Teaser Two

The following is an excerpt from MoriaVaratu, Book One of the Morian Trilogy.

 MC walked towards the time-worn statue in the center of the room. Gene turned and followed her curious to what she had seen. There in the flickering torch light he saw them. Four crystal skulls neatly lined up at the base of the statue.

"Whoa!" He said under his breath. "Unbelievable."

"Gene,” she asked in a reverent tone, “do you know what these are?"

He answered her question with only with a slack jawed look. He just stared at the
artifacts on the floor in wonder.

Dr. Sullivan bent over and picked one up. It was obvious that the skulls were solid throughout from their sheer weight. She handed the first skull over to him. He expected it to be cool to the touch after sitting in the darkness, but to his surprise, it was warm and seemed to vibrate slightly in his hands.

All of the sudden he wanted to know what they were and realized Dr. Sullivan was doing something he had come to hate over all the years they'd worked together. She was pausing for dramatic effect, building suspense. He had learned to counter this move by pretending not to be interested which he could not do in this case. Gene gave in quickly.

 "Mary Catherine?" he shrugged impatiently prompting her with a hand gesture almost dropping the skull he clutched.

 "These are the four skulls of wisdom," she said excitedly.

 "Do you mean the holy relics supposedly used by the Incan Sun God?"

 "No, the Sun God is Inti," she answered shaking her head. "Viracocha, he that came before Inti. These skulls were said to be the source of all his power. A power that was said to bring enlightenment and death, depending on the god’s mood. It was written that Viracocha used these to bring down fire from the sky and vanquish the enemies of his people."

 "It seems there is still power over fire still left in these skulls," he replied. "Check this out."
He moved the skull he held in his hand further from the torches' flame and it sputtered out plunging the room into complete blackness. He then moved it back toward the torch and it leapt to life again.

 "Incredible," she breathed. "Gene this is the holy grail of pre-Incan beliefs."

 "And WE are the ones who’ve uncovered it!" Gene said excitedly with giddiness. "This is absolutely amazing."

"Apparently these pre Incans,” Gene added reverently, “were more advanced than anyone has ever imagined."

"You may be more right than you know Gene." she bent over and picked
up an object that was tucked behind one of the remaining skulls hiding in shadow. She blew a layer of dust an inch thick off the object.

"What the Hell’s that?" he gasped.

In her hand Dr. Sullivan held a very peculiar object having a metal casing with a flat crystal mounted on one side resembling a display screen about two inches square.. It fit in the hand much like a small sleek cell phone having three crystal buttons set just below the screen. She turned it over in her hands and noticed the metal was stained with rusty blood.

 

Want more? Check out the Morian Trilogy available on iTunes, Amazon, BarnesandNoble and Lulu.

Brief Encounter

Today is a teaser for my own trilogy of Sci Fi thrillers, The Morian Trilogy. I hope you folks out there enjoy.

The Professor fought exhaustion as he leaned over the specimen that lay splayed out upon his examining table inside the main lab of the Department of Anthology at the University of Arizona. He had spent the entire evening exhuming the undamaged part of the brain and intently studying it’s tissue, now he was anxious to discover more as he trained his attention upon the stomach.   A pungent smell emanated from the creature’s abdominal cavity as the man carefully cut away thick hide and layers of skin to expose the inner organs. His excitement staved off any nausea as he used a probe to inventory the beast’s insides.

“Fasinating,” he breathed through his surgical mask with eyes wide behind the lenses of his spectacles.

“Dr. Radford,” his young dark-haired intern’s voice echoed around him as she spoke into the intercom on the other side of the tempered laboratory glass. “There are two gentlemen here to see you.”

“Tell them I’m extremely busy and can’t be bothered,” he blurted irately without taking his focus from the cadaver.

The sudden opening of the door made him turn as two impeccably dressed men barged into the room without having scrubbed or donning masks.

“You can’t come in here!” Radford shouted standing abruptly sending his metal chair scraping across the tiled floor. “This is a sterile examining room! Just who in the hell are you?!”

“I am Agent Valdstar from the United States government,” the lead man said flashing a smile and a badge. He ordered over his shoulder, “Mr. Daemlind, will you please take Dr. Radford’s assistant outside.”

The second man nodded and grabbed the young lady forcefully by the elbow wheeling her around exiting the room.

“So, my dear Professor,” the agent said still smiling approaching the table and scanning the beast, “El Vampiro de Moca, captured at last. Tell me, what have you discovered about the Chupacabra so far?”

“I-I j-just finished” the college professor stumbled, “finished studying the b-brain. I b-believe the specimen is part h-human.”

“Really?” the agent wheeled around still smiling setting the professor at unease. “What made you draw that conclusion?”

“I was just about to send a sample to the DNA lab,” Radford stopped in midsentence and turned asking skeptically through squinted eyes. “Just what department of the government are you with?”

Fear gripped Dr. Radford’s heart as the smile before him broadened and two fanged teeth grew on its fringes.

“The Department of Unexplained Phenomenon,” was the response. With lightning speed the agent lunged forward planting two needle sharp teeth deeply into the professor’s neck and hungrily gulping the man’s blood until the spectacled eyes glazed over in death. He then unceremoniously threw the dead body to the ground as he swooned within the moment of euphoria that followed every feeding.

Popping back into the room the other suited man wiped blood from his chin with an expensive silk handkerchief while staring at the body on the table.

“This one was one of your offspring, was it not?”

“One of my first attempts,” agent Valdstar nodded, “at mating with the humans.”

“These animals are becoming too cleaver,” Daemlind responded pensively. “We need to be more careful or they could disrupt our plans.”

“Humanity is too unintelligent to grasp what is on the horizon,” the first agent responded indignantly. “They are but mere sheep put here by the Universe for us to herd.”


