Another review of "Annie's World: Jake's Legacy" is in. Of course, all reviewers are different, but overall I'm happy with what avid readers are saying. -dlw
***
New! LAS Reviewer "The Long and the Short Of It Reviews" reviewed Annie's World: Jake's Legacy
Fantastic Read November 8, 2012
Would you take a dangerous risk to save a stranger's child? Is it better to be thought of as a hero or increase your odds of living to see another day?
Jake's made some difficult decisions during his life. Surviving in a lawless society often means making tough choices and yet when he meets a newly orphaned girl named Annie, Jake discovers how quickly even the most deeply entrenched priorities can shift. To be honest I didn't particularly care for Jake at first due to choices he made early on. While they were understandable given the harsh environment in which he was living I had some trouble moving past them and getting to know the person he eventually becomes.
The magic happens during Jake's slow transformation as the plot thickens. It was a pleasure to see how even small, seemingly inconsequential decisions affected his character and my favourite part of this tale by far was getting to see how one change would eventually spur another.
The political message in this book was a little heavy-handed. Every time Jake talks about how society slowly crumbled over the course of a few generations due to the greed of corporations and the wealthy the story is temporarily knocked off course. It would have been more effective to spend more time showing how much the common person has suffered instead of having the main character repeat himself so often. Multiple punctuation and grammatical errors also distracted my attention from the plot.
Annie's World: Jake's Legacy is a frightening look at one possible future awaiting mankind. I'd recommend it for anyone who has ever wondered what life might really be like if there was no such thing as a centralized government and if the only law of the land was survival of the fittest.
Originally posted at LAS Sci-Fi/Fantasy Reviews
Novelist
Daniel (Danny) Lance Wright, Author
Friday, November 16, 2012
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Unplugged
I'm really enjoying the new television series "Revolution". And, although, I think the method of power failure a bit too fanciful, I don't think it's ridiculous at all to consider the potential reality of such a world. I thought I'd re-post an earlier submission. Maybe I should've written a screen proposal to the network in May, 2011 when I first posted this.
***
Geeks Shall Inherit The Earth.
Something I think about often, and worry about a little, too, is that our entire functioning world hinges on those things that can be plugged in to a power source. As tech toys flood world markets at an alarming rate, we as humans, and supposedly sentient beings, are actually losing our humanity at the same speed. We are but a collection of numbers and symbols in a database somewhere and, therefore, living and existing at the pleasure of people who know how to manipulate those numbers and symbols.
I think, though, I want to take this discussion in a slightly different direction. Let me set a hypothetical scenario for you. Let’s say it’s the year 2012 and Osama bin Laden’s replacement is much savvier about technology than his predecessor—not how to use it, but what ceases to happen without it. Politicians and power moguls can argue all they like that we have too many redundancies in our grid system to worry much about terrorism on electricity production. I’ll only buy into that premise to a point. For the most part, I choose to believe that such talk is self-serving to maintain central control even as many different companies distribute power. The reason is simple, distributors distribute, they don’t produce.
How many remember the northeastern power outage of 1965; how about the one in 2003? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_Blackout_of_2003 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_Blackout_of_1965
It’s not worth boring you with technical jargon or excuses for the outages. I’m not intelligent enough for that anyhow. But, what is fascinating to note, is how little it took to take down a huge chunk of the northeastern United States in an instant. And both times it stayed down for a frighteningly long period. Now, multiply that by two or three other central power producing locations.
I think you know where I’m going with this; the U-S, with the possible exception of the military, would be blind, deaf and dumb. How long do you think it would take for panic and mayhem to set in, sides chosen and warring tribes to emerge battling over scraps of food?
I challenge each one reading this to look around and count the number of young people you personally know that have no clue how a loaf of bread is made or what from, where ham comes from or how to make it, how to make cheese or butter, have never gathered eggs from a coop, have no idea how to spin yarn, sew, weave, build a chair from tree branches, or even something as simple as walking into an open pasture and knowing what is edible and what is poison. This list could go on and on. Unfortunately, these are the people that now rule the world and are currently breeding offspring that think their futures hinge on new products from Apple and Microsoft or how well the stock of one investment company does versus another, or what political party will best serve them.
