Jax Book Nook

Thanks to everyone again who supported me at the WV Book Festival. Now that we’ve gotten past that on my calendar, and we are approaching Halloween, I feel the need to be provocative. Therefore, I shall say what needs to be said: the Universal version of Frankenstein (the 1931 version, i.e., the one you think of when you hear the word “Frankenstein”) sucked.

I can see the looks of skepticism (because I can see through your screen). I understand. Everyone says this movie is a classic. Allow me to make my case. You know how they tell you to show, don’t tell? I’ve had my own problems with this trite advice, but James Whale rejects it, root and branch in a way that would make Kyle Broslowski blush. The movie begins with a man walking onto the stage and “warning” the audience about the movie. In the midst of this “warning,” Whale tells you want the movie is about, namely, that Frankenstein sought to create life, but forgot to reckon upon God.

You got that. That’s the moral. Don’t play God by creating life. I mean, you can do that the normal way by having children, but don’t create some entirely new form of life from pure technology. Why wouldn’t you just have children, as it’s infinitely easier? Who knows. There are two problems with this moral.

Problem No. 1: the movie doesn’t teach you that moral. The doctor’s experiment goes wrong because his hunchback assistant, Fritz, tries to steal a brain from a local university and he has to take the brain of a criminal after dropping the jar with the normal brain. Darn. It looks like the Doctor’s plan would have worked out if they had just gotten that small technical detail right. That’s the moral the movie really teaches: use better quality materials.

Problem No. 2: That’s not the moral of the book, which is a lot more complex. In the book, we have no reason to think the doctor’s handiwork is defective. Unlike Boris Karloff’s mumbling, bumbling sociopath, Shelley’s monster is actually intelligent. He can speak and read. He learns multiple languages. He befriends a blind man before the man’s family comes back and chases him away. The monster saves a little girl from drowning, but then the girl’s father shoots the monster upon seeing what he looks like. Contrast that with the movie monster who drowns a girl in the lake. When the monster finally catches up to the Doctor, he doesn’t hate the Doctor, but instead rationally asks that if he’s going to play God to not do it halfway. If you’re going to make Adam, you’ve got to make Eve. The Doctor agrees, but then destroys his own work when he sees what the bride looks like.

The monster, who actually seems like a pretty decent guy up until this point, murders the Doctor’s bride for revenge. The Doctor chases the creature to the Arctic, leading the Doctor to end up on his death bed, where the creature finds him and weeps over his body. The monster then pledges to destroy himself at the north pole so no one can find his body and repeat the experiment. Compare this to the movie where neither the doctor nor his bride dies and the monster is burned alive by an angry mob. James Whale’s doctor doesn’t seem to pay much of a price for playing God.

So the movie teaches us that when making a monster, avoid using the brain of a criminal. That’s a very helpful technical note if you ever plan to create a man from dead body parts, though not a very useful moral for the rest of us. The book raises a much deeper question, however: what did the doctor do wrong? The standard answer is that he did wrong by creating the monster (i.e., playing God). That’s what Frankenstein thinks as he abandons his creation and then destroys the Bride before giving it life. The monster, pledging to destroy himself, appears to come to the same conclusion in the end, namely that his own existence is a sin. This horror story Hamlet has decided it is better to not be. Yes, if we think the doctor and his creation are right in the end, the doctor’s crime was creating the monster.

I don’t think so. After all, why take the word of two criminals? When I read the story, I pick up on a different theme and get a different message than “We belong dead” the famous line spoke in the 1935 Bride of Frankenstein, which is a better film. To find out what that message is, tune in next week, as I finish my thoughts on that classic tale.

Wow! I just got back from the West Virginia Book Festival. Let’s just say I started the day with more than fifteen books, and I left with none! Around 1 pm, I sold my last physical copy. Within another hour, I was out of business cards with a link to Beer Run’s Amazon page, which you can find here:

That was a great experience! I’m going to have to make more book festivals! Thanks to everyone who came and bought a book, or took a business card, or just said hi. Hopefully, I can attend more in the future!

