Celebrating "Kick Ass Heroines" ... Really?

I have two publishers. Knox Robinson and Melange. Knox Robinson, of course, is the publisher of my two latest novels, Second Chance and Heart of a Zulu, whereas Melange is the publisher of my debut novel Killer of Killers and its sequel Killer Eyes. I appreciate both publishers, because if not for them my stories would never have reached the printed word.

But I happened to notice that Melange is currently featuring something on their website called "Celebrating Kick Ass Heroines". I have blogged so much about that subject, I'm really tired of it by now. Besides, these "kick ass heroines" may not be what the name suggests. Maybe they are not really kicking anyone's ass literally in the stories in which they are featured.

But the term got me to thinking. First let me point out that I have made it abundantly clear that strong female characters exist, and that they are a part of everyday life. I've seen plenty of them in my own real life experiences, many of whom I'm related to, and it's surely true that real life "strong" women have existed throughout history. No question.

But this "celebration" has expressed the "need" for strong female characters in Young Adult Fiction. Really? The "need"? I have been very aware that strong female characters are featured often in Young Adult fiction. Very often. So much so, that perhaps it can be said that strong female characters are featured far more often than strong male characters. At least in Young Adult fiction they are.

I may not be so well read in Young Adult Fiction, but going by the movies that books of the Young Adult genre have become, it sure seems strong female characters are the norm of late. And because of that I think expressing the "need for strong female characters" in Young Adult fiction is a little behind the times, as evidenced by (off the top of my head) Hunger Games, Divergent, Twilight, etc.

Of course there's many more, most of which I'm not familiar with, as I admittedly do not go to the theaters to see these movies, nor do I read those books. But let me make it abundantly clear, as I've already made clear many times, strong female characters do exist and have been fundamental to real life and real history, not just in Young Adult fiction.

The main point of this posting is that I think the celebrators of "strong female characters" should reconsider using the term "Kick Ass". I mean, really? Kick Ass? Have any of these Young Adult authors who want to celebrate strong female characters ever kicked anyone's ass? Ever? Do they want to? I mean do any of these Young Adult fiction authors really want to go kick someone's ass? Do they? Do they really want to see a girl, or a woman of any age get into a physical confrontation that results in coming to blows with another human being? Do they? Have they ever even seen it?

I have. Many times. You see, I'm a teacher in a Middle School, which is right at the Middle Grade/Young Adult level. The kids that I'm around every day from August through June are the target audience of these books that these authors write. And yes, I've seen plenty kids come to blows with each other. And you know what? More often it's the girls coming to blows than the boys.

Now for the lesson you "Young Adult" authors need to learn. It's not a pleasant thing. When these girls fight, they are not "kicking ass." What they are doing is kicking, scratching, pulling each other's hair, and it's a very ugly thing. Let me repeat that. IT'S AN UGLY THING to see young girls fight. So I really hope that these Young Adult stories are not glorifying the concept of "kicking someone's ass!"

As a teacher, of course, it's my responsibility to get them to STOP fighting. Have any of you Young Adult authors ever seen girls fight? Have you ever tried to get girls to stop fighting? It's not easy. You put your own safety at risk. I've seen with my own eyes a girl yank a fistful of hair out of another girl's head. I've seen with my own eyes another girl scratch the skin off another girl's face. I've seen with my own eyes girls tear, scratch, kick, pull, as if they were actually fighting in a combat zone. It's incredible. The viscousness, the brutality, the sheer animalistic, base, instinctive aggression. Did I mention it was downright UGLY? I think I did. I beseech my fellow authors. Do not glorify this.

Do these "Young Adult" authors think that women have to prove that they are strong female characters by running around and beating up other people? Or as their selected term implies, by kicking other people's asses? Is that how people prove how strong they are? By kicking other peoples' asses?

Okay, I already admitted that I didn't read their stories. It could very well be true, that in their stories, their strength comes from strength of will, from strength of character, from strong determination, from unwavering loyalty to an honorable cause, to a strong commitment to a relationship, a friendship or a family. I've used the female characters in the TV show Downton Abbey as a prime example of strong female characters. Every one of the female characters in Downton Abbey, from the Duchess to to the maid, has been a tremendous example of a strong female character.