All three volumes of the Morian Trilogy are available on Lulu.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Amazon.com and iTunes. For links visit: www.darksideplanetpress.com

 

 

 

 

 

Clash of Class

The year is 2154 and life for the residents on an impoverished and over-populated planet Earth is tough. Deplorable slum-like conditions have bred disease, pollution and misery diminishing the value of life of the race of humanity on the surface. There are two classes of what is left . The lucky few of the higher class have established an antiseptic utopian society on a massive orbiting space station that can been seen from the urbanized ghettos on the planet far below. Called Elysium it has become a symbol of social unrest for those who have nothing... and nothing left to lose.

While disease and unrest run rampant on Earth the citizens of Elysium live in excessive wealth and health. All disease has been cleansed for every home upon the orbiting station possesses a healing chamber. The impoverished peoples on the planet risk everything to escape the gritty life to immigrate to the station. Secretary Delacourt (Jodie Foster), a government official, will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve the luxurious lifestyle of the citizens of Elysium. She will also stop at nothing to take over the governorship of the high class society as she plots against the powers that be.

Matt Damon plays a reformed deviant, Max, striving to survive the harsh conditions in the ruined urbanized overpopulated slums of Los Angeles. He finds himself backed into a corner after an industrial accident exposes him to a lethal dose of radiation and he is given only five days to live. His only hope of survival is to get to one of the Med Bays upon Elysium and is unknowingly pulled into Delacourt's take over plot. The Secretary sends her henchman Kruger (Sharlto Copley) to stop Max.

Fast paced action and excellent special effects make this movie a pretty fun ride. Copley plays his role as Kruger ruthlessly and becomes one of the more memorable bad guys in recent Science Fiction film history. I found it a bit unsettling to see Jodie Foster in the role of villain, because I have pulled for her as a character for good on so many occasions, but she pulled it off superbly. Matt Damon has always been a favorite (I picture him as my main character Dr. Brandon Jordan in the Morian Trilogy).

Sadly though, as the movie came to fruition, I found it falling a bit short of being great. While the special effects and fast pace make it worth the view, the plot fails in several areas. There is not enough perspective given on life of the actual residents of Elysium. It is as if director Neill Blomkamp
 in World War Z fashion rushed the ending of the movie (see earlier post World War Z ip). Though the movie is worth seeing once for its special effects and social commentary it falls well short of BlomKamps break-through Sci Fi epic District 9. 

I give this movie 3 1/2 stars

Fast Paced Drama

ALMOST HUMAN is a high-tech, high-stakes action drama set 35 years in the future. The uncontrollable evolution of science and technology has caused crime rates to rise an astounding 400%. To combat this, the overwhelmed police force has implemented a new policy: every human police officer is paired up with a lifelike combat-model android.

Last week I tuned into the pilot episode mainly because I was curious. What drove me was the fact that Karl Urban portrays the main role of the troubled police officer John Kennex. I am a huge trekkie and I loved this actor's portrayal of Dr. Leonard McCoy in the latest generation of the series. He brings every bit of the same witty, sarcastic style to this new character. I was immediately hooked. Now, a week and six episodes later, I am completely caught up.


Kennex has a deep seeded hatred for androids because two years previous in the story's timeline he and his partner were abandoned by one of these mechanized police officers resulting in the death of his comrade and the loss on his own leg.  He awakes several months later abandoned by his girlfriend and sporting a prosthetic leg.

Urban's character is then recalled to the force by Captain Sandra Maldonado (Lili Taylor), and partnered with a standard-issue MX-43 android, which he promptly throws from his squad car while traveling the freeway. He is assigned a replacement android, an older DRN model originally destined for the scrap heap. Created to be as close to human as possible, the DRN androids have trouble dealing with some emotional responses, which was the reason they were replaced . Kennex's unit, known as Dorian (Michael Ealy), immediately proves himself unique, with a clear dislike of being referred to as a "synthetic".

The formula of this series has been tried over and over throughout television history, but what sets this futuristic cop drama apart from its predecessors is the report between Early and Urban's characters. Think Riggs and Murtaugh from the Lethal Weapon franchise. The pairing of these troubled characters is a perfect fit and the relationship forged within the partnership is witty and delightfully entertaining. Throw in a haunting soundtrack reminiscent of the movie Blade Runner and a plot incorporating non-stop action and superb special effects and you have a captivating television series hit. I have truly become a fan of this show. I give it 4 1/2 stars.

ALMOST HUMAN airs on FOX Monday nights at 8:00PM Eastern

Bane of Texting

You see it everywhere you go in this modern day society, whether in traffic or at your local
restaurant: people with their fingers and noses stuck in a phone. Many herald it as a benefit of the tech revolution. But I consider it to be a problem that is eroding our souls and sapping our humanity.
Is this comment too extreme? Consider this:

This younger generation is losing their handle on the language. A school teacher friend mentioned that more than half of her class used text vernacular in papers for their English final exam. These are high school age kids who are losing the ability to spell from repeated exercise in abbreviating and shortcuts. Those who grew up before cell phones know there are no shortcuts in life. What happens when it is time for these kids to fill out an application for employment or to apply for a home or car loan?
California State University at Fresno did a study at their college last year citing that 50% of their students were texting during class. As a result these individuals were not absorbing class material. Is this every day act causing the dumbing-down of our nation?
Without face to face contact people tend to comment without inhibition due to lack of physical ramifications of this impersonal medium. The result is a major breakdown of social skills among teens and young adults.  It is distracting giving the illusion of being socially at two places at one time.  In reality one is at neither.
The act of texting alone is habitual enough, add to it the task of driving and you have a dangerous combination. We have all seen the commercial where the texting driver turns her car into a deadly weapon. Driving is the most important part of our daily routine that demands our most focused attention. According to AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, distracted driving contributes to 8,000 car accidents a day in America.
It may seem like a trivial aspect of our everyday lives but it poses a menace despite its non-threatening I. The dumbing-down, traffic hazard or social outcast generator of our humanity, it definitely is one of the elements of this modern society that is eroding the greatness of our nation. Hyperbole? Maybe. But I think 8,000 car accidents a day speaks for itself.

