by krj | Jan 12, 2016 | misc
I spent the last couple of days thinking I needed to say something, that I wanted to say something. Now that I’m sitting in front of the keyboard and staring at the monitor, my fingers and my brain aren’t communicating; I don’t know what to write. What is there to say about Bowie that hasn’t already been said? What could I, who never met him, never saw him in person, and much to my chagrin, never saw him perform live, possibly add? That he affected my life in ways he never knew. I’m sure I’m not alone in expressing that sentiment; rather, I’m likely one of millions of voices shouting the same thing. But it doesn’t make it any less true. He was an inspiration to me in so many ways. I don’t even know where to begin… I still can’t believe he’s gone. We are all richer for his life and the gifts he gave to all of us–music, movies, raising social consciousness, laughter, inspiration. The least we could do is celebrate those gifts and the life of the man who gave them to us. Thank you, David Bowie. Thank...
by krj | Jan 28, 2014 | Books, misc, Projects, Writing
It’s amazing how time can get away from you, especially if you’re in a place where you’re not taking much care to watch how it’s flitting by. Or speeding by. The last post I wrote here said I finished writing the sequel to Omni in 2012. Yes, 2012. As it so happens, the world didn’t end. Just like the world didn’t end, the sequel to Omni (Omni 2: the Omniing—no, that’s not the title; it’s an inside joke) wasn’t published. That means, of course, that I still haven’t completely finished the book. How is it that I finished writing a book more than a year ago, yet haven’t said anything further about it, let alone published it? Good question. Indulge me for a moment as I recall a quick story. Years ago, when talking to a gentleman I opened the conversation with, “Hi. How are you today?” (I actually wanted a response–it’s not a greeting, damn it.) His response was roughly thus, “Interesting. I’ve had an interesting day.” As we continued to speak he told me the meaning of his response. “When I was training, I was taught that when you’re having a bad day and you don’t want the other person to know, you say you’re having an ‘interesting’ day.” With that in mind, 2013 was interesting in a lot of ways. However, in just as many ways as it was painful, last year was also a time of exponential growth and unexpected positives that, on the whole, turned what could have been a festering, rotting pile of rubbish into a pretty—albeit small—flower bed. It’s not often you get dealt...
by krj | Nov 1, 2012 | Books, misc
It’s been a while since I’ve blathered here, and I’m afraid this will be on the short side, but I want to take a moment to promote a guest post I have on White Knight Studio’s blog. It’s all about the weird names in fantasy books (mine included!) and why however you choose to pronounce those names, you’re right. You can find it here: A rose by any other name, or, the reader is always right. With the obligatory self-promotion out of the way, on to the additional self-promotion! I’m actually fairly close to finishing the first draft of the sequel to Omni. I don’t have a title for the story just yet, and it’ll definitely still be a while to go through revision, editing, proof-reading, and all of those fun (and sometimes frustrating) stages, then it’ll be ready. I’m not going to guarantee that it’ll be ready before this year is over (I may end up missing the end of the world–are we still making fun of that?), but it won’t be far beyond if so. I’m excited to get it finished up and get it into people’s hands. Omni was something of an experiment in its genesis, and because of the way that book came together, I struggled with it in spots. I haven’t had anywhere near the same problems with the sequel, and in fact, have been able to explore some characters and backstory that I didn’t get the chance to get into with the first book. It is my hope that this story will help to fill in some blanks while also proving to be...
by krj | Feb 7, 2012 | misc
I have a broad range of interests–whether it comes with being a writer or not I don’t know–and I’m not afraid to admit to some of my nerdier ones. Do you remember the weird kids in high school who’d sit in a little circle, or maybe at a table at lunch, holding a sheet of paper and rolling dice? No, they weren’t the local bookie and craps dealer at your school, rather they were the ones playing some sort of RPG (role-playing game). Heck, maybe you were one of them–I know I was. I had two games of choice back then: Advanced Dungeon & Dragons (2nd edition), and Heroes Unlimited. Everyone has heard of D&D, be it good, bad, or otherwise, but I’m willing to bet most people haven’t heard of Heroes Unlimited. It’s a shame, really, because Palladium makes some pretty cool games. While I had a group of buddies I’d play AD&D with, I only had one other friend who would play HU. It was a fun change of pace because it’s all about being an over-the-top comic book hero and doing heroic things. What kid, teen, or adult wouldn’t love to do that? By that logic, I must be a big comics fan, right? Not at all. Never have been. I have nothing against them, and do find myself reading a graphic novel here and there, but I don’t think I ever read a single one before I was 27 or 28. I’ve always enjoyed words and never found myself wanting pictures in the story itself. I’m weird that way. This, of course, leads us to...
by krj | Nov 16, 2011 | misc
Yeah, you can make the bad joke yourself because I really don’t want to go there. That said, for anyone who isn’t interested in reading a few paragraphs of observations, I’ll save you the trouble and cut to the chase right now: the Amazon Kindle Fire is a good deal for $200, but it’s by no means the best tablet available, or even the best Android tablet (never mind that Amazon tries to hide that it’s Android). So with that out of the way, let’s dive in a little bit and get into some of the meaty bits. Amazon’s overall design of the unit is good, except for the placement of the power button. Stereo speakers are on the top of the device, the back of it is textured and grippy and says “kindle” (nice and subtle… sort of), and a headphone jack, micro USB port, and power button are on the bottom. There’s no SD card (or micro SD card) slot any no other connections. However, as stated initially, the power button (a small, circular thing) is in a terrible location. You’ll hit it accidentally while reading, browsing the web, watching video, basically while doing anything that involves holding the Fire in your hand. And you’ll do it over and over again. Interestingly enough, there are no other physical buttons on the Kindle Fire. In a RIM sort of move, Amazon doesn’t have a single button on the front of the device, and instead uses soft buttons (read: on-screen buttons) for all controls. It gives the device a nice polish and a clean, uninterrupted look. It feels good...
by krj | Nov 10, 2011 | misc
If you’re a Rush junkie like me, you may have noticed what I did there. Or else you may have noticed, but also thought, “Waze?” Either way (or if you’re not a Rush junkie, now’s a good time to start), Waze is something I’ve been playing with for the last week or so. Aside from being a writer, I’m something of a GPS nerd. I’m not a level 10 by any stretch, but I do enjoy a good GPS, or as is the case here, a good GPS app. Waze, however, is not just a GPS app, but a social one. Before I get to Waze, I picked up MotionX-GPS some time back because Google Maps is, quite frankly, unreliable for navigation. While it’s certainly useful, and can quite often lead you exactly to where you wish to go, I’ve lost count of the number of times it has led myself or someone else astray. After a particularly vexing experience with it about a month ago, I figured I should go ahead and spring for a “real” GPS app for my phone. Thus, MotionX. I have to admit: I haven’t used it yet. By all accounts, MotionX-GPS is quite solid, and I think the nominal charge for turn-by-turn directions (something the iPhone isn’t natively capable of) is fair, especially if it works. But why pay when you can use something that does it for free? Thus enters Waze. I’d seen Waze a couple of times when looking at the app store (Apple is going to be mad I didn’t capitalize those two words since they’re trying to trademark the...
