I was all primed to do a review of Top Gun: Maverick with an additional paragraph or two concluding with how I. Am. Maverick. 

Fortunately, I decided against that. You're welcome.

Yesterday the Corsican brothers were here and set up round two of a miniatures game. I neglected to get pictures. In this case they had to slay a dinosaur (a real challenge) from which they would take a key that would unlock a tumbling tower. At the tower they had to remove a block and make it fall down (no challenge at all), and find the block with the code that they would use to get into a secret room on the other side of the board. The rules they have made with only slight guidance from me allow them to move and also to move the creatures, which they have also created. The creatures, in addition to the two dinosaurs (actual plastic dinosaurs), included a plethora of black leeches (the ends cut from the legs of several giant, black plastic spiders), two giant spiders, a transparent (represented by the translucent insert from an Old Spice deodorant), a longrad (consisting of two pens placed end-to-end), and the golden turtle (a turtle keychain). In the game we had played a couple weeks ago, they had made the creatures too powerful and had been unable to defeat them. They trimmed back the excess power and played the first "level" again, and it worked out pretty well. That one was difficult, but they were able to win. 

This time (the second level), the game made a pretty terrible story. While one of them occupied himself with collecting leeches with which to tame the transparent, the other had the longrad attack the dinosaur, and then joined in the attack on the dino. In the fairly short game, the transparent was tamed, and the dinosaur slain. The tower was tumbled, the code block found, and the two simply transferred to the special room with the code to level up--all anti-climactic and nearly as exciting as watching a bathtub fill. Afterward, I tried to explain that stories--and games--are better when things are not too easy (and the rules don't constantly change to benefit them). The story is better when the characters don't succeed easily. I didn't explain how there should be tension on every page, or go into my little speech about "The Trauma, The Drama, and The Dream," but I did try to help them understand that stories and games are more interesting and satisfying if things are difficult to accomplish and success comes after a series of failures, or after overcoming several very challenging obstacles. 

I'm not sure they got it. They wanted to get right into the next game, but I assured them we didn't have time to make a new board, add new creatures, and to play before they had to go home. One of the brothers finally asked a question--and I don't know whether it was with regard to not starting a new game, or my lecture on making things more challenging. He asked, "Why are you stifling our creativity?" Either way, it was pretty funny.

 

Interview with J. E. Taylor

Author of

The Season of The Dragon Series, A Fractured Fairy Tale Series, and more

Please tell me a little about your current work in progress.

My current WIP is a fun foray into vampire hunting that goes wrong. It’s an Urban Fantasy and the first book in my Shades of Night series. My main character works for an agency that hunts monsters and she ends up being on their most hunted list. Whatever could go wrong, does.

I’m also working on my 9^th Fractured Fairy Tale, a beauty and the beast retelling where Belle is the beast and has to over come a vanity curse.

Where did you get the idea for this book or series?

For Wicked Heart, the idea came when I saw the premade set and has percolated for a bit while I wrote my Season of the Dragon trilogy.

I am an extremely visual person and covers do generate ideas for me. Sometimes the ideas grow fast and furious the way Silent Night did for me when I saw that cover last year. That one was immediate, and it took less than a month to write that short story. But others, like Belle have taken a while for the details to form.

Do you write in more than one genre?

Yes. I write in Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, Horror, Thrillers, Mystery, Suspense. Everything has a supernatural suspense theme woven through it regardless of the genre.

Tell me about something that you believe makes your writing unique or worthy of attention.

My books hold my reader’s attention, and they are compelled to finish the story. They care about the characters I’ve created which is always good. I tell the kind of stories that I want to read, so that excitement and passion comes through on the pages.

Is there anything about your personal history or personality that manifests strongly in your writing?

Not that I am aware of, but my husband tells me he can see pieces of me in my characters. I guess my strong will may lend itself to my characters. I’m a bit stubborn on things I believe in and it takes quite a bit to sway me from a path that I’ve focused on.

