Scott's Brain Meat

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Book Review: Dark Entries by Ian Rankin

There had been talk for awhile about Tartan Noir crime novelist Ian Rankin taking on the character of

Constantine for Vertigo, the prospect of which had a lot of Rankin and Constantine fans alike excited. Now that the waiting is over, the final product has turned out to be somewhat underwhelming. Rankin knows how to write, and his take on paranormal detective John Constantine is well within line with what regular fans would expect. But when it comes to the actual story, there is a lot in Dark Entries to leave the reader wanting.

Preaching the inherent evils behind the culture of reality television is nothing new, and has been almost as popular as the shows themselves since Survivor started taking over broadcast television back in 2000. Countless authors have used that type of setting as a springboard for mystery, thriller and horror novels /short stories since then. While this doesn’t mean there still isn’t fresh material to be found there, Rankin’s approach can’t help but feel a little stale. The fake shows mentioned throughout are meant to be exaggerated examples of the inanity of reality programming, but their similarity to actual shows takes the bite out of these quick swipes at social satire.

The disappointment is even greater when Rankin seems to completely ignore the existence of actual ghost-
hunting and supernatural based reality shows, and instead chooses to involve Constantine in a rather mild fear-based version of Big Brother. Things turn demonic and spiritual, of course, but in a far more contrived and roundabout way than if he had merely been tagging along on an episode of Ghost Hunters or during the filming of Paranormal Activity 2. This doesn’t seem like an unfortunate oversight as much as it does a tragically missed opportunity.

The midway twist regarding the true nature of the show would be impressive in another comic series, but unfortunately for Hellblazer fans, the reveal (not to give anything away) doesn’t take them or John Constantine anywhere they haven’t been dozens of times before. Again, it is admittedly hard to take a character from such a long-running series in a completely new direction, but when it comes to the Hellblazer franchise, the oft-visited destination of Dark Entries tends to feel more like a fallback than a plot twist.

Add to all of this Vertigo’s release of the comic in a minimalist black-and-white manga-style paperback, which feels more like a cost-savig gimmick more than an esthetic choice, and despite the talents of the author behind the book, Dark Entries ends up feeling like a rather unsatisfying light entry into the Hellblazer series.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Unwanted Books Review: Smart Guys

I've recently decided to start reading and review some of the less popular books on my online trade lists. Think of it as the Land of Misfit Books; titles that I don't seem to be able to give away, despite the instant access to millions of readers.

The first book I've chosen to showcase is the young adult romance novel Smart Guys. This book has been sitting on my trade list at PaperBackSwap.com since 2006 without a nibble, despite having had other books from the Crosswinds series requested. After awhile, that makes me curious enough to give it a read.

“Meet the Kids in Group Three.

Dave: He just wants to have a good time – and to get to know a certain girl better.

Taylor: Dave’s dream girl. She’d make Miss America look like a dog. The only trouble with Taylor is, she doesn’t know how to relax.

Benson: He could star in a nerd movie. Definitely the clumsy-genius sort.

Frieda: She’s cute but hyper, with a nonstop mouth. She’s also great at organizing – one guy in particular.

James: With his high-fashion clothes, he may look well-put-together, but he’s a real airhead until he gets in a lab.

Five special teens are spending the summer working on a top-secret project. Just how much trouble can they get into?”

Quite a bit, it turns out. Especially after they decide to look into the supposedly accidental death of their project’s original inventor, and suddenly find themselves knee-deep in a murder investigation and conspiracy reaching as high as their school’s administration, and quite possibly the US Military.

Smart Guys is a part of the shortly lived young adult Harlequin imprint Crosswinds, for which Carrie Lewis wrote a few novels, this being one of them. While it is admittedly a light and fun read with the romantic elements existing on a strictly After School Special level, there is no denying that it also bares a strong resemblance to the 1985 cult classic comedy Real Genius, which was loosely based on actual events at Caltech. Both feature recklessly fun-loving genius main characters that team up with a ragtag group of highly intelligent misfits to sabotage their institution’s insidious plans.

But the similarities don’t stop there. Some of the book’s plot twists and scenes are right out of the film, such as the after-hours pool party and the secret military project, and the characters of Dave and Frieda are almost identical to those played by Val Kilmer and Michelle Meyrink. Considering that the book was published in 1988, three years after Real Genius hit the screen, and it isn’t hard to guess where Lewis got her inspiration.

