A Far Out Fantastic Site

It's not only the first of the month but the first Wednesday of the month! So it’s time for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG) monthly blog hop! 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.  Challenges There've been a couple challenges I've had to deal with in my writing, especially in preparing my newest book of short fiction, " Bad Apps ", for publication. That's been especially the case with finding a designer for my book's cover, in which I was about to hire one last week until there was a disagreement with the pricing. You can read that in more detail in my latest blog post outside of IWSG which I published (can you believe it?) only last night! So, that was kind of my other writing challenge that I had: my blog posts' schedules got backed up and so I've been trying to cram in both. I think a lot of it had to do with some bad sleep I was g...

Credit: Pixabay.com Update: The Alt text for the illustration at the top of this post has had a slight phrase-change as of 7/3/2026. Whereas the phrase used to read as "a gorilla", it has now been changed to "an ape".  During all of June, I’ve seemed to have been possessed by the Spirit of ’76. I had been staying up nights hunting on internet for and collecting US 250th anniversary  commemorative coins and even some American Bicentennial artifacts from a year that celebrated a revolution while social and cultural revolutions were currently going. This Fourth of July here in the US we’ll be celebrating 250 years of our nation’s freedom, or at least some level of freedom. And, like what the many of the computer hobbyists believed in the 1970s, and to quote a 1984 phrase by Stewart Brand , “information wants to be free.” And it’s because of them that information became free, at least to some extent. It’s way more easily accessible than it used to be. We can fit persona...

It's the first Wednesday of the month and so it’s time for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG) blog hop! 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. One challenge I had occurred last week.  My Writing Challenge for the Month The challenge was a bit of writer's imposter syndrome. I felt like I was playing writer rather than being writer because it seemed like the one-hour time slot that my day job as library technician allows for me each weekday evening hasn't been enough to write and come out with a new book frequently enough. I was even more limited on time to writing fiction because I was working on my monthly Book-To-Movie review . Because of that, I had to take the week off from working on my concept sketch for the illustration to the cover for "Bad Apps", my soon-to-release book of short fiction. I was finally able to return to working on the concept sketc...

To close this month of May, I have another Book-To-Movie review for you and the latest on my upcoming book of sci-fi horror short stories, “Bad Apps”! In case, you’re new to A Far Out Fantastic Site, well, first of all welcome! Second, you should know that a Book-To-Movie is where we review a work of prose fiction and its movie adaptation, usually in the science fiction, horror, or fantasy genres. Book-To-Movie Review: 'Trucks' / 'Maximum Overdrive' Credit: Wikipedia Warning: There are spoilers throughout this review. Our first Book-To-Movie (BTM) of the year reviewed a bad Stephen King short story and its almost equally bad movie adaptation. (In fact, the movie was worse, even if just by a bit.) Today’s BTM is reviewing another bad film but one based on a way better short story by King. The movie is “Maximum Overdrive”; the story it’s based on is “Trucks”.  King’s “Trucks” is concisely written with a prophetic warning against the overuse of technology. However, the ...

It's the first Wednesday of the month and so it’s time for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG) blog hop! 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 apologise for missing last month. That month kind of got off to a bad start. That week after Easter Sunday I had allergy attacks and a bad cough, the latter which I'm still trying to recover from even though I've been doing way better. I talk more about this in my post from last week , which is also the Book-To-Movie review post for April. So, check that out if you haven't already.  I'm going to skip the optional IWSG question of the month which is What was the most inspiring feedback you received from readers, including agents, editors, and beta readers?  I've gotten a lot of helpful and inspiring feedback from people who've read my work that I just can't remember a specific instance at this time.  Boo...

I want to first apologize for missing last month's Book-To-Movie review and the Insecure Writer's Support Group post earlier this month. I had family over from out of town, and then the week after Easter Sunday I had a bad allergy attack. I was so worn that I only had enough energy to write a little at a time. I’m just now getting back on track. So, I have the BTM for you below—a review of an H.G. Wells short story and its movie adaptation--but first I have the latest progress on my soon-to-release book of short stories, "Bad Apps".  ‘Bad Apps’ Progress Unfortunately, my allergy attack also put me behind on my work on “Bad Apps”, but now I’m at the easiest part of preparing my book for the formatting. I’ve been going through the manuscript to make sure I didn’t overlook any of the words and phrases underlined by the word processor’s editing feature. Many of these are words that either the programme mistakens the context they’re being used in or that I intentionally sp...