What else would be helpful for readers to know about you?

Most people when they meet me can’t believe I write such dark stuff. I am usually the one in meetings that cracks a joke or makes people laugh to ease the tension.  And I smile a lot. I’m basically a happy well-adjusted person, but I do have a very dark imagination and I always have. The what ifs are my favorite muse to follow. I would be Alice going into that rabbit hole just to see what was on the other side.

Excluding your own work, what underrated author or book would you recommend that more people read? Why?

Katie Salidas. Her Chronicles of the Uprising series was an awesome take on vampires and supernaturals. And her Agents of Asset series is lighter than Chronicles of the Uprising, but it is just as entertaining.  She has other bodies of work, but these two series are some of my favorites. It also doesn’t hurt that we ended up co-writing a series after years of beta reading for each other.

Which of your books do you most highly recommend? Why?

This is a tough one because it all depends on what genre the reader is looking for.

For Mystery and thriller readers, Crystal Illusions is the easy answer.

For Urban Fantasy readers, Season of the Dragon because it has a kick ass female lead that wants to save the world.

For Paranormal Romance readers, my fractured fairy tale series because who doesn’t love a good fairy tale romance.

And for those that need a little Christmas spirit any time during the year – pick up Silent Night. You won’t be disappointed.

Which break, event, decision, or fortuitous circumstance has helped you or your writing career the most?

Backspace.org.  It doesn’t exist anymore, but there used to be conferences in New York City every year and I attended a couple of these. And I was even on a panel for one. Every single person I met in that online community from the big authors to the little fishes were all very giving of their time and feedback. Some of my long-time writing friends are from that group and I trust them with my unedited work.  Between Backspace and Margie Lawson’s writing courses, I was able to develop my writing to the point of getting my first acceptance with a small publisher.

What question do you wish you would get asked more often?

I am completely blanking on this. I’ve been in the writing business for fourteen going on fifteen years, and there doesn’t seem to be much I haven’t been asked or asked myself in interviews. I guess one that comes to mind now that I’ve babbled a little is “What’s your favorite supernatural power that you’ve written?”

Do you have a catch-phrase or quote that you like? What is it? And why do you choose it?

It has been a while since I used a catch phrase, but I did have one for a while. After writing my first book Survival Games, my catch phrase became Game On. I got to resurrect that in The Death Chronicles II as well, which was the series that I finished before Season of the Dragon.  And it still applies. My character, Ty, said that phrase often and to this day, Ty is my favorite character that I’ve written. My catch phrase is his battle ready stance.

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Thanks to J.E. for participating.

In my own writing this week, things have continued to come together. The book is nearing the halfway point. I've long envisioned the climactic battle at what has become a famous landmark for the events that transpired there, and I know how the relevant protagonists and antagonists are going to converge in a fiery air and ground combat at a historically significant event. However, some characters have separate adventures that will take them elsewhere. Two of the parties will eventually intersect at a different location with a different antagonist, though whether they actually make contact with one another is a detail that hasn't yet become clear. Dragons, gryphons, stone cats, and a new beastie based loosely on Indian legend are prominent players in book 5 of the Tomahawks and Dragon Fire series.

If you haven't picked up your free copy of the prequel to the series, In Death Bedrenched, you can get it at either of these two sites:

In Death Bedrenched at StoryOrigin

In Death Bedrenched at BookCave

 Minas Tirith and The Shire: Parallel Problems on a Different Scale

In reviewing my highlights from my reading of The Lord of the Rings, a couple years ago I struck by some parallels between Minas Tirith and the Shire. This isn't a full treatment of the matter, but some simple observations based on fuzzy memory and haphazard highlights.

The reader gets an impression of Gondor's great city of Minas Tirith as a mighty fortress which has long held against the dark lord and his minions. It sounds both beautiful and invincible. When Frodo sees the fortress from afar, atop Amon Hen, hope leaps in his heart. It is "white-walled, many towered, proud and fair in its mountain-seat," with battlements glittering with steel. He also sees another fortress, "greater and more strong," the Tower of Barad-dur, and all hope leaves him. (Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, p. 401).

