If Just 20 of You Read This . . . (Google Analytics)

So here we are at the end of the month. Can you believe it's time for April already? Craziness. And we're supposed to get 8-15 inches of snow tonight into tomorrow. I love Maine. :-)

But that's not why you're reading this post. I'm here to report on some hard numbers for my blog. Why? Because they're interesting to me. Since I left livejournal behind, I've been able to track actual views and visits to my blog, and I'm a numbers sort of a guy. What have I found? Well, for one thing, this month I set a record for the number of visitors to my blog. 332. That's not too shabby, for me. Back in July, I only had 131. So I'm approaching tripling my visitors in just 8 months. Of course, the record for a single day's worth of visits isn't likely to be broken soon: I had 158 the day I posted my review of The Way of Kings and mentioned it on Brandon's Facebook page (which makes me wonder how many visitors he's getting a day--better that I don't know.)

Anyway, if just 20 of you read this post (and that's about average for a day of visitors for my blog), then I'll set the new monthly record for my site: 644 visits in a month. Exciting!

What else do I know about you, my many visitors? Most of you are in Maine or Utah. On average, you visit 1.39 pages each time you come. You stay for a whole minute and six seconds. Hardly any of you arrive by search engine--most of you come from Facebook or Twitter. My most viewed post is that Way of Kings review, followed by my analysis of why Jar Jar Binks' dialect is so awful. Then comes my post on board games on the iPad, Mormons and True Christianity, and finally my Sunday talk on tithing.

Since I've been tracking, I've had visitors from Russia, Azerbaijan, South Korea, Greece, Pakistan, Israel, the Philippines, Venezuela, Colombia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, China, Australia--the number 2 country after the US is the Czech Republic. Slovakia is number 7. So every continent but Antarctica, where the spammers haven't managed to set up shop yet. :-)

Anyway--wherever you come from, and whyever you show up here, thanks for stopping by! It's great to know I'm talking to an actual audience, and not just myself.

No Offense, Bruce Lee, but . . .

I've been watching a wide variety of films lately--not reviewing most of them, simply because I haven't had the time, and there have been other things to blog about. But today's a slow news day for me, so I'm going to catch up on something I've been meaning to write about. I love me some martial arts movies, and while I've seen most of the big names over the years, I realized I was really lacking in the Bruce Lee department. I've seen Enter the Dragon, and . . . that's about it. So when I saw The Chinese Connection/Fist of Fury was on instant streaming, I gave it a go.

Hmm . . . .

Not really too impressed with it. The plot was disjointed, the acting really subpar, the picture awful (not the movie's fault, I realize)--but the worst offense were the fighting scenes. They were just . . . okay. It was dubbed, which I hate. Does anyone know if Bruce Lee really made those ridiculous sounds when he was fighting, or if they were dubbed in? I mean, it sounds like the epitome of a bad spoof of a Kung Fu movie, which I realize is likely because people were imitating these very sounds, but still . . . it just doesn't work. So I finished the movie and filed it under the Two Stars category, mainly giving it credit and a nod of thanks for providing an essential stepping stone to allow me to enjoy Jackie Chan movies and Iron Monkey today.

Then I saw it had been remade by Jet Li, now called Fist of Legend. Not only that, but the fights were choreographed by Yuen Woo Ping--the genius behind Matrix, Crouching Tiger, Kill Bill, Iron Monkey, Drunken Master, and Black Mask fame. It wasn't on instant streaming, but that sounded like a movie worth an actual wait for the DVD.

It was.

The story was actually engaging and faceted. The acting was great. The production values were excellent. And the fights were fantastic. Just a great example of a martial arts movie firing on all cylinders. I loved it. So Bruce Lee, I totally respect you, and I'd never say this to your face (because I value my life), but Jet Li totally wins this round. Sorry.

And in other news--thanks to four of your clicks yesterday, my blog made a whole $5.11. Thanks! :-)

Payment for Vodnik (and a Word from My Sponsors)

Guess what I got in the mail today? That's right! An actual, real, printed check, worth actual real money. (I assume--I haven't actually, really cashed it yet.) It's one thing to be working with a bunch of imaginary amounts and figures in your head, but when you see a real, tangible check, it somehow seems like a lot more--at least when you're a librarian. (We're not exactly movie stars and sports heroes, you know.) So while I won't be going out to the Mercedes dealer just yet, I'm already looking at some potential Things To Do With The Money. What I really wanted to do was take a trip to Slovakia to do some research for the next book (assuming I get to write one). However, airfare to Europe is a beast right now, and I'm no longer sure I can swing Denisa, me and the kids all going. Then again, Denisa's going in for a dentist appointment on Thursday, and we all remember what happened last time that happened. If it comes down to paying $4000 to a dentist or paying $5000 to take the fam to Slovakia AND fix the teeth, then my decision is pretty much made up. However, if I don't get to spend some of my Vodnik money on airfare, then I'm also looking at starting on a home office for yours truly. It'll be a multi-step project, with step one being the construction of a new set of stairs heading from the main part of my house up into the attic above our garage. From there, I'd be creating this enormous master bedroom/office loft area, complete with skylights, dormers and lasers (because everything's better with lasers).

Or maybe I'll just go out and buy a whole lotta pudding. Chocolate pudding never goes out of style, right?

Anyway--excitement all around here.

And while I'm discussing all these exciting financial matters, you're no doubt wondering what YOU can do to contribute to my ever-growing success. That's the ads to the right of this post and beneath it? (If you have ad blocking software on your browser, you'll have to turn it off to be able to see it.) If you click them, I get money. Click a text one, and we're only talking about a few cents. Click an actual picture, and we're talking anywhere from a whole shiny quarter to a dollar or two. Now, I'm not saying you should start clicking just to pay me money. That would be click fraud. But if you saw something that caught your eye once in a while and clicked a picture to check it out . . . I wouldn't say no to that.

