During this "hiatus" stage which three of my novels are in right now, I've been rewriting each one over and over again, improving the writing, or the prose, or whatever you want to call it. And I have succeeded beyond even what I had thought possible. At this point the writing for Second Chance, The Vase, and John Dunn are many times better than what they were for their first publications.
Not to say anyone who bought and/or read any of those three books will have enjoyed it less for having done so. But I'm a perfectionist. As all artists should be. I don't settle. Meaning I don't content myself for any job I've done on anything that might have been done better.
I had already established to myself that the more I reread and revised any of my books, the better it became. So I didn't stop. Until they were published. But then, with those three books, the publishers went out of business. So that meant, to me, anyway, I had another opportunity to make those books even better. So for the last several months, I've been doing just that. And I've rewritten all three by this point. I just finished Second Chance, and I am very proud of how that came out. Now I've returned to The Vase. For the umpteenth time. And I'm making that one better than ever.
I've taken a break from John Dunn, my longest novel. Not to worry. I've rewritten that one at least three times over since its original publication, and it too is way better than it was for its first appearance in the book world. And when I'm done with this current rewrite of The Vase, you can bet that I'll return to John Dunn and make that one better still.
I'm doing the same thing with my music. I had written over a hundred songs during my musical creativity years, which was about twenty years ago. It lasted until about fifteen years ago. Which means for about five years of my life I dedicated my creative self to creating music. Before that I was more into creating art, as in drawings, paintings, and sculptures. But I switched to music for those years, because I had a musical background, having played the piano and keyboards for a rock band in the early days of my life. I didn't get too far into composing music at that point, however, so when I dedicated myself to writing music, the creativity flowed.
Now, these years later, I'm doing the same thing with my songs that I'm doing with my books. I'm making them better. I guess the proper term is rearranging them. As the songs remain basically the same, but with some "editing" so to speak, which is making them way better.
It's an interesting point in my life. My older son is grown, my younger son is a teenager, and I have more time to work on my personal goals. One of which is to put all my songs into the "albums" that I had originally envisioned them to be. I have only one on SoundCloud right now. Click on the Rockin the Cosmos icon in the right margin of this blog and you can hear it. It's Volume 12 of my collection of songs. I have another one ready, the Rockin the Afterlife album, which is Volume 13.
What I consider to be "ready" is when I have all the elements finished, which includes the vocals. And I've only put vocals on three of my "albums" so far. Volume 2, Volume 12, and Volume 13. That means Volume 1 and Volumes 4 through 11 are still in need of having the vocals included before I can call them ready. Volume 12 is "ready" and that's why it's over there for anyone to hear. Again, my singing sucks, but if you can get past that, I think the musical compositions are very well arranged with catchy tunes, and an intriguing "concept album" format.
And all the while, I'll keep making by books better. Who knows. They may get published again, and if they do, they'll be better than ever.
Saturday, March 30, 2019
Saturday, March 9, 2019
Last Kingdom Comes Around
I was saying how Last Kingdom blew it. And I still think they did. But the storyline had come around full circle, and once again, Uhtred is back with the Saxons and in full graces of King Alfred, (if not publicly, then at least privately.) So much so, anyway, that he has made it clear to his royal priest to see to it that after he dies Uhtred remains the right hand man for his son Edward when he becomes king. So yeah, I would call that full circle.
I do like the story development of how Alfred's daughter has a strong attraction to Uhtred. And I wouldn't mind if they actually hooked up, but since she's already married to the king of Mercia, I don't know if that would ever happen. At any rate, it's back to being a show I like, and that's a relief, as I had expressed my disappointment at how the story took a turn for the worse, imo.
Say, the actor, Alexander Dreymon, who plays Uhtred, and the actress, Thea Sofie Loch Næss, who plays Skade the witch in season three, might actually be good actors for the male and female leads in my Killer of Killers book. Here's a couple publicity photos and I think they would be good choices for the roles of Trent Smith and Samantha Jones if KOK were to ever make the big screen. Judge for yourself.
Dustin Clare was my first choice for Trent Smith, but his star has fallen since his heyday as Gannicus in the STARZ show Spartacus. He must have the worst agent ever. You might have thought that after he stole the show in the Spartacus series, he would have landed some big time roles.
But the guy hasn't been heard from since! It's like he's totally dropped off the radar. It's not understandable to me. He was a great actor, with a great screen presence, and fans adored him.
By contrast, Amber Heard, who I had initially chosen for the role of Samantha Jones, has since had an uptake in success in the DC movie Aquaman. But her role was small and her screen presence negligible.
