tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89034501989700401322024-02-18T19:57:38.306-08:00Victor MethosThe blog of Victor Methos.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903450198970040132.post-37719344954227181342014-12-17T09:28:00.001-08:002015-01-03T16:25:24.953-08:00What's It Like to be a Homicide Detective?<br />
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As a criminal defense attorney, my dealings with homicide detectives are always in opposition. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if there's some homicide detectives that hate me. My job is to attack their case, attack their credibility, and their knowledge, in defense of someone that very likely committed the crime in exactly the manner the detective is on the stand describing. So homicide detectives, and FBI agents when I'm in federal court, and I have a complicated relationship.<br />
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But, most of the books I write deal with FBI agents and homicide detectives chasing down the most sick and depraved killers I can think of. So it's interesting for me to read how others view the detectives, and to craft an objective view of them.<br />
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And I think I do have a more objective view than most, because I've seen both sides of the good and evil perpetrated by the boys in blue.<br />
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Most of the detective novels I've read paint homicide detectives (and police in general) as saviors of the human race that can do no wrong. Well, sorry, but that ain't reality. The reality is that I've had detectives and police officers fabricate evidence to get convictions against people that pissed them off, I've seen them abuse inmates and detainees on videos I later obtained, and yes, I've seen them hurt and even kill people. In fact, at a recent preliminary hearing, we asked an officer if he had ever been disciplined. He stated no, then thought about it a second longer, and then said, "Well, I'm under investigation for rape. I guess that counts."<br />
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Seriously? He had to think about it and then said he "guessed" being under investigation for rape qualified as discipline? We sued the department and the county/city to get our hands on the findings of this investigation. Rather than give it to us, the county/city dismissed the case against our client entirely. A scary thought that they let our client go so they wouldn't have to release the results of a rape investigation against one of their officers.<br />
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But, some of the best people I know are police officers, too. People that put themselves in danger to help others selflessly.<br />
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It's like any other profession: there are good ones, and there are bad ones. And you have to take the good with the bad. Detectives may have a skewed view of us defense attorneys as well, but they have to simply take the same stance. There's good and bad in every profession. And the detectives have to understand that defense attorneys are the common citizen's only defense against an overzealous, powerful government (anyone that's had to deal with the IRS knows how scary government can be).<br />
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But what's it like to walk in a homicide detective's shoes? Here's an interview with a nearly thirty year veteran of the LAPD robbery-homicide squad. I would recommend checking out the full film <i>One-Eight-Seven</i> as well.<br />
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<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/video/archive/2014/01/the-life-of-a-los-angeles-homicide-detective/282960/">www.theatlantic.com/video/archive/2014/01/the-life-of-a-los-angeles-homicide-detective/282960/</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903450198970040132.post-81793293171947373602014-06-26T19:21:00.000-07:002015-01-03T16:26:29.303-08:00Marketing for Authors<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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By far the bulk of my emails from the public still relate to how I sell my books. I wouldn't quite consider myself an expert, but I have sold somewhere around half a million books (I say <i>somewhere</i> because I haven't calculated it precisely) so I suppose I'm more of an expert than the droves of hacks out there looking to steal author's money with "secret promotional strategies <i>they</i> don't want you to know about." Just check out the Facebook ads by these snake oil salesmen and you'll see what I mean.</div>
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Well, to quote Princess Bride, "Life is pain. Anyone that tells you different is selling something."<br />
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There is no magic bullet to marketing. It takes a lot of work to sell books and sacrifices of time and money. But, as always, I'm happy to share what I've learned so far. Here are five tips for those of you looking to make your mark as authors:<br />
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1. Write a Series<br />
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I'm surprised by the number of people that contact me for advice and have only written standalone thrillers. Standalone thrillers are fun to write (I've written at least a dozen), but if you're looking for sheer sales, you have to create a series around a popular character. I've created five: Jon Stanton, Mickey Parsons, Sarah King, Brigham Theodore, and Baudin & Dixon (new series that hasn't been released yet). Why so many? Because I monitor my sales figures closely and it's clear that the people that buy the first in the series are the ones buying the second and third. In some cases, almost to the number (for example, in my Plague Trilogy, the first and second book sell only a few books difference from each other each month).<br />
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But just because you have fans in one series, doesn't mean they'll jump over to another of your series. So you have to write several books in each series. Sorry, but unless you have a standalone that just takes off (which is about as likely as winning the lottery) you're going to have to write a series.<br />
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2. Publish as Often as You Are Able<br />
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Again, rather simple rule that isn't followed that often by authors. Your readers don't want to wait forever. They'll move on to other things; books, video games, Netflix, Amazon Prime, iTunes and Pandora, the movies and network television are all vying for your reader's attention. So if you think they're gonna wait two or three years while you write book two in your trilogy, forget it. They will have forgotten all about you by then.<br />
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So you want to dedicate yourself to writing. Treat it seriously. It's a difficult art and every page you write is your soul bleeding on the page a little bit. It deserves better than 'I'll just write on the weekends' or 'I'll write when inspiration hits.'<br />
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You should write every day, for a set amount and not stop until you hit your goal. It doesn't really matter what that goal is. Some of my author friends write 500 words a day, and some write 10,000. Doesn't matter; the point is they are writing and consistently putting out new work. You have to do the same.<br />
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3. Try to Spread Your Works to as Many Readers as Possible<br />
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This is a tough one. It was recommended not too long ago to put your book on every platform: Kindle, Nook, Apple, Kobo etc. But Amazon has so dominated the market, it may not be worth your while to publish on those other platforms and forgo the benefits of being an Amazon exclusive author (which include higher royalties in some countries, better promotional opportunities etc).<br />
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<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/25/barnes_and_noble_to_jettison_nook/">Here's a piece</a> that came out a couple days ago stating that Barnes & Noble is losing so much money on the Nook they're kicking it out of their company and staring a new company. Why are they doing this? My guess is so that, on paper, their parent company keeps looking like they're not losing the enormous amount of money they are losing every quarter (I predicated recently that Barnes & Noble would be out of business in a year and it looks like my predication is on the right path).<br />
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But, given all this, I know there are droves of authors who swear they make more money on B&N or even Kobo than Amazon. I don't see how this is possible since those platforms are likely rigged against authors (Hugh Howey had an excellent piece on his blog months ago where multiple bestselling authors said their books were selling thousands of copies a day and never got past #128 on the B&N bestsellers list because they were indie authors and not with the big publishing houses that have deals with B&N).<br />
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So experimentation might be for you and you can try the different platforms all at once and compare results. I personally have had the most success on Amazon, as have all the other big and mid-list indie authors I know, but you may want to play around before settling down.<br />
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4. Promote Newer Books in Older Books<br />
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Putting a link to your new works in the front or back of your older books is a great idea. If someone finishes one of your older books and turns the last page and sees a link to your newest book, you better believe if they enjoyed the book they're clicking. They may not buy right away, but they're checking it out. And if your cover, pitch and writing are solid, they'll likely buy. I used to have all my books listed at the end of my works but I don't think people bought much like that. Having forty titles at the end of the book drown out each one. So now, I may have one title at the end of a book with a link to it, and that seems to be working well.<br />
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5. Don't worry about Piracy<br />
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I know you're grimacing at this, but the fact is, you can't stop it anyway. I know you think you can, but you can't. Digital pirates are too sophisticated for you to do anything about them. So you may as well not enable digital rights management and get your book out to as many people as possible.<br />
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I enable digital rights management on some books, but not others. I think of piracy as a promotional tool: I want to give the pirates a taste of my work, but not the whole enchilada. Hopefully they read one of my books illegally, and then decide to buy one that they can't find illegally. Might just be wishful thinking on my part, but, like I said, you can't stop someone from stealing your work so you gotta just find a way to use them.<br />
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Conclusion<br />
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Well, that's it for now folks. Not that complex is it? One more thing I would recommend: don't waste your money on people that claim they can make your book a bestseller. If that were true, every one of their clients would be bestsellers. Ask them to verify that that's the case and watch the backpedaling and squirming begin.<br />
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So just work hard, put out a lot of books, promote your books within your other books, and don't sweat piracy. Eventually, you will start making sales.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903450198970040132.post-29779130436504158412014-05-03T15:06:00.001-07:002014-07-08T15:59:23.744-07:00Signing with a Publisher<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As any who read this blog know, I have a hard time with legacy book publishers. I truly believe they exploit authors (17.5 royalties, really?) and fans alike (ebooks costing more than print books?). Also, I think they're VCR salesmen in the time of DVDs. Print technology will soon go the same route as the video cassette and yet, instead of adapting, they cling to the videocassette like it were a life preserver.<br />
