REVIEW: Torchwood Miracle Day - The New World

THE NEW WORLD

Without any new Doctor Who right now I decided to fill my TV reviewing void with the new Torchwood series; so just like the first episode of this season of Doctor Who, my first review of this series of Torchwood ends up being posted later than I wanted to.

Sorry.

This series of Torchwood has a buzz about it because it will be co-produced by STARZ an American movie channel network. The buzz I think is mostly filled by a lot of people expecting to hate it from the beginning; which I'm sure a lot of people will just based on those feelings.

I'm hoping the show will be good not just because I enjoyed previous series of Torchwood nor because of its Doctor Who tie-in but mainly becaue Mar really liked Torchwood and its a Doctor Who connection we can share. She enjoys Doctor Who and will watch it if its on and I'm watching it but Torchwood has been a series she has enjoyed.

And not just because of the hot boy on boy action.

But she loves that too.

So do I :)

This show is one of the few reasons we are keeping the movie channels. Matter of fact we never watch movies on these channels and only the TV series they are showing, stuff like Weeds, Game Of Thrones, Treme, Shameless, and now Torchwood. I just pray STARZ does a better job with Torchwood than another US channel did with The Prisoner. Great casting but shame on you American TV, shame.

I have enjoyed all of the seasons of Torchwood. I know a lot of people who either loved the first season and hate the second or the reverse. Children Of Earth seems to have an extreme like or extreme hate connection to it. I loved it. Mar loved it. The cats are in the middle.

Cats?

And all of that leads us to Miracle Day- The New World.

The new opening titles sequence were cool, simple, but I liked. I think they needed to make a change because of this season being a fresh start but they keep enough of the feel of the past series music and sound effects to remind you of the previous seasons.

After watching for a bit Mar commented, "I don't know if I like this."

Me, "You just don't like that their hasn't been any boy on boy action yet?"

Mar, "I miss Yonto."
Sad faces all around in the apartment.

And that's a good sign when Mar is talking about a show when watching it because she normally starts reading in the middle of shows if she has no interest; so commenting at all is a good sign that she might keep watching.

I have to say I think this first episode of this series is stuck between a rock and a hard place with how they have to approach all the returning characters because on one side you want to make it appeal to American audiences who haven't seen the show before but at the same time you can't ignore the past and old fans will expect little hints and comments about the past they know. I think this first episode balanced that out the best they could.

As with a lot of first episodes are all setup and you have to have that in mind when discussing them. I've talked about this before in past reviews so I wont dive deep into it here but its worth remembering that in a ongoing series of stories the first chapter will probably not knock you out of your seat. It can do both setup and knock you off your ass but that pretty rare.

I think with this series they have a good group of characters, with a good group of actors, that have the ingredients of making a very good series out of what I know about the overall story.

I'm sorry it took me so long to get my thoughts up, a lot of stuff going on this week, but next week I hope to get my thoughts on the next episode of Torchwood: Miracle Day up right away in more detail.

TORCHWOOD: MIRACLE DAY

THE NEW WORLD

3 out of 5 Stars

REVIEW: Torchwood Miracle Day - The New World

CHAOS POETRY VOLUME FOUR and more

Volume Four in a four volume poetry album limited series. Each volume also contains part of a four part story. Volume Four contains the final part of this story: The Wall Bound #5

These monthly poetry volumes were a good exercise for me as a writer to test two muscles. One being the poetry writing muscle and the other writing a multipart story that I tried and hope made people want to see what was going to happen next.

These volumes also were a test for me in seeing if I could meet a monthly schedule. Now I didn’t write these volumes in the months they were published. I didn’t even start the series until I had first drafts of each one finished.  It would take at least a few weeks of rewrites for each volume and then a few for editing.  This was a good test for me for what I really wanted to try which is a monthly epub short story series for a download price of $1.00

And starting in August that is what I will be doing and I hope you join me as I go head long into another exercise, another test, and another stretching of the muscles and here is the plan to date for how things will be working:

August will see Tin Universe #7 published. This will be a self-contained story to start the Tin Universe short story series continuing in numbering from previous Tin Universe stories. #7 as I said will be a self contained short story featuring the character of Pulpy, previously seen in the first Tin Universe story, my first book, STEREO, and also the short story FLIGHT OF THE COMING STORM. From #8 on, the series will mainly focus on characters I introduced in my second book, THE PAST FORWARD, with here and there self contained stories featuring the rest of the Tin Universe of characters already introduced or just sitting in my head. Also if I run into some cash I would like to hire some writers to take their own crack at exploring this imprint of stories. This line will for the most part fall into a YA sensibility when it comes to its storylines and stories.

