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Tag: Fiction

Posted
August 26, 2017
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Wonder Woman sucks and so will Black Panther

I can’t understand the hype for WonderWoman. I simply can’t bring myself to understand how a movie, which shits the bed in the third act, can get so many glowing reviews.

I would give the movie a 6 out of 10 stars at best, and that was only because the first half was so strong. I keep scratching my head, wondering how a movie can be so completely different from the start to the end. It was like the movie was directed by two different directors.

Now I have a feeling I know why it got so many great reviews from critics, but I’ll come back to that later.

Now the first half was strong, it set up the origins of the protagonist beautifully, with the right amount of back story and open ended questions that needed to be asked later. It showcased all the characters and when the group formed, that would help our main character out, they all slotted together, with each character bouncing off the other.

So far so good right?

Yeah, I thought so.

I know a lot of people criticised the main character as annoying or stupid, and that the actress who played the role didn’t give a wide range of emotions, but you have to remember that the protagonist is sort of a child.

She was sheltered from the outside world her whole life, she hasn’t seen the horrors of the world fully, and doesn’t understand that some people can be evil because they are.

Its sort of the rich kid who has been in boarding school their whole life, now trying to make a living in the ghetto.

I thought the actress played it great, to the point of me being annoying at the character. I was annoyed at the character because I was invested, I wanted her to awake up and smell the roses.

No, none of that was a problem for me. What was, was the shit show, which was the ending of the movie.

What. The. Fuck.

The final battle was so cliche filled with terrible CGI, that I didn’t know what was going on half the time. It was just down right…. Bad. Added with 80’s style one liners that made me shake my head, I felt like I was cheated out of my cinema money.

OH, OH!

Also the big reveal that the protagonist was indeed a god was just tossed into conversation, like a jockstrap in a washing hamper.

The only thing that was good about the ending of the story, was that Chris Pine stole the show with his sacrifice.

Now if you look at rotten apples, which has rated this movie so high, you would be lead to believe that this movie is actually good. And it is at some parts, but the reason that this movie is so highly rated on there is that far left liberal film critics, are bending over backwards to praise this movie because it stars a female lead.

The first female lead in a superhero movie.

But they shouldn’t.

Regardless if this movie is starring a female lead, black lead, transgender lead or anything between, it shouldn’t be given special treatment because then you are making a mockery of your own grading system.

If you compare rotten apples reviews to IMDB, where regular movie goers post their comments you would see a night and day difference. IMDB’s rankings for the movie is two stars lower. With many people asking on that site, why hasn’t anyone given an honest review of the movie on rotten apples.

When we allow political opinions, to shade what is good or bad then we are on a downward spiral to mediocrity in our entertainment.

We should be pushing the boundaries. Not catering to any crap because it might align to our agendas.

This is the same reason that Black Panther with the first male black man as a superhero will be shit!

The movie will be a terrible mixture of hip hop video like material, with black people trying to act super fly. It will be cliche filled, and it won’t be real. For some reason, Hollywood can’t make a serious film with people in colour, without it being…. Type casted!

Just once, once in my lifetime, can I get a film where my black lead doesn’t talk with a heavy slang accent or come from the streets. Or is something between.

And I know everyone reading this will be saying, but Black Panther is an African king and blah, blah, blah.

It still will be missing something, something I wish I could describe in words but… I can’t.

It’s why Red Tails should have been a great movie and failed, and its why this one will be the same.

Sigh…

Look, my grandmother had a saying. If you want to do well in any industry and you’re a minority, then you have to surpass the competition till people can’t ignore you.

And I don’t see us getting there, by want Hollywood has been putting out lately.

I may be wrong, I hope I am, but Hollywood hasn’t proved me wrong so far.

Posted
July 31, 2017
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Short cuts

In business as well as in life, shortcuts do not amount to what you expect them to be.

I love writing, I wouldn’t want to do anything different, but I also treat it like a business and being a business, I admit a small one, you will get times were people steal from you, double cross you, and lie to you.