Hey everyone, I’ll be at the West Virginia Book Festival in Charleston, WV, Saturday, October 21, 2023. I’ll have signed copies of Beer Run for $15 a piece. You’ll want to keep that, as some day it might be worth something, what with the possibility of an extreme paper shortage on the horizon. In all seriousness, I would love to meet anyone who comes out. It’s going to be my first book fair as a published author. Wish me luck!

We are quickly approaching the one-year anniversary of JaxBookNook. One year ago, I got word that Solstice Publishing had decided to publish my book Beer Run. I needed to promote it, and other than getting really involved in social media for the first time in my life, I decided to start this blog.

By the way, please buy Beer Run. Please. Pretty please. I’ll think you’re a really special person. And I’ll write you a recommendation for a job interview. I’ll even pretend to work for the CIA and say you were our best secret agent. Here’s a link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BLSVRZN5

Here’s a link to Solstice Publishing, by the way: Solstice Empire Home.

In any event, I have decided to provide a recap of this year. Here we go:

1. I have currently sold 500,000 copies of Beer Run and been awarded a Pulitzer. All for a 32000-word story about aliens making beer and socially awkward androids.
2. I have gotten my magnum opus Christmas in Pandemonium published after three years of struggling to get people to take my little story seriously. A big five publisher is planning to release it just before the holiday season.
3. I successfully ran a 10k on three different continents, raising money for war orphans in Ukraine. Thankfully, I can concentrate on charitable endeavors and my writing now that I have made millions playing the stock market in my spare time.
4. I opened Michelin star restaurants in London, New York, and Paris.
5. I successfully established diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, paving the path for a Palestinian state.
6. I have become a terrible liar.

So as anyone can tell you, being a writer is difficult. I think my last monthly report showed that I earned less than a dollar in July. I got nothing in March. You hope and pray that somehow you break through. I’ve gotten lots of Twitter followers (Just hit 4,000!), but that doesn’t always translate into readers. I’m glad this ain’t my day job, otherwise I would be living on my parents’ couch, hoping one day I might be able to afford a Happy Meal.

But writing is a passion, not a job. I have a job. I don’t need two. My Twitter profile calls me an amateur writer for a reason. I got published, which makes me more successful than 80 percent of the people who try their hand at this, so I’m happy. Let’s hear it for another year.

If you’ve ever tried to sell your book by trading reviews with people, you know that reciprocity is the name of the game. That means you’ve had to write some mandatory five-star reviews. Here’s one that I’ve typed up in hope of getting Beer Run some much-needed publicity:

Fluffy-Wuffy’s Great Adventure is a truly unique book. I’m not being sarcastic. There aren’t that many books whose main character is a cute cartoon rabbit that ends with him plunging a claymore into the heart of an eight-foot-tall, 500-pound archdemon named Astaroth as part of his righteous crusade against the armies of Hell. I mean, you really wouldn’t guess that from the cover, which just shows Fluffy-Wuffy frolicking in the fields with the other critters of Pleasant Meadows.

It’s only when you open up the book and read about how Fluffy-Wuffy and his furry friends, Foxykins and Squirrelypoo, spend their time watching internet porn and telling off color jokes. Other than the racial slurs and other four-letter obscenities which Fluffy-Wuffy spits out like his signature minigun spits out bullets with uranium casing, the language in this book feels like it was intended for a young audience. The author states in the forward, accurately I would guess, that Fluffy-Wuffy’s Great Adventure is at a third grade reading level.

You may be asking how Fully-Wuffy gets involved in fighting an army of demons. You see, Fluffy-Wuffy has to fight the demon army because he summoned them via a black mass where they sacrificed a bear and drew a portal to Hell with its blood. They did it to get even with the farmer for withholding his carrots, but then the demons, being demons, tried to kill all the animals in the forest, and the world, so Fluffy and the gang have to put them down. It’s a little strange for a book with the subtitle “The Power of Friendship!”

