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And the winner of the first Monthly Mutation is . . .

. . . E. J. Bouinatchova! This is such a lovely image, graceful yet eerie, complete with a sense of mystery and wonder . . . but maybe a little horror, too, just out of frame. This is the kind of picture that makes me want to know the story behind it. What exactly is going on in this image? Awesome job, E. J.! Thank you so much for joining in the fun this month, and I’m proud to present you with a $100 Amazon Gift Card. Woo-hoo! Hopefully this will just be the start of many more Monthly Mutations to come!

 

Monthly Mutation

Monthly Mutation

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Oh, and here are a couple of runners up. Great jobs, Rik Sowden and Mark James Featherstone (respectively)!

Rik

Mark Featherstone

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Help! I’ve become infected by the Atomic Sea!

Okay, here I am, fully transformed . . .

This is to kick off the Monthly Mutation, where I will ask readers to create pictures of themselves as people infected by the Atomic Sea — fish-people, crab-people, octopus-people, whatever. They can be created using make up, Photoshop, paint on canvas, anything, and they can be simple or fancy.

I was going to give the winner (picked by me, at least for now) an Atomic Sea T-shirt and a signed copy of the first print book, but I think I’m going to change that. I really want this to be successful, and to do that I need tor really encourage everyone to send in their best stuff, so I’m going to offer $100 Amazon Gift Card to whoever wins . . . every month!

I was helped along in my transformation by the wonderful make-up artist Kat Mitchell of Austin, Texas.

To view the official Monthly Mutation page, go here: https://jackconnerbooks.com/monthly-mutation-guidelines-and-rules/

 

Fishman Jack

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Fishman Jack

 

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For comparison, here’s the before picture:

Author Photo

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My Fantastic Four rant

The Fantastic Four movie fascinates me. I saw it Friday and I still can’t stop thinking about how this movie, with this script (if indeed this was the original script), got made. (Spoilers ahead) I mean, it had essentially no second act and it barely had a third act. The movie was all first act, with the characters getting their powers, and then . . . well, that was pretty much it, except for a short and anticlimactic showdown that wasn’t set up at all.

It’s just bizarre.

I know there is supposed to have been trouble behind the scenes, but . . . no second or third act? Really? Just what sort of trouble was this? Did the executive producer lose a bet? This is just basic stuff, how you structure a story. These guys know at least this much. That’s their job. The heroes get powers, wrangle with the bad guy, who might also be getting his powers in the first movie, there’s some back in forth in the second act, the stakes get elevated (think the Green Goblin almost killing Aunt May in the first Spiderman movie), then the villain is about to achieve his goal and the good guys stop him in a big, climactic showdown.

That’s it. That’s your story. That’s pretty much every superhero origin story. It’s not rocket science. The details will vary (they better!), but the act structure remains constant.

So . . . what happened with Fantastic Four?

How . . . HOW did this movie get made? I’m really hoping for a documentary on the behind the scenes of this movie someday, because I’m am soooo curious.

Because this movie had potential. The first act, which was most of the movie, was just fine, if overly gritty and with teenage characters that should have been adults. But it was written, directed and acted just fine. It was a real movie. Until the first act ended, and then it wasn’t. But that first act shows that there were real writers and a real director at work on this thing, and they paid attention to details and pacing.

So what then? I’m not being snarky, or at least I’m trying not to be. I’m honestly curious. HOW did this movie get made, or at least released? If a movie isn’t ready, a studio will often hold it back until it is. So who thought this was ready?

 

http://io9.com/was-the-fantastic-four-reboot-doomed-from-the-start-1722904794

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Monthly Mutation Announced!

I’m officially announcing the launch of my new contest. I call it the Monthly Mutation. I’ll give everyone on my newsletter subscriber list, along with all my Facebook friends, the chance to send in photos / drawings / digital manipulations of themselves or others infected by the Atomic Sea. That’s right, soon you’ll have the perfect chance to make yourself up as a fish-person!

The contest will be held one week every month, and the winner will get a signed print edition of T…he Atomic Sea: Volume One. The print edition encompasses Parts One and Two of the ebooks. I might also throw in an Atomic Sea T-shirt.

I’ll go first. I’ve already made my appointment with the make-up artist for the first week of August. Soon you’ll get to see what I look like as a fish-man — woo-hoo! I’ll put the picture up on my Facebook page and on my website, and that’s where I’ll post photos of the winners of the contest, too.

You don’t have to get that fancy. You can just slap a few fish scales on with make up or wave a foam fin, or you can draw yourself as a fish person or use the computer to do it. It’s up to you. You can go for the gross-out or the beautiful, the complex or the simple. I can’t wait to see what people come up with.

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Beware the Shoggoths! H. P. Lovecraft would be proud
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Beware the Shoggoths! H. P. Lovecraft would be proud

Check this out, all fans of H. P. Lovecraft. Robert DeFrank has written a wonderful story told in high Lovecraftian style, a mode many have attempted and most have failed at. Robert captures that style effortlessly and transports you into a terrifically creepy story — I won’t mention any details for fear of spoilers, although the fact that it’s on shoggoth.net should give you a hint. I buy anthologies all the time that promise Lovecraftian thrills, but very few of the stories contained in them actually deliver. This one does, and I heartily recommend it. I hope Robert has some more like this in him, because if he does I will be a happy man. If not, though, thank you, Robert, for “The Mythos Path”.

