Month: September 2026

Feedback Arrives

photog 2 Comments Book Reviews, My Fiction, photog's Corner, Reviews, Science Fiction / Fantasy, SF&F Book Reviews ,

Someone who saw my promotion posts on X left a comment showing interest in reading the book so I asked him to share his thoughts on the story if he got a copy.  So far, he’s read the first three chapters and I find his candid thoughts very interesting.

“Hi! I am currently in the middle of chapter 3. Feel free to take my opinions with a grain of salt, by the way.

The first two scenes were excellent. I felt completely drawn into the action, and it was easy to visualize. This is Jeffrey Haskell level of quality, which is a high bar.

Once they get on the plane, however, it feels like an information dump, and the dialog becomes stilted. There are a couple of reasons for this. None of the revelations about Connor have been foreshadowed, so they feel as if they were drawn out of thin air. You don’t have to foreshadow everything, but it helps if you foreshadow something so that the reader feels connected to the exposition.

More important, there is very little feeling behind the information dump. Connor considers himself in debt to Bogey, but the rescue was incidental to Bogey’s job. There was nothing personal about it. As a result, it doesn’t seem worth a potentially $10 million gift.

The third chapter has a more serious problem. We are learning a lot about Connor’s business, but we have no idea why. To pull a reader in, you need to have some idea of what the reader is hoping to see and give a sense we are moving in that direction. Reading chapter 3, all I feel is I want the action to begin again. There is no compelling reason for me to pay attention to Connor’s business plan, since I have no idea how it fits into the story.

In any case, I thought I should give you my impressions while they are still fresh in my mind. I am hoping the action starts again soon, as you are very good at that.”

So, what I’m hearing is that the information dumps are an impediment to enjoying the story as an action story.  What I’m taking away is that stories in the various action genres have a short window between the kinetic parts of the story.  Now that is interesting because it means the author has to balance providing background information with keeping the reader’s interest.  For me that’s tricky.  With a science fiction story bringing the audience into the technical details of the “world” are sort of important.  But the reviewer has made his point.  If I put him to sleep or even lose his interest in the world-building then he’s not going to finish the book.  Now I did start the book with two scenes he really liked but both of those scenes are remote in time from the “present” action (one is years before and one is a year or so after the triggering event of the main plot).  So, in a way I paying for some of my sins against continuity.

Well, now I’m really interested in his ideas about Chapter 4.  It’s got action but it’s of a singularly depressing type.

Outlining in Progress

photog 2 Comments Book Reviews, My Fiction, photog's Corner, Reviews, Science Fiction / Fantasy, SF&F Book Reviews , ,

So, in line with my book writing chores I was outlining the beginning of the story.  And because of the well-known story-writing dictum that the first scene should be a rip-snorting action extravaganza, I pondered how to do this.  So, I thought to myself, “Self, what better way to start the story than with a massive drone attack on Connors and his inner circle!?”  And I answered me saying, “Internal monologue alter ego, that’s a damn fine idea!”  So that’s the direction I’ve decided on.

But a problem occurred to both of us; namely, I really don’t know much about drone attacks or repelling them.  Well, that can be a problem.  But in this age of LLM’s hanging around every corner I thought, “Well, let’s do some research.”  And voila! not only am I an incredible fiction writer but I’m also now one of the world’s leading authorities on drones and defense against drone attacks.  Crisis averted!

So now visions of solid-state high-power microwave (HPM), autonomous interceptor swarms, cheap directed-energy lasers and AI directed mini-guns and missiles are dancing in my head like toys at a kid’s Christmas.  Poor Connors, with Bogey on vacation on the Left Coast how is he supposed to rest easy while his security is in the hands of lesser men?  Sure, Cutter and Mel are certainly taking the technical lead in fortifying headquarters against any rogue agents of the intelligence agencies but as became apparent in the first book practical military experience is sorely lacking at Typhon Industries.  Well, what a perfect time for a sneak attack.

So now I’m gleefully outlining the fallout from the attack including Bogey’s return to active duty with his friend Becky (former waitress, now main squeeze) in tow.  So, this will allow me to push the political story forward.  If the CIA, etc. are running rogue operations, Connors will have no choice but to begin affecting the political dynamic to advantage himself and weaken elements of the US deep state.

So, I’m going to give myself a B- so far on my first two days of outlining and since this passes (sort of), as an outlining activity I won’t penalize myself for stealing a little time for this post.  I still haven’t worked out anything about Grace and her kids.  I may have to consult with Camera Girl on that angle.  After all, with killer drones targeting Connors, Bogey might step in and forbid his family from going within several miles of that marked man.  It kind of makes sense.

As far as sf tropes and gizmos I haven’t decided what whizz bang stuff will be rolled out in this story.  I feel I have to because that stuff is so much fun it would be disappointing if I didn’t.  At the very least there is going to be lots of artificial intelligence involved because Mel’s status as an (apparently) self-aware machine needs to be explained and explored.  After all she’s Camera Girl’s favorite character and she is kind of engaging for the writer too.  Well, that’s enough for now.

Comments:

WarPig

“Please go to YouTube, search for “Slaughterbots”. Choose the DUST version with length of 7:59 That’ll give you an opening scenario.