And then there's Amazon. Remember: if you're going to buy something from Amazon, just come to my site first. Use the search box on the right, and then shop at Amazon as normal. I'll get a percent of everything you buy that trip. I won't know it was you who bought it, but I'll be very grateful. Again--I'm not saying to buy something you wouldn't be buying anyway. I'm just saying that if you're going to use Amazon, why not stop by here on your way. Then, instead of those Greedy Fat Cats getting all your money, THIS greedy fat cat will get some, too. And if any of you out there have something like this set up with Amazon, let me know. I can't use my own Amazon search box, so I'll gladly use yours, instead.

Ain't advertising great?

Vodnik Acknowledgements (And a March Madness Winner!)

In my break from revising, I'm trying to get other elements of the book in order, including my acknowledgements page. Since Vodnik has been an effort that spanned years, I have quite a few people to thank. The trick is, I'm afraid I'm going to forget someone. That's where you come in. If you've read and commented on Vodnik at any point in its long illustrious evolution, could you post a response or send me an email? Here's what I have so far--but I'm sure I'm forgetting some people. (And PLEASE don't take it personally if I've forgotten you. It's so not on purpose!)

This book has been a long time in the making, but it wouldn’t have gone anywhere if it weren’t for two key people: Denisa Križanová, who introduced me to Slovakia in the first place, and her brother, Miloš Križan, who provided volumes of information and insight on Slovak folklore, history, and anything else I might need an answer for. Special thanks also go to my editor, Stacy Whitman, and my agents: Joshua Bilmes and Eddie Schneider. My writing instructors at BYU also helped me in many ways: Louise Plummer, Dave Wolverton, Chris Crowe, and Doug Thayer. I’d like to thank members of my writing groups: Brandon Sanderson, Janci Patterson, Isaac Stewart, Kimball Larsen, Holly Venable, Heather Kirby, Eric James Stone, Sally Taylor, and Bradley Reneer. In addition, I’ve had a variety of readers for this book: Robb Cundick, Ted Cundick, Wilson Coltrin, Audrey Stone, Kristy Kugler, Molly Reed, and Betsey Hyde. Thank you all so much! Writing can be a very solitary experience, and having friends there to cheer you on makes all the difference.

And in other news, March Madness continues, but my blog bracket challenge does not. Not a single one of us could get even one of the final four correctly, so we have a winner: Reed Nielsen! Congrats, Reed! Let me know which of the FABULOUS PRIZES you've chosen to receive. Thanks for playing, all--and come back next year, when methinks I might have an actual copy of Vodnik to award to the winner. Autographed, even. :-)

Book Review: Full Dark, No Stars

Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I didn't grow up as a Stephen King fan. I think up until college, my sole attempt at reading one of his books was The Stand, and I just couldn't get into it. It wasn't until I picked up The Gunslinger that I started to understand the appeal he has--I read all of the Dark Tower series at once, and I really enjoyed them. Since then, I've read quite a bit of his new material. I've said it before, and I'll reiterate it here, the man has a real gift for telling a story.

Take Full Dark, No Stars. I checked it out of my library and took it home. I glanced at the first page, thinking I'd just check out a paragraph to see how it begins. The next thing I knew, I was twenty pages into it. I'd gone from knowing nothing about the characters to *needing* to know what happens next. That's not an easy thing for a book to accomplish.

Full Dark, No Stars is a collection of four stories by King, all of them exploring the darker reaches of human behavior. It certainly isn't for everyone. I found it quite disturbing, and I definitely recommend against reading it late at night (unless you prefer nightmares). One of the things that makes it so unnerving is how realistic he makes it. How understandable and normal his horror is. This isn't outlandish, unbelievable stuff. This is stuff that could happen. Possibly has happened. Now, it wasn't like that in all 4 of the stories, but even in the bizarre, King manages to keep the connection to the realistic. The characters are people we can understand, and that's far more frightening than complete monsters.

In any case, it's a good book, but really unsettling. If you're not into horror, stay away. But maybe you're like me--not necessarily into horror, but unable to turn away when it presents itself. In that case, good luck. :-)

View all my reviews

Talk about a Pain in the Neck

Okay. This is getting old. I woke up yesterday morning with a kink in my neck which made it extremely painful to turn to the left. So after walking around all day like Herman Munster, I came home to get a head cold. And then I woke up with the kink spread both ways, so looking to either side now hurts. Thankfully, it hurts less than it did to look left yesterday, but I've still got the Frankenstein's Monster thing going for me. So it looks like today will be filled with me lying in bed trying to forget I can't move my neck. Yesterday evening I watched Slapshot (overrated--two stars if I'm feeling generous), Exam (an intriguing premise, but it falls apart in a flurry of over explanation at the end--another two star wonder), and a bit of the Dick Van Dyke Show (in season two now--love love love it). This morning I've watched The Red Balloon (much better than I expected a movie about a boy's relationship with a sentient piece of inflatable rubber would be--really quite good. Three stars, maybe a smidge more), and I'm going to delve into something less foreign now. Maybe something with an action flair to it, though watching it on my iPad will undoubtedly be less immersive than it would be on my big screen TV. Oh well. Not up to sitting up just yet.

Some have suggested going for a massage or some chiropractic treatment. If it's not better by tomorrow, I guess that's what I'll have to do. I just don't like strangers touching me--probably why I cut my own hair. Well, that and the me-not-liking-to-make-small-talk-with-strangers thing. Surprising that I'm so ready to make small talk with strangers on my blog. I'm just full of inconsistencies, I suppose.

