Music I've Been Listening to Lately

Okay, I admit I had Lindsey playing while I worked on Justice series stories. Her music just fits.

Justice: The Beginning Is Out!

Sorry, this post is later than normal today, but I was waiting for Amazon to finish processing.

The e-book version of Justice: The Beginning is now live. So if you need a little entertainment this weekend, check it out!

Blurb
For the first time, the Justice Anthea and Brother Luc short stories are collected in one edition.

This anthology includes “Justice” and “Diplomacy in the Dark”, previously published in Sword and Sorceress 28 and 30 respectively. A brand new story “The Perfect Partner” gives readers the infamous tale of the illicit lovers’ first cantankerous, and odiferous, case together.

And a fourth bonus tale set in the Justice universe tells how a young sister of Light became a secret bodyguard for a member of the Jing Imperial family.

Magic, mayhem and mystery has never been so fun!

Amazon Buy Link for all countries

Fast Note about Time, Editing and Potential Stupidity

Since I received an e-mail from my formatter on July 6th, concerning an issue with the print format being too small for the printing company, I've been focused on writing a new story and adding it to the Justice anthology collection to increase the page count and make the printing company happy.

"Courting Trouble" was finished Monday night, and it turned into a 10K blast of fun. I edited it and sent the new master file for Justice: The Beginning to my formatter around 1:45 a.m. on Tuesday morning.

She sent me the Kindle version by noon, and...

Right off the bat, I realize I didn't send her the updated copyright page. *facepalm*

So right now, I'm proofreading the second Kindle version she sent me.

I tried to do all this while keeping up with Camp NaNoWriMo and Ravaged, but everything to do with Bloodlines has been shoved aside for the time being. I hope to get back to it next week, if not this weekend.

And you know something? Despite all the headaches, I still have the best job EVAH!

Monday Movie Mania - Independence Day: Resurgence

Yeah, yeah. I know it's Tuesday. Not Monday.

I have a good reason for being late. It's called WORK. (We'll get to that tomorrow.)

Anyway, DH and I went to see ID:R, and.............

It left us a little underwhelmed.

The original was made twenty years ago, and maybe the writers lost the creative edge. Maybe I've grown jaded. This may be one of those things you see for yourself.


* * *


SPOILERS


* * *


PROS
1) Lots of explosions and bigger, badder spaceships.

2) Julius Levinson (Judd Hirsch) bonding with orphans again.

3) Dr. Brakish (Brent Spiner) losing his husband shortly after they were reunited, mirroring President Whitmore losing his wife in the original. It's the one emotionally touching moment in the sequel.


CONS
1) The chemistry between the new kids sucked. It wasn't for lack of trying, and I do love me a Hemsworth, but there wasn't enough backstory here to make sense for Liam's character, other than he was a fuck-up. Randy Quaid did the redeemable screw-up with far more charm in the original.

2) The PTBs decided "Let's play neuter the black man!" This is the same fucking team who turned Will Smith from scrawny teenage rapper to a major movie star with hunk appeal. What did Jessie Usher get as Capt. Dylan Hiller? A handful of throw away lines and getting to watch the aliens kill his mother. No interest, and eating Liam's exhaust.

3) The chemistry between the old adults was also sorely lacking. I'll watch Jeff Goldblum in anything, but he does his best work when playing off another actor. The producers/writers gave him a new love interest, but this is the first time I've seen Jeff not be able to riff with a fellow actor. Then his character's wife isn't there, and they don't tell us what happened to his previous ex from the end of the last movie! (I know, I know. Read the tie-in novels. That's bullshit, though. A one-phrase mention of her would have been enough.)

4) Let's neuter the black man - ROUND TWO! Deobia Oparei plays this supposedly badass African warlord who fought a ground war against the Harvester aliens for the last twenty years. He gets turned into comedic relief after the first quarter of the movie.

5) Dragging Robert Loggia to the film set while he was dying from Alzheimer's. Seriously, people what were you thinking, treating a respected actor like a fucking dress-up doll for your amusement?


