​Just Kids is not my usual reading fare. But, being a member of two different book clubs, I find myself reading many works outside my favorite genre of horror and suspense. This nonfiction work is a memoir from poet, artist, and rock-singer Pattie Smith and recounts her relationship with photographer/artist Robert Mapplethorpe. There is much to like in the book, but I was also frustrated quite a bit by her writing style and lack of openness. First, as numerous reviews have stated, she is an unabashed name-dropper—almost to the point where the mere frequency of it is cringe worthy. Second, Smith can spend paragraphs talking about what clothes she wore or what foods she ate some forty-odd years ago, but she seems unwilling to disclose the hurt she must have felt when Mapplethorpe began having sexual relationships with men—while the two of them were involved romantically and sexually. She writes this was no big deal, but her reaction seems disingenuous. Finally, Smith hints that Mapplethorpe was conflicted about his sexuality. He was raised Catholic, and the time frame of their relationship was in the late 1960’s – which meant that the climate for gays was still quite hostile. This exploration of Mapplethorpe would have been fascinating (Smith and Mapplethorpe remained trusted friends until his death from the AIDS virus in 1989 – so she knew him very well), but Smith barely goes there. This is most unfortunate because she otherwise portrays this controversial man in a very intimate and human manner.
I indicated many there were spots in the work. First and foremost, Smith’s love and dedication to Mapplethorpe is clear. As he is dying of AIDS, her grief is understated yet emotionally on-target. This section is heartfelt and authentic and does not rely on sappy tear-jerker prose. Smith’s words are brilliantly evocative at this point. There is also a section when she and Mapplethorpe lived in the Chelsea Hotel in New York. That section was fascinating, and she made this odd setting come alive with a diverse group of real-life characters. 

How far has the GOP fallen?
Choker
Wimp
Con-artist
Liars
Pants-wetter

This is how far they've fallen. How many school yard taunts does it take to prove that none of these people are qualified for the highest office of the land? And these are terms for each other. They don't include the brutal and creepy terms for our fellow citizens.

​Abraham Lincoln is turning over in his grave.  

​I’ll admit something up front … I tend not to be a fan of Fantasy novels. I suppose “Dark Fantasy” is okay, although I am not entirely sure what that is. If it has horror components, then I’m in. Horror, to those who keep score on these things, is my favorite genre. But, if I find myself reading about cute elves or dragons, my interest wanes rather quickly (Harry Potter being an exception.)
With a little apprehension, I began reading the dark fantasy novel The Godgame by Keith Deininger not knowing what to expect. I’ve read multiple novels and novellas by Keith and thoroughly enjoyed them. He is a true rising star in speculative fiction. When I picked up The Godgame (figuratively speaking, that is-it was on my Kindle), I noticed the F-word and thought, “oh no, Keith has gone over to the dark side.”
I didn’t need to worry. The Godgame is no tiresome fantasy with elves. Granted the story takes place in an alternative world. But the world was the same one Keith wrote about in two of his previous works that I’ve read: Shadow Animals and Marrow’s Pit. Both were chilling and gripping reads (I liked Shadow Animals a tad better), so I settled in for a great read knowing I was in safe territory.
The action takes in two neighboring communities: the city of Talos and a small village in Nova. Talos is depicted as a decadent, depraved, and narcissistic community. Nova, however, contains multiple small idyllic villages that somehow have escaped the cynicism of the larger city. The leader of Talos (who is called the Archon) is readying his city and army for an attack on the small village of Fallowvane.
There are a number of subplots which are too difficult to describe here, but within the course of the narrative the strands become tied together quite well. There are also a ton of characters, and Keith manages to juggle them all well – giving them independent lives and characteristics which help the reader not only tell them apart but also imbue them with three-dimension personalities.  For instance, a chief aid/assistant for the Archon named Trevor is a standout. This conniving character has disturbing intentions, and his maneuverings for power and privilege keep the action rolling. The hero of the tale (at this stage at least) is a 12-year old boy named Ash who evidently has supernatural skills and abilities. He is unaware of these skills – as is the reader - but the scheming Talosians are certainly knowledgeable of them and want to capture him for exploitation. Ash is nicely rendered by Keith – his actions, thoughts, and dialog ring true for a 12 year old. Ash’s mother, Lena, is deathly ill for the first 70% of the novel and does not get much screen time. But when she comes to the forefront in the later sections, she establishes herself as a fascinating character in a manner that I didn’t see happening.  Others like Embra, (Lena’s sister), the Anchon (a distasteful character – think of a human sized bag of pus), and Ash’s little sister (who has a bright future in episodes to come) are also dazzling when the reader experiences their point of view.
When the invasion of Nova by the army of Talos occurs, the portrayal is riveting and ghastly. The tension is relentless and the grip of the narrative is unyielding. This was one of my favorite sections of the book.
My one relatively minor criticism occurs sporadically in roughly the first 30% of the novel. Since Keith is creating his own world, he has to help his readers catch up on whatever is going on by providing brief summaries of history and back story. The result is an occasional slippage into “telling” the story as opposed to Keith’s typically skillful “showing” the story. While this slows things down a bit and can overwhelm the reader, it occurs infrequently so is not a major flaw.
Overall, The Godgame is another dynamic piece of dark fantasy from Keith Deininger. This book is part of a larger series and represents an exciting entry into the land of Talos. Highly recommended.