Credit: Pixabay The last four or so weeks have been a time of making revisions suggested by beta readers to my upcoming short story collection, "Bad Apps". Those revisions are almost complete. This past week, specifically, has been a time of revising the book’s blurb. The most important change I made to the blurb has to do with genre classification. But first let me mention some of the notable changes to the book itself. Latest Revisions to 'Bad Apps' The most notable of the latest revisions I made to "Bad Apps" is actually a small one, yet a very important one. One of the beta readers had suggested that I mention AI in one of the stories. I had already referred to artificial intelligence in the book’s introduction and in a few of the other stories. In fact, in one it’s the deadly antagonist. However, I needed to reflect AI in another story because that one involves a search engine—one that can read the user's mind.  When I had first wrote this story a f...

It's the first Wednesday of the month and so it’s time for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG)  blog hop! 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. In this post, you'll find: my answer to the optional question of the month; where you can read my first book-movie review since two years; details on an ebook sale; and more! IWSG Question of the Month  The question for March 4th is:  What elements do you include in your book launch? Or what do you have in mind for your future book launch? Or what advice do you have to offer to others planning to launch a book? I'll just answer the first two parts of that question since the answer for those will also speak for the third. The elements that go into my book launches are mostly the basics: announcements for it on social media and here at my blog; an image of the book cover (image is a primary  attraction); sometimes a di...

Credit: Pixabay Warning: Potential spoilers in this review. Finally, the Book-To-Movie (BTM) review has returned! As I said in our January 7th post, I had taken a break from the BTM to focus more on my upcoming book of short fiction, "Bad Apps"’, which is nearing more to its release date each day. I have the latest progress on it below. But first let's get into our first BTM since two years ago! In a BTM we review a work of prose fiction and its movie adaptation, usually in the science fiction, horror and fantasy genres. I think I had said last time that I left a clue to what book and movie we would be going over in this post and asked if you could guess what they would be. Well, if you guessed Stephen King's short story, "The Night Flier", and its movie adaptation, then you were right! There have been some movies based on King's fiction that stray far from the original plot. " The Lawn Mower Man " is one. However, the movie adaptation of Ki...

It's the first Wednesday of the month and so it’s time for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG) blog hop! 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. Because my day has been so time-crunched, I'm going to just jump right into the topics and keep the post short. February 4 question - Many writers have written about the experience of rereading their work years later. Have you reread any of your early works? What was that experience like for you? I' ve reread very little of my early works, published or unpublished. The former I don't typically reread because I want to get on to writing the next story or book. The latter I don't read because it's so bad that I would get sickened by the poor writing and even the too-far-out-there story ideas. Most of my early unpublished work is buried away somewhere in my parents house. However, if I were to  somehow  inevitably...

Credit: Pixabay Not counting the monthly IWSG blog hop  post (in which the next one will be coming up this Wednesday), this is the first post of the new year here at A Far Out Fantastic Site! I hope everybody's having a good start to 2026. I have. Most of my beta readers have sent me their comments for " Bad Apps ", in which I'm currently revising based on that feedback. I've also already started sketching concepts for the book's cover illustration. Below you’ll find out who will get a sneak peek at the book’s cover, and who will get a sneak peek of something else here at A Far Out Fantastic Site. So, keep on readin’!  Who Gets a Sneak Peek at the ‘Bad Apps’ Book Cover? When the cover to “Bad Apps” is finalised, the beta readers who sent me their comments will be the few to get a sneak peek at it before the official reveal! That's because they will be receiving a free downloadable copy of it for their hard work! For those of you who did not volunteer to be...

It's the first Wednesday of the month and this new year of 2026! That means it’s time for the first monthly Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG) blog hop of the year!  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 hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday season! I have, although its been a busy one, and so I've had to slow down on the writing projects some but not too much. I'm just now getting back into the routine and that includes finishing up the final touches on my upcoming book of short fiction, "Bad Apps", and that's making way for myself to return to a monthly series here at A Far Out Fantastic Site! So, keep reading to find out the details! The optional IWSG question for January has been perfect timing for me! The question: Is there anything in your writing plans for 2026 that you are going to do that you couldn't get done in 2025? Yes, two things. F...