My brother

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Yesterday my brother, Jimmy ‘Ace’ Evans died. He was a good brother and a strong man. Throughout his life he endured many trials that would have sundered other people, including myself.

He fought a war against cancer, but it was not the tumors that took him from us but  pneumonia. During our conversations while he battled the disease and when he conquered it he told me that he had made peace with his mortality. He accepted that life ends with a grace, dignity, and calmness that astounds me and fills my heart with pride. I hope that when my time comes and that terrible news is given to me that I can accept it with half the strength he showed.

He was an artist, captured nature with a camera. Birds were often his subjects and on his facebook page he shared with us some astounding images. He was a poet, a talent I deeply respect as I have no ability to craft poetry. He was a philosophical man and a political activist.

My brother always encouraged and supported my feeble attempt at prose and I will miss him dearly.

Movie Review: Star Trek: Into Darkness

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Alice+Eve+in+Star+Trek+-+Into+the+DarknessThis review will be broken into two sections. The leading section will be spoiler-free for those who have not seen the film and who wished to remain naïve and innocent about the horror that will fall upon them. After the jump I will rant and bitch about specific elements of the movie that are particularly stupid, insipid and insulting. Do not blame me if you read past the jump and find yourself spoiled. (Personally I’m not sure this film can be spoiled. That would take as an implication it exists in an unspoiled state, something I find very debatable.)

Star Trek: Into Darkness is a poorly talented con-man utilizing action and fast fight scenes in place of a bluff roll hoping to keep the audience so distracted with spectacle, visual effects, and action so that the poor viewers will never noticed the Michael Bay levels of stupidium from which the script was constructed.

If you saw the nine minute preview attached to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, then you have already seen the start of Star Trek: Into Darkness, and the least stupid portion of the movie.

The film lacks any real scenes of character and development. While this edition is more of Kirk’s story than Spock as was the case with Star Trek (2009), the audience is treated to no dramatic scenes of length to get to know their characters or explore their issues. In this film stuff happens! Before you can process, or question the Stuff more stuff happens and this is bigger stuff. The filmmakers – if they are thinking this far ahead – are desperately hoping that no one will stop during their razzmatazz and ask what is it that these characters are trying to achieve. The plot is a convoluted tangled of scenes that nominally are related, but have as much to do with story, arcs, and development as a poorly crafted first person shooter.

There are moments of real acting, but they occur infrequently because the actors are given so little to work with. One of the best actors, Benedict Cumberbatch, is utterly wasted. As a villain his motivations are sketchy and his supposedly brilliant intellect crafts only the most base and insipid of plans. Simon Pegg, a talented actor with deep geek cred, continues to perform in a manner so utterly at odds with the source material that is it simply best to pretend his character is a distant cousin to our beloved Scotty.

This film continues the previous movie’s utter disdain for science and the vastness of the cosmos. If getting to Vulcan in moments bothered you in Star Trek (2009) what these characters achieve within a single day will infuriate you. There is no consistency in technology or capabilities.

If you are getting the impression I disliked the film you are correct. This is a movie that the more you think about, the more you question, the greater the stupidity. I cannot recommend that you see it.

AND NOW FOR SPOILERS

Continue reading →

Warning Educational Materials ahead

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So Sunday I was tooling youtube and other video hosting sights, looking for interesting films and such to watch. (No, not porn. Get your mind out of the gutter.) I ended up searching for a World War II training film I had caught part of during a TCM Memorial Day Marathon. (I did find it, it’s called Resisting Enemy Interrogation. It’s got a cool story as German Interrogators try by hook and by crook get information from 5 down airmen.)

However, while looking for that video I found several others that were very interesting. One on flak (anti-aircraft fire) how it works and how to evade it, and a Sad Sack cartoon on the importance of maintaining you weapon properly. The most informative video I found though was one on the basics of small arms and how they work. I have friends who collect guns, and I remember shooting rifles as a boy with my father, however nothing has every made the mechanics of modern firearms as easy to understand as this WWII training film. I present it here for your education or enjoyment. (It is about 40 minutes long.)

 

The blind spots left behind by my life

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Another thing I discovered from the feedback luncheon was where I have blind spots in character development due to the particular nature of my life. One of the characters in this novel has father issues. His father is driven by legacy and trying to maker sure his son can be the powerful politician the ensure the family’s long term placement in the history book. The son wants to be a military officer, but follows his father directions because no one ever disobeys father.

