A Far Out Fantastic Site

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Sincere Writing is Original; A Story Ending Precise but Concise

It's the first Wednesday of the month and so it’s time for another Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG) post! In an IWSG post, we writers bring our writing challenges and problems out into the open to share with each other and try to offer solutions. This month we have the question of the month here at the Fantastic Site and I have a few details about my story in progress (SIP) which will be included in my upcoming book of short fiction. Question of the Month The question for August 3 is: When you set out to write a story, do you try to be more original or do you try to give readers what they want? My answer to that, is that when I write a story, I don't so much try to be more original as I try to write sincerely. That means when I write I often develop the story from an idea that I had jottted down in my journal way before hand as it came to me. To me it appears to be an original idea because if it didn't I wouldn't have bothered jotting it down (at least not for

Book-To-Movie: Stephen King's 'The Mist'

Credit: Pixabay.com Our Book-To-Movie review is usually on the fourth weekend of the month but, as I said in the last post , we had to postpone it to the fifth weekend. On top of that, an emergency came up over the weekend and so I had to postpone the review to today (Monday) which I apologise for. Yes, we are going into August with July’s Book-To-Movie but don’t worry. It will not substitute for August’s. There will be a Book-To-Movie for this month for sure because I have agreed to do one as a guest blogger which the other blogger wants it posted later than the fourth weekend of the month, so, again, it will be moved to a little after the fourth weekend. I’ll give you more details about it when we get closer to that time. In a Book-To-Movie, we review a work of prose fiction and its movie adaptation. And this post we have another Stephen King horror book and movie! H.P. Lovecraft was one of Stephen King’s greatest influences as he’s been with many other horror authors of today. K

Book-To-Movie Postponed; Volunteer Beta Readers Needed

Credit: Pixabay This is the weekend that we usually have our Book-To-Movie review, but I'm postponing it until next weekend. I was spending all day yesterday racking by brain dead while doing my state sales and use tax return, which in California is due at the beginning of each fiscal year. So, I was worn out totally by the evening. I couldn't keep focused or even awake to work on the current story in progress for my upcoming short fiction collection, "Bad Apps". So, I've been working on it this evening to make up for the lost time. However, I didn't want to leave you without a blog post this weekend since last weekend’s already got delayed to the middle of the week (too long of a delay for a weekly blog). So, I wanted to do at least a short post for this week, one that will tell you how you can get a free, pre-release edition of "Bad Apps"! And you can do that by being a volunteer beta reader! How You Can Volunteer as a Beta Reader for ‘Bad Apps’

How to Look for the Fossils and Gems of Kids’ Comics

Credit: Pixabay I apologise for posting so late and not on the weekend as usual. I’ve been overdue for a new prescription of lenses and so have been working slower due to eye strain. That should all change after I go to my optometrist appointment and purchase my new glasses in August. Last week I was at Big Brother Comics in Sacramento looking for a current issue of "The Rocketeer", a comic series that debuted in the 1980s and paid homage to super hero comics of the 1930s. I would soon find out from the employees that they sold out of the most recent series back in the spring and there would be no plans to print anymore. Which is damned sad because you get very few super hero comics like that anymore. However, I was looking through several other comics hoping to find something likened to "The Rocketeer" and when I say “likened”, I'm talking about any comic book that takes after any time period between the late 1930s and early '80s. After those years, comics

IWSG: Catching Up; Books as Their Own Worlds

It's the first Wednesday of the month and so it’s time for another Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG) post! In an IWSG post, we writers bring our writing challenges and problems out into the open to share with each other and try to offer solutions. I’ll admit, I just started writing this post today even though I knew that IWSG Day was coming. I meant to get started on it yesterday but I had stayed up late the night before for my family’s Fourth of July celebration (for those who don’t live in the US, that’s our national Independence Day). So, I didn’t get the sleep I should have and so was tired when I got home from my day job the next day. I sacked out for at least two hours on the couch! But besides the holiday, I’ve been really busy with my writing projects, including my current book of short fiction I’m working on, my newsletter and preparing my books for Smashwords’ big book sale . Question for July: Living in a Book World Before I go on with these other things, let’s fi

Celebrate the Freedom to Read: Smashwords' July Sale!

Be a rebel, support indie authors! Credit: Wikimedia Commons This is going to be a short post because it's Fourth of July weekend here in the US. So, for those of you who celebrate, I don't want to keep you from family outings and celebrations, including your communities' firework shows. Also, yesterday was a long one and I need a little bit of a break myself. But I wanted to make sure that you have another outlet to celebrate freedom and independence. That is, the freedom to read the works of independent authors, also known as self-published authors. So, be a revolutionary and shop for books by indie authors at Smashwords' July Summer/Winter Sale ! The sale includes both seasons because at this time of the year it's winter in the southern hemisphere and, being an online distribution centre for books, Smashwords caters to customers from all over the world. Books from from 75% to 100% Off the Original Price Credit: Pixabay.com That said, I’ve discounted my books