After finally seeing John Carter this weekend, I am inspired to finish my Sword & Planet WIP, so that will probably get the bulk of my fiction attention for a while. It'll probably be novella-length. I could cut it shorter, but why? There is so much story to tell, and I really like the slightly alternate take on the classic S&P setup.
I won't go into too much detail detail about my views on John Carter, except to say that, if you didn't catch it in the first-run theater, you should try to catch it in a second-run, which is where I saw it. It is AMAZING. I saw it in 2D (which is fine, since 3D gives me a headache sometimes) and I was astounded. Imagine the special effects from The Phantom Menace, cleaned up a little, and applied to a real story, with a real plot and GREAT acting. My favorite part: the Tharks. They are exactly how I pictured them when I read the books.
On a related side-note, my rants in previous days about the crappy marketing of John Carter inspired my sister-in-law to seek out A Princess of Mars for her Kindle, just to see what the hullabaloo was all about. She is now addicted, and has officially read more of the series than I have. She's also downloaded a ton of other ERB books. It's nice to know I had a hand in spreading the Cult of ERB.
A writer friend of mine, Chris Blanchard, recently blogged about his experiences with dedicating himself to an achievable writing goal. He has written at least 500 words a day for a few months now, and it has netted him some fine results. I think I will take his challenge, and set myself the same goal. Mind you, that's 500 words of fiction. Facebook and blogging won't count. And neither will schoolwork. But I think I can handle that.
5 comments:
I need to compile my reading list on Artemisium, don't I? First, there's Herodotus and any of the ancient authors who might have written about it in their works. Next, there's Barry Strauss' "The Battle of Salamis", Tom Holland's "Persian Fire", and John R. Hale's "Lords of the Sea". Next, I do quick fact-checking at Livius.org. That's pretty much it.
I knew you would like John Carter. They did a fantastic job on that movie, and I hope there's a second one.
Thanks for the link to my blog, I appreciate it. I should update there way more often.
And I am so looking forward to an S&P from you. I'm reading your Blackskull story right now, and LOVING it. I think a S&P in an ERB style would suite you well.
@Scott - Thanks! Now, you need to post your reviews on Amazon... :)
@Chris - For my S&S WIP, I considered going first person, but it didn't feel right. Mine will be more like Amulric. Sort of a 'Barsoom by Robert E. Howard' type. I think it'll be cool. I also have a short story started that I was going to submit to Pulp Empires 'Tales of Barsoom' anthology, but I couldn't get it finished in time. If I can finish that one, I will probably put it out there as well.
If your sister in law likes ERB, I bet she'd like my Talera series. They're only 2.99 on Kindle.
I think novella length is a great length for sword & Planet fiction, maybe for any kind of adventure fiction.
Good luck with the writing, school and fiction.
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