Anyway--enough typing. It's making my shoulders tense. And forgive the lack of spellchecking on this post, and if anything else is out of place. Just be thankful I could post at all. I know I am.

Autism in the Movies: A Fair Portrayal?

Denisa and I watched Temple Grandin last night, and we both definitely enjoyed it. I thought it was a very well put together film. Clarie Danes seems to do a superb acting job. The story is touching and engaging. For those of you who don't know, the movie is a biographical look at the life of Temple Grandin, an autistic woman who managed to overcome both of those obstacles (being autistic and being a woman trying to break into a male-dominated business in the 1960s) to make a big impact on the way cattle are handled in the beef industry. It was made for TV by HBO, and really is a top rate production. Three and a half stars.

That said, it got me thinking about autism in cinema in general, and I admit I'm not quite sure how to take a lot of performances. I don't know anyone close to me with autism, and so as an outsider to that world, I have a hard time telling if the movies that portray it are true to life or not. The thing is, it seems to me that Hollywood has a fixation on autism sometimes. You've got Temple Grandin, Rain Man, I am Sam, Forrest Gump (in some aspects), Gilbert Grape, Little Man Tate, and The Boy Who Could Fly, to name a few. And in many of these, you get big name actors and actresses stepping in to play the roles of autistic people, and you get Hollywood applauding their efforts.

Now again, I really don't know if I'm totally off base here or not. For all I know, these actors are doing a superb job portraying autism, and I should just keep my trap shut. But what this post is really about is that I'd like to hear from some people who *do* have close friends or family affected by this. How do you feel when you see these films? Are they fair portrayals? Is there anything they typically do that really gets under your skin? Because I can't help but feel like some of these movies at least oversimplify the situation. I mean, Tropic Thunder had a running gag about how the main character (a "serious actor") tried to get an Oscar by playing a mentally handicapped person and going too far. Are these movies just Oscar bait, or are the actors and actresses really doing autistic people a service?

Inquiring minds want to know . . .

Bluetooth Headsets

I've finally got one. Now I can be like all those people I see walking around, looking like wannabe cyborgs. Or--if you don't see the headset--looking like people having full-blown conversations with themselves in public. I remember the first time I saw someone talking to midair with such earnestness . . . I really thought they were off their rocker.

That said, now that I've used mine a bit, I wonder why in the world it took me this long to get one. I'm on the phone a fair bit. I can be a pretty chatty person, and I like to do things while I talk. Up until now, I've just had to do things with the phone hunched into my shoulder. Being able to talk without doing that is a huge plus. I even carried wood in yesterday while I was on the phone. Very liberating.

Anyway. This is just a plug for bluetooth headsets. If you're like me and have been leery of getting one, can I just calm your fears and give you a gentle nudge? Setup was straightforward and simple. It's not uncomfortable to have one on (certainly more comfortable than walking around with a hunched shoulder), and the sound quality is great. I don't even have that high-end a model. Mine was about $35, I think.

And on the plus side, now I can go to Star Trek conventions and don't even need to buy a costume. :-)

Vodnik Draft 5 (or 6?) Complete!

Okay, I just emailed my latest draft of Vodnik to Stacy. Right now it clocks in at 98,681 words. The draft before this was 103, 500 (give or take). So that's 5,000 words net cut, but since I probably wrote somewhere around 6,000 new words (maybe more--it stopped being easy to tell how much I'd added), it could have been a lot worse. (In  other words, I was shooting to get it down to 83,000 words. I clearly failed miserably at that. But I didn't *increase* the word count to 110,000 words. That's gotta count for something, right?)

It's strange to look at this draft and compare it to the first draft of the book. There's very little that's remained the same. At what point does a draft become a new book? It's sort of like a computer where you've swapped out the motherboard, graphics card, network card, disc drives, monitor, keyboard, mouse--everything but the case, but you still think of it as the same computer.

At any rate, I'm taking a break today. Going antiquing--looking for a piano bench. Tomorrow, I'll get to work on a Slovak pronunciation guide, author's note, dedication page (that one should be quick, at least), and acknowledgements page. Once that's all done, if I still have time, I suppose I might look at Tarnhelm (my new project) some more, although I fully anticipate Stacy getting back to me with some more changes. My due date is May 1, which seems much closer now than it did back in February.

Oh well. That's it for now. Celebrations are in order, if only of the minor variety for now.

Dealing with Themes in Writing

One of the subplots in Vodnik is how the main character deals with racism in Slovakia. Can I just say that writing about this topic has proved to be one of the trickier parts of the book? The problem I have is that I have very clear opinions and beliefs when it comes to the subject, but all the characters in the book have different views on it. Dealing with all the different views while at the same time trying to explore my own through the story . . . it's much harder than I ever imagined it would be.

My blog is different. I can just talk about whatever comes into my head, going off on diatribes ranging from Are Mormons Christian to Health Care Reform to Why Mice are Evil. I can explore the topic all on my lonesome, saying just what I feel without having to worry about things like advancing the plot, developing characters, and not being too boring. (Well, hopefully my blog posts aren't too boring, but I'm not as worried about a single blog post as I am about an entire book.)

It's different with books. For one thing, I really don't want the book to be "About Something." I dislike it when authors try to preach, and it's something young adult authors can be prone to do at times. Young Adults don't need adults telling them what to think, thank you very much. They're plenty mature to form their own opinions. But I think everyone can be benefited by being exposed to new topics and new ideas. If you've lived your whole life without going more than 50 miles beyond your birthplace, you can have a pretty narrow view of the world. (Not a guarantee, but a possibility.) Literature and movies can help you go beyond those boundaries, pointing out different conflicts you might not have been aware of before, and even making you look at yourself in different ways. At the same time, teens aren't my only audience with this book. Lee and Low (and by extension, Tu) market their books to schools and libraries, as well. So I have to keep in mind that adults are going to be looking at it and making purchasing decisions, too.