Thanks!

I am very thankful (and humbled) for all of you out there who voted for my book covers in the AuthorsDB Book Cover Contest earlier this year. Because of you folks all three of my books of the Morian Trilogy made the top twelve and the Semi Finals of the contest. Thank you.

Voting re opens Nov 23rd and runs through December 15th. You do not have to be a member of the site to vote AND you can cast one vote per day within the running dates of the contest. Please go by and rate one of my covers. Thanks again.

Votes can be cast at:

http://authorsdb.com/books/2013-book-cover-semi-finalists/science-fiction-

A Simple Blueprint

I regret that I have not had the time as of late to devote to this blog. I plan on setting aside a scheduled time during my day off to rededicate myself to this endeavor. Today I depart from movie reviews and top five lists to impart a few things I have learned along the long arduous road of the publishing process.

My name may not be synonymous with "best seller" or "successful full time author" but I remain hopeful this shall come to fruition in some near future. My confidence is fueled by some of the reviews I have received within the last couple of years since my Morian Trilogy has been released. I discount any comments provided by those I am acquainted with. Though they are appreciated, I find  these individuals tend to give lip service and convey what they think I want to hear.

The commentary I value most are those who have never met me nor have heard my name before taking a chance on purchasing and reading my work. I find these testimonies untainted by biases and most enlightening.  Here is an anonymous entry on Barnes and Noble about book one of the Morian Trilogy:

"Whether you are an Isaac Asimov or L. Ron Hubbard fan, MoriaVaratu by David Lee Jones is destined to be the next Classic Novel in the SciFi gendre. Check out this compelling and enthralling story by South Carolina author David Lee Jones."

Here is one from Amazon.com from Glenn Giznad"

"Have you ever read a book and the action plays like a movie inside your head as you proceed? That is the way this book reads. Not only do you become personally connected with the characters (both human and alien), but the twists and turns of the storyline will keep you from wanting to put the book down. There are so many variables in this Martian/human saga that you just can't wait to discover what happens next. I highly recommend reading the first book in this trilogy, Moriavaratu, and once you become hooked, you will not want to stop once you get to this one. The third and final chapter in this epic story is on its way and it can't get here anytime too soon for those who are endeared to this chronicle."

I will refrain from any more propaganda, but more reviews of my work can be found on Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, iTunes and Lulu.com. If interested all one has to do is search David Lee Jones on these sites.

In closing I would give aspiring writers the following advice:
1. Never give up, never surrender! Thanks Galaxy Quest. The publishing process is saturated with rejection. The most important thing to remember... there is someone out there who will eventually dig what you are shoveling. You just have to have the determination and constitution to keep shoveling.

2. Goose the reader every page! I make every chapter a mini cliff hanger so the reader can't stop at just one page or a single chapter.

3. Reread everything! I like to give it a week and revisit my work. Reason is, especially when the creative juices begin to pour, your dictation of thought may outpace your fingers. I find when I come back to a page there are missing words and screwed up concepts I need to revise to make any sense of my dialogue.

4. Screenplay it! Convey every page as if it were a scene in a movie. Use plenty of dialogue to move the story along. Readers won't deal with bland for long, keep them on their toes with plenty of heart pounding action and twists and turns within your plot.

5. Social Beat it to death! Use any type of media you can think of to get your name out there. I have close to 5,000 likes on my authors page on Facebook. I try to tweet any spare time I have and LinkedIn is not a bad place to network either. Sometimes I feel I am a broken record, but it does tend to get people talking about ya.

I got my start on My Writers Circle. Here you can find plenty of like minded individuals with tons of great advice. Also, another great resource is AuthorsDB. This site is a worthy endeavor to give aspiring writers a vehicle to promote their work.

In closing I will say, this is just a blueprint on how I got published and how I got my name out there. It may not work for everyone, but it is a place to start. And, I am just getting started. If this gives you a head start, then I am glad I could help. If not... there are plenty of resources out there to point you in a direction. Whether its the right direction... just be careful... there are a lot of sharks in the water.

Thanks for stopping by...

Angels of the Oasis

Tonight's Blog is a revisit to the past (6/11/13)

As I sit behind my laptop this evening contemplating a new blog post, I have been victimized. Life has encroached upon my muse and I find myself being pulled away from task to go study for a pass/fail week of training for AT&T. Alas, there is no fun movie quote games or Fav Five lists this evening.

But this is the struggle for the starving self-published author of the modern age whose budget for life's demands leaves little left over to push our wares. The grind constantly robs from promotion time and funds. But, do not lose faith my weather beaten and trodden down brethren of the pen, there are Angels amongst the chaos of the social matrix network.

Upon wading into the tidal pools of twitterland last week I stumbled upon an Oasis in the form of a site apply named "Authorsdb.com." These folks have made it their mission to give the worthy writer a vehicle to promote our hard work.

The following is quoted from their site:
"Here at AUTHORSdB we've formed the only database of authors, including social media, book listings and much more, for today's mind-field of thousands of aspiring and established writers.  We are a dedicated website that helps authors for free.  Why free? We have a few Angels who simply want to see authors flourish.  Readers no longer have to google from several different websites to find out more about a particular author – it’s all here."

