New Star Wars sucks Part 2

I explained why Star Wars - the Last Jedi sucked in my last post. But that focused on the trend of political correctness and feminism in movies and TV shows that's taking place in Hollywood right now. Meaning the female characters in most shows are the dominant characters and the men mostly weak. It's been prevalent in TV and Film for the last several years.

But there's another reason the last two (in particular) Star Wars have sucked. Oh, they don't suck if you ask any Star Wars fanatic, of which there are millions. And because there are, the producers don't care about anything original. And that's what I mean regarding why the last two Star Wars sucked. (Aside from the feminist thing, I mean.) They sucked because they were just carbon copies of the first two Star Wars movies. Or Episode IV and V, as they would have them called.

The first Disney Star Wars was nothing more than a retelling of Episode IV. Except, of course the Luke Skywalker character was now a girl. And the Darth Vader character was now Princess Leia's son, complete with black robes and full face helmet/mask.

And this new one, The Last Jedi was nothing more than the retelling of Episode V, complete with the traveling of the female Luke to a distant planet to be trained by Luke, instead of Yoda, and then we find out later that she's not even Luke's daughter, as was the only thing that might have made sense of it all. But no. We don't even get that.

I understand why Disney is rehashing the original trilogy. They paid four billion bucks for the rights to make these movies. They can't take any chances for their versions to flop. Meaning, they don't dare try something original. Meaning an original story, with original characters, and an original premise. Which would have been so much better. Sure it would be in the same universe. You know, the one long ago and far, far away. With references to the original characters who might have appeared in cameos and such.

But no. It had to be the same characters: Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbaka, the two robots, a "Darth Vader" character, etc. And with the same story of a wayward character unaware of his, (now her) destiny, and the exact same premise: a rebellion against the same "evil" empire.

In a Science Fiction story, the concepts for stories are endless. Like in the original Star Trek show, almost every single episode had a completely different story, and almost all of them worked. Disney wanted to take no chances to get their 4 billion back. And they're not complaining. Because they are getting their money back. It's all they wanted. The bottom line. Money.

So expect more of the same. Disney will be happy with their money. The fans will be happy because they get to see Star Wars movies. But people who like original stories and a fresh new premise are disappointed. Doesn't matter to Disney. They still get their bank account filled. That's all.

Star Wars - The Last Jedi - It Sucked

With the exception of Justice League, I've been very disappointed with blockbuster movies of late. I hated Thor, and now I just saw Star Wars, the Last Jedi, and I hated that one too.

Sure, the Star Wars junkies love it. They'll love anything that has the Star Wars name on it regardless of story, plot, acting, and now political correctness. For the record, I did disagree with the original Star Wars lack of female characters. It only had one female character, that being Princess Leia. But since Disney took over the Star Wars franchise, (three movies now and counting) it's all about female characters. Meaning any character that's strong, brave, commanding, self assured, and plays the role of a leader, it's going to be female.

What's wrong with that picture? It goes back to what I've been saying before. Star Wars is about, um, I think, um, maybe, um... a WAR. And fighting wars has never been the role of a woman. Maybe different kind of wars, but not shooting wars where you get killed or maimed. And just why would a woman want any part of that? So they could look good in a movie maybe? Jumping, and running, and wielding a light saber, looking flashy and dashing?

That is all show of course. But a war is not flashy. Nor is a war dashing. It's not even a glorious thing like the 19th Century might have you believe. War is a horrible thing. It's a messy thing. It's painful, disastrous, tragic, and has nothing to do with looking good.

War is all about destruction and killing. And in war you get killed. You get maimed. And I've made the point before that any woman who wants to be a part of that is not right in the head. Women should be thankful they are not required to fight in wars. But for some reason some women, (those women who are not right in the head, I guess,) want to be required to fight in wars. 

So in Star Wars, we get women fighters, and of course, all the leaders are women. We get the general who's a woman. Then we get the next in command, the admiral, who's a woman. You get some little Vietnamese girl who has more gumption and know-how than the black guy. And of course, she has to save the guy's life because he's behaving foolishly on the battlefield, so yeah, that's what we're getting in the latest Star Wars movie.

Any male leaders in the show lead the bad guys. And that's the only male leaders we get. The evil ones. The disgusting ones. The ones audiences will root against. The girl leaders are the good guys, the ones we want to win. And of course they're the ones who do win. 

So, if you want a feminist Star Wars, you got it. You've been getting it for the last three Star Wars now. And it's looking like every Star Wars movie from now on will be a feminist movie. The women will be the assertive ones. Women will be the brave ones. Women will be the strong protagonists and the heroes. Women will be the leaders, the generals, the admirals, and any other commanding role. 

The Star Wars men from now on will be the weak ones, the rash ones, the foolish ones, and the secondary characters, playing second fiddle to the female characters. They'll be the bad guys, the evil ones, and the idiots. 

Bottom line is this: if you want the female characters to be strong and dominant, while at the same time the male characters are weak, tentative, and submissive, you'll love the new Star Wars movies. It's as if the producers have laid the ground rules to be no more strong male characters in Star Wars movies. Only weak ones. And the women only strong.

To be clear, I do approve of strong women characters. I know damn well women are strong characters. Women are strong characters in all of the books I've written. (Five and counting.) And I plan on keeping the female characters in my stories strong and brave characters. But they don't fight in wars. They never have as a matter of course. (I know there's exceptions, which is why I said as a matter of course.) And I believe they never should have to. Don't you?

Good News, Bad News

Yes, there is both. Good and bad news. Let's start with the good news. It's not all that monumental, but good news is still good news. And that is The Vase is better than ever. I've always said that rewriting makes a book better. And The Vase sure is better. And that's because I've been rewriting it for the past couple of months big time.

Yes I sent the first hundred pages to Macmillan Australia. And I've even rewritten some of those pages as well. I've got a couple months under the belt now with that submission. That leaves four more months to wait as they said it takes about six months to get back to you.

So in the meantime I've just been rewriting the prose of the story. Certainly the story is the same. But with the prose so much better, that can only help my cause. Fingers crossed.

Now the bad news. And that is yet another of my publishers is going out of business. Or in their (her) words it's "closing." That would be KRP, AKA Knox Robinson Publishing. I got the word a few days ago. Yes it is sad. I thought KRP had a lot of potential, not just for my books, but for all their books. I thought they were going nowhere but up. And with two of my books on their list, Second Chance and John Dunn, I was glad for that.

But not to be. But this bad news carries with it a silver lining. And that is the same silver lining that the closing of Penumbra Publishing had. Which is now I have another chance to rewrite those two books also. And I certainly will. Not that the writing actually needs to be improved. I've already pointed out that no matter how good the writing is, it will always get better with rewrites.

I'm focused on The Vase right now. And then I'll get back to John Dunn and Second Chance. And once the rights to those two books are reverted back to me, I'll start submitting them again for publication. It's a chance to crack the Big Five again. I will take that chance and I'll make the most of it. Which is exactly why I'm considering the closing of KRP a silver lining. Like Penumbra and The Vase, the books will be a lot better, and the chance to crack the Big Five will be highly improved.

So, really, I can't wait for it all to happen. I'm so thrilled with how good the writing is in The Vase, and I'll have the same thrill for John Dunn and Second Chance. As for Macmillan Australia? Like I said. Fingers crossed. The New Year has a lot to look forward to.

Assassin's Creed the movie - Not Good

I saw Assassin's Creed recently on TV and it was ridiculously bad. The acting was fine, the production values were fine, meaning the special effects were fine, but even so, Assassin's Creed was so bad I couldn't believe it. I like the actor Michael Fassbender, and he did a good job of acting, but the premise of the movie was nothing but ridiculous. And the plot wasn't any better. The movie had the Knights Templar as the heavies, and they wanted to control the world.

How? By obtaining the "Apple of Eden." What? Well, we're supposed to believe that the apple is some kind of alien device that was used to give people free will back in the day. So by acquiring it, you can take away said free will.

Really? So it's not really an apple then. They call it an apple, I suppose, because it's about the size of an apple. It's clearly metallic and not edible, but the thing is they never explain just how a metallic apple is supposed to give or take away anyone's free will, let alone the entire population of a planet. They do say the seeds of the apple can take away people's free will. But wait. We know that the apple is not really an apple. I suppose that's a good thing because if it was and it's been around since the days of the Garden of Eden, then it would be an awfully rotten apple.

But how does a metallic machine have seeds? And how can seeds give or take away free will? It was never explained. Nor hinted at. So the assassins are the guardians of this apple. And we get to see the ancestor of Michael Fassbender and his girlfriend kill more Spanish soldiers in this movie than Luke Skywalker and Han Solo kill Stormtroopers in all of the Star Wars movies combined.

At least the old time assassins do get killed fighting for and hiding the apple, which all takes place in the year 1492. Well that's a familiar date. It brings to mind the ocean blue and images of Christopher Columbus (who was NOT in the movie, btw.)

So using a machine that looks like a fancy bungee jumper machine makes the modern Michael Fassbender relive his ancestor's actions from back then, which allows the bad guys the opportunity to learn what his ancestors did with this "apple." And speaking of Columbus, although the man wasn't in the movie, his final resting place was, and that's where they find this "apple" which is handed over to the bad guys by whoever was the caretaker of the place.