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So I will no doubt be called a hypocrite when I tell you I've signed one of my books with a publisher and optioned another.<br />
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But, this publisher is the only publisher I would ever have said "yes" to. It is Thomas & Mercer, a subsidiary of Amazon Publishing. And I cannot tell you how pleased I have been with them thus far. The royalty rates are out of this world, and when I send them an email with a concern I have, they actually respond.<br />
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In addition, I have a marketing team and several other perks. I can't release any of the details, but the deal is MUCH better than anything the legacy publishers have offered me.<br />
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I remember when I shopped White Angel Murder around to legacy publishers and literary agents. Only one showed any interest but when I sent him a manuscript he never responded. But I knew that book would be an absolute hit.<br />
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I indie published it and that book went on to sell somewhere in the realm of 150,000 copies and has been in the top 30 in the U.S. and the top 10 in the U.K.<br />
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Legacy publishers, despite their claims, cannot and do not predict bestsellers. They're terrible at picking winners. They're the poor loser at the racetrack in velour clothing with an unlit cigar dangling from their mouth, crusted with drool, as the last of their savings vanished when their horse came in last.<br />
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I read one such person in a <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/02/17/140217fa_fact_packer?currentPage=all">New Yorker attack article</a> who said Amazon may have algorithms and data, but there's a human element to it that traditional literary agents and publishers provide. What human element is that: screwing the authors?<br />
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Amazon's detractors are saying the company has signed books that haven't been hits: how many hits do traditional publishers have compared to the amount of books they put out? I'll wager less than 1% of the books they put out are bonafide hits. Can you think of any other industry, other than legacy publishers and literary agents, that would taut a 99% failure rate as success?<br />
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The author of this New Yorker article went on a diatribe about how poorly Amazon Publishing is doing. I was shocked. How could Amazon not be selling a lot of their books?<br />
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Well I looked into it, and this article and the data the author is using do not include ebook sales in those sales figures. Are you freaking kidding me? I bet Amazon sells one print book to every ten ebooks and they're not including ebooks when they're trying to evaluate whether Amazon Publishing is a success?<br />
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If those legacy publishers are going to attack Amazon, I guess they have to fudge the data to do it. I've dealt with a lot of companies and no one's been as gracious or author friendly as Amazon has. And to all those indie authors reading this blog, I will say again:<br />
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I HAVE NO IDEA WHY ANYONE WOULD SIGN WITH A LEGACY PUBLISHER.<br />
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Not in this day and age when you can make 70% royalties publishing on your own through Amazon. If you think the legacy publisher is going to nurture you, forget it. They don't care about you. They care about James Patterson and their other hit authors. You're not going to get marketing money, you're not going to get support. You'll go from book signing to book signing, desperately trying to raise sales, and feel like you don't even have a publisher behind you.<br />
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Which brings me to why I signed with Thomas & Mercer.<br />
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I had read on <a href="http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/">Joe Konrath's excellent blog</a> that Thomas & Mercer treated him very well and shot his book to the number one spot on the Kindle bestseller lists, so I thought selling them one book would be worth a try. And about the time I decided this, they contacted me and stated they loved The Neon Lawyer and would like to pick it up to republish under the Thomas & Mercer brand with their backing.<br />
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So far, I'm very impressed with them. We'll have to see how the sales go in November when it comes out, but I'm expecting big things (it's Amazon pushing an Amazon book after all).<br />
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Does this mean I'll give up indie pubbing my books? Never. I love the freedom of publishing how much I want how quickly I want. But I'm grateful to have this opportunity to experiment with Amazon and hopefully stomp some of the legacy published books in terms of sales.<br />
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I'll keep everyone posted on how it goes...<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: justify;">Photo courtesy of thephotoholic and freedigitialphotos.net</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903450198970040132.post-38981895593275286132014-03-06T15:05:00.000-08:002014-03-06T15:07:19.078-08:00Is Psychic Phenomena Real?<br />
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When I was sixteen, my buddy and I visited a psychic. It was on our way to a tattoo shop and we decided to stop by because the sign said it was five bucks for a palm reading. But, being the skeptic I was, I decided that we would go in separately as if we didn't know each other. I went in first.<br />
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The psychic was an older woman in a funky scarf. She was leaning back in a chair, the place decorated to the brim with odd trinkets, old bones, and lighting that made the space appear darker than it needed to be. She took my hand and rubbed it with her gnarled fingers and pronounced my future.<br />
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I would be successful in business, married not twice but once, have two children, and a host of about fifteen other predictions. When I left, I waited outside and my buddy went in. He came out about ten minutes later and we compared notes: he would be successful in business, married not twice but once, have two children yada yada.<br />
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The psychics were bunk.<br />
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When I began researching my newest novel, Blood Dahlia, which you can check out on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Dahlia-Thriller-Sarah-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B00IT6FM7S/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1394143373&sr=1-2&keywords=blood+dahlia">Amazon here</a> if you're so inclined, I studied psychics in earnest. The novel is about a psychic the FBI use to attempt to capture a serial killer copying the original Black Dahlia murder from 1947.<br />
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I went in with a skeptical eye. James Randi has done a great job debunking psychic phenomena and his educational foundation at <a href="http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/about-the-foundation.html">www.randi.org</a> put up a million dollar challenge: anyone that can show true psychic phenomena in a laboratory setting will be paid $1,000,000. No, ifs, ands, or buts. Million bucks. Of course, in the decade the challenge has been out, no one's been able to claim the million dollars.<br />
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Harry Houdini was absolutely obsessed with psychics. Since his mother's death, he wanted desperately to find a real psychic that would allow him to speak to his mother. He flew around the world, visiting exotic hard to reach locations in nearly every continent, looking for anyone that had a grain of psychic power. He then worked hard proving them a fraud, in the hopes that they would pass his tests. Of course, no one ever did. And in his later years, Houdini traveled around the world visiting psychics not with hope, but with the sole purpose of debunking them and have them run out of town.<br />
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Michael Crichton on the other hand, one of my favorite authors, believed in psychic phenomena. Not because he was a man prone to believing in the supernatural, he was a doctor and man of science, but because he stated he had witnessed it first hand. Both precognition, and telekinesis in the form of an eight-year-old child bending a spoon with his mind.<br />
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One of the main criticisms, according to Crichton, that people have of psychics is that if they were real, they'd be playing the stock markets or gambling. Here's Crichton's response to that:<br />
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<i>"I often hear skeptics say that, if psychic behavior was real, the psychics would be playing the stock markets or the ponies. In my experience, many of them do. There is, in fact, a kind of secret level of activity in which psychics consult to major corporations and businesses. People seem embarrassed to admit this activity but it takes place, just as you'd expect it to."</i><br />
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This sparked an interesting idea to me: secret psychics at the CIA and Coca Cola, helping them without public knowledge. I wondered if psychics had ever been studied by the government. I doubted it, but looked into it anyway.<br />
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And then I found the Stargate Project.<br />
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The Stargate Project, which I discuss briefly in Blood Dahlia simply because it's so interesting, was a study conducted by the Defense Intelligence Agency and the CIA into psychic phenomena to establish if psychics could be used for the purposes of the Cold War.<br />
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I'm not making this up, this is not conspiracy theory stuff, we have the documents through GRAMA requests and there's even a Wikipedia page for Stargate. The study was conducted from the '70s through to 1995 and then terminated because the researchers concluded there was no useful intelligence application of psychic phenomena.<br />
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But, did they establish that psychic phenomena was in fact true, even if not useful to the intelligence field? Believe it or not, the answer is both yes and no.<br />
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Telekinesis, the ability to move objects with your mind, was found to not exist in a laboratory setting. Basically, the people that claimed they could move objects with their mind could do it outside the laboratory but not in it, i.e. they were frauds.<br />
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Most of the other psychic phenomena received the same results: all except one. Remote viewing.<br />
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Remote viewing is the ability to describe people, places and things from a distance. For example, what the DIA and CIA were hoping for was a team of psychics describing the manufacturing plants and number of weaponry of the Soviets, or listening in on their plans of attacking the United States.<br />
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The study concluded that there was a statistically valid result in remote viewing within laboratory conditions.<br />
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Let me repeat that.<br />
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The most extensive, objective study ever done on psychical research concluded that there was truth to remote viewing. That a man could sit in a room and think of a room half a world away, and describe what was in it.<br />