So, fellow manipulators of the manuscript, waste no more time trudging through the barren wastelands of the social sites of twitter and facebook and go submit your listings to a social site of your own peers. I guarantee the effort will earn much more mileage on AdB than on the previous before mentioned entities.

And, while you're there, be sure to rate the book cover images of David Lee Jones under the Science Fiction category within the AdB Book Cover Contest.

Modern Era Fortune Tellers

Today is a revisit to a post from May 9th.

When growing up I lost myself in the great works of the Science Fiction masters. Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C Clark and H.G. Wells were some of my favorites. I would thrust the limits of alertness of my ravenous adolescent mind into the wee hours of every summer morning devouring the futuristic imagery these masters painted upon the canvas of my imagination.


I remember how excited I became when I read in Bradbury’s Farenheit 451, “And in her ears the little Seashells, the thimble radios tamped tight, and an electronic ocean of sound, of music and talk and music and talk coming in, coming in on the shore of her unsleeping mind.” As the words played across the page before my weary and blurry eyes my brain pictured a Walkman, the same make and model of the one that lay beside me, as I read by dim night table lamplight. My tired brain did not make the connection until much later that this man had predicted the invention of my little hand held radio in 1953 over a quarter of a century before the first model was ever assembled. Within the same work Bradbury envisioned the death of newspapers and the ubiquitous presence of television screens everywhere, all of which is taking place in our modern day society.

That was the night my twelve year old mind formed the epiphany; Science Fiction writers are the fortune tellers of our age. I read Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon the summer after and I was captivated at the precise predictions he made about the first Apollo Moon Mission over a century before the first rocket launched from Cape Canaveral. This Science Fiction prophet predicted the United States would launch a ship made of mostly aluminum from the Florida Peninsula carrying three spacemen into orbit. This book was published in 1865. He correctly envisioned the feeling of weightlessness these men would feel after escaping our planets gravity. He then went on to predict their capsule splashed down into the Pacific Ocean where it was recovered by a U.S. Navy vessel. Kinda eerie is it not?

In 1914 H.G. Well's  book Set the World on Fire accurately prophesized nuclear weapons. The author knew a little about radioactive decay but had no idea man would figure out how to blow it all up at once. In this novel he actually coined the term "atomic bomb" decades before the first uranium bomb was tested. He also imagined the aftermath of a detonation in this following passage: "In the map of nearly every country of the world three or four or more red circles, a score of miles in diameter, mark the position of the dying atomic bombs and the death areas that men have been forced to abandon around them. Within these areas perished museums, cathedrals, palaces, libraries, galleries of masterpieces and a vast accumulation of human achievement, whose charred remains lie buried, a legacy of curious material that only future generations may hope to examine."

We all know the modern notion of Star Trek predicting the cellular phone. Pretty impressive yes, but, did you know that Mark Twain predicted the internet in 1898? His Adventures of Huck Fin and Tom Sawyer over-shadowed his dabbling in Science Fiction, but, in a short story titled From the London Times of 1904 Twain wrote about a device he called a Telelectrosope, “…the daily doings of the globe made visible to everybody, and audibly discussable too, by witnesses separated by any number of leagues." Another passage within the same short story read, “Day by day, and night by night, he called up one corner of the globe after another, and looked upon its life, and studied its strange sights, and spoke with its people…” Sounds a lot like social networking to this modern day ear.



In my own Science Fiction Trilogy (got my own plug in), The Morian Trilogy, I predict in 300 years in the future that human beings will have an INPUT (Individual Personal Uplink Terminal) implanted behind their left eye. It is "tuned in" to their brain wave frequency and gives them access to a Planetary Database called Mother Earth. The device projects an image screen before his or hers eyes only visible to the user. In this future world we use this interface for everything; watching movies, calling a friend, checking the news.

What do y’all think? These are just a few examples from my childhood reading and my own writings. I would love to hear of any predictions you folks have encountered over the years of reading Science Fiction.

Trek-Epic

As an ardent and fanatical Trekkie I should be ashamed that it took me so long to take in Star Trek Into Darkness. It had what every recent (not including this version’s original effort) ST movies have lacked since Wrath of Khan. For those of you who have seen it I would say, “how fitting.” For those of you who haven’t, whether Trekkie or not, what the hell are you waiting for? Go on, rent it. Are you still reading this, why aren’t you working on the opening scene yet?

This is not your grandfather’s Trek movie. It has, as did the first volume of this reboot, a more updated, modern, sleek look and feel to it. It was the best balance of action and plot I have seen in a ST movie in a long time. The latest ST films have done for the franchise what Christian Bale has accomplished with the Batman movies. Revitalized and reaffirmed the series in today’s cultural society.

Now, from some of the reviews I have perused online I see a lot of the fanatical traditionalists have ripped this movie. I have seen mentioned it is not cerebral enough over and over. I would offer in today’s more fast paced prefabbed world this is the perfect validation and vindication the ST franchise needs. My fiancée is the perfect personification of this in that she is not a Trekkie in the least, but she sat glued to the screen for the two plus hours this film ran. I looked over and saw the same Walking Dead or Homeland look in her eye. She was hooked. As the move ended all she could say was, “I liked that….a lot.”

We find Captain Kirk and crew embroiled in conspiracy upon arrival back on Earth after their initial voyage as the new crew of the Enterprise. Kirk’s rebellious nature has gotten him in trouble with Star Fleet and the powers that be have taken his command. A terrorist from within the organization sets in motion a plan to destroy Starfleet, and, because of the out of the box thinking we are used to from

Kirk, he finds himself back in the captain’s chair and charged with hunting the traitor terrorist down in the heart of a potential enemy’s territory. The intrigue build’s as more plot twists are revealed upon the prisoner’s capture.