That isn’t to say the book isn’t good. Lewis has a very light and breezy style that makes the story breeze by, and the characters and dialog are much more inventive than the lame back-cover description. This is definitely the perfect Young Adult romance novel for someone looking for a Revenge of the Nerds without the adult humor. Just don’t be surprised if you experience déjà vu while reading it.

Monday, January 18, 2010

reBlog from authorsmw.wordpress.com: S. Michael Wilson

Today on my Author Site: A quick mention about my recent radio show appearance...

It was here that I was invited to appear as a guest on Father Scardo’s Altered Hours show, airing Thursdays from 1PM to 4PM. Father Scardo acted as host from behind his mixing board alter, bedecked in his trademark bloodstained smock, while his enigmatic sidekick DJ Cheezy assisted in the background, his identity consistently masked by a series of view-obstructing objects and a mysterious cloud of noxious smoke.authorsmw.wordpress.com, S. Michael Wilson, Jan 2010

Shoot over to smichaelwilson.com for the full post.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

reBlog from authorsmw.wordpress.com: S. Michael Wilson

I made a blog post today on my author site about a recent speaking engagement:

This past weekend, I was fortunate enough to act as the Guest Speaker at the January General Meeting of the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County (or the SFABC, if you’re into the whole brevity thing…). I was invited by the group’s president, Philip De Parto, after meeting him at last summer’s BookNJ event at the Paramus Public Library. Out of the over ninety authors at the BooksNJ gathering, I was one of only a handful of writers whose material was sci-fi related. Needless to say, we hit it off immediately, and eventually I ended up on the guest roster for his organization’s monthly meetings.authorsmw.wordpress.com, S. Michael Wilson, Dec 2009

You should read the whole article.

Monday, December 28, 2009

Avatar Review: Is "Not Bad" Good Enough?

Just posted a new film review over at the MovieSucktastic blog. Why don't you go on over and take a look. You know you want to.

Avatar Review: Is "Not Bad" Good Enough?

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Sunday, December 13, 2009

Publishers Scramble to Horde e-Book Profits

Sony <span class= Librie eBook Reader" style="border:none;display:block" width="180" height="240">Image by Josh Bancroft via Flickr

The old-school publishing companies have been waging an ongoing battle on multiple fronts these days, all of them with different aspects of the same mortal enemy: the dreaded e-Book.

And they thought self-publishing was becoming a pain in the ass.

There has been a lot of news regarding powerful brick-and-mortar publishers and their constant struggle to catch up with and wrestle into submission the ever-increasing market for electronically formatted books. What didn't seem like a serious threat to them in the past has suddenly become a serious threat to the status quo (much like self-publishing), and the race is now on to head this new threat to the kingdom off at the pass.

Much of the news regarding these recent attempts has covered what appear to be different aspects of the battling formats. You have major publishers like Simon & Schuster announcing a set time delay between hardcover releases and their e-Book versions. Then there are the publishing companies that are desperately attempting to convince authors (and the families of deceased authors) that older publishing rights contracts imply their ownership of electronic versions of books even though they were written before e-Books existed. Beyond these major issues, smaller individual battles rage on with specific agents and authors. And let us not forget the constant wrangling with Amazon's Kindle and Barnes & Nobles' Nook over content and accessibility.

As disparate as these fights might seem, however, they all boil down to one solitary bottom line; the bottom line. You know, money.

It has been a harsh time for publishers. Revenues have dropped drastically for all forms of publishing, from magazines and newspapers to textbooks and literature. The global economic recession has seriously reduced disposable incomes, making printed materials more of a luxury item these days. The rising costs of published materials hasn't made this any easier. When a thirty-two page comic book costs as much as most of us remember paying for a two-hundred page paperback novel, casual reading just doesn't seem so casual anymore.

Then there's the new technology. We're in the Information Age, after all, when information of all kinds is readily obtainable in multiple electronic formats, only a mouse-click away. Reading for research or recreation can be done from wherever you are sitting right now. We've reached a moment in time where people can browse vast collections of documents and written works on

their phone while on a bus. Even going through a tunnel. Now that's impressive.

But this isn't about free information, no matter what some publishers might say. Some might take up the music industry's torch by claiming that sharing of materials online hurts the industry, but that argument never holds water when they still manage to bring in billions of dollars in revenue. Besides, you don't hear any complaints about used bookstores stealing food from the mouths of publishing industry families. And libraries have been giving it away for free for years.

