PUBLISHING ON THE AMAZON KINDLE:  MY EXPERIENCE

I’m not going to lie, I’ve been in somewhat of a writing rut lately.  Don’t get me wrong, I did finish a new story and am working on a new one as we speak, but this was a pretty nasty rut.  I was getting rejections for all of my short story submissions and I don’t care how many times you get a rejection or how used to it you’ve become, it still stings and can really leave you feeling unmotivated.  I think that was my problem for a while.  Sure, there’s the drive to write because I’m passionate about it and it’s what I enjoy doing, but feeling like I wasn’t getting anywhere with my submissions left a dent in my desire to write.

And then, it hit me.  I found out that Amazon has a self-publishing program where you can self-publish your writing exclusively for the Kindle free of charge.  Not only that, but you get to have more of a say when it comes down to pricing, something I was never comfortable with on my previous short story collection, Falling Apart.  I was proud of the book and all (and still am), but I was never comfortable with the pricing of it, which is why you don’t see me plugging it all that much.  Hell, I even think the Kindle edition of it is still nowhere near the price range I’d like it to be—and it turned out horrible looking (it’s readable, but it should’ve turned out a lot better).

That’s when the desire returned.

I decided I was going to give this new adventure a try.  What the hell?  I certainly wouldn’t be losing money on it like with my other self-publishing experiences.  I love the Amazon Kindle and I know a lot of people who now own one (you can also download a free Kindle app for the PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Blackberry and Droid).

IN DECLINE as seen on the Kindle

So, I have put together a new short story collection called, In Decline.  I submitted it to Amazon dtp (Digital Text Platform) once I had everything all sorted out.  At first, I thought this would be a small project, maybe consisting of five stories or so.  Then, I ended up having total of nine.  I was a lot more selective this time around than I was with Falling Apart, since that was more of a physical publication I felt like I had to make sure it was at a reasonable length.  Since this is an e-book, I really didn’t have to worry about how long the overall book would be.  There are stories that didn’t make the collection, but not because they aren’t good.  I just picked the ones that I felt went together well.

From under my rock I can see quite a bit is going on.

Between comics-to-film news and revamps of iconic characters to sexy political intrigue perfect for a good story exercise; if you wanted “interesting” you’ve got it in spades.

The Russian spy scandal

First of all, yeah, she is not bad on the eyes even if she’s an alleged dirty, filthy, spy. Admittedly, I’ve been avoiding TV especially mainstream media for the last month or so, so I’m not well versed on the up-to-the-minute details of this story. On the surface however it has that classic sleeper agent spy story begging for a new post-cold war twist. It’s almost perfect timing  as Angelina Jolie’s flick Salt gears up with a somewhat similar plot-line. I’d be rather impressed if it was somehow a large guerrilla / viral-marketing  scheme (yeah, I know it’s not).

The BP oil spill debacle / environmental FUBAR

I don’t care who’s at fault, the damage is monumental and is on-going. This oil spill is disheartening! It’s killing already strained local economies as well as absolutely wrecking the ecosystem of the gulf. It’s so bad my kids (when I have them – go go gadget 2012 baby announcement / end of the world) will probably be in their 20′s before it can be said that the the impact on the environment has let up from this spill. Heads need to roll and the way we look at our energy sources needs a drastic overhaul. It’s wishful thinking at this point but from time to time I sing the praises of companies like Tesla Motors for trying to push alternative powered automobiles that don’t look weak as all get out. There needs to be more of these innovative companies pushing the status quo to the side in the name of true progress.  Maybe my kids will see that day.

Jim Lee, come on dude…

This one deserves a full article. Jim Lee was who I had patterned my drawing style from, I collected issues of X-Men & WildC.A.T.s and anything I could get my hands on studying the style. Now, after the Captain America thing (you let that HACK Rob Liefeld touch Caps?!) and this story, maybe the time away was for the best. While I’m quite comfortable with the idea of rebooting an iconic character like Wonder Woman (I was attached to the TV show not the actual comic), I can see the fuss that it’s making, and maybe they should have thought the revamped look through a little more. I’ll speak to that in that blog post for sure. Maybe even make one about imagery when it comes to established characters. Oh, the ideas these sorts of things spark…

DC Comic’s move into web / mobile distribution

I spoke of this a couple of years ago, the little guys are pioneering it and the big guys are going to catch on soon enough. With the emergence of apps centric mobile devices, and CDNs (Content Distribution Network) media is moving to a point of merging into a singular entity where your entertainment, communication and information channels are driven by the cloud and your stored preferences follow you everywhere. Devices like the iPAD while ridiculously named are just the transitional bits of technology necessary to get us to that future.

