Writer, podcaster. and streamer
So you hear me say it all the time in podcasts. “Enjoy the ride.†I picked up this catch phrase from frequent trips to King’s Dominion and Busch Gardens. I’m a roller coaster guy, you see. As life is a lot like a roller coaster, Enjoy the ride…â€Â strikes me as a good mantra to practice.
But don’t take just my word for it…
Wise words from Captain Jack Sparrow.
Make it a good day, everybody.
If you are living under a rock, you might have missed the big release at the box office this weekend. Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 2 has now landed at your local movie theatre, and after its (come on, let’s be honest…you thought it was gonna suck…) stunning sleeper performance, the Marvel Studios’ Underdog of Misfits had one incredible bar to clear. The original took the hardest of comic book nerds by surprise while casual fans of Marvel, convinced this would be the first MCU dud, came out pleasantly surprised and downloading Awesome Mix, Volume One on their smartphones before getting home from the theatre.
Now, the Guardians are back.
So where do I begin? Or more to the point, where do I begin and not spoil the insane amount of fun that is happening in GotG, Vol. 2? There is a LOT to be had, but a good amount of this fun are in the twists, turns, and surprises GotG, Vol. 2 packs within its running time. I think I can give an opinion — a sincere, analytical opinion — without giving anything away, but if I do inadvertently spoil anything for you, I apologize.
Okay, let’s do this… [Read more…] about Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 2: A Spoiler-Free Review
Holy Hannah in a Helicopter, how did it become April already?
So after attempting to get myself back on track with blogging, quite a few things happened (and yeah, I’m planning to follow up on the blog about the news, news that you know about if you’re listening to The Shared Desk) and I’ve got a few ideas for blogposts bouncing around in my head, but here we are in April.
Back to it, right?
I’m getting back on the blogging horse with a shout out to the lovely lady off to the left — Lauren B. Harris.
“Hold up,â€Â you may ask, “is that Lauren Harris as in she who wrote for The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences?â€
Or you might asking, “Hold up, is that Lauren Harris as in she who offers her vocal talents on Audible.com?â€
Or maybe you ask “Hold up, is that Lauren Harris as in Scribe who appears on The Shared Desk?â€
To which I say, “Yes, that Lauren Harris.†Multi-talented, and even a cover model in her own right. Lauren is one of those super-creatives that I hope to keep pace with.
Well, here’s the thing… [Read more…] about COVER REVEAL: Unleash by Lauren B. Harris
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SPOILERSÂ AHEAD!
THIS IS A DEEP DIVE INTO WESTWORLD,
BOTH SEASON ONE AND ITS FINALE.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
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This weekend, HBO’s science fiction epic Westworld wrapped up their inaugural season.
Since Sunday night, I have been working through my feelings about that finale, and about this season…but that final episode of Westworld feels best summed up like this…
One more…
[Read more…] about Six Characters in Search of an Author: A Review of Westworld
Recently, The Curse of the Silver Pharaoh went live on Amazon, print editions premiering this week at the Maryland Renaissance Festival, provided we get no unforeseen whammies from CreateSpace. (Thanks, Hurricane Matthew!) Silver Pharaoh is not my first novel, nor is it my first foray into steampunk, as many of you know. The thing about this book that has me fidgeting nervously as reviews start to trickle in is that Silver Pharaoh is my first step into the realm of Young Adult fiction.
And that terrifies me. Greatly.
I’ve got a lot of feelings about Y.A. Fiction, one being that those reading Y.A. are not necessarily “young†adults. Think about it—while Harry Potter could be easily dismissed as a “kid’s book†and is found in the Children’s sections of bookstores and libraries everywhere, just as many adults devoured the adventures of the Boy Who Lived just as ravenously as its target audience.
So, yeah, working in the wild and woolly world of Y.A. for the first time, I picked up a few things… [Read more…] about Five Things I Learned When Writing a Young Adult Book
Woah! Three blogposts in a week?!
It’s been that kind of week, I guess.
Today, a new book comes out. You would think on the fifth book in a series, this would get boring. It doesn’t. On this go-round, honestly, I feel like there’s more riding on this title than the previous ones. I don’t feel like I have anything to prove, and yet I feel like I have a lot at stake.
I knew that going into it. Maybe that’s why I don’t feel as anxious as I’ve been in the past. I’ve been on edge for well over a year.
The fear started with making the decision. Pip and I could have gone ahead and wrapped everything up with The Diamond Conspiracy, but we stopped and asked ourselves “Are we done?†The answer: We were having way too much fun with this series. We knew we could have wrapped up the story arc beginning at Phoenix Rising. Wellington’s and Eliza’s story? That was a different matter altogether. We knew two more books were in store for the two of them, and we knew if we wanted them to happen then we would have to fund them independently. I could still recall how hard my heart was going when we said “Let’s do this.†It would mean returning to Kickstarter, a whole new level of stress. [Read more…] about Reflections on a Rebellion:  Another Book Release That Is Something Entirely New