This scared me back in 2010. The video was released in 2017. Events in Ukraine have proven it to be coming very soon. Those of us in the know have been warning the powers that be since 2010. The US can already use “Ginsu” missiles with blades instead of explosives to target and kill an individual and knows which seat in a blacked-out SUV to hit.

Darpa has been working on this “I imagine”, for over two decades, Musk’s new solid state batteries, better than lithium, has the potential to give the little ones the range and on-station time to do this. Ukraine isn’t exactly MIT or Cal Poly, yet they are halfway there already, with what “I imagine” is US help.

Slaughterbots would have to be countered by swarms of “hunter-seekers” with the ability to tell friendly minidrone from enemy. Also we’d need new and advanced surveillance technologies to find evil bots as soon as they are launched. Remember, these things in the video enter buildings and can fly along streets at a few feet of altitude. Almost impossible to trace since they are not guided from an external controller by radio waves. No bot emmissions. No way to block their controllers as there are no controllers. They are kamikaze. One set of instructions, then let them fly, do or die.

Scary.”

photog

You’re right.  That’s pretty damn scary.

 

Runner (2026) – A Movie Review

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Today I was diligent and did my sequel work from 8:30am to 11am so life is good and I have an easy assignment for a post today.  Camera Girl and I went out to the movies yesterday.  Of course, because we’re ancient we went to the 10:45 am showing and the theater on a Tuesday morning was virtually empty.  We went to see “Runner” with Alan Ritchson and Owen Wilson.  Ritchson is the actor who plays Reacher in the Amazon series.  The plot has Ritchson as a courier who handles “special” deliveries.  He is supposed to deliver Owen Wilson and a transplant liver to a hospital where a little girl is on death’s door.  But there is also a drug cartel boss who wants the liver for his mother.  So, we get two hours of chase scenes, shootouts and fights culminating at the hospital where the little girl is waiting.  And it wouldn’t qualify as a spoiler if I tell you how it all ends.  But I won’t.

It was made by Angel Studios and I won’t say that it is a much lower quality than a big studio production but there’s a kind of “over the top” aspect to some of the scenes.  I would say generically, it’s an action/chase movie where the action is dialed up to eleven and stays there.  The fight scenes and the chase scenes go on and on seemingly for the whole movie.  So, if you have a limited tolerance for these scenes this will strain your patience.  As far as the acting, Ritchson does a workmanlike job of his part which is quite similar to the Reacher character.  Owen Wilson plays his usual Owen Wilson persona.  Meaning he’s a quirky affable, loquacious man who drives Ritchson’s strong, silent character insane with his endless banter.  The bad guys are everything you would want for the cartoon villains and cars, trucks and anything available is crashed, burned or blown up as needed.

Alright, I’ve said enough.  This movie is a silly action/adventure/comedy/buddy movie.  Does it work?  Mostly.  Would I recommend it?  Well, I’d have to qualify if by saying if you like Owen Wilson and you like watching Alan Ritchson doing his incredible hulk imitation then yes, you’ll enjoy this.  If you’re a big fan of action movies you also might like it.  Otherwise maybe it might be too over the top for you.

The Great Shirking Has Begun!

photog 6 Comments Book Reviews, Current Events, Life in Dunwich, My Fiction, OCF, photog's Corner, Reviews, Science Fiction / Fantasy, SF&F Book Reviews , , , , ,

So, the promotion is done.  And the results are very encouraging.  There’s been an uptick in all three types of orders; paperbacks, e-books and Kindle Unlimited pages.  In fact, today I’ve had all three types of sales and another two five-star ratings showed up so a very good way to end the promotion and the Based Book Sale.  Bravo!

But now the real work begins.  I’ve got to go forward with outlining and writing the next book.  And to do that correctly I have to (as my father used to say) “buckle down.”  I need to devote several hours every day to writing.  And those have to be early in the morning when my mind isn’t yet reduced to the soupy mush it will become by later in the day.  And so that means something’s gotta give.  And that something will have to be my daily posts.

Some days I’ll be a ball of fire.  I’ll bang out page after page of deathless prose, take care of the chores at the Compound, grovel and genuflect to First Selectman Cthulhu and still manage to write a post.  But not always.  Some days I’ll put a song up instead.  Or maybe nothing at all.  I’ll try to keep up with the photos and quotes.  That shouldn’t overwhelm me.  But trying to produce five hundred coherent words on a topic that might interest the folks on the site is going to be beyond my powers of concentration for the foreseeable future.  I’m putting this out there to let everybody know how it is.

For most of you this won’t be a great hardship.  My mental powers have greatly diminished over the decade and more that I’ve been producing this blog and it may actually be a relief to know the ordeal is over.  But for me it’s kind of sad.  I’ve tried to be as reliable as I could be to the task.  But at the same time, I’ve got a strong desire to make this next book something special so I need to concentrate on quality and I need to finish it sooner than later because the longer I wait the fewer people who read the first book will be anxious to buy the sequel.

So, there you go.  I’m announcing the official “Shirking of OCF.”  I am AWOL and no power in the ‘verse can stop me.  I will understand if everyone deletes the web address and heads for greener pastures but I just want to add it’s been great talking to all you folks over the years and feel free to stop by whenever you feel like just in case I manage to produce readable text on that particular day.

Hasta la vista baby!