Fantasy and Ghosts: Combining Our Favorite Genres
The top question we get asked is “Where did you come up with the idea for Woven?” It started as a dream Michael had years ago, getting crushed by a tree and becoming a ghost. When he shared this idea with me, I caught his vision right awake and asked if we could write a story together.
But we needed more than one idea. Thankfully we’re both super nerdy and had a wealth of inspiration behind us with such favorite movies/books like Stardust, Ghostbusters, The Princess Bride, Lord of the Rings, and then some, like one of my favorite ghost novels When Marnie Was There (btw, Studio Ghibli made a movie of it—geeking out—release it in the US already!).
We had to go even deeper than what we knew, so Michael and I researched everything we could find about fantasy stories that feature ghosts. We truly wanted to create something special that we had never experienced before, which manifested as an unlikely pair who set out on a journey to thwart death itself—besides playing a game of chess with him, of course (he cheats anyway).
If you’re writing, don’t just read/watch the latest, most popular story today and start writing in that genre. Read up on all you can find in that genre. Many gems and much inspiration awaits.
Mind your eggs, watch your threads, and get yourself Woven. It’s now available at any major bookseller. Thank you again for having us, Alex! You’re the best Ninja Captain ever.
Find David – Blog - Twitter - Goodreads
Find Michael – Facebook - Goodreads
Find Woven at Website - Amazon - Barnes and Noble - iTunes
Movie reviews
Antonio Banderas is an insurance agent investigating robots altering themselves and discovers a whole lot more.
You’ll see bits of Blade Runner and I Robot in this film. It’s a dystopian future and the outlook isn’t good.
Banderas is good in his role, but Melanie Griffin an odd choice in her part.
It all meshed together to make an interesting yet not great science fiction story.
Not quite recommended.
A medical school graduate starts working at a mental institution and finds a horrifying situation.
Director Brad Anderson leads a stellar cast through an obscure Poe story.
This should’ve been spectacular, but it ended up just being interesting. (Seems I’ve seen a lot of ‘interesting’ movies lately.)
Watch for the great cast, and of course, for Kate Beckinsale.
But for a really great Anderson film, watch Session 9 instead.
Not recommened
Ninja News
Today at the Insecure Writer’s Support Group site we have none other than literary agent, Alexander Slater talking about foreign rights!
And thanks to everyone who visited my post on pros and cons of small publishers at the IWSG on Monday – and special thanks to all the authors who contributed.
Found this site courtesy of Medeia Sharif - Awful Library Books. It’s old, odd, and just plain bad books discovered at libraries.
New Releases:
It features a lot of authors you know, so check it out on Amazon!
Find it on Amazon
And thanks for all of the Minion volunteers last week! Due to the fact I have a book coming out in the middle of the Challenge in addition to all the other insanity of the month, the co-hosts graciously excused me from tending a section of the list. In return, I promised to help them find Minions, so hopefully if you wanted to be a Minion, one of the co-hosts has already contacted you.
Heavy or Light Science in Your Science Fiction?
Susan Gourley had a guest post on Christine Rains’ site where she talked about balancing the elements in her romantic science fiction series.
Susan said:
Romance readers don’t want a long explanation of the physics needed for my hero and heroine to travel between solar systems and galaxies at warp speed.
You know what? I don’t think all science fiction fans want that either.
Now, there is high tech and hard science fiction that goes into the scientific details. And then there’s the other end of the spectrum, like space opera and adventure, that is very light on the science.
Since I write space opera, you can pretty much guess how much science I want in my science fiction. I don’t care how something works, I only want to know that it does. That doesn’t mean it’s not plausible or the author didn’t do his research. I just don’t want to read it.
How about you?
Movie Trivia
In honor of David and Michael’s Woven, we’re going for fantasy movie trivia. Name the actor or actress.
1 – Who played Erik in Erik the Viking? (1989)
2 – What comedian voiced Reepicheep the mouse in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian? (2008)
3 – Who voiced Hiccup’s father, Stoick, in How to Train Your Dragon? (2010)
4 – Who played Gimli In LOTR: Return of the King? (2003)
5 – Who voiced Draco the dragon in Dragonheart? (1996)
Answers Monday!
How many fantasy books have your read that feature ghosts? Seen Automata or Stonehearst Asylum? Want to learn about foreign rights? Know any of the trivia? And how much science you enjoy in your science fiction?
