Revisions Almost Done

I have spent most of this summer vacation revising my five novels. I am on the last one now. Killer Eyes. What strikes me the most when I am re-reading and revising these manuscripts is that I am so impressed with the stories. They are all such great stories. Nevermind that I'm the one who wrote them. And, now that I am re-writing them, the writing itself is so very much better. Great even. So I have five great stories, all five written so well, even I am impressed. So will they ever get published again? I hope so. We'll see.

The New Year and What it will Bring

So 2025 is well underway. And the new year brings a great prospect of change for the better. I will remain a teacher, sure, as it brings a great deal of contentment and satisfaction knowing that I am contributing to society in a great way. But I would like to believe that I can contribute to society in another way. Sure, raising two great sons who are now in their twenties was a great task. Especially since they too are contributing to society in the health and fitness field. But my contributions, I would like to believe, also contribute in the artistic way. That being in art, music, and literature. I will continue to revise and improve both my music and my novels. I have already begun writing songs for what would be my fifteenth album. I began last summer, but it took a pause when I decided to improve the songs I had already published. And I did. And I will continue to do. And I will continue to improve the novels. My goal is to see the novels republished this summer and to finish my fifteenth album of music this summer as well. It's a tall order. But it's what I do.

The Vase - a novel of suspense in Nazareth

This blog is named after my second novel. The Vase. It has nothing to do with my first novel. Killer of Killers. My third novel, Killer Eyes, is the sequel to Killer of Killers. But The Vase is the novel I expect to hit the big time. And for many reasons. Like all five of my novels, it's excellently written. Even more so since I've revised it time and again even after it's original publication. The same is true for all the five novels I've written. But The Vase has a topical premise. Which is the conflict that is happening right now in Israel. I wrote the book way before the current conflict. That doesn't matter. The conflict in Israel has been ongoing since 1948. And it seems to be a conflict that will never be resolved. I wrote the story because the premise of ancient recordings being viewed in modern times was a premise that had never been done before. Only in my book, The Vase, has this premise been explored. Still, it takes more that an original premise to make a great novel. It takes great writing, and great characters, and a great storyline. Well, forgive me for saying so, but The Vase checks all of those elements. The story is great. The characters are great. And the writing, espcecially after all the revising, is outstanding. I still believe in this book. As soon as it gets published again, it should be marketed correctly this time, because I'm shooting for mainstream publishers. And then...it will make a splash. And once it does, then back to my music. Can't wait to resume the writing of Volume 15. (Yet to be named.) I've written four songs on it so far, but right now I'm focused on republishing The Vase. Hopefully an agent will see in it what I see. We'll see.

Revisions Continue

 Well, I talked about revising. As in revising many of the 145 songs I've written. (Contained in the 14 albums I've "dropped" at this time.) This revising includes re-singing many of them as well. And of course, the result is better songs.  

But at the same time, I've been revising my novels. I have the rights to all of them now, and I have focused on improving them. It makes sense. I'm older now, and more experienced now. I have a better understanding of how to write a novel.

So after doing so, I have resubmitted John Dunn, The Vase, and Second Chance for publication with different publishers. Each book is submitted to a different publisher, that is. (As well as different publishers than the original publishers.) It will be a long wait, but the time goes by whether you submit or not. I had revised each of those three books countless times over the past couple years, so it goes without saying they are all vastly improved at this point.

As for Killer of Killers and Killer Eyes? When I got the rights back I went right to work on revising them too. I found a publisher in the UK who specializes in the genre of Crime Fiction and Thrillers. Just right for my Martial Arts Thrillers. This publisher also noted that in his view a thriller novel should be around 72,000 words or so. So I promptly revised Killer of Killers, which stood at 88,000 words, down to 72,000 words. That's 16,000 words I cut out. And you know what? It's a lot better for doing that.

As for Killer Eyes? It was a novel with 96,000 words. And I'm just now finishing my first pass through it and I've already cut out 12,000 words. So, it's at 84,000 words now, but I'm not finished. I will give it another pass and then another, and if need be another until I'm in the 72,000 range. Can't wait. Because then, I'll submit that one too.

As for my music? I'm not quite done revising my songs yet. I still have to redo the percussion on Looking Back and maybe re-sing parts of Volume 12 and 13. Maybe I'll have time over Christmas break. The good news is I'm pretty much done revising and re-singing Volumes 1 - 11, and 14 too at this point. And those songs are all sounding great right now, even with my less-than-ideal singing voice. But I'm cool with that. Hope you are too. Hope you have time to give some of them a listen. 

Blacklist - Worst Show on TV

So yeah. After this last episode, it is confirmed. The Blacklist has become the worst show on TV. That is, the worst show of the shows I watch. I wouldn't doubt if there's a worse show, but I wouldn't know, since I don't watch all shows on TV. But of those I do watch, Blacklist has become the worst. 

