This site is dedicated to all things that make up the marvelous genres of Science Fiction and Fantasy and its, all-encompassing , boundless, broad, capacious, commodious, far-flung , indiscriminate, pervasive, unrestricted, and vast influences in Literature, Art, and all forms of media and gaming.
This is also a sister site to the blog " Starships and Dragons"
We have been on hiatus for a time due to various reasons but health being the dominate one. I hope to get back into writing this blog on a weekly basis.
Growing up, I was a big Flash Gordon fan ( over 30 years). I never forgot how much fun the movie was to watch and how I loved the musical score . It was my introduction to Queen, Sam Jones and Melody Anderson along with Max Von Sydow, Timothy Dalton, and Brian Blessed. Ryan Plummer and the people at i09 put together a interesting article on this Cult Classic and a lot of things that went on behind the scenes.
The Weirdest Things You Never Knew About the Making Of Flash Gordon. This Article is interesting and explains a lot about the film and the way it looks today. You get the inside story of how screwy it was to work for Dino De Laurentiis and a international film crew. Everyone has a different take on the film and I think if you have seen Ted with the Sam Jones scene you can not help but come to realize the " he saved everyone of us".
National Novel Writing Month, shortened as NaNoWriMo
(na-noh-RY-moh) is an annual internet-based creative writing project
that takes place every November. NaNoWriMo challenges participants to
write 50,000 words of a new novel between November 1 and 30. Despite its
name, it accepts entries from around the world. The goal of NaNoWriMo
is to get people writing, no matter how bad the writing is, through the
end of a first draft.
The idea is that many people are scared to
start writing because it won’t be any good, and if there’s a time to
celebrate length, rather than quality, more people will write an entire
first draft, which they can then proceed to edit if they wish.
Even John Green entered the NaNoWriMo competition 3 years ago. Great words of advice from the author of The Fault in our Stars
Writers
wishing to participate first register on the project’s website, http://nanowrimo.org/ where
they can post profiles and information about their novels, including
synopsis and excerpts. Word counts are validated on the site, with
writers submitting a copy of their novel for automatic counting.
Members
from our school’s Science Fiction and Fantasy Club…(Starships and
Dragons), some Journalism students and myself are planning to make the
plunge. Come join us…I do not want to be the only person who writes like
an moron.
I have to say, that I became aware of Hugh Howey when a
friend ask me if I had read Wool.I said “no, is it at Barnes and Nobles”?He said, “I read it on my Kindle through Amazon”.I told him I did not have a Kindle and I would wait till it was on
Audible. I explained I have limited time to read anything new with all the stuff I do for my classes
but I could listen to it on my way to work since it takes me approximately a 50
minute drive. That was last year; now flash forward to Sunday 9/15/2013, sitting at my favorite breakfast restaurant Glady's in Okeechobee, Florida leafing through the Palm Beach Post when I turned to the Accent section of the paper. There in bold letters on the main page was, Jupiter E-Book Sensation with a photo of Hugh Howey playing catch with his dog on the beach
The article about Hugh Howey in the Palm Beach Post was awesome, especially when he discussed his experience as a yacht captain in New York City docking his ship next to the
World Trade center on 9/11 just before the first plane crashedinto the twin towers on that fateful day
Excerpt from the Palm Beach Post written by Scott Eyman 9/15/2013
Twelve years ago,
writing
was still far into the future. On Sept. 11, 2001, Howey was in New York, captaining a 74-foot
Sunseeker motor yacht for a wealthy hedge fund manager. The boat was moored in North Cove Marina, at the
base of the World Trade Center.
"When the
planes struck, they did so directly overhead," he remembers. "The
first one was an accident, of course. That's what we all thought. I remember
watchingthe second plane bank hard and came screaming down Lower Manhattan
and I thought this was some sort of accident. Your brain just turns off. I was silently
yelling for the pilot to pull up, was thinking of some sort of malfunction, the
kinds of things I was too smart to believe. But the truth was too evil for me
to comprehend.
"I remember the heat from the fireball. I remember thinking
'It's just like the movies.' And then the people started running and screaming, and I thought that was just like the movies as well - the panic in everyone's eyes."