If you're seen the show, you know them well. Violet, all eighty-plus years old of her, is stronger than anyone else on that show. Then you've got the middle-aged Cora, along with her daughters Mary and Edith, (Sybil, too) the elderly cousin Isabel, and every one of the maids and house servants, from Mrs. Hughes, Anna, Mrs. Patmore, and Daisy. All are portrayed as strong female characters, and not once have any of them lowered themselves to the point to where they had to "kick someone's ass."

Now if the term "kick ass" is just a term used symbolically, that's a different story. I mean you can say "kick ass" but not really mean someone is physically kicking someone's ass. But again, I did not read these stories, so I am not presuming that the characters in these stories actually do go around kicking people's asses. I'm hoping they don't.

I will finish this post by pleading innocence if someone is  going to accuse me of being a hypocrite. My own books feature fighting. But the people who fight in my books are not girls or women. Nor are they "young adults." My Melange-published books, Killer of Killers and Killer Eyes feature the world's greatest martial artist.  He's a full grown man who was a professional fighter, not some young adult who want to "kick someone's ass." He's on a mission of vengeance, and as the title of the book suggests, he kills killers. Only.

So to be clear. This post is about "young adults." Or Middle Grade-aged people. I'm around them all the time. I don't want to see them kicking anyone's ass. Never again. And I'm quite sure you don't either. I'm quite sure no one does.

Inside the Outhouse over 25,000 words

Just thought I'd chime in with a word count for my WIP, Inside the Outhouse. It's over 25,000 words at this point, and I figure it's over half way done. My students are glad to hear I'm finally writing a book they can read. I've made it clear that my current published books really aren't for them. The Vase is a book they can read, but it's really not for kids. The two Killer books are certainly not for kids.

But being a Middle School teacher, I thought I would go ahead and write a Middle Grade book. As for Second Chance - a Football Story, I'd classify that one as a YA book. Meaning for young adults. Stress the word "adults" on that. There's no sex scenes and no killing, but there are a lot of swear words in there, which would be labeled as profanity. I included the profanity, because on a football field, or in a young man's apartment, there is profanity. Young men swear a lot, while playing football on a football field and in a living room drinking beer watching a football game. It's what they do.

So because of that I would not recommend Second Chance for a Middle School reading list. High School, perhaps, but not Middle School. Which is where Inside the Outhouse comes in. No swearing in that one. No sex scenes and no graphic violence. There might be some scary scenes in there, but not violence. And no blood, other than a scene in a blood bank. But there is no blood being spilled.

So, yeah. Inside the Outhouse is definitely an MG book. Not sure how I'll conclude it yet. Not even I know how it's going to end. That's why you write the book. you get to the end and you end it. Until then...

Article about Space Travel

I believe in coincidence. Yesterday I blogged about my favorite all time Sci Fi movies, and then today, USA Today puts up an article about Space Travel, or more specifically, about humans being able to travel fast enough to reach other stars in a single lifetime. It cited several different methods of space travel that are possible today. Here's the link.

One thing I thought was cool was that they mentioned "warp drive" as the holy grail of space travel. As any Sci Fi fan knows, "warp drive" is the method used in the Star Trek universe. It's a theory, only, at this point, not something that is physically possible. The article I linked to only explained the methods that are physically possible at this point in human history. And seeing as how the fastest method possible today would take more than a lifetime to get to the nearest star, well, that makes interstellar space travel for humans, anyway, not too feasible.

The article didn't mention the Star War method, which I believe they called "Hyper Drive." And it didn't mention other Sci Fi methods, like traveling through "worm holes" and/or "portals" which would breach vast distances in an instant. The TV show Farscape used the worm hole method.

With this renewed discussion, I've found myself more interested in revisiting Sci Fi stories. I read a Sci Fi book recently, and it was cool to get back into the genre. I had been out of it for so long that I was thinking I didn't really like it anymore. Even blogged about that recently, too. So maybe after my current WIPs are finished--Inside the Outhouse and Killer on the Payroll--I might just go back to that Sci Fi story I started writing when I was a kid. We'll see.