There were so many holes in this plot it would take me too long to list them, but you get the idea that with a premise and plot like this there will be holes all over the place and there were.

I still don't get just how an ancient apple-sized machine takes everyone's free will away. And the reason why the Templar Knights want everyone's free will taken away, (they say) is to stop all violence and war. Hmmnn... Good luck with that. Like I said. the premise was ridiculous.

Needless to say, at the movie's conclusion the modern Michael Fassbender decides to assume the assassin responsibility of his ancestor and retrieves the apple from the bad guys, and he's the new guardian of the apple, or alien device, or whatever it is. They never even revealed if anyone actually knew how to work the darn thing. It did shine some when the bad guys were reveling in their acquisition of it. But heck, light bulbs shine too. So what?

None of that worked for me. I'd need to see or at least learn something from the dialogue just how a shining machine the size of an apple can give or take away anyone's free will, and then allow a secret society to control the world by preventing violence and wars from happening anywhere on the planet.

Look, I know the whole thing was a video game for little kids. I never played it. But then again, I don't play any video games. My sons do. They play Madden, and sometimes COD, but never Assassin's Creed. I think Assassins Creed came for free in one of the video-game-player boxes, but my kids never played it as far as I know.

All in all, Assassins Creed allowed for some good action sequences, special effects, and choreography, but the plot and premise were bad from the start. I mean the very start. You know how some movies will start out with some text to explain the premise? That's what this one did, and from that point I was thinking, it didn't t make any sense. Well it didn't. And it never did.

Justice League Tops Thor Big Time

I saw Justice League the other day with my son, and we both agreed. It was way better than the Thor movie that just came out. I had already described what was wrong with the Thor movie. It was slapstick comedy. Like the Three Stooges. Or Inspector Clouseau. But since when is Thor a stooge? Since never. At least not until this latest Thor movie.

But Justice League was not like that. It was serious drama. Gritty, determined drama. Which isn't to say it didn't have a lighter moment here and there. And that's fine. But turning what should be a serious movie into a slapstick comedy only ruins a movie. Like what Marvel did with Thor.

DC did not do that. It stayed serious and gritty. Particular gritty was the emergence of Superman from the grave. They explained well enough how that was possible, so okay. You can't have Superman die, so you know he has to come back. Normally I don't agree with bringing the dead back to life, but since it was Superman, well... It really would have been better if he had never died.

What was good was how they portrayed an angry Superman. If you think about it, you don't want Superman to be angry with you. And that's where Bat Man found himself. The target of Superman's anger that is. Superman's besting of Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg, and the Flash was well done, too. It would have completely ruined it for me if Wonder Woman fought Superman toe to toe. She didn't. It was clearly portrayed that she was no match for Superman. As it should have been.

As for the storyline and plot, well, okay. It centered on a Wonder Woman backstory, and somewhat crossed over into Aquaman's, but you had to have a story in there somewhere.

My main and only complaint was making the Flash into a dork. I guess the explanation was that he was in the beginning of his "superhero" career. Whatever. And making Cyborg's robotics malfunction was timely so as to justify Superman's attack on them, which was a reaction to Cyborg's malfunctioning system attacking Superman. Again, whatever.

Bottom line, what I appreciate is that the producers/writers/directors of Justice League did not make an effort to turn it into a comedy, like the movie Thor. I don't know why movie people seem to think that stories from comics have got to be comic. Not that all are that way. It's the one's that aren't are the ones worth seeing.

Killer of Killer Sales Picking Up

I got my annual sales report from my first publisher Melange and it showed a marked increase in book sales over the past year. That was nice. I don't expect to be on the best seller's list any time soon, but it was a nice surprise to see Killer of Killers selling better than ever.

I guess it's like that sometimes. If the trend keeps up, who knows what might happen. I had the idea to send a copy of the two books to Dustin Clare's agent and see if something might happen in the film department regarding those books.

The idea behind that is it seems Dustin Clare's career really isn't taking off like I think it should. And I'm sure like he wishes it would. He's working and making films, but not like Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, or Jason Statham. I think movie producers just haven't found the right vehicle for him yet. And that's where Killer of Killers and Killer Eyes come in.

I mean Jason Statham wasn't all that famous before his Transporter movies catapulted him to stardom. Same with Cruise and Pitt. They each had a movie or a franchise that brought them fame. I'm thinking my Killer books could do that for Dustin Clare. Of course it would need top directors and fight scene coordinators. Like Corey Yuen. He was the man in charge of the Transporter movies, and many other great martial arts movies.

So I tried to contact Dustin Clare's agent, but found out you have to pay to join some website and only then you get the information you need. I passed. Why? Because it's not a sure thing. I can't see myself paying for information that will get me nothing in return. I'm not at that stage yet. If it never becomes a movie, that's fine. Trent Smith will still live on the pages of the books.

And I will get back to writing about the world's greatest martial artist soon. The third book is started, and I plan on finishing it. Some day. Someday soon.

Walking Dead Getting Dumber and Dumber

Since I compared the latest Thor movie with the Pink Panther comedies featuring the comedian Peter Sellers as the inept Inspector Clouseau, I might as well chime in on the state of the Walking Dead TV show. It's getting dumber and dumber, not unlike the movie of the same name.

I mean talk about stupid. And I understand it's the writers making the characters do these stupid things. Last night we had a dude facing a woman holding an RPG pointed straight at him. Now the dude was a member of the hated enemy gang called the Saviors and the dude knew the woman facing him with the RPG was one of the members of a community at war with his gang. Instead of surrendering or running for his life, he makes the stupidest comment. "You ain't gonna use that, little girl," after which the woman fires the RPD and blows him up.

Completely stupid writing. Another example is when Rick, the show's main character, walks alone and unarmed into another enemy camp. It's a camp that had just betrayed him, and he faces the woman who led the betrayal and had shot him point blank. How stupid can you get? This group is a committed ally to the hated Saviors, and the woman had just shot him. She even makes it clear that she had just betrayed him and she had just shot him.

But Rick only answers that she only "grazed" him so he wasn't mad. Stupid writing. I mean what was to stop her or anyone in her community to shoot Rick right then and there? There are so many more examples of just plain stupid writing in the show over the past couple seasons, it's a wonder The Walking Dead remains TV's most popular show. 

Even my favorite TV show, The Blacklist, had a stupid moment last episode. The suitcase full of bones, which the show is not letting viewers know exactly whose bones they are, only that it's a secret that Red Redington is driven to keep, is finally recovered by Red. But does Red even look inside to make sure the bones are there when he's driving off with Tom?

No. Tom had put the bones into a big black leather case, which Red doesn't even wonder why Tom suddenly has a big black leather case with him as they are driving away after Red saved him. You would think Red would wonder why Tom suddenly has that case, and what the heck was inside it. You would think Red would ask, "Say, Tom, where'd you get that big black leather case, and um, just what the heck do you have in there?"

But no. He's content to watch Tom wander off. And only then does Red check the suitcase to make sure the bones are still in there, but of course, they're not. And of course, Tom made off with Red's special bones, having just learned the secret. But again, viewers have no clue what's so special about those bones. Whose bones are they? Liz's mom's bones maybe. But that would be too obvious.

I suppose the answer will come soon enough but in the process of reaching that point I don't appreciate such dumb writing from any show I watch. Lazy writing is not good writing. Stupid writing is even worse. In Blacklist the writing is lazy. In The Walking Dead, it's just stupid. Here's to hoping the writing gets back to the quality the shows had when they began.

Thor - the New Inspector Clouseau

I saw the new Thor movie, and I was shocked to see the writers get away with turning Thor into a character not unlike the infamous Inspector Clouseau. Which is not the way the "God of Thunder" should ever be portrayed.

I mean, come on. It seems the Marvel/Disney studios are just itching for comedy. The gritty drama-filled stories we saw when Thor was in the Avengers are not happening anymore. Even Thor's prior solo movies weren't this stupid. Yes, I said it. Stupid.

Not that the Inspector Clouseau movies were stupid. I mean Peter Sellers' portrayal of the inept and stupid Inspector Clouseau was brilliant. That was the character of Clouseau. He was inept and stupid, but lovable to the audience if not the other characters in the movie. It was great comedy.

But Thor is not supposed to be an inept and stupid character. He's the frickin' God of Thunder, not a slapstick clown. A Thor movie should not be a comedy. But that's what they made it into. A comedy like the Pink Panther movies. It was so wrong. And sad.

Gone was the suave, strong, near invincible, and MIGHTY Thor. Instead we get a wimp who's controlled by a coin-sized taser attached to his neck which is activated by remote control the size of a lighter. It didn't work. Thor is not a wimp.  He's the frickin' God of Thunder!

To highlight just what I'm talking about let me point out the moment Thor throws some kind of iron ball against a window expecting it to smash through the window. But does the iron ball smash through the window? No. Just like you would see with Clouseau, the iron ball bounces off the window and rebounds right back to hit Thor in the head, knocking him down like a fool. Or as I've said, like Inspector Clouseau. There were many other examples, but that was the highlight. Or more aptly said in this case, the lowlight.