I think I’ll get to work writing a novel of catastrophe and call it, “The Geek That Inherited The Earth” or maybe, “The United States Unplugged”. Of course neither have much hope of a happy ending if I insist on too many truisms. I would have to go whole hog and create a fantasy world because, really, who’d believe society could collapse just because someone pulled the power plug. Absurd. Right?
***
Geeks Shall Inherit The Earth.
Something I think about often, and worry about a little, too, is that our entire functioning world hinges on those things that can be plugged in to a power source. As tech toys flood world markets at an alarming rate, we as humans, and supposedly sentient beings, are actually losing our humanity at the same speed. We are but a collection of numbers and symbols in a database somewhere and, therefore, living and existing at the pleasure of people who know how to manipulate those numbers and symbols.
I think, though, I want to take this discussion in a slightly different direction. Let me set a hypothetical scenario for you. Let’s say it’s the year 2012 and Osama bin Laden’s replacement is much savvier about technology than his predecessor—not how to use it, but what ceases to happen without it. Politicians and power moguls can argue all they like that we have too many redundancies in our grid system to worry much about terrorism on electricity production. I’ll only buy into that premise to a point. For the most part, I choose to believe that such talk is self-serving to maintain central control even as many different companies distribute power. The reason is simple, distributors distribute, they don’t produce.
How many remember the northeastern power outage of 1965; how about the one in 2003? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_Blackout_of_2003 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_Blackout_of_1965
It’s not worth boring you with technical jargon or excuses for the outages. I’m not intelligent enough for that anyhow. But, what is fascinating to note, is how little it took to take down a huge chunk of the northeastern United States in an instant. And both times it stayed down for a frighteningly long period. Now, multiply that by two or three other central power producing locations.
I think you know where I’m going with this; the U-S, with the possible exception of the military, would be blind, deaf and dumb. How long do you think it would take for panic and mayhem to set in, sides chosen and warring tribes to emerge battling over scraps of food?
I challenge each one reading this to look around and count the number of young people you personally know that have no clue how a loaf of bread is made or what from, where ham comes from or how to make it, how to make cheese or butter, have never gathered eggs from a coop, have no idea how to spin yarn, sew, weave, build a chair from tree branches, or even something as simple as walking into an open pasture and knowing what is edible and what is poison. This list could go on and on. Unfortunately, these are the people that now rule the world and are currently breeding offspring that think their futures hinge on new products from Apple and Microsoft or how well the stock of one investment company does versus another, or what political party will best serve them.
I think I’ll get to work writing a novel of catastrophe and call it, “The Geek That Inherited The Earth” or maybe, “The United States Unplugged”. Of course neither have much hope of a happy ending if I insist on too many truisms. I would have to go whole hog and create a fantasy world because, really, who’d believe society could collapse just because someone pulled the power plug. Absurd. Right?
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Focus, Man, Focus!
I’m sure you’re aware of all the bumper sticker clichés that have to do with goal setting and success in life. As examples: “If you can see it, you can be it.” “To visualize it is to become it.” “You can do anything you can imagine.” “Success begins with an unshakable mental image.” And, the list goes on and on.
While still working in the sales and marketing side of the television industry, I was fed a steady diet of it over a number of years and usually the television station paid handsomely for some outsider in an expensive hotel ballroom to indoctrinate, or reinforce, the minions of sales people in attendance – usually about once a year.
If you think I’m about to get down and negative about this sort of thing; I’m not. In fact, I remain a huge fan and proponent of such imagery and goal setting. What’s the point of starting anything, unless you can create a mind’s-eye image of successfully completing it?
So far, I’ve laid down three paragraphs to simply set up questions I have for me and for you: How does success visualization and goal setting evolve as we get older? Or, should it change at all? Is it normal at, or near, retirement to stop doing such things? I wonder about this often as I attempt to analyze myself in this regard.
Oh, I still visualize success and set goals, but it’s becoming an increasingly narrower endeavor. What I mean is that I, once upon a time, dreamed of becoming a novelist – beneath that umbrella were a number of stories I wanted to write. I not only had a vision of becoming an author but a highly detailed mental image of success doing it. Now, I don’t see things in such grandiose fashion. Instead, I see myself successfully completing the novel in progress.
There was a time I’d stand in the center of a room and totally remodel it in my mind before I ever picked up a saw or hammer. Only then did I go about the job of making that room fit what I saw. Now, I spend a week, or so, trying to visualize re-gluing a rickety chair.