In this author’s humble opinion this Trek movie has it all: a fast paced plot that never sags while staying true to the nature of all our hero’s personalities. The familiar endearing chemistry that was set back in the 1960's exists superbly with these new actors within these old roles. There are also several homage moments to satiate the appetite of the traditionalists. My favorite was the radiation compartment scene, but, since I am recommending this picture, this is the only spoiler I shall mention. I give Star Trek Into Darkness 4 ½ out of 5 stars.

Chronological Chaos

Today is a revisit to a thread posted on 5/14/13


Upon talking about yesterday’s blog with a co-worker earlier today the discussion took the inevitable turn all conversations about time travel do.

“I would go back to the late 1930’s,” he said proudly oblivious, “and take out Hitler before World War 2 started.”

“I would jump to tomorrow night,” another added, “and find out the winning numbers to the Powerball drawing. Then I would come back and buy a ticket.”

Which one of these scenarios is the most nobel? Before you answer that question, think on it.

Going back into the past and averting WW II is a dignified cause indeed, but, when you follow the chain of events, what would be the consequences? At the time the war broke out the US refrained from joining the confrontation for quite some time. As a nation we could not endure such a strain on a weak economy. We quickly came to the aid of the English when Germany began bombing London, but we did not gear up for battle until the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December, 7th, 1941. The next day the United States declared war on Japan. It was only three days later did we declare war on Germany.

Think about that a moment. At that time Japan had a superior navy, in numbers and skill, to any other in the world. Germany was a military juggernaut with massive numbers of tanks and men. America, spurred by great feelings of nationalism, could no longer stay out of the World War. Everyone from youngsters to famous people like Elvis Presley, were signing up for the war effort. Everyone was buying up war bonds to support the cause. The nation’s economic machine switched into high gear and within a year and a half the factories across the States were churning out ships, tanks and planes unlike any industrial nation had done before in the history of the world. As one Japanese Admiral put it, “we have awakened a sleeping giant.”

We all know the results from there. Without World War 2 the United States would have never become a superpower. Not only a superpower, but we would have never gone as far into space as we have. Why do I say this? Follow the line of reasoning. After the war the US brought over Nazi Scientists in Operation Overcast to begin engineering military and scientific rocket systems. At the head of the project was Wernher von Braun, the German Scientist who developed the V-2 rocket that killed so many allies and civilians within the early part of WW2. As a result the Apollo rocket system was born out of the ashes that war.

Scientists called this the butterfly effect.  “In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions, where a small change at one place in a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences to a later state. The name of the effect, coined by Edward Lorenz, is derived from the theoretical example of a hurricane's formation being contingent on whether or not a distant butterfly had flapped its wings several weeks before. The death of Hitler and the nonexistence of the world conflict would have changed the course the United States was put upon. Would the nation be the post war country it became? How would the political and economic landscape have been affected?

The thing is, and everyone of the younger generation of our society should learn from this, every action has a consequence. Today’s youth does not grasp this concept because they live in a world removed from the physicality those of us older grew up with. When we communicated, we were face to face (or ear to ear). We could not post thoughts in virtual space and reach the audience these folks do today. Not having true physical proximity to our audience injects certain bravado into some people’s attitude and the consequences become a mere oversight after all is posted and published.

I digress…

Let us revisit the co-worker who wanted to win the lottery by finding out the numbers beforehand using our Time Machine. Although his intentions seem much less scrupulous than the murderous employee who wanted to off Hitler, this man wanted to go forward in time leaving set history untainted. The consequences of this suddenly wealthy man’s trip would be far less devastating to our nation. The best part of the whole scenario is the fact that I am this coworkers newest friend.

World War Z ip!

Last night, with a Saturday night cool front moving in, and the air heavy with moisture, me and Robin felt like forgoing hitting the town and decided to stay in and watch a movie. As rain began hitting the roof we decided on the perfect film for a cool rainy weekend night. A Zombie flick.

In World War Z Brad Pitt plays a former UN spy/investigator who has to flit across the globe in a race against the clock to find the origin of a pandemic that threatens to transform the entire race into extremely dexterous and ravenous zombies. As far as the plot goes there is nothing here that hasn't been tried over and over again throughout cinematic horror. With that being said most of these movies did not have Brad Pitt in the leading role. His believable and strong performance as Gerry Lane holds the film together as he fights to keep his family safe and find a solution to save the world from a highly aggressive zombie virus.

Action packed sequences propel the story forward at break neck dizzying speed from the opening moments of this film. It's high pace immediately puts viewers on edge AND on the edge of their seats. It's like an intense roller coaster that thrills with all the expected loops and drops infusing the body with heart pounding adrenaline....then...suddenly...it's over. Like a suicidal lemming the movie suddenly commits Hairy Carrey with a weak epilogue and plummets itself into oblivion over the side of a huge pile of dead zombies. I liken it to driving 90 miles and hour and instantly hitting an ancient deep rooted oak tree. To be fair there are clues within the story that indicate the final edit of the movie was missing a few scenes that may have fleshed out the end, but, since I am recommending this film I will
refrain from pointing them out and mentioning any spoilers.

As a science fiction/horror author I would definitely deem this movie worth watching. It is like Zombie lite, it has all the flavor the full fledged version does, but without all the calories. In conclusion I thought the movie was a lot of fun, but after an expensive dinner and a night of dancing, don't expect being invited up for a night cap.

I give this movie 3 1/2 stars out of five.  Ah hell, throw in a quarter of a star for Brad Pitts great effort. Final assessment: World War Z 3 3/4 stars.

FAV FIVE Science Fiction VILLAINS

Because I feel a bit uninspired today's thread is a repost of one of the more popular subjects from May 20th, 2013. I hope you folks enjoy.

What are your TOP FIVE Science Fiction VILLAINS of all time?

I will get the ball rolling with my FAV FIVE list of bad boys.