That’s part of the game.

It’s not a part that many people talk about. It’s not a part of the game that you hear Tony Robbins or any other motivational speaker approach, but it exists and it is very real. I can see your eyes rolling now as you say, that’s life Dom, deal with it.

And you’re right.

It is.

But it doesn’t make me or anyone else that has been taken advantage of feel any better. But there are lessons to be learnt in every obstacle. There are things to be learnt, and things that can be taken away from any negative experience in business.

Now regards to what happened to me, I wanted a quick fix to getting a lot of sales. I had heard wonderful things about a certain person’s service and I jumped at it with both feet, but as my grandmother always says, if it’s too good to be true, it normally is.

I should have taken a step back, spoken to some people who had used the service, and gotten a better feel of what I was getting myself into.

I didn’t.

So I paid the price.

One thing above all else that I believe, in is that 99.99% of anything that happens in business or life is your fault.

It is as simple as that. I will learn from this mistake grow from it and move on. The only words of warning I can give you, reading this right now, is to take your time when parting with your cash, on promises that seem too good to be true.

Greed tends to place blinders on us all when we can earn something of monetary value.

But then again, we all know that, we just rush to quickly after the carrot before looking what its attached to.

Until next time

Good Morning

Good Evening

Good Night

P:S Follow me on Facebook & Twitter… Yeah I twit now… who knew

 

Posted
May 3, 2017
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Success

If you’re an indie author, then you know the fascination with earning 10K a month. It’s something a lot of authors aspire to because it resonates with success in their eyes.

But to me thats a really big goal to aim for, right off the bat.

Not many lawyers, doctors, or people in those sorts of professions make 10k a month. When you add up the years of studying, working underpaid, and the like, its just mind boggling. They have put in the time. They have earned their paycheque.

To think that any author should do that in in a year or less is insulting.

Respect the arts, respect the profession.

Don’t think I’m standing on my high horse looking down on everyone else, I used to think the same. I think it stems from keeping up with the Jones’s.  You see one author making bank, so you question why ain’t you to.

You see one author hitting the top 100, and you read the book they’ve wrote and your not impressed. But things sale for a reason, whatever that reason may be.

Every time the above thought creeps into my head, I have to remind myself of that.

When it comes down to it, how much do you really need to be happy?

I’ve come up with a figure, and its 50-70K a year after taxes.

There was a study that was done, that all human needs can be met after earning 70K. If you earn anymore, than you won’t notice a huge level of happiness. The baseline as it were, was 70k.

So that for me is my goal.

That for me would be life changing money. When I left school, I never thought I would see that sort of yearly paycheque, and for me to get it by doing something I love; I would bite your arm off and chew it raw.

70K a year is just over 5K and change a month. (That is without taking away taxes) I could live quite easily on that type of money, I could travel, I could have a comfortable life, I could go to the gym when I wanted. I could live a life of peace.

I could see the world.

Awww, just thinking about it now makes me smile.

When authors talk about making 10K a month, to make them happy, it’s not the money they need to worry about, its all the bills that they have to pay.

Down size and simplify your life.

The more things you own the more things own you.

Experiences over possessions any day of the week.

Anyway,

Until next time

Good Morning

Good Evening

Good Night

Posted
January 30, 2017
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Speaker of the dead!

I finished speaker of the dead this week by Orson Scott Card, and while I think Enders game was a better book. This novel was simply brilliant. Nothing major happened in it. There was no planet defining battles. There were no explosions. There was no great war. There was no evil bad guy.

Thinking about it now, there really wasn’t a protagonist in the real sense that we know it to be. But I’ll get onto that later. For anyone new to the game of writing, and I mean you haven’t  got ten years under your belt, this book is a great read to see how to keep a reader engaged just by human emotions.

This book for me is the most literary book I have read in a while, I think the last one before that was the Kite Runner which was four years ago. Shit maybe more. But anyway this book to me was more literary than that.