Yeah, we got to see Thor fight the Hulk to a standstill. And he was actually beating the Hulk in a one-on-one fight until that taser coin attached to his his neck was activated by remote control in the hands of another goofy character played by Jeff Goldblum. It sent Thor into a seizure and subsequent coma which kept him from finishing the fight. So Thor's best scene, beating the Hulk mano y mano was cut short by the little coin on his neck. It was a major let down.

By the way, who's idea was it to show the Hulk's ass? This is a Disney movie? I guess men's asses are all in vogue nowadays. Heaven forbid the movies ever show a woman's ass again. But men's asses? Yeah. After all, Hollywood made us see Jon Snow's ass in that last GOT, but not Daenerys's ass or any other woman's ass. That's taboo now. Hey, Hollywood. I don't think your audience wants to see the Hulk's ass. I certainly didn't. But I digress.

Marvel and Disney are turning the great Marvel heroes into bumbling idiots. Gone are the cool, suave, confident heroes we grew up loving. Now we have to see fools and clowns. At least that's the way it was in the latest Thor movie. It was so wrong. And sad.

The Vase is Better than Ever...

With the rewrites, my novel, The Vase is better than ever. It has vastly improved in the prose, and that was only because I was relentless in making sure the prose is as good as it can be. Sadly that includes parts that I had already submitted. I had submitted to a couple Big Fives and some agents. But Since then I have rewritten many parts. That means, once again, I should have waited before submitting.

It's the same mistake I've made often. Which is being in too much of a hurry to submit. Patience is a virtue, and that has been said often. I tried to instill that virtue, but when it comes to submitting, I guess that particular virtue escapes me. I can only hope that at the stage of writing the manuscript was in at the time I submitted, it was good enough.

My reasoning for improving even the parts that had been submitted is that if the full is requested, then when whoever reads it, they will read an even better version. So that is my hope. I have learned also that being hopeful is almost useless. you hope for this or you hope for that, and it seems that just the fact that you find yourself hoping means that it's already a lost cause.

How many times have you hoped for something that didn't come to pass? Hoping means that something is either impossible or near impossible. And then if the impossible happens, it's more like a miracle. But, yeah, I suppose miracles do happen. So, here's to hoping.

Be Careful with Rewrites

I had finished the rewrite of The Vase, and I have started another rewrite. But I'm catching myself being too picky. I had said before that being picky was a good thing. Being picky is what makes a perfectionist. And it's true, but there comes a point when a piece of work is finished, and going back over it again and again, LOOKING for something to rewrite might not be in its best interest.

For example, I am rewriting scenes that were good to begin with. They didn't need a rewrite. But there I go, thinking it needs a rewrite. Sometimes I spend time rewriting this or that, and then I decide that it was better before the rewrite. That's called wasting time. A writer has got to be able to determine when the writing is done. For good. And when not to rewrite.

Usually I have no problem with that. It's probably that I have these months in front of me waiting for Macmillan Australia to examine my submission which was the first 100 pages. And yes, since I submitted those pages I have indeed rewritten some of those scenes. Which may or may not be a good thing. I had always believed in making your writing better. My point is that sometimes that might not be necessary.

So the answer? Once you've reached a point that you are satisfied, get busy on another work. There is always another story to tell. And even though I had thought I didn't want to write anymore books, and I probably won't, I do have other books in the works.

And there's always my music. I have so many songs that also need to be rewritten. And re-recorded. And I've been doing that too lately. There is a satisfaction in composing your own music. Even if no one else in the world will ever hear them. Or appreciate them. Is that why musicians compose music? So other people can appreciate them? Why would a writer write a book if no one else would ever read those books? I guess a writer would stop if that were the case. And I might. As for the music? I'll at least keep up with that until the songs that need rewriting are done. Then...we'll see.

Finished The Vase Rewrite

Well, it took a little longer than I thought it would. But I just completed a first rewrite of The Vase. It's not like I actually rewrote the book. I just revised it, as in polished up the prose, and made it a better written book. That will surely go a long way for a Big Five publisher to accept it for publication. Any publisher, really, but I'm shooting for the stars this time.

Macmillan Australia is my best shot. They would be perfect, and they've had the first 100 pages now for about five weeks. But they say on their website it may take up to six months before any decision is made. Still, I'm glad I polished up the prose. I will probably go through it at least one more time. Why not? If I have five months more to wait or even three to four, I might as well maximize my chances if they do request the full. Here's to hoping.

In the meantime I might go back to Inside the Outhouse. Not sure. I kind of ran out of steam for that one. It's aimed at middle school level and being an adult, maybe I'm not so invested in it. Still it doesn't mean I will never go back to it. And then there's Book 3 in my Killer series. At one point it was titled Killer on the Payroll. Then I changed the title to Killer Not for Hire. It's kind of the opposite, but I figure it's a more accurate one. Seeing as how Trent Smith, the world's greatest martial artist, doesn't work for anyone. Ever.

So back to The Vase for more improvements, and then I'll just keep on writing, then I'll keep on composing, and I'll keep on creating art. That's what I do. 

Nice Review for Second Chance

Okay, I'll bite. Got a nice review for Second Chance. On Amazon. Don't know why getting reviews seems to be as hard as pulling teeth. The big time authors seem to get reviews as easy as standing in the wind. It seems like before even their books are released they've already got a hundred or more five star reviews listed on Amazon for their books. Which begs the question. If their books aren't even released yet, just how did so many people get ahold of those books, read them, and be in the mood to write such wonderful reviews about them?

It makes me suspicious of course. It could be the system is rigged. How could it not be. But shouldn't I be glad for an author's great reviews? I am. But how is it they get so many reviews so quickly, and again, before their books even hit the stands?

I know there are people who make a living by being paid to write reviews. I would never pay for one, but I've given a couple free copies for reviews. Only three or four on Goodreads. And then I stopped. I don't want to do that anymore. It's not like the reviews are skewed. Sometimes the reviews are good, sometimes they're not, sometimes, they're mixed, but overall it's a waste of time.

I figure the best review is the unsolicited one. Which again brings me back to those reviews which number in the hundreds, even thousands for some of these authors whose books aren't even out yet. Unbelievable. As for Second Chance? It just made two.

Updates

I'm really improving the prose to The Vase big time. It was fine, but fine is not good enough. It has to be great. And that's what it is now. Everyday it's even greater. That's how great I've made it these past few months.

When it comes to all of my books, I think The Vase would have the best shot at publication with the Big Five. It's a great book as a stand alone book, but it has many possibilities to expand as a series, much like Dan Brown's DaVinci Code book did. How many sequels does that one have? I'm not sure if Mr. Brown intended for that to be a series or not, but it turned out to be, and it worked well. At least I think it worked well. The main character in The DaVinci Code is not an action hero. But he does have a recurring role in all the stories, and he remains the main character.

In The Vase there could be several characters from which a main character could be chosen. The first main character is the boy, Naji Muhabi. Then there is his father Muhsin. But their involvement really is restrained to this particular story. If there were to be sequels, I would think the other characters would be involved. Like Professor Hiram Weiss, the College Art Professor, and most certainly Captain Benny Mathias, the IDF captain, who is also an agent in the Kidon. That in itself has several angles which can be examined for future story lines.

But that doesn't mean Muhsin and Naji can't be included. They were good characters too. And the mother, Sanya. Can't forget about her. Even Mary and her role cannot be forgotten. So, yeah, if the opportunity arose, a sequel to The Vase could be written. But only if the opportunity arose. I'm still not fully invested in the third installment of the Killer series. Yes, I've started it. But that doesn't mean I'll finish it. We'll see.

Rockin' the Cosmos on SoundCloud

Just to see how it might work on a computer that's not signed in to my account, I looked up the blog The Vase and clicked on the Rockin' the Cosmos icon and listened to the first song Sensurround while reading the lyrics. It was all good, better than I thought it would be. And it sounded great. But then, like I knew would happen, some Hip Hop song followed, and I don't have a clue why that happens. But I clicked on the Rockin' the Cosmos playlist that was in the right margin on that page, and sure enough the songs in my playlist appeared, so I just clicked on Song #2 which is Green Lady and it came on with Lyrics and all.

It sounded great as well. At least, to me it did. I suppose I'm biased. All my songs sound great to me. And why wouldn't they. I wrote them and arranged them. I played and performed every instrument, and I even provided the vocals. It's not like I played the guitar and bass and drums and all that. I do play the piano and organ, though. So all the instruments are played on a keyboard/synthesizer. Yeah, it's a modern miracle how one instrument can synthesize all other instruments. Not to perfection, however, but still, it makes for a close replicate. And I hope to put up my Volume 13 one day soon, which is Rockin' the Afterlife. The lyrics are already up. Now that I know how to post them on SoundCloud, the songs will soon follow.

You know I composed, arranged, performed, and recorded all these songs more than ten years ago. Some of them twenty years ago, and only now am I posting them online. Well, it's only now I'm catching up to the 21st Century. In many ways, I'm still a 20th Century man. That's weird. That's a line from one of my books. The Vase has a line similar to that. Professor Weiss tells Captain Mathias something like that during one of their meetings.

