Author Archives: Darrick Dean

Lord of the Apes

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Darrick Dean

I have posted numerous times on the books of Edgar Rice Burroughs. His knack for fantastic adventures set the stage for books and film for decades right up to this day. Funny, though, I have never read his best known series.

Tarzan.

Twenty-six books in the series were penned by Burroughs. Some 200 films have the name Tarzan in the title, but most stray considerably from the source material. First written in 1912, Tarzan finally gets the big budget Hollywood treatment it deserves:

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Disney failed to launch Burroughs’ epic Barsoom tales into a franchise (though take a look at how much Burroughs’ Mars books inspired Star Wars), but maybe Warner Brothers can bring Tarzan into the 21st Century.

And quite frankly, we need a hero who isn’t a mutant or alien.

Categories: Books, Fiction | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

The League Through Stenibelle’s Eyes

Posted on December 18, 2015 by Darrick Dean

It wouldn’t be Christmas without…The League of Elder.

Say again?

Well, it seems that for the past couple years, I usually have a new volume of Ren Garcia’s sci-fi series in my hands around this time. This year is no exception with book 9 of his unique universe, Stenibelle, but one must back up a bit for those not familiar with the books.

The series has a couple self-contained stories (the first two books, then a trilogy, then another dualogy, etc.), and I always recommend starting at the beginning, but here we will go back to book 6, Sands of the Solar Empire.

This is where we are introduced to Paymaster Stenstrom who has had one dream: Becoming a captain in the Fleet. He gets his chance, but his life is never the same (if it was, it wouldn’t be very interesting). Set in Garcia’s unique sci-fi/fantasy/steampunk universe of the far future, Stenstrom faces evils, bizarre beings and death around every corner — only to learn there are many more versions of himself in alternate dimensions.

That’s where Stenibelle falls into place. In this dimension Stenstrom has lost his ship, ended up in jail and lost pretty much everything. And he isn’t a he — Stenstrom is Stenibelle, a woman. No, this isn’t what is sounds like, but it isn’t the typical parallel universe story either. In what is the author’s shortest book, it is almost like an alternate version of the previous volumes. Not word for word, but a tiny glimpse of what the Stenstrom books would have been like had the character been a woman. Steinbelle, though, is different enough (beyond the obvious) from her parallel self that fans may want to see her own adventures in the League. By the end of this book, she has become a strong, fierce hero of sorts — and still very much a woman.

The League is a big place and readers looking to disappear in a universe that doesn’t look like a hundred others, need to look no further.

Categories: Books, Fiction | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

Choose Your Adventure

Posted on December 11, 2015 by Darrick Dean

The busyness of the Christmas season has become nearly a tradition itself. Many are bogged down in the Retail Apocalypse right to the last hours of Christmas Eve. Stores will do anything to get in you in the door and our leaders will smile at the minor economic bump and run and hide when it’s erased with post-holiday debt. Nevertheless, perhaps you’re like me and try to carve some time out of these weeks to tone it down a bit. Perhaps you’d like to go on an adventure? Disappear into the jungles searching for lost cities like Indiana Jones?

No, seriously, you can for only a few dollars.

In The Lost City of Z, you can follow the trail of legendary explorer Percy Fawcett. In 1925, he disappeared into the Amazon looking for the fabled city. When you’re done, head to Honduras in Jungleland and search for Ciudad Blanca — perhaps the fabled El Dorado. Then head back down south and follow the footsteps of Hiram Bingham and explore Machu Picchu in Cradle of Gold.

So take a breath, turn the lights down, and vanish into another world.

Categories: Ancient America, Ancient Sites, artifacts, Books, Forgotten Places, History, Mysteries, Native Americans | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

New Writer Myths and Staking Your Name

Posted on November 27, 2015 by Darrick Dean

Here are Eight Myths new writers should consider. While you’re at it, why don’t you have your own website yet? One with your name, that is.

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Heeding the Warning

Posted on November 21, 2015 by Darrick Dean

When William R. Forstchen wrote One Second After in 2009, the novel warned us of the dangers of man- or nature-caused EMP events. These can induce a domino collapse to civilization as we know it. Now in the recent sequel, One Year After, he writes in the preface that not much has changed:

…frustratingly, much is still the same. I had hoped that by now there would have been government action at the national level to better secure our power grid, create plans both for defense and for public preparedness, and a more robust foreign policy that makes clear that the acquisition by rogue nations a weapons that could generate an EMP will NEVER be tolerated. None of this has happened.

Rather than spending the money to secure the vulnerable and ancient power grid, and investing in defense measures, the government spends billions buying votes, pay off contributors and whatever else allows them to hold on to power. This isn’t a partisan issue, yet we (the citizens) have let them (the professional politicians) ignore an avoidable catastrophe that defies anything we have seen. Forstchen continues:

The books are fiction, but the scenario could be real…Our parents and grandparents of the “Greatest Generation” allowed their leaders to close their eyes to the growing threats around the world…and a terrible price was paid. History has a hundred such examples…I pray that thirty years hence, these books are forgotten as dark tales of warning that never came true…I pray that I never one day hear, “Bill, you were right.”