What that means is I will no longer be watching it. I have better things to do than watch a show where the writers, producers, and even the creators of the show are trying to come up with storylines for a show they had no idea would still be on the air for its eighth season. (And it's been renewed again.)

But whatever, I'm off this ride now. As early as its fourth season, it started flopping. And each successive season after that it only got worse. I thought at one point it had bottomed out. But no. It would be now it has bottomed out, if that means I'm done with it.

You see, once a character is no longer true to his/her true character as had been established, that means the writers are grasping at straws and hoping to put something together to keep their ride going. But Red Reddington believing Lizzy's comment that his loyal lawyer has turned against him to join Lizzy, and then trusting some dude who had only just made his first appearance, was just too much for me.

That was so NOT like Red Reddington to trust some guy he never met before over someone who had already proven his loyalty. In short, it was bullshit. And so we have a bullshit show now, whereas once we had a show that I had called my favorite TV show. Now it's just a joke.

Such is life. So many things have happened that are bullshit lately, it's just another one on the "black" list. Excuse the pun. But I thought it was a good one. Or, it could be said the Blacklist is now on my RED list. (That is, if Red lists are the shows I DON'T watch.)

Bye Bye Blacklist. You lost yet another viewer.

Favorite Things

 I've been very critical of the TV show The Blacklist. And for good reason. It sucks. But why would I care so much as to dedicate time to point that out? Well, because it had been my favorite TV show, that's why. And to see it "fall from grace" so to speak was a huge disappointment to me.

It seems to have been a recurring thing to me with the things I've considered my favorite things. The Raiders football team is another example. The Raiders were a great franchise. For a long time. And then they become a very bad franchise. And that has been going on for a very long time, too.

I had a favorite rock band. Black Sabbath. But they couldn't keep their line up stable for the life of them. And even though they still made good music, there is no denying the music suffered. One day I will list every song they did, or every album, and give an honest opinion of how I feel about it. 

As for Blacklist, being a TV show, they have more control of being able to maintain greatness. A football team probably has the least control. You have 31 other teams, all with professional athletes, some of whom turn out to be better athletes than others. And when your ability to judge talent suffers, your team goes down. And it's not atypical for rock bands to have problems with their line ups. How many times have we heard about egos and drugs interfering with a bands success? Often.

But a TV show should not have any of these obstacles. If you have the same line up of actors, which it does, and the same writers, which it does, then there is no reason for the show to tank. But Blacklist's writers seem to have forgotten what made the show great.

It was the character of Red Reddington that made the show great. NOT the character of Elizabeth Keene. And the character of Dembe, Red's African bodyguard. And the storyline that followed, which was how Red got the FBI to take down his competition in the underworld, all the while granting him impunity for his own crimes. That was genius. And the show was fantastic.

But after three seasons, they seem to have lost their way. Red's closest allies betray him, and the writers began focusing on topical issues that had no place in the TV show, (like that horrible episode about abortion) which was a very disgusting and disturbing story.

But my repeated criticism is the repeated idiocy of the writing that has Lizzy hating the man who had saved her life over and over again. And this stupid "secret" Red has, which she just can't get over. And now, it's starting to bother me, too. The show has teased its audience enough. Who the hell is Red? Is he Lizzy's father or not? He said he's not. He said she shot her father and then the house burned down. But there was one episode that they showed a clue. In a scene where Red was changing his shirt we saw horrible burn scars on his back. So, what does that mean? Could it mean he was there when the house burned down? Could it be that he is the "father' that Lizzy shot? 

Two things have to happen. Let the audience in on the secret. Reveal that Red is the "father" that Lizzy shot, that it was he who saved Lizzy's life that day, even though she had shot him, and he suffered burns for the effort. And stop this ridiculous hating of Red. He has saved Cooper's life, Ressler's life, and just about everyone else's life on that damn show. Can we please stay grounded in reason if not reality? If they can do that, then I can say once again it's my favorite show.

Volume 1 Rockin' the First Steps

My fist album of original music will be on this CD. It doesn't exist yet, because I skipped it when I decided to put my music on CDs. But I certainly do intend, one day soon, to get there. It's not such a rockin' album really. As I said before, these are mostly love ballads and slow tunes.

No, this is not a painting by me. This is a painting by Jean-Francois Millet and I thought it would make for a good first album design.

You can guess why I might call my first CD of music Rockin' the First Steps. Clearly it's because these were my first steps at writing original songs. But again, it's not really a rockin' album. And that's really not me. Which is why I skipped it.

