Author Archives: Eric

DC Up and Down

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For anyone that isn’t in the know for what’s going on with my family, we’re getting ready to send my daughter to study in another country via an exchange student program. I’ve been volunteering with this organization for a number of years and I’m excited for my daughter to participate and learn more about the world we live in.

Part of getting the kiddo ready to go is applying for a long stay student visa. In order to do this we were required to appear in person to make this application. I thought we would be doing this at a consulate office or some place directly connected to the embassy.

Trio of Trouble!

The place we needed to be for our appointment was in Washington DC, so we decided it would be great to have along one of my daughter’s friends who had never had the chance to see our nations capitol before. My wife and I have both been there a number of times and were very excited to share this experience with the kids. We woke up early, jammed ourselves into the car and headed to the Metro. We really appreciate being able to use public transportation like that. We don’t have a great bus system and no trains at all around here, so that was treat the first. Navigating the transit system. We hopped on the train (also a first for our friend) and headed to the address.

I was wrong. Where we ended up was an office for the company VFS. It’s not actually a consulate or an embassy. People connected with those places might be in the background, but this was just an office on the second floor of a plain building over a kabob place. Far less dramatic than we thought it might be. They DO still require a security check to get in (metal detector) and they ask questions about Covid. Masks are still required. But in the end – a lot like going to the DMV.

We didn’t wait long as we had an appointment set up. We pulled out all the paperwork and thought we were in great shape… right up until she asked for something that didn’t have the same name as the paperwork we brought. We figured it out, but that was a moment of stomach lurch. We can’t have the visa appointment too far away from the departure date as it will only be good for a year. That also meant we’re cutting it very close if something goes awry. Then it did. The required photos we brought were deemed unacceptable. The agent we were working with was quite nice and very helpful. She pointed us at a store just down the block that would get us a new photo on the spot. Once we were done with the rest of the paperwork and the biometric scanning (photos and fingerprints) we popped over to the shop, got the picture we needed and were able to drop it off again in about 20 minutes time. All in all a good thing as we’ve gotten all the paperwork turned in.

This appointment was a source of anxiety, but once we finished that, the rest of the day was ours to sight see.

And that’s where things got frustrating.

One would think in the post pandemic times that we live in the desire would be to give people distance and extra time to work with things. That is not the case. The few museums that were open at all (and that was far less than we expected) had reduced hours. We thought to spend a couple of hours at the Smithsonian museum of natural history. It’s not a lot of time, but we’d hit a couple of exhibits ~ just take our time and chat while we walked… The lines at each entry were out the doors, down the main stairs and halfway down the block. Not exaggerating. We took one look at that and said, “How about we look at the gardens?”

We wandered about for a while, but it eventually became clear that the very few things that were actually open were jam packed with people. We were getting worn down in the summer heat, so we settled for walking the mall and looking at the capitol, the obelisk and the castle from the outside. Once we’d done that we just hopped the train and headed home again.

In the end it was a good day because we accomplished the main goal for the day. Visa paperwork is in. We got to share a trip to the capitol with somebody who had never seen it before. At the very same moment, it was a disappointment of a trip. The food we ended up getting wasn’t great. We missed our chance to have dinner in Chinatown. We couldn’t get into any museums or even the welcome center.

What does it all mean? It means that after our schedules settle down a little more and the world continues to reopen we’ll have to set up another trip to the DC area. We love all the things to see and want to have an excellent trip… So we’ll try again!

You Should Be Watching

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This was originally published in Watch The Skies Fanzine, July 2021 issue.

The Vast of Night – Amazon

Pick a night. Pick a slow night. Wait until it’s quiet out. Turn out the lights. Get cozy and flip this movie on. The Vast of Night is a small film that’s big on catching you at just the right time. There are bright, glaring action movies and soft filtered romances beside the raucous comedies. This movie pulls you back to the fifties in the American southwest. The story follows two people from the little New Mexico town of Cayuga as they track down a mysterious noise and more mysterious radio station callers. It’s the kind of town where everyone knows everyone else… until they dig a little deeper.

From the Amazon description:

“In the twilight of the 1950s, on one fateful night in New Mexico, a young, winsome switchboard operator Fay (Sierra McCormick) and charismatic radio DJ Everett (Jake Horowitz) discover a strange audio frequency that could change their small town and the future forever. Dropped phone calls, AM radio signals, secret reels of tape forgotten in a library, switchboards, crossed patchlines and an anonymous phone call lead Fay and Everett on a scavenger hunt toward the unknown.”

