The Way of the Dragon

Posted on April 23, 2018 by Declan Finn

Well, my first post on the Dragon awards was “Enter The Dragon,” and I tripped over film on DVR recently, so I found the title for this post.

However, a quick reminder before we do the Dragons…

Yeah, this one is still here, and all votes must be in by the end of April

This one is a book blogger’s award. They have two categories: short and long. Click on this link for the instructions on how to vote from your blog onto their award.

But yeah, if you have a blog and write about books, knock yourselves out.

…. Come to think of it, I should probably vote for this as well. Oops.

This year, Good to the Last Drop, book four of my Love at First Bite series is nominated.

It’s going to be interesting. I don’t know an awful lot about the award. And, since the book was pulled for rerelease by Silver Empire, campaigning would be odd. I don’t think my publisher would appreciate me handing out ARCs of the book before he gets to edit a new version.

Oh, and while I think about it, I’m also up against Nick Cole and Robert Kroese. So, I’m going to need all the help I can get.

Once again, votes are due in at the end of April. If you have a book blog, time to vote. If you don’t have a book blog … now might be the time to start one.

Continue reading →

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The Final Stand

Posted on April 19, 2018 by Declan Finn
It’s occurred to me that I haven’t written a lot about the writing of A Pius Stand: A Global Thriller, even though it came out for rerelease this month. Looking back over my blog, I never really discussed the construction of the novel the first time through, either. As I tend to write more about writing than anything else (after all, I will only discuss politics if I’m pissed off) I’m a little surprised.As Stand is book three of a trilogy, there are, of course, some spoilers.

When I first started on The Pius Trilogy, my thought process was fairly linear. The solution was cui bono: who benefits? In the case of A Pius Man, who benefits from destroying the Catholic church? I can come up with a list of nation states, a few dozen dictators, and every Left-wing organization in America, and that’s before I even start writing the fiction. In choosing the villains for book one, Russian mercenaries with old Soviet ties felt right — jihadis aren’t organized enough for what I had in mind, and Russians have just the right level of Byzantine thinking. And after 80 years of old Nazis being the only acceptable villains, I think it’s time that someone looks at the Soviets as actual bad guys for a change.

Continue reading →

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Ironing out A Wrinkle in time

Posted on April 18, 2018 by Declan Finn

The novel A Wrinkle in Time is a classic of children’s literature. Perhaps the proper new term is “Young Adult,” but, as with Narnia, they are books probably too good for children. In my estimation, while they are not Narnia or Middle Earth, author Madeleine L’Engle is right underneath, if not side-by-side with, CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien.

It is the story of Meg Murray and her little brother Charles Wallace, and the search for their father, a scientist who vanished. Joining them is the popular kid in school, Calvin O’Keefe as well as Weird Sisters (TM, Will Shakespeare) Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who, and Mrs Which. These three are older women — one as very old, one as plump, and one as a ball of shimmering light / traditional Margaret Hamilton.

To find their father, Meg and Charles must travel to an alien world via folding space and time (hence a “Wrinkle”), fight an IT that makes Stephen King’s alien clown look like …. a clown… and his henchman, a man with glowing red eyes who looks like Satan’s understudy.  There’s good versus evil, saving those you love, sometimes through the power of love, and while there are Christian themes, if they didn’t bother you in Narnia and Tolkien, they won’t bother you here — assuming you even notice as you’re reading.

Continue reading →

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The Planetary Awards are in

Posted on April 17, 2018 by Declan Finn

So, the Planetary Awards are in for the best SFF stories of 2017.  Anyone who has a blog, podcast, or YouTube account can vote. Which is most of the people I know, come to think of it.

Short Stories / Novellas
  • “Acadie” by Dave Hutchinson
  • “The Bitten Body” by AC Spahn
  • “Death on the Moon” by Spencer Hart, found in Cirsova issue #6
  • “The First American” by Schuyler Hernstrom, found in Cirsova issue #5
  • “The Pilot” by Andrew Mayne, found in Predator: If It Bleeds
  • “Trouble in an Hourglass” by Jody Lynn Nye, found in Straight Outta Tombstone
Kneejerk reaction?  Jody, hands down.
If other people, who read this blog want another suggestion? …. it’s a tie between the two Cirsovas.
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“Annihilation” and My Spiritual Journey

Posted on March 30, 2018 by Andy

Tess-Thompson-and-Gina-Rodriguez-in-Annihilation

About halfway through Lent, I decided to check out a new sci-fi horror film called Annihilation, which follows a group of scientists on an expedition into a mysterious “shimmer” that has already swallowed up multiple military teams. It’s an excellent film with the best cinematography I’ve seen in sci-fi since Arrival (which admittedly wasn’t that long ago) and a superb main cast (including Tessa Thompson in a role I only recognized during the closing credits). This isn’t a review, though. My review is “good movie, check it out”, whereas this post…is more of a discussion of some things I took out of Annihilation.