But I'm on the home stretch of putting my music on CDs right now, and since the world of publishing is on hiatus at this time, (at least as far as I'm concerned,) I'm focusing on my music. And since this CD will contain the fist songs I ever wrote, I thought I'd post it first. So there you are. Next up will be Volume 2 Rockin' the Millennium. That one does exist.

Transition to Music Writing

From writing music to writing novels was my first transition. And although I don't aspire to have any music published, I have found it to be just as rewarding as writing novels. Yes, I've had all five of my novels published. And no, I don't expect to write any more novels. Because it just takes too long. After several years of writing and revising, and then editing, and then more revising, the return is just not worthwhile. Sure I like rereading the novels now and then. And sure every time I do it's just as entertaining as the first time. Just as much fun as writing them even.

But writing a song takes far less time. Even writing an entire album takes far less time. About twenty years ago, or so, before I entered my novel writing phase, I was into writing music. Since my early teens I had been writing music, really. I had always played the piano, and I was in a rock band in my teenage years. And it was then I had started to write my first original songs. Not many. But eventually I had written enough songs to comprise an album.

By that time my band had disbanded, and I never entered into another band. I was giving my artwork priority, by going to college and graduating with a B.A. in Art from SJSU. And even though I never became a professional artist, I did get a teaching credential and an M.A. and became an art teacher in the California public school system, thus enabling a career to support a wife and family.

And so it went. But I had untapped creative resources bubbling within me. And soon after my first son was born, I went back to writing music. The first thing I did was put together all of those songs I had written in my youth and put them on a cassette tape. I had remembered them only because I would play them now and again on my family piano which I had inherited. But I bought some new electronic pianos and recorded the songs using synthesized instrumentation.

I called this first effort Volume 1 and I wasn't particularly enthralled with it. I was, at heart, a hard rocker, and these songs were anything but that. Mostly they were slow love songs, since I was an over-the-top romantic, being the kind of kid who would fall in love with the pretty girl in my life at the time. So I wrote a song about each of them. By the time I was 20 I had written near a dozen love songs for as many different girls. But that wasn't all. I had written a theme song for the story had begun to illustrate. And a few other songs as well. I think 16 total on this first album.

But then I began to rock. It was something that just flowed from me. I hit a phase and for the next two or three years, I wrote another 120 plus songs. One after another. I mean the songs just flowed out of me. I put together Volume 2 with 11 more songs, then Volume 3, then Volume 4, then 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and more.

Each album averages 10 songs per album. To be exact, Volume 1 has 16 songs, Volume 2 has 11, Volume 7 has 9, and all other volumes have 10 each. It was two songs past Volume 13 when I stopped writing music because that's when I got the crazy idea to start writing books. And I wrote four novels in the next four years and one more soon thereafter.

And this blog chronicles the time I spent in that endeavor. But now, I have gone back to my music. I found upon my return to music that I had to do with my songs the same thing novelists have to do with their novels. Which is REVISE them.

Most of the songs were too long, so I had to edit them, as in cutting them down in length and making them much better just like a writer does with his/her books.

One of the biggest problems I had was vocals, as I am no singer. And I cannot pay a singer to sing my songs. So I became the vocalist. At first I was horrid as anyone who's listened to my Volume 12 can attest. It's posted right here on the blog. But with practice I'm getting better. Make no mistake, I'm not fooling myself. I know I will never be a singer. My best hope is that one day a real singer will want to sing the songs. One day. Who knows when that will be.

The good news is that I have discovered new recording devices; like the Zoom H2n, which is far superior to the old-fashioned cassette recorder I used to record Volume 12 and is currently on SoundCloud and can be accessed right here on the blog. I'm proud of the music, and not proud of the vocals. At this point in time I have revised and re-recorded Volumes 2 through 9. Volumes 2 - 8 are now CDs. (Thanks to King Tet Productions in San Diego.)

Right now I'm in the middle of revising Volume 10. And when I put the vocals on 9 and 10 I'll make them into CDs also. When I'm finished with all 13 volumes, I may or may not put together a complete Volume 14, but my plan is to put all of them on SoundCloud like I did for Volume 12. My ultimate plan is to delete the Volume 12 that's on SoundCloud now and replace it with a new and revised Volume 12. (I expect the vocals to be much better by then.)

So that's what I've been up to for the last couple years. Soon I will post my albums on this blog too; the music, the covers and the lyrics as well. All thirteen of them. Maybe more. Stay tuned.

The Last Kingdom way better than VIkings

The Last Kingdom - a Great Show

And it's not even close. Netflix's The Last Kingdom is 100 times better than History Channel's Vikings. That's not an exaggeration. It's that much better.