I can totally understand why Will Smith bowed out of this project. If I don't consider it a sequel to the original it's a serviceable C-movie, the kind you have on the TV as the background noise with you clean the house. I have to give it 4 out of 10 stars.

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

Here's Lindsey Stirling's latest video!

When Boo-Boo's Happen

Well, I was clipping along quite nice on Ravaged, my Camp NanoWriMo project when I got an e-mail from my formatter. It seems the physical page count for Justice: The Beginning came in under Create Space's minimum page count.

Whoops!

My formatter listed out a couple of alternatives she could try, but it was my decision on what to do. So I grabbed some Lindor black label truffles, thought about it, and came up with a third possible solution.

What if I added a fourth story to the anthology?

So now, my formatter is patiently waiting for a new master file, and I've put aside Ravaged (currently at 27.5K) for this weekend.

Instead of Justice Anthea or Brother Luc being the central characters, the new story focuses on Shi Hua and how she became Ambassador Quan's bodyguard. It's turning into a lot of fun!

But it also means that it'll be another two to three weeks before the anthology is published. I hate disappointing my readers.

Work Hard, Play Hard

I have a personal goal of getting the first draft of Ravaged done in July. That's in addition to editing Zombie Goddess.

And yesterday, I did pretty damn good. Went to the café and wrote a hair over 2,200 words. Edited the first three chapter of Zombie Goddess. And started the read-thru of the paper copy of A Question of Balance.

So DH wants to celebrate by going to a movie. Which we did. (Review on Monday!)

Then I wake up around dawn not feeling so good. URGH!

So I stayed in bed an extra hour and half after my alarm went off. Still in some pain and not a whole lot of energy here.

As Jay Lake used to say, I guess I need do better about managing my spoons.

Monday Movie Mania - Now You See Me 2

The original Now You See Me was an unexpected delight and one of DH's favorite movies. Unfortunately like most sequels, Now You See Me 2 loses a lot of the magic that made the first one so incredible.

The first was fun in its unpredictability and because the filmmakers didn't break the magicians' illusions too much. The sequel was way too predictable which made it disappointing.


* * *


SPOILERS


* * *


PROS
1) The addition of Lizzy Caplan as Lula  was a welcome shot of sassy estrogen compared to Isla Fisher's lovelorn Henley. Both the character and the actress hold their own against the men. Even better, she wasn't just a love interest replacement for Danny.

2) Michael Caine and Daniel Radcliffe were obviously having a blast playing the father/son antagonists seeking revenge for what the Horsemen did in the first movie.


CONS
1) It turns out that Mark Ruffalo's FBI Agent Dylan Rhodes was not already part of the Eye, which was a disappointing development that sets backs the pace of the movie.

2) The reveal that Morgan Freeman's Bradley was actually the partner of Dylan's dad was an obvious and rather sad contrivance.

3) Forcing Danny into a need to prove himself better than Dylan, after Dylan had earned Danny's respect in the first film, felt like a major step backwards.

4) Woody Harrelson's portrayal of Merritt and his twin brother Chase was the distraction for the movie's tricks. As much as I love Woody's work, not even his charm could make this movie's writing work.


Overall, I would give this movie a 5 out of 10 stars.

Music I've Been Listening to Lately

Since Passive Guy got me hooked on Lindsay Stirling, I can't get enough. But this is one of my favorite songs, and her and the Tenors' interpretation is incredible!

Working on the Weekend

I didn't release Justice: The Beginning yesterday as I'd hoped since it isn't quite ready. No worries though. The revision file is with my formatter, and the cover's ready. It just will take a few extra days with the Fourth of July holiday weekend.

So what am I doing in the meantime?

- Trying to finish an Alter Ego short story.

- Reviewing the paperback proofs for A Question of Balance and Blood Magick in order to get them up of retailer websites.

- Working on the edits for Zombie Goddess.

- Attending Camp NaNoWriMo for the month of July in an effort to complete the first draft of Ravaged.

It's so good to be productive again!