I'm not saying I'm trying to make Vodnik a piece of Great American Literature. My primary concern is to entertain. To make a really good book that people want to read and that compels you to keep turning pages. But at the same time, some of the plot lines demand exploration of those themes. Yesterday I wrote an extra scene where Tomas (the main character) talks with his mom about racism. She's half Roma (the more acceptable word for Gypsies, which is a pejorative, in case you didn't know), and he's a quarter Roma. They have olive skin--not really dark, but certainly not light skinned as most Slovaks. In America, Tomas never really had to deal much with racism. His school had a good bit of melting pot to it, and so it wasn't really an issue. In Slovakia, it isn't nearly as easy. There's a long history of conflict between Roma and Slovaks, and Tomas finds himself smack dab in the middle of it. His mom grew up with it.

So they have a conversation where he's frustrated about how people are treating him in the town, and she talks to him about how it's not that big of a deal--how once people get to know him, they'll stop treating him like that. From there the conversation goes on to talk about judging by appearances in general and how much everyone is (or isn't) prey to it. And because I can't just get bogged down in the middle of a scene talking too much about all this, the entire conversation had to be shorter than this blog post. And interesting, and appropriate, and . . .

It wasn't easy to write. I thought it would just take me a little bit, but it took much longer than that. Not hours or anything, but it just got me thinking about this topic. Hence the blog post.

Question for other authors/writers out there. Have you dealt with this sort of thing before? How have you handled it? I'd be interested for other opinions . . .

(Bonus points to whomever can figure out the connection between this picture and the post topic.)

Dear CBS Sports

Dear CBS,

Thank you for posting all the March Madness games online. THIS is how you do online television. No hoops to jump through. I just go to your site and I'm on. Yes, there are ads, but there are ads in the TV versions anyway, so I don't mind. And I can see it live. Incredible. Great picture--all around great. Now if only the Oscars and other live television would follow suit.

At the same time, could one of you please call over to your mother ship's site and tell them that their Amazing Race streaming online needs to be tweaked some? The picture isn't nearly as clean as Hulu or Netflix's. I don't mind it when you decide to go out and do something on your own instead of teaming up with an established partner--as long as you can do it well. In this case, you're not.

Thanks for listening.

Bryce

GO BYU!

Author Bio and a Pic

You'd think a short paragraph about yourself would be pretty easy to write, wouldn't you? My agent called today and asked for a brief bio and picture of me that he could include in some promotional material they're working on for their authors. I said I could get that for him, and sat down to write it on lunch break.

It's a lot harder than I thought it would be, mainly because I'm not used to writing about myself in the third person. No matter what I wrote, I couldn't help thinking I sounded like a total pompous idiot. That said, I managed to string something together, and I don't suppose it's too terrible. Want to see what I came up with? Here you go:

Until Bryce Moore first asked a Slovak girl out for a date, his exposure to Slovak culture was limited to Steve Martin routines on Saturday Night Live. When he first visited Trenčín, Slovakia (arm in arm with his native wife), he wondered how he’d been missing it all these years. He’s been married for ten years now and visits the country as often as he can. He currently works as a librarian in Western Maine and lives in a 170 year old farm house. This is his first novel.

Tonight I need to get home and sift through all the pictures I have of me in front of Trenčín castle to see if there's something not too embarrassing that I can use as an author pic. Of course, a lot of the ones I took have me dressed up in medieval garb, along the lines of this:

And do I really want to appear in promo materials like that? You tell me . . . In any case, this is all definitely making this whole Book Getting Published thing feel even more concrete and real, which is a good thing.

And don't forget to enter my blog March Madness challenge!

Angel Season One (and Don't Forget March Madness!)

Denisa and I have been going back in Buffy time to watch Angel now, and we just finished Season One. In retrospect, it was a mistake of us to watch Buffy by itself and ignore Angel until after we were finished. I'm still enjoying the show, but I think I would have liked it even more if I were watching it concurrently. The shows weave together so closely, with characters bouncing back from one to the next, that I just think it makes more sense. Of course, doing it that way would be a bit more work--especially if you're trying to stream it on Netflix or watch it on disc. It makes me wonder if it wouldn't be worth it for them to release a Buffy and Angel Complete Series set, with all of them intertwined. That would be pretty cool.

So what do I like? I missed Cordelia when she left Buffy, and it's nice to see her back at it. Also nice to see some character growth. I like how the show keeps you on your toes. You never know who's going to die--or come back to life--next. (Of course, in a world where pretty much anyone can come back from the grave, it sometimes diminishes the tension. There seems to be a way to save just about anybody in this show, if the characters just put their mind to it.)

The humor's pretty good, and it gets stronger as the season progresses. The characters are good, the bad guys entertaining. The writing is fun. It's a good series.

Things not to like? Angel is his broody old self. I wasn't that sad to see him leave in Buffy. Sad for Buffy, but not sad that he was gone. Spike's just a lot more fun to be around than Angel. Even the theme music to this series is dark and brooding. I just wish the guy would lighten up once in a while and stop moping so much. But hey--he's been doing that for hundreds of years, why change now?

I also would have liked a bit of a better overarching plot. There wasn't much to tie the season together as a whole like there was in Buffy, but this is more of a quibble.

Anyway. Fun show, and we've already started Season Two. Thumbs up from both of us.

