Beelzebub's library

There is no “seeming” or any synonym thereof in writing. There is no “he began to peddle” or “she started to yield.” Unless something has stopped your characters in the process of doing something, then you are direct. “He peddled” and “She yielded.” Anything less is robbing the readers of excitement. Things do not “seem” in your story, and if they do, they must only do so if you want to create uncertainty. Yes, there is hesitation in real life, but your story should not be real life. If your story is to be as depressing as real life, it should because the character tried and failed, not that they never tried to begin with.

Today's review I'll be out tomorrow. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Novel: Murder-mystery Isn’t it a shame how little we get of the infamous Professor Moriarty in the original Sherlock Holmes series? I assumed, upon reading the title of this book, that it was going to dive into the Moriarty’s past, that it would be more about him than Sherlock Holmes (ala Horowitz’s previous book taking place in Conan Doyle’s universe, “The House of Silk”). Alas, it was not to be so. The book is, for the most part, devoted to the work of two characters, Pinkerton Detective, Fredrick Chase, and Inspector Athelney Jones. These two meet at the Reichenbach Falls, post the great duel between Moriarty and Sherlock Holmes and meet up to inspect a body believed to be Moriarty’s. They quickly discover that the man Chase had tracked to England, a crime-boss on par with Moriarty, had in fact been communicating with Moriarty (per Chase’s suspicions). They decide to team up in hopes of bringing down this dastardly wrongdoer and thus starts the main conflict of the...

NOTE: This was written some time ago by yours truly.             The Seven Deadly sins are a staple of our culture.             Everyone knows of Greed, Envy, Gluttony, Sloth, Wrath, Lust, and Pride, and tries to avoid them. We fight these impulses daily and generally act as though they define all forms of evil, in one way or the other.             Thus, I find it ironic that the forgotten sin, Vainglory, is more prominent in this day and age than all others, and I intend to identify why this sin was forgotten and why it is important that they should be remembered.               Vainglory originates from Middle English and Medieval Latin, in Western Europe. It means “to boast in vain” or to be ostentatious about one’s own abilities. So why should it be re...

Novel: Thriller, horror. Contains violence and disturbing imagery.  Warning: This review contains minor spoilers.             Do you like tragic thrillers, bordering on horror? Stories which seem like they originate from the pits of humanity which we do not understand and do not wish to? Small towns with big secrets? Twists that you know are coming from a mile away, but find yourself too surrounded by fog to know the nature of this twist until it is footsteps are right upon you and your heart is tearing to get out of your rib cage???             If any of these apply to you (or god forbid, them all), then Borrasca may just be the book for you.             The book starts out with the old “I’m moving to a small town because of my dad/mom’s new job. Of course, in this book, the change of job is a lot more...

Novel: Sci-fi, Apocalyptic fiction.  The first review I posted here was for Stir of Echoes by Richard Matheson and I suggest you check it out, as it pertains to the subject of telepathy, a major theme in this week's book, The Chrysalids .         The book takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, one which is heavily implied to be the result of an atomic war. Civilization has collapsed and reformed under a new order. The civilization in North America is ruled by a government, but that government must conform to a number of religious rulings, the majority of which regard mutations. The new world order prescribes the destruction and incarceration of all mutations since evolution doesn’t exist, everything was made perfect in the beginning by god. Of course, since there’s a whole lot of radiation hanging around like a bad guest at a dinner party, mutations aren’t exactly few and far between.         Our protagonist is one of these mutati...

Subtly Let’s talk about subtly. As an artist, you can view your job as three different things: 1) It’s your job to create something off an idea, and let the world interpret it, 2) It’s your job to form an idea and present that idea in a compelling enough way to bring joy to others/yourself, 3) It’s your job to create something which will have a clear cut message, which the piece of art might present from multiple perspectives. One could argue that “making something which people will throw money at” is the fourth point of view, but I don’t call those people artists.  I call them manufacturers.  As a writer, your medium tends to leave less up to interpretation. It does, however, give an ample opportunity to present issues from different perspectives and reveal the moral gray area in which most acts in this world fall. This is why it is important to incorporate subtly into your work. This is for a number of reasons really, and if you make it through the reasons...