Category Archives: Uncategorized

Book Review of Denton Salle’s “Sworn to the Light”

light

Cover art for “Sworn to the Light”

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Yes, I’ve been remiss in reviewing my (online) friend Denton Salle’s novelette Sworn to the Light: The Avatar Wizard – Book 1 (of four).

However, I did download it onto my Kindle Fire last month and last night I finished it.

Excellent work. A very compelling YA Fantasy work that I think my grandson would enjoy (although he prefers audio books).

A lot of Denton’s works are based on Slavonic wonder tales he learned from his grandfather, so you need to know that going in. The local is rather “Russian” in its architecture at least.

Eleven-year-old Jeremy visits his father’s homeland with his parents, in part because Jeremy has a problem. He spontaneously turns into a panda bear cub. He can’t control the change and he can’t control the bear once he’s transformed.

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“Repent, Old Indie Writer,” Said The TikTok Man

me

© James Pyles

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So I’m trying to expand into different areas of social media to see how they work for book promotion. To that end, I created a TikTok account (yes, I know, it’s for really young people to make short, humorous videos). But Richard Paolinelli has been using it, so I figured I’d give it a try.

I haven’t had the nerve to actually make a video showing my face yet, but I suppose I’ll get there. I really should watch some of Richard’s videos since he’s a geezer like I am.

Oh, I’ve revived my old Instagram account just for giggles.

If you are on either or both of these platforms, feel free to find and follow me.

Here’s my promotional TikTok video. It’s pretty short:

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Film Review of “Eternals”(2021)

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It was six minutes into watching Eternals (2021) when I first realized I was bored and at 47 minutes I did what I didn’t expect myself to do. I turned the movie off and returned the disc to its case.

I checked the movie out from my local public library, so it didn’t cost me a dime, but at a run time of two hours and thirty-six minutes, it would drain away that much of my life to watch. It didn’t “do it” for me.

Unlike the other Marvel movies I’ve watched, I had no connection to the original comic books. I’ve never read any of them. So there was no nostalgia to drive me forward. The movie lived or died on its own for me. Well, it died.

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Film Review of “No Time to Die” (2021)

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Just finished watching (as I write this) the most recent James Bond/007 film No Time to Die. It pulled quite a bit of time, 2 hours and 45 minutes, out of my life, but in this case it was well worth it.

Just to get this out of the way, during the theatrical release, I recall Lashana Lynch who played Nomi/007 said some rather unpleasant things. I can’t really remember what they were and it doesn’t make any difference at this point. Just for future note, it’s generally important when you’re promoting a film as did Brie Larson and Captain Marvel (2019) as well as Simu Liu and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, to put on your best attitude in front of the public and press.

The film begins with a young Madeleine Swann (Coline Defaud) and her (drunken) mother Mathilde Bourbin in a lone cabin in a snow covered countryside. They are suddenly beset upon by a masked assassin Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek) who is intent on killing Madeleine’s Father. Apparently the Dad was an assassin for Spectre and on their leader Blofeld’s (Christoph Waltz) orders, murdered Safin’s entire family. Finding the Dad not home, he kills the mother but saves Madeleine from dying.

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To Say Gay or Not to Say Gay

don't say gay

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at last week’s bill signing
Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via AP

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No matter what I write on this topic, I know I’m going to get roasted by someone over it.

Yes, I know. I should never author something political on this blog, but sometimes, I really feel social media misses the point. Everyone has an opinion, and sometimes those opinions don’t seem to take reality into consideration.

Take for instance, the Florida HB 1557: Parental Rights in Education bill which was recently signed into law. That link leads to literally what the bill states and it doesn’t actually say “don’t say gay”

Well, not exactly, but I’ll get to that.

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Review of “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”

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I was actually surprised to find that I liked Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021). In its own way, it is reminiscent of Black Panther (2018) starring the incomparable Chadwick Boseman. There was a similar worldbuilding based on various Marvel comic book concepts and many wonderfully endearing characters. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

In the original 1970s Master of Kung Fu comic books started by Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin, Shang-Chi was the estranged son of Dr. Fu Manchu, a pulp fiction character created by Sax Rohmer in 1913.