Speaking of The Vase, I sure hope that Macmillan Australia accepts it for publication. That's my last and only hope to make it in the big time of publishing. That's not really true, but in some ways it is. Anything's possible, and who knows what the future holds. It's just that, for me, the future is getting slimmer and slimmer as the days go by. I guess that's true for everyone.

Playlist Completed - First Songs Ready to Hear

Okay, I managed to complete a playlist of my Volume 12 Rockin' the Cosmos on SoundCloud, but you have to kind of play around on it to hear the songs in the proper order if you happen to go there. If you do go there by clicking on the Rockin the Cosmos icon on the right margin of this blog, I hope you can listen to the songs in the correct order. I finally managed to put them in a playlist. So I hope you can manage to find the playlist if you wish to hear it. And if you do, I'll try to the best of my ability to explain how you can go about it.

First you first click on the icon in the right  margin of this blog. It's the icon of the outer space scene where is says "Volume 12" above and "Rockin' the Cosmos" below. After you click on that, the first song "Sensurround" starts automatically. You'll also see the lyrics. At first it's all good. You can listen to the first song and even read the lyrics, but only for the first song. After that first song, some weird Hip Hop song follows, and that is NOT my song. I have no clue why it follows my song.

Ideally, the second song in my playlist would follow, then the third song, then the fourth, and so on until the tenth and final song.

So what I suggest is after clicking on the icon which takes you to SoundCloud, hit pause in the header right away to pause the song, and then click on "View All" just below the header to the far right. That will take you to a lot of other strange songs, but then click on "In playlists" which is near the top, just under the "Sensurround" title and space image. That will bring my Playlist which is Rockin' the Cosmos. Then click on "View 10 tracks" and all ten tracks will appear.

To listen, just click on the first song Sensurroud and it will play. After Sensurround, each subsequent song will automatically follow in the proper order. Meaning, Song 2 Green Lady will play next, followed by Song 3 In This Place, followed by Song 4 Death of the Super Men, etc. After each song, click on "Mr D" to return to the Playlist so as to access the next song's lyrics.

To see the lyrics while the song is playing, you'll have to double click on the song title. If it doesn't happen right away, it will happen with a little bit of persistence. I think the lyrics are just as important as the music, so if you're like me and you want to see the lyrics at the same time, it is possible, but you have to keep on clicking on it until it works.

As for the performance of the music, just remember. I don't pretend to be a singer. But I already explained how that came about. I have another album, Volume 13, Rockin' the Afterlife, which I'll post one day. And I have Volume 2 ready to go also. As for all the others? We'll see.

Enjoy.

Music Getting Posted

Computer experts are nice to have as friends. I'm finally getting some of my music posted to the blog, but right now it's kind of mixed up. I'm starting with my Volume 12, which is Rockin' the Cosmos. It's an entire album's worth of space oddity songs. Like Bowie's Space Oddity. Or Elton John's Rocket Man. Of course, they don't compare to those classic. I'm a nobody in the music world. Those guys are giants. But to me, anyway, the music is great. I don't need to hear anyone else's opinion.

I just want my music out there. What I do know is I can't sing. I can compose music. I can't sing. I wish i could find a singer. I tried. I even advertised on Craig's list at one point. It was a hassle having strangers answer my ads and come over to my house. After a bit I found it unsettling, and I stopped. Yeah, I heard of some disturbing stories of Craig's list ads going wrong. And having a wife and two kids and a grandma in the house, and well, I thought I better stop with the Craig's list ads.

So I just did the singing myself. I admit straight up the singing sucks. But the music, and the songs, at least, to me, for me, are quite good. But that's only if you can get past the singing.

But wait. Don't go over there yet. My arrangement is still mixed up. I have all my songs mis-arranged. The computer guy taught me how to upload the songs onto sound cloud but not how to arrange the tracks and make them play in order like in an album the way they should play. I'm still trying to figure that out. So until then, they will play in any odd way. They are supposed to play in this order:

1 - Sensurround
2 - Green Lady
3 - In This Place
4 - Death of the Super Men
5 - Merging
6 - Spaceman
7 - Like a Curse
8 - Never Ending
9 - I'm Not the Bad Guy
10 - So Many Years

So until I can make a sountrack in order stay tuned. will let you know.

Stand for the National Anthem

Protest this or protest that. Or move to anther county. How about that? That's the great thing about this country. It's a free country. You can do what you want. You can protest. You can move. You can even sit during the nation anthem. But if you do, you will draw the ire of your fellow Americans. And that ire will be justified.

Because no other country is as great as this one. Don't agree? Then find another country and MOVE there. Go ahead. Move to another country if you can find a better one. Of course no country is perfect. No one said America is perfect. There is no place where every person in every profession is perfect. That's what these idiot professional football players don't seem to understand. And all the people who follow their lead don't seem understand. Like the players in other sports, and now college players and high school players, and students who aren't even athletes.

That's right. Kids are sitting during the pledge of allegiance in the classrooms now. It's out of control. And all started by some idiot football player, influenced, I understand, by his America-hating girlfriend. He used a lie, which was Ferguson, and then protested. Sure there were other incidents that weren't lies, incidents that were cases of bad cops, but this idiot cited Ferguson. The "hands up, don't shoot" lie. And used that as his protest. It was a lie.

But here's my point. All professions have bad cases involved. There's going to be bad cops. There's bad doctors, too. Is there going to be a protest about bad doctors? There's bad professors, too. There's bad researchers, bad politicians, bad mayors, bad governors, bad manufacturers, and bad janitors. But MOST of the above are good. I'd say the overwhelming majority of the above are excellent. And that includes cops.

So these idiot protesters don't take that into consideration. To hell with the football players. To hell with the basketball players. They never did anything for me. We need cops a lot more than we need football players and basketball players. Cops save lives. I don't know of any lives saved by a basketball player. Or a football player. They can all go to hell as far as I'm concerned.

God bless America. And God Bless the American Flag. Stand for the National Anthem. Or move to another country. Stand and be proud during the nation anthem. Or sit and be an idiot.

The Vase Submitted to Big Five

I have finally submitted a manuscript to a "Big Five" publisher. Two "Big Five" publishers in fact. Penguin/Random House and MacMillan. Albeit those two Big Five publishers are not the American versions. They are Penguin/Random House - South Africa and MacMillan - Australia. I had submitted to South Africa's Penguin/Random House for my John Dunn book, but they didn't accept it. Maybe it wasn't ready yet. I might have waited until now when it's more ready at this point, but alas, John Dunn is published already. And The Vase is way more ready too, btw.

So if it's so ready, maybe now is the best time to submit. Thus my thinking. And so maybe all is for the best that The Vase is available again. Perhaps it's true what they say. Perhaps things do happen for a reason. And so the reason Penumbra went out of business and reverted all rights to The Vase back to me is so that I can find another publisher for it. And this time, maybe, just maybe I can finally crack the Big Five and really "make it" as an author. Until then, I really will have fallen short.

Other people might not agree. Other people might say, Hey, you got published. Be glad for that. And I am. To a point. But the dream is the "Big Five." Fall short of that, and the dream is unfulfilled. Unless you make the best sellers list and movies are made and you become a millionaire and even a billionaire like J.K. Rolling and her Harry Potter books. They didn't get published by the Big Five, but they became best sellers and became movies and she's rich and she can care less at this point who published the books.

So, yeah, I guess it's all relative. Still, I'm hoping Penguin/Random House - South Africa or MacMillan - Australia will pick up The Vase. Fingers crossed. Won't know for another three to six months. So until then, will keep improving it. It's all I can do.

Guns - Bad News

Guns are bad news. I don't say this because of the recent horror in Las Vegas. Or the other horrors that have occurred in so many other places in so many other instances. I say this because guns exist for only one reason. To kill. Whether it's people or animals, the reason is the same. Kill.

Hunters use guns to kill deer, ducks wild boars, or whatever else they're hunting. Soldiers use guns to kill enemy soldiers. Murderers use guns to kill innocent people. Whatever the target, the result is the same. Killing. With guns.

I am not a hunter. And I am not a soldier. I know police have guns. I will defend a policeman's right to have a gun for self-defense. Because criminals will use guns against policemen. It's a necessary evil. Necessary because evil exists. And policemen are in the front lines fighting that evil.

But during these modern times, does hunting really need to exist? I don't have the right to say it doesn't. I don't have the right to say people should not be hunters. But I do have the right to have an opinion. My opinion is that hunting is an obsolete sport. Killing a deer, or a duck, or a wild boar, or whatever... I don't see the sport in that. So I don't think hunting is a very cool sport. That's my opinion. Hunting...killing...guns...I wish those things would go away.

Of course the next argument is self-defense, like I was using for the police. There is evil out there. Thus we have police. And they have guns. Which I just admitted they need. So why don't everyday citizens also need guns for their protection? That's where I'm going with this post. Those citizens would not need guns if criminals did not have guns to use against them.

But how can that be? Criminals always have a way to get guns. Well, if Martin Luther King could have a dream, why can't I? My dream is this: What if all guns could go away? All guns except those in the military and law enforcement. No guns anywhere else. Wouldn't that be nice? Then the nuts like in Las Vegas and Sandy Hook, and Columbine, and San Bernardino, and everywhere else would not have had the ability to do what they did.