I posted about that recently, and have chosen to continue my search for the right actress for the role.
Interesting to me is that, with the exception of Amber Heard, none of these actors are American. Dustin Clare is Australian, Alexander is German, and Thea Sofie is Norwegian. What happened to all the American talent? I'm sure there are some who would be more than capable to fill the bill. But I've yet to find them. No matter. It's only a pipe dream. But The Last Kingdom is back to being good. And I'll be looking forward to season four.
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| Alexander Dreymon as Uhtred |
Say, the actor, Alexander Dreymon, who plays Uhtred, and the actress, Thea Sofie Loch Næss, who plays Skade the witch in season three, might actually be good actors for the male and female leads in my Killer of Killers book. Here's a couple publicity photos and I think they would be good choices for the roles of Trent Smith and Samantha Jones if KOK were to ever make the big screen. Judge for yourself.
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| Thea Sofie Loch Naess |
Dustin Clare was my first choice for Trent Smith, but his star has fallen since his heyday as Gannicus in the STARZ show Spartacus. He must have the worst agent ever. You might have thought that after he stole the show in the Spartacus series, he would have landed some big time roles.
But the guy hasn't been heard from since! It's like he's totally dropped off the radar. It's not understandable to me. He was a great actor, with a great screen presence, and fans adored him.
By contrast, Amber Heard, who I had initially chosen for the role of Samantha Jones, has since had an uptake in success in the DC movie Aquaman. But her role was small and her screen presence negligible.
I posted about that recently, and have chosen to continue my search for the right actress for the role.
Interesting to me is that, with the exception of Amber Heard, none of these actors are American. Dustin Clare is Australian, Alexander is German, and Thea Sofie is Norwegian. What happened to all the American talent? I'm sure there are some who would be more than capable to fill the bill. But I've yet to find them. No matter. It's only a pipe dream. But The Last Kingdom is back to being good. And I'll be looking forward to season four.
Monday, March 4, 2019
The Last Kingdom blows it
I guess it was bound to happen. I mean right when I'm thinking I'm liking a show, it makes a turn for the worse. Here was the hero, Uhtred, being ordered by the king to be the prince's right hand man when the prince becomes king, and it's too much for Uhtred. So he throws everything in the garbage by putting a knife to the the king's throat and escaping back to the Danes.
Now, instead of being a Lord in the emerging England, he's a condemned enemy fighting for the Danes who are slowly but surely being pushed out of England. I mean, who would do that? Who would switch from the winners, (which you had a big hand in making them the winners) and switch to the losers, whose time is limited.
Perhaps I speak in hindsight. Twelve hundred years of hindsight, but it just didn't make any sense.
And it happens all the time to me. I'll start watching a show, and it's a great show, and I rave about it, and then three years into the series, or so, I'm not liking it anymore.
The list is a long one. In the modern era, it's The Blacklist, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, and a slew of others that I can't even remember anymore. In the old days it was Lost in Space, The Man from Uncle, I Spy, and The Wild, Wild West.
I don't know what is wrong with TV writers. I guess it's just a simple thing. At first, they have a great concept and they have a lot of great ideas for stories to go with it. But then, after three years or so, the great ideas dry up. It happened with Star Trek too. I mean the original series, which was the only Star Trek that was worth watching.
For Star Trek, tos, they had the great concept, and they had great stories that lasted into its third season. But in that third season, you can tell they were on the down slide. And then when they brought the series back, called Star Trek, the Next Generation, the stories and characters were so bad, even the great concept couldn't make up for it.
And the same was true for every single Star Trek incarnation that followed. I mean every single new Star Trek series that followed sucked, and every single Star Trek movie that followed equally sucked. The concept of Star Trek was so great that they kept trying to rejuvenate it, but for some strange reason, no one could come up with a decent story to match the concept. Not since the original series, that is, and that is surely a shame.
We have probably the worst incarnation of Star Trek happening right now, which I couldn't even watch through the first full episode without turning it off in complete disgust. It was like the producers believed the great concept by itself was enough, (the same thing they always believed) and some actress from The Walking Dead had enough "star power" to make it a success, regardless of the lack of writing talent they put into the show.
It's a recipe for failure, and you would think they would learn their lesson by now. I figure if the current writers of whatever show run out of juice, then hire new writers who haven't been tapped out yet. They are out there. Give them a chance. Or is Hollywood stuck in the "same ol' same ol' system? You know -- the "good ol' boys" (or the "good ol' girls") system at work here. Probably is.