5. The Daleks: When I was a pre-teen cable was not yet invented and a rag-tag pair of “rabbit ears”
provided our boat anchor of a Zennith console television with four channels. I remember one boring Sunday morning I found the network programming completely tiring for my twelve year old attention span. The fourth channel we received on our tube was PBS. There I saw this curly haired TIME LORD with an immesively long scarf battling these ALIEN ROBOTS with these terrifying spine chilling metallic voices. “EXTERMINATE!!” I was immediately hooked and have been a
DR. WHO fan ever since.

4. ARIIA: The Department of Defense’s intelligent gathering supercomputer in EAGLE EYE makes my list for a more modern-day option. Think about it, being controlled by a calculating machine contemplating the murder of the President’s entire cabinet without a shred of human feeling? Also, her power to manipulate utilizes every grid within our modern day society from traffic cams and signals, to automated cargo cranes… you are never out of her reach. That is a scary concept and makes her number four on my list of best Science Fiction Villains.

3. Victor Kruger: The movie HIGHLANDER is, in my opinion, one of the best films ever made. Its mysterious plot line was brilliant and the use of flashbacks influenced my own writing style in my latest works within The Morian Trilogy. But, the most amazing part of the movie was its extraordinarily wicked protagonist Victor Kruger. Every statement uttered by this bad guy dripped with conceit and contempt. I will never forget the scene within the church when he walked in with the safety pins adorning his neck scar. He was the devil himself in that sacred place. He made such an impact on WES CRAVEN that he named his villain in NIGHTMARE ON ELMSTREET after the HIGHLANDER villain.

2. HAL 9000: Heuristic Algorithmic in Authur C. Clarke's 2001 Space Oddessey. This computer started out innocent enough, but, by the end of the film he has to be one of the creepiest Science Fiction villains ever. That unemotional mechanized voice shot an icepick into the soul much the same way the DALEKS do. Also, that one red blaring eye was always staring and had the creepy effect of forcing the paranoia upon the screen to jump into the hearts of the audience in the darkened theater.

1. Emperor Palpatine: When you explore the scope of villains the Emperor stands out for me. His visage was ominous within my teenage mind when I first saw him in the shimmery hologram as Darth Vader kneeled before him. I believe that is why Vader fails to make my list, because, as menacing as he was at times, his leash was always held by Palpatine. Also, in the end, Darth Vader turned because he still had good in him. The Emperor was nothing but pure scheming, backstabbing and unadulterated evil.



What are your FAV FIVE villains of all time in Science Fiction?

 

Dodging Doldrums

Last night after my beloved college football team lost their game me and the fiancée needed something to pull us out of the doldrums. We surfed the on demand channel and settled upon Joseph Kosinski's latest Science Fiction effort Oblivion (2013).

The year is 2077. Earth has been made uninhabitable after the planet was invaded by an alien race known as the Scavs sixty years previous. The population has been moved off planet to Saturn's moon Titan and giant machines have been tasked with sucking up Earth's ocean waters to transfer to the outer solar system and aid in terra-forming Saturn’s largest moon's atmosphere. Or, so we are made to believe…

Tom Cruise plays drone repairman Jack Harper whose job is to maintain the robotic fleet of protective sentries. He is watched over by his companion and eye in the sky Victoria who keeps Jack level headed and on task. Cruise's character is haunted by the memory of woman who, one day upon a mission in what's left of New York City, literally crash lands back into his life. From there the story plot twists and turns revealing the drone repairman's life is a well manufactured lie.

This is all I will reveal about this story driven movie plot. This film is full of breath taking futuristic technology and stunning scenery from Jack Harpers platform domicile high in Earth’s atmosphere to the ultra modern dragon fly helicopter he zips around the barren apocalyptic landscape within. Breath taking vistas were accompanied by synthesized arrangements that were reminiscent of Moon and Tron: Legacy. Science Fiction fans will love these aspects of the film. But, that being said, that is all the positive comments I can come up.

Strong plot could not make up for boring delivery. Even the insertion of the character Beech played by the indomitable Morgan Freeman could not salvage the effort. The two hour running time desperately needed more action to compel the plot. Instead the director relied on story telling which lent a lethargic grind to the movie’s pace. The bottom line is that the movie was visually stunning and worth watching, but I would not highly recommend this one to be at the top on a watch list. I found it really kind of forgettable.  I give this one Three Stars.

 

Dead Heads

Last weekend, when I should have been utilizing creative juices to spin a yarn or two, I found myself (re)watching season two of The Walking Dead. I have already watched each episode seven times over, but, there I was, glued to the flat screen with drool dripping from the corner of my mouth. As I looked over to my fiancée, she too had a transfixed glassy stare engaged with the electric light pouring from our back porch monitor.

This Post Apocalyptic world AMC has infiltrated my life with has parked itself within the lobe of my brain so much so that I find myself questioning everyday challenges with queries such as, "how would Rick handle this?" or, "how would Daryl kill this *sshlole?"

What makes this series so infectious?

It is not the Dead as the title would suggest, but the Living. The undead are just a "condition" of this dark world. Us "Dead Heads" are drawn to the well rounded rich character driven storyline as our heroes and heroines fight to survive and strive in a world gone to hell. What is so appealing is that these are everyday people, just like ourselves, who have been forged with the fires of this hazardous world into survivors. It romantically flirts with our own desire to become more than what we are.

The rules of the world have changed and keeping sheltered from the zombies becomes secondary. The primal side of our race emerges making other living individuals far more dangerous than the dead. We find ourselves thrust into this toxic world fighting alongside "the good guys/gals" exhilarating in their victories and mourning their losses. I admit I cried the first time when the old man who personified the moralistic magnet of our group of survivors was killed. Our futuristic world darkened even further on that day.