Sci Fi Genre - Ever Popular - But not for me

I used to be a Science Fiction fan. But not anymore. Oh, Sci Fi is still a very popular genre, just look at the success of Star Wars. I used to like Star Wars. That is until I saw the third installment, which the Star Wars people called Episode VI. That was the one with the cute little teddy bears. And it was when the Star Wars franchise lost all credibility with me.

And that was a shame. Because when the first one came out, Episode IV, that is, I was thrilled. As a kid, I loved Science Fiction stories. I loved Sci Fi movies like War of the Worlds, Forbidden Planet, and Earth vs. Flying Saucers. Loved them. And when I first saw the trailer for Star Wars, with no prior clue that it was even being made, I was overjoyed. I remained overjoyed when I saw it. And I was even more overjoyed when the next one came out. Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back. But it all came tumbling down with that ridiculous Episode VI.

The same thing was true for Star Trek. I absolutely loved the original Star Trek TV series. But it was cancelled after three seasons, and that was that. Until the movies came out. But they sucked. Every single Star Trek movie absolutely sucked. It was astonishing. Finally, they had a big budget, and they couldn't do anything worthwhile. Then Star Trek, the Next Generation came out. And that sucked, too. The magic was gone. As with the Star Wars franchise, the magic was just gone.

When the next Star Wars trilogy came out, meaning Episodes I, II, and III, the magic was still gone. At least for me. That Jar Jar Binks character was simply unforgivable. Just like the teddy bears. Credibility was nil. Even the latest Star Wars movie that came out this past year had no magic. It was simply a rehash of Episode IV. And the magic was just not there. Not for me, anyway.

Is it because I'm a grown up now? Is magic in a movie or story only a kid thing? For example, the remakes of Sci Fi classic movies recently, like War of the Worlds with Tom Cruise and The Day the Earth Stood Still with Keanu Reeves were completely void of the magic the originals had. But when I re-watched the originals recently, they stood the test of time. They were still great. The magic was still there. So it's not just a kid thing.

As a young man, I was actually writing a Sci Fi story. I was trying to make it a graphic novel. But writing and illustrating a graphic novel as a one man show was not going to work. Now, as a novelist, with five books being published, I've considered revisiting that story. As a novel, that is. But no. For me, as an adult, the magic of Sci Fi is gone. Maybe if another Sci Fi movie comes out that can rekindle that magic, I could change my mind. But that remains to be seen.

Nice Plot Twist in Ash vs. Evil Dead

I've made a few comments about the STARZ show Ash vs. Evil Dead, mostly about how I thought Jill Marie Jones would be a good Susie Quinn, but for her age. It's a tongue-in-cheek horror show, a type of genre which I usually do not watch. But because of Bruce Campbell's very entertaining performance in the Army of Darkness movie some years ago, I was interested in catching this long overdue continuation of the story.

Army of Darkness, itself a continuation of the two Evil Dead movies, didn't need to be continued, because it was a self contained story. But it had a cult following, so why not take advantage of that? With Bruce Campbell on board, it turned out to be what you'd expect. The same kind of show, the same kind of humor, and the same kind of over-the-top gore. Which all worked quite well.

The show had another pleasant casting to add to the production. That would be Xena, the Warrior Princess, yes, the one and only Lucy Lawless, who STARZ had just used in its SPARTACUS show recently. Since the Evil Dead producer, Sam Raimi, was also the producer of Xena, Warrior Princess, it made sense to use her in the new Evil Dead series.

Spoiler alert: Don't read further if you haven't seen the last episode of Ash vs. Evil Dead. Okay, I will continue. Seeing as how Lucy Lawless is an accomplished actress, and played an iconic role as a "good guy" in her role as Xena, I was fully expecting her to be another good guy in Ash vs. Evil Dead. She was tracking Ash, and the viewer was led to believe she was going to help him fight the evil dead and save the world. After all, as she demonstrated in Xena, Lucy does have a strong heroic appearance, and even though she played no hero in Spartacus, (which was not produced by Raimi,) I fully expected her to return as a hero in  Raimi's show.

