Author Interview With Joesph Picard

Happy Friday everyone! This week I caught up with bonkers Canadian born author Joseph Picard...no not Captain Picard...Joseph...nevermind. 

 

Anyway, Joseph spoke to me about his life, how he got into writing and his books including forthcoming title, The Rubberman's Cage. Read on! Joe's humour is infectious and his stories are intriguing. 

 

1) Can you please start by telling us a little about yourself? Where are you from and how did you get into writing?

I was born on the east end of Canada, and have moved a ton of times (more than 20 before I was 16) back and forth before settling down on the west end, in a suburb outside of Vancouver.

I used to write when the whim hit me, for as long as I can remember. I always liked making things that other people can (hopefully!) enjoy. I've done music composition, I've dabbled in groups to create video games, I've put out a lot of art, but a few things got me focused on writing above all other undertakings.

I was struck by a car while cycling to work in 2001, and became a paraplegic. I suddenly had a lot more time. I was also suddenly on some really heavy medication, making dumb ideas look suddenly reasonable. I had slightly improved my art, leading to my favouring some drawings with long descriptions, and they kept piling up, and getting longer. Eventually I decided I had to organize them in my head with a short story about the characters who had been getting drawn so much.

Poof, short story. But I really liked the characters, so poof, sequel. And another. And a prequel. These four stories were edited together to form one book, which eventually became Lifehack. Suddenly the idea of a book wasn't so far out there. And it's just kept going like that.

Also, when I became a father, I knew I had to give up a lot of hobbies for the sake of time. Music and art lost; writing won and now I have two kids. As a stay at home dad, when people ask about writer's block, I can't help but chuckle. People with writer's block have free time. While I'm making lunches, changing diapers, making runs to the school, etc, etc, I have plenty of time to consider the next turn in my current project.

 

2) How many books have your published to date and what genres are they?

Three. Lifehack, Watching Yute, and Echoes of Erebus. They're science fiction and some have been called them "hard" sci-fi, though they're fairly character-based. The three books are a series, though they vary in tone and theme a bit. They all take place in the same country, and deal with the same over-reaching flow of events- nanotechnology, and abusing it to some nasty results, such as zombie-like critters. I took pains to make them all readable separately, though of course some things can be better appreciated if you've read them all. Echoes of Erebus marks the end of the series, and the next book is its own entity.

Oh, and I should mention the recently released "13 Bites". It's a supernatural-themed anthology by 10 authors, and I have two short stories in there. One of them relates to Lifehack, (but can stand alone) and the other is a contemporary story about an office worker who turns to some darker Romani powers to get a little revenge. The rest of 13 Bites is by writers I've met on Facebook, and they range from girzzly to heart-warming.

3) Can you tell us a little more about your latest book? What is the story and what inspired you to write it?

Echoes of Erebus. The hero, Sarah, finds out that her life, and her own mind and body, are a simulation. She finds this out when at the perceived age of 22, her 'father' (reduced to only an A.I.) begins educating her about his crimes from Lifehack. He intends to do something good, to create her as something positive to put into the world. He builds her a body, (mostly out of dead fish,) using nanotechnology, and guides her in his own way to find a place in the world. To do this, he moves his mind into a corner of her brain to keep her company. ('Helicopter' parenting much??) Despite early successes in making friends and getting a job, difficulties arise because she's made out of technologies that have been strictly banned. Similar technology is still being abused, linked to gruesome pit fights, and a variety of massacres.

And there's a friendly lizard.

4) Are you an independent published or a traditional one? What made you decide to take that route and would you recommend it?

Indie. When Lifehack was coming together, I researched traditional publishing and found that I could submit to my favourite 50 publishers-  in various formats, some double spaced, some single spaced, some 1.5 spaced, some 1.354536 spaced, some on tapioca coloured paper, some want the whole thing, some want the first chapter, some want chapters 2, 3, and 7, some wanted a kidney, blah blah blah,.. all of them on paper back then, no one wanted a file...then mail them off! Then wait up to a year before hearing if any of them even received it! No thanks! So, indie it was to be. The plusses and minuses are many but so far I haven't been tempted to go over to traditional for any future projects.

