Blog - Page 26 of 31 - Gary David Gillen

Cain X 3 by James M. Cain

An Anthology of The Postman Always Rings Twice, Mildred Pierce, and Double Indemnity.

Introduction

The Cain X 3 by James M. Cain collection brings together James M. Cain’s three most popular novels. All three novels were made into successful movies in the 40s and were remade successfully more recently. Those original movies are the definition of film noir and Cain was championed as one of the founders of that style of writing. Cain didn’t believe that his novels were written as hard-boiled, but that is the category they are most put in. All three novels have characters that are pushed by love, ambition, and money to commit extreme actions. The writing is raw, sexual, and desperate. It was considered to be too sensational at the time but proved to be very popular. These stories are not about conflicted detectives, weary private eyes, or amateur sleuths. They are about people that commit crimes and about how they are morally destroyed by those crimes.

Summary – The Postman Always Rings Twice

The first novel is called The Postman Always Rings Twice. Frank Chambers is a drifter who drops by the Twin Oaks Tavern in a town outside Los Angeles, California. The tavern is run by Nick who is Greek and his wife Cora. The chemistry between Frank and Cora is undeniable. They decide to try to kill Nick so that they could be together. The story twists and turns leading to its dramatic conclusion. Cain is brilliant with his prose with lines such as Bite me, It was like a church, and Rip me. The novel oozes passion more than eighty years after its publication.

Summary – Mildred Pierce

The second novel is Mildred Pierce. It is an entirely different kind of novel, but just as powerful. Mildred Pierce is separated from her husband and has a young daughter to support. She takes a job as a waitress, creates a successful business, and longs for the support of her daughter. She suffers many setbacks through the years, but always finds a way to continue on. Mildred Pierce is a symbol of persevering despite misfortune.

Summary – Double Indemnity

The third novel is Double Indemnity. Walter Huff is an insurance agent and he has a scheme that he has spent many hours dreaming about. There is a possible clause in an insurance policy that pays out double if the insured has an accident on a train that leads to the insured death. He needs an accomplice that will take out the policy and help him murder the insured and make it look like an accident so the policy can be cashed in. Walter finds that accomplice in Phyllis Nirdlinger. He falls hard for her and puts this plan into action to kill her husband. Letting the events occur even though he realizes that the events are getting away from him. Barton Keyes is the insurance company claims manager who is suspicious of them. His pursuit of the truth leads to the conclusion.

Recommendation

I bought this book from the Mystery Guild Book Club more than 30 years ago. I came across it recently and decided that I wanted to read it. Reading these novels inspired me to watch the HBO series from 2011 on Mildred Pierce. It was excellent and was similar to the novel, unlike the original movie. I liked all three novels in this collection. It could be called noir or hard-boiled, but I would probably categorize it as fictionalized true crime.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of Cain X 3 by James M. Cain.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25987233-cain-3

This is the link to my review of Somethin’ for Nuthin’ by M. T. Bass. It is a historical thriller adventure. A mystery, but different in tone than James M. Cain’s stories.

Somethin’ for Nuthin’ by M. T. Bass

Cleveland Inkubator Writer’s Conference

The Cleveland Inkubator Writer’s Conference 2017

Introduction

The Cleveland Inkubator Writer’s Conference 2017 was held on July 29, 2017, at the Louis Stokes Wing of the Cleveland Public Library in Cleveland, Ohio.

The event was sponsored by Literary Cleveland. Literary Cleveland’s mission is to create and nurture a vibrant literary arts community in North East Ohio. The group sponsors writing workshops, author interviews, and a monthly group meeting mixer.

http://www.litcleveland.org/

Registration was on the second floor of the Louis Stokes Wing. Events were held on the second floor in five rooms and at one podium surrounded by chairs on the second floor.