I think people get caught up in the trap that literary books can only be about past or current events. There can’t be any aliens, there can’t be any spaceships, there can’t be any magic swords or rings.

But Orson for me anyway, has shown that you can have space and aliens and still make the book thought provoking.

It was masterful how each characters real enemy was themselves.

And that’s what as human beings we struggle most with right? Just getting out of our way. Just trying not to fuck up long enough so we actually get to our goal. And this book had that in spades.

Halfway through when I saw that there was no real war. No real actual violent conflict about to take place, I thought I would be bored. But nah, I kept on reading, because Orson had me invested in the characters simple life’s.

(By the way I have heard people call him by Scot. So I don’t know if that’s what he likes to be called.)

I think Orson, highlighted in such a beautiful way what it means to be human, by showing us our flaws when compared to the other alien race in the book.

The book was slow for me to read, because it didn’t flow as easily as I would like a book to. Some books are great wines, some are water, some are spirits.

I like my books to be a lot plainer to read. Less condense.

It’s the difference in reading a hard sci-fi book, to say something called Monster Hunter.

(I know that may not make sense. But writers and hardcore readers will understand where I’m coming from.)

All in all,

It was a cool book.

But I don’t think I would read it again.

Until next time

Good Morning

Good Evening

Good Night

Posted
January 8, 2017
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Sleepless nights

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I wish that when you visited this blog, you would get more than just the ramblings of a mad man.

I wish I could give you writing advice that could improve your craft. And I could… but… it wouldn’t be as good as say listening to a Brandon Sanderson writing course on youtube. You see I have never written a bestseller, I have not made my millions in book sales, I have not gained a legion of hungry fans… yet.

So in regard to writing advice, there are a hundred better sources than me. If you’re unsure start with Brandon Sanderson on youtube, than buy everything James Scott bell writings on the matter of writing. Than throw in some Element of Style, and On writing by King and you should be well on your way.

No writing advice is not my forte.

I’m still learning the ropes and the basics myself. Don’t attach your ropes to my boat, its only a dinghy at the moment. When I am motoring on the seas of words on my speed boat I’ll let you know.

No what I can provide is a helping hand up the mountain. A strong voice to guide you along the way, and a hug and kiss if you need one. Because we all slip and slide down the mountain that we are trying to reach the summit to. I should know, I have more than enough bruises to prove it. I have more than enough scarred and harden skin that shows, no one, and I mean no one, leaves this journey unscaved.

So what is a person to do?

Get off the path and head back to where it is safe?

Honestly is that even a option now?

Sorry I’m rambling. Since I was sixteen, all I wanted to be was a reader. All I needed to be was that. Things came before it, but I never felt a calling as strongly as this. Now I’m having nights where I can feel the fear, of what if I never make it. What if I’m only a part time writer?

Better than a kick in the balls right.

I wrote a book. Well I wrote four… but… still. My dream wasn’t to be a part time author, it wasn’t to be just a hobby. It was meant to be what I am if you cut me to the core. So as I look up at the mountain that I have to climb, its a bit daunting.

What if I never make it? What if I am destined to do something that destroys my soul bit by bit.

These are the thoughts that try and give me sleepless nights.

Then I remember, if I have to struggle for rest of my life to get my words out to the world so be it. That is the burden that was placed on my shoulders and they are board enough to carry me through. If you are trying to achieve something, and you are worried about the bills, family, friends, just remember, take it one step at a time.

Look in the mirror, take a big breath in and out for a few minutes, then smile.

Breathe and smile.

Then take apart your goal one step, one day, one hour at a time. And try and fall asleep a little better, a little wiser, than you were the night before.

Until next time.

Good Morning,

Good Evening,

Good Night,

Posted
November 30, 2016
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Bleed on your page!

hemingway

As a musician, artist, writer, poet. There is one thing and one thing only that you need to do, to be good
Its bleed.

Bleed for your music. Bleed for your art. Bleed for your craft.

It doesn’t matter how. All that matters is that you do.