Content Advisory: blood, violence, body-horror gore, briefly-depicted sex scene with nudity, depiction of suicide

I’ll be discussing specific details from the movie, including spoilers, so I highly recommend that you watch before reading, particularly because it’ll help give you context for many of the things I discuss.


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Steel Yourself for the Live-Action Fullmetal Alchemist

Posted on March 24, 2018 by Andy

Live action version of Fullmetal Alchemist character Maes Hughes

As you might expect, I approached Netflix’s live-action version of Fullmetal Alchemist with some trepidation. Sure, it’s far from my favorite anime, but a guy can worry. After all, there’s not exactly a stellar track record for live-action versions of anime. Well, the American ones, anyhow. Fortunately, this adaptation was handled entirely in Japan, so maybe there was a chance this would be good? Continue reading →

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Catholic Geek Lecture on the Hero’s Journey

Posted on March 22, 2018 by Matthew Bowman

This Saturday (yes, it’s short notice; sorry about that), I’ll be giving an online lecture through the Catholic Writers Guild. The topic is on the Hero’s Journey, a concept invented and popularized by Joseph Campbell. Here’s the blurb:

March 24 – 7:00 p.m. EST
Writing the Hero’s Journey
Presenter: Matthew Bowman
A look at the “Hero’s Journey Format,” based on the work of Joseph Campbell; why it works with the audience, why it’s so prone to failure, and how to adapt it for your own story.

To sign up, you can click on this shiny and well-crafted link. Admission is very affordable: $8 for CWG members, and $10 for non-members. All you need is a device capable of loading AnyMeeting software, which at most means a browser plugin that you can delete later.

I give a lot of convention lectures, but this is the best chance you’ll have of getting to listen to one of them for a whole year, unless you’re going to be at AwesomeCon next week or you’re a student at Christendom College — or if the Guild has me back before then, which in part depends on the success of their new online lecture program. So drop by, have a listen, and see what else they have to offer.

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To the Stars: a Quick Take on “The Expanse”

Posted on February 23, 2018 by Andy

Cover spread for the novel "Caliban's War"; features a spaceship in orbit over a world

This series has been on my radar for a while, despite my not knowing very much about it, other than the fact that it was a TV series on SyFy. I eventually got around to watching the first season, and shortly thereafter, I found out that it was adapted from a book series. Naturally, I had to investigate. What did the two versions look like? Would I find one to be more compelling than the other? Well, uh, spoiler alert–I quickly plowed through six books of the series, so that should already give you some idea.

The Expanse (the official title of the entire book series, also used as the show’s title) is a gritty near-future sci-fi story that deals with politics, the harsh realities of space exploration, and glimpses into the great unknown. Mars has been colonized (and is slowly undergoing terraforming), the Asteroid Belt is populated with miners who grew up in low gravity, and Earth is striving to maintain a grasp on the solar system, which gets increasingly more difficult as humankind expands (I PROMISE THAT WASN’T A PUN) across the Solar System. Now toss in one of the most naive-and-noble characters in all of literature, and watch the fireworks. Continue reading →

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Love at First Bite, DOA on Monday

Posted on February 15, 2018 by Declan Finn
Dang, this has been a busy week. Venus came out this week. A Pius Stand came backthis week. I almost forgot to mention what was going away next week.
Just a friendly reminder, but my Dragon Award nominated series Love at First Bite will be temporarily off the shelves as of this Monday, February 19th. Please remember, my friend and publisher Russell Newquist will be rereleasing them over the summer.

There are several good reasons to buy these books. First and foremost being that Silver Empire may not release them in paperback. I’m sure you’re thinking “Duh, why would they? No one buys hard copies anymore.”  Well, I do, and so do some of my readers. So if you care about such things, you should probably grab them why you can.

Not to mention that Silver Empire will be redoing the covers. So, as of Monday, these will all be collector’s editions.

Finally … well, the Dragon awards for 2018 are open for voting. If you’ve voted for the previous editions to make it to the Dragon awards, and want to read Good to the Last Drop before it becomes unavailable, this is your last shot.

Continue reading →

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New Planetary Anthology: Venus

Posted on February 13, 2018 by Declan Finn
Planetary: Venus by [Freeman, A. M. , Hallquist, David, Brumley, Bokerah , Antonelli, Lou , Foster, Monalisa , Willett, Edward , Burnett, Misha , Finn, Declan , St Aubin, Margot, Witzke, Dawn ]

So, here we are again, yet another volume from Superversive’s Planetary Anthology series is out: Venus.

