Tag Archives: series

Review: Perfectly Natural

Posted on by
2

In a world where everything is automated, including parenting, you might not be able to get back control if you give it up. Sounds familiar.

This is an unusual dystopian story. Set in a world that looks beautiful on the outside with shiny buildings, perfect smiling faces, and lovely houses…but when you pull back the set pieces you see the true ugliness underneath.

The mother and father set their child up with Future Babies, a service that allows you to connect your baby to a virtual world with a virtual representation of parents. The child is taught, nurtured, and loved by the virtual parents leaving the real parents time to go back to work.

The parallels to the real world where many parents sit their children in front of a TV or tablet to watch programming instead of interacting with them directly is clear, but there’s a darker undercurrent. Once you relinquish your time with your children and allow others to raise them you loose the ability to truly be a part of their lives. 

A very well done vignette, and well worth the watch.

Advertisement

Birthday Fun

Posted on by
Reply

For my birthday we went to a dinner and a movie. For dinner we had a show, too, since we went to one of the Japanese grills nearby where the chef cooks on the table in front of you. He was really good, and pretty funny. And the food was delicious.

Overall a great day.

This month has been crazy with the second move this year, a published book, and cleaning up and posting a bunch of my artwork on redbubble. But we are getting settled in and I am back to writing again. Onto the next book. I want this one finished in a month! I can do this!

 

 

 

Review: Lost in Space

Posted on by
Reply

I didn’t watch the original Lost in Space TV series, but I did watch the movie that came out a few years ago, and I remember liking it enough. It was a little space adventure movie with some interesting twists and turns in it. I don’t know how much it stuck with the original tv series, but the movie was okay.

So this week we watched the new series on Netflix. Same family; mom, dad and three kids. Same premise of being lost at space. There’s a robot that says “Danger, Will Robinson,” some aliens, and some danger for the family to get out of. But all the details are brand new.

First I’ll give you my over all reaction, no spoilers.

I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy it at all, but I can’t say that I liked it. There were some good scenes.  loved the robot. Beautiful design, nice practical effects mixed in with some CGI (yes, that’s a guy in a suit, that’s why the neck is weird.) The locations (mostly CGI) are beautiful, with wonderful alien atmosphere to them. Each of the main Robinson family, and a couple of the other colonists, have a story arch with some character growth. Some were more profound than others, but at least each of them grew as people.

The science was bad, even for a tv series. I can overlook this most of the time, it is a TV series, after all, but some of the science was really bad. Everything was done for dramatic effect; what can go wrong here? Oh this! And it get’s thrown at the characters for them to survive, even if it doesn’t really make sense. Most of the situations they found themselves in would have been solved early on if people had just been honest with each other. That fact alone was enough to make this series feel like a teen drama (like Pretty Little Liars) which only has tension because of all the secrets and lies the characters have.

And for the biggest problem I had with the entire series; for a family of geniuses they sure do some stupid things. While the youngest has a reason since he has had an overly protective mother since birth, the rest of them, especially the mother, have fewer reasons for their bad actions. This disappointed me because I have come to really love Netflix original content, and this show felt like it fell short of the mark. The writing just wasn’t as good.

On the plus side they did show the problem with the “strong, independent, woman” trope. She kept pushing aside her husband, ignoring his advise (a trained Naval seal who had been in many dangerous places) and undermining him to his children. It wasn’t long before one of the children pointed this out, and she started trying to work with him instead of proving she didn’t need him. When there are difficult situations like war, natural disasters, or being lost in the middle of no where, it takes a team effort to get through things. I thought that part was rather nice. Until she started working with him I kind of hated her as a character.

Overall if you go in not expecting much more than a drama in space then you’ll be fine. But it isn’t hard science, and it isn’t a comedy (though there were a few moments I laughed out loud.) It’s more of a teen drama that follows Murphy’s law on a planet far far away. Still not bad to watch….as long as you know what you’re getting into.

Now for some spoilers beyond the cut:

Continue reading →

What to do, what to do….

Posted on by
Reply

It’s been a week of editing and cleaning things up. Not just the short story and novel I’ve been working on, but also some artwork.

I’ve been doing the second draft for book two in my Half Blood Sorceress series. I’ve been taking a little more time with this one then I did with the Mermaid’s Curse books because there are a lot more characters. The continuity has to be there, which has resulted in a lot of rereading of the first book, and putting together a writers bible for this series about characters, their looks, and their history so I get things right. I’m sure I’m going to miss things still, but I’m going to do my darndest to get at least the plot right. Then off to an editor, of course, to get the grammar/spelling right.

I’ve also been working on a short story, Ghostly Intentions, about a young man who returns to the his childhood home to find a creature inside it. Lots of magic, and a few ghosts to work with. It’s going to be a novella when I’m done.

Then there’s the art. When it get’s too busy at the day job I can’t really write, so I doodle a lot, and some of those doodles become decent drawings. I’ve been working on things to do with them, pins, stickers, prints, etc. I have an etsy here where you can get digital prints, and a redbubble here where you can get some shirts and cups. I’ve even made some pins and charms, but I’m not sure if they are working out well.

The trick has been time management. I have time. I spend a bit of it playing video games, or procrastinating. So what can I do? Well…I have been wanting to stream on twitch more, and I think it’s time I do that. Once a week for a few hours seems reasonable. (It will be Wednesday or Thursday, depending on what’s happening at the time. Twitter will get you the most up to date info.)