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What Could Have Been

Posted on November 20, 2015 by Darrick Dean

Not much holds my attention on television, creativity has plummeted. Leave to Amazon to change that with its original series A Man in the High Castle. Based on famed sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick’s novel, it opens with this disturbing premise:

The Allies lost World War II and the Nazis and Imperial Japan rule the United States.

A fledgling resistance and simmering unrest between Japan and Germany is set in a dystopian 1960s that isn’t exactly the ’60s we remember. The producers have put fort a movie-level effort in the reimagining what the country would be like. The production design, subtle FX and the historical allusions (like the disturbing cause of the “snow” on one scene of the pilot episode) combined with a well-realized plot for an immersive, and cautionary, tale.

Having watched Season 1 in its entirety, one thing is for certain: Amazon has officially put itself on the map for original television (networks take note).

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P.S. Read more on the series here. And muse over the irony of a show on fascism having its ads censored.

Categories: Modern History | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

Thongor of Lemuria

Posted on November 14, 2015 by Darrick Dean

In my continuing quest to find great “vintage” sci-fi and fantasy, I now turn to Lin Carter’s Thongor books. The six volume series takes place in the mythical lost continent of Lemuria. Thongor of Valkarth, the near-barbarian exile, finds himself on one near-death adventure after another across Lemuria. Not surprisingly, he rescues himself a princess and becomes a ruler and warrior of note. Often compared to Conan (which Carter also contributed to), but the stories ring closer to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ tales of peril. Perhaps that’s why I was drawn into this series more than Conan. The first outing is rather brief and straight-forward, but the storytelling in book 2 reaches that Burroughs-level of constant, page turning escapades. I think this kind of quick and fun adventure will, if it hasn’t already, find success with modern audiences. Sometimes authors try a little too hard in their world-building and narrative. Unfortunately, this series is a short one.

Sometimes – if not quite often – readers want to be swept away into another world full of larger-than-life, sword-swinging heroes facing unimaginable peril and rescuing their beautiful women. Thongor is all of this.

Politically incorrect? Perhaps to some. Fun and entertaining? Most certainly.

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Categories: Books, Fiction | Tags: , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Indie Film Fest 2: The End

Posted on November 7, 2015 by Darrick Dean

It’s been awhile since my last Indie Film Fest, but the indie film industry continues to flourish. Whether limited release or the direct-to-home market, the industry has benefited from digital platforms like Netflix and Amazon. This is not unlike how publishing and music has been revolutionized by technology, though the expense of filmmaking makes a bit more of a challenge. Nevertheless, these films often attract established stars and provide a refreshing counter to big budget spectacles (not that many of those aren’t great as well). Here are three post-apocalyptic choices that, like the best in the genre, explore the good and evil that simmers all around us:

In The Last Survivors, we find 17-year old Kendal trying to survive in the parched-out valley where her family once lived. Of course, there is a self-proclaimed “baron” who is trying to claim all land (and remaining water) so his group can survive. A very visual and well-thought out film which allows you to overlook some minor script or direction issues. A small-scale version of Mad Max or The Book of Eli with the classic post-apocalyptic story of the best and worst of people.

Snowpiercer finds the world’s survivors locked in a new ice age. Ironically, it was caused by the world’s governments trying to “fix” the climate – a little warning missed by most reviewers. If you can overlook a few plot issues – such as if they can keep this train running, can’t they figure out a stationary location? Who’s out there maintaining the tracks? – there are some great themes in here. Some see it as depicting class warfare, but it can seen as a warning over oppression and government meddling.

Z for Zachariah is a more subtle film. Not driven by typical action, but driven forward by the interactions and decisions of three survivors of the end of the world. Ann has survived the fallout in a shielded valley, alone for some time until two others stumble through. I think many reviewers failed to put themselves into the mind of the characters and what they would be thinking and decisions they would make, much like in The Road. It is also, at one level, a modern spin on Adam and Eve in a Garden of Eden.

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Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

Why Fantasy Films are Awesome

Posted on November 1, 2015 by Darrick Dean

And books, too, of course:

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Details, Details

Posted on October 30, 2015 by Darrick Dean

I previously wrote on the importance of finding the right balance of details in a novel:

It’s true that too little detail is boring. Just as certain is that not allowing a story to breathe, to capture the reader and bring them in, is just as boring. It doesn’t take a lot of detail to paint a picture in the mind. A perception. A feeling. An immersive book doesn’t have to be 200,000 words long. Fewer and purposefully chosen words can ignite the reader’s imagination, draw them inside and propel them forward.

Novelist and professor James Hynes, in his course Writing Great Fiction, also implores writers to get your details right:

…evocative writing provides significant detail, but it doesn’t overwhelm the reader. The point is to draw something out of your readers, which you can’t do if you pour too much in. This is a tricky balance to get right, and beginning writers often have the most difficulty with it. Just as one common error among young writers is not providing enough detail, another…is to overcompensate by telling to much. Often, inexperienced writers will go on for several paragraphs about the appearance of a character or place when a few well-chosen sentences or words would have done just as well.

Finding the right balance of detail can allow your readers disappear into your book, or make your book disappear.

Categories: Fiction, Writing | Tags: | 1 Comment

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