To start with, yes, I’m in this one…

Why?

What am I doing in this one? Venus is about romance and lovey dovey stuff. When I announced that I was editing the volume on the Moon, I had several people joke that my editorial notes will focus on “Where are the explosions!?”

…. Which hasn’t happened…. Yet. I’m not Michael Bay, after all. I have plots.

Continue reading →

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Call for Submissions: Planetary Anthoogy: The Moon

Posted on February 5, 2018 by Declan Finn

Superversive Press has a series of Planetary Anthologies. Each one revolved around the theme of each planet.

… And they’re doing 11 anthologies. One for the sun, and another for the moon.

The Moon anthology is now holding an open submission for any and all stories.

Insert obligatory “That’s no moon! That’s a space station!” joke here.

The theme for the moon will be relatively straightforward and obvious: dreams and illusions, despair and madness, isolation.

You know, all of that fun stuff.

Stories should be between 3,000 and 8,000 words. Stories should center on themes of those mentioned above. You want someone going crazy during the full moon? Go for it. (Also see: Hollywood Moon by Joseph Wambaugh).  Want the last man standing from a mission to the dark side of the moon? It can be done (See: Rod Serling). Do you to write want a man who’s crazy enough to believe he’s a Middle Earth elf, but is the only thing standing between an astronomer and a legion of hit men out to kill her? You can’t. I’ve already written it.

These are just ideas I’m throwing out there. The themes listed need not be specifically the primary plot, just part of the story.

Any genre is allowed, though science fiction and fantasy in any of the traditional forms is preferred.

Remember that this is Superversive press. There should be stories that speak to heroic aspects of man; man as he can be, not as he all too often is. The stories should to the reader’s soul. Make the reader yearn for the life that he ought to live. Nihilistic drivel need not apply.

Think this is difficult for a theme that revolves around madness and despair? Depends on the madness.

As Man of La Mancha put it:

When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams — this may be madness. To seek treasure where there is only trash. Too much sanity may be madness — and maddest of all: to see life as it is, and not as it should be!

Go out and do me proud. Why? Because I’m the editor.

Cut off date for submissions is April 1, 2018. The date may be extended depending on quality of submissions.

Send submissions to: planetaryantho@superversivesf.com

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Book Awards Season, 2018

Posted on January 29, 2018 by Declan Finn
If you’re like me, you’re a little weary of posts about awards. Though I’m of the persuasion where I ignore everything but book awards, and I still ignore most of those.
This will be a quick reminder for those out in the wide world of the Internet that there are several interesting awards up for the taking, and you might want to try them, because fans of Geekdom can chose the winner.
This will be only a preliminary list, one that I hope will serve to start discussion. In part because there are several awards that need more attention, and in part because there are books that I think deserve attention.

Anyway, a quick look at what’s coming.

So, first….

This one is solely a book blogger’s award. They have two categories: short and long. Click on the above link for the instructions.

But if you have a blog and write about books, knock yourselves out.

I have only two books from last year that qualify, I think: Live and Let Bite and Good to the Last Drop, books three and four of Love at First Bite.

Yes, I only released two books last year. Everything else was in a short story collection.

Also recall that Richard Paolinelli’s Escaping Infinity came out last year. As did Another Girl, Another Planet. And Starship Grifters book 2, Aye, Robot, Jon’s For Steam and Country, as well as Jagi’s latest Rachel Griffin Novel. There’s even Karl Gallagher’s Torchship Captain, book three of his trilogy.

Though JD Cowan has already put Drop up for this award. Who knew?

The really important thing though? If you are a book blogger, you need to have your nomination in by February 14th, 11:59 PM US Pacific time.

That’s TWO WEEKS FROM WEDNESDAY. If you have a book blog, get cracking.

Continue reading →

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Review: The Torchship Trilogy

Posted on January 25, 2018 by Declan Finn

Imagine, if you will, a Firefly that did not suck… and that it is written by David Weber, before Weber’s world became Game of Starships with 500 characters you can’t remember.

 

A captain who’ll take any job if there’s enough money in it.

A pilot with an agenda of her own.

And a mechanic with an eye on the pilot.

The crew of the Fives Full are just trying to make enough money to keep themselves in the black while avoiding the attention of a government so paranoid it’s repealed Moore’s Law. They’re not looking for adventure in the stars . . . but they’re not going to back down just because something got in their way.

We cover five missions / stories, but they all build on each other. The opening deals with a bunch of tourists … which turns into a cat and mouse chase among asteroids, a shoot out, and some additional SCIENCE!
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Signal Boost, Planetary Anthology: Mercury

Posted on January 16, 2018 by Declan Finn
Superversive Press has come out with the FIRST of its new Planetary Anthology series: Mercury.

