Tag: Books

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What’s to love about the pandemic?

Two ambulances paid a visit to neighbors in the little cul-de-sac across from my house last night. No cops, no lights, no sirens. I hope it’s not COVID-related, but with 500,000 Ontarians returning from March Break this weekend, I would not be shocked. We had a few fun plans for the break: a college tour for my son, one night away, a movie and sugar bush*. It was nothing involving palm trees and faraway places, but we canceled everything. I’m glad we did.

Canada’s health minister has declared that social distancing is not a “two-week thing.” Many haven’t wrapped their brains around this fact yet. This pandemic will stretch on for a long time and we dare not relax our vigilance. We already knew that, really. I suspect some people would freak out if we admitted the restrictions will continue until we receive the vaccine. That’s well over a year away and there are other negative effects besides the threat of COVID-19: social isolation, domestic abuse, child abuse, depression, anxiety, paranoia, crushing poverty, a dead world economy, etc.,…

The coronavirus has demonstrated conclusively that society and the world economy is a fragile model for civilization. As a writer of apocalyptic tales, I always knew this, but I never wanted to live like this beyond the realm of fiction. Unlike other zombie apocalypse stories, Season One of This Plague of Days details how civilization slowly falls apart before the evolution of the virus. The similarities are a little eerie.

One of the variables that is making the pandemic worse is the number of people who are failing to isolate themselves. The health minister clarified that our civil liberties are at stake. If we can’t isolate ourselves for the good of the whole, the government will impose sanctions. It’s been a long time since Pierre Trudeau imposed the War Measures Act. It will be odd when his son imposes the 2020 equivalent. The Matrix leaves clues, people! 

As for me, I’m sleeping more. For a longtime insomniac, you’d think I’d be glad. Instead, I take it as a sign of depression crawling in. I’m less productive. I play a lot of Boggle and Scrabble. However, my sainted wife (AKA She Who Must Be Obeyed) is taking this opportunity to paint the bathroom. I don’t want any part of that so I do the dishes and, among several book projects, I work on a prequel to This Plague of Days. I also have a separate book proposal and a dialogue going on with a publisher in New York. I’m assuming that’s on hold indefinitely as we all figure this shit out.

This circumstance has elevated workers that society often takes for granted. They’re literally risking their health for others. I hope that esteem for workers in the food delivery chain continues long after the Corona Crisis is over. Doctors, nurses, researchers, scientists, truckers, delivery people, grocery store workers: they’re all on the frontline and we should all be grateful. (When all this is over, I plan to send a gift basket to my doctor’s office.)

Bright spots amid the dark chaos bring light. Today I watched two police cars roll up in a backstreet of Majorca. A bunch of cops poured out of their cruisers and started singing and dancing, playing guitars to elevate people’s spirits. They played as people joined in from their windows above the street. As I witnessed good people working to make the best of a bad situation, I wept.

Compassion moves me. Heroism moves me. Rising to the occasion inspires me to try to do the same. This is the only thing to love about the pandemic: The virus has shown us our weakness, but through this horror, we will plumb undiscovered strengths. Smart people will find a vaccine. We have to be patient and strive to not become patients.

Stupid people will stand in the way on our road back to health. We must work around them. We must believe there are many more good humans than bad. Good people will get us through this.

Wherever you are, stay as safe as you can, share funny pet videos, help somebody, reach out electronically so no one gets too lonely, read, goof off, goof around, laugh and take care of yourself and your family. Persevere.

Don’t just survive. Live to thrive.

*Some of my readers may be unfamiliar with the term sugar bush. It’s mostly a Canadian thing where you go to a maple plantation to eat too many pancakes, baked beans, slaw and several variations of maple syrup. The gift shop sells maple candy and maple syrup, of course. If the weather’s right, you can take a horse-drawn sleigh into the woods to see how the sap is tapped from maple trees. You can even pour maple syrup on the snow, freeze it, and eat it off a popsicle stick. Afterward, the tradition was to take the kids to check out the farm’s rabbits, pigs, and cows. Maybe by this time next year, it will be safe to do that again. I look forward to the party when all this is over.

 

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Writing: What’s to come in 2020

TPOD RED CONTAGION use this one

(Note: Want to hear the first chapter of TPOD: Contagion? Subscribers will receive a link to hear it!)

Here’s a list of books and assorted projects I’m working on for 2020!