I've seen all five seasons of Vikings. I've had mixed feelings about it. Mostly I think it sucks. And there's a whole lotta reasons for that. I've only seen the first four episodes now of Netflix's The Last Kingdom. But that's all I needed to see to reach my conclusion that it's way better than Vikings. It takes place during the same time period as Vikings, and it's the same type of show. You know, Vikings invading England and both shows include the rise of Alfred the Great.

But Vikings is a poorly written show. It's premise is poor. The plots are poor. The directing is poor. Everything is poor. Bottom line: it sucks. In Vikings, Alfred the Great becomes king because his brother stepped down from consideration. And then his mother kills him anyway so as not to threaten her second son's claim to the throne. That's all bullshit.

In real life Alfred's brother WAS king, like in The Last Kingdom, and then when he died, Alfred became king, like in The Last Kingdom. And it's a way better story that way. It's the TRUE story. (Actually, three of Alfred's brothers were king before him, but the point is already made.) And the further point is that the Vikings' writers messed everything up with their attempt to make the story more melodramatic. But all they did is make it suck. The real life story is better and The Last Kingdom has it much closer to the way it was in real life and is far superior for that reason.

Vikings - this show sucks

Oh, and there's the "woman warrior" thing. Sheesh. I'm so tired of this "warrior woman" concept Hollywood is promoting over and over again. I mean Hollywood is shoving it down our throats that women are equal warriors to men. That is bullshit as I've chronicled here on the blog several times. I have made clear that women CAN be warriors, and some CAN be equal to most men, but that is the exception. I say again. It's the EXCEPTION, not the rule.

The Vikings show will have you believe it's the rule. They have women out there as warriors on the battlefield in near equal numbers as the men, and many of them are outfighting their male counterparts as if the men are nothing more than children. Again, that's bullshit. Sure, as I've said before there could very well have been a few women fighting in battles, but I say again that's the exception not the rule. And in The Last Kingdom they have it right. There are NO women warriors on any battlefield.

And I must be clear, that's not to say that women are weak characters. I will make my point for the hundredth time that women are STRONG characters, but they don't have to go around beating people up, or killing people to prove it. I would think any intelligent woman (or any intelligent man) would be in complete agreement with me.

But I digress. Suffice it to say The Last Kingdom is written way better, is produced way better, is directed way better, and is acted way better, with way better stories and more compelling plots than Vikings and again I say it's not even close. How and why Vikings keeps getting renewed for additional seasons is beyond me. It sucks. And it's even hard to watch.

So here's to the show that deserves to be long lived. Here's to the show that is fun to watch, the show that gets it right. The Last Kingdom. A way better show.

Arrow - Getting tedious and tiresome

When I decided to watch some of these DC comics TV shows, (without ever being a DC comics fan, that is) I decided to give Arrow a try. That was a few  years ago, and I like the show. Stephen Amell was a great actor for the main character who becomes the Green Arrow, and the show was gritty, filled with action and quite dramatic. I started watching The Flash soon thereafter and felt the same charm I felt from Arrow, but I still liked Arrow better. It seemed more serious.

But this season the shows have reversed. Now it's the Flash that's better written. And I'll tell you why. Mostly it's because the story lines in Arrow have become tedious and tiresome. Arrow had accrued a team of fellow crime fighters by this the seventh season. And after several years of fighting crime together, saving one another's lives in the process, the team has quit on the Green Arrow. This is something I can't buy into. Why? For the reason they left. That's why. The team of three disgruntled members are acting all butt-hurt because Felicity, (Arrow's wife) had tracked them on her computer for the reason that one of them was going to betray Arrow to the FBI.

And it turned out to be true. One of them was. But all three of them quit the team because now they say they can't trust the Green Arrow. This is a load of crap. I mean, when you've been fighting wars as a team for years, saving lives and each others' lives for that long, you don't let a simple "tracking" for the reason explained split you up. But it did and it's bullshit.

And then Arrow's best friend and closest ally quits because he too is all butt-hurt because the Green Arrow won't let HIM be the Green Arrow. Say what? Well, yeah, that is exactly it. I mean is this guy still in kindergarten? John Diggle was his first partner in fighting crime and most loyal, except, um, he's not so loyal as it turned out.

I mean it's all so petty. And ridiculous. If the writers wanted the Green Arrow to go solo again, they should have written the stories a lot better than that. So yeah, they suck now. A shame, really, as I did like the show before this latest season.

As for Flash? Like I said in an earlier post, it's been pretty dark lately. Gritty and serious drama here. This latest villain is a little whacked. His goal is to "enlighten" humanity, he says. But by killing dozens of innocent people in the process? I mean, there's something wrong with that picture. It's like you want to save the world by killing people. Um, that doesn't really work. Reminds me of the stupid plot in the latest Avengers movie. The bad guy wants to save the universe by killing half of it. Pretty stupid plot if you ask me.

