Writer. Novelist. Redneck. Granola.
Here are the Green Porch’s favorite sci-fi movies that haven’t seen the love they deserve. Why, you may ask, would I bother blathering on about such a trifle? Hey, everyone else is yammering about Tim Tebow and Ron Paul, so why can’t I give some props to a few movies that deserve more attention? (Sheesh, get off your high speeder).
Anywho, you may not have seen them, but I’ll give you some reasons as to why you should. So let’s get on with… (more…)
It’s been a great month of eVerse blog posts here on the Green Porch. Now that we dig deep into the closet of winter, we bid GPWeR (GreenPorch Winter of eReading) farewell. But as a final parting shot across the bow I ask a serious question. (Fine. It’s not really serious. But I like to be dramatic. I’m a writer, dangit.)
Across the artistic board every medium perpetuates a certain lowbrow peep-show in perpetuity. That is to say, pornography is everywhere… except in fiction. You see, in fiction we have erotica. This got me to thinking. (Stop laughing. I think. On occasion.)
Why do people skim through nudey magazines, watch porno flicks and populate the internet with more pornography sites than there are McDonalds in the inner city, just to go off and read “erotica?” You and I both know the truth is they don’t. As sure as your soylent green, it’s porn, people! (more…)
The miserly quest continues. The aftershocks of the largest eReader giving (and getting) season still shake the foundations of the eVerse. Like gorging on so many turkey sandwiches after Thanksgiving, you’ve stayed up late blurring eBook into eBook on your nifty new Nook.
Now your budget is paying for it. Even $2.99 seems like a chocolate mint too far (“but it’s wafer thin“). Now it is time to unabashedly scour the Nook store for quality free eBooks. There’s no shame in it. And there’s no trick to it. It’s just a simple trick. But it won’t be quick, so let’s get to it. (more…)
Just like the rest of the internet, the eBook eVerse consist hugely of porn. It is sorta the plankton of the eVerse — the simplest life form that feeds the mindless that in turn feed the suckers and bottom-dwellers who in turn feed the commercial fiction writers who feed the how-to-write-commercial-fiction writers who feed the I’m-too-sexy literati who feed themselves (as they cannibalize the top echelon with scathing reviews).
Hey, I didn’t create the life cycle. I’m just stating the fact that stuff always grows out of… how do the French say it… shit.
It’s not pretty, people. But with a little effort we can rise above the manure zone and better ourselves. But how, you may ask? Well here at the Green Porch we’ll tell you. (more…)
Okay. Contracts were broken. But how is that worse than lying on your taxes? This past Wednesday Dr. Pepper Snapple killed the “Dublin Dr. Pepper” brand name. They claim it was to protect the diluting of their Dr. Pepper trademark. Read more about it here.
So nine different Dr. Pepper products (including Dr. Pepper 10. What the hell is that?) is just fine, but ten is watered down? And aren’t they just going to keep making Dublin Dr. Pepper at other bottlers anyway? (The answer is yes.) So… they still have the same amount of trademark-watering-down Dr. Pepper products as before.
The only difference is that now instead of “Dublin Dr. Pepper,” fanatics aficionados will be drinking “Dr. Pepper made will real cane sugar.” (more…)
Every era has technological innovations that seem significant at the time (and sometimes are) but somehow slip out of the history books to fade from the collective memory. During research for the second novel in my Reeferpunk series, I found one of these innovations too irresistible to pass up. From the late 19th century to the early 20th century moonlight towers illuminated cities across both Europe and the United States.
While these towers populated dozens of cities for almost half a century, illuminating city blocks with powerful arc lamps, they quickly dimmed into history’s forgotten archives. Bizarre to the modern eye, these towers often ranged from 150 to over 200 feet high and were used during an era when standard, smaller-sized street lamps were impractical and readily-available electricity had yet to burgeon. (more…)
After self-publishing my second eNovel in December, I’ve been increasingly tormented by the fear that it possibly may not be quite the classic in the making I assumed anything pouring from my fingers would instantly be. Understand, this is a strange sensation for me. Even as a kid I used to imagine what it would feel like to be one of the dumb kids. I’ve just always been blessed/cursed with an ego the size of a professional athlete’s (despite neither being very professional or athletic).
Maybe my ego is more the size of your aunt Edna’s goiter. Anywho, as I’ve said in an earlier post, I’m stoopid like a fox. Steven Pressfield’s quote about artists and writers is so great that I’ll include it here again: “Ignorance and arrogance are the artist and entrepreneur’s indispensable allies. She must be clueless enough to have no idea how difficult her enterprise is going to be—and cocky enough to believe she can pull it off anyway.”
Normally that is me to a “T.” I’m as cluelessly cocky as they come. But lately I’ve rather non-stoopidly become aware that lots of self-published eBooks are ludicrously crappy. I have a collection of free Kindle samples to prove it.