  1. A prequel novella to This Plague of Days, set mainly in Dungarvan and Dublin. Currently at 12,000+ words.
  2. Entering three short story contests.
  3. I’m currently taking a Udemy course in audiobook production and narration.
  4. Working on a paranormal trilogy with author and friend Armand Rosamilia. The first book is written and we’re probably about a third through the second.
  5. A big publisher approached me looking for book proposals. One pitch missile has been fired. I’ll keep exploring this.
  6. I plan to take the Dimension War Series wide (i.e. beyond Amazon) but will to revamp it a little first.
  7. Working as a book doctor for another author’s project, waiting on the rewrite of the first draft.
  8. I’d like to get an audiobook or two out this year for Ex Parte Press, probably for Sometime Soon, Somewhere Close first, followed by Amid Mortal Words and The Night Man. At the pace of audiobook production, expect this much later in the year.
  9. I’ve been approached about doing another podcast (producing and possibly co-hosting). I love podcasting. It’s an exciting idea that is in development.
  10. A secret project for one of my pen names. Into the third round of revisions now and it’s killing me.

    Those are the broad strokes for Ex Parte Press for 2020. But wait! There’s more!

    I built a little sound studio (AKA Blanket Fort) in my basement to record and produce future audiobook projects.

    This Plague of Days is my most popular series. As an exclusive for subscribers here, I’ll soon release a reading of the first chapter of This Plague of Days: Contagion.


    Subscribe and stay tuned!

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Novels with secret messages

In writing a novel, my first priority is to weave a compelling story with interesting characters with fun twists and solid jokes amid the action. The theme emerges eventually, it does not come first. Now that I’ve written several apocalyptic books, here’s what came out of the subtext of the following works:This-Plague-of-Days-OMNIBUS-Large-2

This Plague of Days: The right person in the right place at the right time can make all the difference in the world and the two most powerful words are “Begin again.”

Amid Mortal Words - High Resolution

Amid Mortal Words: With great power comes great consequences.

AFTER LIFE INFERNO AFTER Life: Through adversity, we evolve.

Robot Planet: Solutions arrive when we embrace our problems, not when we run from them.

Robot Planet - High Resolution

Haunting Lessons: You don’t know the depth of your capabilities until you are challenged.
Screenshot 2017-06-08 22.24.50

Dream's Dark Flight REVAMP full


Dream’s Dark Flight:

We find our power when we let go of the fears that do not serve us.

 

 

Second-Class-Citizen-COVER-DEC-16

And now, Citizen Second Class: Even when at war against the powerful, peace may be achieved not by strength but by bravery and guile.

Citizen Second Class just released. You can pick up my latest dystopian adventure along with all the others here.

 

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It’s not safe out there! Get in the Circle quick!

“Exhaustion seeped into my marrow but I could not sleep. Time passed but not enough that I could grow bored of my dread.” ~ from Citizen Second Class

 

Citizen Second Class is available for pre-order now.

Deliver it to your kindle Christmas Day so you don’t have to look your relatives in the eye.

Click it now, thank me later. 😉

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Coming Soon!

Life’s not fair. It’s our job to make it that way. 

In an eerily familiar near-future, America has fallen to fascism. Citizenship is attainable only through military service or immense wealth. The Resistance is broke and broken. Amid this dystopian landscape, New Atlanta has become a fortress reserved for the billionaire elite. 

Hopes to save the nation have faded but Kismet Beatriz remains defiant. The intrepid young survivor embarks on a desperate mission to storm the castle of the Select Few. To win, she must face the future without flinching.

Don’t hope. Do.

CITIZEN SECOND CLASS  WILL SOON BE AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER.

OFFICIAL LAUNCH IS SET FOR DEC 26, 2019.

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The Flash: Five Surprises for a New Fan

I started watching The Flash on Netflix as a stress reliever. I wasn’t too invested at first. In fact, given the names of the villains and the source material, I mistook the series for something breezy to help me chill out. I was wrong. Though much of the dialogue is jokey, the characters are earnest and there’s a whole lot of death going on for a CW show. The show is not just bubblegum for the eyes, after all. I picked up on a few details which made it better than I expected (and useful to writers.)

Here’s what I learned from The Flash:

1. The Art of the Cliffhanger


These writers are the masters of cliffhangers that advance the plot. If this were a novel, each chapter would be a page-turner. They often throw in a double cliffhanger.