But back to the Flash, we've seen the demise of some good characters. I liked the Elongated Man. But he was killed recently. I hope they can bring him back somehow, like they did in Arrow so many times. I didn't really like it in Arrow when they did that. I mean Arrow brought Black Canary back to life, and he brought back his sister from the dead as well, and it was getting to be too much.

But if they can bring back Elongated Man somehow, that would be okay with me. In the meantime, I am enjoying Flash more than Arrow this latest season. Will it end up that way? I'm almost through with the full season of both shows. We'll see when I'm finished.

Arrow - Same Stories - Flash - Corny Ones.

I'm back to watching Arrow and Flash, and, well, I'm disappointed in the same story lines. Like before, Arrow has a son who he's worried about, and like always, the father-son relationship is strained. The mother was killed, it seems, in the prior season finale, and Oliver Queen, (Green Arrow) has to raise his son as a single father now. But of course, the son is acting like a jerk, and gives little credit to Oliver for his efforts.

Glad my sons aren't like that. It makes for an uninteresting show. You can't help but dislike the character of the son. But whatever. At the same time we have another recurring story line. Once again, Oliver's identity as the Green Arrow has been revealed. And once again he's under investigation by law enforcement for the "crimes" of the Green Arrow. This is so old it's ridiculous. The show has already done this. And it's not interesting to go through it again.

Another reason, besides redundancy, is the fact that everyone recognizes the Green Arrow as a hero. But of course, not the investigators. They always seem to think he's as bad as any street thug, and not the guy who's saved countless lives, and has even saved the entire city multiple times. But does any of that matter? Why, no, he's got to be brought to "justice" for the "crime" of being a good guy.

It's so pathetic, I'm finding myself wondering why the hell am I bothering with this crap. At least Flash isn't rehashing the same story line over again. He's got a new suit which seemed pretty cool with the Tony Stark-like implements that Cisco put in there while Barry was in Limbo. But of course, there's got to be a new baddie who has the power to manipulate the techs in the suit.

Yeah, it's all corny, but at least it's not something they did before on the show, like Arrow. Maybe I'm too old to be watching these shows. My students are watching these shows, and some of them think it's cool that their teacher watches the same shows, so I'll keep it secret that I'm not really enjoying them anymore.

I guess it's true. After about three seasons, shows just seem to run out of stories that made them good in the first place. It happens to almost all shows. I used to love The Blacklist, but it turned into a stupid show. Even Homeland got lousy after season five. At least it had two seasons past it's third that were still tops.

Writers only have so much in them, it seems. Maybe they end up grasping at straws. Maybe they need more collaboration. Maybe they need to think outside the box. Or maybe that's what got them into trouble in the first place. I wonder if the creators are involved. I would think that would be important, meaning the person who created the characters might have the best insight into what should happen to them and how they should respond. Maybe that makes too much sense.

The Vase - Book revised

As the second book I had written, The Vase had already undergone several revisions. It was my first book to be revised with the lessons I learned from a real editor. Meaning not just a Beta reader. The editor was from the now defunct publisher Penumbra Publishing, and the lessons were vital to my future as a novelist. And with five novels under my belt at this point, it was indeed vital.

It's true that Melange - the publisher for my first book, Killer of Killers - advised me on much of what the Penumbra editor taught me. But it was Penumbra that really drilled the lessons home. And from that point on I became a much better novelist - an author who writes novels.

I went back and applied those lessons to Killer of Killers, of course, and Melange was gracious enough to allow me to do that. And since Penumbra folded, I have been going back over The Vase, time and again, revising and revising, improving the prose, and yes, even making better judgment calls on the original edits.

The Vase is being rewritten, not only in the application of the lessons I learned, but with the original intent on how the story unfolds. The editor had his own ideas, and applied them to a small degree to my story line. I made it back into the way I wanted it, with one exception. I had originally intended for Professor Weiss to relay his version of the climactic events in a flashback scene, as if the reader was experiencing the event "live". But the editor wanted the events "told" by the professor after Captain Mathias caught up to him and asked him what happened.

I think that was the better option. And the reason is because the events Weiss relays contain some controversial, or even questionable, occurrences, and when those controversial and/or questionable occurrences are told after the fact, then the reader can use his or her own judgment as to whether those event really happened the way the professor told them to the captain.

Otherwise, the reader will be experiencing the events as did Professor Weiss, and they would be more akin to seeing it as what really happened, and then there would be no questionable aspect involved.

So yeah, the editor did contribute much to that book, not only in teaching me all the current rules for writing a novel, but made the right call for that particular post climax scene.