This is definitely a movie that is all about the mood. It is quiet. It moves a little slow at the start. Give it a chance. As the story rolls, the speed and the tension build. If you take your time you will get to a place where you’ll be out staring up into the night. There are small things, inconsequential to the success of the story if you allow yourself to go along for the ride. Coming in at an hour and a half it’s definitely worth the time to catch up with the folks in this small town.

Check out the trailer here:

Easy Win

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It’s a sportsball sounding kind of title, but it doesn’t make it less true. Sometimes when you’re in a slump or you can’t seem to shake out of a rut the thing you need is an easy win. Take on something that’s not part of your regular list, your massive project or the thing you’re blocked on and just do something smaller and less stressful. Take the easy win.

That worked for me. I went out and watched the **ULTIMATE** newbie crash course. I don’t know that I’m a total newbie, but I’m always happy to look at videos talking about basics. The foundation or fundamental pieces that crafters start from are often very different from each other. I don’t necessarily follow all the terrain advice shown in Wyloch’s Armory, but there was a bit in that video that reached me. Quick and easy doors.

I hadn’t thought about doors in dungeon terrain specifically. I’ve got grand visions of foam mountains and elaborate set pieces with months of build time involved and it all just seemed to be a bit overwhelming. I needed to step back and take on something smaller and easier in order to get into the work. Doors. The video series creator has a really great take on using a flat washer and some smaller craft supplies to create these doors. I stopped by the hardware store on the way back to the house one day and dug in.

I did not stick to the pure basics as shown in the video, but used the simplicity of the design concept to push forward a series of doors that I could use to advance a story. I was really happy with the result and at the end of the afternoon I had nine pieces I could add to my terrain library for future use. I didn’t grab pictures of all individually, but here are a couple of my favorites:

The Collection
Rusty Cell
Rotten Core

If you’re stuck or have writers block or can’t figure out what to paint or build or whatever your hobby is – sometimes it can really help if you take the ‘easy win’! What sort of things fit this description for you?

Invisible Life

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The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I don’t know if I would have ever picked this book up were it not a book club pick. This book is a fantastic example of why a person should join book clubs. Read something you didn’t think you would, you might find a gem.

This book is exactly that. A multifaceted, shining gem of a story. Making a deal to save yourself only to find out the deal was not so clean and easy as all that. What do you do if nobody remembers you? Are you still you? What power does your name have? This is a fantastic reversal of the old “don’t tell a wizard your name” concept. Tell a wizard your name and give him power over you. And when nobody knows or remembers your name, what power remains?

Along with the concept, the author does an excellent job exploring the feelings of Addie and the ways she has been forced to move over her long, unyielding life. How does it change your feelings when having them no longer has meaning to those around you? What will you be willing to do? How clever do you need to become to get what you need?

I enjoyed the story. I enjoyed the characters and the many lives they led. It was also a really well done ending – and that’s something I don’t get to say very often. A satisfying work with an excellent sense of completion. If you get the chance, you should pick this one up.



View all my reviews

Flash Prompt – Containment

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photographer: angrybirds65 – https://www.reddit.com/user/angrybirds65/

It’s a simple word. An easy concept. The act of keeping something within limits. The process of preventing the expansion of a hostile power. Light knows that Darkness needs to be held in check. It’s not a new idea. It’s been practiced and attempted for longer than people know. Those who don’t study history and all that.

Darkness feels Light straining to enter unwanted places. Corners exposed, shadows shifted and a new vision of place and purpose. Darkness slips away and fades as light expands, but then creeps around and steals back into unwatched rooms and back alleys. Shadows always slide in unnoticed.

Sometimes it’s not so easy. Sometimes the darkness pushes limits. Puts a strain on boundaries, forces the pressure to build. Light pushes back. These forces battle unseen. The fight rages in secret back rooms, penthouse suites, shopping mall corridors and occasionally in hotel basements. Daunting, dangerous and fiercely contested these battle rage with the only true victory being the safety of those who don’t know.

That is our place. That is our purpose. The cleaners.

Light and Dark may rage and storm. Battles may be won or lost. Our only mandate is secrecy. Patching the walls to replace the char of a light blast. Repainting the ceiling to remove the stains of dampness. Unwinding the stray threads shimmering in a curtain, trying to dampen the effectiveness of a simple defense for Darkness. Sometimes mopping up liquified darkness and replacing carpet…

Tomorrow What?