It’s great for Netflix viewing because the narrative makes you want to surf straight into the next episode to find out what happens next. Someone will curse imaginatively and shout that they hate cliffhangers. I know. The details of dealing intelligently with cliffhangers is a blog post all its own. I’ll give that objection a short answer here, though: We’ve been trained by decades of serial television to endure cliffhangers. Everybody hates pop ups on websites, too. But they work.

BONUS ANSWER: Lots of people say they hate cliffhangers but they will be back after the obligatory performative rage quit. It wasn’t the cliffhangers that drove people to wander away from The Walking Dead. It was the brutality of Glen’s death and the relentlessly grim outlook that left viewers questioning the value of surviving the zombie apocalypse. Since the producers of The Walking Dead seem to be bringing hope back, I suspect the show will regain some viewers who walked away.

SIDE NOTE:

The Flash springs from comics, obviously. I used to collect comics but I didn’t understand the art of comic book writing very well until recently. I aspire to write a graphic novel based on some of my previously published work. In Words into Pictures by Brian Michael Bendis, the author points out that a truly well-written comic has a cliffhanger at every turn of the page. That could be twelve cliffhangers for one twenty-four page story! Writing comics suddenly sounds more daunting, doesn’t it?

2. Plot and Plan Long Story Arcs

On the surface, it was a little too easy to dismiss a show that kept hammering a couple of solutions hard: “Run, Barry, run!” and “Believe in yourself.” I began watching carelessly so I popped into the show midway through the first season, just for a taste. Later, after watching the rest of the run, I circled back to the beginning. That’s when it hit me how much forethought seems to be involved. I’m impressed.

There are seeds planted early on that grow to mighty trees later. In the first season, the camera pauses on a shot of a cage labeled Grodd. The gorilla is a fixture later but the writers don’t answer all questions immediately.

If you’ve ever taken a writing class or watched comment threads devolve into insanity, you’ve seen someone demand that all the answers come front loaded and quickly. Long story arcs are for readers and viewers who like a little mystery. Quick answers are for impatient people who aren’t losing themselves to the narrative (AKA not in the reading/viewing demographic. If you’re into it, you’ll wait.)

I’m guessing that since the creators of the TV show had decades of original material to draw from, they could plot and plan far ahead using the source material. Sometimes you can get there the way Breaking Bad found their ending: pantsing it. Still, I do appreciate that the creators of The Flash appear to have planned well ahead (even if they didn’t).


3. The Art of Raising Stakes


After saving the planet (or at least Central City) from utter destruction over and over, you might finish a season of The Flash and think: Where can they go from here? The villains get even more interesting as the series progresses. They become more dangerous and meaner. The characters you’ve grown to love, or at least like, suffer more. When the hero is up against a villain and you’re thinking that the good guys can’t possibly win, you’ve got a compelling story.

SIDE NOTE: You know that famous hallway fight scene in Daredevil? Of course, you do. On The Flash, Neil Sandilands as The Thinker has a scene where he uses a conglomeration of powers to take out a SWAT team that is epic. When they composed that epic fight scene, I’m sure they had the Daredevil scene in mind. It’s a lot of fun.


4. Fearlessness


The Flash is a series that isn’t afraid to be complex. You know a time travel plot is difficult to deal with when you have actors drawing timelines and flowcharts as if they’re teaching metaphysical physics. But they’re also brave enough to be silly and good for them for having fun with it. If Christopher Nolan had more of a sense of humor, he could be the greatest director of his generation instead of one of the greatest.

With The Flash‘s multiverse packed with so many versions of one character, it is a joy to see Tom Cavanaugh play Harrison Wells et al in many hilarious iterations. He goes from cold and deadly to a stereotypically comedic German scientist to Matthew McConaughey parody to a French detective named Sherloque. When Vibe charges off to save the day, Tom Cavanaugh gets to deliver the gleeful line: “Good luck storming the castle!” Classic!

SIDE NOTE: The actor Tom Cavanaugh is a Canadian national treasure. Candice Patton is so gorgeous I’m not absolutely positive she is real. She might be CGI.

BACK TO THE POINT, ROB:

I appreciate The Flash‘s flexibility of tone so much. Too many shows (and books) have one note and hit it as if they’re playing triangle in the high school’s junior band. I want ups and downs and loops on my story’s roller coaster. The Flash delivers. As a guy who dared to include whales as part of the solution to a zombie apocalypse, I love that.

