J.R.R. Tolkien is the reason why I write

J.R.R. Tolkien is the reason why I write

Posted inBooks & Authors, Geek Stuff, Writing
I've no interest in writing epic fantasy, have gotten past the days when I wanted to construct a complex mythology, and hell, haven't even rolled a 20-sided die in many years. Yet I would not be writing today in any capacity were it not for the work of J.R.R. Tolkien. Middle-Earth first entered my consciousness in the sixth grade or so. The Hobbit was assigned reading. Unlike most students, I didn't consider assigned reading a form of torture. (Well, except when the books sucked -- which they often did.) I liked reading, and the books we had to read were…

Yes, Virginia, there is a Pitched! 3

Posted inComics & Graphic Novels, Works by Eric
In my head, at least. After two comic anthologies, both of which I'm very proud -- thanks to my collaborators, Pitched! and Pitched! 2 were quite awesome -- it would be natural to assume a third is on its way. And in fact, as I've posted, Pitched! 3 was at one time in progress. Key words being "at one time." Life happens. A host of factors (none of which are necessary to go into here) ground it to a halt this spring. Though there were brief moments throughout the late spring and summer when I thought maybe I could light…

WRITING: Blank books, book sales, and expectations

Posted inWriting
A blank book reaching #44 on Amazon? Yep. It happened. A blank book -- blank -- became a top seller. They spend years writing a book, then even more years trying to get a literary agent and publisher to back it and then, when their book finally comes out, the author breathes a huge sigh of relief and assumes that their book will be discovered, widely read and will sell around the world in bucketloads. Well, any new author needs to wake up and smell the rankings. Most books, however well written, hardly sell many copies at all. And that's…

Why punctuation matters

Posted inWriting
A panda walks into a restaurant and takes a table. The waiter thinks it's a bit odd, a panda walking into a restaurant , but he approaches it nonetheless. The panda grabs a menu, opens it, and points to a cheeseburger. The panda gets his cheeseburger, savors every bite, even wipes its mouth with a napkin. Then the panda pulls out a gun and shoots every person in the restaurant. Everyone except for the waiter. Soaked in blood, he can only ask the panda, "Why?" The panda pulls out an encyclopedia. It flips the book to the P section, places…
Breaking Bad, my new must-watch TV

Breaking Bad, my new must-watch TV

Posted inTelevision
It hasn't been easy finding a new must-watch show. The Walking Dead didn't do it for me, Lost reached its finale (I posted several times about this show), and the excellent Game of Thrones aside, HBO's awesome television shows, well, haven't been as awesome of late as they've been historically. Even two series I hotly anticipated, The Pacific and Boardwalk Empire, were very good but did not make me feel compelled to watch every night in a marathon of viewing. (I tend to watch one show at a time, an episode a night, in a long marathon. I love TV…