And if you missed it yesterday, don't forget to check out my blog's March Madness pool! Fabulous prizes! (sort of)

March Madness Pool

Okay, folks. I've got a splitting headache right now, so this is going to be brief. However, I wanted to give you all as much notice in advance as I could. It's time for the yearly blog March Madness pool. That's right. You, constant reader, can try to beat me in the closest thing our civilization has to a duel these days: tournament brackets. Here's how it works. I've set up a group over on ESPN's site. You go there, register, fill out your picks and then join my group. (Name: Bryce's Ramblings. The password is "meander".) ESPN takes care of the rest, doing the math, keeping track of who's winning and how many points you can still earn. All that good stuff.

So what are we playing for? If I win, then I get the self-satisfaction of being better than everyone else who chose to challenge me. But for you, I'll sweeten the deal. You get a choice this year.

• A blog entry written by yours truly, detailing how great you are.
• A copy of Cavern of Babel, signed by the author. (Al Packard. I'm pretty tight with him, as you may know.)
• Your name listed in the acknowledgements page of Vodnik, immortalized for all time, with the "alias" of your choice. (For example: Kevin "Hall Pass" Albert. Note--I reserve the right to veto any questionable aliases. :-)    )

Something in there has to appeal to you. So come on over. Make an entry. Enter the challenge. Last year was our best year yet. Let's see if we can get even more for this year's pool.

You have until Thursday morning before the first games tip off.

Book Review: I am Not a Serial Killer

Just realized today that I had never reviewed this book on my blog, an error I am paying for right now. You don't want to make Dan Wells angry. Have you read his stuff? Yeah. Definitely keep Dan happy. Anyway--here's the review from my Goodreads account:


I Am Not a Serial Killer (John Cleaver, #1) by Dan Wells

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


There are some books out there that are just plain creepy. Books you read, and you can't really put down, and you can't forget months after reading them. I am Not a Serial Killer is one of those books. It's the story of a young man who is obsessed with serial killers. He knows all about their typical characteristics--what sets them off. How they tick. Why is he so obsessed? Because he recognizes that he has all those characteristics himself. He's a sociopath, and he knows it. But he's a sociopath who really just wants to be good and normal. Even though he can't be. So he makes up a bunch of rules he tries to follow. Simple things, like not torturing animals. You know--the basics.

It doesn't help that John Cleaver (our protagonist) works in a mortuary for his mother. So he's around dead bodies all the time. (The first scene that introduces us to John is particularly memorable in a horrific sort of way.) I really enjoyed this book (although I wonder if "enjoy" is the right word). Dan Wells (the author) manages to create a character who is horrifying but sympathetic--not an easy feat to pull off. You find yourself rooting for this kid, not in spite of his sociopathic tendencies, but because of them. Does that make sense? His very drive to be good--even though he can't be 100% good--is what makes him such a likable character. That and the fact that he has a good sense of humor. That always helps.

The book is thrilling, full of twists and turns, but it's that character that makes it shine. If John Cleaver had been poorly executed (pardon the pun), then the whole book would have flopped. Instead, the book stands out easily in the crowd of new YA fiction constantly being churned out these days.

Do be aware going into it that this is very much in the horror/fantasy genres, so don't expect a strict crime procedural throughout the read. That said, the book is also very much a mystery, so I don't want to discuss the plot too much. Suffice it to say that it's a page turner and is making quite the name for Dan, a first time author. The second and third books in the trilogy are already out in England--the second (Mr. Monster) is out in America, and the third (I Don't Want to Kill You) is coming March 29th.



View all my reviews

Board Games on the iPad

I've been rewarding myself for finishing revision phases by getting some new board games for my iPad, and I just thought I'd take a minute to tell you all why you need to be doing this, too. (Other than so I can have more people to play against, of course.)

I love board games, but I don't get to play them as often as I'd like. When I lived in Utah, I had a fellow board game junkie who lived just a few minutes away. Better yet, he had time when I had time--a key ingredient to successful gaming. (You sure you don't want to move out to Maine, Dan? What if I try and get a guarantee that you get a fluff calling for the first year? Hymnal Coordinator? And don't feed me any garbage about Brandon and your writing group all being there in Utah still. Have them move, too.)

Anyway. Now that I'm in Maine, there are still some gamers around, but my time is significantly diminished. House projects, full time jobs, revisions--all of that gets in the way of what's really important: proving strategic superiority in life via a succession of games that involve far too many small plastic pieces and dice rolling.

Enter my iPad.

I can play asynchronously against people across the country. I can play against the computer. I can play against myself. When I want, how often I want--you name it. Better yet, the games I like are usually expensive. $50+ per game, easy. On the iPad? Less than $5. Oh yeah. So what do I have? (Warning: I'm going to get quite geeky here for a second, name dropping board games I don't expect you'll have heard of. I'd take a minute to explain them . . . but I don't have time. If you're a fellow afficianado, you should recognize all of these. If not, then go to boardgamegeek and start checking them out. Then come play against me.)

• Viking Lords--A clone of BattleLore. I've just started it, but so far I'm really liking it.
• CatanHD--Settlers of Catan on the iPad. I've got Seafarers, too.
• Blokus
• Neuroshima Hex--really good version of it
• Ingenious--I haven't sprung for the HD version yet. Just have the iPhone one.
• Carcassonne--Great version
• Small World--Fantastic. Just wish you could play with more than 2 players.
• Samurai--Good from what I've tried. I need to get into this one some more
• Scrabble--For playing against the computer
• Words with Friends--For playing against friends
• Boggle--For playing solo and unsuccessfully trying to play against friends
• Yahtzee
• Conquist (Risk clone)
• Life (for the kids)
• Parcours.robo (RoboRally clone--the first bit's free. I haven't paid for the upgrade just yet)

Look at all that. Clearly I like this stuff more than is healthy, but if you can get beyond that, it's remarkable that there's that much great board gaming on the iPad. Add to that the fact that I can do my crosswords, reading, movie watching, music listening, internet surfing, check sports and weather, and more, all from one device? WHY DOESN'T EVERYONE IN THE WORLD HAVE ONE?