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Later researchers looked at the report's results and questioned its findings, stating that the subjects must've been given more information than the study let on in order to make their "hits" (a "hit" being the term the researchers used to describe when a subject was correct in their descriptions). But there were parts of the study that have simply not been invalidated. The CIA has recommended more research in the area of remote viewing, but the study was shut down before that occurred.<br />
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On an interesting side note, the CIA did keep three psychics from the study and allocated half a million dollars a year in studying and using them. These psychics, last I have been able to gather, were working full time for the government out of Fort Meade, Maryland. The CIA released several statements that the three would be let go and the project terminated completely, but I was not able to confirm that they have actually been let go. So it's possible that the CIA was convinced enough from the results of Stargate to keep three full time psychics on their payroll for decades.<br />
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So what does this mean for us, the common public? Should we go out and consult with Sylvia Brown about our futures?<br />
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No, it does not.<br />
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Whether you believe in psychic phenomena or not, the fact is that the majority of those proclaiming to be psychic are frauds (<a href="http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/12/12/tarzana-psychic-husband-arrested-in-alleged-900k-scam/">here's an interesting little piece</a> about "psychics" that swindled a poor lonely man to give them hundreds of thousands of dollars if he wanted to break the curse of his love life).<br />
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The sad truth is, they're almost all frauds and hucksters.<br />
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But… the interesting question is, what about those three that are working full time for the CIA? The three that, of all the psychics in the world the government recruited, they were deemed the only worthy ones to stay on. What would they tell us if we spoke with them?<br />
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Maybe one day, if the government ever becomes as transparent as everyone in government claims they want to be, we can find out. For now, we'll just have to live with the mystery.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903450198970040132.post-58936504473827160592014-01-20T18:27:00.000-08:002014-01-20T18:27:56.652-08:00Why I (Reluctantly) Wrote a Legal Thriller<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieMoYkckfb-W4TX43MHU4LNPqr5KfLU0vmnv9QM51PTQrsvPzbYBNWhnETLFybUDpUgluSfxP3xz_ehmfvjDpyfbj1bhZn7YenIFAnQawjfPO0jGod6D-S0557zIFZc9DNw-XVdwteStA-/s1600/Neon5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieMoYkckfb-W4TX43MHU4LNPqr5KfLU0vmnv9QM51PTQrsvPzbYBNWhnETLFybUDpUgluSfxP3xz_ehmfvjDpyfbj1bhZn7YenIFAnQawjfPO0jGod6D-S0557zIFZc9DNw-XVdwteStA-/s1600/Neon5.jpg" height="320" width="200" /></a></div>
The question I most get asked as a criminal defense attorney is not "How do you defend those people?"Which is, let's be honest, what everybody thinks when they hear about what I do. The question I most get asked is "Why don't you write a legal thriller!"<br />
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I'll tell you why.<br />
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I hate them.<br />
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I spend nearly eight hours a day in the courtroom. Most of my job is going through metal detectors, racing from court to court, and getting yelled at by judges for being late. I've been writing for fifteen years and I love it. It's what I look forward to every day. Why would I possibly want to work in a courtroom all day and then write about it, too?<br />
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But, I finally caved with my first legal thriller, The Neon Lawyer. The fact is, criminal defense attorneys and cops have the best stories and I wanted to get some of these stories down.<br />
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The thing that most seems to puzzle people about the book is that it's somewhere around 80 to 90% true. Even the whacko characters that seem made up are people I actually worked with. But, of course, I have to protect people's identities so certain key things about the cases and locations and dates have been changed.<br />
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And now, the book has gone on and become successful and dang it if I don't have to write another one.<br />
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But, for those of you considering a career in law, I probably wouldn't recommend it unless it's something you really want to do. I've been very, very lucky. I was a prosecutor first and myself and another prosecutor jumped ship and opened our own firm at exactly the right time. We mastered internet marketing and are doing really well at a time when most law firms are failing.<br />
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The fact is, law practice has completely changed and will continue to change. Companies have realized how much they pay for legal services and they've begun outsourcing. As such, law firms have cut staff or switched to contract attorneys. But law schools are still pumping out lawyers by the tens of thousands with no jobs for them once they graduate. The market is adjusting a little (law school applications are down nearly 30% this year) but not enough to make a difference. A law degree just doesn't do what it used to.<br />
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Then again, if it's what you know you want to do, then jump in. Life's too short to go into a career you hate. As I've always advocated, I'd rather fail at something I love than be successful in something I hate.<br />
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But, getting back to the book, yes, it's based on a true story and most of the stories in there happened to me. Hope you enjoy it, and drop me a line and let me know what you think.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903450198970040132.post-11548599512791332132013-08-17T21:25:00.002-07:002013-08-18T13:20:27.047-07:00What Went Wrong with Arrested Development and What Writers Can Learn From It<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://blogs.kcrw.com/whichwayla/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/arrested_development.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="139" src="http://blogs.kcrw.com/whichwayla/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/arrested_development.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Arrested Development, I feel, is the funniest show that has ever been on television. Here are just a few of the gems that show has produced:</div>
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Michael: "What have we always said is the most important thing?"</div>
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George Michael: "Breakfast"</div>
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Michael: "Family."</div>
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George Michael: "Oh, right, family. I thought you meant of things you eat."</div>
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Lucille: Get me a vodka rocks.</div>
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Michael: Mom, it's breakfast.</div>
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Lucille: And a piece of toast.</div>
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Michael: Can’t a guy call his mother pretty without it seeming strange?</div>
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Buster: Amen. And how about that little piece of tail on her? Cute!</div>
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Michael: I’ve opened a door here that I regret.</div>
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Everyone has their own favorite lines and I think each time we go through them, we find new ones that we missed before. So I ask this question:</div>
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WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?</div>
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Season four, the newest season only found on Netflix, has been torn apart by <a href="http://arts.nationalpost.com/2013/05/30/stinson-the-return-of-arrested-development-is-the-worst-thing-since-jar-jar-binks/">critics and fans alike</a>. So how could the funniest show in history (I'm not alone in this by the way) fall to what it was in season 4? </div>
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Granted, there were sections of season 4 where the old brilliance shined through. But it was more like a diamond buried in dung that you just catch a glimmer of. Mostly, the show was a long stretch of boredom and crassness. My novels certainly don't spare on the profanity and sex, but Maeby whoring out her own mother for a few bucks? The quaint sweetness the show had for me died right then. </div>
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The plot, for those of you that haven't seen it, is enormously convoluted, guest appearances are all over the place to the point that it feels like some celebrity telethon, and the jokes are just not <span style="line-height: 1.56em;">funny. </span></div>
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HOW THEY RUINED IT</div>
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Every show, just like every series of books, has an engine. It has a method and formula that works and that we crave. If done well, we barely notice the formula. </div>
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Want examples? </div>
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Every episode of Gilligan's Island is Gilligan screwing up somebody else's attempt to get them off the island. </div>
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Every episode of Who's the Boss? is putting Angela and Tony in a situation where we ask will they or won't they? </div>
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Every episode of Three's Company is based around a situation where one or more of the characters misunderstands the context of what's happening. </div>
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See the patterns? For a fun game if bored at work, try and figure out the central engine for all your favorite sitcoms. </div>
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So why do TV writers use engines/formulas? Are they lazy? No, definitely not. They work their tails off. But the fact is they don't have a lot of time to write each episode so they can't start from scratch each time. They must have a framework and a formula. </div>
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What was Arrested Development's? Give up? </div>
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It was Michael and his son George Michael. </div>
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Every episode revolved around Michael and his attempt to save the company and his family or to leave them, and his family's antics in screwing that up. </div>
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<span style="line-height: 1.56em;">His relationship with his son was the central relationship and all the other characters were ancillary. This made them even funnier when they were put against the backdrop of everyday-Joe, Michael Bluth. </span></div>
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George Sr., Lindsey, Lucille etc. are only funny in relation to Michael. So what happens when you take Michael out of the picture? Season 4 happened. </div>
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There were entire episodes I sat painfully still without cracking a smile. I compared this with my near-peeing-my-pants-with-laughter in the first three seasons. And certain other writers I know share the same feeling. In fact, I haven't personally spoken with someone who enjoyed season 4. I know, I know, it's anecdotal. But the social media feeds were abuzz with disappointed fans for weeks after it came out.</div>
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WHAT WRITERS CAN LEARN. </div>
