I love it. I honestly do. And once you read this review, I hope you will to. So, head on over to Sci-Fi And Scary and check it out. Just click on the little picture below and it'll take you right to the post. Oh! And if you have suggestions for my next bad movie review, drop them in the comments. I've got a few ideas, but I'm always open to reader requests.
Recently I managed to con...err, I mean work my way into a side gig writing movie reviews for Sci-Fi And Scary, with an emphasis on bad movies. As in, movies so bad they're actually good... in a Mystery Science Theater kind of way. For my first installment, I focused on Lake Placid , but this last round, I went for a classic: Flash Gordon. Haven't seen it? You're missing out. This movie is so 1980s. So glitzy and over the top--a tour de force of daring do and cheese.
I love it. I honestly do. And once you read this review, I hope you will to. So, head on over to Sci-Fi And Scary and check it out. Just click on the little picture below and it'll take you right to the post. Oh! And if you have suggestions for my next bad movie review, drop them in the comments. I've got a few ideas, but I'm always open to reader requests.
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So, you've been dying to get your hands on a copy of the Dark and Stars audiobook, right? Right??!! Well, now's your chance. I'm giving away a CD copy of the audiobook, and all you need to do is enter via the Rafflecopter link below. So, go. Go now! Go-go-go-go-go!
Confession time: I'm not one for lists. Seriously. I'm a hard core pantser when it comes to writing, and somehow this 'I'm wingin' it' attitude seems to have pervaded the rest of my life. Some of you reading this will find that sacrilege--How do you maintain order? How do you know what you're supposed to do next?--but it for me, lists feel...restrictive. Like 101 expectations that absolutely have to be met. And if you don't? Failure. Absolute, complete, abject failure.
And therein lies my problem: lists are too judgy. Knock a few things out? Great! Fail to finish the list? HELLFIRE AND DAMNATION FOREVER!!!! But... Sometimes lists are useful. Take the grocery store, for instance. How else am I going to remember to grab that big old vat of Nutella if it isn't written down on a list? And, I'll be honest, sometimes that list of things to be accomplished provides a good old fashioned kick in the pants. That's what this particular list is about. I'm calling it my List of Writerly Things I Want to Accomplish. Some might call it a bucket list, but I'm hoping to check most of these things off long before I die. In fact, I'm going to do my best to check off everything in the next year. Yup, that's right. I'm throwing down the gauntlet and giving myself just 12 twelve short months to wrap this puppy up. Realistically, I don't think I'll hit everything. But it will be interesting to come back here next April and see which, if any, of my Writerly Challenge Things have been accomplished. And so, without further ado, The List...presented in no particular order: 1. Get 50 or more reviews on Amazon and Goodreads for Dark and Stars, Serengeti Book 2. (Guys! Guys! You can help me with this one!) 2. Sell a book (I've got one in particular I'd really like to find a home for) 3. Sell a short story (Work in progress!) 4. Sell something to a SFWA qualifying market (If I get this one, I should be able to check #2 or #3 off as well--yes, I'm well aware that's cheating but I really don't care) 5. Mentor for a pitch contest (I really, really want to check this one off) 6. Include more author features on my blog (book releases, cover releases, book reviews, interviews). Okay, that needs a more specific target. Let's say...5 different author features (besides my own, of course) 7. Update my blog at least once a month Okay, that's only 7 things and I really wanted 10. Got any other ideas for what I should add? Got a list of your own that you'd like to share? Hit me up with your comments. I'd love to see what you've got in mind.
Sounds intriguing, right? Am I right? Yeah, well, you have no idea. And, honestly, neither did I. So, without further ado, here's my review:
After finishing this book, I sat down for a while and tried to decide if I like it or not. I'm still not sure, thus the 3 star rating. Part of the problem is that this isn't really my style of book--nothing wrong with it, just the aliens cum noir detective story cum time travel-esque theme was a little too much for my tastes. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of creativity here and if you're looking for something different, this book has it in spades. In fact, if you're a fan of works like RUM DIARY, FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS, stories that run in that vein, you'll probably find a lot to like here. Not that this book is in any way, shape or form like those two pieces (well, except a large section of it DOES involve a desert setting, so I guess there's a small tie to FEAR AND LOATHING) but it left me with the same feeling: Like I should have taken some hard-core drugs before reading it because then the whole 'people turning into mushrooms' and 'dead cthulu in Vermont' things might have felt a little less weird and a little more 'ah, that makes sense.' Overall, I'd say reading this books was an 'experience'--a decidely ODD experience, but not unenjoyable. As I described it to a few writing buddies: 'This books is a trippy-ass piece of strangeyosity.' Read it with that in mind, and you won't be disappointed. Oh! And if you want to participate in the Dare to Discuss March Read, it's not too late! Just grab yourself a copy Agents of Dreamland and read it, then head on over to the Sci-Fi & Scary Forums on March 22nd, 2017. We'll be kicking things off at 7 PM EST! ...I love bad movies. Always have, always will. I love them because they're bad movies--funny, ridiculous and often very, very full of themselves. And I'm not alone. Lilyn G. (of www.scifiandscary.com fame) and I got to chatting on Twitter one day about SyFy Original movies and when she mentioned an idea she had to start a blog post series on bad movies, I jumped at the chance to be involved. The hard part was narrowing the vast pantheon of bad movies I like down to just one to blog about.
Interested? Well, head on over to SciFiAndScary and check out the post: Lake Placid: The Reason I Love Bad Movis Summed Up in One Film I don't post all the reviews I get--that would bore you guys to death--but I like to highlight a few now and then that are particularly well-thought-out. Lilyn G at SciFiAndScary was kind enough to read Serengeti recently and posted a review to her blog. You can find the full text here:
http://www.scifiandscary.com/serengeti-review/ So, what specifically did I like about this particular review that made me call it out? Well, a few things. If you read the review, you'll find she liked some things and didn't like others--that's a fair, and I'm appreciate the thoughts and feedback. To be honest, I don't think any reader finds any book to be 100% perfect. There is always something you didn't connect with, or didn't like, or would have changed. And that's okay. Part of growing as a writer is learning that's okay. That said, I do, of course, like the positive things more than the negative ones--who wouldn't? And my favorite part of the review is this very last line, which wraps the whole thing up: "Serengeti is one of those books you’ll end up re-reading, just to see if she can invoke the hope and melancholy in you all over again." #HappyWriter
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J.B. Rockwell
J.B. Rockwell grew up reading fairy tales, folklore and mythology, as well as anything and everything about ancient cultures and their history, and never lost her taste for any of it. She currently lives in West Virginia with her husband and four (yes, four) cats, all of whom provide inspiration for her stories, whether they know it or not. Archives
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