But no. In this past episode she turned out to be the source of all of the evil in the show. You see, the original movie centered around the Necronomicon, or the book of the dead, written centuries ago, and has the power to summon demons. So imagine how thrilled I was when the story took a twist and it turned out that Lucy Lawless was the one who WROTE the book. Apparently, she's an ancient priestess or something from the dark depths of antiquity. So she's not a good guy, she's a bad guy.

Which was a twist I didn't see coming, even though the story did foreshadow it when Lucy's character had fallen into a fire and emerged unharmed. That should have told me something. But no. I was just too used to Hollywood doing their Hollywood thing with their regulars, and expected her to be the serious, (or straight) hero opposite Bruce Campbell's comedic relief.

So kudos to Sam Raimi and his latest incarnation of the Evil Dead franchise. Good job to all involved. Again, I rarely go for tongue-in-cheek type of shows. But tongue-in-cheek stories with Bruce Campbell work every time. He was born for the genre. Thumbs up for Ash vs. Evil Dead.

Books to Movies

I've talked about making books into movies, and how both of my Killer books would make great action movies. But first, maybe, they should be best sellers, no? Isn't that how movie makers decide which books to make into movies? Doesn't it make sense that if a lot of people bought a certain book, then they would go and see the movie version of that book?

Isn't that how it worked with Harry Potter? I understand that Harry Potter as a book became a huge seller. So huge that the movie makers made it into a series of movies, and now the author is a billionaire.

For the record, I never read the Harry Potter books, and I couldn't stand the movies. It was nothing in which I was interested, but clearly many people were. So there you go. How was it that a mundane story with mundane characters became a huge seller? One thing I'm forgetting is that it wasn't a story aimed at me. Or men like me. Or people like me. It was aimed at the MG/YA audience. Which isn't me or people like me. The MG/YA crowd is a different animal, and tapping into that audience is what made Harry Potter so successful. Forget that it was a rip off of the X-Men premise - a story that featured a school for the gifted. In the X-Men, it was a school for gifted "mutants" whereas, in Harry Potter, it's a school for sorcerers and/or witches. Hello, Bewitched.

But kids loved it, I suppose, and it's an icon now, like Star Wars. Speaking of Star Wars, that's a movie I did like, but only the first two. I mean the first two that came out in the 70s. The third one sucked, and so did the next trilogy from the 90s. Do I plan on seeing the new one out now? Yeah, but not until a couple weeks from now. Don't want to deal with crowds. Btw, Star Wars wasn't even a book. It was a screenplay written by George Lucas. And I've been told his idea for Star Wars was a rip off of a Japanese story. So there you go.

I believe none of my stories are rip offs. Sure there's a bunch of martial arts stories, but my Killer stories are original enough that I won't be accused of ripping off anything. Nor did I rip off anything for my story in The Vase. As for John Dunn, it's a true story. Based on a true story, anyway, and Second Chance came to me in a dream. As for Inside the Outhouse? It's my WIP, but I haven't even concluded the story line in that one. It's a WIP, and that's where it stands right now. Stay tuned.

Inside the Outhouse over 20,000 words

With my recent focus on my Killer books, John Dunn, and The Vase, I've not said much about my WIP, Inside the Outhouse, which, as of yesterday has surpassed the 20,000 word count. Since I don't expect it to total much more than 40,000 words, being an MG/YA book, it's about half finished.

But that's just an approximation. I'm not sure, really, how many words it will total. It could be more, could be less. It's a first person narrative, which, to me, seems very restrictive. Nothing other than the main character's POV is portrayed, and that's far from what my other books are like.

But 1st person narrative seems to be the preferred narrative of MG/YA books, so that's why I chose it. For all other books, I will return to the third person limited POV. That's my preferred method. Never could stand first person. Still can't.