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Formulas work. They're there for a reason. If you have something that's working, that readers are responding to, why on earth would you change it? I understand pushing boundaries and trying new things, but if people love what you're doing, don't mess with it. Stick to it until right before they grow bored and then switch to something else. </div>
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This goes back to what type of writer you wish to be of course. I wish to be the writer that entertains my audience and writes what they want to read. If you prefer to be the type of writer who writes what they personally want regardless of what their audience wants, that's fine too. But why publish your books at all? Just do what J.D. Salinger did and write them and stick them in a safety deposit box so the public will never read them. </div>
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I wanted so bad to love the new season of Arrested Development (on a sidenote, huge mistake releasing all 15 episodes at once. Everyone was on different episodes when talking about the show. If one episode a week was released, everyone would have been talking about that episode the next day). But the show just didn't do it for me. Alas, unless the formula goes back to what it was, I probably won't watch more than one episode of season 5. </div>
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So, don't be that writer that disappoints the fans that made you successful. Stick to what they want and always keep the audience in mind when you want to make changes.</div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903450198970040132.post-47386764807977890012013-02-28T14:24:00.000-08:002013-02-28T14:29:45.448-08:00The Slow Goodbye of Barnes and Noble<br />
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I had a really interesting experience today. </div>
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<a href="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRHlI6Jh3J-5GfZhDbB0NOKRvJh8OlOI1CX_e--fnvIr0iukGoc" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRHlI6Jh3J-5GfZhDbB0NOKRvJh8OlOI1CX_e--fnvIr0iukGoc" width="272" /></a>I had some time to kill in between court appearances for some cases I was handling and there was a Barnes and Noble nearby. Liking the written word as I do, I thought I'd pop in. I haven't been there in several years so I thought why not. I could browse the poetry sections, check out Anne Rice's new books, and if there's any new thrillers out that look interesting that I could later buy on my Kindle. </div>
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I walk in, and I'm awestruck. </div>
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About 40% of the store is children's toys. Another 20% are children's books. Considering that 10% of the space is the cafe, that leaves less than a third of the store for actual books. </div>
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In the front of the store, the first thing you see and the last thing you see as you walk out, is the Nook display with promos on ebooks. To the left are cash registers with a clerk standing behind them, I kid you not, reading an ebook on a Nook. </div>
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I ambulate around the store and look at the shelves. Only the biggest and most famous authors in any genre remain on the shelves. There simply isn't enough room for anyone else. I walk to the Westerns and a thick layer of dust is on most of the books. I flip through a few of the pages of a short story collection and the book, kind of, stinks a little bit. Not like mold or anything; just a stale smell like it's been sitting in a warehouse for the past five years. </div>
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So I head up to the clerk and the two of them are sitting there literally trying to find stuff to do. I think there were perhaps six people in the entire store and four of them were in the cafe sipping drinks. I ask her to see if they have one of my favorite books, <i>The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford</i>, and she flips through her computer. They don't have it, but they can order for it. It will take five days to get here. I passed. </div>
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The only reason I asked at all is because the publisher of that book won't allow it be published as an ebook. And then I'd have to wait five days? I'm used to Kindle where I read what I want when I want. It used to be nothing to wait that long for a book you wanted to read, but now it seems as outdated as the horse and buggy. </div>
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I realized something just then: Barnes and Noble is an antiquated business. Like typewriter stores and VCR repair shops (and yes, they did have those in California and parts of New York in the 80's. Not sure about the rest of the country). </div>
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The reason they're antiquated is they, and the Big 5 publishers, are trying to push an ancient technology on us: paper books. If you're one of those that like paper instead of ebooks, I would dare say you just haven't given ebooks a shot. Objectively, they are better in every respect. The environmental impact of paper books alone is reason enough to switch to electronic. Not to mention built in backlights, dictionary, highlighting, voice, and font and color control. </div>
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The publishers and Barnes and Noble refuse to adapt to the new environment. They treated authors terribly for so long, and milked the public for everything we were worth for so long, it's like they're addicted to crack. They don't want to give it up. And so that's why publisher's ebooks are sometimes more expensive than the paperbacks, and even the hardbacks: they want to deter this whole ebook thing. </div>
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The thing is, the new technology has already taken over. <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/1754259/amazon-sells-more-e-books-paper-ones">Amazon announced in 2011</a> that they were selling more ebooks than print books, and now, it's not even close. </div>
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Ebooks are the future. And they allow the writer to reach the reader and the reader to get great deals and find books they couldn't before. It's a win-win for everyone, except the drug dealers selling us overpriced paper. </div>
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When Barnes and Noble goes out of business, and it certainly will with news <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Barnes-Noble-stock-plunges-2444737.php">like this</a>, announcing that their stock dropped 17% and that they're thinking of starting a new company to handle the Nook, it will be a great day for book enthusiasts. </div>
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Why?</div>
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Easy. First, those big publishers will realize they can't charge the same for an ebook as for hardback and the ebook prices should fall. </div>
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Second, all those little mom and pop bookstores they have all over Europe might pop up here in the U.S. without the major chains to gobble them up. Print books can then be a little niche, like vinyl. </div>
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All in all, the future is looking bright for writers and readers. So instead of mourning their loss, we should all say our farewells to Barnes and Noble, thank them for the years they helped us read, and wish them well in that long goodnight. </div>
By Victor Methos<br />
<br />
<a href="https://plus.google.com/100188131992159465427?rel=author">Google</a>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903450198970040132.post-79504230462027959932012-12-03T14:51:00.003-08:002012-12-04T08:48:13.059-08:00Are UFO's Real?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4XPA3hPnGMIs7J4d3w978zACCrSzjo1TRpvkxIQESOY8UY5ABL-KsZ5ql8VleJj_D-n7u4rYy03Nd3TFP1jUfQZMcBgtOymc4oVg-Lo-G3EI8B5QNIfhyENnayJJXnnPlPxWnQ6b4DBk/s1600/ufos_by_greenie_pace.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4XPA3hPnGMIs7J4d3w978zACCrSzjo1TRpvkxIQESOY8UY5ABL-KsZ5ql8VleJj_D-n7u4rYy03Nd3TFP1jUfQZMcBgtOymc4oVg-Lo-G3EI8B5QNIfhyENnayJJXnnPlPxWnQ6b4DBk/s320/ufos_by_greenie_pace.jpg" width="320" /></a>I've always loved Napa, California and spent my summers here as a kid on my cousin's ranch. So trekking through the mountains at one in the morning and looking down over the city wasn't a completely new experience for me. We used to go to this platform we had on his ranch that overlooked the whole town. It was a perfect place to take girls to when I was a teenager: scary enough that they wanted to cuddle, but not so scary that I would be wondering if we were about to be attacked by wolves or bears.<br />
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But we were here for something else now: UFO's. Not that I believe in them. We, as a species, are hundreds if not thousands of years away from interstellar travel. If a civilization has achieved interstellar flight, we are the equivalent, technologically, of what the amoeba is to us. How often do humans study amoebas? Not very. They lose their fascination quickly. So I simply do not see any logical reason why such an advanced species would visit us.<br />
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And that's not even to mention the problems with interstellar flight; the nearest star system being 400 light years away, if we assumed this advanced civilization could travel the speed of light which is impossible for an object of the size needed, it would take them 400 years to get here. 400 years to study amoebas. It's simply too far-fetched for me to believe.<br />
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But, I was convinced by an acquaintance named Jim that something strange had been going on in the hills surrounding Napa and so I drank a liter of Diet Coke and tagged along.<br />
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Talk about a motley crew. Two of the guys there were so stoned they could barely walk. One of the women there was young and flirtatious and kept asking me what kind of car I drove. I think she might've been about 16. And Jim was hitting golf balls off the side of the mountain into the valley below.<br />
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We started walking and I was impressed by how black the sky looked and how the stars sparkled like jewels. Napa, from this peak, has almost no light pollution so the stars look unlike anywhere else in Northern California. We trudged up this trail for about half an hour and began going around the far side of the mountain.<br />
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"What are we looking for?" I asked.<br />
"Black helicopters. You'll see them coming up here."<br />
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We sat on some rocks and pulled out snacks. I didn't talk much since I just kept steaming about the fact that I could be sound asleep in a warm bed instead of out here with stoners and a horny kid.<br />
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As I was contemplating leaving, I heard a thumping in the distance. It grew louder and louder, and sure enough, a helicopter spun around the mountain and disappeared on the other side. The people I was with started snapping photos and mumbling to each other in hushed tones.<br />
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"See," Jim said. "Why would there be helicopters out at one in the morning? There's nothing up here, it's all just ranches and homes."<br />
"It could've been a news copter," I said.<br />
"That thing was black. The news copters all got their logos on the sides."<br />
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I couldn't disagree with him. It was a black helicopter out at one in the morning flying over a mountain that was filled with nothing it could be interested in. I waited for it to come out from the other side of the mountain, but it never did.<br />
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"See," Jim said again, excitement in his voice.<br />
"Dude, there's tons of ultra-wealthy people up here. It could just be some private copter."<br />
"No way, man. No one has black copters up here."<br />