The guys, and they were all guys except for my sweetie-wife, mentioned that that they expected or wanted see a moment when this character basically tells his father to shove and goes off to follow his life and not the one his father has planned for him. They discussed how they saw this this is an important aspect of establishing your own identity as a man.

The thought had not occurred to me. My own father passed away when I was young, my mother did not remarry, nor did she date, so after Dad died there was no father figure in my own life. I never had to rebel to establish an identity distinctly from my father’s.

The plot element is a good one and I plan to incorporate it into the new revision, but I can’t help but ponder what other blind-spots are waiting to surprise me?

No rest for the writer

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someecards.com - And I thought I understood what I was doing...

Yesterday I held the feedback luncheon for the beta readers of my novel “Command & Control.” It was, in my opinion, the most successful beta reader feedback session I have hosted. Everyone contributed with their ideas of what worked and what did not work for them in the novel. While a there was a great spread of many issues, at least two issues seemed to generate near uniformity.
First – the opening two thirds of the novel did not mesh with the final third. It was generally agreed that the last third felt tonally like a wholly different story and that it did not integrate directly with tone that preceded it.
Second – that the villain of the final third of the book, was a powerful and well realized character who the readers thought deserved a novel dedicated entirely to his story and interaction with my hero Seth Jackson. (It was incredibly flattering to have people compare him to Khan from Star Trek.)
Most importantly about these two points is that I agree with them. When I wrote the book I was fearful that the final section was far too separate from the rest in term of plot, conflict, and tone. I struggled to find a proper bridge between the disparate aspects of what I had conceived as a single plot and it would seem that I failed. That leaves with me two options to fix the piece, and one option to send it out as it.
I shall not send it out. It is flawed and I can see it, I agree with it. It is better that I fix it.
So the two fixes.
One – split the book into two, treating the disparate tones as separate stories and give each the room to be their own tale. This means a lot more work, but if done well will produce the best results.
Two – find a way to reconcile the front and back of the books, making the entire book feel like a single whole. That probably cannot be done with the plot as it is currently constructed. During the luncheon I had the epiphany that the first two-thirds of the book was real a conflict between charter A and Character B, while the final third was a conflict between Character A and Character C, whom did not appear at all in the previous portions. That is tonally very much two stories and not one. To fix that I would need either to make C’s plot part of the opening, or make B’s plot the overall controlling interest of the C’s events, and that would destroy the character that everyone really liked.
So there, I’ve talked myself into a lot more work and I have expanded my list of Seth Jackson books. What started as a single novella now looks to stretch across five or six books.

well, this was different

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I Am A: Lawful Neutral Human Wizard (6th Level)

Ability Scores:
Strength-10
Dexterity-11
Constitution-10
Intelligence-14
Wisdom-13
Charisma-14

Alignment:
Lawful Neutral A lawful neutral character acts as law, tradition, or a personal code directs him. Order and organization are paramount to him. He may believe in personal order and live by a code or standard, or he may believe in order for all and favor a strong, organized government. Lawful neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you are reliable and honorable without being a zealot. However, lawful neutral can be a dangerous alignment when it seeks to eliminate all freedom, choice, and diversity in society.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Class:
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard’s strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

The ups and downs of job searching

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So I haven’t posted much in the last few weeks. Instead of having all the time in the world to write what I have had is a mad search for job openings, lots of forms to fill out, and a dearth of any actual inspiration.

This week is looking promising. I have an interview tomorrow and another on Friday. This Sunday I will host a feedback luncheon for the beta readers of my novel ‘Command & Control.’ There have been positive and negative reviews so far it will interesting to see what happen at the group discussion.

 

Not the best week ever, but then agin not the worst

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So on Thursday I became one of the unemployed. This is course a stressful time for and my sweetie-wife. However I look around at the finances and I do not see any disaster on the horizon.

I have already filed for unemployment, updated my resume and performed a basic job search. I See plenty of possibilities and currently I remained in a guarded optimistic state.

This does kill plans for worldcon this year as even if I find a new job quickly it will be highly unlikely that I would have the paid time off for the convention.

To console myself I submitted two short stories to markets on Friday and monday, in addition to resumes, I plan to start sending query letter for my novel to agents and editors.