5) Have you got anything new that you are currently working on?

Yup! I'm half way through Rubberman's Cage. The protagonist "Lenth", lives in an apartment-sized environment with three "brothers". They have no idea that there's an outside world, and very little understanding that other people exist. And no idea what a woman is. They have a room where they work a job with an unknown purpose, they eat the same cakey-things every day, lock themselves in cuffs to sleep, and the silent, rubber-suited person in the ceiling electrocutes them when they don't do what they're supposed to. And this is what normal is. Always has been. Until one of them dies, and Lenth starts to wonder. He ends up exploring above the Rubberman, in places he didn't know existed, meeting people with different ideas of where they are, why, or how things are supposed to be.

And they're all wrong.

 

Joseph can be found on Facebook here and his website can be found here.

Cloud Atlas Movie Review

This week I finally got around to watching Cloud Atlas, a mash-mash of six individual movies thrown together to tell one overarching storyline. The screenplay was based on the David Mitchell book of the same name and was written in part by the revolutionary film makers behind The Matrix - the Wachowskis.

What makes Cloud Atlas different from other films is that it tells six seemingly unrelated stories over different times that ultimately tie together into one. We have Edinburgh in the First World War, a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by tribes and Seoul in a high-tech neon future thrown into the mix. Or in other words; Shaft, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Fifth Element, a desert lacking version of Mad Max and other ripped off movies. I will admit that I liked Cloud Atlas. The sets and visual effects were well done - especially in futuristic Neo Seoul. Yet altogether it did not quite work.

The point of the film was simple; we are all connected, both to the people who came before us and those who will come after us. What happens to those people and what happens to us is affected by decisions made in the past and ones yet to come. The only problem is the film didn’t need to spend more than two and a half hours explaining this when the concept became clear within the first half hour. Also some of the stories, while linked, are so loosely connected that they ultimately feel like pointless padding.

The constant lurching between different plots also makes it difficult for any character development. There were some good set-ups early on, like the nuclear power threat or a mysterious key one of the characters carries with him as all times. But these never mounted to anything. These could have easily been taken much further and tied the stories closer together.

When it was released a lot of critics praised Cloud Atlas for being a brave piece of film making, others went as far to say that it would redefine cinema. Brave, yes. Defining, no. The cast and crew did well weaving six completely different genres of story together but the film failed to deliver any ideas I’ve not heard or seen before. Just because you stitched six movies together into one does not mean it’s a masterpiece. The same effect can be achieved by channel hopping to random programmes on my TV.

The Thursday Takeover: With Author Genevieve Dewey Heaston

Happy Thursday all! This week, I'm introducing a new feature to my blog called the Thursday Takeover. There will be more coming on a regular basis in the coming weeks. They will feature some of the best selling independent authors out there as well as aspiring ones. Here authors can promote their works in anyway they see fit. If you're interested in a future spot, please leave a comment or send me an email. Without further ado, I hand you over to the wonderful Genevieve Dewey Heaston.

THIRD TIME'S THE CHARM

The Downey Trilogy #3

Adult Contemporary Fiction: Family Drama/Romantic Suspense

Once to Begin, Twice to Bind, and Third Time’s The Charm…

Of all the things Mickey Downey has accomplished in his life, successfully quitting his vices is the one thing he hasn't been able to master. For the first time Mickey is free to have both Mary and Tommy in his life, yet he's never been closer to being pulled back into the criminal world. While Tommy, Ginny and James work overtime to expose a nefarious plot threatening all of them, Kiki and Maeve Downey are hatching their own plots to make Mickey’s dreams come true. With shenanigans afoot in every aspect of Mickey’s life, he may be forced to pick up the weapons he promised Mary he would leave behind in order to protect his children. Can Mary finally accept he might never truly be free of it or will Mickey’s enemies once again succeed in tearing them apart?

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It is necessary to read First, I Love You (Downey #1) and Second of All (Downey #2) prior to reading Third Time's The Charm.