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Oh, Tomorrow War. Yes, that was it.

I watched the trailer for this movie as soon as it came out. It reminded me of Independence Day with Will Smith. A big budget blowing up aliens show for the fourth of July holiday. I was down with this plan – in principle. Then I watched the trailer again. From the trailer alone, I started to have doubts. Nevermind I thought, I’ll just wait and see. I put it out of my mind and forged ahead with the other things in my life.

Then, suddenly, it was the July fourth holiday weekend. I was crazy busy doing all sorts of things. I had an odd window of time and started just scrolling the screen to see what was out there and saw the big splashy things for this movie.

“OH! That’s right!” and I dove right in. No hesitation, no selection paralysis for me. Aliens and blowing stuff up. I’m IN! I really wanted to be super into this. I wanted to be excited. I was hoping there’d be this new alien action thing that would be a new go to. I watched. I waited to be moved. I wanted to just get into it and somehow it didn’t happen. This movie was no Independence Day. It wanted to be, but it missed the mark.

I still watch Independence Day from time to time. It actually holds up well enough considering that it’s 25 years old. There’s something to the movie that is just fun to watch. There’s an odd combination of crazy global scale mashed together with these smaller, human scale stories. People just getting together and working toward solving a problem because that’s what we would do ~ at least in a more positive time.

Tomorrow War says it’s a global scale conflict but it doesn’t show us a global scale conflict. The only city we actually see is Miami, or more correctly what is left of Miami. The people in this movie don’t band together for the good of the human race, they’re drafted. Literally forced to fight. No options, here’s a meager selection of gear, no training and GO!

The characters don’t have a chance to gel. There should be relationships, there should be bonding there should be… something. Our protagonist spends part of the movie actively working against one of his relationships. Secondary characters that should be given the chance to rise up and have a greater role are relegated to smaller parts that round out the “we need more people” bit, but don’t develop. I often complain about movie studios feeling like they need to force romance into movies. There is certainly no forced romance in this film. The problem is that the relationship they want us to focus on… just gets weird. I won’t spoil it, but I didn’t get it. When I was supposed to be feeling things I was bored.

I wanted more of something and got very little of anything. I may watch it again, just to try to catch stuff I missed? I don’t know. Maybe if we watch it enough they’ll fund another alien movie? Sigh. It could have been more. Maybe I’ll watch Independence Day again instead.

IF you’re into huge spoilers and want a break down of ALL the things that don’t make sense, check out the Pitch Meeting:

Over Hill, Over Dale

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The new book Over Hill, Over Dale is out! Why am I so excited? Because it contains my story Evilution (lucky story #13 in the book). This is a short story collection from the Story Makers class at Cupboard Maker Books.

Check out the cover!

As far as I know – this is an *in person* book – meaning you’ve got to visit the store to get it. (You should totally visit the store). We did a book signing for any of the authors that could make it on the July 4th holiday. The signing seemed to be very successful given how summer schedules normally work out.

It was nice to be back and doing the “author thing” in person. I’m still writing stories, firing them off into the aether and waiting for the inevitable negative bounce back. I think my next author in person event might be a convention… but those plans are still far enough off as to be shadowy and lurking just out of view.

I’d love to hear what you thought of my story in this collection. Grab a copy and let me know!

You Should Be Watching

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This was originally published in Watch The Skies Fanzine, June 2021

Oxygen

Oxygen is an intense little movie about a woman who wakes up with no memory of who she is or why she’s locked inside an automated pod. It wouldn’t be such a dilemma, except the level of oxygen in her single, tiny room is slowly running out. She needs to solve the puzzle of who she is, why she’s there and what she can do to fix her situation before she runs out of air to breathe.

This is a tense movie. The actress (Melanie Laurent) plays the main character. She’s stuck in this tiny pod. She doesn’t remember why. She doesn’t remember who she is. She’s got no place to go. This leaves all our focus on her as she runs through a monumental list of emotions. It’s a testament to this actor’s abilities that she can carry the whole thing off. There’s no scenery other than the pod. There’s barely any space for movement. You feel for her. You breathe with her.

Slowly, over the course of the movie memories and flashbacks give us tidbits. We rebuild all the various parts of a memory right along with the character. This is a smart lady. She figures out various ways to come at the problem even when one avenue or another runs up against a wall. She shifts and wiggles and carries the whole movie.