 

5. Heart and Relatability.

It’s interesting to see how the characters have evolved on The Flash. When the series begins, Jesse L. Martin plays Detective Joe West a little like he’s still NYPD Detective Ed Green on Law & Order. Later, we learn he’s a big softie. In his first appearance, Wentworth Miller plays bad guy Leonard Snart more seriously. Later on, his portrayal is looser, more fun and unexpected. It’s as if the show runner took the actor aside and said, “Have more fun with it.” And so we have more fun watching.

I love James Bond movies and I read all the books, too. However, that character is so iconic, he doesn’t change. He could be an android programmed with a very narrow range of emotions and a list of one-liners. I like when fiction is more connected and characters develop over time. History affects the future (or on The Flash, the future can rewrite the past).

Characters develop and change on this show. They don’t have to change much to be compelling but their ability to change over time makes them human and relatable. The transformation doesn’t have to be a preachy, “I learned this” moment, either. When Cisco hates Barry for a while, he doesn’t really have a big “I forgive you” moment. He just does what we all do when a good friend pisses us off: We get over it eventually.

What makes a hero? Barry Allen believes in empathy and the willingness to sacrifice. What’s more interesting is that he does not save the world alone. Unlike most other superheroes, he can’t do it alone. That’s where the heart of the show comes through. They’re friends. They’re family. They get annoyed with each other but love keeps them together and in the fight for the rest of us.

I know. It’s just a TV show and some of the lesser villains can be childish. However, this moment in history feels like a great time to be childlike. We need more empathy and hope. This is a great time for love so strong it keeps us together despite the fact that sometimes we hate each other.

We all want to be heroes but we can’t do it alone. I love the writing life, but sometimes I feel very disconnected from our current reality. I came to The Flash looking for a distraction from the endless scroll of bad news in my news feed. I grew to appreciate the writing. Then I forgot about the mechanics, left my stress behind and simply enjoyed watching the show. I didn’t expect to become a fan but I did.

P.S. I saw Grant Gustin on Glee before he sang on The Flash. Yes, the star of the show sure can sing. The musical team-up with Supergirl star, Melissa Benoist was a delight. However, the actor who plays Cisco is a singer as well as an actor. Carlos Valdes oozes charm all over the place. The show made it to its 100th episode on December 4th. I hope Carlos gets to sing a bunch on the show before The Flash finishes its run. 

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Keto living, saying yes and saying no

Recommendations for the keto life, living better and well:

1. Saying no.
2. Dom D’Agostino, Ph.D. on The Joe Rogan Experience
3. Mark Sisson’s book, The Primal Blueprint

Recommendations about Stress and Money

It occurred to me this week that a lot of people are on a quest to get to “Screw You Money.” That’s the polite way to put it. SYM is the amount of money it takes to own the big house, tool around on a boat just for fun, vacation whenever you want and live the lotto winner’s dream. In other words, when you get to SYM, you get to say, “No,” to whoever the hell you please.

The trouble is, to get to that point, you pretty much have to say, “Yes.” To everybody.

I talk quite a bit about this issue in Do the Thing.  If your aim is to do a thing well, be in high demand and sell to a lot of customers only to turn around and tell them all to go to hell…you might not get to the destination you want. You might not be doing the thing that makes you happy now.

My parents worked very hard for a huge chunk of their lives and it seemed to me they spent a lot of that time frustrated or angry. Their work was valuable but I don’t know if they were in the right spot. My mother became a businessperson but it was her time as an OR nurse that she spoke of most fondly. When my parents finally retired, my mother was not in the best of health and she didn’t get to enjoy it much. They took time off, a week here and a week there, each year. They traveled. But they sacrificed so much for those trips away.

In the end, they got their SYM, but they kind of got screwed, too. Mom was in a wheelchair for a long time before passing away from cancer. They worked hard and “did well,” but their grasp at freedom as a couple seemed too fleeting.

Are You Doing the Right Thing?

Every job has its frustrations but if it’s all frustrating, you might be in the wrong job. As a writer, I wrote for free for years before I turned to freelancing seriously. I loved writing so much it was a compulsion. Early this week I shared on Facebook that I had skipped writing for two days. On the third morning I awoke anxious and eager to get back to work. My books were waiting and I had to get to them. I hope you feel that way about your work, that it brings you happiness and solace. If your work is play, you’ll never work another day in your life.

