Ronin Writer – Page 25 – Truths, triumphs, and tragedies of an independent writer.

Author Interview Series #2 – Rich Wulf

Author Interviews, General, Writing March 21, 2008August 18, 2009 Travis

This week’s installment in my author interview series brings us Rich Wulf. Rich is best known as being the long-time story scribe of Legend of the Five Rings, a collectible card game, roleplaying game, and fiction property that has been going strong since 1995. He has since passed the L5R writing duties to Shawn Carman, who might find his way into this interview series in coming months. These days Rich writes mostly for Wizards of the Coast in their Eberron series of novels. Rich’s brain is capable of containing vast quantities of encyclopedic knowledge, and be possesses a great talentContinue readingAuthor Interview Series #2 – Rich Wulf

Author Interview Series #1 – Joe R. Lansdale

Author Interviews, General, Movies, Writing March 14, 2008August 18, 2009 admin

I am tremendously pleased to post the inaugural installment of my author interview series. Joe R. Lansdale is perhaps best known as the author behind Bubba Hotep. Can I get an Elvis impersonation here? But he’s also written dozens of short stories, books, comics, and screenplays, including some of the best known novels in horror fiction, such as The Nightrunners. All that, and he’s a darn nice fella. So, let’s take o’ bidness.

Writer Interview Series – Coming Soon!

General, Writing March 12, 2008August 18, 2009 admin

I’m putting together a list of authors for an idea I had the other day for developing some really useful juicy material for this blog, which covers, but heretofore hasn’t focused on, the topic of writing in general. Over the coming year, I’m going to be shifting its focus, and I thought a great place to start off with that would be to interview experienced authors with some published credits and awards. My plan over the coming months is to interview a series of authors about the life and business of a writing as a career. My questions will focusContinue readingWriter Interview Series – Coming Soon!

New Publication in Cemetery Dance Magazine

General, Writing December 18, 2007December 18, 2007 admin

So it’s been a good day, and another milestone for my efforts at writing fiction. That is, my first short fiction publication in a print magazine. My horror short story, “That Long Black Train” will be appearing in Cemetery Dance magazine sometime in 2008, and I’m pretty excited about it. I’ve had a couple of sales to online journals, and I’m happy about those too, but print magazines are still where it’s at in the writing business. So all you other struggling writers out there, take heart! It can be done! For you horror and dark fantasy readers, check outContinue readingNew Publication in Cemetery Dance Magazine

Heart of the Ronin – New Novel in Spring ’09

General, Writing October 23, 2007October 23, 2007 admin

Since this is my blog, I am quite happy to use it to toot my own horn. It is with great satisfaction that I announce my next publication. My novel, Heart of the Ronin will be published in hardcover in Spring 2009 by Five Star Publishing. More information on this will likely appear in this ol’ Groove in the months and weeks to come, but you heard it here first! And oh, yeah, the novel in a nutshell. This will be the first novel in The Ronin Trilogy. In a nutshell, it is Excalibur meets The Seven Samurai. John BoormanContinue readingHeart of the Ronin – New Novel in Spring ’09

Flash Gordon Doesn’t Flash, Just Fizzles

General, Movies October 19, 2007August 18, 2009 admin

Yes, it’s been a blue moon since my last post, but that‘s actually a good thing for me, because it means I’ve been busy the last couple of months. The thing that‘s been on my mind lately is how horribly the Sci-Fi Channel has not only failed, but soiled, one of the great icons of science fiction. As a kid, I lived for the Flash Gordon animated series on Saturday morning. When the most recent movie came out in 1980, I had that Queen soundtrack and actually wore out the cassette. I spent countless hours drawing Flash Gordon rocket shipsContinue readingFlash Gordon Doesn’t Flash, Just Fizzles

Adventures in Microsoft Customer Service

Culture, General July 12, 2007August 18, 2009 Travis

So it’s been far too long since my previous post, but keeping up with the anti-Microsoft sentiment in my previous cautionary tale, here’s an addendum to the way things turned out with my Vista installation. All the horror and angst of those experiences were riding high when I was going through trying to install a new PC game on my Vista machine. Battlefield 2142 is a high-end first-person-shooter. For Windows XP. I installed the game. It ran for about five hours. Then I shut the computer down, went away for a while, and tried to play again when I cameContinue readingAdventures in Microsoft Customer Service

The Lovely Farce That Is Windows Vista

Culture, General May 21, 2007August 18, 2009 Travis

I’ve nursed a simmering distrust of Microsoft for many years, ever since hearing about the rank hubris and contempt that they displayed toward the Federal government’s antitrust lawsuit not so many years ago. I had dinner one night with a tech-head who was closely involved with the case, and the stories he told about the way Microsoft destroyed evidence, stonewalled, played games, and in general made a mockery of the whole proceedings still sticks in my craw, even though, sadly, most of the details are fading into the fog of my aging memory. But I use their products. And forContinue readingThe Lovely Farce That Is Windows Vista

How NOT to suck as a Fiction Writer – Or, Basic Lies 101

General, Writing March 22, 2007November 8, 2007 admin

I’ve had the good fortune recently to be doing some submission reviews for The Harrow, an online horror fiction journal. My task is to review and critique manuscripts submitted for publication. I’m also a member of Critters.org, a website where SF/F and Horror writers can have their works reviewed and critiqued by their peers. I must say, it’s a great experience on many levels to read the work of struggling writers out there, not to mention having my own stuff critiqued on Critters. I’m good, but I’m not Ray Bradbury or Harlan Ellison. Give me another 35 years. Maybe somedayContinue readingHow NOT to suck as a Fiction Writer – Or, Basic Lies 101

Hell-bent for Leather! Ghost Rider – Movie Review

Movies February 17, 2007August 18, 2009 admin

Now, for one of the coolest comic book movies ever! I’ve been a fan of Marvel Comics since I was a little kid. Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four, I loved them all. And the movies in recent years have overcome some of the appalling crappiness that so plagued super hero movies in the decades preceding CGI (with the exception of the first two Christopher Reeves Superman movies and Tim Burton’s first Batman movie, which were awesome.) The first Spider-Man movie blew everyone away because it really was Spidey. (X-Men was great too, but I have to say that Spidey 1 andContinue readingHell-bent for Leather! Ghost Rider – Movie Review

A Feast of Crows – The Messenger – Movie Review

Movies February 10, 2007February 10, 2007 admin

It’s always nice to come out of a movie pleasantly surprised at how good it was. The inverse is more often the case, especially with Hollywood horror movies in recent years. More often you go in, expecting it, but hoping against hope that it won’t. The Messenger, recently released Hollywood horror movie, is a horror movie well worth seeing. Its a haunted house story of a family that leaves their city life behind to pull up stakes and move to Middle of Nowhere, North Dakota, to start a sunflower farm. Starring Dylan McDermott as Roy, the father, Penelope Ann MillerContinue readingA Feast of Crows – The Messenger – Movie Review

Children of Men – Bladerunner for the 21st Century? No. More.

Culture, Movies February 8, 2007August 18, 2009 admin

I can count the instances on one hand where I left the movie theater shocked and moved to the core of my being. Platoon, Saving Private Ryan, Full Metal Jacket. Some of the most powerful movies ever filmed. Add another to this list. Children of Men takes you by the throat from the opening moments and tightens its grip, slowly, inexorably, holding you enthralled, tense, and utterly in its grip for the next two hours of your life. Emerging from the theater both shocked and feeling as if something had shifted within me, I’ve spent the last several hours digestingContinue readingChildren of Men – Bladerunner for the 21st Century? No. More.

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