Author Archive: Eric San Juan
Eric San Juan
October 27, 2015
It was kind of hard to escape Jurassic World this summer. The fourth movie in the Jurassic Park series (though it conveniently ignored the first two sequels), it was a HUGE smash hit, raking in $1.6 billion worldwide and jumping to the #3 spot for all time box office. Even adjusted for inflation, it sits at #23 for all time box office. Not too shabby. What was shabby was this film. And I’m going to tell you why. On paper, I should have fallen head over heels for it. I LOVE dinosaurs. I LOVE dinosaur movies. I LOVE the Jurassic Park series, both books and movies, even the subpar installments like Jurassic Park 3. Big creatures destroying stuff? Loads of spectacle? A non-stop adventure filled…
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Eric San Juan
October 22, 2015
Halloween is almost here, so I figured I’d pull this out of the archives. The following is a real life ghost story plucked from my book, Lakehurst: Barrens, Blimps & Barons. It was initially written for Weird Tales magazine and was penned alongside an essay on sleep paralysis called “Whispers of the Old Hag,” which one reviewer said was about “a real life condition that can be as terrifying as any horror story.” (For some reason, “Whispers” is no longer online at Weird Tales, so I’ve posted it in full right here.) “Ghosts” didn’t make the cut, but that was okay. I repurposed it for my book on the history of Lakehurst, a small Pine Barrens town in New Jersey. It was fun to research and write,…
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Works by Eric, Writing
book, books, excerpts, ghosts, Halloween, Hangar No 1, hindenburg, horror, Lakehurst, Writing
Eric San Juan
October 20, 2015
Unless you’ve been unplugged for the last 24 hours or make it a policy to ignore anything related to geek stuff (in which case why would you be reading this blog?), you’ve probably heard about the #BoycottStarWarsVII hashtag making the rounds on Twitter. Stories about it are blowing up social media right now, and understandably so, given how shockingly offensive and ridiculous the movement behind “Boycott Star Wars VII” seems. The story goes like this: there is a growing movement to boycott Star Wars: The Force Awakens because, those behind the movement say, it’s an anti-white movie that glorifies minorities and is part of an agenda to minimize white people. An appallingly shitty viewpoint, no question about it. Except there is no movement. This news…
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Eric San Juan
October 13, 2015
Watching The Rings Moore’s Watchmen and Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings Are Strikingly Similar Landmarks When one talks of vital contributions to the art of comics, one cannot ignore Alan Moore. With a body of work as consistently terrific as his – he has more certifiable classics under his belt than any comic writer of the last 30 years – targeting any given tale as his “best” is an impossible task. But of Alan Moore’s contributions to comicdom, one truly stands as not just an undeniable landmark, but the undeniable landmark, putting its stamp on comic history forever: Watchmen, the powerful 12-issue collaboration with Dave Gibbons circa the Reagan-era 1980s. Just how big a landmark is this now classic tale? Alan Moore’s Watchmen is to modern comics what J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord…
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Books & Authors, Comics & Graphic Novels, Geek Stuff
alan moore, articles, Comics, commentary, features, graphic novel, j.r.r. tolkien, lord of the rings, tolkien, watchmen
Eric San Juan
September 30, 2015
It’s a poor craftsman that blames his tools. That’s how the saying goes, at least, but you know what? “It” being the conspicuous lack of a goddamn “R” in every other goddamn word I type from my goddamn laptop. I may or may not have mentioned it before, but I don’t write on my desktop. Too many distractions. I have to get away from my desk and get someplace with as few bright and shinys as possible. That means grabbing the laptop and doing all my writing at the kitchen table or out on the back deck. I’m too prone to slacking off otherwise. This has worked out well for me over the years. Since 2009, eight books have my name on them, either solo…
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