As the flap says

Continue reading →

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A New Pius Deal and the Return of A Pius Legacy

Posted on January 9, 2018 by Declan Finn
A Pius Legacy: A Political Thriller (The Pius Trilogy Book 2) by [Finn, Declan]

Right now, A Pius Man, book one of The Pius Trilogy is out for $.99 on Kindle (free on Kindle Unlimited).

Most importantly, A Pius Legacy is now out for preorder.

For those who are new here, The Pius Trilogy is the Catholic answer to Dan Brown– only I have facts instead of fantasy, footnotes instead of vague assertions of historical accuracy, and stories that are not only ripped from the headlines, but ahead of the headlines.

In A Pius Man, seven strangers came together to kick ass and take names in a battle against those who would destroy the Catholic church, and any who supported them.

In A Pius Legacy, we deal with blowback. There are messes to clean up, airplane hangars to reconstruct, legal affairs to sort, a case to be made to the UN, men to bury, and bullet holes to patch.

When the case in “international law” is turned around, and old lies come back to haunt our heroes, they must once again hold the line against the forces of darkness that threaten to overwhelm all they fought for in APM.

 Then the Pope is kidnapped, and the fun really begins.

So, get A Pius Man now, and finish it by the time your preorder of A Pius Legacy comes out.

 

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A Review of The Last Jedi

Posted on January 7, 2018 by Declan Finn

The reviews on The Last Jedi range from “IT’S THE BEST THING EVA!!!” To “IT”S WORSE THAN THE PREQUELS!!”
Yeah… no.

My first real problem with The Last Jedi was when I heard that The Force Awakens had to have its ending redone and cut short (Didn’t you wonder why Mark Hamill had no lines?) because it conflicted with the opening of The Last Jedi.

Yes, you read that right, the endings conflicted. Because one follows hot on the heels of The Force Awakens. No time passes. At all. Did anyone even read the script for the first movie before making the next?

I think the answer is… no. Major threads that came up in the midst of The Force Awakens are cut abruptly, characters that have been built up with backstory (and even a whole novel in one case) are obliterated.

Continue reading →

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The Roots of Christmas Traditions: From Pagan or Not From Pagan?

Posted on January 5, 2018 by Olivia Bushey

I heard the term solitise tree a few weeks before Christmas and irked me. Soon afterwards I fell into conversation with a few co-workers about the holiday. What really got me was the consensus of the group that was chit-chatting agreed with the idea that most, if not all, Christmas traditions were originally pagan. I, too, had heard of this but I had never given it much thought until this interaction. 

pagan-idol

Well, this happened.

So, is Christmas itself pagan? Did we try to hijack the winter holiday away from them?

To answer this let us go over some of the more common claims/accusations/theories/what-have-you one by one. And since it’s still the Christmas Season I’m gonna do it!

Continue reading →

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The Catholic Geek: The Last Closet, by Moira Greyland 12/17

Posted on December 14, 2017 by Declan Finn

//percolate.blogtalkradio.com/offsiteplayer?hostId=533877&episodeId=10462525

The Catholic Geek show returns this Sunday, with host Declan Finn interviewing Moira Greyland Peat, the author of The Last Closet.

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[Guest Post] Rogue One: A Catholic Story

Posted on December 14, 2017 by Matthew Bowman

The following guest post comes from Robert Towne, a member of the massive Catholic Geeks group on Facebook. (No, that isn’t our group. Yes, we predate it. Yes, I answer these questions a lot.) What with the premiere of the latest Star Wars movie this week, I asked Robert to expand on comments he’d made in that group about the applicability of Rogue One, truly the best Star Wars film since the original trilogy, has for a Catholic audience. Robert delivered this weeks ago, but I delayed posting it until this week solely because of timing.

Needless to say, this article contains massive spoilers for Rogue One. If you haven’t seen it, I highly encourage you to drop what you’re doing, head over to Netflix or your local DVD repository of choice, and watch it. This article will still be here when you get back. It’s not a perfect movie, but it’s closer than we might expect. This article talks about one facet of why.

Star_Wars,_Rogue_One

ROGUE ONE: A CATHOLIC STORY

-By Robert Towne

In a matter of weeks, we will be flocking to the theatres to witness a new chapter in a galaxy far, far away. But today I would like to discuss another recent entry into the Star Wars saga. Having seen “Rogue One” quite a few times over the last year, I can’t help but think of it as the most Catholic of Star Wars films.

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Avengers: #InfinityWarTrailer

Posted on November 29, 2017 by Declan Finn
Time to take a look at what next big thing Marvel has in store for us.

Okay, we’re going to open with a bit of recap to Avengers 1…

Continue reading →

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