That’s not an option for everyone, of course. Maybe you need retraining. Maybe you don’t have the resources yet. Perhaps you are doing a job that doesn’t suit you but I sure hope that is a temporary situation and you have a plan to escape. We spend so much time working, we should be doing what we enjoy in the long term. My parents taught me that any job is better than no job. Maybe, but don’t let the job you hate turn into a career. Life’s too short.
Some tough guy (like my Dad) would tell me to suck it up and do a job I hate for more money. That’s not for me. I’d crash and burn. I would hate everything. Besides, the people who succeed seem to love what they do (before they’re successful) and often continue to do the work long after they don’t need more money! Stephen King is still writing. Jeff Bezos is still bent on taking over the world. Pinky and the Brain are still scheming to do the same somewhere, I’m sure. 

So don’t go for SYM. That level of success is a side effect of success. Saying yes, being genuine, entertaining,  helpful and useful: these are the routes to having the option of saying no. Chances are that the habit of creativity and service will continue long after you don’t “have to” say yes, anymore.

Podcast Recommendations: Lots about Keto!

This week’s best podcast award goes to The Joe Rogan Experience for Joe’s guest  Dom D’Agostino, Ph.D. He talked in depth about the benefits of the ketogenic diet. From Joe’s website (which you’ll get at the link above): 

“Dom D’Agostino, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine, and a senior research scientist at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC). He was also recently a crew member of the NASA NEEMO 22 project.”

When the good doctor talks keto, he mentions “macros” on the podcast. That was the only thing he didn’t explain in depth. If you get a keto app on your phone (there are many) you, too, can run your brain and body on ketones and burn fat instead of glucose. Macros are what you track to make sure you’re staying in healthy ketosis: Carb, Fat and Protein consumption. Keto diets are useful for losing weight and combatting Type 2 Diabetes, but the research suggests keto has many more surprising applications. Keto can be a useful supplement to cancer treatment and ALS as well as a treatment for epileptic seizures! Great stuff from Dr. D’Agostino (who is also an aquanaut who works with NASA!)

Keto Apps

The app I use is MyKeto. I also do intermittent fasting. For a fasting timer, try Vora (for more tracking) or TrackYourFast which is a simpler timer with no tracking. You don’t have to use intermittent fasting to do keto. That’s up to you, of course.  I can tell you that since I started doing it, I don’t get sugar highs and sugar crashes. I feel sharper the more keto I go.

Runner-up podcast this week is Chris Hardwick’s interview with actor Bruce Campbell, star of many movies and TV shows. You probably know him from The Evil Dead or Burn Notice. This might be one of the best interviews I’ve heard because it’s clear neither the host nor the guest wanted the fun to end. Bruce does voices, tells stories and he’s a very funny guy. Listen to that episode of The Nerdist here.

Book recommendations

I’m finally reading Mark Sisson’s book, The Primal Blueprint. He lays out a great case for eating well by consuming plants and animals, cutting out the processed foods and exercising in ways that are not overly demanding. Check out his book here.

BONUS:

I usually recommend buying Do the Thing by Robert Chute. Instead, this week I’m recommending you ease your stress with my criminal autobiography. Brooklyn in the Mean Time, by your buddy, Robert Chazz Chute, is the story of my trip back to NYC in the ’90s, on the run from trouble and heading straight back into a web of lies, danger and stolen jewels. I know! Crazy, right?

Begin your adventure with paperback of Brooklyn in the Mean Time here.

Pick up the ebook here.

 

Please toss this podcast (and my books!) a five-star review wherever you get ’em. I need the money and attention.

Click the BECOME A PATRON link at AllThatChazz.com to get lots of nifty rewards. Special thanks to patron of the arts, reader and listener, RF Kacy for his contribution. Cheers, mate!

The Obligatory Disclaimer:
I’m a writer and a massage therapist. Don’t take health advice from a podcast. The All That Chazz Stress Relief Podcast is for entertainment purposes only. I do this to help, not harm. Use at own risk. Do your own research. Beware of alligators. Your mother dresses you funny!

Cheers!

~ Chazz

PS Revamped the AllThatChazz.com website. Buy some books!

(Just got my new paperback today. The color scheme looks…familiar.)