Oh yeah. They're expensive. Then again, for the price of one refurbished iPad right now ($350), I could only buy seven or less board games. If you've seen my game closet, you know I have more than seven games. Yes, most were gifts over time, but now I can try out a game ahead of time--have its tutorial teach me the rules, so I can decide if I like it or not. Then, once I'm well-versed, I can buy a physical copy and teach it to other people without having to do a bunch of page flipping and rule checking. Nice.

Oh yeah--and more games are coming all the time. Ra, Tichu, Dominion, Race for the Galaxy, Tikal--all here or on their way, and all less than $5. BGG has a good page describing what's out there now (http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/57139/ipad-board-games-multiplayer-and-available-now) and here's a page of what's coming:http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/63196/boardgames-on-iphoneipad-in-2011

Anyway. Time's up. Why don't you go out and get an iPad, download some of the games, and challenge me? Email me when you're ready. Already got one and want to play? Drop me a line. Between this and March Madness, it's amazing I have any life at all. (Don't comment on that, please.) :-)

The Social Network: Some Thoughts on the Film and Facebook

Okay. I finally watched it. I no longer need to feel guilty, or have people say "Why haven't you seen The Social Network." Yes, it's a fantastic film, and yes, I should have seen it earlier. Four stars, and great watching. Acting, score, cinematography, screenplay--the movie fires on all cylinders. Some observations:

First, on the King's Speech vs. Social Network debate. I don't think there's much of one. They're two different movies trying to do two different things. King's Speech is more of a feel good piece, while Social Network explores the gray area of copyright domains, business practices, morality and friendship. I enjoyed both. Social Network is the better film, though--and I tend to think that will be realized in later years.

I think one of the things I like about both of these pictures is that they're adaptations of books which are adaptations of real life. Historical events are twisted and tweaked to make for better drama, and that's just fine by me. It would be interesting to see other people take the same history and make movies that are completely different in tone. (For an example of this, compare the Cary Grant Night and Day with the Kevin Kline De-Lovely, both biopics of Cole Porter, and wildly different in tone and material.) Was Mark Zuckerburg as big of a jerk as he is on the screen in this movie? I don't care. But I already talked about that in my review of the King's Speech.

Second, I'd like to discuss ideas on Facebook for a bit. I think we're past the point where people can dismiss Facebook as a fad, just as it would be difficult for someone to argue that Google is just a passing fancy. The offerings these services give the public are now taken for granted, and even if the institutions themselves ever fall out of favor, the offerings they support likely won't. Facebook allows users to be connected in ways never before possible. It's the phone book of the future, and you only have to release your number to people you like. Ignoring Facebook is a huge faux pas if you're a business or a public figure who wants to be even more public. Denisa's Breadweaver business is successful in large part thanks to her Facebook presence. She was able to get her product and message out to a large enough group quickly, and she now uses it to handle orders and make product announcements. And it's free and easy to use. Perfect.

If you're not a business or public figure, yes, you can get by without Facebook. People get by without a lot of things, from running water to satellite television. Where Facebook falls on that scale is a personal decision, but the fact remains that it has fundamentally changed the way we interact with people. We all now have an online persona, just as we have an in-person persona, or a phone-persona. Facebook acts as a hub for me, tying together all my different online endeavors, from Twitter to my Blog, into one spot where my friends (who have decided to use Facebook, too) can see and interact with them. Gone are the days of falling out of touch with people just because you move towns or switch jobs.

And it's not just Facebook. As a whole, technology is changing how we behave and interact. We're more likely to multitask these days--to text while we're watching a movie and checking our email, all at the same time. Facebook started 7 years ago. Who knows where we'll be 7 years from now. It's scary and exciting to think that life as we know it can so fundamentally change so quickly now, but that's the nature of the beast.

What The Social Network brings to light so well is that, as much as things are changing quickly, the same desires that have driven us for thousands of years continue to drive us on an individual level. The movie almost had a feel of a modern Greek Tragedy, just without the distasteful Oedipal vibes. So while the future is a big unknown, some things can be relied on: people will continue to do mean, nasty things to each other; friendships will be made and broken--that sort of thing.

I don't know. I'm wandering pretty far afield now, and I've got to bring this post to a close. The Social Network was a great movie. Great for inspiring conversations with people who have seen it. Great for thinking about it long after it's over. And that's something The King's Speech was missing. The Social Network made it up to the next level--it wasn't just a movie. It was Art. And yet it was really entertaining. What else is there?