Tolkien continues to dribble details and descriptive elements which reveal that Minas Tirith is even weaker than it appears. It is a city which has allowed many of its strengths to dwindle into weakness, retreating before the darkness, and hiding its own light.

-Yet even so it was Gondor that brought about its own decay, falling by degrees into dotage... (p. 678)

-domed tombs of bygone kings (p. 752)

-falling year by year into decay; (p. 752)

-dead tree, and the falling drops dripped sadly from its barren and broken branches back into the clear water. (p. 753)

-avenue of kings long dead. (p. 754)

-‘It is a black night, and all the blacker since orders came that lights are to be dimmed within the City, and none are to shine out from the walls.' (p. 772)

-'The Darkness has begun. There will be no dawn.’(p. 772)

-comes from Mordor, lord,’ he said. ‘It began last night at sunset. From the hills in the Eastfold of your realm I saw it rise and creep across the sky, and all night as I rode it came behind eating up the stars. Now the great cloud hangs over all the land between here and the Mountains of Shadow; and it is deepening. War has already begun.’ (p. 801)

-But soon there were few left in Minas Tirith who had the heart to stand up and defy the hosts of Mordor. For yet another weapon, swifter than hunger, the Lord of the Dark Tower had: dread and despair. (p. 823)

Sauron attacks a sick and moribund opponent. Nevertheless, good prevails. Brave men and manifestations of magical--even divine--power save Minas Tirith from the first onslaught of Sauron's armies, and the destruction of the ring unmakes the evil one himself. The great city is saved and restored to glory.

But what about the Shire? The oft-overlooked end of the tale with the hobbits returning to what was formerly a garden paradise delivers a poignant message. The small heroes left to fight evil in far away places to prevent it from consuming their homes. When they return, evil has arrived before them, and their homeland has, like decaying Minas Tirith, lost, or at least forgotten its strengths. While Gondor is restored, the Shire has become a police state instead of a paradise. The gardens are destroyed. The Party Tree has been cut down. A parade of restrictions, rules, and misfortune are presented to the arriving heroes:

-It’s like a bit of the bad old times tales tell of, I say. It isn’t safe on the road and nobody goes far, and folk lock up early. We have to keep watchers all round the fence and put a lot of men on the gates at nights.’ (p. 992)

-‘I am sorry, Mr. Merry,’ said Hob, ‘but it isn’t allowed.’ ‘What isn’t allowed?’ ‘Taking in folk off-hand like, and eating extra food, and all that,’ said Hob. (p. 999)

-‘We grows a lot of food, but we don’t rightly know what becomes of it. It’s all these “gatherers” and “sharers”, I reckon, going round counting and measuring and taking off to storage. They do more gathering than sharing, and we never see most of the stuff again.’(p. 999)

-and on every wall there was a notice and a list of Rules (p. 1000)

-‘But if there are many of these ruffians,’ said Merry, ‘it will certainly mean fighting. You won’t rescue Lotho, or the Shire, just by being shocked and sad, my dear Frodo. (p. 1006)

-‘This is worse than Mordor!’ said Sam. ‘Much worse in a way. It comes home to you, as they say; because it is home, and you remember it before it was all ruined. (p. 1018)

Fortunately, the heroes are up to the task.

-But if I may be so bold, you’ve come back changed from your travels, and you look now like folk as can deal with troubles out of hand. (p. 995)

-You must settle its affairs yourselves; that is what you have been trained for. Do you not yet understand? (p. 996)

They refuse to obey the oppressive rules, rally the good folks, and overthrow the tyrant and his minions. They throw off the yoke of tyranny largely on their own, without supernatural aid. Merry does blow the horn he had received from Eowyn, which struck fear into the hearts of enemies. It is in the restoration where the magical or divine power is manifest: Galadriel's gift to Sam, along with the hobbits' hard work, make the Shire blossom again.