Not only do Dead Heads find themselves desiring certain characters to be on their Post Apocalyptic team of survivors, but we fall in love with hating the blackness of the ugly side of humanity within this dismal future. The villains really make this series what it is. They tantalizes our dark nature as we find ourselves passionately hating these protagonists madly anticipating how they will push the envelope of evilness next. Love to hate. I adore that three world phrase as I anticipate what our main antagonists will do next.

Those of you who are not with us may mistake a Dead Head for the embodiment of this series for season four of The Walking Dead is just around the corner. We will be the individuals shuffling through our boring mundane modern lives with a glazed over glare on our faces. You may mistake us for Zombies ourselves.

Best Science Fiction Monologue

Repost from 5/17/13

 

In my forty-five years of life I've seen a lot of Science Fiction movies. From Armageddon to Zombieland there have been a lot of memorable scenes that stick out in my mind. For instance, I will never forget the cargo bay scene in Aliens when Sigourney Weaver's character Ripley suits up in the Cargo-loader and fights the Queen Egg-layer. Very cool. Or, when the space marines stumble onto what is left of the original colonists. Terrifyingly tingling.

Another great scene is the trench warfare in The Empire Strikes Back harkening back to the first World War in a galaxy not so far far away here on Earth. Speaking of trences, in the first Star Wars movie the Xwing attack on the Death Star. Unforgettable. I remember sitting on the edge of my theater chair giddily drinking in every moment within that battle sequence.

The Predator was another great movie. The first time we see the red eyes flash through the murky blurriness of the alien camouflage suit. Delightfully eerie. Then seeing the creature rip out the spine from the dead soldier’s body. Unsettlingly disturbing.

I also will never forget the day I went and saw John Carpenter’s version of The Thing. That movie freaked me out so bad I didn’t sleep well for over a week. When the disembodied head sprouted legs and crawled out of the room I nearly peed my pants. This movie created a paranoia that rivaled the movie Alien from three years before.

It would take days to relive all these great moments in a limitless number of wonderful films. As I thought back over the years I also recalled all of the great monologues contained within these Science Fiction movies. There was the unforgettable Khan in the second Star Trek motion picture with his “buried alive” speech that prompted Captain Kirk’s unforgettable response: “KKKHHAAAAAANNNN!”

Additionally, the opening monologue in the 2005 remake of H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds  was incredible. It was brilliantly articulated by the phenomenal voice talents of Morgan Freeman. I had chills from that speech.

Looking back over the years there have been countless of these dialogue driven moments in numerous movies, but one sticks out in my mind above them all. Here it is in all of its poetic glory, and we as a species should take note of it’s message. Enjoy.

"I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species. I've realized that you are not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment. But you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You are a plague. And we are... the cure."
 -Agent Smith in The Matrix

Why not share some of your favorite scenes or monologues in Science Fiction over the years?

James Kirk Recommends

JAMES KIRK RECOMMENDS

Science Fiction Classics Worth Checking Out

 

THE BLACK HOLE (1979) ««½

Maximilian Schell, Anthony Perkins, Ernest Borgnine.

The age of the blockbuster began in the mid-1970s. With the success of Jaws, studios began working on material that would bring in the big bucks. By 1979, 20^th Century Fox had Star Wars, Paramount had Star Trek and Disney had The Black Hole.

A small crew of space explorers come upon a massive black hole in space. At the event horizon they discover a ghost ship, the Cygnus, lost twenty years before. They board her only to find that she is alive and well, thank you, and commanded by a madman who intends to take the Cygnus into the black hole.

Disney’s 1979 foray into the world of big budget special effects sci-fi falls pretty flat overall, and it’s a shame.  Much work was put into production design, and the miniatures created for the project were astounding. The design of the space ship Cygnus was innovative and, frankly beautiful. But a film cannot live by special effects alone.

The script suffers from too many clichés and tries too hard to be something it’s not. While the plot is intriguing and imaginative, its execution is poorly realized. A smart rewrite would have made a world of difference. As written, The Black Hole tries to play to both adults and kids and can’t seem to find a happy medium.

The cast, which includes Maximilian Schell, Anthony Perkins, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Forster and Yvette Mimieux, capably move the plot forward. Perkins actually gives an arresting performance despite the fact that he has little to do. Rounding out the cast are Slim Pickens and Roddy McDowell, both uncredited as the voices of two robots. Sadly, the direction given this most capable cast is routine and uninspired.

Schell is entrancing at times as the crazed Cygnus captain Hans Reinhardt. He plays the over the top role with some relish, but some of his lines are just plain ridiculous. Drama, dark thriller, space opera, campy rocket ride—the script lacks a focus and an identity that would have benefitted the cast.

With a weak script and uninspired direction, The Black Hole must rely on its special effects to carry the weight of the film. What we have is, again, another mixed bag. The design of the space ship Cygnus is stunning and the model is beautifully photographed, but its integration with animated elements (like the glass tunnel through which a personnel transport sled speeds) falls short of spectacular.

There are robots in the movie, too. Lots of them. The head robot, Maximilian, projects a suspicious and sinister air, and remains the most menacing aspect of the film. Maximilian’s robot soldiers, however, are clumsy and unconvincing. The two talking robots, Vincent and Bob, look as if they were designed for an entirely different movie. While Maximilian and his minions aspire to a menacing realism, Bob and Vincent look like two refugees from Toon Town. They just don’t fit.

But there are too many highs to dismiss this film entirely. The space scenes are among the most beautiful in any science fiction film, with a star field a tapestry of texture of blues and black. The film aspires to an elegance seldom found in science fiction, and achieves it to some degree. And Anthony Perkins has one of the most gruesome and memorable death scenes on film, despite the fact that there is visible no blood or gore.

