And the Beat Goes On...

Things are starting to get back to a semblance of normal at Chez Harden. I've been trying very hard to finish up the first draft of Hero Ad Hoc this week.

Last night, I blew past the original 80K target. However, the story is in its denouement, that last bit of wrapping up the plot threads except the dangling two that lead to the next novel.

Since this is the middle of a trilogy, it appears as if everything my heroes worked for is lost. It also means I'm ready to jump in the last book with both feet. With all the craziness in the world and in my own life this year, I need that happy ending more than ever.

Monday Movie Mania - Teen Titans GO! to the Movies

The Titans (Teen and otherwise) have gotten short shrift by the live-action movie division of Warner Brothers' DCEU.

Well, other than the fact they stole Cyborg from the Titans and shoved him into the Justice League, where he doesn't fit. Quite frankly, Victor Stone needs Changling (er, Beast Boy) and Nightwing (uh, Robin) to play off of.

The short shrift doesn't apply to television. A new live-action TV series is in the works. There's a credits tease at the end of Teen Titans GO! to the Movies that could apply to the new series using the 2003 animated version of the team.


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SPOILERS!


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PROS
1) Just the right amount of potty jokes!

2) Lambasting both DC and Marvel beyond the Deadpool/Deathstroke jokes in the trailers.

3) The John Stewart GL! (Who disavows Ryan Reynolds)

4) Ripping on Back to the Future.

5) The need to watch it again to catch all the jokes.

6) The gratuitous cameo of a certain comic book writer.


CONS
1) Wishing I was ten again, so people don't look at me weirdly when I'm laughing hysterically at the fart jokes.


Overall, Teen Titans GO! to the Movies earned 10 stars out of 10 for sheer, unadultered 12-year-old boy appeal!

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...but we tried to fight it...

Understanding Your Readers

I'm a little late posting today because I've been doing some catch-up reading. The Passive Guy posted excerpts from a Wall Street Journal article that triggered an insight:

Perhaps, for many readers, it does not make much difference whether a story is told in print on a page or images on a screen. The narrative itself is what matters. In fact, the Great American Read list confirms that there is a great hunger in our culture for grand, mythic narratives. The adoration of the Harry Potter books, like the nearly scriptural status of the Star Wars movies, involves more than just fandom. These are comprehensive universes, complete with their own laws and histories, heroes and villains, morals and meanings. They serve the purpose that was once served by epic poems like “The Iliad” or “The Odyssey,” or even by biblical stories: They dramatize the spiritual truths and longings that shape our world.

People will argue and wail and gnash their teeth (as some the comments on TPV show) of the main points of the article. But it was the highlighted one that made me understand why the Justice universe resonates with readers. Why more people comment on it. Why people want more stories.

All my other series are firmly rooted in contemporary society. The Justice universe takes our world as it was in the 6th century B.C.E. and twists it through an unimaginable conflict to become a nearly unrecognizable. But I try to make it firmly rooted in the (to me) natural progression of politics, economics, and technology if certain major factors are skewed a different way or if they never happened.

I'm not trying to compare my stories to Homer, J.R.R. Tolkien, or even George R.R. Martin. But I think readers do want a fictional world that's a little bigger in scope to escape to with all the craziness in the real world these days.

And there's not a damn thing wrong with that. I know I need a little quiet in another time and another place. I've been reading quite a bit of Gail Carriger and Jonathan Moeller the last couple of months. But now I know what some of my readers want and more importantly why they want it.

Stay on Target! Stay on Target!

Red Leader's Force ghost has been hovering over me lately, extorting me to, of course, "Stay on target!"

While finishing Hero Ad Hoc doesn't compare to blowing up the Death Star, I find myself running into the same trap of fear Red Squadron faced in their attack. I'd hoped to finish the novel last week when I had some relatively free time.

But doctor appointments start up again today. In fact, I've probably been to my first appointment and gone by the time you read this. And I'm beginning to feel like I'm never going to finish this damn book.

I've even resorted to working on Hero De Novo and another unnamed project just to feel like I'm moving forward. It's only a hundred to two hundred words every day or so, but it is enough to spur me back to Hero Ad Hoc.