I wonder; now that I likely have more sand at the bottom of my hourglass than the top, is that normal? Or, could it be that I’m sabotaging my creative future with such a narrowing approach?
If you know me at all by now, you surely realize that when I latch onto a philosophical notion like this, I can’t seem to let it go until I get it down in print. Some people talk it out. I write it out.
Right now, I’m trying to develop a mental image of breakfast. That’s about it. But, on the upside, it's becoming crystal clear.
Y’all have a wonderful day.
Author of
"Six Years' Worth"/Father's Press/mainstream/print & ebook
"Paradise Flawed"/Dream Books LLC/action-adventure/print & ebook
"Where Are You, Anne Bonny?"/Rogue Phoenix Press/ historical drama/ ebook only
“Trouble”, short story/CrossTIME Science Fiction Anthology, Vol. IX/print only
“Dancing Away”/ short story/romance/Untreed Reads/ebook only
“Annie’s World: Jake’s Legacy”/ATTM Press/soft science fiction/print & ebook
“Helping Hand For Ethan/Rogue Phoenix Press/young adult/print & ebook
“Phobia”/Booktrope/suspense-thriller/print & ebook
“Defining Family”/Whiskey Creek Press/young adult/print & ebook
“The Last Radiant Heart” (re-release)/Sage Words Publishing/science fiction/print & ebook
COMING SOON
“Hackberry Corners, Texas 1934”
“Zero To Love”
While still working in the sales and marketing side of the television industry, I was fed a steady diet of it over a number of years and usually the television station paid handsomely for some outsider in an expensive hotel ballroom to indoctrinate, or reinforce, the minions of sales people in attendance – usually about once a year.
If you think I’m about to get down and negative about this sort of thing; I’m not. In fact, I remain a huge fan and proponent of such imagery and goal setting. What’s the point of starting anything, unless you can create a mind’s-eye image of successfully completing it?
So far, I’ve laid down three paragraphs to simply set up questions I have for me and for you: How does success visualization and goal setting evolve as we get older? Or, should it change at all? Is it normal at, or near, retirement to stop doing such things? I wonder about this often as I attempt to analyze myself in this regard.
Oh, I still visualize success and set goals, but it’s becoming an increasingly narrower endeavor. What I mean is that I, once upon a time, dreamed of becoming a novelist – beneath that umbrella were a number of stories I wanted to write. I not only had a vision of becoming an author but a highly detailed mental image of success doing it. Now, I don’t see things in such grandiose fashion. Instead, I see myself successfully completing the novel in progress.
There was a time I’d stand in the center of a room and totally remodel it in my mind before I ever picked up a saw or hammer. Only then did I go about the job of making that room fit what I saw. Now, I spend a week, or so, trying to visualize re-gluing a rickety chair.
I wonder; now that I likely have more sand at the bottom of my hourglass than the top, is that normal? Or, could it be that I’m sabotaging my creative future with such a narrowing approach?
If you know me at all by now, you surely realize that when I latch onto a philosophical notion like this, I can’t seem to let it go until I get it down in print. Some people talk it out. I write it out.
Right now, I’m trying to develop a mental image of breakfast. That’s about it. But, on the upside, it's becoming crystal clear.
Y’all have a wonderful day.
Author of
"Six Years' Worth"/Father's Press/mainstream/print & ebook
"Paradise Flawed"/Dream Books LLC/action-adventure/print & ebook
"Where Are You, Anne Bonny?"/Rogue Phoenix Press/ historical drama/ ebook only
“Trouble”, short story/CrossTIME Science Fiction Anthology, Vol. IX/print only
“Dancing Away”/ short story/romance/Untreed Reads/ebook only
“Annie’s World: Jake’s Legacy”/ATTM Press/soft science fiction/print & ebook
“Helping Hand For Ethan/Rogue Phoenix Press/young adult/print & ebook
“Phobia”/Booktrope/suspense-thriller/print & ebook
“Defining Family”/Whiskey Creek Press/young adult/print & ebook
“The Last Radiant Heart” (re-release)/Sage Words Publishing/science fiction/print & ebook
COMING SOON
“Hackberry Corners, Texas 1934”
“Zero To Love”
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