Here’s some neat fan art

of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man gathered at Youthedesigner.com. As of late, Spidey has been in the headlines for troubles with the property at Sony. When the plans for the fourth sequel fell through, Spider-Man became yet another victim of the “gritty reboot”. Now that they’ve committed to it, the speculator’s talk now is about the possibility and acceptability of taking the character and his alter-ego Peter Parker in a new direction by arguing that the character is more defined by his personality and principles than his (traditionally) portrayed race.

They’ve decided to skew young as well so with this in mind some fans have taken to campaigning for Comedian / Musician Donald Glover (of NBC’s Community) to take up the  webbed mask. I can’t give an opinion on Glover as I’m not familiar with his body of work, however when I’ve asked around, the word is he’s well versed in being a geek on the screen. Danny has been said to have been honored by the thought but would want to earn the role traditionally rather than by popular vote. I say if he can act, why not give him a screen test for the part Sony, after Michael Clarke Duncan’s portrayal of The Kingpin in an otherwise crappy movie (Daredevil), I’m more open minded.

Click here to read the full article»

clipped from www.youthedesigner.com

33 Astonishing Spider-Man Artworks

Among the most popular superheroes that have ever been launched, Spider-Man (Peter Parker) may be considered as one of the most successful fictional characters of all time, possibly even second only to Superman. It has been almost fifty years since his first appearance, but Marvel’s number one superhero is still going strong, especially in the minds and hearts of today’s designers.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Should a black man play Spider-Man? A lot of people tweet so (thegrio.com)
• BestComicCovers:Wolverine Art Appreciation Covers & Their Inspiration – Pt 1 (Inkwest.Net)
• Reginald Hudlin Talks ‘Black Panther: Flags of Our Fathers’ (Inkwest.Net)

More goodies from the web: This time I found a cool list of alt art comic covers featuring Wolverine from last year’s 35th anniversary  celebration of his first appearance. As a comic geek and art nerd, I find things like this inspirational. This also makes me wish I had kept a lot of my old work from high school, I had done something similar using comic book characters to re-imagine album covers. That sounds like a cool project, actually. Somebody organize it & I’ll support / promote it! As always if you find something cool you think I should be sharing let me know!

View full article»

clipped from www.bestcomiccovers.com

Wolverine Art Appreciation Covers and Their Inspiration – Part 1

In April 2009, Marvel celebrated the 35th anniversary of Wolverine’s first appearance with over a dozen variant art appreciation covers. These comic books covers were inspired by some of the greatest artists of all time, including John Singer Sargent, Vincent Van Gogh and C.M. Coolidge. Marvel choose an assortment of artists for these covers ranging from virtual unknowns like Fiona Staples to hot top gun artists like Ed McGuinness. I thoroughly enjoyed these covers when they came out. They were like a cool version of Art History 101 class, not like the real class we all slept through.

Presented here is the first installment of the art appreciation covers and the artists who inspired them.

Related articles by Zemanta

• The First Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 Screenshots! (comicvine.com)
• Hugh Jackman Praises ‘Wolverine 2′ Script, Will ‘Definitely’ Shoot Film In Japan (splashpage.mtv.com)
• A Year of Cool Comics – Day 141 (goodcomics.comicbookresources.com)
• 20 Best Iron Man Covers (bestcomiccovers.com)

Details via IMDB

Directed by: Sylvain White

Written by: Peter Berg & James Vanderbilt

Plot: After being betrayed and left for dead, members of a CIA black ops team root out those who targeted them for assassination.