Sure, they might still have driven cars or trucks into crowds of people. Or concocted some kind of pressure cooker bombs, like the Boston Bombers did. Or figured out some other means of mass murder. But with no guns the other types of killing wouldn't happen. Impulsive killing. And killings of passion. Like when someone loses it, and then there's a gun and he or she  uses it, like that guy who went into that beauty parlor in LA and shot eight people because he was mad at his wife. If that gun wasn't at his disposal, I'm betting at least seven of those people would still be alive today. Maybe I'd lose that bet, but I'd still make that bet.

I have a dream that there is a way to get rid of every gun from every house in every city and town in every state in the entire country. That's my dream. I know at least half of the people in this country don't share that dream. Maybe half of the people reading this are vehemently disagreeing with me right now. And if they are, they need not worry. Unlike Martin Luther King's dream, it's a dream that will never come true. And the killings and murders and mass killings and mass murders will continue. Year in. And year out.

New Star Trek Show - The Feminists Are Taking Over - Yikes!

I've talked a bit about tough chicks. They exist. But do they beat people up? Do women want to see women beat people up? Do women want to go around beating people up? Do they believe in that? Do women want to see other women going around killing people?

I argued they don't. I still believe I'm right. But the trend in Hollywood is not strong women, but tough chicks. You know. See above. Whatever. That's not what I want to repeat here. The topic today is the new Star Trek show, Star Trek Discovery, which I watched and will  probably not watch again.

I'm not a Feminist, and that's why I won't watch it. Star Trek Discovery is a show that caters to the Feminist audience. I know that in this time of equal rights, there should be equal rights. But I will never agree that women should be fighting wars. Why would women want to fight in wars anyway? Do women want to fight in wars? Heck, men don't even want to fight in wars. That's why men like Muhammad Ali dodged the draft. He'd rather be in jail and fed than to be in Vietnam and dead, isn't that what he said? And I'm not saying I blame him, by the way.

So do women want to fight in wars? Do they really? Do they want to get their heads blown off? Do they want to come home from a battlefield with their legs blown off? With their faces blown off? Crippled for life? Why don't women get it? War and fighting is not some glorious thing like Wonder Woman would have you believe. It's not like Star Trek. Which brings me to my point.

Starships are warships. I don't believe a woman should command a warship of men. It just isn't right. I know women are good leaders in a school. I am a teacher and most of my principals have been women. And (for the most part) they have been great. But a school is not a battlefield. And women, imo, do not belong on a battlefield. Do they want to be on a battlefield?

I can't imagine why a woman would want to be on a battlefield. Anyone who would want to be on a battlefield would be by definition unqualified to be on that battlefield. Because that person would be mentally unstable. That ends the argument right there. Who would want to be led by an unstable person. No one. And too many times leaders have been unstable, because men who had wanted to be on a battlefield to lead have indeed been unstable. So there you go.

Okay, so again, back to Star Trek Discovery. We already had the woman starship captain in Star Trek Voyager with Captain Janeway. Quota fulfilled. Nope. Now we not only have another woman captain, but on top of that, we have the first officer also a woman. So the top two stars of the show, the captain and the first officer are women. Okay. No men. None. No testosterone, so to speak. But the first officer is providing the testosterone. She has a man's name, Michael, and she's all gung-ho in firing the first shot at the Klingons, as advised by Spock's dad. (Presumably, before Spock is born.)

So yeah. There are no men in the show, except in very minor and subservient roles. The men are the lowly officers and crewmen, relegated to taking orders from the women, and that's the premise of the show. It's a Feminist's dream, so to speak.

So if you're a Feminist and you like the Star Trek universe, this is the show for you. I like women, of course, been married to the same woman for almost thirty years, and I am all for equal rights and equal opportunity. But I will stand by my belief that women do not belong on a battlefield and women should be glad that society doesn't require them to be on a battlefield. And I will repeat this point because I think it is important. If a woman wants to be on a battlefield, then she is probably mentally unstable. And the same thing is probably true for a man.

The Vase - Waiting for the Big Five

Since my book The Vase is in Limbo right now I have options. Go with my current publisher, Knox Robinson, (nope). Go with my other current publisher, Melange Books, (nope). Find another POD publisher, like its former publisher Penumbra, (nope). Self publish, (nope). Don't publish it, (nope), or once again try for the Big Five, (yes). But that takes an agent and agents are not interested in a nobody like me. Yes, but there are ways around that.

So I will examine publication via non-agent access to the Big Five publishers. It will be a last ditch effort on my part. At the same time, I will be undergoing a last ditch effort in my music. I'm at that age, I guess, where everything is a last ditch effort. My kids are in high school and college now, so even that part of my life is in its later stages.

Here's to hoping things work out.

Music Getting Closer to Being Posted

The last couple of weeks has seen a lull in my story writing. Back to school is in progress, of course, and I'm loving being back in the classroom. That never meant I didn't have time write, but with the recent completion of my latest book, John Dunn: Heart of a Zulu, I'm slow to proceed with my next.

I'm more inspired to get back to my music. It's like a cyclic thing for me. I go through phases I guess. It was all about drawing and painting for a long while. Then sculpture. Then music. Then writing books. Now back to music. It was during my music phase I had written quite a lot of songs about ten to twenty years ago. Some of those songs can be dismissed, sure, but some, I don't mind saying, were quite good. Especially my last two "albums."

I had not named my first eleven "albums", which were a collection of about ten songs each album. I considered ten songs to be about what would constitute an album from those years ago when albums used to be vinyl. Now albums are CDs, I think, or are those now obsolete too?

Whatever, I wrote songs in about groups of ten or so, and called it an "album." I only named them Volumes 1 though 11, until I wrote volume 12, and it contained an outer space type theme. Much like the individual songs Rocket Man  and Space Oddity, by Elton John and David Bowie respectively, which are just that, individual songs, albeit great ones, and worldwide hits. My Volume 12 is a collection of ten songs that has a space theme, too, so I call it Rockin' the Cosmos.

And the lyrics to Rockin' the Cosmos can be found right here on the blog. My next goal, at this point, is to see if I can post the entire collection of music onto the blog. Never mind that the vocals are horrible, which I readily admit. Singing is the one thing I readily admit I cannot do. But even so, I do it. Why? Because I have that much confidence, not in my singing, but in my music. I really believe the songs are good. So I will post them.

But therein lies the problem. I don't know how. But I know people. People who know how. And once those people have time, they will come and help me. I've already converted all my songs into mp3 formats, which was the first step. Well, the first step was actually recording the music. Which I did more than ten years ago. But that was on cassette tape. It was recently I did the second step. Converting the cassettes to CDs. Then the third step was transferring the music from the CDs onto my computer, and then the fourth step was converting the songs into mp3 formats.

Now, the fifth step will be posting the music right here onto the blog. Can't wait.

Aberrant Wave of Horrible Heat

I used that phrase, "aberrant wave of horrible heat" in my book, The Vase. It was published some years ago, but it's now unpublished due to the publisher going out of business. I'm hoping to find another publisher, this time one of the Big Five, even.

But speaking of aberrant waves of horrible heat, that's what I'm experiencing right now in the Bay Area. Heat in the triple digits in early September, I'm hearing is record setting heat, and I used that phrase often in The Vase too.

In the story in The Vase, the people in Nazareth, Israel were experiencing their own aberrant waves of horrible heat, and as I explain in the book it was due to unusual geomagnetic storms in the earth's atmosphere, which were caused by solar winds generated by solar flares erupting on the surface of the sun.

Yeah, that's a lot of solar activity for one day, but it's not just one day in which it occurs. It occurs over several months, even years, and it's an eleven year cycle called solar maximum. You learn that through research, and it's all in the book. You see, ultra concentrations of electromagnetic radiation also are spewed forth from the sun which makes its way into the earth's atmosphere, and seeing as how its this type of radiation that powers the audio/video recordings and playbacks of recent technologies, it's all fitting for the holograms that are projected from the ancient vases in a Palestinian potter's ceramic shop.

Throughout the story line the heat is atrocious, and I'm finding out for myself just what it feels like to live through that kind of heat. Friday, it was 107 degrees and Saturday it was 108. Let's see how hot it gets today. I think maybe I'll join the thousands at Santa Cruz. Just for some relief.

But it got me to thinking about The Vase. I'm still hoping an agent will pick it up, and shop it to the Big Five. Fingers crossed on that. We'll see.

Summer Over - Back to Work

Well, summer vacation is over, and it's time to get ready for work. But for me, work is great. I love my job. The classroom is my second home. I've considered writing a book on how to be a successful teacher. One of my secrets, of course, is just that. Making your classroom like your second home. A teacher has to love being in his/her classroom to be a successful teacher.

It's the same as being an author. A successful author has to love writing to be a successful writer. That doesn't mean all writers who love writing will be successful. I might venture to say all teachers who love teaching will be successful. Not necessarily, I know, but it's a good bet.

