Finally, on Facebook right here. This site will still be the main source on books and writing, but now it will be easy for everyone to connect. So head over to FB and let’s get linked up.
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Indie Film Fest 3
Last time I posted about films, I profiled some end of the world pics. Before that, a grab bag of everything from sci-fi to true stories.
This time I want to point you to Midnight Special, a story about a very special kid about to learn his destiny. This is from the director from the equally subtle Take Shelter, a new take on the end of the world. Okay, 10 Cloverfield Lane is really not indie, but this sorta sequel to Cloverfield is small-scale and smart enough to deserve the title.
And then this:
Yes, I know, an X-Men Universe film is not low-budget nor indie, but after being burned-out on superhero films, this looks like one to change my mind.
Sometimes, less is more.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: 10 Cloverfield Lane, film, indie films, Logan, Midnight Special, movies, Take Shelter, X-Men, X-Men Universe
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1492
In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue…
That little rhyme was once taught to all kids. Now, the name Columbus isn’t uttered much, and people just know the mail isn’t delivered today, the banks are closed, and they might have they day off.
However, for a historical perspective on the man who rediscovered America, check out my post from last year.
And, perhaps, we can look forward to the day that mankind rediscovers its spirit of exploration.
Categories: History, Native Americans, Uncategorized
Tags: 1492, Christopher Columbus, Columbus, Columbus Day, Discovery of America
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Freedom vs. Politics
The United Sates was founded by immigrants. Generation after generation of immigrants came here to escape oppression, war, violence and to seek a better life. Both those immigrants, and the citizens that live here, don’t want the evils and problems that they left behind to follow them here. The laws of our nation have kept those concerns at bay.
Yet now, politicians who only care about clinging to power and making a name for themselves (from both parties, by the way), seem to show little concern who is entering the country.
If you want border control or background checks, you’re called anti-immigrant. If you oppose en masse amnesty to illegals, you’re a racist. If you don’t support unlimited refuge to hordes of people, you aren’t humane.
If you believe any of these things, see how being humane is working out for Europe here, here or here.
Violence. Rape. Terrorism. Cover-up.
But don’t just believe the media reports, see it in their own words or this impassioned message from a German girl. Continue reading
Kat Bloodmayne is Tainted
Kat Bloodmayne has a secret. She has the power within her to use nature as a weapon. Problem is that she doesn’t know where the power came from or how to control it all that well. People around her are getting hurt, and worse now that she is being hunted for her power.
Hunted by someone she knows well, protected by a man who may not be on her side and running in a world where the darkness is far more sinister than she she could have imagined.
This is Morgan L. Busse‘s new book Tainted. Set in a dystopian steampunk world — think Victorian with airships where science and the old world clash and converge.
Also think fantasy with a bit of Frankenstein simmering in the background.
I was very impressed with Morgan’s new page turner. There have many repetitive attempts at dystopia in book and film, and many failures or not-quite-there steampunk attempts. Morgan doesn’t succumb to these pitfalls and creates an original story in a well-realized world. I could see this story playing out on the big screen and Morgan has certainly established herself as a storyteller to pay attention to.
And Kat Bloodmayne is not a heroine to be trifled with.
Categories: Books, Fiction, Uncategorized
Tags: dystopian, fantasy, morgan l busse, steampunk, Tainted
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The Last Full Measure
Kenneth T. Jackson writes:
Decoration Day, later designated Memorial Day, began on May 5, 1866, when the small town of Waterloo in Seneca County, New York, organized an entire day of remembrance for its lost sons [of the Civil War]. The idea caught on, and exactly two years later, on May 5, 1868, Major General John A. Logan, commander in chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, the organization of Union Army veterans, issued General Order No. 11, designating May 30, 1868, “for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country.” Logan added that he inaugurated the observance “with the hope that it will be kept up from year to year, while a survivor of the war remains to honor the memory of his departed comrades.”
By 1890, all of the Northern states recognized May 30 as a special day to remember their fallen heroes…After World War I, however, virtually the entire United States accepted Memorial Day (later designated as the last Monday in May) as the primary occasion to remember all those who had died in battle.
“…for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.” – Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 1863
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Writing and Launching Your Book
Need some book and writing related activities over the long weekend? Try these from author Jaimie Engle who has been busy this year:
She published the fantasy novel Dreadlands which I reviewed here. You can watch Jaimie discuss How to Launch Your Book where she explains the techniques she used to launch Dreadlands — what worked and what did not.
If that were not enough, she has also released Writing Your Novel: Using the Bible as Your Guide. This how-to takes cues from history’s most read book — and all the drama within — to show how your story can be dramatic, gripping and memorable.
And what writer doesn’t want that?
Categories: Bible, Books, Uncategorized, Writing
Tags: Dreadlands, Jaimie Engle, Writing Your Novel: Using the Bible as Your Guide
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Whose Story are You In?
Are you an extra in someone else’s play, or are you the author of your own drama? …you must become both the author and star of your own story…However, too many of us succumb to a weak internal story informed by flawed but popular beliefs. We are reactionary to objective events, easily buffeted by the winds of change…we end up being extras in someone else’s story, reacting our way through life…[we all] have a unique reason for existing and a unique offering to the world…we must look deep within to find it. – Mark Divine, The Way of the Seal
About Time
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Indie Film Fest 2: The End
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.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: films, indie films, motion pictures, Snowpiercer, The Last Survivors, Z for Zachariah
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Darrick Dean 