And as I revise The Vase for the umpteenth time I am greatly improving the prose, making every single paragraph on every single page the best writing as humanly possible. It's truly a work of art at this point. I can't wait to resubmit to publishers when I'm finally done. Multiple publishers had accepted it for publication in its original state. Cant wait to see the results when I submit it now that it's a vastly superior book to what it was then.

Heart of a Zulu to be submitted again

I was celebrating my opportunity to submit both John Dunn; Heart of a Zulu and The Vase to Big Five publishers recently. The Vase has been submitted to Macmillan and Penguin Random House. And Heart of a Zulu is submitted to Penguin Random House as of last week. But tomorrow I will also submit it to Macmillan. That will be two of my books submitted to two of the five of the Big Five.

Yeah I know my chances are slim. But I am confident in the overall quality of both books. Meaning the writing in both is top notch and the stories are top notch. After ten years of taking novel writing seriously, my writing has evolved to the point that exceeds most novel writers out there at this time. I'm not saying I'm the best writer in the world. But I'm a lot better than many.

So that means the writing is good enough. More than good enough. As for the stories? Let's take a look. Let's start with The Vase. Here is a story with a premise that has never before been used in any kind of story anywhere. In no book, movie or TV show has the premise of a story included ancient recordings. That's because in ancient times, recording was not possible. Well, of course recording was possible in the form of ancient writings. Like the Bible, and the writings of ancient historians. We've all heard of Herodotus, Thucydides, Tacitus, and the like. They "recorded" the ancient events of their times. But they recorded those events in the only way possible back then. In writings.

But I'm talking about recordings as we know recordings today. AUDIO and VIDEO recordings! And I'll say it again. No book, movie, or TV show has featured ancient AUDIO and VIDEO recordings of ancient events ever. Because it wasn't possible to do that back then.

But wait. If the atmospheric conditions were such that electromagnetic phenomena were happening at the time, then audio-video recordings just might have been possible in the grooves of a spinning vase. And once that vase had been fired in a kiln, and became eternal bisque-ware, then those recordings could possibly survive the millennia to this day.

And that's the premise in the story of The Vase! (And it's why the book is called The Vase!) I can't fathom how any editor or publisher couldn't find that concept fascinating. It's why so many publishers offered me contracts when I first proposed the book. At least five publishers were interested in publishing that book. Unfortunately, none of the publishers were Big Five publishers, so no Big Five publisher was aware of it. Back then you needed an agent to submit to a Big Five publisher. Alas...

But I'm not a newbie to publishing anymore. I'm savvy to the ins and outs of publishing and now I have this opportunity to submit to some Big Five publishers. And it's all for the better. I mean after so many years, I've become a better writer, as I was saying. And with another chance to improve the prose that's just what I've done. And of course it makes the chances of being accepted by a Big Five publisher so much greater.

The same thing is true with John Dunn; Heart of a Zulu. Here is another fascinating story, maybe more so because the story is actually TRUE. It's based on the true story of John Dunn and features the real historic events of the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. And I know a lot of people are interested in that war. Also, the genre speaks for itself. Readers love historical fiction, and even more people love historical fiction which is based on a true story. And the John Dunn story is underrepresented in books. There have been a couple, but they are out of print and the current supply of books offers next to nothing in the way of the John Dunn story. Thus, the timing of the John Dunn book is just right.

Here's hoping that Macmillan or Penguin Random House will see it that way too. I know the writing and the stories are excellent. I'm hoping the editors of Macmillan or Penguin Random House will agree and I'll have some good news in about three months. That means I should know something by this coming May. Fingers crossed.

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.

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.

Back to The Vase

Now that my John Dunn book is completed and awaiting its release in July, I have decided to make the most of my time with one of my other books The Vase. It was an earlier novel I wrote, and the one for which this blog is named. And now I have this opportunity to go back and improve it much like I did with Killer of Killers, and like I did all these past months with the John Dunn manuscript. That is, I was going over it and over it and finding any and all typos, and making improvements in the prose wherever I thought it was needed.

And because of that the manuscript is better than ever. I wasn't quite happy with The Vase when Penumbra Publishing released it some years ago. And now that Penumbra has gone out of business, and all rights to The Vase have been returned to me, I will make it the ultimate piece of literature and then get it published again.

To be frank, Penumbra released The Vase before I believed it was ready. I wasn't quite finished revising it when my editor decided it was good enough and pulled the trigger for publication. Well, it's flattering to think an editor believed it was good enough, but I didn't think it was. And I'm the author. I believed it needed more work. But I wasn't the boss. The editor was the boss, and he published it. It was good, sure, but I'm a perfectionist, as all artists should be.

And what makes a perfectionist? Being PICKY! Yes, PICKY, PICKY, PICKY. Truth be told, if you are not picky about your own work, you are not a perfectionist, and your work will always be less than what it might have been had you been PICKY.