So what's the argument then? For the most part, it comes down to the publishing industry's unwillingness to change their pay model to represent the new technology. We saw the same thing with the massive writer's and actor's strikes a few years back. Now it is time for book publishers to step up and take the heat.

When publishing and selling a book, most of the major costs involve the physical creation and transportation of the actual book. You have to print vast quantities (that's a lot of ink and paper and glue), store them (prime real estate), and ship them (books are heavy). What is left, administrative costs and creative artist compensation, is purely negotiable.

The problem is that when it comes to the new e-Books, even though elimination of the physical costs have left the purely negotiable part of the equation as the bulk of the cost, publishers still aren't negotiating. Many out-of-print books are now being made available in e-Book form, but at prices close or equal to original print-book cover prices. New releases might be offered at more respectable $9.99 price ranges, but after that the costs can almost double for older and not-in-demand (see: non-celebrity authors) titles. Any used bookstore owner will tell you that this pricing model is ass-backwards.

This adherence to the old rules also has authors and agents bothered as well. Author's royalties are remaining at roughly the same percentage for e-Books, despite the considerable lack of publishing overhead. For the e-Books selling at the old prices, this equals a massive increase in profits for the publisher, and the author left with same amount of scraps. Now take that new release selling for $9.99 instead of the $27 (!!!) hardcover price. The author's percentage is down to nearly a third of what it would have been, while the publisher's reduced overhead still has their profit margin comfortably close to what it was before.

As publishers desperately try to rewrite old contracts and keep new releases off of Kindle and Nook eReaders, it can be easy to assume that these are the actions of an industry struggling to survive in a new age. But this one book you definitely can't judge by its cover, as the truth is far simpler. They are greedy. Like the music industry and film industry before them, they are trying to reap the benefits and rewards of a new age of digital entertainment without giving the artists involved with these creative properties their fair share.

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Saturday, December 12, 2009

Santa Clause Does Not Equal Economic Recovery

Wow! So inventories and sales didn't drop as much as we expected! And China is exporting more toxic lead-painted toys then anticipated to our crowded bargain-basement department stores! On top of that, people are apparently buying more flat screen televisions and iPods during the biggest consumer shopping season of the year, ignoring crushing debts and skyrocketing food and utility costs in a desperate attempt to enjoy the holiday season. The economy MUST be doing better!

What is wrong with us? There is something seriously wrong with us; as a country, as a people, as a whole.

Home foreclosures continue to climb, reaching record-breaking numbers one year after another. Many (if not most of these) are do due bankrupting medical bills piling up and destroying families and homes, most of which ironically are medically insured. There are millions of people without medical insurance to deny their coverage for them. The number of children going hungry in what used to be the greatest industrial nation on Earth is growing at an alarming rate. And throughout all of this, our government continues to spin its wheels blindly, either unwilling or unable to pass any meaningful legislation to solve, curb, or even address these problem.

But forget all of that. Target's "$5 Appliance Sale" was a smashing success! Things must be getting better! Snuggies for everyone!

There is something seriously, horrendously, tragically wrong with us.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Friday, December 4, 2009

Don't Panic

On the road yesterday, I was listening to the soundtrack from the film adaptation of Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and it got me to thinking.

Awhile ago, while wasting the precious minutes of my life on Twitter or Facebook or some such thing, I was asked which fictional character I most identified myself with. Not taking nearly as much time to think about it than I would like to admit, I replied that I most identified with Arthur Dent from the Hitchhiker's series. It was an honest answer, and I quickly forgot about it and moved on to the next time-wasting social networking endeavor.

My answer to that question popped back into my head while listening to the film's soundtrack. It started to raise more questions in my mind? Why did I identify with Arthur Dent on a personal level? What was it about this decidedly unremarkable character thrust into amazingly remarkable situations that made me relate to him? For that matter, why was Douglas' Addams' Hitchhiker's series so popular in the first place? What was the appeal, to them and to me? It had to be more than just the humor, didn't it?

I gave it some thought.

Obviously, I can't speak for the millions of other Douglas Adams fans. But I think that what is most enduring and captivating about Arthur Dent's plight is that he bespeaks a universal truth; that most of us feel trapped in a world devoid of any real sense or logic. As much as we might try to build our little realities around us where everything makes sense and has a reason, the randomness and irrationalities of the rest of the world always manages to come crashing into our breakfast nook when we least expect it. Whether you find yourself watching the news, navigating a tax return form, or trying to get a permit to build a fence on your own property, it can be easy to find yourself overwhelmed by exactly how oblivious and illogical the real world can really be.