The Tin Universe series will rotate monthly with another series titled Chaos Read. Chaos Read #1 will premiere in September. This series will feature more self contained short stories that explore the other worlds, realities, and thoughts I have that I want to write about. You might even see hints or crossovers with the Tin Universe but that would be years down the line because I already have three years of first drafts for both series. Chaos Read will also differ from the Tin Universe in having much more adult content in some of its stories.

So with that I hope you join me for one or both of these series. I love trying new and differing things with each project I do because if nothing else after each one is finished I’m better writer for doing them and have had a lot of fun.

Brian C. Williams

CHAOS POETRY VOLUME FOUR and more

YA BOOK COVERS

I keep having a discussion with friends in publishing, and doing so right now offline, about how YA books with female lead characters almost always have the head obscured on the photo covers. I'm always told its so more people can identify with the character. 
If that is true then 
1-why have the lead characters on the cover at all? 
and 
2- why doesn't that happen as much with YA male lead characters?

YA BOOK COVERS

REVIEW: The Name Of The Star

THE NAME OF THE STAR

Written by Maureen Johnson

Published by 

G.P. Putnam's Sons

An Imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Release Date September 2011

*As always I'll start by saying my reviews are more book discussions than the reviews most people write. I talk about feelings before, during, and after reading a book.

I was able to get a signed ARC of this book while attending ALA11 in New Orleans with Mar and I want to start by saying this. The Penguin staff were one of the better groups at organizing, informing, and moving a signing. I just wanted to say that because there were a couple of publishers, big publishers, who acted like this was there first time at the dance so to speak.

The whole ALA11 experience was hugely positive but because of a couple unprofessional things in terms of stupidity I wanted to get that out of the way to showcase a positive when it came to professionalism.

One of the main reasons I wanted to go to ALA11 was to get to meet Maureen Johnson. I've become a big fan of  her writing but in a some what different way than how most readers find a writer. Let me explain, I'll try to keep it short, and then get on with my review of The Name Of The Star.

I had heard the name Maureen Johnson a lot. That sort of thing happens when you live with a YA Librarian(Mar) who reads tons, you end of at least knowing the names and books that are making impacts, but I didn't have any sort of introduction to her writing until I added her on Twitter. Mar at the time wasn't on Twitter so I added a bunch of writers, people, and things she was interested in so I could let her know about things. But of all of those adds Maureen Johnson's Twitter feed stood out. She was smart, funny, entertaining, and her Twitter actually had better writing than a number of books I was reading at the time. So once we planned to go to ALA11, and unlike Chicago last year, this time I wanted to attend the floor show so to speak, I decided I wanted to get something signed by her. 

Going into ALA11 the only thing I had read of her's besides her Twitter feed was her short story in Zombies Vs. Unicorns, which I liked a lot. My plan was to print out a page from her Twitter feed and have her sign that and I would turn that into a bookmark; which I ended up doing. I was in line to get an ARC of her new book when I learned the book had a Jack The Ripper connection. I've been a reader of Ripper information since I was in my very early teens.

Thank God my parents never questioned my reading choices because they were pretty messed up back then and continue to be than God. See those of you questioning what kids read. I'm was obsessed with Jack The Ripper as a kid and I turned out ok. Yes my fragile little kid brain survived reading about murder and the truth about humanities depths to joyfully play in evil.

I didn't have a moment to start reading The Name Of The Star while in New Orleans, mainly due to my own writing while there, but when I got home, rested a bit, the first book I picked out of my ALA11 stacks was this fine book.

The story begins with Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux starting her studies at her new school in London. Like a lot of horror stories this tale is about life transfers from one portion of life to the next. Yes, as in a lot of horror stories this one is about a young persons life transfer into adulthood but just as the original Jack The Ripper killings were a transfer of the world at large from a time of modern society thinking it was civilized to the realization that it wasn't. Evil wasn't just for fairy tales but inside the human heart. And not very deep inside the heart either. The Ripper killings showed the world the brutality of the individual seemingly for no reason that it had tried to shield its eyes from but the inventions of technology and thinking of the time started to show all how brutally animal we are, were, and always will be. In that aspect Jack The Ripper was the craftsman of the modern worlds sense of self.

In The Name Of The Star Maureen Johnson gives you a story about life, growth, death. She introduces characters you care about. I found myself wondering who would die? Would this character? I liked that character I hope she doesn't die? Also knowing this was part one of a series made me hope none of my favorite character ended up dead. 