Adventures in the Power Outage

At 5:34 yesterday, the power went out. We'd had about a half inch of ice coat everything earlier in the day, so it wasn't exactly unexpected. It ended up being out for around 4 hours. (Our house is in a very good spot to avoid power outages--not far from the hospital and Walmart. People want their hospitals and their . . . cheap junk products. I later learned downtown had no power for almost 12 hours.) Keep in mind, this is Maine, so when the power goes out, things can get cold very quickly. (The temperature last night dipped into the single digits.) Thankfully, we have our wood stove and enough wood to last us until summer and back into fall again, if the zombie apocalypse hits us. We discovered a few things:

• Kids really like blackouts. TRC and DC were pretty hyper, I think primarily because everything is so different. It's a big adventure to them, and trying to corral them isn't too easy when you can't see everything.
• We need more candles. We had enough for the evening, but we're running low now. We also could use a few more hand-cranked flashlights. (Why even bother with battery-powered ones? They're always out when you need them.)
• We could use some water storage. Denisa and I got to talking (there wasn't much else to do) while we were sitting there watching our wood stove, and that's probably the one area that we're weakest on when it comes to emergency preparedness. We've got a ton of flour (thanks to her bread making) and plenty of heat, but for water, we'd have to end up carting it in from the stream out back in an emergency, something neither one of us would like to do.
• I don't think I'd do well as a pioneer or medieval serf. For one thing, a lot of the things I like to do require good light (reading and complex board games) or electricity (movies, computer games). That said . . .
• iPads are excellent blackout tools. I had board games, books, music, movies, and a portable flashlight, everywhere I went. Hooray for Apple products. :-)

Anyway--glad we got our power back, and glad I was already done with my revising yesterday before the outage hit.

(Side note: I just watched some of the movie I linked to in the picture for this post: Frozen. It's the story of three idiots who manage to get themselves stuck on a ski lift fifty feet above the ground, with no one expected at the hill for another five days. It's supposedly a horror, and while it certainly had some elements that could have been horrific, for me the mood was ruined by how appallingly stupid the three main characters are throughout the movie. One of them isn't even bright enough to zip up her lousy coat when she gets cold. Come on, folks--I'm not talking rocket science here. Anyway--it will hardly make me afraid to go up the slopes the way Jaws made people afraid to go in the ocean, so I'll leave it at that.)

Movie Reviews: Night Train to Munich, The Palm Beach Story, and The Damned United

When I'm in work work work mode, I have to have something that relieves the pressure, at least for a bit. For me, that usually ends up being movies. (If you haven't noticed by now.) This weekend, I had the chance to watch three different movies, all of them very good and well-worth recommending. Let's start with a classic: Night Train to Munich. It stars Rex Harrison (a much much younger version of Professor Higgins, except this one is gutsy enough to go undercover as a Nazi). There's a man in Prague who knows how to make super armor for tanks. He flees the country before Hitler can get him, but his daughter's captured. I'd tell you more about it, but really, I don't think I should. This is one of those movies you ought to discover as you go. I was surprised by how twisty turny the plot was, considering it came out in 1940. (Also fascinating to see a war movie that was made and released right in the middle of the war.) Great movie, directed by the excellent Carol Reed, who also did The Third Man. Three and a half stars.

We move now to The Palm Beach Story, a film done by one of my now favorite earlier directors, Preston Sturges. You know all those romantic comedies, where the bride and groom almost don't get married, but after much hilarity, they finally meet at the altar and live happily ever after? What happens to them? Sturges explores that question in this film, definitely funny but also with quite the streak of deconstructionism running through it. Parts of it would fit in just as well today as they did then. (Other parts--the roles of African Americans, for one thing, are woefully out of date and even offensive at times, but that was a part of the film's time.) Three stars for me, maybe three and a half. I'm still a bit undecided. But it's on instant streaming, and you should check it out.

And finally we come to The Damned United, the film Tom Hooper did before The King's Speech. One of the best sports movies I've seen, particularly because it doesn't fall into many of the stereotypical sports movie tropes. Yes, you have the underdogs, and yes, you have the favorites, but the movie really isn't about underdogs beating favorites. It's about people and their relationships, which I realize as I type sounds like an awful thing to make a sports movie be about, but it works in this one. The coach of the underdogs becomes so obsessed with showing the favorites that their way of winning is wrong that he gives up all sense of human decency. I don't recall a movie recently where the protagonist is such a jerk--and yet somehow likable. Impressive to pull something like that off. Three and a half stars for sure on this one. (Although as a warning to some--you know how there was that big debate about The King's Speech and the use of the F-word and it's R/PG-13 rating? Yeah, well, let's just say nobody debated about it in this one, although all uses of the word are heavily accented, and I suppose you can just pretend they're using some other word. Like frook. That's not insulting or upsetting at all, is it? It's frooking congenial, even.)

Anyone seen any of these three? Speak up--what did you think?

Revision Update Number Four-Million-Five-Hundred-Three

Okay. Another one. No doubt you're getting kind of sick about hearing me harp on and on (and on and on) about my revision, but that's pretty much my life right now, folks. Yes, TRC finished his ski lessons yesterday, and it's actually kind of sort of warmish here in Maine for the next few days (okay--above freezing, but that counts when last night it was like 15 below), but as far as my days go, they consist of waking up, revising for an hour, going to work for eight and a half hours, then coming home and revising for another four hours or so--at least.

The tricky thing is that I'm not sure I need to be working this hard on it. The due date for this stage isn't until March 21, so I still have quite a bit of time. However, nothing's worse (in my opinion) than having to write under pressure, and if I wait to revise, there'll be plenty of pressure. My goal has been to revise 15 pages a day, which will let me be finished with the revision a week from tomorrow. That gives me one final week to read things over, tweak, make sure the changes I made make sense--that sort of thing.

So what sort of things am I adding and cutting right now? I'm cutting all the boring parts, and adding lots of excitement. :-)  Honestly, it's mainly about pacing and characterization right now. The first third has slimmed down a lot. I sliced out three chapters--chapters where not a whole lot happens--rolling what important stuff did happen into other chapters. Ideally, a chapter should accomplish multiple tasks at the same time--push multiple plot lines forward. When a chapter just gets one or two things done, it ain't pulling its weight.