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We started walking again and this time, I was actually a little spooked. I knew this area well and knew most of the people up here. No one had a helicopter. But it had to land somewhere.<br />
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As we ascended to near the top, we all took positions on a grassy knoll and watched the sky. I put my backpack underneath my head and stared up at the night sky. It was one of the most peaceful moments in my life and I contemplated the universe and other planets and where fate had brought me in my life. I noticed the 16 year old inching closer so I quickly moved over next to Jim and made sure his hulking, sweating, beer-soaked body was between us.<br />
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"It's coming, dude," he said. "You'll see it."<br />
"What am I gonna see?"<br />
"Just wait."<br />
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So we hung out another hour.<br />
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"How long are we gonna be up here?"<br />
"I dunno. We're sometimes here till daybreak."<br />
"What? Jim you didn't tell me that. I got stuff to do tomorrow."<br />
"Chill out, man. It'll be worth it, I swear."<br />
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So another hour passed. I was just staring absently at the sky when I felt Jim lean in close to me. "There it is."<br />
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Far up in the sky, well past where planes could go, I saw several blinking lights. They seemed like they weren't moving but that could've been an optical illusion because of how far they were. I closed my eyes, and like a cartoon, rubbed them again to make sure I could see clearly. The blinking lights were still there.<br />
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"See."<br />
"It's just lights, man," I said.<br />
"You've never seen lights up that high. There's no planes that go up that high."<br />
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I watched the lights as long as I could but before long they zipped to the right at what seemed like an incredibly fast speed and were gone.<br />
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That incident never really settled well with me. The lights and the helicopter and the speed with which they moved. Maybe it was just too late at night and it started affecting my vision? One thing I can say: perhaps there's things that we haven't quite fully come to understand that have perfectly logical, almost mundane, explanations? I'm sure the aurora borealis was a mystical, unexplainable experience to the first Alaskan explorers but as science and our knowledge progressed we came to understand that it's just light particles reflecting off of electrons in the atmosphere. Knowledge seems to take the magic out of existence.<br />
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I don't know what those lights were. But to be honest, in this science-technology driven world where myth and magic are becoming less and less relevant, I have to admit I get more than a little pleasure from having experienced this mystery. And nothing adds spice to life like a little mystery.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903450198970040132.post-79600318789605725892012-11-12T21:07:00.000-08:002014-02-26T15:42:04.859-08:00How to Get Rich with Kindle Direct Publishing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Kindle Direct Publishing</b></div>
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When I began this blog, I really wanted it to be a journal of various issues and anecdotes that I felt like writing about. But many of the emails I receive are from young writers wanting tips on how to make it as an indie author. </div>
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I go out of my way to help my readers with whatever they need help with, and this blog is no exception. Personally, I hate writing about writing, but I'm happy that I've reached a level of success that others reach out to me for advice. So, here's a few more tips:</div>
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<b>Getting Rich: The Non- 4 Hour Workweek Style</b></div>
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Before you can even think of becoming a successful writer, you must adopt a successful mentality. Our culture seems to value the "get rich quick" scheme. It has taken various forms throughout the ages and has manifested in modern culture with multi-level marketing. And to some extent, the 4-Hour Workweek mentality. </div>
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Now don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the 4-Hour Workweek. In fact, I think Tim Ferris is a genius. I've used his principles in several of my own businesses, including my law firm and my career as an author, and there's invaluable information in the 4-Hour Workweek. I would highly recommend checking it out if you haven't yet (and for those of you struggling with weight loss or body image, his book The 4-Hour Body is also excellent.)<br />
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But it isn't for everybody. I believe that for many people, the system of shortcuts he's selling will simply not work. The reason I believe this is detailed and can be discussed on another post if need be.<br />
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Ultimately, he's selling a dream and it's a nice dream to partake of. But I've started more businesses than I can remember and what I can tell you is that if you want success you must work for it. Very, very few people can make vast sums of money without putting in the correct amount of work. And submitting to the correct amount of failure (in my own life, I've had twenty businesses fail for every one that succeeded.) </div>
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Writing is no different. There are no shortcuts. You must learn your craft. You must learn characterization, plotting, grammar and syntax. Of course this doesn't mean you should write like an English professor. Once you put in the time and learn the correct way to write, break all the rules. My favorite writers ignored the rules of proper writing and wrote how they felt, which is what I try and do. But don't think that this comes easy or that you can just plop out a few books and get rich. It took me fifteen years of writing nearly every day to get where I am, and all the successful writers I know have put in similar time. </div>
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If you want to get rich using Kindle Direct Publishing, first realize you will have to work hard. The one rule I've learned in becoming a successful author is that content is king. And for that you have to learn to actually write. </div>
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<b>Getting Rich with Kindle Direct Publishing</b></div>
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Once you can actually write, the rest is the fun part. My favorite part of business is marketing and sales. I've spent years perfecting my pitch at my law firm in order for my clients to appreciate my level of experience and feel comfortable enough to hire me. My pitch was developed by studying psychology, not business per se. Because business is psychology; the cornerstone of all business is marketing and sales and those are based on simple behavioral models that anyone can learn. </div>
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So, with the psychology of your target audience in mind, think of these next few steps and how to apply them yourself: </div>
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1. Pick Your Genre:</div>
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You want to get rich selling books on the Kindle but you like writing literary fiction? You're probably more likely to win the lottery. It's good to take bets sometimes but you have to take calculated bets. The odds are that the genres you can make real money in are not the ones with shrinking markets. Science fiction/fantasy, mystery, thriller, romance, erotica, horror and contemporary fiction are all good genres to pick. Leave the poetry and literary fiction for once you're established and can play around a little.</div>
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2. Pick Your Market</div>
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Before you put a single word to e-paper, consider your market. In every business I own, this is the secret of my success. Think of your market first before you act. This requires some serious research. Does your chosen genre have many female protagonists and that's how the readers prefer it? You'll have to develop that female voice. Does your genre require knowing esoteric scientific knowledge? You better brush up online or get a subscription to <i>Scientific American</i>. </div>
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I write some science fiction but I come from a mathematics and philosophy background; two fields that help me enormously in that genre. I wouldn't even attempt to write sci-fi without at least some scientific context. </div>
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So know what your market wants, do the research and put in the work, and cater to that. </div>
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3. Ignore Bad Reviews</div>
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Some authors I hear from tell me that they have received many bad reviews and are discouraged from writing. Let me be clear about this: IGNORE REVIEWS. Just ignore them. To a point. </div>
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We all come to the table with different ideologies and prejudices and who the heck really knows why people leave the reviews they do?</div>
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To give you one example: a reviewer gave one of my books a one star review because they were upset that my protagonist used an iPhone and Mac and the reviewer preferred android. I'm not kidding, that really happened. </div>
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So ignore the bad reviews on a personal level, but learn from them if there's something to learn. It's a fine line you have to walk, but occasionally reviewers leave constructive reviews. You just have to separate them from the nut-balls and you might actually learn something. </div>
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4. Write Like Crazy</div>
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There is no form of marketing as efficacious as a previous book someone enjoyed. I list all my books at the front and back of all my other books. I want to make sure all my readers know about all my books and nothing has led to more sales. </div>
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Write as many books as you comfortably can in a year. I wrote six novels and a novella in 2012, adding an additional $3500 per month to my income from Kindle Direct Publishing. Many of you may not be able to write as quickly as I and that's fine; but whatever you do, don't take the publishing industry's advice that each book should take two years to perfect. If you're trying to get rich from KDP, then you need to think of each book you write as a roll of the roulette wheel. I took seven rolls this year. Do you really want to only take one roll every two years? Forget that and write as much as you can. </div>
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I should say a note on writer's block here: I have never gotten it. I don't even understand really what it is. Are the words just not coming or can the writer not even articulate the ideas in his head? I think the reason I'm blessed with this is that I just treat writing like any other business. I sit down at the Mac every day and write and that's all there is to it. No ifs, ands or buts. You'll need to develop something similar. Too many writers spend too much time contemplating writing rather than actually writing. </div>
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Psychiatrists and psychologists routinely recommend patients keep a journal. This is because the process of writing is psychologically different from the process of thinking. They involve different regions of the brain. </div>
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How many NBA players come out one day and say, "I can't play basketball today?" How many television actors/actresses come out and say, "Sorry guys, you'll have to shut down production cause I just can't act today." People in every field have stress but writers seem to think they have something unique that prevents them from performing. It's BS. Just sit down and write every day and I promise you that after a number of months or years you won't even remember what writer's block is. </div>