People won’t respect you otherwise. People won’t listen to what you have to say. I don’t know how but they always know. If you’re not singing your heart out, if you’re not writing from your soul, they know.

Don’t tell me how. It’s just one of those things in life.

It’s ingrained in human psychology. Since the dawn of time we have sat round the fires to listen to songs and stories, we have danced to the beat of our hearts.

From father to son. From mother to daughter.

Generation after generation.

We have been swayed and moved by emotion. Emotion is in everything we do. It’s like a toxic drug that people can’t get enough of. Its why we fall so heavily into addiction.

Be it sex, drugs, work, they all give some sort of emotional reaction. Humans are emotion, by their very nature. Emotion should never control you, because that path leads to doom. To darkness. And before you know it, you are doing something that you never thought you would, and you can’t look in the mirror because you’re scared, of what may stare at you back.

But as a creator you can harness that energy like lightning to do amazing things.

Shackle it and imprison it for all to see and hear. So generation after generation can enjoy and live through it.

I enjoy nothing more than something that moves me. Something that touches my heart and soul. It makes me want to create. It makes me want to be better. It makes me want to inspire.

That’s your job as a creator.

Thats the only thing that you should ever be concerned and worried about.

Have you bled enough?

Have you inspired and awe struck. Have you shackled your words so future generations will feel it.

If not.

Then why not?

Posted
October 17, 2016
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Sunrise

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As I sit here on this beautiful beach in the med, I can’t help but be taken back by the power of the ocean. It’s simple rhythmic sounds of the waves coming in and going out.

Coming in and going out.

Nothing could be more calming to the soul than the music of the ocean for me.

To someone else, it may be the stillness of the mountains.

Or the whiteness of fleshly dropped snow.

But whatever it is that relaxes your mind and makes you one, I suggest that you at least do it once or more a year. Just to settle those nerves, just to relax those doubts.

Posted
October 11, 2016
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SFF Mega Promo – October

 

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The SFF Mega Promo, organised by Irish author Dean F. Wilson, is one of the biggest on the internet, with over 100 authors participating, giving you, the reader, the very best in speculative fiction — for free!

Click the link below to download as many as you want for free!

FREE BOOKS

Posted
September 26, 2016
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Endurance

endure

 

Lately, things have been difficult in regards to this business.  I won’t say I was depressed over it, just……

Annoyed.

We live in a world of what appears to be fast results and fast outcomes. Where if your overweight, it should come off in six weeks. And if your poor your pockets should grow as quickly as snapping your fingers.

But life doesn’t work like that now does it. I wished it did, honestly I do. But hard work is the only thing that will get you to where you need to be.  But more than hard work, you need something else to get you across that finish line.

 You need to endure.

You need to grit your teeth and weather the storm. It may haul you to and forth. It may bring everything you love crashing down around your ears.. But if  you don’t endure until the black clouds pass and you can feel the kiss of the sun on your cheek, then all your hard work will be for nothing.

I was a late bloomer to this game. I didn’t know what I wanted until I hit 25-26.

Before that I was aimless.

Before that I wanted to do a host of things that really didn’t match with my capabilities.

Maybe I should have pursued them further. Maybe I should have stayed on course, till that boat bought me to a different shore.

But none of that really matters now.

The past is the past.

The future is still unwritten.

Only the present counts. Only the present matters.

Now I have embarked upon this goal of being a best selling author. Of being a household name. Of making a full time living from this. I don’t want to stop till I reach that destination.

I believe that I can do it.

I know I can do it!

I just have to be patient.

What really matters now is how much I can endure.

The more I chase my goals and dreams, the more I am starting to see how much of a necessary that this quality is.

I can’t let my foot off the gas. I can’t drive leisurely to my destination. I need to use every ounce of drive, passion, motivation, desire and I have to get me there.

Then and only then will I get where I need to be.

But even then, that may not be enough.

I know one thing though, if it kills me I will become a full time author by Dec 31st 2017.

Just you watch me!

Endurance

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