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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.

Longevity over everything else

The time for my latest launch is nearly upon us. Well, when I say nearly, what I really mean is in a month and a bit. The closer I get to that deadline the more I want to see what happens, but its also the time where self doubt starts to creep in.

Doubt about how good the books in the new series really are.

Doubts about if it will make any money or will it just be a flop.

Doubts that I may get all one star reviews and people will hate it.

All authors have doubts. Some more than others. I place myself on the very start of the scale, as in I care a little bit, how people will take my books but not really. Once I like what I produce and I’m happy with it, I really don’t care what people think too much. Now don’t take that as I don’t take criticism well, because I do. If a reader highlights something that I can improve on, then I will look into it.

But if it’s just this book is shit! Then I really can’t work with that. Either give me a clear and precise point or fuck off!

But the reason I am writing this blog, is because in the mist of fear we tend to take the easy shortcuts. Be it a quick scheme to make money, or a choice that will give us quicker results.

But what we should always go for, is longevity.

Leaving a legacy is all we as artist should care about. It shouldn’t be what genre I can write in quickly, or how I can make a quick buck.

It should be the path that you can see yourself staying on for the next five to ten years.

The double L’s, is the name of the game.

Longevity + legacy= Success

This new series I am writing in, is a book that I saw missing in a genre that was all about the gadgets and not about the characters. In the sci-fi genre, I have only read a handful of series that made me happy. I love guardians of the galaxy and firefly, but there was nothing like that in book form, so instead of complaining I tackled the topic head on.

Now, the reason that these books don’t exist, is because the audience simply isn’t there for them. If that’s the case there is not much I can do. But till I try, I shall never know, and I shall always be wondering.

Better to do, then to wonder.

As Osho once said- Instead of stopping to think if you should jump off, jump off, and then you’ll have all the time you need to think on your way down.

Anyway

 

Until next time

Good Morning

Good Evening

Good Night

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

Week 2

This week has been stressful, a few unforeseen events have knocked me off course but I’m still going strong. One novel is done and just waiting to be sent to my proofreader, than the book will be already for publication. I am going through the second book, which will be the last draft. It needs a bit of work. I wrote this series lean, without a lot of flowing words. I tend to like to ear on the side of lots of prose, and making everything look pretty. But with this series, I wanted it stripped down and raw.

Just action and dialogue.

I think I pulled that off, but I may of gone to the extreme. So I’ll add a few words here and there, just to bulk up the novel. This is the first series that I have wrote which I really enjoy, the action is on point, the jokes crack me up and the story moves at a nice pace.

Although I love this series, weather it sales or not is another thing. But one thing I know, I can hold my head up high and be proud of what I have produced.

As a writer I can’t ask for anything else.

I don’t like marketing, but its a must that needs to be taken care of if you want to sell books. Well I learnt a hard fact this month, no matter how much you love your story sometimes it just doesn’t sell.

My first series, no matter how much time and effort I put into it, it just didn’t take off. So I think it’s time to close that door on the old girl, and move on. Its done well enough, just not as well as I would have liked.

Sometimes I say to myself really what do you expect?

Its your first series, do you know how many bestsellers didn’t make a buck or get any traction till they wrote or published at least six novels.

A bunch.

More than a bunch.

All I can do is write and produce and learn on the ropes, while not trying to get hit by the big punches of life.

Until next time

Good Morning

Good Evening

Good Night

The ocean

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The ocean

Never has her beauty been so alluring to men

Never has the sound of her waves called to them like the sirens of old

Never has  her embrace lifted those who surf her waves with bliss

It brings me peace

It brings me joy

She draws me to her like gentle hands

Always wanting to be close

Always wanting to feel her wet kiss

The green-blue eyes pull me into her gaze

Wanting to know more

Wanting to listen to the whispers of her voice on the wind

They say beware of her company

She destroys men as easily as lift them up

She sucks them down into the depths of her being, never to release them again

The calm appearance on the surface sometimes hide the dangers of stones and rocks underneath

Her mood always changing

Going one way, then pulling you somewhere else the next.

Beware the ocean they always say

She is a cruel mistress that will give you all, but as soon take it away

If thats the price I have to pay

To spend but a few gentle moments with her

Then so be it

Let her take all I say

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

Greatness!

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As an artist you could not wish for anything more. The lure of having your name spoken in the highest regards among your chosen peers. The acknowledgment, frame, and power that greatness brings.  It is so tauntingly glorious to taste that fruit, that men would give anything to chase after that bite.

Who wouldn’t give anything to attain that goal?

Many won’t.

And even fewer will reach their desired goal even if they set on that path towards it.

Some will stop at the first pebble in their shoe and go no further.

Others, will overcome the first few hurdles and keep at it until they declare that life has gotten in their way. These folks are the ones that wait by the path and taunt and mislead you. Like sirens out at sea they will always steer you wrong.

Not because they want to do you harm oh no.

They believe that they are looking out for you. By telling you all the reasons why they failed, they hope that you don’t reach to high above your station. You don’t aim for that goal. Because like them you too shall fail.

They allow fear and pain to of failure to stop them from continuing on.

When drunk, they will proclaim loudly that if live had given them a break then they would have been where so and so super star is today.

If live had only given them a break.

If only….