Summary – Dan Chaon Interview

The events started with an interview in the downstairs auditorium. D. M. Pulley interviewed the author, Dan Chaon. Dan Chaon first read from his novel Ill Will. It was an engaging section describing when a drug-addled junkie goes into an ex-funeral parlor crack house looking for his lost friend. After the reading, D. M. Pulley asked Dan Choan about growing up in Nebraska, mixing literary and genre fiction, and his childhood correspondence with Ray Bradbury.

There were three sessions scheduled for the day. Conference participants could attend a workshop, a craft talk, or a reading in each session. None of the activities were repeated. There were a total of ten workshops, six craft talks, and five readings. I chose a workshop for each of the sessions that I attended because I was most interested in working on my writing skills.

Summary – D. M. Pulley

In session one I attended D. M. Pulley’s workshop on Facing the Blank Page. She presented this workshop using a PowerPoint presentation. It was effective. She had been a freelance forensic engineer but found herself in a case where she felt compelled to write a novel about her imaginings. There was an abandoned safety deposit room with many locked boxes that had been locked for thirty years. She came up with a story and wrote her first novel called The Dead Key. She won the 2014 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award for the novel.

In this workshop, she ran the participants through a series of exercises designed to help the writer to discover the background of their novel. First, answer ten questions about your protagonist. Second, take seven minutes to write a scene using that information. Third, determine what the protagonist wants to know the most. Fourth, take seven minutes to write a scene where the protagonist overhears a conversation. Fifth, determine what is standing in the way from the protagonist in getting what they want. Sixth, write a scene where the protagonist has an argument with a family member.

Summary – Lance Parkin

In session two I attended Lance Parkin’s Workshop on The First Page of Your Novel. Lance gave the workshop attendees a handout with three sections. The first section is a page with his advice about the importance of creating a superior first page to your novel. He thinks that the first page must have a hook to get the reader to turn the page, must be bold, and must show the protagonist’s goal. He says do not waste a word on that first page. The second section is an article from the penguin random house website on what our editors look for on an opening page. They want a powerful opener, a unique perspective, a well-realized world, an authentic voice, and attention-grabbing characters.

The third section was copies of the first page of six different novels. The book titles were not noted and I recognized the four that I had read previously. In the workshop, Lance talked about the first two sections and then had two different workshop attendees read one of the first pages. The workshop discussed why those first pages worked. Lance then gave the workshop attendees thirty minutes to write the first page. At the end of that time, three workshop attendees read their work and fielded comments from the workshop.

Summary – Hillary Rettig

In session three I attended Hillary Rettig’s workshop on Values-Based Time Management for Writers. The first thing that she asked us to do was to think about what your dream schedule would look like. She said that most people would need 150 to 200 hours a week to accomplish everything that they would like to do. The problem is that with sleeping 8 hours a night, then you only have about 112 waking hours per week to accomplish the tasks that you want to do. There is a gap, so you must decide which tasks you most want to accomplish.

She had a handout called time reclamation exercise. It was used to brainstorm how the desired change could be implemented. Another handout described the five principles of good time management. They are; time is valuable, invest time and do not spend it, invest time in the things for which you most want to make progress, the purpose of time management is to eliminate the unimportant stuff, and all time is managed so choose what you want to do.

Conclusion

I enjoyed the programs that I attended at the Cleveland Inkubator and plan to attend next year. My highlights were Dan Choan’s compelling reading, the insightful brainstorming techniques from D. M. Pulley, realizing the importance of the first page in a novel from Lance Parkin, and the benefit of choosing to spend my time on the things that I want to accomplish from Hillary Rettig. See you next year.

Links

Cleveland Inkubator Writer’s Conference 2017 is held at the Cleveland Public Library while the Cuyahoga County Public Library sponsors a similar event called the Western Reserve Writers Conference 2016.

Recap for the Western Reserve Writers Conference 2016 on September 24, 2016. It was located at the South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library at the new William N. Skirball writer’s center which is located at the branch. It was a one-day event with an introduction, a keynote speaker, three breakout sessions, and one Q & A panel.

Western Reserve Writers Conference

Writing Progress Report August 2017

This is my Writing Progress Report August 2017.