That's the worst shame of all. It means the same problem will just continue. As long as their bottom line is acceptable, nothing will change. And as long as you have the fan base blindly following a show for only its concept, being thrilled only by the sights and images, not caring if there's a quality story, the bottom line for Hollywood will continue to be acceptable. It is a shame.
Now, instead of being a Lord in the emerging England, he's a condemned enemy fighting for the Danes who are slowly but surely being pushed out of England. I mean, who would do that? Who would switch from the winners, (which you had a big hand in making them the winners) and switch to the losers, whose time is limited.
Perhaps I speak in hindsight. Twelve hundred years of hindsight, but it just didn't make any sense.
And it happens all the time to me. I'll start watching a show, and it's a great show, and I rave about it, and then three years into the series, or so, I'm not liking it anymore.
The list is a long one. In the modern era, it's The Blacklist, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, and a slew of others that I can't even remember anymore. In the old days it was Lost in Space, The Man from Uncle, I Spy, and The Wild, Wild West.
I don't know what is wrong with TV writers. I guess it's just a simple thing. At first, they have a great concept and they have a lot of great ideas for stories to go with it. But then, after three years or so, the great ideas dry up. It happened with Star Trek too. I mean the original series, which was the only Star Trek that was worth watching.
For Star Trek, tos, they had the great concept, and they had great stories that lasted into its third season. But in that third season, you can tell they were on the down slide. And then when they brought the series back, called Star Trek, the Next Generation, the stories and characters were so bad, even the great concept couldn't make up for it.
And the same was true for every single Star Trek incarnation that followed. I mean every single new Star Trek series that followed sucked, and every single Star Trek movie that followed equally sucked. The concept of Star Trek was so great that they kept trying to rejuvenate it, but for some strange reason, no one could come up with a decent story to match the concept. Not since the original series, that is, and that is surely a shame.
We have probably the worst incarnation of Star Trek happening right now, which I couldn't even watch through the first full episode without turning it off in complete disgust. It was like the producers believed the great concept by itself was enough, (the same thing they always believed) and some actress from The Walking Dead had enough "star power" to make it a success, regardless of the lack of writing talent they put into the show.
It's a recipe for failure, and you would think they would learn their lesson by now. I figure if the current writers of whatever show run out of juice, then hire new writers who haven't been tapped out yet. They are out there. Give them a chance. Or is Hollywood stuck in the "same ol' same ol' system? You know -- the "good ol' boys" (or the "good ol' girls") system at work here. Probably is.
That's the worst shame of all. It means the same problem will just continue. As long as their bottom line is acceptable, nothing will change. And as long as you have the fan base blindly following a show for only its concept, being thrilled only by the sights and images, not caring if there's a quality story, the bottom line for Hollywood will continue to be acceptable. It is a shame.
Sunday, March 3, 2019
Carl Deuker's Gym Candy - Good Book
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| Gym Candy |
It's a message I hope all boys listen to, and not just football players. I know guys who lift weights to stay in shape, but they want to do more than just stay in shape. They want to build up their bodies. So they take steroids. You see, the human body can get only so big no matter how much you lift. But some men, (and I've known some personally) want to get more than just big. They want to get huge. Like Arnold Schwarzenegger huge. Or Dwayne Johnson huge. And the only way anyone can get that huge is from taking steroids. So they do it. And then they get huge and they are happy.
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| Crackback |
But, to me, it's not worth the risks. Those risks are depicted in Deuker's Gym Candy. And those risks do include life threatening risks. I remember seeing Lyle Alzado's video after he was diagnosed with brain cancer. He admitted to being on steroids for most of his professional football career. Yeah it made him huge. And it made him ultra aggressive. And I suppose it made him a great football player. But he was dead before he reached fifty years old. I am glad I never used steroids. Because I am well over fifty now, and still healthy. And by the way, I still lift, and I'm pretty big for it. But I'm not huge and I don't need to be. I'll take normal big over the abnormal huge any day if that means I get to live longer than forty-eight years.
So yeah, having a great story is great for a book, but having a great message is also great, and that is the case with Carl Deuker's Gym Candy.
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| Second Chance 1st publication's cover |
And btw, Gym Candy features a running back as the main character. Like you would think it would. Coy's Crackback and my football book, Second Chance feature a defensive back as the main character. So that was interesting to me. Bottom line is this: Crackback and Gym Candy are great books. And not just for MG/YA audiences. For all audiences, like Second Chance. Here's to hoping Second Chance gets a second chance at publication.
Fingers crossed.
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