You can find the story HERE.

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Darth Vader IS returning . . . in a prequel.
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Darth Vader IS returning . . . in a prequel.

Historically, Darth Vader and Star Wars prequels don’t go well together, but maybe this will work. In any case, I would love to see more Vader, and I only hope he’s not as “behind the scenes” as the article suggests. Really, what’s the point to having Darth Vader in your movie and not using him?

In fact, I think this could be a backdoor way to bring Vader into the sequel trilogy. See if my logic follows. In Rogue One, the prequel, they set up some way that he could be brought back to life after his death, whether willingly or not, or perhaps they introduce some entity that would have a motive to bring him back, then, in Part Two of the trilogy, they give the payoff to that set up by actually bringing him back.

What do you think — possible? After all, JJ Abrams has gone on record saying that “Darth Vader IS Star Wars”, so you know that’s at least on his mind. And, in a broader sense, I doubt they’re going to be able to outdo Darth Vader as a villain. That’s an awfully steep hill they’d have to climb.

I’m not say I’d want this to happen, but it would be annoying to have them keep giving us villains in terrifying masks in an effort to ape Darth. If they could think of a compelling reason to reintroduce him into the story, and write him well, I’d rather just have Darth.

Check out the io9.com article HERE.

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A “Back to the Future” remake?
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A “Back to the Future” remake?

Maybe not, says Robert Zemekis, co-creator of the beloved science fiction series “Back to the Future”, according to this article over on io9.com . He and fellow co-creator Bob Gale maintain they won’t allow a remake or sequel . . . within their lifetimes. Eventually, though, there will doubtlessly be follow-ups to the series. Hollywood execs have no boundaries on what they considered sacred or untouchable. They even created a prequel to “Wizard of Oz”, although, in all fairness, they did refrain from full-on remaking it. Of course, I’m sure that would have changed had the Sam Raimi-directed follow-up been better.

Obviously there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with remakes — “Scarface”, “The Philadelphia Story”, “The Wizard of Oz” — all remakes, all great. But the actual ODDS of remaking “Back to the Future” well enough to justify doing it seem small indeed.

The only upside I can see is that a remake would draw attention to the originals and spark a new generation to find and love them.

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Part Six of my epic fantasy series “The Atomic Sea” now available!
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Part Six of my epic fantasy series “The Atomic Sea” now available!

Book release alert! “The Atomic Sea: Part Six: Wrath of the Deep”, the latest installment in my science fiction adventure /epic fantasy series The Atomic Sea, is now available for your Kindle.

You can find it here . . .

. . . in the US: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010E27GWS 

. . . in the UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B010E27GWS

 

At long last, readers can find out what happens to Dr. Francis Avery and his ragtag band after the tumultuous events of Part Five. Things are looking worse than ever, because now, finally, the dreaded R’loth, the terrible god-things worshipped by Octung and who created the Atomic Sea in the first place, have been roused to a exact an awesome revenge on the world . . . and to bring it under their dominion for all time.

How can Avery and the others possibly stop the R’loth before it’s too late? Things only get more complicated with the arrival of Segrul the Gray, a pirate admiral, and his grim fleet of cutthroats. He’s an old friend, and enemy of Janx, and the big man will have something to say about this before it’s all done.

If you like epic fantasy series and science fiction adventure, you might just be ready to take the plunge . . . into the Atomic Sea.

Again, the links to Part Six are . . .

. . . in the US: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010E27GWS

. . . in the UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B010E27GWS

 

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Thoughts on Sense8, a new science fiction series on Netflix
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Thoughts on Sense8, a new science fiction series on Netflix

Has anyone else seen Sense8? I just finished watching it the other day and found it a fascinating meditation on narrative, character and gender. If you enjoyed Cloud Atlas, Sense8 is probably for you. It is very much a continuation of those themes and that style of storytelling–different characters in different parts of the world, blurry gender roles and sexuality, shadowy forces out to get our heroes, etc. It’s a bit slow, but deliberately so, and beautifully realized. It’s not for everybody, but it is unlike any other television show that has gone before. I didn’t love it, and I didn’t devour it as eagerly as I do some other genre shows, but I found a lot to admire about it, even if I did have to look away during the mass-birth montage. It is certainly an epic piece of art, and kind of brilliant.

That said . . . to enjoy the show, you do have to have a strong tolerance for certain things, like gay stuff and a slow build-up, and that’s why I say it’s not for everybody. But if this is the sort of daring, quality stuff that Netflix intends on producing, I’m excited for what comes next.

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About Stephen King’s epic fantasy (ish) “Under the Dome”
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About Stephen King’s epic fantasy (ish) “Under the Dome”

Okay, so I just finished Stephen King’s epic fantasy / sci-fi novel “Under the Dome”, and my reaction is very mixed. A lot of the book was fun and remarkably fast-paced for King. But then we get to the ending . . . ugh. I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t read it, but it left me deeply unsatisfied–and quite annoyed. Think “The Stand” levels of terrible endings, but maybe even worse. I’m used to King being unable to stick the landing, but . . . dang. Has anyone else out there read the book (s) and come away with a different impression?

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