immortal Assassins, and to paraphrase Ron White, I have to tell you one story, to tell you the other.  Basically one part of this story is set in the time frame between Desperation and Conquest and Liberation.  Assassins, long thought dead, make an appearance and try to kill William Savage and other important figures in the Territories.  The thing is, these assassins track by DNA.  Savage, having faced them in another lifetime, as a mortal, remembers those events.  So the story is broken into two pieces and introduces the feared assassin Bill Pralla, who is, in one form or another, still alive in William Savage.

There are others, but this is enough on what I look to get out this year. I will mention that I'll most likely be at a few cons this year pedaling my wares.   Perhaps I will see some of you there.

Hmm one of these just doesn't belong.  Might be

the red one!!

Star Wars - Let's Look at the Reality

OK, I have a bit of time on my lunch to put this out there.  Well, the fact I actually got lunch is amazing to begin with.  Anyway, this was not going to be the next entry in my blog, but given that I read an article by Lewis Beale this past weekend on How Star Wars Ruined Sci-Fi.
Let me give you my credentials for writing a blog like this:  I have seen all 6 in the theaters first run, I have seen the original versions of 4,5, and 6 many times, I have seen the new editions many times (4,5 and 6 that is), have read the extended universe to a large degree and well, been a fan for over 35 years now. If that isn't good enough for you readers, then fuck off.
The reality of Star Wars is that it changed how we looked at sci-fi.  I can remember being completely blown away by the special effects of Star Wars IV (back then it was just Star Wars) because there was nothing like it, not even Star Trek, which also started in that era with the movies, could touch it.  There had never been an opening scene with the heavy music as a small ship getting the ever living fuck kicked out of it by the larger one over some unknown planet.  We didn't have to ask who was good, who was evil, we knew right at that scene.   When Vader killed Captain Antilles, we knew he was as bad-assed as you could be.
Now over the years as I have mellowed some, and grown older, and as a writer in essentially the space-opera genre, I have a bit of a different take on the whole Star Wars things.  George Lucas in many ways has become a hazard to this genre, and even sci-fi in general. When was the last time you saw the bad guys win?  Hell when was the last time you saw a bad guy actually be a bad guy.  Even in the end, Darth Vader had good in him.  Society as a general wants a movie full of special effects, full of the good guys always win (please do not go on about Revenge of the Sith and how Vader and Palpatine, who are bad guys won, because you, like me, were cheering it on), lots of explosions and so on (we see this in the Transformers franchise).  Basically put, none of the real good sci-fi has been covered for years.  The last few attempts have not been received well, Ender's Game and 2010 being examples, and thank god for Blade Runner.  But we do have yet to see anything from The Foundation Series by Asimov as Beale points out, which is quite true, or even some of Greg Bear's stuff is lacking out there.  In fact, the last time I saw some real good sci-fi that was intelligent, good plot and everything is a long time.
A lot of things with sci-fi movies comes down to this:  you need good and evil, you need good to eventually win over evil (I could even make the argument that the Empire in Revenge of the Sith is the good guy) and you need someone to go from the side of evil to the side of good. All in all, this is not realistic.  Look at the world around us today and nothing reflects this at all for the reality of it. 
But for those of us, who are into writing sci-fi, trying to break into the market, it is tough, for those of us who do have different approaches than this, we have a hard go at selling our stuff, even if we do have a series going.  Because we don't promise a feel good ending, where the good guys all live and the bad guys all die (Harrison Ford wanted Han Solo to die, and Lucas said no.  Big fuckup there dickwad).  It is not realistic.  And in many movies when good guys do die, it is very climatic.  In many ways, I sometimes under write the deaths of my characters, good or bad, because simply, you don't have a planet wide celebration of your soldiers because you wiped the death start out of existence (did anyone other than me ever realize that the Empire was not gone at the end of Return of the Jedi?).  Of course, when a movie that can result in the argument of who shot first (for fuck sakes, those of us who saw it, know the answer) that can take hours out of people's lives, give me a break.  And casting the original cast in for Star Wars VII, that can only lead to problems (I do hope they cover what happened to Jar Jar Binks); they would've been better to have a fresh start, a long time in the future.  And it is worth mentioning that in writing the prequels, George lost a lot of old loyal fans over it.  I honestly expected Anakin Skywalker to really have an evil streak in him.  But in the end, he was just a pansy-assed, pussy-whipped dude who fell to the Dark Side out of love, rather than doing what was the right thing to do:  destroy the Jedi.
Well, to sum things up, it is time we got off this fucking kick of expecting things to be like Star Wars. It is time, you the readers, start looking out at other stuff if haven't already.  Yes Star Wars is entertaining, yeah I agree with that, but why just settle for a shitty old burger when you can go read other material and have the tenderloin instead?  Perhaps it is time we all give Star Wars a pass and demand more from Hollywood.

That's right, if I hear about who shot first one more

time, I swear I'll do it, I swear it!!