Dredd

I just finished watching the bloody, very bloody, Dredd reboot.

A couple of things I liked about it. I liked that Dredd, played by Karl Urban, kept his helmet on the whole time, like he's supposed to.

I liked the fact that it was a throwback to violent 80s action flicks like Rambo and Robocop.

It had the bright neon colors and all the senseless shooting. The bad guys were bad just for the sake of having someone for the good guys to blow away. Simple. No complex story line. Just good guys wasting bad guys. Druggies. Guns. More guns. And a lot of bullets flying across a wash of red splatter.

I liked that the whole look was 80's retro, but with the seamless use of today's CGI standards.

The things I didn't like: Every goddamn time they introduced the drug slow-mo the actual film would cut to a slow motion reel of people high on slow-mo. Every goddamn time. The first time was long... and gave the viewer the gist. Every time after that initial car chase in slow-mo was just overkill. The drug wasn't as interesting as the filmmakers apparently thought it was.

I didn't like the Mama character either. The character had no real motivation for wanting to kill Dredd. She is the head drug lord of the Peach Trees area and wants to expand her franchise. The best way to do that would simply be to have had her man killed by some patsy, and let the patsy take the fall. Two birds with one stone.

Taking on a Judge seemed rather stupid. There just wasn't any reason for it. It guaranteed Mama real big trouble.

*Spoilers*

If Mama would have just left Dredd alone, she could have made her little 9/11 call later and pulled a few inside favors and nobody would have ever been the wiser as to what she was up to.

Instead she's just hell bent on killing Dredd, not for some reason, but for no reason at all.

So the character is written with two ways out of her situation and she ignores each one just so she can keep trying to kill Dredd. But why? It never explained why she hated him so much. Other than Mama is just a throwback to 80's villains--a character of evil, doped up, crack-heads high on insanity from one too many hits.

The performances were all good.

I was hoping for some satire, you know, what makes the Dredd comics so appealing. But there wasn't any. It was just a straight up action flick.

**End Spoilers**

Low Down

Over all, I give it a 6.5 out of 10. 

It's entertaining enough for a second viewing, or the occasional viewing when you're in a blast-em-up shoot-em-up mood. But beyond that, it's your standard fair gun romp with lots of splatter.

I know a lot of people still prefer the Stallone one better. I like both for different reasons. This new Dredd plays it straight. It's realistic. Gritty. No camp this time around. That appeals to some. The Stallone one was a lot more fun as far as popcorn films go. But it's just a matter of preference. I rate the Stallone version a 7.0 out of 10 just because it does have humor and a compelling plot with a villain with a real reason for wanting Dredd out of the big picture.

Bitten: Dream Casting Call

Here are my picks of actors and actresses who I'd like to see as my characters from my horror survival/zombie novel BITTEN: A Resurrection Thriller.



The enigmatic Jennifer Hurley to be played by Viva Bianca 




The regal Rachael Ramirez to be played by Katrina Law



The jar-head Jared Barnes to be played by Jensen Ackles



The combat marine Ulysses Noble to be played by Kevin Phillips



The mysterious Cowboy to be played by Daniel Feuerriegel



The sinister Dr. Treslen to be played by Idris Elba



The take charge General Greer to be played by Karl Urban




The heroine Alyssa Briggs to be played by Rachel Nichols.

Ipsissima Verba

As a writer one of the main things I am in search for is the ipsissima verba. This literally means "the perfect words."

I spend a lot of time on the first lines as well of the last lines of my novels. I rewrote the first paragraph to my debut novel Bitten: A Resurrection Thriller at least a dozen times. I rewrote the ending twice as many times just to get the feel of prosody it has along with being damn cool imagery. 

My new novel, Bitten: Land of the Rising Dead, was the same. The beginning was a little easier this time around because I was in the swing of things, but the ending was, pardon my French, a royal bitch.

I rewrote the ending so many times I lost count. Then, still not being satisfied, I DELETED it.

I started from scratch, and, still, I wasn't satisfied.

After going through the story I realized that in order to find the perfect ending I either had to write another 60,000 words or else do something different. I chose different, because the next 60,000 words are coming anyway in the third novel, Bitten: Kingdom of the Living Dead.

This time the Epilogue is a mini short story that is broken into four codas. Usually an epilogue is just a closing segment, but since this is book two of an ongoing series, I thought it would be fun to play with the medium and push the creative boundaries a little. So what I came up with was an extended epilogue, and what better to call it than a coda?

Finally, I had found an ending I liked. 

But again, it wasn't quite right. So I rewrote it several times. Then I rewrote it several times more. 

Now I have something I'm satisfied with.

It's strange that the beginning and ending of everything I write is such a challenge. But I think that's because I desperately want to hook the reader and also leave them satisfied. I think this becomes even more important when you're writing a series.

As for the pages between the opening and the close, those come naturally to me. 

As it happens, I love to write dialog, and the pages begin to fill themselves. Basically, after creating a cast of characters and writing out character bios (and backgrounds), at a certain point, the characters begin to write themselves.