So back to the classroom, get it ready, prepare for those teacher meetings, which sometimes are fun, too, and then, get ready for the kids. Lucky for me I'm an art teacher. That means not only do I get to teach art, I get to make art at the same time. Which is great. You get to create. Which is what I'm all about. Creating. I create things. Books. Music. Art. Statues. Whatever.

I still find time to write. I do want to create that third book in the Killer series. Most likely it will be the last Killer book. Most likely. As for the MG/YA book -- Inside the Outhouse? Yeah...will probably finish that one day. And most likely that will be the last book I write. Not because I don't like writing anymore. I don't have time anymore. I'm finding that I have to dedicate the time to the wife and two sons.

Strangely, the older they get, the more they need me. You'd think the opposite would be true. I'm finding that it's not. High school and college is when they need me more than ever. As youngers I've been there for them. As young adults I'm needed even more. That means I'd better stay healthy and be available to them for advice and for support. I'd better be up to the task. Now more than ever.

Books are great. Being a father is greater. That's the real world. Sheesh, I've talked about John Dunn a lot. How in the heck did he manage being a father with over a hundred children of his own? I've only got two!

Killer Not For Hire

Book Three in the Killer Series is now in the works. It's a Trent Smith Martial Arts Thriller to be sure. And Melange Books has already agreed to publish it and will be sending a contract as soon as tomorrow. It is slated for publication in September/October of 2018, so that's about a year from now. So that means I have a year to write the book. Good thing I've already started it.

But I'm a far cry from completing it. I've got a good start though, and I have a good idea what is going to happen in the story. It's the book I started a year ago. It's the book I was calling Killer on the Payroll. But just recently when I resumed writing it I realized that one of Trent Smith's traits was that he worked for no one. So how could it be that a man who worked for no one could be a killer on someone's payroll? I was thinking at the time that he was being forced to by one way or another. But then, just this past week, I thought no. Trent Smith is not for hire. Not now, not ever. Thus the new title. Killer Not For Hire.

And I thought of it just in time. My publisher, Nancy had just emailed me asking me for the title of the book, so I replied the tentative title was Killer Not For Hire. Of course she advised with a year to go until publication there was still time to change the title if I so choose so that's cool. If I so choose. We'll see. For now, I think it's a good title.

The story will end with Trent becoming the world's greatest killer, but that's kind of anticlimactic. The plot is not to become the world's greatest killer. It's not his goal. But he gets involved with organized crime, not willingly, it was more like as part of his vengeance thing, and it just leads to that, and it happens. But the syndicates want him on their sides. But of course, he's not for hire, thus the title. Once you read the story it's more understandable. Well, I've got to write it first. Time to get busy on that. it should be fun.

New Spider-man Movie -- um...

Okay, I saw the new Spider-man movie last night with my two sons, and... Well, during the movie I was thinking how I was going to write in today's blog just how stupid the movie was. How very stupid it really was. I'm a traditionalist you see. I've got the silver age comics from those years ago, and I know how Spider-man is supposed to be.

The 90's cartoon was pretty good, but the two versions of movies with Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield were disappointments to be sure. Of course, as I always say, Hollywood believes they know better than the original writers and creators of the genre and they change them mostly for the worse.

But last night, when the movie was over, both my sons said they liked the movie, which made me rethink my opinion of it. I thought back to Maguire's version and how they changed his web shooter to a non web shooter. The movie people made it so that the webbing was part of his biological make up, and the webs came from his wrists naturally, instead of from a web shooter that he invented like in the comics. That was a horrible change.

And in Maguire's and Garfield's Spider-man, they made the spider that bit Peter Parker some kind of genetically modified spider instead of a radioactive spider like in the comics. Another bad change because that meant Spider-man's blood isn't radioactive anymore. Ever heard the song? "He's got radio-active blood. Hey, there... There goes a..." Well, never mind. At least in Garfield's Spider-man and in last night's Spider-man, Peter Parker invented his own web shooter. And they actually never mentioned the spider's condition in last night's movie because they didn't reenact the origin scene.

So, anyway, as I was watching this movie I was not liking it. But then while listening to my sons after it was over, and hearing their opinions of it, and why they liked it, my opinion changed. And I decided I liked it. And here's why: Because this time the movie people made changes to accommodate the ongoing Avengers and Ironman/Tony Stark storyline. Which makes sense. And the changes mostly involved the Spider-man costume, meaning Tony Stark designed the Spider-man costume not Peter Parker. Which makes sense. And it even contains a lot of Ironman components, like a talking computer which makes sense. (Since it was designed by Tony Stark.) And even though Peter invented his own web shooter, Stark improved it in many ways. Which made sense.

So okay. I can change my mind. I don't have to be so stuck in my old-fashioned ways. I can change with the times. I can let my sons sway my opinion. The new Spider-man movie was good. Would I have written it differently? Yes. Would I have made it better? I would like to think so. But was it good anyway? Yes. It's a good movie. The best one yet.

John Dunn - The True Story

I've talked about heroes recently, mostly of whom are fictitious characters. I've talked about strong men and yes, strong women characters in the movies and TV shows, but the one thing that is noteworthy about these strong characters is that they are fictitious characters.

The Jason Bournes, the Frank Martins, and even the James Bonds -- all fictitious characters. Even my own Trent Smith, the world's greatest martial artist from my Killer novels, is Fictitious.

But I heard once that truth is stranger than fiction. And the character John Dunn, from my latest novel John Dunn; Heart of a Zulu is NOT fictitious. John Dunn is a real character from real history, and his story is a true one. And I wrote it that way. Sure I put in some fictitious elements to spice it up. Mostly those elements were about his first wife, Catherine Pierce. I made her into a strong female character. It seems strong female characters are all the rave these days. At least Hollywood would have you believe that if you consider the movies and TV shows being aired at this time.

So I was sure to include a strong female character in my John Dunn book, and I made it the foremost female character in the story, Dunn's first wife, Catherine Pierce. But the truth is that the real John Dunn hardly mentioned her in his autobiography. Even in Charles Ballard's thesis on John Dunn I could hardly find a mention of her. Ditto with Donald Morris's Washing of the Spears and Ian Knight's Zulu Rising. In fact in every history book on John Dunn or the Zulus or the Zulu War I read there is hardly a mention (if any mention at all) of Catherine Pierce.

Now if John Dunn himself didn't bother mentioning much about his first wife, (or any of his 49 wives) what does that tell you? Nothing, really, but it didn't leave a lot to go on. All of the above writers wrote a great deal about John Dunn, however, almost all of them agreeing that his story was an incredible one. An incredible one that is TRUE.

Hollywood put out at least three movies about a white man living with the Native Americans. We've all seen them. Little Big Man, with Dustin Hoffman, A Man Called Horse with Richard Harris, and Dances with Wolves with Kevin Costner. And yeah, they were all intriguing, compelling stories of how a solitary white man became one with the Indian tribes. They were great stories. But they were not TRUE stories. They were imagined, made up, and fictitious.

Now that's the thing about John Dunn. He was NOT imagined. He was NOT made up. He is NOT fictitious. This man's story is even greater than those fictitious stories told in the above Hollywood movies. He was a man who from a very young age lived in Zululand, with the Zulus, as a Zulu. And would have lived his entire life that way if Captain Joshua Walmsley didn't find him and bring him back to civilization. He then retaught him English and tutored him in the civilized ways.

But fate would not let John Dunn go. Fate brought Dunn back to the Zulus. I made mention in the book that Dunn's destiny was in Zululand and Dunn realized that to be true. He returned to Zululand to fight in the Zulu Civil War. He fought on the losing side, and the victorious Prince Cetshwayo might have killed Dunn right then, but for Dunn's resilience in escaping the massacre, which included over twenty thousand Zulus (men, women, and children) on the banks of the Tugela River.

But even then Dunn hadn't given up on finding his destiny in Zululand. He returned to Zululand at the risk of being skinned alive. Which is what Prince Cetshwayo might have done had he captured him during the battle. Instead, when their paths crossed, Cetshwayo took a liking to Dunn, offered his friendship, which included land, Zulu wives, and even a chieftainship.

Now let's pause right there. It must be noted that a chieftainship is NOT something handed out arbitrarily or given to just anyone. A chieftainship is like being a governor of a state, like California New York, or Michigan. Not even Cetshwayo's brothers and fellow princes were guaranteed chieftainships. Many of them never achieved that status. But John Dunn did.

And the events that unfolded over the next twenty years were nothing short of amazing. I must advise any readers who find this interesting to read the book. John Dunn; Heart of a Zulu. Those amazing events conclude with the infamous Anglo-Zulu War. I made sure to keep it all accurate. Especially the battles, one in which John Dunn fought.

John Dunn; Heart of a Zulu. Based on the TRUE story of the REAL John Dunn. Order your copy today, and you will learn not just about John Dunn, but about the real history of South Africa and the Zulu tribes in the years following Shaka. You won't be disappointed.

The Blacklist - Disappoints

Okay, I checked out the two-part season four finale of The Blacklist, which wrapped up the "Mr. Kaplan" adversarial story arc, and it did indeed disappoint. Instead of Red killing her, she jumps off a bridge and commits suicide. Okay. But that wasn't how I would have written this ending. I would have made it all come together in a positive way, and everyone would have been friends again.