Howey's boss said
they had to
get out of there - everybody believed more planes would be hitting momentarily.
"I cranked
the engines and started throwing the dock lines. People asked if I
was leaving;' I said that I was,
and if they wanted to come, they should get on board. I remember asking them to take
their shoes off, and how that seemed wrong even in the moment. My wires were
crossed."
Howey steered the
ship across
the Hudson to Liberty Landing Marina, but there was no room, so Howey
tied up
at a restaurant. A group of construction workers asked if Howey would take them
back to the site of the Trade Center. They wanted to help. He agreed, dropped them
off and then
picked up others. He would see the same construction workers later
when they came
back for the lunch pails they left on the docks, and told him about the
looting they witnessed.
"It's
easier to talk about now, but I didn't for the longest time. We sat on
the bow of the boat and watched WTC 5 (or was it 7?) fall, the radio bursting with the
news before
the rubble even settled. We watched both buildings come down. The night before, we had sat in
Windows on the World at the top of one of the towers and looked out over the city. That spot
was now in empty space."It seemed surreal. Still does."
The
first thing I did after reading the article was go directly to Audible to check the release date for Wool and
downloaded it. (Now available)
Below is a link to the Palm Peach Post video chat with Mr. Howey
Mr Howey began his SILO series in 2011, writing Wool as a stand-alone short story. He published the work through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing
system. He has said that he choose Amazon's system because of its freedom of self-publishing.
(From Wikipedia) "The story of Wool takes place on a post-apocalyptic Earth.
Humanity clings to survival in the Silos, subterranean cities extending
over one hundred stories beneath the surface. The series initially
follows the character of Holston, the sheriff of Silo-18, with
subsequent volumes focusing on the characters of Juliette, Jahns, and
Marnes. An ongoing story line of the series is the focus on the mystery
behind the Silo and the secrets that it holds. The Silo's mystery is
eventually revealed by the end of book five, with First Shift being a prequel to the series. The series has grown in popularity, and recently Ridley Scott has optioned the book Wool for a movie".
Below is an interview Mr. Howey gave during his book tour of Australia.
It is inspiring to read about people who have truly lived life and fulfilled their dreams. Mr Howey has done that and continues to do so through his writing. We can only hope to follow examples like his in our own lives.
Check out this link below to Buzz Feed as we learn about the post Voldemort World of Harry Potter and what happened to almost everyone in that world.
As told by JK Rowling. In a series of interviews over the years,the author has revealed the future of the Harry Potter characters, far beyond the Deathly Hallows epilogue.
All right I have gone and done it. I threw my hat into the
ring. I am making a stand. You may ask, “What is he standing for and will it
come back to harm him? So here it is, when the new Harry Dresden movie is
finally made and it will be made in my lifetime …which is getting shorter as I
write this blog. Harry Copperfield Dresden should be played by Thomas Hiddleston… you know him as Loki
Will I change my mind? It’s possible but for now he is my
pick and will remain it till a better candidate comes along. Why am I so
adamant about Hiddleston. I am sold on him because of his impromptu performance
at Comic Con. He made a surprise guest appearance at the Marvel Panel for Thor 2 The Dark World to screaming
fans as Loki. He quieted the entire crowd in Hall H. without saying a word. I
find that impressive because Hall H holds over 6000 fans. Do not
take my word for it, watch this You Tube video. He would bring with him massive numbers of Marvel fans. Now we are talking about serious numbers and in Hollywood it is all about the numbers.
Here are some of the comments after his appearance.
- Loki manages a crowd better than Hitler
-Only Loki can insult humanity and force everyone to say his name,then get cheered
for it....I,proudly state,that I am one of those who cheered.
-OMG!
-They shouldn't make a movie about Thor... It should be a movie about Loki...
- I was squealing and giggling just as much as the people there...and I'm sitting in my living
room with my family looking at me like I'm mental
- One of the most evil comic creations. Everybody loves him to pieces.
- Loki: Humanity look how far you've fallen. The Crowd: yahhhhhhhhhhhh
Here is a rare look at Thomas Hiddleston's at Nerd HQ at the San Diego Comic Con answering questions from fans. I thought he was awesome.