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5. Use Your Funds to Advertise Your Books</div>
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In my other businesses, and as every successful business does, I take much of the profit from my books and invest in new books. I market, spend on editors and book cover designers, travel to various events etc. Many writers take their funds and blow it on momentary pleasures. As a Mormon, for me this would probably be cars, travel and clothing (I love nice clothes). But for others it might be booze or drugs or prostitutes or gambling (writers are not known as a stable group). </div>
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Don't do that. </div>
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Instead, take your money and think like a businessman. Think, "how can I maximize the profit I just made to make even more next month?" Invest in your books and they will pay dividends. Ignore them, and like the books at failing bookstores all over the world, they will collect dust. </div>
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6. Stick to Amazon and Kindle Direct Publishing: For a While</div>
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I've been successful at all the different book publishing platforms, but none of them are as responsive to marketing as Kindle Direct Publishing. Pubit, Barnes and Noble's publishing platform, can make a tidy sum but you have to forsake the Kindle Prime program which can garner a lot of money for you in loans (Amazon prevents your ebook from being published elsewhere if you join Prime). </div>
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Some authors swear they've had more success on Barnes and Noble or even Kobo, but I've tested various marketing models and none of them responded like Amazon did. This wasn't a double-blind University study, so take it for what it's worth, but in my experience you can make a lot more with Kindle Direct Publishing and Kindle Prime than with anyone else.<br />
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Having said that, experiment and find out what works. I have an exclusivity deal with Amazon that expires soon and I'm going to allow Kobo and Barnes & Noble to publish my books in 2014. I'll report on whether market conditions have changed, but you shouldn't take my word for it. Try all the platforms out yourself and see which ones are the most responsive to your type of writing. </div>
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7. Help Other Authors. </div>
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There's just something about helping other people that leads to blessings in your own life. You may not believe in a God, so just think of it as karma or a principle of electromagnetism: What you put out into the universe is exactly what you get back. You be a jerk, you'll find yourself surrounded by jerks. But you be generous with your time and your knowledge and the universe will reward you likewise. So, for crap's sake, just be a nice guy or gal and help out when someone asks you for help. </div>
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These are some of the principles I've used to sell more books than I could've ever dreamed I would've sold. It's gotten to the point to where I'm not even interested in a book deal with a publisher because there is no way they would offer me as much as I'm making now. </div>
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If you want this type of success, the only thing I can tell you is to treat your writing like a business, believe in yourself, and write as much as possible. Do this, and there's no way you can fail. </div>
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As always, leave a comment or email me with any questions or clarifications. I'm always happy to help out my fellow wordsmiths.<br />
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By Victor Methos<br />
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<a href="https://plus.google.com/100188131992159465427?rel=author">Google</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903450198970040132.post-14308544701234241052012-05-16T22:00:00.003-07:002012-05-19T14:11:29.964-07:00Sea Monsters and Megalodons Among Us<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA0nkpoZvQGwhbxsjDsSPKIiZHAz-srLxFW5V_IyMkzURIba6w_zYWfF7Ie7x3T1JZABWnW0qF26LjI4jKQcl6JO4_RN5YiX_4ognOQpwHO_huS-A2gAYH4c3rdUlSu4NXVL5ZygQdr06t/s1600/SuperStock_4102-3127.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA0nkpoZvQGwhbxsjDsSPKIiZHAz-srLxFW5V_IyMkzURIba6w_zYWfF7Ie7x3T1JZABWnW0qF26LjI4jKQcl6JO4_RN5YiX_4ognOQpwHO_huS-A2gAYH4c3rdUlSu4NXVL5ZygQdr06t/s320/SuperStock_4102-3127.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The fisherman came into the little bar on the beach near Cabo San Lucas and sat at the corner table next to me and my friends. We were drunk, though it wasn't yet noon (and I was not yet a convert to the Mormon Church), and we shot tequila with lime and dessert beers to sip. The fisherman began talking to us and as we drank with him, I asked an unusual question: alguna vez has visto un monter mar? In my terrible, broken Spanish, that was "have you ever seen a sea monster?"<br />
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His eyes went wide and he made a whistling sound through his teeth. My Spanish, as well as the fact that I was thoroughly drunk, did not enable me to keep up with the story he told us afterward, but what I could make out and what was told to me afterward by my friends indicated that yes, he had definitely seen a sea monster and fully believed that massive creatures thought extinct still existed in the ocean.<br />
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Do sea monsters actually exist? Since the days when men went out on the water in boats made of little more than sticks tied together with vine, sea monster stories and sightings have been mankind's constant companion. And why are we so fascinated with creatures of the deep?<br />
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When I was twelve years old, my cousin Shane and I went surfing in the Bay Area about an hour south from San Francisco. The waves were terrible and we switched to wake-boarding instead because there wasn't even enough force to make surfing worthwhile.<br />
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I was about twenty feet from shore and I fell. The water was cold. The type of cold that makes a man feel not like a man. I glanced around for my cousin when I felt something hit me in the ribs. It was just a tap, not much more, but I certainly felt it. I looked over to see a massive fish, what I now think to be a tuna, partially eaten. Enormous bites were taken out of it and its dead eyes were looking up at me. I found out then that I scream like a twelve year old girl when a half-eaten tuna hits me in the ribs.<br />
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It wasn't so much the tuna but what had done that to the tuna that frightened me. I pictured a massive shark or giant squid, but there are much more terrifying things in the sea.<br />
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During World War II, an American sub picked up a sound with a corresponding blip on their sonar. The origin of the sound had to be massive, larger than any known biological entity in the ocean. Even a blue whale. The sound registered at such an intensity, that it was determined that no known source, man-made or natural, could have produced that sound.<br />
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Creepy.<br />
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In 1997, United States Navy equipment picked up an unnatural sound that could not be identified as well. It was ultra low frequency and to this day we cannot identify the origin. It's quite possibly the same type of sound picked up by the sub in World War II. It's simply been named "Bloop" and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMkB7slZwhE" target="_blank">you can listen to it here.</a><br />
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Sea monster tales have been with us since the beginning. The ancient Greeks wrote accounts of the Hydra, a multi-headed beast that dwells in the underworld. Modern day scholars believe the tale of the hydra to simply be giant squid, tales of which sailors would have brought back to the cities to the amusement of the inhabitants. But even modern day scholars traveling the world find account after account of modern day sea monsters. Take this account by Australian fisherman recorded by naturalist David Stead:<br />
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<div style="text-align: -webkit-center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the year 1918 I recorded the sensation that had been caused among the "outside" crayfish men at Port Stephens, when, for several days, they refused to go to sea to their regular fishing grounds in the vicinity of Broughton Island. The men had been at work on the fishing grounds---which lie in deep water---when an immense shark of almost unbelievable proportions put in an appearance, lifting pot after pot containing many crayfishes, and taking, as the men said, "pots, mooring lines and all". These crayfish pots, it should be mentioned, were about 3 feet 6 inches [1.06 m] in diameter and frequently contained from two to three dozen good-sized crayfish each weighing several pounds. The men were all unanimous that this shark was something the like of which they had never dreamed of. In company with the local Fisheries Inspector I questioned many of the men very closely and they all agreed as to the gigantic stature of the beast. But the lengths they gave were, on the whole, absurd. I mention them, however, as a indication of the state of mind which this unusual giant had thrown them into. And bear in mind that these were men who were used to the sea and all sorts of weather, and all sorts of sharks as well. One of the crew said the shark was "three hundred feet [90 m] long at least"! Others said it was as long as the wharf on which we stood---about 115 feet [35 m]! They affirmed that the water "boiled" over a large space when the fish swam past. They were all familiar with whales, which they had often seen passing at sea, but this was a vast shark. They had seen its terrible head which was "at least as long as the roof on the wharf shed at Nelson's Bay." Impossible, of course! But these were prosaic and rather stolid men, not given to 'fish stories' nor even to talking about their catches. Further, they knew that the person they were talking to (myself) had heard all the fish stories years before! One of the things that impressed me was that they all agreed as to the ghostly whitish color of the vast fish. The local Fisheries Inspector of the time, Mr Paton, agreed with me that it must have been something really gigantic to put these experienced men into such a state of fear and panic.<span style="font-style: italic;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
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What's reported here is a megalodon shark, a prehistoric species that is thought to have gone extinct 1.4 million years ago. Is it possible these massive predators still live in the sea? A species of giant shark surviving deep in the sea undetected by man seems far fetched since the most obvious question is: where are the bodies? Well sharks leave little behind when they decompose. Normally, nothing more than a vertebrae and teeth since their bodies are made of cartilage. Evidence from corpses would be difficult to come by. Also, lets not forget that the megamouth shark, once thought a myth, was discovered to be an actual species of shark. A large species for that matter, and completely undetected by man until recently when they were discovered off the coast of Hawaii.<br />
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The megalodon is a fascinating case study however, as some people believe that a megalodon tooth was dredged up from the sea in the 19th century. When the tooth was dated much later, it was determined to be about 10,000 years old. If a shark can exist 10,000 years ago, so the proponents say, it can exist today. The shark would be the size of a ship and lurking far off away from land, looking for any meal that could sustain its girth. With teeth up to a foot in length, it would be the most efficient and monstrous predator that has ever lived.<br />