Which is how it should have been. Why? Because after Kaplan had recovered from Red's earlier attempt to kill her, she was remorseful. Not for what Red did, but rather for what SHE did. She admitted she was wrong, that she had betrayed Red, and that it was her fault that Lizzy had been kidnapped and put into danger. She admitted she deserved the bullet to her head.

But later, all of that was forgotten as if it had never been written or portrayed in the show. Instead, Kaplan turns into this vindictive, revenge-seeking antagonist, bent on Red's destruction. Um, what happened to all the remorse and Kaplan's concession that it was HER fault to begin with? It's called inconsistency, and that's BAD WRITING.

So, as I posted yesterday, the show dragged out this conflict between Red and Mr. Kaplan, to the point of Red's near destruction. But Red is resilient, he's the main character, after all, and he gets the jump on Kaplan. But this time Red is determined not to kill her. (Which he never should have attempted that first time!) Instead he offers her an out, which she doesn't take. Why? Because she's hell bent on destroying Red. Sheesh. What happened to her admitting she deserved that bullet to the head? It's called bad writing.

So, anyway, that's when she jumps off the bridge. And she does that because she has to die in order for her final contingency plan to be put into effect. Which is carried out by Tom, Lizzy's husband, and Red's former spy, but is now a spy for Kaplan. Upon Kaplan's death, Tom removes a suitcase from a locker and, apparently, is supposed to take it to Lizzy.

This suitcase, apparently, contains the bones of Lizzy's mother, Red's former lover, which, apparently will prove that Red had killed Lizzy's mother. Apparently. This was hinted at in a dialogue between Red and his bodyguard, Dembe, at the end of the show.

But wait a minute. Too many problems with all of this. Besides the fact that all of this is contrary to Kaplan's original remorse at having betrayed Red and her admitting she deserved the bullet to her head. Now it gets worse. I mean, since when does Tom work for Kaplan? Since, like, never. And since Red had already told Lizzy that her mother died in shame and disgrace, it makes the point that Red, if he did kill Lizzy's mother, his former lover, he had a damn good reason for doing so, which he always does when he kills someone. And Lizzy should know this by now.

Look--Red is the star of the show. He is someone the audience has empathy for and sympathy for, more than anyone else on the show. He's the hero. Yeah, he's billed as a criminal, but he's never done anything to anyone that makes the audience hate him. Never. Everyone he's killed, or dogged, deserved it, and deserved it big time. Kaplan's antics, on the other hand resulted in the deaths of several innocent people, and she even cut out an eye of an innocent man with her own hands. So, yeah, Kaplan, as it turned out was the one who resorted to evil deeds. Not Red.

But I have another complaint and it's unrelated to all of the above. For the entire season, the viewers of this show have been teased with the idea that Red is Lizzy's father. And it's something that I personally wanted to be the case. It would be the ONLY thing that would make sense out of all of this. Meaning, it's the only thing that would validate the entire series. Red NEEDS to be Lizzy's father for any of the show's storylines to make sense. So for four seasons, they hinted at it, and at one point while being tortured, Red admits Lizzy is his daughter, but he had never admitted it to Lizzy.

Now in the fourth season finale, a DNA test proves Red is Lizzy's father, and I approved of the reaction Lizzy displayed. She accepts him as her father, and is happy to have him as her family. I was cool with all of that. It's the way I would have written it too.

But then in that final dialogue between Red and Dembe, Dembe asked Red if he denied it. Why would Dembe ask Red that if Red was Lizzy's real father? Well, Red says he didn't deny it. Still, that question suggests that Red is NOT Lizzy's father. I know it's not definitive, and it may not suggest that, but perpetuating doubt is not cool. I want to know once and for all that Red is indeed Lizzy's father, and no more doubts about it.

I hate being played by a show, by a writer, or by anyone. Red better be Lizzy's father or the entire show is bullshit. Which would mean I wasted a good portion of my time watching a show that was bullshit. It wouldn't be the first time. The STARZ show Black Sails did that to me, and to countless fans who had followed that show. If The Blacklist does that too... Well, it would be unfortunate, that's all. We'll see.

The Blacklist Falling from Grace

I had claimed that The Blacklist TV show had become my favorite TV show. At least insofar as current TV shows are concerned. That is quickly coming to an end. It seems that in its fourth season, the writers are running out of gas. It's not entirely unexpected.  Mostly, the writers were doing a great job. Not anymore, I'm sorry to say.

Why? Well, because one of my favorite characters in the show, Mr. Kaplan, has become the bad guy. Mr. Kaplan is a woman, btw, and she was a great ally of the main character Red Reddington. Which was why she was one of my favorite characters. But for lack of new storylines, the writers have made her into Red's adversary. And there was only so much they could do with that. And they've run out of ideas. They are dragging this out over the duration of the fourth season, and I'm tired of it. You see, Mr. Kaplan does not make for a great bad guy. No, she doesn't.

In fact, Mr. Kaplan was a great good guy. As long as she was on the side of Red Reddington. But now, it's like the two characters are playing tug-of-war with the other main character Lizzy Keane. To the point of ridiculousness. And I'm not one to favor ridiculousness in a storyline. I don't appreciate it. Because it was one of my favorite shows. Not anymore.

Perhaps I'll wait until the season conclusion. Which I will watch probably tonight. Then I'll make that decision. If they end this unfavorable story arc, then I might be back on board. So we'll see.

Hawaii Vacation Over

Today is my first day back from Hawaii. My brother lives there, and I took my wife and youngest son there this past week. Hawaii is famous, of course, for its beaches. And they are very nice. Spent a lot of time there. My brother is a lawyer, but he also wrote a book. A high fantasy novel. Kind of like the LORs story, but still quite different. In other words, fans who loved LOR will love his book.



So I was an A-reader or a Beta reader as some would say. And the writing was quite good. He's a talented writer and story-teller, and his story is one that I would say deserves to be published by the infamous Big Five. But that means an agent is required. Yes, the ever elusive literary agent. I'm considering going that route again for my novel The Vase. It deserves the Big Five as well.

But we all know how that goes. Fingers crossed. My brother lives close to a lot of beaches, and I guess when you live in Hawaii, who doesn't? I particularly liked Waikiki. It's one of the most famous beaches in the world. For a lot of reasons. There's a lot of people there. A lot of action, too. My son took surfing lessons, and he was a natural.



I was never a skate boarder when I was a kid, so I never had an interest in surfing. I mean, I liked the Beach Boys music, but surfing was never my thing. But my youngest son is good at skate boarding, and he was good at surfing too, on his first attempts. He looked like those dudes in the movies. I was proud of him. He wants to go back to Hawaii and get his own surfboard, too.

As for me? I'm good right here in California. Still, since my brother lives there, and in a really big house in an upscale part of Oahu, I have no reason not to go back. Hawaii is famous for other things too, not just the beaches. So yeah, it was all good. Right now, I'm back to work in perfecting The Vase. That's a real good story too.

Fear the Walking Dead - drops to a new low

Yes, a new low for Fear the Walking Dead last Sunday. It's as if they are running out of storylines. As of last Sunday's episode Fear the Walking Dead has devolved to the old  storyline of "Cowboys and Indians." You read that right. It's the 21st Century. Instead of the "Native Americans" assimilating into modern American society, and getting along with everyone else, we have our resident "Indians" rising up during this horrible "Zombie Apocalypse" to stick it to the White Man.

I  mean, come on... this is so old, and old fashioned, and overdone, and pointless, and just plain ridiculous. Once again, in a show where humanity is on the verge of extinction, struggling to survive against some kind of world destroying plague, with bands of thugs patrolling the landscape, raping, pillaging, and overpowering the weakened masses, now you have a group of people (Indians) not trying to help, not trying to contribute, not trying to make things better or at least survivable. Instead they are "rising up" against the "white man." Just like a 1950s Cowboys and Indians show.

This is so uncool, I don't have the words to describe it. I mean in this show the circumstances are such that anyone is lucky to find a place that is safe for any length of time. I get it about the thugs finding strength in their "gangs" and roving the countryside like wolves trying to dominate the weak. You have that anywhere you go, Just check out any big city in America today.

But when the world is on the brink of complete destruction, I would think that there remained groups of people who are not thugs. In the Waking Dead we see it here and there. Groups of benevolent people, in contrast to the thugs. In Fear we have the new group of people led by a man named Otto, and it's all good. But no, actually it's not. Now you have the "tribe" of Indians opposing them, and capturing them, shooting them, killing them, and threatening them.

What's wrong with working together to make life livable for all? Oh wait... There's no story there. But might there be? Can't some talented writers make a story like that? Or do we just need to see more senseless meanness, senseless cruelty to fellow travelers who are doing nothing more than struggling to survive? I guess the writers are bent on meanness. Like in Lost. Just be mean for no reason other than just to be mean. Why not? It's an easier story to write.

John Dunn read-through completed

I had reported that in the first half of my newest book, John Dunn, Heart of a Zulu, there was only one typo. I had hoped that it would project to two typos for the entire book. Well, there's three. No worries, they're very minor typos. In the first half of the book there was a quotation mark where it didn't belong. It turned out that in the second half of the book there were two places where there was no indentation where there should have been.