The series began by introducing Shang-Chi as a man raised by his father Dr. Fu Manchu to be the ultimate assassin for the would-be world conqueror. In Shang-Chi’s first mission, he kills one of his father’s old enemies, Dr. Petrie and then learns of Dr. Fu Manchu’s true, evil nature. Disillusioned, Shang-Chi swears eternal opposition to his father’s ambitions and fights him as an agent of British intelligence, under the orders of Sir Denis Nayland Smith.

In the early 1970s, Chinese Kung Fu movies were huge in the west as was Bruce Lee. There was even a disco song called Kung Fu Fighting. In addition, there was a television series called Kung Fu starring David Carradine.

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10 Reasons Why Clark Kent is the Only Superman

taylor

Screenshot from twitter.

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I haven’t posted anything in the political or social realm on this blog in a while. I became aware that sort of content was costing me readers, both here and probably with my stories. It’s even possible (and likely) that publishers considering my short story submissions have given me a hard pass because they looked me up on twitter and Facebook. I guess the dictionary definition of “inclusive” isn’t being considered.

But then on twitter, I read an article tweeted by Bounding into Comics called Superman’s New Enemy Is Fake News, YouTube’s Yellow Flash Shares His Thoughts.

For those of you who don’t know, Clark Kent and Lois Lane married in the comic books and (amazingly considering Clark is from another planet) had a son. He was named Jonathan after Clark’s (adopted) Dad, which is totally cool. The readers were given a good look at the Kents as parents and wow, what a great set of parents. However, the writers at DC Comics decided they had plans for little Jon and couldn’t wait years for him to grow up the old fashioned way. So they trapped him in another universe and he grew into a teenager just like that.

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Review of Zack Snyder’s “Justice League” (2021)

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It took two days for me to work my way through the two-disc set of Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021). I saw the 2017 version and wasn’t incredibly impressed. I was hoping for more in the “Snyder Cut.”

Given the breadth of this film, I’m commenting on things in no particular order and this review will not be comprehensive.

At slightly over four hours of run time, there’s plenty of room for character development, origin stories, and “mood,” but I think it could have been a shorter, tighter movie.

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Book Review of Wilbur Smith’s “The Seventh Scroll”

7th scroll

Cover art for the mass paperback edition of the novel “The Seventh Scroll”

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Wilbur Smith’s 1995 novel The Seventh Scroll isn’t the sort of book I’d read today, although action, adventure, and archeological mysteries are something I’d have considered back in the day.

But on Facebook, I read that it’s author died last November. Smith was highly regarded as a writer on the FB writers page where I saw the announcement. I figured I should read something of his for the sake of his passing.

He was one of those highly regarded and well-reviewed authors you hear about. Just to give you a few examples:

“The plot twists and turns with constant surprises. This old-fashioned adventure novel keeps the reader enthralled all the way to its very exciting conclusion.”
– The Washington Post Book World

“Life-threatening dangers loom around every turn, leaving the reader breathless….An incredibly exciting and satisfying read.”
– Chattanooga News-Free Press

“An entertaining yarn.”
– Fort Worth Star-Telegram

I looked through his books and decided on “The Seventh Scroll” because it is the very type of story I’d have consumed when “Scroll” was first published. It’s actually part of a series, some of which is set in ancient Egypt. I prefer a more modern adventure.

I’d characterize this tome into three parts:

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Book Review of “Hounded” by Kevin Hearne

hounded

Cover art for the mass market paperback edition of “Hounded”

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I admit that I only read Kevin Hearne’s novel Hounded because my twelve-year-old grandson enjoyed it along with the rest of the Iron Druid Chronicles.

Actually, for a long time, my grandson and I have played a two-person “role playing” game of one sort or another just for the run of it. In our current game, he based his character very heavily on Hearne’s protagonist Atticus O’Sullivan, a two-thousand year old man and last of the Druids posing as a twenty-year-old bookstore owner in Tempe, Arizona.

I can’t swear to the lore in Hearne’s book, but he did add more than a little whimsy to his tale. Speaking of “tail,” Atticus also has a rather intelligent wolfhound named Oberon who likes sausages and French poodles and the two manage some interesting conversations.

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