My Blog

The General Picked Me!

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I got this email today:

Hello Friend,
I am General Oliver Okwara (retired). I Live in Victoria Islands, Nigeria, Africa Continent.
After a careful study of your economy, I have chosen to make substantial investments for my children in your country, if you are willing to guide or represent my interest in your country. I look forward to communicate further with you.

Thank you

Gen.Oliver Okwara Rtd

I’m flattered that after all that careful study the General picked me, a lowly tv writer and novelist, out of everybody else in America to advise him on his investments. This is obviously a very intelligent man. I’ve emailed him back asking him what I can do to help and if he has any TV series ideas I can pitch for him. 

Comment Spam

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I’ve started using Typepad’s new option requiring people to register with Typekey before leaving comments… I’m hoping this will cut down on some of the "trolling" done by anonymous users who post simply to keep the flames burning. I apologize in advance for the inconvenience this will cause, at first, to my friends and regular participants on this blog.

War of the Credits

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I saw WAR OF THE WORLDS and enjoyed it (just don’t give it much thought or it disintegates even faster than the people do…only without leaving pairs of pants behind). The biggest surprise of the movie isn’t big effects. Or the spider-like aliens. Or the fact that Tom Cruise can actually act…

It’s the screenwriting credit.

In all the interviews and publicity surrounding the movie, screenwriter David Koepp is treated as the only writer involved. No mention is ever made of another screenwriter. The posters don’t show any name but Koepp’s either. And in the two interviews I’ve read with Koepp, he certainly didn’t say he was the second writer on-board. But, lo and behold, in the actual movie, the credit reads:

Written By Josh Friedman and David Koepp

So why hasn’t Friedman’s involvement been noted, even in passing, in all these months of incessant WAR OF THE WORLDS hype? Obviously, his contribution to the story and characters was significant enough in the eyes of the Writers Guild of America to merit fifty percent of the credit…so why has he been denied even 1% of the publicity? Why don’t Spielberg, Cruise, or Koepp do him the courtesy of even acknowleding his existence?

Friedman may be denied the credit he deserves in the media, and from his colleagues on the film, but at least he he’ll be getting a nice, fat check…

A Woman Possessed

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Woman At the beach today, I brought along Harry Whittington’s (as "Whit Harrison") A WOMAN POSSESSED… and it’s another winner. I have yet to read a book of his that wasn’t a home run. It’s a nasty, dark, violent, sexy noir tale as good, or better, than anything being published today.  He writes so tight, so lean, and yet so evocatively… I wish I knew how he did it. I keep trying to pay attention to the craft, the mechanics, of Whittington’s writing to see how he pulls it off, but I get too caught up in the characters and plot. He’s simply a genius, if you ask me.

(I’ve only read four Whittington’s, but I strongly recommend the others, too: A MOMENT TO PREY, WEB OF MURDER and BRUTE IN BRASS)

Sarah vs Janet

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Several years ago, author Sarah Strohmeyer wrote a novel and got into trouble with Janet Evanovich, who found it necessary to bring in lawyers to resolve the situation.  Now, inexplicably, Sarah has blogged about her version of what happened, painting herself as this innocent, adoring, respectful author and Janet as an egotistical, irrational bitch…

Sarah’s comments about Janet were picked up by blogs everywhere and she’s continued to flog her story on DorothyL, a discussion list for mystery readers, writers, and booksellers.

To her credit, Janet has taken the high road and remained out of the fray. But it bothers me to see people trashing Janet as if the story Sarah is telling is undisputed fact. It isn’t.

I don’t know Sarah, and I have nothing against her. But I have to ask myself what the point is of flogging this highly self-serving version of events now (repeatedly) and what she hopes to gain from it.

I should say right now that I’m biased…Janet is a friend of mine, I like her a lot, and I don’t like seeing her unfairly trashed. Remember, there are two sides to every story. Sarah is flogging one  version… don’t assume it’s gospel simply because Janet hasn’t countered with her side of things (and if she did, you might not like Sarah very much). 

