Musings of Two Creative Minds

With the coming of Halloween, I've been in a mood for scary books.  So today I decided to pull out one of my favorites and do a review on it.  This was the first novel I read by Mr. Straub, but it got me hooked.  I've read a number of his other works and he has yet to keep me entertained and enthralled.... "What's the worst thing you ever done?" "I won't tell you, but I'll tell you the worst thing that ever happened to me..." These are the words that set the "The Chowder Society", four elderly men who've known each other since they were young, into telling each other ghost stories. They've all known each other since their youth, when they were wild and reckless. Friendship and loyalty binds, them along with dark secret from those past days.   They tried to bury that secret and forget it, but some things don't want to be forgotten. Sometimes, they also want... revenge! "Ghost Story" is NO...

"From A Buick 8" was one of the first books I read by Mr. King after many years of taking a pass on his work.  His novel "Misery" had gone to places I found too intense and terrifying because the only monster in that piece had been human.  There were no safety-barriers of the supernatural involved, just madness, obsession and torture. Yet something about this novel beckoned and I plunged into his world once more and I'm glad it did.  The story covers a 25 year period in the lives of a group of state troopers who act as 'guardians' over a strange Buick Roadster abandoned at a gas station back in 1979 by a mysterious 'man in black' who wandered off and was never seen again. The vehicle seems to be like any other car... or so you would think at first glance.  Then you'd notice little things like how the overall look of the vehicle seems normal, but then you notice little touches that don't quite add up.  For one thing there's no ...

For those who don't know, Richard Matheson is one of my many favorite authors.  His work on the original Twilight Zone, caught both my attention and imagination.  To this day, I consider his novel "Hell House" one of the greatest haunted house stories ever written. But he also wrote about vampires in his classic "I Am Legend" (aka "The Omega Man").  I was given a copy of this novel last Christmas and had finally gotten a chance to reading it. Having seen several movie versions of the story (including the one with Charles Heston), I was already familiar with the overall concept of the tale about the last normal human being on the planet.  However, knowing how Hollywood likes to put extra spins and its own touches on a story, I was eager to actually read Mr. Matheson's original vision and I was not disappointed. We are quickly introduced to Robert Neville, who (as far as he and the audience knows) may be the last normal human being on th...

Chekhov's Gun... There's an old trope that applies to theater and to writing.  It is credited to Anton Chekhov, author/playwright.  In a letter to a friend in 1889 he said, "One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no one is thinking of firing it."   Since then, the phrase "Chekhov's Gun" has become associated with the idea of not introducing something 'interesting' or 'irrelevant' into a piece, whether it be a stage play or a story, that is not actually poignant to the story.  If you put a gun into a scene, make sure someone uses it before the story is finished.  Don't just leave it lying there gathering dust.  Why?  If you were doing a story involving a killer like Jason Voorhees/Michael Myers, before anyone knew they were unkillable, and they were closing in on the hero/heroine in the room where the gun is in plain sight you'd have the person use it, right?  You wouldn't have them grab a curtain to try and ke...

I've been asked by a number of people recently, "Why did you get into writing?  What is the Para-Earth Series?  And how did you come up with it?" Well, to help answer those questions and others people may, have I invite you all to check out the podcast interview below, where I get to answer all those questions and many more.  And before anyone asks, "How did you get on a podcast?", I've been on Google+ for a while now, sharing my posts about writing on a regular basis.  Well one of my acquaintances on Google+, the awesome Tony Mendoza (writer/filmmaker) extended an invitation to me to be on his podcast "Life In The Hole", where he interviews authors about their work.   I invite you all to check out some of his other interviews after you've listened to this one.  Tony's a great host, and a fun person to get to know.  While your at his site, you might also want to check out his upcoming film "The Hole", a fascinating psychol...

Last night after I finished my class, I was waiting at the bus stop outside my university's library.  I was feeling pretty good, and was in a humorous mood.  So when two young ladies came out of the library, each carrying a large white board, my mirthful nature got the better of me.  As soon as they came up to the bus stop I said, "You know, most people find a notebook just as useful and it actually fits inside a backpack." They both laughed and came back with, "Yeah, but we make a lot big mistakes."   From there we started chatting and they explained the white boards were for two clubs they were part of.  It was at that point I notice that both of them were wearing  t-shirts with mushrooms all over them.  Curious I asked if mushrooms were involved with either club and they said yes.   From there, they began to explain how they're clubs were trying to do some research about mushrooms and how to try and make a business out of certain ones...