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Next time you go out on the ocean, try not to picture that.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903450198970040132.post-31472801769449827232012-02-13T21:03:00.001-08:002014-07-08T16:07:58.310-07:00The Death of Traditional Publishing (and good riddance)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I don't like writing about writing. Something too meta-metaphysical about it for me. But I've gotten so many emails from young writers asking my advice on publishing and where I think it's headed and how to sell books that I figured I would write one blog post about it and let it be (after all, you came to this blog to read about me peeing my pants in fear as an elephant charges me, which I would never do because I'm all man, 'cough' totally happened 'cough'). So without further delay, my thoughts on publishing, self-publishing and the big five publishing houses, as well as how to become a successful author:<br />
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Do you remember when you'd walk into Barnes & Noble (or Borders if you were a hipster weirdo) and see the rows and rows of beautifully stacked books with cover art that would make Salvador Dali drool? If you were a writer like me, you thought to yourself that one day you would be here. Your book would be the one in the bargain bin that the homeless guys would take into the bathroom for ten minutes and then put back.<br />
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When I started writing in the 90s, I sent every short story to every magazine and every novel to every literary agent and publishing house on the planet (literally; there were even some letters sent to agents in Africa and Eastern Europe). While I had some success with short stories, particularly my science fiction, my novels were rejected time and time again, even though I knew many of them could be bestsellers if just given a chance.<br />
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But there is a massive disconnect in the publishing world: agents want works they deem "important" (which means boring) and publishers want what they think are going to be bestsellers. So not only does your work have to strike an agent as important, it has to impress several editors and MBAs at the publishing houses that it has bestseller potential (the publishing houses, by the way, are terrible at predicting what will and will not be a bestseller). It was not a world meant for authors and the authors lucky enough to get an agent and then land a publishing deal got scraps for royalties, no promotion dollars, and worked their tails off going from one book-signing to the next.<br />
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Then something miraculous happened: Amazon released the Kindle and allowed authors to self publish their books.<br />
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Ebooks had been around for a while, but Amazon was truly the trendsetter and the largest bookstore in the world. It changed and is still changing the way the world reads. Amazon is so innovative, so author and reader friendly, that I wholly predict that in the future Amazon will be the only source to buy most books from. Mark my words (is that still a phrase by the way?).<br />
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I decided to give epublishing a try at this time. Why not? My novels had been rejected by every agent and publisher out there; may as well give it a shot myself. I had a few novels I'd written years ago and a new one that I'd just polished off. I started publishing in June of 2011. So let's look at a period after six months, which is a pretty good chunk of time to determine if something is working for you. Here are the numbers for December 2011, six months after I started epublishing my books:<br />
<br />
Total Books Downloaded for the month: 43, 841<br />
Total Books sold for the month: <img alt="\sim \!\," class="tex" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/math/9/e/e/9eeb35ca4391514c3e5317750ce68e16.png" style="border: none; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; text-align: -webkit-center; vertical-align: middle;" />22,000<br />
Biggest Bestseller: THE WHITE ANGEL MURDER with just over 19,000 copies sold<br />
Number of new reviews: 27<br />
Highest Rank Achieved: #28 in Amazon overall, #1 in mystery and police procedural, #9 in Amazon UK overall.<br />
<br />
Let's just look at my bestseller, THE WHITE ANGEL MURDER. The current list price for that book is 2.99. But let's assume all those sales were at the .99 cent price point. That's about $7000 profit for one book in one month. Now let's assume it was at 2.99. That's almost $40,000 in royalties from one of my books in one month (though that's not what I made because price fluctuated between .99 cents and 4.99). That number is absolutely staggering. Granted, that was my biggest month by far.<br />
<br />
I am a successful trial lawyer by profession. I defend high-level drug dealers, gangsters, and represent multi-million dollar corporations in litigation. I've put eight years into college and law school and years and years grinding away at law firms and government agencies gaining experience before I went out on my own and began my own firm with a partner. But all of that pales with how much money I am currently making with my little novels I sell on Amazon. I am literally making more at this part-time writing gig than I do as a partner at a successful law firm. Every new Jon Stanton book I put out makes me $10,000 the first three or four months and I'm inundated with emails about when the next release is hitting the virtual shelves. This would have been rarer than a hippie in a shower before Amazon released the Kindle.<br />
<br />
I have been approached by literary agents about signing with them and finding a traditional "big five" publisher. So how much of an advance can I expect from one of these behemoths of the publishing industry? $15,000. No joke, that is the average advance to give up all rights to my book (you don't technically give up your rights, but it is in effect what happens because you're so restricted). On top of that, I have to do book signings, have them choose the cover art, the price, and make the final editing decisions. Also, if they decide it's not worth pursuing because it doesn't have bestseller potential, they won't promote it. And if I promote it myself, my royalties would be 17.5 percent. Why would I, in my right mind, sign with them and give up potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars?<br />
<br />
Amazon is so ahead of the curve that it's made the publishing houses and other retailers look like bumbling fools in comparison. Recently, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/01/barnes-noble-wont-stock-amazon_n_1247088.html">Barnes and Noble declared war on Amazon</a> refusing to sell any book or ebook published by Amazon. Brilliant move Barnes and Noble. You will be sorely missed as you file for bankruptcy.<br />
<br />
This just shows what dinosaurs the publishing industry has become. Some publishers refuse to take on successful authors that have self published ebooks because they wish to curb the industry. Are they crazy? I'm telling you, these are the same guys who fought DVD's in favor of video cassettes, who fought cars in favor of horse and buggies, who fought fire in favor of warming food on the backs of horses. They are a dying breed, and the sooner they die off the better. They stand not only in the way of the writer, but the reader as well.<br />
<br />
I used to walk into Barnes and Noble and really have a hankering to read a good monster book like JAWS. If I was lucky, I might find one. It would probably be overpriced and crappy but I had few other options. Now, I can go to the Kindle Store and find hundreds of these types of books by indie authors, most of them no more than a few bucks. As a reader, I couldn't be happier.<br />
<br />
I think I have these agents that keep contacting me figured out though: they think that I want the prestige of a traditional publishing contract more than I want the thousands and thousands of dollars I make self-publishing. If that's you, and your ego is so fragile that you need the approval of the literati over making a ton of money, good for you. Have fun in your studio apartment. I hear Top Ramen makes a lot of new flavors now.<br />
<br />
As for the rest of us, I would say this emphatically to any new writer thinking about whether to pursue traditional publishing or self publishing: DINOSAURS GO EXTINCT FOR A REASON. Forget them, forget the big five, and write good novels, make good covers, and get them up into the Kindle Store. In a couple of months, you'll laugh that you ever even wanted to be a slave to a publishing house.<br />
<br />
And, dear Victor, how exactly do we make a lot of money selling ebooks?<br />
<br />
Do you want my secret? I'm happy to share it with you: write good books. Did you get that? No? WRITE GOOD BOOKS.<br />
<br />
If you love mysteries and you write a paranormal romance because you think that's what's hot right now, how good is your book going to be? About as good as a Pauly Shore movie (okay, okay, Encino Man was awesome).<br />
<br />
Not enough for you? Then one more secret: have something distinctive about your book. Why is your book different from the hundreds of other books in your genre?<br />
<br />
THE WHITE ANGEL MURDER, and its sequels, are my best works. They also have something distinctive about them: the protagonist, homicide detective Jon Stanton, is a practicing, devout Mormon (as I am). Seems like a minor detail that wouldn't really add anything to the story, doesn't it? Well look at my reviews for that book and then tell me that. Every negative review that I recall doesn't say anything about poor suspense, or characterization, or plotting. They all talk about the religion in the book and that religion makes them uncomfortable. Then you have many positive reviews sticking up for the book and for religion. It was like a little battle between the faithful who bought my books and atheists. When you can strike some cord like that, something that polarizes people, you've got something special.<br />
<br />
And a final third secret you say? No problem: actually write.<br />
<br />
Seems like an easy thing for a writer but I'm shocked how much time some of the young writers that contact me spend doing anything but writing. One person informed me that they spend two hours a day on twitter and have a full time job. Well if that's the case, how much time do you think he is spending writing? Maybe half an hour to an hour a day. What a waste.<br />
<br />
I know indie authors love promoting their books on Twitter, but it's a waste of time. I recently had to do a purge of followers because the thousands of writers I was following lambasted me with two or even three or four posts a day. They got a five star review, post. They got a four star review, post. They were featured on some crappy blog that nobody reads, post. Their mama said their book is better than THE GREAT GATSBY, post. It made Twitter unusable for me. And I guarantee those writers didn't sell a single book that way. Nobody likes in your face sales. It makes you think the product is crappy.<br />
<br />
Instead of Twitter, get on that ole' laptop and crank out some novels, some short stories, some novellas, even some poems if you're up to it. But get to that keyboard and actually write.<br />
<br />
There has never been a better time to be a writer. But it won't fall on your lap. It takes work, like anything else that's worthwhile. Write good books, make them distinctive, get out a plethora of work every year, and give the middle finger to the Big 6 and Barnes & Noble and join the flock of Amazon and I guarantee you that you will have success beyond your wildest dreams.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903450198970040132.post-42242330196537085352011-07-12T09:44:00.000-07:002011-07-24T10:12:28.788-07:00How to Be Robbed in Africa<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOGrskV2cXV1ukiZ2bOhYDxlLvmcoKd3O83UN2_BLzN_WlbabfcLXym54IPL6Ph0W_WJouUTfpssz6SHispDDbkBo52oAOLWG5GA7r8ZhJsZVtlP2nff2XYSqI2iMPsTg_Pcq3bpXvNTmV/s1600/wild-lions-645-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOGrskV2cXV1ukiZ2bOhYDxlLvmcoKd3O83UN2_BLzN_WlbabfcLXym54IPL6Ph0W_WJouUTfpssz6SHispDDbkBo52oAOLWG5GA7r8ZhJsZVtlP2nff2XYSqI2iMPsTg_Pcq3bpXvNTmV/s320/wild-lions-645-2.jpg" width="320" /></a>Kilimanjaro.<br />