The Hitchhiker series embraces this troubled world view and elevates it to the next level. Most science fiction stories tend paint a tantalizing picture of a cosmos filled with technological marvels, sprawling utopias, and an almost endless number of mind-bogglingly intelligent races more than willing to tell the human race how stupid it is as a whole. A wondrous galaxy filled with answers, solutions, and simplified existences.

But is it only wishful thinking to assume that other the species potentially living among the endless stars might have a better grasp of common sense than we do? What makes us think that a technologically advanced species light-years ahead of us both mentally and emotionally wouldn't also manage to complicate their lives as thoroughly as we seem to? Would thousands of additional centuries of evolution actually erase the existence of bureaucratic red tape?

Douglas Adams was fond of claiming that he got the idea for the show while backpacking through Europe. One night while staring up at the stars, he would say that he idly wondered what it would be like to Hitchhike not just across a continent, but across the cosmos. While this story would change from time to time, it occurs to me that his original thought while gazing at the night time stars must have actually been "What if the rest of the universe is as screwed up as we are."

Its a good question, the horrifying answer to which became Arthur Dent's reluctant and seemingly never ending quest. Sometimes, it can be easy to feel as if you are trapped in that same bizarre reality, with no true escape of hope of sanity in sight.

So I guess that's why I identify with Arthur Dent. Because feeling like you are the only sane person in the galaxy is rarely a satisfying experience.

Monday, November 30, 2009

Nabakov's Unfinished Work Sees Publication

Image via Wikipedia

During the final years of his life, Vladimir Nabokov continued to write. He spent those years working on "The Original of Laura," outlining jotting notes on index cards. One of his final wishes was that his wife and son should burn the cards upon his death.

It turns out that deathbed wishes aren't that important to some people; Nabakov's final work is seeing print nearly thirty years after his death.

"The Original of Laura" will be published in two formats. One will contain reproductions of the english-language index cards, while a Russian volume will contain a translated version in a more traditional text format.

Regarding his decision to ignore Nabakov's final wishes and have his last lingering literary work published, his son Dmitry writes in the preface that "I think my father or his shadow would not be against of letting Laura to freedom if it has already lived for so long." Considering his original wish was that Laura not be freed, but rather burned to death, this is somewhat debatable.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

GOP Releases Unrealistic, Unpassable Health Care Bill

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

The New York Times (or, as witty wordsmith Mark Levine would call them, The New York Slimes) has an article out regarding the alternative Health Care bill the Republicans have finally released after almost a year of claiming that they could do better.

Short story: they really can't.

Heralding the slim volume's 230 page count as a testament to the Bill's simplicity, one could be forgiven for assuming that the pages contained nothing more than the phrase "Same Shit, Different Day" typed over and over again. While it isn't quite that bad, the result is almost the same.

The first thing that really jumps out is how the GOP rarely manages not to contradict themselves these days. For instance, Republicans have been stomping around claiming that the Democrats obsessing on 36 Million uninsured people was a waste of time considering what a small percentage of the population. Not content on merely contradicting themselves when they claimed that insuring this inconsequential percentage would in turn bankrupt the country, they have turned around and proposed a bill that would only insure 2 Million Americans, which apparently isn't too small for them to worry about.

Smugly waving around their response to the resounding criticism that the GOP was criticizing something without offering their own suggestions, John Boehner (pronounced Boner) and others proudly declared that the Republican plan increases incentives for people to use health savings accounts, caps non-economic jury awards in medical malpractice cases at $250,000, provides various incentives to states with the aim of driving down premium costs and allows health insurance to be sold across state lines.

Let me break that down for you:

1. Increase incentives for Health Savings Accounts: Give the banks more money to play with, and still be unprepared for a major health emergency, but at CD rates.

2. Cap non-economic jury awards in medical malpractice cases: You can sue the doctor that maliciously botched your son's operation for the cost of the hospital stay, but your pain and suffering from his death is only worth a quarter million, tops. This is a good thing, however, as it makes providing inferior and potential lethal medical care less of a burden on the hospital's shareholders.

3. Provide incentives to drive down premium costs: Make medical insurance mandatory, then fine poor people for not buying into it.