And while she built characters I cared about she also lead me down one road from what I was expecting from this book into something else. Then when you get comfortable as a avid reader thinking you can calm yourself into the rest of the book she shakes you with shouts that just because this story has gone this way doesn't mean you know the road these characters are on.

I think a lot of Ripper stories tend to fall flat because the writers take the source material as a excuse to write graphic scenes of violence after graphic scene. The writer here does not shy away from the brutal nature of the original killings or death itself but instead plays the story like the feeling of being in a graveyard even in the daytime and no matter what, even during smiles, and laughter, for at least seconds that you are there you just know deep down you could die here. And that's the crafting of the writer here. Even when the characters find moments of normality and peace you still get those fillings that these moments the most dangerous of their lives.

As usual I will not go into great detail about the story itself, trying not to spoil things, but I have to say I plowed throw most of this book in one day while out with Mar geocaching and if I didn't have such a huge stack of ARCs to read and review from ALA11 I would going for another Maureen Johnson book right away. Maureen Johnson writes with a talent that makes you want to know whats next, from her and her characters, and that is what a very good writer does I think.

I will not be giving this book ARC away here on the blog because I had it personally signed to me but promise future blog giveaways of materials I picked up while at ALA11.

Shades Of London, Book One: The Name Of The Star

by Maureen Johnson

4 out of 5 stars

REVIEW: The Name Of The Star

NEW ORLEANS FOR ALA

One thing I have to say right off is there is no way I can write about everything we did while in New Orleans. We took 6 days and we packed in 2 weeks worth of stuff, even if half of our days were spent in conference activities we were all over that city.

With that let me find some interesting photos and comment on them. I'll try to stay away from any photos that I posted on Facebook to make this enjoyable for people who followed my adventures on there during the trip.

(when Facebook actually posted my photos and wasn't just a worthless piece of....)

I wanted to use Facebook to post all the best photos from the trip but it seems like all the websites that use to work well with plain SMS text messages now only work well through smart phones.

Anyways.

One thing I know I'm not going to do is rant about the negatives of our hotel or some of the things I disagreed about at ALA with publisher because there was so much good and not enough space here to waste on the bad.

Plus, if you followed my Twitter during the trip you got enough of that anyways.

Another note. While in Florida I started writing a book set there and thus that book will explore more information on my travels while in the great city of New Orleans. But that book will not see light for at least two years so maybe I should lay off saying too much about it.

That book will not come out until the Tin Universe monthly epub short story series that's starting in August ends; which  right now has a plan of ending in two years. So plans are set and I know where I want to get to and have at least first drafts of everything inbetween.

We stayed at the Chateau Hotel in the French Quarter and it wasn't a perfect place to stay but it looked really cool on the outside and was in a great location to walking to a lot of cool places.

Plus I really hate fancy hotels.

It's a very old hotel and the people were nice but we are never the type of people to spend any time outside of sleeping in our hotel room anyways so it was great for us. Good price and like I said before, really good location.

If you are thinking about going and want more information on the hotel send me an email and I'll give you more details.


Another thing I can't do here is post all of my pictures. The city is so great with so many things to see and was so worth taking tons of pictures every step you took. And I took over 700pics in total in 6 days. All on my cheap little non-smart phone, except for a one hour period when my phone died and I hate to recharge it on a ferry trip.

This statue of Joan Of Arc was just down the street from our hotel. Right in the middle of the market area of the French Quarter. Lots of great bars, stores, and restaurants very near by.

This was the first place we ate while in New Orleans. As we were leaving the city they were filming a cooking show there as we walked by. If you spot a guy in a mowhawk, a Iron Man shirt, and checkered shorts on your TV some day. That was me. And yes, my eyes are read for a reason. Was up all night writing.

We visited the Voodoo Museum and it was small but very cool. If you are down there you should check it out. Many voodoo related places to visit but this was my favorite of all of them.

Funny story. I was walking and saw a half naked cross dressing dancer outside this store reading Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma. I was too chicken, plus it would have been rude to take a picture but I told the writer and she got a kick out of that. One of the many usual but very cool things I spotted while there.

This was part of a monument to Hurricane Katrina near a park across the street from the convention center and also where the earlier picture of me writing was taken.

Dead tired. In the car in Orlando on the way back home to our family (the cats)

One of the boxes of books we shipped was at the apartment when we got home. The other arrived today. Below is the list of books I got at ALA. The ones for my personal collection, ones I'm giving away to local libraries, and the ones I will be holding giveaway contests for here on the blog after I review the books.