And now, An EXCLUSIVE (never before seen) excerpt from Third Time's The Charm:

When her gaze finally lifted to his, his face was blank. The only emotion vaguely present was resignation. The same little devil that had prompted her to invite him to supper with Jack and Claire on her last visit took over. She lifted her chin. “I’ll stay with you. Ten minutes for every question you answer truthfully.” “Why? So you can act outraged again and run away?” “Run away?” Mary’s heart was running so fast in her chest her ribs actually ached. “I’m not running away. And I’ve a right to be upset with what you’ve told me.” His eyebrows contracted faintly but he continued to stare at her blankly. She walked forward and grabbed the box from his hands. She knew it was his surprise at the action more than anything that had him letting loose. “These are mine. You meant them for me. You might want to lie to yourself they were meant for you, but the lying to me stops today. Now,” Mary finished firmly. She ignored the slightly outraged, stunned look on his face and marched towards the door. “You want to know the truth, Mary?” She turned back around at the marked anger in his voice. He had only rarely been angry with her. They had fought like cats and dogs that last year they were together but he had always fought with a detached sort of disdain and condescension, only rarely with anger. He stood up slowly, his eyes burning, nostrils flaring. “Well, here’s the truth, Mary, and don’t go crying because it’s not what you wanted to hear. I’m as sick of that as you are of the lies. The truth is I didn’t want to retire. Not the first time, not this last time, not ever. I moved mountains to try and be with you and Tommy and it didn’t work. Then I asked you what would work and did that, and all it’s done is put all of us at risk, and you’re still playing games. Tormenting me.” “Tormenting you!” “Yes, Goddamn it! Dates, conditions, games. Here’s some more truth, Mary. I hate being retired. I hate relying on Carlo and the fucking cops and I hate being good. I miss the rush of making money, being in charge, breaking the law. Is that enough truth for you? When will it be enough sacrifices for you? When are you going to sacrifice something for me?” Mary thought maybe it was the trembling from her emotions but it took her several seconds to really grasp he’d said that. She continued to stand there for a full minute. How could he be so clueless? “Sacrifice? Are you serious? I sacrificed my entire life to be your mistress. The first four years of our child’s life were spent living a lie. I sacrificed the joy of a family unit, I raised our son alone.” “By choice.” “I have been alone because I couldn’t risk anyone finding out who his father really was! I sacrificed my young and pretty years on the RUN! I sacrificed finding love and having a real family, having more children. Now I’m a dumpy middle aged woman with a grown man for a son. I just sold the home I worked myself to the bone to earn to move here! I sacrificed everything!”

~~~

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About the Author:

www.GenevieveDewey.com

(Get missing scenes and supplemental flash fiction!)

Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Goodreads ~ Pinterest ~ Google+ ~ YouTube ~ Amazon

Genevieve Dewey is the author of The Downey Trilogy and the Downey spinoff short romances featuring Katelyn & Dominic (The Bird Day Battalion and The V-Day Aversion). She is a wife, mother, sister, friend and Anthropologist. She is also an unapologetic lover of chocolate, bourbon, high heels, guns, and spending hours getting lost in research. Gen lives in Nebraska with her husband and three children. Her books include:

The Downey Trilogy First, I Love You Second of All Third Time’s The Charm Short Romances The Bird Day Battalion (Free everywhere!) The V-Day Aversion Coming Soon The Good Life ( A Dom & Kate Novel)

Rubber Movie Review

Happy Friday everyone! It’s time for another film review this week, but to be honest this is probably the strangest I have ever reviewed. 

This week I have been watching Quentin Dupieux’s 2010 box office flop, Rubber. So what’s the premise you ask? It’s about a tyre that kills people. Seriously. This tyre comes to life and kills people by using its psychic powers. Now you’re probably wondering why any studio ever agreed to make such a film. The answer? I have absolutely no idea. They must have been smoking something illegal. 

But as strange as it sounds, it is not actually a bad film. Now before you think I’ve been smoking something too, I’ll explain why. The film opens with a sheriff climbing out of the boot of a car and addressing the camera. In this introduction, actor Stephen Spinella explains that cinema history is filled with examples of things that happened for no reason, for example, like why ET was brown coloured - there’s no reason for this. He explains that Rubber is a homage to these random moments in cinema history. With that set-up, the killer tyre’s rampage begins. 