This is the first novel that I ever owned. It was about forty years ago when I got it.

Writing Progress from July 2017

I wrote five blog posts for garydavidgillen.com including my writing progress report for July 2017 linked below.

Writing Progress Report July 2017

Typed Chapter 11 of Assassin in New Marl City

Wrote Chapter 13 of Assassin in New Marl City

Started Chapter 14 of Assassin in New Marl City

Submitted Chemithurgy to a writing workshop

Wrote a chapter of Torso novel to submit to a writing workshop

The stories 4 Humours, Space Station Sunyata, and Grognard are ready to be submitted to magazines.

Statistics of magazine submissions since December 2016 are; 3 different stories submitted a total of 10 times with 0 accepted, 1 pending, and 9 rejections.

Events from July 2017

Attended the Cleveland Inkubator at the Cleveland Public Library on July 29, 2017. It is sponsored by Literary Cleveland. It is a one day writing conference.

This is the link to the Literary Cleveland website.

https://www.litcleveland.org/

Writing Goals for August 2017

Continue to work on An Assassin in New Marl City. I want to expand the novel from 20 chapters to 36 chapters (100000 words total). Finish Chapter 14, write Chapter 22, and write Chapter 29 of the novel this month.

Type the Edits for Chapters 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 of Assassin in New Marl City.

Edit Chapters 15, 16, 18, and 20 of Assassin in New Marl City.

Polish and submit the stories White Bracer, Mage Squad, Time Traveller One, Prisoner of Tarnal, Kay-Eye, Cosplay Film Noir, and Get to the Point for submission to short fiction magazines.

Submit 4 Humors, Space Station Sunyata, and Grognard to other short fiction magazines.

Planned Events for August 2017

Attend the Confluence Conference on August 4 to August 6, 2017 at the Airport Sheraton in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The link to the Confluence website.

http://parsec-sff.org/confluence/

Purchase an e-book cover for Assassin in New Marl City from Fiveer.

Put the first ten chapters of Assassin in New Marl City into the writing program Scrivener.

Work on completing a Query letter to use to find an agent for Assassin in New Marl City.

Bane and Shadow by Jon Skovron

Bane and Shadow by Jon Skovron, Book #2 of Empire of Storms

Introduction

Hope and Red from the first novel of this series have become Bane and Shadow for this novel. Hope is the only woman who has ever been trained in the arts of the Vinchen Warriors, a type of monkish kung-fu sect. She has taken on the persona of the dreaded pirate once called Dire Bane. She sails the seas with her pirate crew chasing the imperial ships of the emperor and the evil sorcerers called biomancers. Red has claimed his birthright as a noble and is now part of the emperor’s inner circle. He is being trained by the biomancers as a weapon. What will Hope do when she finds out how far the biomancers are prepared to go down their evil ways and what will Red do when he is faced with potentially fatal intrigues at court?

Summary

Hope’s story starts with her pirate ship attacking the flagship of Imperial Admiral Brice Vaderton. He will become an interesting viewpoint character later in the book. Hope’s crew discovers that the biomancers have been taking young girls to the island of Dawn’s Light for an unknown evil purpose. Hope is determined to discover the secret and defeat the biomancers. They look for ships and supplies at New Laven. Nettles returns to her old life as a thief and a gangster to get the ships and supplies. She becomes an important viewpoint character. Hope takes her flotilla to Dawn’s Light and fights the biomancers.

Red has taken his birthright as the Lord Pastinas. He goes to court at the Imperial Palace on Stonepeak and is trained by the biomancers as an assassin. He becomes friends with the emperor’s heir, Prince Leston. Red flirts with wealthy, witty, and beautiful Lady Merivale Hempist but remains devoted to Hope. He must determine who has been murdering the common people of Stonepeak. The murderer is stealthy and is called the Shadow Demon.

