I saw this post from Dr. Damon Ashworth at WordPress and just had to share it. So often we turn to movies or TV for simple entertainment or as an escape from reality, but perhaps we should realize that movies can inspire us or even teach us about the persons we want to become.
I was honored to be featured this week as a guest author at Christy Birmingham’s incredible blog, When Women Inspire. Christy invited me to talk about the female main character in my new book, Virtual, which was just recently released. To see the entire post, click on the link here or check out Christy’s website.
Today we welcome Amy Caudill, who recently published her first novel Virtual. If you follow her blog then you know she is a lover of sci-fi and fantasy. When I read her book blurb, I knew I wanted to have her here to tell us more about the female character in her book. She has graciously written a guest post today about how she created gamer mom Amanda Connor, the main character in Virtual.
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Most fans of science fiction books and television shows are at least aware of the contributions of such British notaries as Douglas Adams, famed author of the “Hitchhiker’s Guide” series, and the quality shows produced by the BBC network and BBC America. This past weekend saw the second season premier of “Dirk Gently,” based on some of Adams’ lesser known but equally memorable characters. Check it out, and don’t worry if the plot seems hard to follow-it will all make sense in the end.
Being a long-time Douglas Adams fan (as you all should be), I was excited to see a TV adaptation of his novel Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency appear on Netflix and started watching almost immediately.
It didn’t blow me away out of the gate, though. It was a strange, confusing show that didn’t seem to have much to do with the Dirk Gently story I know. I almost gave up on the show after the first two episodes, but something about it stuck with me, and I decided to give it another shot.
This turned out to be a good call.
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency is a very, very strange show. Far stranger than I have the ability to adequately communicate through a mere blog post, and almost certainly the strangest television show I’ve ever seen.
It’s also almost entirely unlike the book it’s supposedly based upon. Really the…
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Fellow blogger Kiersten shares her thoughts on classic and family friendly Halloween faves in books and media.
I know I’ve already said this before, but…you guys…Halloween is coming! 😀 I’ve already started putting out decorations and have been working on my costumes since August. I’m so excited!
In honor of this glorious and festive time of the year I feel like I need to put some Fall/Halloween themed entertainment into my repertoire this month. I’m typically not big on super scary things (because I’m a weenie), but I’ve still found plenty of books/shows over the years that appropriately fit the occasion.
These are a few of my favorites:
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman – A little boy that grows up in a graveyard, raised by the ghosts that reside there. It doesn’t get more Halloween appropriate than that. (Side note: I have a slight obsession with cemeteries, especially old ones. This always feels like the perfect time of year to go traipsing among the headstones.)
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My heart goes out to all those still in need after the destruction caused by Hurricane Harvey. Fellow blogger Nicholas Rossis shared this post about those willing to help and links to groups taking legitimate donations of aid.
Image: http://www.alexstemmer.com via GraphicStock
Deborah Carney of BookGoodies often shares on their newsletters some of the best news and tidbits you’ve read on this blog. Back in 2012, she lost everything in Hurricane Sandy. This taught her a lot about how organizations and the government don’t help the way you think they will. So, Hurricane Harvey now prompted her to compile and share a list of organizations that are dedicated to helping people directly affected. They are “boots on the ground” and not tying your donations up in administrative costs and funding things that don’t really help.
For her, a group of people created a campaign similar to what GoFundMe is now and people all over the world sent money directly through PayPal. She used that money to rent a car and go out once the roads were open, to get supplies and even simply to get a fast food…
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As school children, department stores, and garden centers make preparations for the season ahead, our thoughts turn to cooler evenings and falling leaves. This coming season always inspires me to indulge in my love of horror characters, including those undead antagonists,zombies. To learn more about these frightful fantasies, check out this post by Longreads author Erin Blakemore.
When you think of zombies, it’s likely you envision something like the flesh-eating, immortal creatures created by George Romero, who defined a new genre of horror with Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead. Thanks to Romero, who died this week at the age of 77, the zombie movie has become more than a chance to feel scared. It’s also an essential lens through which we can view pop culture, politics, and society. In honor of the great director, here is some our favorite writing about the terror of the living dead.
One of Romero’s most famous narrative coups was casting a black actor as the hero of his 1968 film, Night of the Living Dead. It was a decision that turned a run-of-the-mill horror movie into a…
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Han Solo became a true movie star when I was a little girl. From Han Solo to Indiana Jones there seemed to be no heroic deed he couldn’t perform. Now, in following the current trend of revisiting past successes, a sequel to the science fiction classic Blade Runner is coming out this fall, where Harrison Ford will once again grace the screen. For those who have never seen the original, Raistlin0903 gives a very comprehensive summary.
Harrison Ford almost seems to be on a farewell tour, in which he reprises all of his most famous roles one more time. Two years ago he played Han Solo in the seventh installment of the famous Star Wars franchise, and three years from now he will be playing the role of Indiana Jones one final time. But all eyes are on him this year, as he will be making an appearance in the sequel to the classic science fiction movie Blade Runner. One has to wonder if making a sequel to what was obviously a landmark in science fiction history really is the best idea. Still having seen the first few trailers of the new movie, and the director of the film being Denis Villeneuve, I am cautiously optimistic for it. It is ofcourse a good thing that Harrison himself is also featured in this new one. We will…
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A fellow blogger shares his thoughts on critics who try to impose too much “scientific accuracy” on popular movies.
Whatever happened to suspension of disbelief? Every time I load YouTube, I see that there’s a new video from the Nerdist explaining the science behind science fiction and fantasy films and TV shows. CinemaSins, best known for their “Everything Wrong With” series, does comedic criticism of movies which focuses on the quality of movies while also touching on stuff like continuity, but frequently gets overly fixated on various minutia that really don’t seem to matter. If an action hero jumps out of a window and lands unscathed in such a way that might break a bone for a normal person, CinemaSins sees this as a “sin.”
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate scientifically accurate films. I think it’s great when people can get involved in movies like Interstellar because of their scientific accuracy. And if films, like Interstellar, want to do their scientific research to create a fictional world grounded…
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For the first time ever a female timelord will be in control of the Tardis. Jodie Whittaker’s (from BBC’s Broadchurch) appointment as the thirteenth incarnation of Dr. Who this week has already sparked controversy among fans of the series. Here’s some first looks at the next season of the iconic series.
So before I get into my actual thoughts on this, I feel I should explain why I felt the need to talk about it. Firstly, let me give some context to what’s going on for those who don’t know so much about Doctor Who. The series premiered on November 23, 1963 and starred William Hartnell as the titular Doctor. The Doctor is a Timelord from a distant planet called Gallifrey and goes on many crazy and wondrous adventures through time and space along with a companion or companions to take on them in his spaceship shaped like an old police phone box. But after 4 years of doing the show, Hartnell wished to leave the show. So it was written into the story that Timelords, when fatally injured, can regenerate.
And thus, from that point on, every few years, the Doctor would regenerate and take on a new face, sometimes…
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I couldn’t resist sharing this all about the classic debate between fans of the two franchises. Do you have a favorite?–Amy
amycaudill.net 