Sometimes I change something that makes it so I have to add other material to support that. A character might get beat up. When other characters notice that, they react--someone might decide that character needs to be taught how to fight. The character agrees, and so suddenly there's a need for a "fight training plot" added into the book. At this point in the writing process, I know all these characters really well. I know how they think, and how they respond in different situations. I can't just force them to do whatever I want them to do--I can put some different obstacles in their way, but they still have to overcome them the way they choose. (It feels really bizarre saying that, but that's really how it feels.)

Anyway.

I'm on track. It's going well. I reread some of my big changes yesterday, and I'm pleased with them. Still, I wouldn't mind taking a few days off . . .

There'll be time enough for that after March 21. Happy weekend, all!

Brandon Davies, BYU Basketball and the Honor Code

If you follow college hoops at all, you've likely heard the story: Brandon Davies, the third highest scorer on BYU's team, was kicked off that team on Monday for honor code violations (supposedly for premarital sex with his girlfriend). Up to that point, BYU was having a fantastic season. We were ranked third in the nation, and it looked like we had a shot at being a 1 seed when March Madness begins in a few weeks.

Last night, we lost at home by 18 points to an unranked New Mexico.

Was it all because of Davies' absence? No. He was often in foul trouble when he was playing, so it's not like we'd never been on the court without him. But just look at what happened to Tiger Woods' game after all the personal troubles he had came to light. To expect a team to continue to play at the top of its game after such a big blow is unrealistic. They were bound to have issues.

How do I feel about BYU basketball right now? Prouder than ever. As much as I'd love to see BYU go to the Final Four or win the national championship, I don't believe it should do it by compromising its standards. The school has an honor code--a strict honor code. No alcohol, drugs, coffee, tea, sex, beards, long hair (for guys)--it can seem like a pretty random mish-mash of rules to an outsider. But it's a private religious institution, and it's up to them to set their rules. All those rules have some basis in Mormon theology or practice. Having gone to BYU for seven years, I know the ins and outs of it pretty darn well. And I support it. (Though no beards? That was a bummer. I stopped shaving the day I graduated from BYU, and I'm happy to say I haven't shaved since.)

It's the Honor Code. It's well known, everyone has to sign it every year, and you know what the consequences might be if you break it. BYU couldn't do anything differently than what it did once Davies told the administration what he had done. To do so would have gone against everything the university stands for. Karl Maeser, one of the founders of BYU, is famously quoted at BYU as having said this about the honor code:

"I have been asked what I mean by “word of honor.” I will tell you. Place me behind prison walls—walls of stone ever so high, ever so thick, reaching ever so far into the ground—there is a possibility that in some way or another I might be able to escape; but stand me on the floor and draw a chalk line around me and have me give my word of honor never to cross it. Can I get out of that circle? No, never! I’d die first."

(In fact, there's a stature of Maeser on campus, and students regularly draw a chalk circle around it as a joke, referring to this quote.) BYU takes its Honor Code very seriously. It's an inherent part of the institution, because BYU views itself as being primarily a religious school. You pray before every event (including football games). I'd often be required to sing church hymns before each class. You're not allowed to take a test in the testing center if you've got a 5 o'clock shadow even. You go to BYU knowing full well what you're getting into. If you think it's too nit picky, don't go there. (Even with all these requirements, it's a school that's very difficult to get into. I always was annoyed at people who complained about the rules too much while they were at BYU. They were taking someone else's spot--someone who really wanted to be there, rules and all.)

How do I feel about Brandon Davies right now? Extremely proud of him, too. To turn himself in after doing what most of the world these days wouldn't even bat an eye at--and then publicly being apologetic about it and accepting the consequences. That takes guts. I wonder how many basketball courts would be empty during March Madness if only virgins were allowed to play. I feel bad for Brandon that he has to go through such a public scrutiny about something that should be a private affair, but that's spilled milk at this point.

What will happen to us in the tournament? Does it really matter? We'll do what we always do--play our best, try to win, and do it according to BYU's standards. When so much of college sports these days is focused on not getting caught, to see an institution do this to itself at the height of its program . . . I find it inspiring, though I know a lot of people have been saying it's stupid.

Maybe that's why I went to BYU.

Thoughts on the iPad 2

Today Apple announced the iPad 2, available in March 11th here in the US. I've been waiting quite anxiously for the announcement, mainly because my wife's laptop battery is completely dead. A new one would cost around $80-$100 (new battery, that is--not a new laptop), but all she really uses her laptop for could be accomplished with my current iPad.

See where I'm going here?   :-)

So what extras are on the new model? For one thing, the price is the same--that's nice. It's got front and rear facing cameras, and you can buy a slick movie editor for the thing for $5. I could see me taking video of events and then editing it and posting that video online, all from the same easy to use device. It's twice as fast--graphics are nine times as fast. It's got the ability to do HDMI out, so you can hook it up to your big screen TV and stream Netflix or whatever you want in full 1080p goodness. You still have a 10 hour battery, even with all the extra features. It's 1/3 slimmer, 1.3 pounds (.2 less than iPad 1). A new operating system is coming out for it, too.

Honestly, there's not a ton of new features that blow me away. It looks like it'll be a faster device that has cameras, so it does video conferencing, etc. Of course, since I often have my iPad but don't have my camera of video camera, this could be a good thing for me. On the other hand, if I get an iPhone through Verizon and use it as my main phone, then I'll have that camera, instead. So I'm not sure if I'll end up getting one of these or not. I'll likely upgrade my current iPad to the latest OS, then see if I'm still missing the extra features. It'll help to read some reviews when they come out, too.

Of course, if I didn't already have an iPad, I'd jump all over this new one. I love mine, and I use it more than I ever thought I would. Best piece of technology I've ever bought. Period.

What do you think? Care to chime in?