Once they come to life, so to speak, I tend to let them dictate the direction of the story. Sometimes as I write them (rather freely) they will say or do something that is even unexpected to me. That's part of the fun of getting caught up in free-verse. When you're writing like that, loose and fast, and the imagination engine is spooled up to full, sometimes the subconscious kicks out things that make one's characters do or say the unexpected.

I like whenever this happens, because whenever it happens, it inevitably is a pleasant surprise. More often than not it also improves my plot. Of course, this forces me to have to go back and revise my outline, because the character did something that wasn't compatible with the way I initially plotted the story, but it always works out for the better. I think it works because it adds an interesting twist to the story, which allows you to explore different avenues of character personalities, motivations, or plot points which help to really flesh out the story. Additionally, it tends to make the character much more realistic feeling. 

You'll be glad to know that I am currently searching for the ipsissima verba for my third book in the Bitten series. How many more zombie books will I write? I don't know. I'll keep writing them as long as I am having fun with the characters and with the world I've created. Also, I have plenty of other projects I am currently working on, including a non-fiction compendium of essays. That's a whole other style of writing, and a whole other discussion.

Until then, may all you writers find the words you are looking for, and to all the rest, happy reading!

A Couple of Short Novellas and other Works

I have many works in the pipeline. Currently I am in the process of editing Bitten 2: Land of the Rising Dead and getting it prepped for a February release. At the same time I am working on a religious/spiritual anthology of deconversion stories about people who lost their religious faith and became atheists and agnostics.

On top of all this, I have finished a couple of digital short novellas (one romance and one erotica). Both will be out in the next couple of weeks. Instead of explaining the details, I'll just do the cover reveals and let the mystery linger until intrigue forms and compels you to rush out and buy it once they are available for download. 

Daughter of Sol: Book One (News)

I have just begun writing my science fiction space opera series called Daughter of Sol.

It will be a couple years off yet before completion, as this is the most ambitious fiction novel I have ever begun. I want the science to be believable even as it is largely an intergalactic fairy-tale. It's the culmination of my life long love for science fiction and my passion for theoretical physics coming together under one collective umbrella of my imagination.

I have created a mock-up "teaser" cover, which was intended only as a sort of promotional gimmick but has steadily been growing on me. I may try to snag the rights to the background image as I am considering using it for the real novel. 

The background space art comes from the talented folks over at GT Graphic Design and Photography. Check them out if you get a chance!

All this, however, just to explain why I haven't been blogging as much recently. 

Bitten After Dark 6 and Bitten 2 Updates!

Just a friendly reminder that Bitten After Dark 6 is now available for download on Amazon.com.

IMPORTANT UPDATE
As I was editing the After Dark stories and compiling them into a novel format, I realized that the story I told was more or less what I had in mind for BITTEN 2: Land of the Rising dead.

I have always intended the second novel to be less of a sequel and more of a stand alone story set in the same universe. As such, Bitten After Dark will BECOME Bitten 2: Land of the Rising Dead.

Literature, like any art, is constantly evolving--hopeful to the end goal of the artist's vision. As I thought about what I wanted Bitten 2 to be about, it was essentially the story I told in the After Dark series.

That said, the novel version which collects all of the 'After Dark' stories will be broken into 22 chapters, instead of the original 6. I found that the 30 page chapters was just too long--and that breaking them up really increases the flow of the story and makes the reader feel that they are making substantial progress with the book. It moves along more briskly when you can keep track of the pace.

As it is a much different novel, a love story instead of a survival horror, the format is a little different this time around. There are only five main characters in the entire story instead of the 50 or so in the original BITTEN novel.
That's a huge change right there, but the story isn't any less captivating.  In fact, I think the focus on just a few survivors really makes the characters come out more, since we spend so much personal time with them.

As a love story, it has a different tone. But at the same time it fleshes out the Bitten mythos.

What I initially began as Bitten 2, which I am 12 chapters into as of this writing, will become Bitten 3: Kingdom of the Living Dead. 

Bitten 3 effectively combines the surviving members of Bitten 1 and Bitten 2 together into an epic finally. With a few surprises thrown in. Bitten 3 is similar to the first book in that it's got plenty of characters and it jumps between individual stories instead of focusing on just a handful of main characters like Bitten 2. 

The reason I went a different direction with Bitten 2 was to see if I could tell a different type of story. Also, I didn't want it to suffer from second novel syndrome, where the second part of a trilogy is always less well received  It's actually an entirely different story with a different cast of characters within a different genre. It will be book ended by two similar style tales which makes this trilogy truly unique. 

Whether or not this little writing experiment will be successful is a different matter entirely. The fate of the Bitten series lies entirely in the hands of the Bitten fans and zombie/horror aficionados. 

Additionally, Bitten 2: Land of the Rising Dead will have some additional chapters not available in the digital downloads of the After Dark series. I had to play around with the format a bit to make it tie back into the universe yet maintain it's stand alone appeal.

Bitten 2: Land of the Rising Dead will be available sometime in February if all goes to schedule. 

Drunken Zombie Reviews BITTEN!

The fine folks over at Drunken Zombie have written an in-depth review of my debut zombie novel. It's quite detailed and quite good. Check it out!

DRUNKEN ZOMBIE.com