Author Archive: Eric San Juan

Halo Wars

As mentioned in a previous post, I recently had the chance to do some video game reviews for Havoc PC. The last of my initial three reviews is live. Take a look if you’re so inclined. Here’s a preview: Halo Wars Despite there being just one on the Xbox 360 console and only three previous games in the series overall, the Halo franchise is a juggernaut of epic proportions, the kind of money-maker video game execs would sell their children to have. The Halo brand is a record breaker. A system seller. A guaranteed payday. So it comes as no surprise that we’re beginning to see the start of what will presumably be a whole roster of games expanding on the Halo universe — and…
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It’s odd to see your name…

I’m used to seeing my byline. Over the last 10 years it has appeared on thousands of news stories, photo credits, film reviews, and various other pieces of writing. At this point it’s really no big deal. Just part of the job. Still, it’s odd to see yourself listed at Goodreads.com. Hell, the book is even listed on Living Social, that Facebook app people have been using for top 5 lists. So that’s pretty neat. Two other quick side notes: 1) You can see four preview pages from a comic I’m doing with artist Rick Lundeen in this gallery. His work is great, isn’t it? 2) And I’m honored to have had a quote pulled from my review of 10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America…
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Tomb Raider: Underworld

The second of my video game reviews for Havoc PC has gone live. Check out this preview; link to the full at the bottom: Tomb Raider: Underworld To say that Tomb Raider has been the most consistently mediocre long-running franchise in video gaming history would certainly be an overstatement, though many critics would tell you exactly that. The first game dropped in 1996, and eight unchanging games have followed since. New games in the series are routinely criticized for being more of the same, which is true enough, but “the same” is pretty fun. The iconic Lara Croft is slammed as being an unrealistic fanboy fantasy. Also true enough, but it’s hard to argue with such an instantly recognizable image. The truth is this: While…
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R.I.P. Frank Lauro

An Internet buddy passed away yesterday from complications following surgery. A strict grammarian, anal-retentive to the extreme — in a good way — and always supportive, Frank Lauro was relentless in telling me that I had the chops. I never told him how much that meant to me. R.I.P., Frank.

The book is HERE

After having a really bad day, yesterday I came home to a nice surprise. A box with my copies of A Year of Hitchcock. It was just the kind of boost I needed after a terrible day. I can’t tell you how happy I am with the production quality of this book. The folks at Scarecrow Press and their parent company, Rowman & Littlefield, did a spectacular job. This is top work by any measure. Thumbing through it and seeing my words presented so nicely … well, I felt very proud. This whole project, which my co-author Jim and I have lived with for over three years now, now feels real. Real in a very tangible way. And that makes all the work we did,…
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