Were there things that didn’t work? Yes. There were one or two very small, very nit-picky things that I caught while I was along for the ride. I could very easily chalk them up to suspension of disbelief. This is a well done film that I don’t think is getting the attention it should. A locked room mystery that fits in the science fiction category. It’s a rare thing, but when it’s done well it’s a wonderful, terrible, memorable thing. This is definitely a film you should be watching!

Check out the trailer here:

The Thing That Gives

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I’ve been feeling guilty about not posting here for a while. I know it has been both far too long, and not really all that long at the same time. It’s difficult to understand the dichotomy.

The internet has a tendency to make people feel like there is a constant need to connect. It’s a constantly hungry mouth demanding more. You feed it and you feed it and sometimes you fun out of meat for the grinder. It’s been three weeks since I’ve posted here. That’s an eternity when you’re hoping to build audience and be able to push “your brand” and create all the things. People want content. If the content isn’t here, they move on. It’s tempting to write some kind of bullshit post about emptiness or a lengthy diatribe about creativity. It’s so absolutely common. It’s also infuriating. I read a column by a local (paid) member of the newspaper once that was paragraph after paragraph of her stating that she had nothing to say. OK. Great. You’ve got nothing to say. Give up your column space to somebody that does have something to say. It was so insulting that I’ve never read anything by that person since. If her name is in the by line I skip it. I don’t pay the paper to be delivered anymore. It’s easy to fall into that trap though. Should I be putting up empty notes just to keep something popping up in a feed someplace? I mean, it’s been three weeks! That’s an eternity on the net.

On the other hand, the real world has been quite busy. Something I have always heard is that the best stories come from what you know. Well, you don’t actually get to know anything if you don’t go out and *do* anything. So I have been. I mean, I posted recently as far as the real world goes. Three weeks in the grand scheme of things is NOT a very long time when you look at it compared to all the things there are to go out and do.

In the end, I remembered the very first thing I posted when I started blogging. I write this because it amuses me. It is MINE and mine alone. The blog gets what it gets and I hope people enjoy what they read. I am working on other stories and getting them published. There will be more as there is more. Until then, I’ll share this:

Yorrick?

Go see a play. I took my daughter and one of her friends to go see a play put on in an open air theater in the area. They performed their version of Hamlet (slightly modified for a shorter run time). It was glorious weather. We ended up with spectacular parking and great seating. Then the real fun started. The kids got to see an interpretation of the stuff they have been forced to study in school. There were great moments like, “Get thee to a nunnery…” when I leaned in to the girls and whispered, “you know he just totally called her a ho, right?” OR the part when we were walking back to the car and they said, “They blame video games? That play had like 3 poisonings, 2 executions and 4 stabbings… not to mention talking to a skull.”

It’s all about your perspective I guess.

Can there be only one?

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Just because it’s old doesn’t mean it’s good. I’ve had that thought rolling around among the remaining marbles in my head lately. Doesn’t help that I had another birthday, pushing ME into the “just because he’s old…” category.

I see this in my day job. In architectural design we are frequently called on to save work that is 50 or more years old. It’s important to retain a sense of history, but often times there simply isn’t anything worth saving. I have seen entire walls on the verge of collapse due to shoddy workmanship from the past that has finally pushed that final limit and begun the process of failing. Blocks crack, steel rusts away, bricks bulge, forming something that looks more like a wave than a wall. We can’t ‘save’ it. Maybe we can remake it and allow it to blend in with the other remaining parts. It takes study and careful consideration.

Nostalgia can dominate rational thought in this process. If the building in question has “always been there” from your point of view, there is an attachment formed by familiarity. The same is true of the written word. There have been some older genre books I’ve gone back to. I devoured them when I was a kid. I have these hazy visions and half baked plot memories that fill me with feelings of adventure and inspiration. Then I go back, dig out the old paperbacks and start to read. Nostalgia is often best if allowed to remain as that fuzzy picture. Most of the stories I’ve gone back to based strictly on warm feelings from my youth have been… less than the memory that brought me back to them. A couple of books have been absolute stinkers that lead me to wonder what I was thinking. Of course I was probably a preteen when reading them for the first time and had a… less discriminating palette. I think that’s a good way to phrase it (as opposed to, it didn’t matter if it was shitty, I grabbed every one I could get my grubby little hands on). Sometimes context of when books were written matters, sometimes it doesn’t. I found there are some who agree with the assessment that old isn’t necessarily good as well. I have a copy of this book, and based on this review I won’t be picking it up again soon. I love the cover art… I’ll let that story fade away on the back of the shelf.

