book!

Today is a most glorious Friday! Destined for Darkness is now available in print. If you already bought and/or read MacDowell Sisters and AnnaBeth, it's pretty much the same book.

Here is a pic of what it looks like.

Pretties! It's sitting on a shipping envelope because it's getting ready to head on out to the Goodreads giveaway winner. That lucky ducky gets the proof copy because I lost track of my dates. It's one of a kind.

If you want a print copy of your very own, it is currently available at CreateSpace here.

https://www.createspace.com/3830432

If you would rather order from Amazon, it should pop up there within the next few days.

Being perceived as a thing

Holy crap, it is HOT outside. I do not wish to be out there. No, I do not. I walked out of the office today and the heat all but smacked me in the face. I couldn’t imagine living in one of the really hot states or countries where the weather is like this often. I guess you would probably get used to it eventually.

On to some behavioral observations.

Lately I’ve noticed people trying really hard to be perceived as something they find admirable. They have fixated on some trait that they want people to notice about them, whether it’s intelligence or wealth or appearance. Then they go at that trait with a fervency that nears obsession.

The exertion manifests in a certain kind of…almost anger. And if the value of that trait or their notion that they possess that trait is somehow threatened, they freak out a little.

Was it happening all along and I just didn’t notice? Or is the heat scrambling their brains? Who knows? I don’t! But I am kind of fascinated by the behavior. There’s a certain level of insecurity there, I think, that makes them grab onto this one thing so hard that their knuckles go white and their jaws clench.

I just want to ask them, what makes you so intent on people viewing you this way? I want to know what the motivations are. What do they expect to gain? I can’t ask, though. People don’t like when I ask questions like that. I guess it’s rude or something. I shall continue to observe.

some weird houses

Hello, my lovelies! Have I got some crazy stuff for you.

So, I was perusing the real estate listings in my newspaper this last Sunday. I spotted a "dream house" listing. The price for the humble abode - $5,500,000. That's right, 5 mill plus. holy shitake mushrooms!

Houses around these parts don't cost that much. I've seen (and toured during public home tours) million dollar houses but never a 5 million dollar house. That's just crazy.

I was like - I gotta see this shiz. I jumped onto the internet and used my awesome googling skills to find a slideshow/virtual tour or whatever because I wanted to see that house! I found a few actually.

spoiler alert - it's so over the top, the thing is in orbit.

another spoiler - it looks like Elvis puked all over it.

Below is a link to the best virtual tour I found. A few bright spots to look for - the pirate statue collection and other statues (these people really like statues) and the STAR WARS game room, which is actually pretty awesome.

http://tours.tourfactory.com/tours/tour.asp?t=862336


Parts of it remind me of The House on the Rock. Below is a link to that photo gallery for the House on the Rock. I would like to visit it one day. I wonder if the owners of the 5 million dollar house are fans. Be sure to click through the photo gallery if you want the full virtual experience.

http://www.thehouseontherock.com/HOTR_Attraction_PhotoGallery.htm

movie: Prometheus

I saw Prometheus in Imax 3D this weekend. woo! I saw it by myself, which was kind of interesting because I'm pretty sure I've never done that before.

Anyway. The movie is a about some archaeologists who notice similarities between cave paintings in Scotland (I think) and other works by various ancient cultures on different continents. They all depict a being pointing to stars in a certain arrangement.

The archaeologists believe this image is both a map and an invitation for humankind to visit a planet. Flash forward some years, and they're on an expedition to the planet in search of beings they believe created humans. Hilarity ensues. Ok, not so much hilarity as wonder and some carnage.

There are some great characters in this movie. Great characters and what I thought was top notch acting. Noomi Rapace (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, US version) plays Elizabeth Shaw, one of the archaeologists. She goes through a lot of crap and somehow manages to hang onto her dream of finding the origin of human life, no matter the consequences.

David the android is the best character, however. He is forever robot calm and has a complex personality. His most appealing trait is how unpredictable he can be. His interactions with the people around him are motivated by anything from aspiration to be human to contempt. He's heroic and heartless at the same time. 

I didn't really dig Charlize Theron's character, Meredith Vickers. It was almost as if the writers created her and then weren't quite sure what to do with her. She has a few significant moments, but other than that...meh.