This is not to say I dislike the book. It’s actually a real page turner in between all the black magic, murder, and the five-page sex scene (with pictures!). I would recommend to anyone in the furry community. I do wonder who it is aimed at, though. Seems like the author has misconstrued his target audience. I mean, sure, lots of boys in grade school would love to read this book, but their mothers probably wouldn’t appreciate someone giving them access to it. It could be a great gag gift!

Judged purely as a piece of literature, and without asking any questions about whether it is appropriate for certain age demographics, Fluffy Wuffy’s Great Adventure is an action-adventure thriller full of action, romance, and a minimal amount of cannibalism. Five Stars!

I have submitted Beer Run to Beta readers. I got one bite for a review of the full novel. If anyone reading this would like to volunteer for another full review, please let me know and we can get in contact. Several more have critiqued the opening chapters I submitted for review on the online workshop “Critters.” Generally, I am getting reviews.

By the way, if you are an aspiring writer, Critters Workshop really is a great resource. Finding beta readers outside of a workshop can be very difficult. That’s because getting your friends, family, and people you meet online to read your book can be nearly impossible. The best man at my wedding couldn’t get past the first page of my book, which might be indicative of my writing, but is more likely to be caused by the fact that he was really busy. Fact is, you have to offer something to people if you want help from them. I scratch your back, you scratch mine. That’s the way the world works.

Back to Beer Run II. The book centers on a ridiculous online conspiracy theory called the “Great Reckoning,” believed by the Lunatics, those nutty lunar nationalists introduced in the last book. Under this theory, our main character, Bill Stiltson, is a bloodthirsty cannibal who uses his brewery as a front to lure unsuspecting people in, knock them out, and eat them. Incensed by this theory, a group of Lunatics attack Bill’s brewery, leading him to look into a lawsuit against the conspirators. However, after hiring his intern, Jimmy, as a private investigator, Bill begins to worry when Jimmy starts to get a little too involved in his new job with the Great Reckoning’s main con artist: Cody Duncan.

If that interests anyone, I’d be happy to send you a manuscript for review. I’d love to hear from you.

Hi, I’ve got a question for you. When was the last time you italicized a character’s inner thoughts? When was the last time you read another author who italicized a character’s inner thoughts? I legitimately think I may have gone a lifetime, that’s 37 years so far, without seeing it. I cannot remember ever picking up a book when I was young, or when I was middle aged, and seeing a character’s inner thoughts italicized. If I had, I would have wondered if there was something wrong with the guy who wrote this. Like, “did he have a stroke” wrong.

I have, since May, had three people tell me that inner thoughts should be italicized. I read one of their books, and sure enough, they did it. It was really annoying, but they did it. It was really strange to see, but since then, I’ve had a beta reader and an independent publisher say the same thing. This is despite the fact that I don’t think I’ve ever heard this rule before, and I can’t remember any authors that actually followed it. I checked various online dictionaries, and they said you could italicize inner thoughts, though there were other ways to set them off. Generally, you could italicize or you could add a “thought” tag like “she thought”‘ or “she mused.”

I just find the whole idea to be bizarre. Italicization exists to emphasize that which is important. Assuredly, not every stray thought you have is important. I can vouch that most of mine are relatively asinine. Whenever I actually read this guy’s book where he italicized every direct thought every character had for 500 pages, I just stopped noticing the italicization. Overuse causes different fonts to lose any meaning. And this guy wrote about some very “thoughtful” people.

I’m not doing this. This is one rule of “good” writing I’m not following. I applied to that independent publisher and kept my thought unitalicized. It’s dumb, and I’m not doing it. I feel like this rule of writing was created by a committee of English professors meeting in Antartica at 2 am on Groundhog’s Day with the specific intent of tripping people up. You can take your italicization and shove it.