​I watched the midseason premier of The Walking Dead last night, and found the episode thrilling – one of the best in recent seasons. I haven’t read online discussions of the show in the past for the sole reason that I have a life that I must attend to. But, something made me check today to see the comments and reviews. There was a wide range of opinions; most loved it, others really disliked it. Some of the latter reactions were due to plot holes and inconsistencies. I find these criticisms amusing. I mean, we’re talking about a show that depicts a zombie apocalypse. Nonetheless, some people were troubled by head scratching moments. (Okay, I’ll give them one. When Sam was frozen in place due to panic, instead of trying to talk him into moving, Rick--or any of the cast--could have just picked the kid up and continued on…). More intriguing, though, were those individuals who were troubled by the on-screen death of a ten year old kid. TWD has never hesitated to kill a child character. I thought the episode where Carol “executed” Lizzie was a dynamic, and intense plot development – and solely necessary given her psychotic behavior. Yet, within short order during the midseason premier, a little boy was eaten alive on-screen and then his mother suffered the same fate seconds later. The boy’s older brother was then stabbed with a machete to avoid his shooting of Rick, our main character. Graphic and unnerving for sure. But, highly “believable” within the context of a random series of events that could happen within a zombie apocalypse. Not to be outdone, Rick’s teenage son was shot in the eye in the melee. When Carl turns toward the camera with a mangled face and a hole where his eye should be, the shock of the scene is complete. All-in-all, this was a three minute segment which was gripping and devastating. And, it worked.

​I recently watched two stunning European horror movies: Goodnight Mommy and When Animals Dream. Both have a genuinely subtle and creepy air about them. They are not examples of the rapidly edited scenes and tired scares of American films. Even though I found When Animals Dream increasingly conventional as the movie progressed and I was able to see the plot twist of Goodnight Mommy almost immediately, I still enjoyed the chilling atmosphere and character details. Both are nicely done. Fans of gore and cheap thrills will probably be disappointed, though. These are cerebral horror films.

​            When I was in college, I made my first effort at writing fiction. I took a short fiction writing class and enjoyed it. I had fun, and I thought I did a pretty good job. That effort, however, was also my last attempt for decades. Over three of them to be exact.
            I resumed writing fiction in earnest when our daughter was preparing for college. I never thought I would actually try and publish anything. In fact, my first effort was to find out if I could actually do it. After completing a short story and then a novel, I was ready to try peddling the latter around. I was accustomed to the academic writing process which meant I was used to being rejected. All by way of saying, I expected rejection. Well, I got rejection, and rejection, and rejection. Agents were either non-responsive or sent nice form rejection letters. Then I tried small presses. Same responses. Reject, reject, reject. Finally, an acceptance from Damnation Books for my debut novel, Birth Offering.
            Did academic writing and publishing in scientific journals prepare me for the rigor of fiction? The answer is a general “yes”. Yes, there is a submission process. Yes, there is a review (and rejection) process, and an editing process that often includes major revisions. Unlike fiction review, which is often the decision of one person, research articles undergo a blind review conducted by two to three independent scientists who specialize in similar areas as the author of the manuscript. Reviewers provide their review to the editor of the journal who makes a decision based on the reviews.
            I thought I was immune to the distress of submitting and resubmitting, but alas…no. The more I got into the life of a fiction writer, I wanted to be successful. When it started happening… well then, phew. In all honesty, “successful” in my mind was not financial (that’ll never happen), but turning out stories that people might enjoy. Of course, I was incredibly surprised that not everyone liked horror. Imagine that. What’s the matter with these people?

​My writing has taken multiple forms over the past 30 years. For the first 25 years, my writing has been strictly academic and psychological in content. I’m a university professor and a psychologist, so I was trained to communicate in a stilted professional fashion. That was fine, and I proved to be a better than average writer when it came to empirical research articles for psychology journals and the occasional psychological report (although those days writing the latter were early in my career).  
While writing fiction has always been a dream of mine, I had little time to branch out seriously into this domain. I dabbled every now and again, as far back as the mid-90’s, but didn’t take it up in earnest until five years ago.
When writing a research manuscript, psychologists (and many others) use APA format (APA = American Psychological Association). The format has a distinct style for organizing manuscripts, citing references, displaying figures and tables, and so on. When completed, the author—or more likely authors—submit the manuscript to a journal for blind review. The title page with author names is removed, so the reviewers, who are established experts in the same or related fields, provide critical feedback and recommendations to the editor on whether to accept or reject the manuscript or return the manuscript to the authors for revision. If authors decide to revise the manuscript based on the reviewers comments, then they do exactly that and resubmit it to the journal—where it is sent out again for review.
The process is arduous and the acceptance rate for top-tier journals (and even many mid-tier journals) is low. I have been living this life for nearly 30 years and have gotten used to it. If you have ever heard the phrase “Publish or Perish”, then you have an idea of the stress level. University faculty members only have about 5 or 6 years to generate research which has an impact on their field. That is, they need to establish a track record of a research publication pipeline which includes developing, ongoing, and submitted/published research to justify their employment. If they do not show regular yearly publication of multiple research articles, they are out of a job.
Does this process prepare an individual for other types of writing careers? I’ll talk about that in my next blog.