Of course, the special effects were huge and amazing. Those are the technical terms. Spaceships, storms, scenery. big, big, big. Perfectly executed, I thought. I spotted no weirdness, no halfass cgi.

There was a somewhat significant level of weirdness and different types of alien life, but I did expect to see more alien action.

So, bottom line, Prometheus was good. I would have liked to have seen more nerve grinding action and suspense like what I remember the Sigourney Weaver alien movies as having, but it was still very good. A-

guest posting

I was recently over on the fabulous Morgen Bailey's blog. Be sure to check out the post and other fun stuff there.

http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/2012/06/21/guest-post-writing-the-small-town-by-lea-ryan/

a silly book cover

I’m super excited because it rained today! For like 30 seconds.

I’m also excited because today is Thursday, which means tomorrow is Friday. Mmmm…Friday.

I hope you will excuse my lack of blog presence this week. I’m working on editing and some other projects.

I was on Goodreads today to add a book to my “currently reading” shelf and when I found it and saw the cover, I cracked up. The book is the sequel to the Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Here is the cover.

Naked dude. Punching aliens. LOL!!! Oh my!

This weekend, I plan to go see Prometheus in Imax 3D. I am confident that it will be awesome. I should have a review of it Monday if all goes as planned.

a short announcement and a panda

The Destined for Darkness print release is delayed by approximately two weeks. More information later.

That's really all I have for now. For the rest of the day, please enjoy this Day of the Dead panda face.

movie: In Time

In Time is set in a dismal future in which the currency is time on or off one's life. A cup of coffee costs like four hours or days or whatever the heck it was. Everyone has these watches with light-up numbers embedded in their arms. When they go to work, some time is added to their lives. They can exchange time, too, by doing this weird handshake thing.

Will (Justin Timberlake) stumbles upon a guy who has over a century on his arm. He says that he’s lived over a century and ends up transferring most of his remaining balance to Will who embarks on a quest to take down the system.

In Time does have some action, gunplay and such. However, I think the story leaned awfully hard on the time as currency premise. As in, that was 90% of the story. After about ten minutes of watching the time-based commerce, I was like Ok! I get it. Please stop hammering the concept into the ground!

The acting was meh. The story was meh. Some of the futuristic stuff was cool.

In Time gets a C-

fair pics!

We went to a fair in a park last weekend. Here are some photographs for your viewing.

book working updates

Greetings, my internet compatriots!

I thought I would do a quick book working update. Let's see...

Devil in the Branch is in edit number 3 or 4; I don't remember. I know I say this about all my book babies, but I love it so. I may even complete all editing tasks in time to request reviews before the release date. Crazy, right?

There is a problem with loving something, however. You become blind to its flaws. So I'm trying to proceed carefully and pay attention.

The Pestlience manuscript is still hanging out in a virtual drawer, as is Llewyn's Faith. The first is a book, the second a freebie that goes with it.

I can't wait to dig into the Pestilence rewrite. I've been working on my patience with the writing for a while and I feel like I'm getting to this point in which I spend more time on the parts of the writing that feel choppy.

In the past, when I encountered a paragraph or a scene that didn't flow, I could tell there was room for improvement, but I wasn't always sure how to fix it. As long as it was close to grammatically correct, I let it slide, especially if I was on a deadline.

 Now I stop. I ask myself what I want to achieve in that portion of the story and then rewrite toward that goal or I cut it.

 This method takes longer sometimes, but I can tell already that it has made a difference.

 Some iffy paragraphs have been vastly improved.

movie: The Rum Diary

This weekend we watched The Rum Diary, which is based on a Hunter Thompson novel.

Here’s a quickie description from IMDB: “American journalist Paul Kemp takes on a freelance job in Puerto Rico for a local newspaper during the 1950s and struggles to find a balance between island culture and the expatriates who live there.”

This movie is pretty crazy. Kemp loves the drink and other buzzes, and that love tends to get him in big trouble.

There’s so much about this movie I like that I’m just going to save some time and rattle it off on a list.

1.       Hard ass partying in Puerto Rico. It looks gritty and wild. The drunken antics, primarily of Kemp and his two friends are quite entertaining.

2.       There was glamour, too. Amber Heard’s character looks straight-up old Hollywood. Her boyfriend’s house is almost painfully “modern” 60s. The house is very cool and clean.

3.       Complex dialog. There were a few parts, especially at the beginning, that I was sitting here thinking that the dialog between some of the characters was too well written to seem real. However, that makes it no less awesome.