I'll never forget someone called me picky because I wanted an art piece to be rendered better. I wanted this part better, and I wanted that part better. They were little things, but nevertheless, they were things evident in the composition, and I wanted them fixed. Oh, but that took more work, and since the piece was a joint effort, the other person was unwilling to put in that extra work. I insisted, and therefore came the name-calling. Well, PICKY, was the word this person used.

And I will freely admit to being picky when it comes to anything that I want to be PERFECT. And as I tell my students, art is really the only thing in this world that CAN be perfect. So make it happen! Make it perfect!. And right about now, The Vase is nearly there. Sure, it's not quite there yet. But soon enough it will be. And when it's released again, be it by one of my current publishers, Knox Robinson or Melange, or yet another, the manuscript will be perfect.

And what a story it is. A unique and original concept. Ancient scenes recorded in the grooves of a ceramic vase. And being released by accident in the form of solar-powered holograms. And of course all the subplots that go with it. The people who see the images, not knowing they are holograms projected from a spinning ancient vase, think the images are ghosts. And all the other happenings, and all right there in Nazareth, Israel.

Of course, we all know who spent time in Nazareth, Israel, don't we? Yep, the one and only. So The Vase is being revised right now, meaning all the things I wasn't happy with in the first release are being taken care of right now. Can't wait to see this one in print again. It could be the best story of all. At least of all the stories I've written. But, you know what? Maybe the best story of all stories ever written. That's how I feel about it. We'll see how that goes over. At the earliest it would be a 2018 release. Stay tuned.

Episodes that Pack a Punch

I'm still watching The Walking Dead show when it's new episodes, that is, but I'm not often satisfied with it. My wife and I may watch an entire episode, and then turn to each other with disgust, as absolutely nothing happened in that episode. It didn't further the storyline forward at all, it didn't provide any revelations toward the plot or characters, and it was just a waste of an hour watching the darn show. With The Walking Dead, it happens often, and perhaps it's the result of a show that's in its sixth season. Despite being based on a currently released graphic novel, it must be running out of source material. I guess that sort of thing is inevitable.

I remember a time when the James Bond franchise was doing basically the same plot every ensuing movie. Only recently, with the Daniel Craig version of Bond, the producers have moved away from the formula plot for Bond movies. You know, there's a mad scientist, or a demented billionaire, or an evil organization seeking world domination or even world destruction, and as Bond investigates, he is captured and held prisoner for a time, but then he foils the plot and is reinforced by a cavalry of government agents, and the show concludes with a shoot out in the scale of a major battle.

With The Walking Dead, there are so many characters that episodes often stray to show what's up with so and so, and even though the audience sees what's up with so and so, nothing happens to further the plot or reveal any answers to any questions.

But with these White Queen and White Princess shows, each show is jam packed with events and twists, and turns, that it's like in one episode  you've got the equivalent of an entire Walking Dead season. That's what I call packing a punch. Wow.

Again, I'll watch an episode of Walking Dead or any other show, and walk away from it as having not even watched it. Nothing happened. No sense of entertainment had been achieved. But these shows about England's War of the Roses, on the other hand, are like an entire season per episode. That's great writing. It's faster paced than Downton Abbey. Which is also quite good. But it's based on real events. And I like that. Like my John Dunn book. It too is based on real events.

And talking about John Dunn, the final galley changes have been submitted, and no more revisions will be forthcoming. I'm hoping that it's because no more are needed. And if that's the case, I'll be a happy camper. Can't wait for July. Because it's in July when the John Dunn book is being released. And July is right around the corner.

Final Corrections to John Dunn made...

...and the manuscript has been submitted a final time. I think I'm not too late, since Dana had told me the last time I sent in corrections that the manuscript had not been formatted yet. So this time what was the final corrections? I had made it the norm in the writing of my story to use Zulu words mixed in with English, especially when the dialogue was supposed to be spoken in the Zulu language, which in Zulu is called isiZulu, and I do use that word in the story.

However, when referring to the Zulu people or any other native people in the region, I simply use "the Zulu," or the "Swazi", etc. In the Zulu language, the word amaZulu would be used in referring to the Zulu people. But I'm not going that route. As I said, I do use Zulu words often, and I italicize those words, with the exceptions of individual names and the names of places.

But consistency is the issue. If I don't use the 's' on the end of the word Zulu(s) in one dialogue where the language spoken is isiZulu, then I must stay consistent throughout. I discovered the consistency wasn't there, but after using the word search app, I was able to fix that, and now the consistency is there. So I dare say the manuscript is error-free at this point. And it's a good feeling knowing that.