Spooky Tale From Richard D. Laudenslager

The Legend of Julia Legare

Chances are unless you are a paranormal enthusiast, or resident of Edisto Island, South Carolina, you have never heard of Julia Legare. Hers is a tragic story, one repeated many times throughout human history while the practice of medicine was still in its infancy.

In 1852, as a young woman in her teens, Julia Legare, was visiting family on Edisto Island and became very ill, eventually slipping into a coma. After a while she was pronounced dead by the family physician. The Legare family, being wealthy plantation owners, entombed Julia in the family mausoleum at Edisto Presbyterian Church.

This being before embalming and other means of preserving dead bodies had been developed meant that most people were buried immediately after death. And so it was that Julia’s body was laid amongst the remains of several decaying relatives in the family mausoleum, and the door resealed.

It would be more than a decade before the crypt was opened once more. Some say to lay to rest Julia’s younger brother who had died in battle fighting for the Confederacy, but none the less to add another Legare to the family tomb.

As the heavy marble door was unlocked and slid open the clattering of bones could be heard tumbling behind the cold stone slab as it traveled inward. In the tomb, now filled with the light of day, the mourners were horrified to see their dead relative’s bones strewn about the mausoleum floor. Even more horrifying was the decaying remains of Julia Legare directly behind the door.

She had evidently awakened from a deep comatose state in the pitch black tomb lying atop the bones of her long dead relatives. Undoubtedly confused and disorientated she had at some point figured out what was happening and tried to escape, as was evidenced by the dried blood caked gouges her fingernails had left on the back of the cold heavy marble slab door.

The realization was that Julia Legare had fallen victim to the limits of medical science and not passed away peacefully surrounded by her loving family. Instead, she had died alone, afraid, and in total darkness breathing in the stench of her long deceased relatives.

Presumably the scattered remains were gathered along with Julia and again sealed away with whomever they were laying to rest that day.

However, a short time thereafter, visiting family still reeling from the recent discovery were visiting the tomb and noticed the mausoleum door was ajar. Assuming it had not been locked properly to begin with the door was again sealed. But that door would never again remain closed for very long. Week after week, year after the year, the door would be found open without explanation. Many attempts were made to make certain the door remained shut, including chaining and pad locking, which eventually resulted in an open door with broken chains and locks scattered about.

Then, some 50 years ago, convinced there was a solution, a heavy steel door that could only be opened with use of industrial machinery was put in place. Shortly thereafter this door was not only opened, but found completely unhinged lying face down in front of the crypt.

After that, no attempts were made to close off the entrance to the crypt, and the remains inside were moved and buried elsewhere.

The original marble slab door was laid into the crypt floor with the inside of the door face up, visible to anyone who visits the crypt. And, if you look close enough, Julia’s fingernail gouges can still be seen in the slab.

Whether you believe the Legend of Julia Legare or not her plight was one that many more people than we may ever know suffered at the hands of inexperienced doctors. But if you think this is something that could never happen today … think again.

As recently as this year a young woman awoke inside a drawer at a hospital morgue having been pronounced dead just hours earlier…

Sci-Fi Worth Checking Out

***From Guest Blogger James Kirk***

JAMES KIRK RECOMMENDS

Science Fiction Classics Worth Checking Out

BLADE RUNNER: THE FINAL CUT (2007) 5 STARS OUT OF 5

Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, M. Emmett Walsh, Daryl Hannah, Joanna Cassidy; from the novel by Phillip K. Dick; directed by Ridley Scott.

How many versions of Blade Runner are there? Seven or so, maybe more, depending on how you’re counting and who you’re reading.

It was released theatrically in 1982, and afterward rumor had it that the studio had taken final cut away from director Ridley Scott and made changes. By the late 1980s there was what was then called a “director’s cut” of the film floating around, now known as the “workprint version,” which I managed to see screened back in college. It was different from the theatrical version. It contained no titles, lacked the Harrison Ford voice over, and it there was no Vangelis soundtrack. Instead, this cut of the film had a mish-mash of sampled which was presumably added by the director to set the mood and tone of his cut of the film. I seem to recall numerous differences in how many of the scenes were cut, but it’s been 20 years.

I do recall that the “workprint” version I saw in the early 1990’s was a little different than the version I saw in the 1980’s.

At that time, rumor also held that there was a version of the film which contained the fabled unicorn dream sequence, suggesting that Deckard was a replicant.

Fast-forward to the 90s, when the officially labeled “Director’s Cut” was released. It was similar to the workprint cut I had seen years before, but with the addition of the Vangelis score and the unicorn. But this “Director’s Cut” was not definitive enough. Ridley Scott, the director of Blade Runner, did not actually cut the “Director’s Cut,” but was merely consulted.

Released in theaters in 2007 was an incarnation called the “The Final Cut,” which is now out on DVD and Blue-Ray. This is the only “Ridley Scott Approved” version of the film. I saw this at Seattle’s Cinerama and was stunned by the crispness of the print, the boldness of the sound, and the impressed with the overall presentation of the film on the giant Cinerama screen.

However, “The Final Cut” adds very little to “The Director’s Cut,” though footage that had been previously trimmed from numerous scenes has been reedited here. A few of the effects shots have been tweaked, though not to the extent that Lucas revisited the effects in Star Wars. One of the most important changes, though small, is that the unicorn dream sequence has been recut a little differently, presumably to give it more weight than it had in “The Director’s Cut.”

Perhaps the biggest change is Zhora’s “retirement,” which was reshot for this version of Blade Runner, with Joanna Cassidy reprising her role. It’s a better sequence.

So if you’re checking out Blade Runner for the first time, or again for the first time in a long time, “The Final Cut” is the way to go.