Normally, I'd chalk up my reluctance to finish to my usual "don't want the story to end" mindset. However, the majority of this book was written after my breast cancer diagnosis.

Yep, a mere fifty thousand words in the last three months. Which is low for me, but hey! Given the circumstances, that's actually pretty good!

I don't know if it's superstition, premonition, or what, but I feel like something's going to happen when I finish this book.

Like everything's going to change.

Which is weird because life is constant change.

It is fear, but a different type of dread. I wish I knew what the hell Red Leader was really trying to tell me. As Luke Skywalker can tell you, Force ghosts are rarely clear in their exhortations and even less cooperative.

Unless it's Yoda blowing up the frickin' Tree of Knowledge.

Monday Movie Mania - Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again picks up five years after the original film. The entire cast is back (yes, I do mean the entire cast), plus six new faces who portray Donna, Tanya, Rosie, Sam, Bill, and Harry in their younger years, with plum cameos by Andy Garcia and Cher.

The story flips back and forth as Sophie prepares for the grand re-opening of the Hotel Bella Donna with the story of how Donna met Sophie's fathers and ended up on the island of Kalokairi.


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SPOILERS


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PROS
1) ABBA's music of course.

2) Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson's cameos.

3) Jessica Keenan Wynn as young Tanya had Christine Baranski down cold!

4) Hugh Skinner as young Harry was freakin' hysterical!

5) Omid Djalili as a Greek customs official who just can't get Harry's attention no matter how hard he tries.

6) Stellan Skarsgard in a fat suit!


CONS
1) Bring a box of tissues with you.


Overall, I give Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again a solid 8 stars out of 10.
Overall,

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Getting back into the writing groove!

Word of Mouth Takes Forever But It's Worth It

Last year, CBS finally debuted its new Star Trek series. They refused to hire anyone formerly associated with the franchise. The first showrunner left over creative differences with CBS management. The show was a year late coming to market. It was over budget. The namesake ship looked like it had been made with parts from the old Enterprise and Romulan Warbird kits from the '70's and then spray-painted gold.

Instead of running it on the CBS network, the execs decided it would be the centerpiece of their new streaming service. They advertised the hell out of it. After a long casting process, they hired Sonequa Martin-Green, formerly Sasha of The Walking Dead, as the star which many considered a plus. Michelle Yeoh was cast as the captain.

With well-known actors, a familiar franchise, and all that marketing, Star Trek: Discovery should have been a success. Right?

Meanwhile, Fox finally gave in to Seth McFarlane's whining and begging about wanting a hour-long, live-action series. The guys at Fox hate science fiction. I mean, how many SF series have they canceled? Firefly. Almost Human. They wanted to kill The X-Files early on, but it made too damn much money.

But right now, Fox can't afford to lose McFarlane's animated series. So the execs thought, "Hey! Let's make McFarlane happy, do the series, fuck up the marketing, the series tanks, and then he'll shut the fuck up and get back to working on Family Guy."

Except Seth knew in his heart-of-hearts he wanted to do Star Trek, but he also knew he would never be allowed to touch the franchise. So he created a fan-fiction love letter. One that was more Star Trek than the official Star Trek series launched at the same time. In theory, it should have failed. Right?

Last fall, the friends who knew I love Star Trek asked if I'd watched Discovery. Some thought I'd automatically defend it. I couldn't. As much as I love both Sonequa and Michelle, for they are superb actresses, I couldn't get past the grimness, the alteration to Spock's family tree, and the fact that the main character would commit mutiny so bad it resulted in war.

During that same time period, friends. who loved Star Trek and knew I loved Star Trek, asked if I'd seen The Orville. We all agreed it was the closest thing to Gene Rodenberry's original "stated*" intention, and we all fucking LOVED it!

Apparently, we weren't the only ones loving The Orville.

Discovery started strong out of the gate with its broadcast premiere. Comparatively, The Orville's initial ratings sank because many folks tuned in thinking it was a raunchy comedy along the lines of Seth's animated series or movies such as Ted thanks to Fox's crappy marketing plan. However word-of-mouth stabilized its ratings to a respectable level considering it was up against Thursday Night Football and CBS's comedy power block.