UPDATE: Janet asked me to post the following message on DorothyL in response to Sarah’s latest post:

I met Sarah Strohmeyer ten years ago when she came to my house to interview me for a local paper.  It’s my understanding that during that visit I inspired Sarah to write about Bubbles.  I’m flattered to have made this small contribution to Sarah’s success and wish her the very best.

Janet Evanovich

As you can see, she’s a classy lady. 

Still Having Tech Problems

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You haven’t heard from me because I’m having lots of problems with Typepad, the service I use for this blog. This is the first time I’ve been able to access my blog and post a message since Friday.  I hope things return to normal on Monday.

Tech problems have prevented me from blogging and life has prevented me from doing much work on my second MONK book this weekend. Yesterday was my daughter’s 10th birthday and we had a family birthday party/barbecue with my Mom, my sisters, my brothers-in-law and my niece and nephew. And today, I’m off to the beach with the same merry bunch.

Happy Fourth of July to you and your family!

Obscure TV on DVD

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There’s no logic behind the TV shows that are turning up on DVD. Is the world really clamoring for the complete "The Joey Bishop Show," "Dusty’s Trail," "The Doris Day Show," "Highlander: The Raven," "Baa Baa Black Sheep," "Beastmaster," "Doc," "That’s My Mama," "Guns of Will Sonnet,"  "What’s Happening?" and "Earth 2?"

And yet, where are the shows I’ve done? Where are those lost classics  "She-Wolf of London," "Murphy’s Law," "Likely Suspects," "Deadly Games," "Cosby Mysteries," "SeaQuest," "The Highwayman," "Cobra," "Diagnosis Murder," and, of course,  the complete "New Adventures of Flipper" starring the teenage Jessica Alba?

On the other hand, some real gems are coming out… I was thrilled to learn from the folks at TVSquad that all 26 episodes of the classic sitcom "Buffalo Bill" are coming to DVD in September.

Now if they’d only put out "Harry O," "Spenser For Hire," "The Night Stalker,""Search,"  "The Rockford Files," and "Maverick"…

You Don’t Know Jack

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Cynthia Potts discovered Jack:

Jack is a magazine by fanfic writers, designed to showcase homoerotic fiction.
And even they don’t want any fanfiction! But the kicker: To submit, you have to
have been a fanfic writer at some point.

Translation: We only want lazy
thieves to contribute to our magazine. People who don’t see a problem with
stealing other writer’s work and perverting the intent of the story. It helps if
they’re so clueless that they don’t know the stealing is wrong, but are actually
proud of the theft.

This seemed just too bizarre to be true. But it’s for real.

Welcome to JACK, an ezine of original homoerotic fiction written by Fanfiction
Writers. The staff of JACK firmly believes in the artistic validity of textual
erotica. Our goal is to create a zine that reflects our enthusiasm and love for
homoerotic (both male/male and female/female) literature while also showcasing a
wide range of talented authors…

…The only requirement for our authors (beyond writing good fiction and being of
legal age) is that you must have written fanfiction at some time. Links would be
appreciated. Submit all stories in plain text format in the body of an email to:
keystrokepress@gmail.com with
JACK Submission in the subject header. Because of virus concerns, all
attached files will be deleted unread.

So fanfiction really is practice for writing…if you want to write for an online magazine featuring homoerotic stories. 

R.I.P PAX

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The Milwaukee Journal reports that PAX is dead.

Starting Friday, the little-watched PAX Network will begin shedding its
current identity to become something called "i."

That little "i" is supposed to stand for "independent," and Paxson
Communications, which owns Milwaukee’s WPXE-TV (Channel 55 over the air and
Channel 15 on Time Warner Cable), says it will become an outlet for independent
and syndicated programming.

It’s not clear what this will eventually mean.

Yes, it is. I is for Informercials…