Books For My Personal Collection:
The Name Of The Star signed by Maureen Johnson
The Future Of Us signed by Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler

Books I'm going to do giveaways here on the blog for {or give to a local library if I find one who wants to give these away in their own contests}: 
Why We Broke Up {ARC} signed by Daniel Handler
Star Wars Knight Errant {single issue} signed by writer John Jackson Miller.
The Iron Queen signed by Julie Kagawa.
My Rotten Life- Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie by David Lubar.
Cut by Patricia McCormick.
Peter Nimble And His Fantastic Eyes {ARC} signed by Jonathan Auxier.
Lucky For Good {ARC} by Susan Patron.
The 39 Clues Cahills Vs. Vespers The Medusa Plot {ARC} by Gordon Korman.
As I Wake {ARC} by Elizabeth Scott.
Shut Out {ARC} by Kody Keplinger.
Drink Slay Love {ARC} by Sarah Beth Durst.
Daughter Of Smoke & Bone {ARC} by Laini Taylor.
Gossip Girl Psycho Killer {SNEAK PEEK ARC} by Cecily Von Ziegesar
The Potter's Field {ARC} by Andrea Camilleri.
Iva Honeysuckle Discovers The World by Candice Ransom.

Books I'm going to find a local library home for: 
Field Of Dishonor, 
In Enemy Hands, 
The Honor Of The Queen, 
Flag In Exile, 
and Echoes Of Honor all by David Weber.

Books already going to people: 
Blood Rights {ARC} by Kristen Painter.
Villain School: Good Curses Evil {ARC} by Stephanie S. Sanders
Super Diaper Baby 2: The Invasion Of The Potty Snatchers {ARC} by George Beard and Harold. Hutchins.

NEW ORLEANS FOR ALA

CHAOS POETRY VOLUME THREE

-Just finished uploading this. Buy, Share, Pass On, you know the pitch. 

-Only one more volume to go in July for this limited series of poetry albums each containing part of a 4 Part story. 

-In August I start my monthly short story series with Tin Universe #7: A Little Pulpy Goes A Long Way. 

*Really enjoying writing right now. Doing the poetry volumes for four straight months has given me a new writing energy. Can't wait to let others read what I will be trying to do with the monthly short story series. August is Tin Universe #7 and September Tin Universe #8. Then from October on the Tin Universe series will rotate monthly with my second series Chaos Read with the only month without a short story being in November. I have four months of stories finished and three years worth of short stories in 1st draft form.

CHAOS POETRY VOLUME THREE

REVIEW: THE 39 CLUES - THE MAZE OF BONES

Mar had talked about this series the whole time she was reading it when the books first started coming out and since I needed some quick books to listen to while doing house work I decided to give the first book a try after finding a Playaway version at the library.

My thinking going in also was that this first book of the series is written by Rick Riordan and I enjoyed the first book in the Percy Jackson series so why not try it. Saying that, this doesn't speak for Rick Riordan's talent as a writer in my eyes. The Percy Jackson series is high and above better than The 39 Clues.

When Mar first told me about this series I had to hold back my feelings from that point. I've never really seen an American property pull of this sort of media tie in and make it work well but let me try to just think about what I felt about The Maze Of Bones and it alone.

This book just couldn't make up its mind what it wanted to be. At times it felt like they wanted to go a A Series Of Unfortunate Events direction, at others it seemed to slip into R.L. Stine words and setups, but in the end it really just felt like they had hired a writer to start a series based off an idea to sell books, trading cards, and online gaming. And in that they found a success.

The story itself focuses on a family and the different limbs of that family that seemed to be related to every famous person in history. That's a trap a lot of writers have stumbled into. It would have been ok, with a few known names but throwing too many famous people into the families story isn't using history, its lazy writing.

But boy if there is one thing I know about its lazy writing.

The lead characters aren't strong enough to fill this story. You want them to be stronger. You want the opposition to be more filled out. But you just drift through the story looking for something real to happen. Just seems way too cookie cutter to me. You could feel the outline, taste the story map.

Now with that being said I can see why so many young people and adults have enjoyed these books. They are very quick adventure stories with that interactive tie in element that brings many a lot of enjoyment. It just didn't do that for me personally.

And to end before I give my rating. The title of book one is way too big of a giveaway. They should have come up with something else. It was basically like reading the ending of the book before you start Chapter One.

2 out of 5 stars

REVIEW: THE 39 CLUES - THE MAZE OF BONES