Of course, I can't be surprised if a typo pops up somewhere, as they seem to be invisible sometimes, until that time that it's too late to fix, and then they appear, like Indians popping out of holes in the ground to ambush unsuspecting cowboys. I guess that analogy is outdated, or perhaps even not so politically correct, but whatever, my point is made. Onward to publication! Can't wait!

Into the Badlands - Shows don't get worse

I'm in a lull right now, with Blacklist in hiatus. So my wife and I started to watch Into the Badlands, and I was once again insulted by the "tough chick" syndrome that seems to be inundating Hollywood. Well, at least at the TV level. There's only six shows per season, and through those six shows I had to suffer through bad acting, bad directing, bad dialogue, and horrible writing.

I mean I already had to suffer through Sameen Shaw's ridiculous portrayal as a tough chick in Person of Interest, and I really couldn't handle anymore of that. But after watching episode one of season two of Into the Badlands and watching this red-haired chick called "the widow" kill fifty dudes all at once, I just had to quit. My wife still watched, but I decided to get back to writing.

Unless it's Supergirl or Wonder Woman, I just refuse to even TRY to believe one chick can beat up dozens of male fighters all at the same time. I can handle a tough chick, don't get me wrong. And I swear I'm no chauvinist. But one chick against ten, twenty, and now fifty dudes all at once? Nope. I'm done. The show lost me, and I'm not coming back.

The ONLY thing that MIGHT have kept me watching that show is the character Sunny, who was the only person, male or female, who was able to beat The Widow, but Sunny betrays his "master" even kills him, and then gets bested by some orange cloaked monks. Now, he's some kind of slave somewhere. So no. Again. I'm done.

I readily admit, as I've done often before, that women ARE strong. They ARE tough. But women are different than men. Is anyone going to disagree with that? No. I didn't think so. Women are strong and tough in a different way than men. Women just don't go around beating up people. They don't go around killing people. It's just not something women do.

Bottom line, women don't make a life out of killing and beating up people. Sure there are exceptions. Ronda Rousey, for instance. She's pretty tough. She's a professional fighter after all. She made a living out of fighting. But she only fights other women fighters. I don't believe she can beat up even a single male fighter, let alone fifty all at once. As a matter of fact, she can't even hold her own against other FEMALE fighters lately.

Bottom line is this. Tough chicks that are fighters can beat up OTHER tough chicks who are fighters. But they can NEVER beat up a dude who himself is a professional fighter. Not one. Not ever. So what Hollywood is trying to show us is miserably ridiculous and for me, at least, unwatchable. And I've had enough. No more wasting my time watching that nonsense.

Oh, btw, just for the record, in my book Killer Eyes, I created a pretty tough chick. The leader of the Killers Guild is a chick. A pretty tough chick. She even did beat up and kill a male fighter in a duel for the top spot in the Killers Guild. But she did it in a womanly way. She didn't overcome him in brute strength or even with fancy martial arts moves. She did it in a BELIEVABLE way.

So there you have it. It's all in the writing. And in Person of Interest, and Into the Badlands, the writing for these tough chicks didn't make it.

And Let There Be Editing

It was perfect timing. My publisher, Dana, emailed me this morning, advising me that my John Dunn book was next in line for editing and that she needed the latest version of the manuscript by the end of the day. Well, the good news was that I was right at the wrap up stage of my final read-through and revision. So I was happy to let her know that I would indeed send it by the end of the day, which I just did.

It's been a long time coming. But I was glad for that. There was so much to check on, regarding the time period and all the elements involved with a real life historical story, like Victorian England, and Colonial rule, and the British Empire, et al. And then the African colonies, and the Zulus and John Dunn's relationship with Cetshwayo, and it's all so fascinating!

But it's done. At least my part at this time. Like I said, the timing was perfect. And Dana has it now. I suppose that since she wanted it by the end of today, the editing will begin tomorrow. And going by how things went for my first KRP book, Second Chance, the editing should take less than a week. That means by next Monday or Tuesday, I'll have it back to incorporate whatever editing she might require.

And again, going by the last book, it won't be too much. But this book is a lot bigger than that one. It's almost twice as many words. But it's also mostly a true story. So who knows what changes she'll require. I don't expect too many, since I put in tireless work up to this point. But the ball is rolling, and I think an advanced eBook copy will be available by the end of April.

I worked so hard on this book. Harder than any other book. Historical Fiction is a genre I love. And now I've finally written a book in that genre. Can't wait to see it in my hands. Here's the cover. My only regret is that I didn't use my own artistic talent to illustrate a cover. Maybe I will one day. In the meantime, this one will have to do. It could be that the mask is symbolic. You know, a white man, being a Zulu. Yeah, it sounds a little too esoteric, but whatever, dude. Just go with it.

John Dunn; Heart of a Zulu
Coming this summer