It's interesting to note that we first heard the Horn-call of Buckland in the Shire to sound the alarm against the black riders in the early chapters of the story--and it had not been heard then for over a hundred years. Boromir had a horn. Aragorn was given a silver horn. A number of horns call to battle and assembly on both sides of the conflict. At one point, Merry wishes he had a horn to blow and could ride to the rescue like Eomer--and he does so in the Shire.

Both Minas Tirith and the Shire suffered from evil's attacks and their own failure to resist sufficiently when they were strongest. They allowed themselves to be weakened. They neglected their strengths, and fear and despair stole their hope. Gandalf and Aragon brought new hope and strength to Minas Tirith. Merry, Pippin, Sam, and Frodo raised the Shire to remember their strength and provided hope for success amid fear and despair.

 

Author Interview

with JA Duxbury

Author of Heart of Deception and Dark Dimensions

Please tell me a little about your current work in progress. I am currently working on a partial rewrite of a sequel and a paranormal story.

Where did you get the idea for this book or series? I got the idea of the first book from a dream I had.

Do you write in more than one genre? I do. My chosen genre is sci fi but I write from my dreams so it depends on what genre they're in.

Tell me about something that you believe makes your writing unique or worthy of attention. I believe that I can take people on a journey away from the daily grind and monotony to places where they can get involved with the characters and events.

Is there anything about your personal history or personality that manifests strongly in your writing? I really don't know. I have thought about that question but I can't pinpoint anything but our experiences do dictate what we know to be possible and impossible so I suppose my general knowledge comes to the fore.

What else would be helpful for readers to know about you? My characters rarely swear and I only touch lightly on romance. So, if you're looking for hot steamy sex scenes, you need to try someone else's writing.

Excluding your own work, what underrated author or book would you recommend that more people read? Why? I would recommend Kelly Blanchard Dale and her husband Matthew. They combine a magic environment with a scientific environment in a seamless way.

Which of your books do you most highly recommend? Why? Oh, now that's a hard one. I like all of my books equally. If you're into military stuff, though, I'd recommend Dark Dimensions. It's about a vampire/human clan who are lost travelling dimensions and some of the dimensions they reach have battles going that they get drawn into.

Which break, event, decision, or fortuitous circumstance has helped you or your writing career the most? It was a sad event. My niece died of cancer and I took the time to re-evaluate my life, giving myself a target of 5 years after which I would concentrate on writing.

What question do you wish you would get asked more often? When is your next book coming out?

Do you have a catch-phrase or quote that you like? What is it? And why do you choose it? Timing is everything. Because if something happened a second or so earlier or later, the outcomes could have been completely different.

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Thanks to JA for participating.

I was at a wedding this week and met several old friends. Some friends, who also used to be neighbors, told me that they had read my noir detective novel Smoke, and lavished me with praise for the novel. What can I say? It's my favorite book too. Or, maybe they felt compelled to say something nice and my personal appearance didn't do them any favors in that regard, so they chose the next available subject. I told them that I could talk all night about my books, but that I would refrain and simply accept their praise and complimented them on their excellent taste. We talked about old times for a while. It's great to see old friends and reminisce about the times we shared and how things used to be, as well as catch up on what how we've all been doing since. 

Of course, there were a couple guys I hadn't seen since high school. They had the audacity to pretend that they didn't recognize me or have a clear recollection of who I was. Neither was from my class; one was older and one was younger. They put on a really good act--I almost believed them--but I was the most memorable guy I knew in high school, so they were obviously pulling my leg.

AND if you haven't picked up a FREE COPY of my prequel to the Tomahawks and Dragon Fire, In Death Bedrenched, get it here by clicking this link.

 

Here's an essay or at least some ramble about the Declaration of Independence.