Recommendation

This is a great fun novel. The mash-up of genres continues from the first novel called Hope and Red. Hope and Red have clear motivations and struggle to achieve their objectives. The only problem is that this is a middle novel. Their final confrontation with the biomancers will not occur until the third novel. I wish that Hope and Red had some scenes together in this novel. Brigga Lin has a couple of good scenes but should have had more to do in this novel. The third novel is called Blood and Tempest and is scheduled to be released in November 2017. I have ordered it and I plan to read it ASAP.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of Bane and Shadow by Jon Skovron.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29877824-bane-and-shadow

This is the link to my review of Hope and Red by Jon Skovron, Book #1 of Empire of Storms

Hope and Red by Jon Skovron

Old Man’s War by John Scalzi

Old Man’s War by John Scalzi, Book #1 of the Old Man’s War series

Introduction

In Old Man’s War by John Scalzi, two things have happened to John Perry recently. His wife had unexpectedly passed away and he decided to join the army. It’s not just any army. The Colonial Defense Forces will only take recruits on their seventy-fifth birthday. All recruits are taken off of the earth and are never heard from again. The novel opens on his seventy-fifth birthday at the gravesite of his beloved wife. He says goodbye to her and heads to the CDF recruitment office. He has no idea what will happen to him next, but he has nothing left to keep him on the earth and so he enlists.

Summary

John Perry changes as part of the enlistment process. He must succeed to graduate boot camp. The recruits serve a term of ten years, but the survival rate is less than 30 percent. He is very practical and advances in the CDF by using his wits and a lot of luck. At the end of their term, the recruits can become colonists on a new planet or re-enlist in the CDF. The CDF protects the colonies. This novel follows John Perry at the beginning of his term of service.

Recommendation

To me, this novel is a mixture of many military science fiction novels of the past mixed up with new ideas making a great new novel. It takes the themes of pro-militarism and the boot camp to soldier coming of age from Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein, But, there is also a sense of loss of humanity by the protagonist and the conflict of fighting the other from The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. I was also reminded of Deathworld by Harry Harrison for the “anything can kill you” mantra of the CDF members. I highly recommend this novel and intend to read the many sequels.

Links

I received this novel from a Tor.com newsletter. Tor sends one free e-book every month to newsletter subscribers. I have copies of The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson and A Fire on the Deep by Vernor Vinge.

The Tor.com newsletter is at http://read.macmillan.com/tordotcom/newsletter-signup/

This is the link to the Goodreads page of Old Man’s War by John Scalzi.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36510196-old-man-s-war

This is the link to my review of Lock In by John Scalzi. FBI agent Chris Shane has Haden’s Syndrome and interacts with the world through an android. Chris must solve a murder caused by an android.

Lock In by John Scalzi

My First SF Book

Introduction

My first SF book that I owned and read was The Land That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Summary

My book is a reprint that promoted the 1975 movie of the same name. Burroughs wrote three short novels that were published in Blue Book Magazine in 1918. The stories were The Land That Time Forgot, The People That Time Forget, and Out of Time’s Abyss. All three are included in this edition and added up to a total of 249 pages. I believe that I got it sometime in 1977, about 40 years ago. This was the first novel that I had ever read for fun and it started me on the path to making reading a part of my daily routine. Soon after that, I subscribed to Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, as it was known back then. Then, I enrolled in the Science Fiction Book Club and had all the books that I wanted.

Recommendation

My First SF Book is a fun quickly-paced science fiction/fantasy adventure story. It has the lost world theme and an interesting method of alternative evolution included in this world. It is just the perfect story for that pre-teen boy to pick up.

I watched the movie many years later. There are six black and white stills from the movie included in this edition. I remember the plesiosaur and the pterodactyl the most, pictured below.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of The Land That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13552142-the-land-that-time-forgot

Goodreads is a website where you can review books that you have read and you can also put books on a to-read list. Using Goodreads has changed how and what I read. Using Goodreads got me thinking about My first SF book that I owned, The Land That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs. This is the link to a post I made about using Goodreads.

How Goodreads changed my reading habits.