Second Chance Revisions Completed

My fifth novel, Second Chance, a Football Story has been revised. That is, the round two revisions are completed. It won't take as many rounds of revisions as my first four novels did because of all that I learned from the process. It reads very well, now, and there are no inconsistencies or errors in the story line.

All typos are eliminated, too, but that's something that can't be guaranteed, since typos seem to have an uncanny ability to hide from a proofreader as if they had a sentience of their own. Typos, if they were life forms, would be devious things. At any rate, it's a manuscript that would be ready for an editor. Whether or not that editor is going to be a Knox Robinson editor remains to be seen, as I have not yet signed a contract for that book with them.

Which means Second Chance, unlike my John Dunn book, can be signed by any other publisher. It's a different kind of story than any of my other books. I don't know if it would be considered an MG/YA book, but I suppose it could be. There are no kids in it, but there are a lot of high school football players in there. The main characters are young adults, (in their mid-twenties,) so I guess it would qualify.

It's my other book, Inside the Outhouse, that really is an MG/YA book, since its main character is a fourteen year old boy, and he is running around with his same aged friend who has a younger sister who provides the romantic interest. I'll be putting more energy into that one, since Second Chance seems to be good to go at this time. Back to work.

Finally back to Inside the Outhouse

I had Inside the Outhouse on the back burner for long time, I'm glad now that I'm finally continuing work on it. Inside the Outhouse is an MG/YA book that I only thought to write because that genre seems to be the easiest to get published. But since then I did get published. Four times over. And because of that I really had no motive to get back to it. Now that I've started my sixth book, Killer on a Payroll, I'm starting to get back to work on Inside the Outhouse too. So we'll see how that goes. I never wrote the fist drafts of two books at the same time before. It should be fun. Stay tuned.

Why So Many Different Genres?

I have been asked why I have written books that represent so many different genres. I started out with the martial arts thriller Killer of Killers, which by its very nature is the genre of Thriller. But I didn't stick to the Thriller genre. After I finished Killer of Killers I wrote The Vase, which is a very different genre than a Thriller. The Vase qualifies as Suspense. That's why I refer to it as a story of suspense in the Middle East. So I went from the Thriller genre to the genre of Suspense.

After writing The Vase, I did return to the Thriller genre, only to write the follow up to Killer of Killers. I had left an open story line in Killer of Killers, and it really did need to be wrapped up. So after writing The Vase I wrote Killer Eyes, which wraps up the story line from Killer of Killers. Still, there's enough material in Killer Eyes to follow up with a book three whenever I was ready.

But I didn't want to write book three. I hadn't gotten Killer of Killers published yet, and I didn't want to waste time writing three books that might never be published. So next I wrote the John Dunn, Heart of a Zulu book, which is solidly placed in the genre of Historical Fiction. I felt that if any of my books were to get published, the John Dunn  book would, because of the universal interest in the Anglo-Zulu War, in which John Dunn played a major role. And sure enough, that book found a publisher faster than my other two books. It only took me a couple weeks before a real print run publisher offered a contract.

And it was during this period that I wrote a YA book, the football story called Second Chance. It's not a Thriller, nor a Suspense, nor is it Historical Fiction. I guess the subcategory of the YA genres would be a Sports genre. So it's YA Sports genre. But the main reason I wrote it was because I dreamed it. I chronicled that on the blog. I dreamed practically the whole story, wrote the outline the next day and proceeded to write the novel during the course of the school year last year. It was one of the smoothest writing endeavors ever. Why wouldn't it be? I dreamed the story. It was as if I watched a movie on TV, and then proceeded to write that story afterward. It was that easy.

And my latest publisher will publish it. So now that all of that is done, and my Killer Series is indeed published I'm proceeding with Book Three in the Killer Series. It' s not so easy as Second Chance. It will take a lot of effort. But I've done it before, and I'm at it again. Here goes.

Middle Grade/Young Adult Movies Keep Popping Up

No matter how good, how bad, or how terrible they are, MG/YA movies keep getting made. Twilight, as horrible as it was, became a movie. To me, Harry Potter was equally horrible. Still, it was popular enough to make the author of the books a billionaire. Hunger Games, which had the worst concept I could think of, is another successful movie franchise despite the despicable premise. What do they all have in common? They originated as MG/YA books.