	Jeffrey Dean Morgan	…	Clay
	Zoe Saldana	…	Aisha
	Chris Evans	…	Jensen
	Idris Elba	…	Roque
	Columbus Short	…	Pooch
	Óscar Jaenada	…	Cougar
	Jason Patric	…	Max
	Holt McCallany	…	Wade

The Golden Age of the comic book films continues.

The Losers is an adaptation of the comic of the same name published under the DC Comics /Vertigo imprint. Once again like my review of Kick-Ass, this is done without prior exposure to the comic source.

By inspecting the cast & crew, right off bat you’ll notice two things:

There are a couple of comic book movie vets in this film – Jeffrey Dean Morgan (The Comedian in Watchmen) & Chris Evans (Human Torch / Fantastic 4 & Captain America / Captain America: The First Avenger )

Sylvain White – Yeah never heard of him is the proper response. Looking over his list of movies that he has directed (Stomp the Yard & I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer?) doesn’t excite anyone looking for an edge to this director’s creative sensibility.  He is the definition of “safe choice” in that if a studio feels the film failed, they have a scape goat and if it is a success then they can pat themselves on the back for having “discovered” this hidden gem. This sounds like a set up for disappointment; thankfully that’s not quite the case.

skip to tl;dr summary »

Is it a winner?

It won’t win awards. It won’t make many top tier playlists. It will however, entertain you. This movie is a throw-back to fun B actioners, there’s enough cheese to balance out the action and make it a solid entry in the “will-watch-it-when-it’s-on”  category of future viewings. We learn that bad things happen any time Zoe Saldana’s character Aisha is in a bedroom.

The cast is solid, these people come from your favorite television shows and films; they know how to make it look fun and when necessary, how not to take the role too seriously. This helps as the concept and the script itself has the vibe of A-Team meets Burn Notice which isn’t such a bad thing for anyone looking for fast-and-loose entertainment.

The movie is paced well; it moves quickly into the set up and despite the so-so plot (the villain’s plans aren’t necessarily the as important as what The Loser’s want to do to the villain)

What works:

Jeffrey Dean Morgan – While not venturing past his usual archetype (leader / authority figure) he makes it work for the story and plays off well with the rest of the cast. In parts it becomes evident that he may have been limited by how his character was defined in the script which may actually reflect the strength of the source material.

Idris Elba – He knows how to play the bad guy everyone likes. Watch a master at work.

Chris Evans – Again not venturing far from where he’s already been, he brings the comical element to the team.

Zoe Saldana - Don’t let the slender frame fool you, she has a future in action if she can keep this up. One scene in particular is literally smoldering.

Jason Patric – Admission, I haven’t seen this guy since Narc (2002) and will always know him best for being in The Lost Boys (1987). Here he plays a send up of generic spy movie villains that manages to not venture too far into camp to where he’s not enjoyable. It’s a toned down Terrence Stamp (Kneel before ZOD!)  in Get Smart.You’ll see it most in his interactions with his main henchman Wade.

Holt McCallany – another Hollywood go-to henchman that’s always fun to watch in film or television. He plays well off of Jason Patric’s Max.

What doesn’t:

This technically suffers from being half of a movie, it’s clear there is more to the story by the end and it may become a minor nuisance with further viewings.

Multiple endings, they rarely work. These were borderline tedious after all of the action that came before.

The director while safe, isn’t exactly the type to lift this script to the heights it could’ve gone, he makes safe style choices that lead to forgettable moments where the actors involved could’ve shined.

I’d like to see either Antoine Fuqua, Albert Hughes & Allen Hughes, Joe Carnahan, Shane Black or  Guy Ritchie tackle the sequel.

TL;DR Summary:

This is a nice primer for the A-Team flick, it’s watchable though it runs the risk of being slightly forgettable. It’s popcorn worthy and any dose of  Zoe Saldana is better than none.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Review: Kick-Ass Takes Names Too. (inkwest.net)
• Reginald Hudlin Talks ‘Black Panther: Flags of Our Fathers’ (inkwest.net)
• Review: Iron Man 2 – Not Quite Bulletproof? (inkwest.net)
• Iron Man Marvel: Julian Chambliss Explores the Meaning behind the Masks (inkwest.net)
• 7 Winning Facts About ‘The Losers’ (cinematical.com)