The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi

The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi, Book #1 of The Interdependency.

Introduction

Cardenia’s father is dying. Once he passes on, she will become the emperox of the Interdependency. She is not ready and there are tremendous complications facing her immediately. Can she guide her interstellar empire through these problems or will her empire fall?

Summary

Humans have expanded to the stars by using a medium through space called the flow. The flow only travels to certain star systems, but the flow can move and star systems can be lost. One thousand years before this story the Earth is lost to her colonies. The colonies form an empire called the Interdependency. Families are grouped in Houses and each House has a monopoly on one trade good or one technology. The flow is changing. There are three main POV characters in this novel; Cardenia (the future Emperox Grayland II), Kiva Lagos (heir to the House of Lagos), and Marce Claremont (the physicist son of the physicist who first discovered the Flow’s change). Cardenia’s first problem is that the flow is changing and how it changes will determine how she will respond.

Recommendation

This was a fun novel to read. The dialogue was humorous and witty. I liked reading each of the three main POV characters. The novel’s ending featuring Nadashe Nohamapetan’s comeuppance was appropriate. It feels like the first novel in a series, it is, and I’m ready for the next novel.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page for The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30078567-the-collapsing-empire

This is a link to my book review Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey, the first book in The Expanse series. This book is a space opera set entirely within the solar system and is similar to The Collapsing Empire.

Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey

Writing Progress Report July 2017

This is my Writing Progress Report July 2017.

Happy Fourth of July

Writing Progress from June 2017

I wrote six blog posts for garydavidgillen.com including my writing progress report for June 2017 linked below.

Writing Progress Report June 2017

Typed Chapter 4 of An Assassin in New Marl City

Edited Chapters 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 of An Assassin in New Marl City.

Started Chapter 11 of An Assassin in New Marl City.

Start Chemithurgy short story and prepare it to submitting it to a writing workshop.

The stories 4 Humours, Space Station Sunyata, and Grognard can be sent to other magazines.

Events from June 2017

Graduation party on June 3, 2017.

Attended Cleveland Indians game on June 27, 2017.

Registered for Cleveland Inkubator which is on July 29, 2017.

Writing Goals for July 2017

Continue to work on An Assassin in New Marl City. I want to expand the novel from 20 chapters to 36 chapters (100000 words total). Finish chapter 11, write Chapter 13, and write Chapter 14 of the novel this month.

Edit Chapters 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 of An Assassin in New Marl City.

Write first part of Chemithurgy short story.

Write a chapter of Torso novel.

Polish and submit the stories White Bracer, Mage Squad, Time Traveller One, Prisoner of Tarnal, and Kay-Eye for submission to short fiction magazines.

Submit 4 Humors, Space Station Sunyata, and Grognard to other short fiction magazines.

Planned Events for July 2017

Attend the Cleveland Inkubator at the Cleveland Public Library on July 29, 2017. Sponsored by Literary Cleveland. It is a one day writing conference.

This is the link to the Literary Cleveland website.

https://www.litcleveland.org/

Purchase an e-book cover for An Assassin in New Marl City from Fiveer.

Put the first ten chapters of An Assassin in New Marl City into the writing program Scrivener.

Work on completing a Query letter to use to find an agent for An Assassin in New Marl.

How Goodreads changed my reading habits.

https://www.goodreads.com/

Introduction

Goodreads is a website where you can review books that you have read and you can also put books on a to-read list. The website will suggest books to read based on the list of the books that you have read, are reading, and want to read. The best part of the website for me is the groups. You can join groups that are based on the type of books that you like. Each group has a discussion page covering many topics, polls used to determine a book of the month, and a book of the month for the group to read and comment upon.

Summary

I update my reading progress daily on Goodreads, but there are tasks that I also do once a week or once a month. I check on new topics, vote in polls, and comment on the book of the month. Using Goodreads has changed how and what I read. My goal for this year is to read 24 novels. I have read 12 novels in less than 6 months so far.