Movies fit this category more than anything else. I’ve been trying to formulate a way to describe the feeling of not seeing new things in movies in such a way to still allow space for various media pieces to become my “new favorite”. It’s easy to throw haymakers at Hollywierd for never making anything new. We’re scheduled to get a 5th Indiana Jones movie! Indiana Jones and the quest for prune juice? We’re getting another Dune movie… that looks exactly the same as the last one with updated special effects. We’re getting sequels and “movie universe continuations” and all sorts of things that just don’t excite me. Theaters have lots of issues, but I think the single biggest one is making people excited enough about an actual film (without giving the entire thing away in the trailer ~ but that’s another rant) to balance against the terribleness of actually going and being forced to deal with an increasingly rotten set of theater goers. Another remake? Unlikely.

That brings me to the movie remake – or reboot? – that I really want to talk about. Highlander. The original movie from 1986 evokes that sense of nostalgia. There are so many aspects of this movie worthy of discussion. The concept is fascinating, but limited. An unknown number of immortal men that can only die if they are decapitated. These men battle through time attempting to become the final, remaining immortal that will claim some ultimate prize. I suspect the part film makers hate is that has a built in end point. Eventually, “there can be only one”, and that’s the best place for the film to stop. It didn’t stop them before of course. They welded on or cobbled together an additional four sequels and two television series. I will carry forth the belief that as far as Highlander films, there can be only one and not discuss the others.

The concept works. There are also the characters. Over the top, wildly costumed and speaking forth with accents that absolutely do NOT match anything of where they’re supposed to be from. These men know the goal, learn ways to survive and form bonds that pass beyond normal human life spans. Those who are prone to evil deeds do not hold back – in particular the Kurgan is a monster (and one of my favorite villains). The action works. Sword fights, car chases (sort of) and training montages. The score of the film by Queen has become legendary. It is this mashed together thing that somehow becomes more than any single part of it described on its own. Some minor aspects are showing their age, but given that the movie is 35 years old now that’s to be expected.

Do I want to see another version of this film?

It’s a difficult question. I love the original. I remember (and can quote) almost all of the main characters clearly. I’d hate if they did to this movie what they did to that movie series they called “The Hobbit”. Hate. Lots of hate for that hobbit mess.

I’d be willing to watch the movie. I’m not saying I’m enthusiastic about the idea, but I’d be willing to watch the movie. There are some important things that need to be addressed if this new version is going to happen.

The concept has a limit in terms of film. Unless it’s going to attempt to become something like the MCU (and everyone seems to want to cash in on the Marvel concept). Winning the main goal at the end of the first film is NOT the way to build a franchise. Does the film need to be a franchise? Is there any such thing as a stand alone film anymore? I don’t see many stand alone films in the land of genre these days. If it’s going to be more than one, give us enough of an ending that it can be thought of as a film, but don’t give us the ultimate prize only to try to backpedal on that later.

Don’t try to copy the musical score. Queen was a magical choice that somehow worked. Trying to capture that same spirit and falling short (and you will fall short against the Queen soundtrack) will detract from the movie. Make the music different and unique to this story.

Keep the villain a villain. There are bad guys trying to win the prize. They can’t die. They will think long term and they will be completely willing to do awful things to people who aren’t immortal. They would have died soon anyway, right? Keep that. It’s not going to be easy to equal what has gone before. Please, for the love of all that is holy to anyone, DO NOT turn this into one of those weak ‘but they were just misunderstood’ lame ass bad guy bits. Those are the worst. I’ll walk out.

Update the action and the special effects – but don’t rely on the special effects. Computers can do amazing things, but aging well is not one of them ~ particularly in the realm of visual effects. It’s easy to see the old effects with a modern eye. Do as much of this in a practical way as possible. Don’t go over the top. Over the top doesn’t blend well with a good story.

In the end – keep a good story as the main goal. What would I love to see in a remake? Show me an immortal warrior who is able to fight, but also understands that the world continues to move and evolve. A man who is so alone, but remembers so deeply and so clearly that he drags us with him, willing or not. There’s a moment in the original that shows this off amazingly well. IF they can give me this feeling along with effective action, a believable villain and amazing sound and visuals I’ll love it. See if you agree here:

A man out of time

Do I think they’ll get there? I don’t know. Cautiously hopeful is all we get for right now. There’s only one way to find out. Let’s hope for the best on this one.