<div><br />
</div><div>The cloud covered peak appears like a soft cake from above in the rickety plane that could fall apart at any moment. A thick white frosting is overflowing from the center and it reminds me that I haven't had a good pastry in a long time.<br />
<br />
The grasslands are gold and green and as the plane descends you can see the landscape dotted with animals of all shapes and colors. Roving masses of wildebeest, Thomson's gazelles that dart off the plains and disappear in the tall grass, some sort of deer with white underbellies that look from one direction to the next before dipping back into the grass for another bite. </div><div><br />
</div><div>I look for the lions and hyenas but don't see any. They grow rare because of the encroachment of man and by poachers. I heard a story that a whole pride of lions was slaughtered because a wealthy Arabian businessmen wanted to kill a pride and they paid off some park officials and were allowed to do it. I thought of the little bouncing lion cubs with their sweet faces, walking close to the party of people out of childhood curiosity and being shot to death in return.<br />
<br />
The plane lands and we get off. My guide was behind me and he whispered in my ear, "Do you have any money on you?"<br />
<br />
"Yeah, why?"<br />
<br />
"Hide it in your ass."<br />
<br />
"What?"<br />
<br />
"You need to hide it in your ass. If you hide it in your boot or in your crotch they'll search you and find it."<br />
<br />
We get into a car and drive for what seems like forever and I'm thinking about why I should shove cash in my ass. I decide my guide is being way too cautious and hide my cash in the inside pocket of my vest (yeah, I wore a vest because I saw someone in an Indiana Jones movie wear one).<br />
<br />
We step out and a crowd of people swarm over us. I thought we could slip by but we're spotted as tourists right away.<br />
<br />
"I want to see some lions," I tell my guide.<br />
<br />
"We can find some. But it's not as easy as it used to be. They're dying out. Now try not to get everything stolen. And don't fight back. These are hungry people and they are just doing what hungry people do."<br />
<br />
Dozens of hands cover me. They find the pocket on my vest and take my cash.<br />
<br />
"I told you to hide it in your ass," my guide says.<br />
<br />
"I thought you were messing with me."<br />
<br />
We get in another jeep and drive out on the plains. We sit for a long time while the guide looks through binoculars. We drive a little more and then get out and sit behind a bush.<br />
<br />
"What are we doing here?" I ask.<br />
<br />
"Look right there."<br />
<br />
He points to shapes moving underneath the shade of a tree and my heart drops into my stomach. A male lion, its mane swaying in the breeze, is falling asleep as the rest of the pride finish their meal of zebra or whatever they had killed. Once it's torn open, all animals look the same.<br />
<br />
We watch them for a long time and then get back in the jeep and begin to drive.<br />
<br />
"You have a daughter?" my guide asks.<br />
<br />
"Yeah."<br />
<br />
"She will not see lions when she is older unless they are imprisoned in a zoo. They will not live that long. The poachers pay good money to hunt them."<br />
<br />
I look back to the pride. Many of them finished with the food and are lying happily under the tree. Two little cubs playfully jumped on their father and then ran away before running back and jumping on him again.<br />
<br />
I turn back around.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>If you wish to donate to the World Wildlife Fund and help save our lions, please visit their website at <a href="https://secure2.convio.net/wwf/site/SPageServer?pagename=donate_monthly&s_src=AWG1111SS000">www.worldwildlife.org</a></i><br />
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<div><br />
</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903450198970040132.post-83479114865069557502011-06-24T13:19:00.000-07:002011-06-24T13:21:09.117-07:00Thank you Monique<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrhQvsznSQoQHjXtRNry1e4mqH3g9D6L66Sp0ZkrwS9oX-klOdE1WKBu68r7156Uuxzrd8_11GYUfO7lvfEAxEdPZO92AqAovRNfOhAs1NUuIOpoMwPkwYx4CBmi6jdTD2lHaCJ_UYjG4w/s1600/310869751_dcaba6ebb2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrhQvsznSQoQHjXtRNry1e4mqH3g9D6L66Sp0ZkrwS9oX-klOdE1WKBu68r7156Uuxzrd8_11GYUfO7lvfEAxEdPZO92AqAovRNfOhAs1NUuIOpoMwPkwYx4CBmi6jdTD2lHaCJ_UYjG4w/s320/310869751_dcaba6ebb2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The first time I went skiing, a couple buddies of mine gracefully descended the slope on the fine white powder and came to a stop at the bottom of the mountain. They were dressed in the finest ski gear available, they had to be as I grew up in a ski-town and that's where men of nineteen years met girls.<br />
<br />
"Hey," one of my friends said to another, "where's Victor?"<br />
<br />
Just then a ball of screaming black ski gear, wobbling from side-to-side, dashed down the mountain and zipped past them.<br />
<br />
"AhhhhhhAHHHHHHHHHHaahhhhh."<br />
<br />
I jabbed the poles into the snow to stop but instead my body flew into them and I lost them.<br />
<br />
I hit an embankment and almost went over it into an SUV. One ski flew one way and the other had my leg twisted underneath me. I looked back to my friends; most of them were doubled over in laughter. One of them was on the ground on his back he was laughing so hard.<br />
<br />
Just then someone walked over to me. I could see her hair in the sunlight; it was a brunette and she had ski goggles pushed up onto her forehead. Her nose was red from the cold and she had large, soft brown eyes. She offered me her gloved hand and I stood up.<br />
<br />
"First time?"<br />
"You can tell, huh?" I said.<br />
"Don't worry. Everyone has a first time."<br />
<br />
We rode the ski lift back to the top of the mountain and she began showing me what I needed to know. Keep your knees bent, don't use your poles too much, and use the pie to control yourself.<br />
<br />
Ah, the pie.<br />
<br />
"That's not a pie," some kid said next to me, "it's called a pizza."<br />
Go away kid. Monique is showing me the pie.<br />
<br />
I descended the slope about ten times as slowly, with Monique next to me, occasionally holding my hand to balance me. I made it down and she gave me a hug and said, "Good job."<br />
<br />
My friends weren't laughing anymore.<br />
<br />
I never saw Monique again, but, I just wanted to say thanks. Not just to Monique, but to all the Moniques out there.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Photo courtesy of Yotut. </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903450198970040132.post-67448826100463858332011-06-22T22:32:00.000-07:002011-06-26T16:39:22.197-07:00Scuba Diving: Man's Elegant Attempt to Kill Himself<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjniyZhaKdoPuadGsGgX2xQNu4V0mUcJsQi_bA9BU_thBabJueQOEjTST2i2Z7868pLdtSeqdwu__agmvn_Ft2xhzalvxJxYce4KEjO5I3QvP78neqJbtm3uvHmFHHsqDWMKmnj6_VK8sx2/s1600/abba1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjniyZhaKdoPuadGsGgX2xQNu4V0mUcJsQi_bA9BU_thBabJueQOEjTST2i2Z7868pLdtSeqdwu__agmvn_Ft2xhzalvxJxYce4KEjO5I3QvP78neqJbtm3uvHmFHHsqDWMKmnj6_VK8sx2/s320/abba1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Narcosis of the deep, the bends, hypothermia, and as if that weren't enough; sharks. Why would anybody scuba you ask? I really don't know; not totally my cup of tea. Let me share an experience with you:<br />
<br />
You climb onto a boat and the wind is blowing so hard it almost throws you into the ocean; the theme from <i>Jaws</i> in your head. The guide is skinny and brown with a weasel smile and a six-pack of abs he takes every opportunity to show off.<br />
<br />
"Ladies," he says, even though 7 of the 10 people here are male. "Make sure you check your regulators and don't bite down on them too much. If you need help with your coral mask, I'm here."<br />
<br />
"I need help with my coral mask," I say.<br />
<br />
"Oh," the weasel says, "I meant the girls. Most guys don't need the help." He checks the regulator. "Hmm, where'd you get this? I haven't seen this kind before."<br />
Thanks weasel, that makes me feel better considering we're in the middle of the ocean and you're the only one that's certified to save my butt.<br />
"All right guys and dolls, have fun."<br />
<br />
The water is warm and it makes you want to urinate so badly you just decide it's better not to fight it so you can concentrate. The sunlight comes down and breaks into fragments, turning light blue, then blue, then dark blue, then black as you go farther down. There are fish everywhere and coral but they don't interest you because you've just seen a small ship wreck. You go down the sixty feet or so to the bottom and see that it's an old sailing boat. You reach out and touch the wooden sail and a splinter embeddes itself deeply into your middle finger. And then, you see the blood. It looks cloudy in water and you're thrilled at first, but then the theme from <i>Jaws</i> plays in your head again.<br />
<br />
You come up to the surface but not too fast cause they said your eyeballs will pop out of your head. You come up onto the boat and the weasel is standing there.<br />
<br />
"Oh, hey, one more thing. There's a boat down there. Make sure not to touch it it's really old."<br />
<br />
The weasel won that day, and I still didn't figure out what the draw was for scuba. At least I wasn't eaten.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8903450198970040132.post-18350123618958302602011-06-21T15:39:00.000-07:002011-08-12T06:19:07.920-07:00Why Monster Books are Important<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglejTLo1qtV0OWYzR3REWIBXYTBfimM5KiBsb4amtlhkuwgRL3iRXg6ZHdAZ9WGPwtWilmS269FbhqtH_kXXeOEfSGK1PQSNU2UT5IK029O4OdQLG4ICN7pEffQo5mNDqv3KYOhDsWSpaE/s1600/Rondanini_Medusa_Glyptothek_Munich_252_n2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglejTLo1qtV0OWYzR3REWIBXYTBfimM5KiBsb4amtlhkuwgRL3iRXg6ZHdAZ9WGPwtWilmS269FbhqtH_kXXeOEfSGK1PQSNU2UT5IK029O4OdQLG4ICN7pEffQo5mNDqv3KYOhDsWSpaE/s200/Rondanini_Medusa_Glyptothek_Munich_252_n2.jpg" width="191" /></a></div>Do you remember the first time you ever learned about monsters? Probably not, but there had to be a first time somewhere, right? Whether it's the boogeyman under your bed or the scary clown doll in the closet (creepy by the way), monsters are part of our lives.<br />
<br />
Freud and Jung (especially Jung) wrote extensively of what monsters and mythical creatures mean in relation to our psyches. Every culture has myths about monsters and from the Epic of Gilgamesh and the myth of Hercules, to the legends of aborigines in Australia about the monsters that live in the outback, to the Twilight movies of today, there is something about the monster tale that fascinates us.<br />
<br />
I remember my first real exposure to the monster myth. I saw <i>Jaws</i> when I was five years old and I have loved that movie ever since. Even now, in my thirties, I watch it about once every other year or so. Aside from being a great story, it represents something much deeper. The "unknown" lurking underneath us, ready to pounce at any moment.<br />
<br />
The biggest draw to me and the biggest question in monster books is: Does the monster represent an actual external threat or is it a representation of our internal shadow-as Jung called it?<br />
<br />
I couldn't possibly begin to answer this question, but I can tell you that when I was writing <i>Savage</i>, the monster was certainly a representation of the internal darkness in the protagonist, Nathan Beaufort. The beast and Nathan are linked; as one grows insane, so does the other. To be honest, I didn't plan to write the book that way but after finishing it and reviewing it, I could see the parallel clearly. The unconscious, especially in an art form as expressive as writing, certainly has a way of getting across what it wants to get across.<br />
<br />
Though many literary types hold their nose up at the monster genre, they are usually unaware of its true literary merits. I have no doubt that if some of them cuddled up with <i>Moby Dick</i> or <i>Jaws</i>, they would see exactly why we need the monster genre. It teaches us something about ourselves. That, despite our veneer of civility, man can still be as savage as nature.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1