4.       Giovanni Ribisi. I really think he is undervalued as an actor. His character, Moberg, is just so far out there. Disheveled. Often drunk (or messed up in some other creative fashion), but quite ingenious.  

5.       Hunter Thompson brand weirdness.  

My only complaint was that the movie was slow in a few places, most notably at the beginning.

The Rum Diary gets a B+.

scaring the children

I usually don't dress up for Halloween. It's not that I don't like Halloween. I love it! My birthday is about a week before Halloween, so my first impressions of the world likely included ghoulish decorations.

This year, I'm thinking of putting together a costume. I came up with the idea about a month ago while my daughter was watching The Village.

I would really like to dress up as the "monster" from The Village. Red cloak, pig face, long bony fingers, the whole nine yards. Then, I want to walk around the neighborhood while the children are trick or treating and scare the living crap out of them. Muwahahaaha!!

If you've never seen the movie, this is what I would be going for.

The red cloak shouldn't be too difficult to find around Halloween. As far as the bones or sticks or whatever, I was thinking about making some out of paper mache or possibly just finding some plastic bones in the Halloween asile. I don't know yet.

movie: The Woman in Black

Sorry for the lateness. I usually post about the movies on Monday. I had stuff to do, like attend the boy’s little league baseball game.

We watched The Woman in Black, which stars Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame. Seeing him so grown up is just weird. Wasn’t he ten years old like five seconds ago? He’s actually 23, in case you were wondering.

Here’s a quick description of The Woman in Black from IMDB: “A young lawyer travels to a remote village where he discovers the vengeful ghost of a scorned woman is terrorizing the locals.”

It’s probably a tired premise, but that didn’t stop me from totally loving this movie. The Woman in Black is fantastically creepy with interesting characters and a deliciously dreary gothic sort of setting. The ghost was scary. The house in which most of the haunting occurred could possibly be the creepiest house ever.

The Woman in Black was the best horror movie I’ve seen in a while. I’m not going to go into too much detail because I don’t want to insert any spoilers. However, I will say that there was nothing about the movie I didn’t like.

The Woman in Black gets a big fat A.

Also, the movie was based on a 1983 novel by Susan Hill.

guest post: Prime Dining On Indy's Northside - by Moore

Longing for the elegance and luxury of a classic supper club from long-ago with modern updates of the present? Then Ocean Prime, located at River Crossing, is the place for you. The decor at this Cameron Mitchell restaurant is inviting. There are spaces not only for dinner, but also to sip a hand-crafted cocktail or glass of award-winning wine, while socializing and listening to live music in the piano bar.

When it comes to food, there is something for everyone. The menu features a staggering 67-plus items, the majority of which are made from scratch. Also, Executive Chef Shawn O'Brien uses ingredients that are sourced locally, whenever possible. Meat lovers can feast on filet mignon (ranging in size from 8 to 12 ounces), the New York strip or a ribeye. The filet I sampled was tender, tasty and in no need of steak sauce or additional condiments.

However, for those who like to enhance their steaks, a bleu cheese crust, béarnaise sauce and other options are available. For seafood lovers, diners can choose jumbo lump crab cakes, oysters on the half shell, ginger salmon, and shellfish cob salad (below) just to mention a few dishes.

My personal favorite from the sea was the halibut, lightly seasoned with a lemon butter sauce and accompanied by crisp, seasonal vegetables. The fish was fresh, flavorful and had a firm texture.

As divine as the appetizers and entrees are, the desserts are a must for those with a sweet tooth. I had the chocolate cake, which featured multiple layers of rich sugary goodness complemented with a scoop of high-quality vanilla ice cream.

Not a fan of chocolate? Then consider the blueberry lemon cheesecake, the carrot cake, crème brulée and fresh berries, or a seasonal sorbet with an almond cookie.

As any foodie knows, courteous and knowledgeable personnel are key to a fine meal. That is why the staffers are required to attend hours of training not just on menu items but also on the importance of daily checks of all areas of the establishment, interior and exterior. Customer service is very important, said Greg Sage, Ocean Prime's general manager. "Our goal is to go above and beyond every night."

Ocean Prime opens to the public on June 7. Their website is www.ocean-prime.com.

(Photos not taken by Moore are courtesy of Ocean Prime)