This is the link to my goodreads page.

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/58365344-gary-gillen

Statistics

Here are some statistics. The best that I can remember, I read 9 books in 2015. I would read maybe 20 pages a day at lunch five days a week. Five of those books were rereading the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin. I wanted to reread them anticipating the next book’s release. I’m still waiting for book six. In the first six months of 2016, I read six books. So, 2015 was 0.75 books a month and the first half of 2016 was 1 book per month. I discovered Goodreads and I started to enter my books into the system in June 2016. From July 2016 to June 2017 I have read 29 books, which is 2.4 books per month. That is a significant increase. I have 613 books on my read list, which translates to about 12 books per year for my lifetime.

How Goodreads changed my reading habits.

Two things changed in June of 2016. I started reading 30 pages every day, making it a point to complete the reading every day. The other thing that changed my habits was setting a goal. I planned to read two books per month in 2017. My to-read list went over 100 books. There are some great books on that list. At 24 books per year, that list will take me four years to complete. Seeing the list focused me on what I wanted to read. I’m glad that I have put in the time to use Goodreads to help me in my search for books. Participating in group reads of books on my list has increased my enjoyment of the books that I have read. Using Goodreads has changed my reading habits.

Links

This is the link to my Goodreads page.

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/58365344-gary-gillen

This is a link to my review of The Land That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs, which is a fun quickly-paced science fiction/fantasy adventure story. It has the lost world theme and an interesting method of alternative evolution included in this world. It is just the perfect story for that pre-teen boy to read.

My First SF Book

Abaddon’s Gate by James S. A. Corey

Abaddon’s Gate by James S. A. Corey, Book #3 of The Expanse Series

Introduction

In Abaddon’s Gate by James S. A. Corey, The proto-molecule has created a ring just outside of the orbit of Uranus, which functions as a gate. What lies through this gate prompts wild speculation from every faction in the solar system. Jim Holden and his crew get mixed up right in the middle of it again. Ships from Earth, Mars, and the Belt converge on the gate and decide to hazard what lies beyond. They must balance the needs of humanity and the warring factions of Earth, Mars, and the Belt to succeed or be destroyed by the proto-molecule.

Summary

Jim Holden is back as a narrator for this novel, but the other three narrators from Caliban’s War (Book #2) sit this one out. Carlos “Bull” c de Baca is the security chief of the OPA (Belter) ship Behemoth, which was formally called the Nauvoo. Annuska “Anna” Volovodov is a Methodist priest from Europa who has taken passage on the Earth ship Thomas Prince and she represents the pacifist side of the system. Melba, who has gained employment as an electrochemical technician on the Belter Ship Cerisier, has a secret dark past and seeks revenge upon Jim Holden. All four narrators have different agendas but must find common ground to succeed against the powers that are on the other side of the gate.

Recommendation

Abaddon’s Gate by James S. A. Corey is a great novel. The author has taken new viewpoint characters into a self-contained narrative. It is an interesting choice and consistent with the novel series. The Bull and Anna characters are not as strong or compelling as Bobbie and Avasarala from Caliban’s War, but they had their moments. I think the real miss here is the potential of the Melba character. She faced a mental battle with her hidden, secret, true identity. It felt like she was having a split personality break and I think it would have been more interesting if the author had explored this break more. The ending sets up more intrigue which I will be looking forward to experiencing in the next book, Cibola Burn.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of Abaddon’s Gate by James S.A. Corey.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16131032-abaddon-s-gate

Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey, book #1 of The Expanse, is a space opera set in a near future when the solar system is settled. Jim Holden becomes the captain of the Rocinante and Detective Miller is on a missing person case. Their paths cross and the fate of the solar system lies in their hands. This is a link to my review.

Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey

Caliban’s War by James S. A. Corey is book #2 of the Expanse, Jim Holden goes to Ganymede to investigate unusual occurrences. We meet new characters and learn about what happened to Julie Mao. This is a link to my review.

Caliban’s War by James S. A. Corey