Rubber is obviously not a film to be taken seriously but at the same time it’s not hilarious either. I thought it would have gone further to make fun of other classic film moments or genres, but it fails to capitalise on these. That’s very disappointing after the “get out of jail card” it gave itself at the beginning. 

There’s also a strange subplot going on where the sheriff tells other characters half way the film that none of what they are doing is real. There is also a group of people “outside the film” as it were, though on site, watching the movie through binoculars at a distance. The film cuts regularly to these people, but as to the ultimate purpose of both ideas, the movie offers no answers. It’s not funny, it’s just confusing. 

Rubber was interesting. I would not say good but nor would I say it was bad either. If it had been funnier then I think it would have been much more positively received. 

It gets 4/10.

From Up on Poppy Hill Review

From Up on Poppy Hill is a 2011 Japanese anime produced by the world famous Studio Ghibli. Chances are you will probably have seen films produced by the movie studio without realising it even if you are not an anime fan (thinks Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, Ponyo).

I’m not a big anime fan myself but like previous movies by the studio, From Up on Poppy Hill has a way of connecting with audiences the world over despite cultural differences. The movie is set in the Pork of Yokohama, in 1960s Japan and tells the story of the blossoming romance between 16-year-old Umi and classmate, Shun.

The story is very gentle and is a departure from previous works by Studio Ghibli which all include some form of magic, spirits or monsters. From Up on Poppy Hill features none of this magic that made the studio famous, opting to tell a simple love story instead. While a little slow in places the film is visually stunning. It’s drawn in the same colourful and detailed style as its predecessors and is a treat to the eye. In an age where most cartoon films are drawn entirely on computer, the artists at Studio Ghibli have shown they can still surpass this with a traditional, entirely hand-drawn movie.

Also rather uniquely to a Studio Ghibli film From Up on Poppy Hill has some musical numbers thrown into the mix as well. I was not keen on this myself but then I am not a big fan of musicals anyway, but it is nice to see the studio try new things.

I give it 6/10.

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A Dance with Dragons Review

After what seemed like an eternity I finally finished A Dance with Dragons, which is the sixth book in George RR Martin’s epic fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire. Or to bring this down to a broader cultural understanding for those who haven’t read the books: Game of Thrones. 

If you have never read the novels or watched the show then maybe you should go put the kettle on and have a nice cup of tea…are they gone? Then we’ll continue. A Dance with Dragons takes off where A Feast For Crows finished. But unlike A Feast For Crows it was not nearly 800 pages of filler. Basically Crows spent more of its time following the misadventures of minor characters the series has never shown an interest in before and suddenly decided that they deserve a whole book for some reason. While that’s not to say nothing of any importance happened in the book that was essentially to the overall plot, those golden nugget moments were very few and far between.

A Dance with Dragons once more focused on the main characters and their continuing adventures. Tyrion Lannister, having fled King’s Landing is roped into some mysterious quest to the other side f the world while Daenerys Targaryen sets up home in the desert city of Mereen. Jon Snow has to contend with the reality of a shortage of rangers to defend The Wall and Bran Stark finally meets the mysterious three eyed crow that has been plaguing him through dreams for the last six books. 

There is a game changer this time round, resulting in probably the best twist in the series so far (which I will not spoil here). This very easily makes A Dance with Dragons the best in the series to date.

As usual the story sucks you in, with events running in tandem across Westeros and other parts of the world. As ever George RR Martin’s characters are memorable and on form.

The only critique I have is that once again, another war is looming within the pages of the book. After six books of other wars and scuffles, I kind of feel I’ve had my belly full. There are a lot of new locations visited in the book and some great revelations along the way but I do feel the series is starting to run out of steam a bit now.