4. Allow health insurance to be sold across state lines: Deregulation. Works every time. Right?

My favorite part of the article, however, is this insanely humorous little nugget:

House Republicans, including their leader, Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, have said that they did not intend for their legislation to expand insurance coverage, because they viewed that goal as unaffordable. Instead, they said the bill was tailored narrowly to reduce costs. According to the report by nonpartisan budget office, the Republican bill would reduce future federal deficits by $68 billion over 10 years, compared to a reduction of $104 billion by the House Democrats’ legislation.

So, expanding health care (the whole idea of creating a new Health Care Bill, by the way) was deemed to expensive, so the concentrated on cutting costs, the end result being that they still somehow managed to reduce the deficit 36 Billion less than the "unaffordable" Democratic bill.

Honestly, who could possibly argue with logic like that?

Monday, October 19, 2009

Moviesucktastic Review: Paranormal Activity

Where the Wild Things Aren't

Where the Wild Things Aren't

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Thursday, October 8, 2009

Scalia Defends Cross On Public Land, Demonstrates Own Willfull Ignorance

Image via Wikipedia

Scalia Defends Cross On Public Land, Claims It Represents Everyone

It truly amazes me sometimes how willfully arrogant conservative pundits and lawmakers can be when confronted with the legitimate concern of separating Church and State. During a discussion about the cross that the Veterans of Foreign Wars built 75 years ago atop an outcropping in the Mojave National Preserve, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia whined and complained about not understanding what all of the fuss was about:

"It's erected as a war memorial. I assume it is erected in honor of all of the war dead," Scalia said. "What would you have them erect?...Some conglomerate of a cross, a Star of David, and you know, a Muslim half moon and star?"

If Scalia was being even remotely honest with himself and his audience, he would have recognized that drawing a firm line on the separation of Church and State is not only done to avoid the government from offering any direct legitimacy to one religion over another, but to avoid even appearing to do so. Obviously, no one is claiming that the VFW was attempting to force Christianity upon the world. But the government has an obligation to avoid even the unintended suggestion that it endorses a specific religion.

The arrogance, however, comes from the feigned ignorance of why anybody would even complain about it. The argument always goes along the lines of "It wasn't meant to be taken that way, so what's the big deal with leaving it up?" Of course, the question never asked in response is that if it really isn't that big of a deal in the first place, what's the big deal with taking it down? The same people that will fight tooth and nail to prevent a simple cross being removed from public property are the first to act in mock surprise when someone expresses the opposite. Tolerance supposedly only works one way.

"I don't think you can leap from that to the conclusion that the only war dead that that cross honors are the Christian war dead. I think that's an outrageous conclusion," Scalia complained. Of course he thinks that. And if this was about him, that might mean something. But this is about taking into the consideration the feelings of all the people who have loved ones buried at the cemetary. According to him, forcing some families to mourn their dead under a foreign religious symbol is reasonable, but giving them a neutral ground to do so is somehow absurd.

His argument about an amalgum of all religions in a monument is even more outrageous, but equally as popular. He jokes about the absurdity of trying to represent every conceivable world religion in a monument, purposely distracting from the true point that needs to be underlined, which is that you don't need to represent any religion in order to memorialize and remember those who have fallen in service of their country. To argue otherwise simply because the religious icon be displayed just happens to belong to your own religion goes beyond willful ignorance and arrogance.

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Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Performed by Bela Lugosi, Edited by S. Michael Wilson

Some of my favorite news updates involve my own work. Yes, it is quite selfish. But there's nothing I love more than sharing my latest projects with people who might enjoy them.

In this case, I wanted to share the cover of my next book, Performed by Lugosi (due out in December), which is going through the final stages with my publishers, Idea Men Productions. This is looking to be the final version. What do you think?

Performed by Lugosi takes a closer look at several of Bela Lugosi's films that were adapted from or inspired by classic works of literature by some of the greatest authors of our time, such as Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Not only are the similarities between the stories and films examined, but Lugosi's performances, career, and personal life at the time of the productions is also discussed. This is going to be a great cross over book for people who enjoy classic genre fiction as well as classic cinema.

I'm not going to promote too much more about the book until the release date firms up, but I thought this would be a fun sneak peak. Be sure to let me know what you think.

Friday, August 21, 2009

A-List Stars Flailing at the Box Office? Try Again.

Take a look over at Moviesucktastic, and check out my response at what Hollywood is blaming

Image via Wikipedia

its latest crop of drab and uninspiring films on: The Talent.

A-List Stars Flailing at the Box Office? Try Again.

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