Why were they so horrible? For starters, Twilight changed the entire premise of what a vampire was supposed to be. Why? To get teenaged girls to love them, that's why. Harry Potter was a direct rip off of the X-Men premise, (but with sorcerers instead of mutants.) And Hunger Games was nothing more than kids killing kids. I kid you not.

Furthermore, look at the plots of those movies, (at least the first release of each franchise.) The plot of the first Twilight was a "good" vampire who fell in love with a non-vampire, and then the rest of the movie was him protecting her from a "bad" vampire. Okaaay. The first Harry Potter, aside from the direct rip off of the the X-Men premise, (a school for the gifted,) the plot was the "gifted" students playing an intramural game on broomsticks. Really. And Hunger Games...like I said, it was kids killing kids, but in some kind of televised game show. Pathetic.

Now, The Maze Runners is out, and again, it's from an MG/YA book. I haven't seen it yet, but I have no doubt it will fall into the above categories. Well, they're for kids. And kids go to movies. So there you go.

I don't write MG/YA, and my "Killer" books are no way for kids. Kids could read The Vase, but it's not really for kids even though one of the main characters is a fourteen year old boy. My WIP, called Second Chance might be considered an MG/YA book, but I'm not really writing it to be.

Now, I do have one project on the shelf that I'm actually planning to be an MG/YA book. I've mentioned it before. It's called Inside the Outhouse, and I don't have much more than the first page written at this point. It should be a fun book to read, and a fun book to write. In the meantime, keep an eye out for Killer Eyes, John Dunn, and then Second Chance. Then I'll get to Inside the Outhouse and make a deliberate run on the MG/YA genre. We'll see how it goes.

From Martial Arts to Israel to the Zulu War to Football

I have written four books, and have started a fifth. But unlike some authors, I'm an author who doesn't stick to just one genre. Obviously, Killer of Killers and Killer Eyes are martial arts action books. That genre could be called Thriller or Action Adventure. The Vase is set in Israel, and has to do with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, so that genre could be called Suspense or Intrigue. John Dunn, Heart of a Zulu is definitely Historical Fiction, even though many of the events that take place are not fiction and the characters really lived, and really did most of the things they do in the book.

But my latest novel, Second Chance, which I've only just begun, by the way, is a football story. I'm not sure what genre that is, maybe Sports. And the funny thing about that one is that I actually dreamed the story. Not from beginning to end, but I dreamed the plot of the story. I'm inundated with football right now. My oldest son played at his high school, and was a great player, earning All League, Most Valuable, and League Offensive Player of the Year awards. He just played in the North South Charlie Wedemeyer High School All Star game, and he even scored a touchdown in that game.

My youngest son is starting up in Pop Warner football at this time, and will be having his first football practice tomorrow. I'm the kind of father that goes, not only to every game, but to the practices as well. And maybe it's because of all this football around me, not to mention my own football memories, that prompted the dream. But I thought it was a great story, so I started writing it. But that's four different genres with five books.

I've heard that authors should stick to one genre. That way they have a platform, or a brand. Their brand is the genre they write, and their platform, like a blog, will focus on all things that include that genre. Well, I can't do that. I think it's because I have a lot of different interests. I love martial arts action movies, for one thing. And that's why I wanted to write about the world's greatest martial artist in my Killer books.I have an interest in Ceramics, being a ceramics teacher, so that's why I wanted to write The Vase. I have an interest in the Anglo Zulu War, and that's why I wrote John Dunn. And I have an interest in football, thus Second Chance.

Even though I do plan to write a third book in the Killer series, it's not unlikely I will stray to yet another genre altogether, one which I haven't written in yet, and that is what I intend to do with an MG/YA book I've been planning called Inside the Outhouse. And what is my interest that sparked that idea? I'm a Middle School teacher! So having an interest in what my job involves led directly to the idea for that future book. And that would make five different genres. We'll see what else pops up.