Despite CBS's claim of huge viewership on their streaming network, those numbers can't be verified beyond its one-hour broadcast premiere. Many questions abounded, especially since Discovery showrunner Alex Kurtzman announced a happier, fun-time second season with old characters Captain Christopher Pike, Number One, and Spock coming on board during the San Diego Comicon. Furthermore, the second season isn't scheduled to start until January of 2019, about the same time as the second season of The Orville.

If Star Trek: Discovery is doing so fucking great, why the changes and why the attempt at direct competition with The Orville?

But the main point I'm trying to make is you can have the best franchise name, the best packaging, and the best marketing and still fail if you aren't giving people what they want. On the other hand, you can totally fuck up your marketing, but you will eventually find your fans. Or your current fans will tell their friends, aka your potential fans, how fucking great your book is.

So settle down in your marketing freak-outs. If you've got a good product, your fans will find you. But it will go much easier if you have an appropriate cover and your marketing accurately reflects your genre.

In the meantime, the second season of The Orville premieres December 30th on your local Fox station!


* The word "stated" is in quotes because what Gene said and what he did were two different things. He was definitely more forward thinking than many of his contemporaries, but he still held on to some old-fashioned ideas about male-female relations. The dichotomy shows in ST:TOS, ST:TAS and the first season of ST:TNG. And you know something, that's okay. Especially when The Orville does an excellent job of exceeding Gene's ideals.

Is #Cockygate Over?

1914 hardcover edition

Yesterday, the internet (or at least the writer circles I frequent) was abuzz with the news that Faleena Hopkins had settled with Jennifer Watson and Tara Crescent over the ill-advised trademarking of the word "cocky".

According to an article last night on the Inquisitr website, part of the settlement includes Hopkins' withdrawal of her trademark. However, the trademark is still listed on the USTPO website as of this writing. Given the speed of the federal government, it may be days or weeks before we know for sure that #cockygate has ended.

Or has it?

1997 mass market paperback edition

Recently, author Michael Scott Earle not only filed for a trademark on the common fantasy term "dragon slayer", but he also filed a trademark for a certain styling of a cover where the title and series name are at the top, the author name is at the bottom, and a human is holding a weapon. This style of cover has been in use for over a century. Boing Boing has a couple of articles about the matter, but my browser wants to hang up every time I try to access them.

An even more interesting question is whether defending the trademark applications are worth it to Earle. Earlier this summer, his books disappeared from Amazon, lock-stock-and-barrel, during the recent purge of authors who allegedly broke the Amazon TOS by using black-hat and gray-hat marketing tricks.

[Edit to add: Earle has apparently abandoned the attempt to trademark the cover style in question.

However, if you want to file a protest on his application to trademark the term "dragon slayer" (which you should do if you ever want to write books about dragon slayers in the future), here's some tips on writing a letter of protest to the US Patent and Trademark Office.]

Monday Movie Mania - Ant-man and the Wasp

Our story picks up two years after the events in Captain America: Civil War. Scott has three days left in his house arrest for his part in helping the Winter Soldier escape. Meanwhile Hank and Hope are on the run for providing Scott his Ant-man suit while trying to recreate Scott's entry and return from the quantum realm in a desperate attempt to find and save Janet.


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SPOILERS



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PROS
1) The entire cast is back! (Well, everyone except Yellowjacket since he bought a one-way ticket to hell in Ant-man.)

2) The Wasp gets equal billing, and she shows just how dangerous her sting can be.

3) While Goliath didn't technically make an appearance, I was ecstatic Bill Foster made an appearance since he was the Goliath I grew up with.

4) Michelle Pfieffer was perfect as Janet Van Dyne-Pym!

5)The revised Ghost was a sympathetic character who Bill saved in soul long before the team saved her life; this went a longer ways in cementing the positive family vibe of the Ant-Man franchise than Janet's rescue.

6) The film neatly ties into Avengers: Infinity War, and a possible solution to Thanos, with the mid-credits scene. It also manages to give Hawkeye a damn good reason for not appearing in A:IW too.


CONS
1) Some the visual special effects gave me a headache.

2) The joke of Scott being the size of child was dragged on a little too long.


Overall, I give Ant-Man and the Wasp 9 stars out of 10.