The last group of people that you will meet or see on this journey to whatever you which to obtain, are the quiet souls that keep their head down and keep pushing on. They say little. Do much. And sometimes they may reach greatness. Many times, they won’t.

And that’s the scariest thing about the journey in and of itself.

There  is a higher chance than most that you won’t reach that mountain peak.

You won’t pick that hanging fruit onto of the mountain and look across the plains below you while you bite into it. Reflecting back on the journey and everything that it threw your way.

Writing this, part of me is scared. Most of me is excited.

I am a strong believer that if you do whatever your craft is enough times. Then your will bound to reach some sort of goal, acknowledgment, acclaim.

Being praised by people is not what drives me.

No.

Its reaching the top of that mountain. Since I could remember people of have told me I couldn’t do this or that, and just pushing forward to prove them wrong is more victory than I could ever want.

Now is that unhealthy?

Maybe.

But it’s my why.

It’s what fuels me.

It’s what drives me.

When I have overcome, smashed, destroyed that hurdle, then my goals will change.

But for now, that’s the mountain I want to conquer.

That

And becoming the greatest writer that ever lived.

Becoming the greatest writer that I can be!

Listen, if I publish a hundred books before I am dead, one is bound to be a best seller.

That’s all anyone ever needs.

Just one shot.

One chance.

One hope.

What have I been up to!

What have I been up to?

Well that is an interesting discussion. You may not think so, but all authors are self righteous asshole’s who think everyone should read their work. While else would you want to become a writer, than have millions of strangers praise you for the finery of your written work.

None!

What.So.Ever.

But seeing as this is a blog and you have become used to my ramblings, I may as well tell you what I have been up to.

First and foremost, I have received my latest cover for my Fallen Angels series. I will post what it looks like sometime next week or the week after.

It looks amazing!!!!

The best one yet, and I can’t thank Glendon from Street Light Graphics enough. Something weird happened regarding that cover.

I didn’t tell him what happened in the story, I didn’t give him any clues about the book. Just told him to let his imagination run wild and what he came out with was as close to perfection as you can get.

It is almost like the cover was made for the story. I know some writers see their cover first and work the story around it. But this was just done by pure luck. Nothing else, nothing more.

So that is now done and finished.

Secondly, I am going through the editors copy of the latest book in the Fallen Angels series. This may be the final one. I really don’t know how well it will turn out. Because I have done zero marketing for it, I can’t really gauge it’s success.

When I market it later this year, I will be able to tell if it is something that I want to continue writing or not.

If the demand is high for it I may do.

If it dies a horrible death then at least I tried.

It was a fun first series to sink my teeth into, to learn the basics of my craft.

What more can I ask for.

The final and last thing that I am really proud of, is that I have finished my first ever sci-fi book. It was the quickest thing I have ever written and If I am honest, was the most fun. I tried to write to market and make it as fast pace as I could. But some of me got in the book which isn’t always a bad thing.

Now I have to go back and see what I should leave in and what I should take out.

It came out at 67K. That number may go up or down, we shall see.

67K is about right for the type of genre that it is in, but right now like I said it is just a mould of clay the real process begins now.

And…..that’s about it really.

I haven’t posted on here much as all my brain and willpower, are being used to pump out more and more fiction words. So now that am taking a little break, I can give this blog some love and attention.

I say that. But theres editing to be done. Marketing to be done. Dates to be scheduled.

Sigh.

Guess the break will have to wait.

Till next time.

Good Morning.

Good Evening.

Good Night.

 

Stress

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Stress all affects us in different ways. For some it prevents us from accomplishing our goals or dreams. For others, it can push us to even greater heights than where we currently are. But to a person, everyone has stress in their lives or will do at some point.

It’s how we deal with it that matters.

Being a part time writer, with everything else going on is a pain in the ass.

Getting from part time to full time is my goal. Getting there is the biggest hurdle I think, I have faced in my life. Writing for me comes easily. I know that may stick in anyones throats, that suffers with writer block, but it does. You either write what you love or don’t.

It’s as simple as that to me. Writers block comes from shame.

Shame that you’re not good enough.

Shame that people will hate your work.

Shame that you are baring your soul for people to see, and they may not even be bothered.

No writing was never hard for me, because I never gave a fuck what people think or say. When it came to writing. Because I have an ego when it came to writing. I have a chip on my shoulder to prove to everyone that I am good enough. To prove to everyone that a dyslexic kid, who couldn’t read and write till he was in his early teens, can write a good book.

It was never shame that I felt when I wrote. It was anger. Anger which I used to push me to greater lengths and greater strides, when it came to writing.

No it was never shame that stressed me out when it came to writing.

It is everything else which comes from being a self published author.

Marketing

Ad Copy

Email list building

Facebook Ads (which I still have yet to do)

And the endless other bullshit that you have to deal with, when you’re running a self published author business. Now I know some self published author’s love having all that control. They love being in charge of their domain and I do to.

But…..

If When I make it big and some publishing house offers me a big contract, am talking millions and millions here. Then I may take them up on it.

I may not.

But when I dreamed of becoming a writer, doing all this other shit wasn’t in the plans. I envisioned myself sipping cocktails on a sandy beach, swinging in a hammock, typing out my next novel.

But alas, you have to dig the dirt for the ground before you lay the swimming pool.

Anyway, sorry for the rant guys. Just feeling a little stressed.

Can you tell?

Until next time.

Good Morning

Good Evening

Good Night