Category Archives: Writing

Oblivion Spoilers

  By Paul Baughman | April 21, 2013 - 19:07 | ,
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This post contains spoilers from the movie Oblivion. If you want the review without the spoilers go here. You have been warned.

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

There are several things in this movie that set off my bogosity meter.

1. We find out at the end that Jack is a clone, created by the Scavenger to be its soldiers in phase one of the invasion, then the repair techs in phase two of the rape of Earth. However, unless recent research has discovered that memory is stored in DNA, then a clone should … more →

Fiction: With a Bang, Not a Whimper

  By Paul Baughman | April 18, 2013 - 12:24 | ,
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Latest flash fiction challenge from Chuck Wendig: http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2013/04/12/flash-fiction-challenge-choose-your-opening-line/

With a Bang, Not a Whimper

It’s always midnight somewhere.

It took both a witch and a physicist to destroy the world.

Frank stepped quietly into the kitchen.

Mary was bent over rummaging in one of the refrigerator drawers. He took a quick step and pinched her bottom.

She squeaked and jerked upright, whirling around. He stepped in close and wrapped his arms around her and kissed her thoroughly.

“Mmmm, much as I like this, I have to finish dinner.”

“Well, you just do that, because after dinner I have … more →

“Anywhere touched by magic” – A Turn of Light by Julie E. Czerneda

  By Paul Baughman | April 15, 2013 - 13:07 | ,
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I am new to the reviewing game, and so I’m still learning how to do it right. I tend to retell the book or movie, rather than telling about it. I’m going to do my best not to retell this book, because there is absolutely no way I could tell it as well as Julie.

As a general rule, I don’t like humungous books. The Wheel of Time soured me on that whole thing. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the first few, but the the next few I had to force myself to finish, not because the writing wasn’t … more →

Oz: The Great and Powerful – movie review

  By Paul Baughman | April 15, 2013 - 06:42 | ,
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There may be some spoilers below. I’ll try to keep them few.

I have never read any of the Oz books. My only previous exposure to Oz has been the original 1939 movie. It was a tradition in my family to watch that movie whenever it appeared on TV. This was before cable or satellite TV, so we were dependent on when the broadcast networks decided to show it.

Like the original movie, Oz starts in a small town in Kansas, and like the original the movie is black and white until the scene moves to Oz, where the color … more →

Free Fiction: Library

  By Paul Baughman | March 24, 2013 - 15:35 | ,
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This story was prompted by Chuck Wendig’s Flash Fiction challenge at http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2013/03/22/flash-fiction-challenge-ten-words-will-give-you-five/. It was supposed to be 1,000 words, but I ran over by a hundred and a half.

The words I chose were Library / Storm / Satellite / Cube / Ethereal

Enjoy!

Library

Jared spotted it on the satellite feed after the storm had passed.

“Hey Billie,” Jared said. “Look at this.”

“Whatcha got?” she said, rolling her chair over to his console.

“Huh,” he said. “It’s gone.”

“What’s gone?”

“There was something on the feed a minute ago, but now it’s gone.”

“Rewind it and let’s … more →

The Body Electric by Allie Duzett

  By Paul Baughman | March 23, 2013 - 10:21 | ,
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I won an early review copy of this book on Library Thing. This review is for the ebook version.

Warning: some spoilers may be possible, although I’ll try to keep them limited.

The Body Electric is the story of seventeen year-old Helena Clark. She lives in a small town in Colorado where she has one friend, one boyfriend, three siblings and two parents.

Lena describes herself as average in everything, yet she is friendly, kind, sweet, and a good friend. When she discovers her boyfriend is cheating on her, she turns to … more →

E-publishing, circa 1974

  By Paul Baughman | March 14, 2013 - 13:38 | ,
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farther out cover 72px 2x3

A Step Farther Out by Jerry Pournelle is a wonderfully optimistic, thought-provoking book. This is not a review of that book, but commentary on a small section of one essay that makes up one part of the book.

Electronic Publishing has been around for a while now, but I first read about it in Jerry Pournelle’s book, which was a collection of the science columns he did for Galaxy magazine. My copy was published in 1979, but the essay in question, Here Come the Brains, first … more →

23 in ’13 update 3/3 – 3/9

  By Paul Baughman | March 10, 2013 - 11:14 | ,
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This past week I have added about 1300 words to a novel WIP.

wrote a blog post “Gun Rack”

Started a new steampunk short story, tentatively titled “In the ‘Yard”, currently at 800 words.

Played with a couple of 3D modeling programs. I’ve been trying to create a cover for my one finished novel. This will take some time to learn anything worthwhile, which means time away from writing. Is it worth it or should I pay someone else to create the covers? Of course, this is creating, so it should count for 23 in 13, but the learning curve … more →

23 in 13 update

  By Paul Baughman | March 3, 2013 - 10:29 | ,
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I wrote a piece for @ChuckWendig’s Flash Fiction challenge on his blog
details here: http://pbaughman.com/blog/?p=33

I also wrote a review of Theodore Sturgeon’s Some of Your Blood
here: http://pbaughman.com/blog/?p=36

I also added about 2k words to my novel WIP.

So that is three more of the 23.

Score: 10/23 ( 6 blog posts, 2 stories, 2 updates to novel WIP)

Flash Fiction Challenge

  By Paul Baughman | February 25, 2013 - 12:00 | ,
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@ChuckWendig at Terrible Minds, occasionally offers a writing challenge. Here is this week’s: http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2013/02/22/flash-fiction-challenge-game-of-aspects-redux/

Foolishly, I accepted the challenge and grabbed the random elements. *sigh*  I will try to write a story using the following elements:  Erotic Fairy Tale, set in a King’s Throne Room, utilizing Artificial Intelligence. 1500 words, due 2/28, noon, eastern time.

Update: 25 February 2013

I finished my story for this challenge. It weighed in at 1540 words, a bit more than the challenge allowed. After some polishing, I decided I was pleased enough to submit it for publication instead of posting a link back to Chuck’s … more →