Hello, everyone. As you know, I’ve been shopping my full-length novel, Christmas in Pandemonium, around independent publishers after striking out with literary agents. I’ve sent out a few queries. Feeling around.

One thing has occurred to me: I should start my own independent publishing company. No, I don’t mean self-publishing. This is traditional publishing, but I’m publishing my own work first. I guess you could call it self-publishing, but if you did, I would sue you for defamation because that is a slander against my resume as a writer.

Will I publish other people’s works? Of course, but I am only accepting submissions during certain open submission windows. The last open submission window was this morning between 1 am and 1:05 am. The response was so overwhelming, I don’t think we’ll have another open response window for the next fifty years or so. It might take me half that long to publish all the very worthy manuscripts I received. Maybe I should hire some people to help me, but I am dedicated to maintaining a small, boutique press.

I really do think you will like some of the work we are putting out. When I made my first call for submissions, I expected to receive a bunch of poorly constructed, trite novels based on cliched premises with spelling and grammatical errors up and down the first page, and not just because I was mainly publishing my own work. However, I’ve was surprised to find finely edited masterpieces that introduced brand new ideas never before used in the history of literature while dealing with deep themes about man’s relationship with nature, God, and his fellow man. I rejected most of those ideas, however, as they did fit into the subgenre I was looking for: novels about transgender space aliens who enter into chess tournaments to win enough money to buy diamond studded mud flaps for their spaceships.

The selections I put out will no doubt be best sellers whenever it is that I get them out. That theoretically could be never, as I don’t have much time in between a full-time job as an attorney, raising a family, and working on my own books. As I told the lucky few authors I have accepted, expect to get an edited version of your work some time in between now and the heat death of the universe.

Now, you may doubt my dedication to the publishing business. This is rational, as a I have none. Much like Homer Simpson when he started that web site in the late 90s, I’m really just hoping to get bought out, though hopefully this won’t end with Bill Gates trashing my house. If I cause enough of a stink, maybe Penguin Books will pay me $5 million to shut the hell up. It may help if I may the company’s web site so cryptic, no one will be able to determine who am I, where the company is located, or what books we actually publish, if any. Maybe I should ask Billy McFarland on some tips as to how to raise publicity for a complete non-event. After he gets out of prison, of course.

Oh, who am I kidding? I don’t have the talent, the drive, the money, or the hutzpah to start a legitimate publishing company. I should start a vanity publishing company and take people’s money to “publish” their books through Amazon, like, you know, a pyramid scheme.

What’s that? Maybe I should try to make money the “honest” way? We’ll, I’ve got to admit. That thought had not occurred to me. No, really, that’s the first time someone suggested that to me in my entire life. I was raised by coyotes. Huh. Maybe. In the meantime, check out Solstice Publishing, who published my novella, Beer Run. Their website is available here: https://solsticeempire.com/

Thanks to everyone who watched my interview with Matt Gabrielson on YouTube. If you haven’t seen it, it’s not like anyone has taken it down. You can still find it here.

That being said, I have a few other pots in the fire. First, my magnum opus, my precious child, other than my actual children, Christmas in Pandemonium has gone through its final edits before I start submitting it to Indie Publishers. The manuscript is ready, I just need to start preparing the application materials and sending out applications. If anyone has any suggestions, I am all ears.

My other pot is Beer Run II: The Great Reckoning, which I have just submitted to beta readers for the first time. After I get reviews and make adjustments, I’ll submit it to Solstice Publishing. Solstice published the original Beer Run, which you can buy here.

Beer Run II will center on the Lunatics: those xenophobic lunar nativists who nearly caused the moon to secede from the Democratic Union of Planets in the first book. They come up with a new conspiracy theory, and Bill Stiltson’s at the center of it.

Finally, I will be signing copies of Beer Run at the West Virginia Book Festival in Charleston, West Virginia on Saturday, October 21. Maybe some of my readers could meet me there.

My interview with Matt Gabrielson about Beer Run, the writing process, and balancing writing, family, and work is up on YouTube. Take a look.