Anyway, this is just a quick update. I’m hoping to finish Ghostly Intentions soon to get that out, while still working on the new Half-Blood Sorceress series.

The Half Blood Sorceress

Posted on by
Reply

I got a description from Bryan Cohen the other day, and I thought I’d share it with you. I’ll be working on book two for NaNoWriMo in a couple months. I’ve already written out the plot, and gotten a few chapters in, but that’s okay. I have book three, and four, and five to work on if I need to. The point of NaNoWriMo for me is always to get as many words in as possible.

So, without further adieu, here is the blurb for The Half Blood Sorceress:

A tragedy. A secret. A journey to find the truth…

Sybel watches her mother burn on a funeral pyre. As she copes with her overwhelming grief, she never expects her father to push her into the flames as well. When Sybel survives the pyre without a single burn, she’s banished from the village for reasons she doesn’t understand.

With more questions than answers, Sybel’s only hope is to make a treacherous journey to find the wise mages of Kemore. As evil forces surround her, Sybel needs to fight tooth and nail to stay alive. When the attacks mount and winter approaches, the girl who would not burn must trust in unlikely allies to save her life and discover the truth…

Awaken the Dragon is the first book in a captivating new fantasy series. If you like rich, historical worlds, robust and believable magic, and captivating storytelling, then you’ll love Crissy Moss’ Half Blood Sorceress Series.

Buy Awaken the Dragon to get caught up in the journey today!

Dragons? Where?

Posted on by
Reply

I’ve been really busy the last few weeks plotting and writing the first few chapters of my new series: “The Half-Blood Sorceress.”

I am so excited about this series! I first got the idea back at NorWesCon in the art gallery. I found an artist that had absolutely magnificent work. I mean he does paintings for several of the big publishers, he was that good. And at the bottom of his display was one loan painting. I overheard him talking to someone else about how he just had to paint that one night, even if it hadn’t found a home yet, be he was sure that the right author would come along to give it a story.

“You could write that, you know,” Gregg said.

“No, that covers too awesome for me,” I said, and kept walking.

Three feet down the hall and I looked up at him and said “You suck!”

“See,” he said, “told you that you had a story for that picture.”

Not a story, as it turns out. A whole SERIES! All based on this one painting, or rather the girl depicted there.

Of course, I asked the artist how much it would cost for me to use that as the cover… As it turns out, WAY more than I can afford at the moment. However, this painting is the one I need for book six, so there is still a chance I could do it. I just have to get writing, and see how things work out.

So what is this story about? A half-blood sorceress? What does that even mean?

Well that’s coming, but today I’m going to tell you a little bit about the world. First: a map. I’ve been working on it on and off for a while, but the world has no name yet. I would absolutely love my readers to name this world for me. And no, I won’t be naming it Mappy McMapface, sorry.

Dragon MapWhat should you know about this world? Here there be dragons! Four of them, in fact.

Nyasama – Earth dragon
Anulaer – Air dragon
Ningirsu – Water dragon
Alshadu – Fire dragon

Together, the four dragons created the world, then slept in various places around the new planet. Every now and then the dragons wake and travel about the planet they created in human form, interacting, causing mischief, or doing something extraordinary.

This book isn’t about the dragons, though they do have an influence on the world at large. No, the first book is about Sybel. She finds herself in an awful place in time, watching the mother she loved waste away, and then learning a horrible secret that thrusts her out into a world filled with magic and darkness that she did not know existed.

I am currently seeing how the first book goes. I’m already 14k into the initial writing, and loving the way it’s going. I want to write one book a month, with a month for editing, formatting, etc. I just have to see how I can handle it since I’ve never pushed myself to do something this massive before. I’m only looking at 50k words per book, but I haven’t even gotten a third of the way into this one so I have no idea if that estimate will fly right out the window.

All I know is, I love this world. I love the characters. And I love the story. I’m more passionate about this story than I have been about anything in a couple of years. I want to see it live, and I want others to love it too.

So look for more snippets about the world, and maybe some snippets from the actual novel soon.

I did it!

Posted on by
2

I finished the third, and final novel in the Witch’s Trilogy: Witch’s Stand.

It feels so great to be done with the first part,  the writing. Now I have to re-read the second half and make sure all the pieces fit together before I can send it off to the editor. (I’ve already done this for the first half.)

Now I’m trying to figure out what to write next. I have lots of half finished pieces, or plots that are just waiting for my attention. I also have the Bradbury Challenge that I am doing with Maya and Gerald. I will be taking a short break from writing novels, I think, so that I can finish up the editing on Witch’s Stand and get it out as soon as possible. During that time I have a few short stories to finish, and a couple to polish so I can get them published as well.

Once the novel is off to the editor I have two series to write. One, a continuation of my urban fantasy, Eternal Tapestry. Two, a paranormal mystery series with lots of secrets, weird things balding, and someone out to get them. It should be a lot of fun to write. No idea which I’ll go with first.

It’s a full docket of writing and publishing, but I am so excited! I wrote two books in a year! I didn’t think I could do that. In fact if you include the first one I will have written a novel every six months, plus some short stories. That’s not as insane as other authors I know, but it’s a lot faster than I’ve ever done before.

This gives me encouragement. I’m learning to write faster, and I think better. Time will tell.

I will also be at NorWesCon this month, so if you are going please send me a tweet. I would love to meet you!