Both places were in a section where there was dialogue. And for some reason, two times the next person speaking it didn't get indented. I suppose those things happen when the documents are converted from word docs to PDFs and then to print.

So three total typos. All three are minor, and don't impact the story at all. I had already noted that books published by the world's top publishers have at least that many typos, so I guess I'm right up there with them. Still, I'm a perfectionist, and I strive for perfection. I will see if in the future I can get those typos out of there. If not, no big deal. It's still good. So good in fact, that I'm with the impression my John Dunn book is my best book of all five that I've written.

My Killer of Killers book has no typos. That book is my personal favorite. I made sure it had no typos, but it took a Second Edition for that to happen, and I don't want to go that course again. I just want perfection if perfection can be achieved.

My book The Vase, I dare say, will be perfect. I'm still perfecting it right now. It's an amazing story. So amazing that it might end up being my best book. Hopefully it can break the Big Five. I'll need an agent for that. Finding an agent is not easy. But you never know until you try. So fingers crossed.

Reading the Book John Dunn; Heart of a Zulu

What artist doesn't want to appreciate his/her own art? Illustrators and all artists take the time to step back and view the artwork they created. A song writer will take the time to listen to the song he or she composed. And for authors, I would certainly think the same is true. An author would take the time to read whatever it was that he or she wrote.

I do all of the above. It's what makes creating worthwhile. ENYOYING what you created! And I am thoroughly enjoying the reading of my book John Dunn; Heart of a Zulu. And so far so good. Mostly. I've read through the first ten chapters, 180 pages, and I can gladly report that only one typo has shown itself. A very minor one. There was a quotation mark where it didn't belong. Other than that, there were no errors, either in grammar or in continuity. So that's wonderful news.

Of course, there's ten more chapters to go. If I can get the same result in the final ten chapters, then I'll be a happy camper. I've read some books lately by other authors, and published by publishers who are counted among the "Big Five" and sure enough, I've found multiple typos in there. So by comparison, I'm ahead of them. At least, so far. Fingers crossed.

One thing that makes me discouraged about being an author is the doggone typos or even bigger errors that seem to hide from sight during the multiple read-throughs prior to publication. I mean, this one typo for instance. How many times I've read through the manuscript before publication, I couldn't count. Yet it didn't reveal itself until after publication. It's one of the mysteries of book writing, I suppose. Still, only one typo in the first half of the book? And no grammatical errors or any other errors? I'll take it. You bet I will.

While rewriting The Vase, I'm keeping an eye out for these things. And when it's finally published, again, I will be just as happy if the result is the same. Meaning one typo in the first half of the book. That is, if there's only one more typo in the second half of the book. That will keep me ahead of other books published by the Big Five. At least, insofar as I have seen with my own eyes. But I suppose none of that really matters.

I think the biggest thing is authenticity. And believability. I've written several posts about that. I think authenticity is most important with stories like John Dunn, stories that are based on real life, real people, and real events. Or even if not based on true stories, still, if the story is based on say, real events or real entities, like, say, if someone writes a fictitious story about a GI in WWII. The lingo, the costumes, the overall scenarios must still be authentic. For example, you can't describe a Panzer tank to look like a Tiger tank. Sure, they were both German tanks, but they looked different.

And you can't say the Germans were flying P31 Mustangs, or P38 Lightnings, because they weren't. Stuff, like that. Authenticity is vital. And for other stories, like thrillers and such, believability is just as important. For instance, you can't have a 5' 2", 110 lbs woman beating up three Marines, or a dozen professional male fighters all at the same time. Oh, wait.... Yeah... I've talked about that.

Which is what I mean. When believability is off the table, viewership, or readership is going to slide. Even for fiction, accountability and believability counts for a lot. At least for me. And I'm sure it does for a lot of other people, as well.

Sending Free Copies

I received my copies of John Dunn; Heart of a Zulu and Second Chance a few days ago, which included five free copies of each from my publisher. I had ordered ten copies each, but received fifteen each, and then I remembered it was in the contract that at publication, each author gets five free copies. That's pretty cool. Very cool, actually. My other publishers only gave one free copy. I don't mean to diss my other publishers, but five free copies is better than one obviously, and it gives me the opportunity to send those nice British guys free copies for their support in the promotion of my book.

So I'll do that today. Then I'll send a couple free copies of Second Chance to the two Sports book authors who helped endorse my Sports book, Second Chance; a Football Story. They're not British. They're Americans, but proved to be just as nice as the Brits. Niceness isn't a restricted thing, thankfully.

I only hope that the continued reviews are positive and promote sales. John Dunn is my best book, I think. And I can't wait to see how the book signing goes. I will want ten more Second Chance books for that. After all, football season is coming soon and I want to be well prepared. Hopefully, the book signing will take place in July.

Book collectors prefer to have the authors signature in the book, so that might prompt sales, too. So browsers in a bookstore, seeing the author right there willing to sign a book, might take that opportunity to go ahead and buy the book. Why else would authors do that?

There's one thing that bodes well for both books. They are not going to be restricted to adult readers only. Younger readers will be able to read them. My Killer books have a lot of violence. Well, the battle scenes in John Dunn are pretty violent.


But that doesn't mean younger readers can't read them. When my kids at school ask me about my Killer books, I tell them they are too young. But I won't have to tell them that for John Dunn and Second Chance. I guess that's the difference. Maybe I should get back to Inside the Outhouse. I was targeting a younger audience for that book. It's been on hiatus for the past year. As had my third book in the Killer series. Clearly, my time was taken with getting these two books published.

And now that they are, perhaps it's time to pick up the "pen" sort of. Well, after I finish with the rewrite for The Vase. By the time I'm done with that, it may take the place of John Dunn as my best book ever. That's how good it's turning out to be. Which is strange. It had already been published once. And with this "second chance" to rewrite it, it's better than ever. Strange how that works.

Zulu War Enthusiasts - the Nicest People in the World

In a couple Zulu War forums, online, I have posted about the imminent release of John Dunn; Heart of a Zulu, and its availability for preorder on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I have received some emails from some of the people on there, wishing me well, and expressing interest in the book.

I am amazed, really. These are people I've never met. These are people who don't know me from Adam. All they know is that I share a common interest (The Zulu War) with them, and I have written a book about it. It's stunning. So much niceness I can't say I've ever known. At least not from strangers.

I'm still overwhelmed, a year later, how the great Ian Knight was so kind to me. As was another man who is a reviewer for the British Army Magazine. And others who had contacted me back then when I first solicited for reviews. The nicest people anyone could ever know.

It goes to show. My guess is that most, if not all, of these Zulu War enthusiasts are from England, or South Africa, or Australia, etc. Let's just say they're mostly British people or of British descent. Whether they live in the UK, Australia, or South Africa isn't important. That they are such great people is important. I've never known a group of people so nice as they have shown to be.

It makes me glad I wrote this book. Today, for example I was contacted by a man whose family had adopted the great grandson of Prince Dabulamanzi. The man told me some things about what he had learned about Dabulamanzi, and I was glad to respond that those were indeed things that I had incorporated into my book. He said he wanted to write a review of the book which will appear on many websites. Hopefully that will prompt several sales. 

So moving along, I will continue to try and find websites or outlets of some kind that cater to enthusiasts of the Zulu War. I wonder if here in America, Civil War enthusiasts are just as nice. I've met some. One was a college professor I had at San Jose State. He was nice. Well, I got an A in his class. But I deserved that. I earned it. Whatever. He was still nice. Like I said. It goes to show...

John Dunn; Heart of a Zulu now available for preorder

Order your copy today. As of now, on Amazon and on Barnes & Noble online stores, you can preorder you copy of John Dunn; Heart of a Zulu. It's official release is July 11th. But you can get your copy shipped today if you order right now.

It's the book of the ages. At least for me. It's the book I've been writing about on this blog for at least three or four years now, maybe more. And though I didn't work on it continuously for that long, it really was a book five years in the making.

It's my longest book. My most researched book, and the only book I've written that's based on a true story. And what a story. If you liked the movies Little Big Man, or A Man Called Horse, or Dances With Wolves, then you will most assuredly like this book. Like those movies, it's about a white man who lived with the indigenous tribes. But these tribes weren't native Americans. They were native Africans. And unlike those movies, this story is a TRUE story.

Yes, the American public was fascinated with those stories. Who doesn't remember Dustin Hoffman growing up with the Cheyenne? And who doesn't remember Richard Harris living with the Sioux? And who doesn't remember Kevin Costner becoming one with the Sioux?

Well those were all fictitious stores. The REAL story was a man named John Dunn who lived with, became one with, and intermarried with native Africans, and not just any native Africans, but perhaps the most famous of all Native Africans -- the ZULU.

Only the Zulus managed to wage a war against the British Empire. And they had their share of success in doing it. Sure, the inevitable defeat came about, but still, no other tribe in Africa could have done what the Zulus did.

And John Dunn played a big role in it. For most of his life, he lived among the Zulus. He was a real person, in a real story, and now that story is available in a new Historical novel. Order John Dunn; Heart of a Zulu from Barnes and Noble or Amazon today!