I write this blog, brilliant as it occasionally is, goofy as it often can be, because I want people to buy my books.  I probably wouldn’t blog just to blog.  I realize there are a lot of people who do just that, and I see nothing wrong with it.  But I’m here on the internet to remind people that I’m here and to encourage folks to buy my books.

Yet I don’t often say this:

Please, buy my books!

I don’t care which format you prefer, hardcover, mass market, or e-book.  It’s your call.  But buy them because I can’t make a living if you don’t.

Yes, I’m sure that soon I will get a comment from someone who says I just wrote two posts about copyright / trademark law being too extensive and how I don’t think piracy is a horrible problem.  And I stand by those posts.  I don’t want  you to pirate my books.  I want you to buy it.  And you probably should because it’s easy to buy and there’s very little excuse not to.  Though I’m sure they will be pirated, and I’m sure I’ll lose some sales because of that.  But piracy isn’t going to kill my career.  I just don’t believe that.

Without getting into the dry numbers, I’ve hit a sales plateau recently.  I have my loyal fans, but growing past that has proven difficult.  I can get people to buy my books.  But I have trouble getting return business sometimes.  My own theory is that this is due to the truly standalone nature of my novels.  It’s a competitive market and when people buy books, they tend to go with something reliable.  I wouldn’t call that playing it safe.  I just think that with so many choices, people will generally aim for something they can count on, with characters and worlds they are at least partially familiar with.

That’s a problem with my books.  Not only are they not part of a series, they’re also not even set in the same universes.  This incompatibility means that when someone picks up one of my books, they are taking a chance.  For those of you who take that chance, I can only express my unending gratitude.  I know there are plenty of choices out there, and I appreciate your willingness to take a chance on the new worlds and characters I create.  Your support is the foundation for any success I get, and I love you for it.  Seriously, if you need a kidney or something, let me know.

But for everyone else out there, for those who are only have a passing familiarity with my work who might just be visiting this website out of curiosity, this is a great time to encourage and inspire you to take that chance, to buy my space squid supervillain story.  EMPEROR MOLLUSK VERSUS THE SINISTER BRAIN is due out on March 5th, and I want it to sell like hotcakes.  Better than hotcakes!  I want it to sell so many copies that I am indicted by environmentalists for cutting down too many trees and the internet becomes known as the Aleenet because it’s primary use will be to support all the fan clubs who love the book.

So I’m exercising my power as a world-renown(ish) novelologist, I am declaring February to be EMPEROR MOLLUSK MONTH!! I know it’s also Black History Month (which I very much support), but it can be two things, right?

In the coming weeks, prepare yourself for a whole lot of stuff on Emperor Mollusk and his universe.  I’m going to approach this from a Mass Effect perspective, meaning that you are going to learn not just about the story I’ve written, but the universe it takes place in.  I’ll also be writing about the story, about the inspirations that helped create it, and about the characters themselves.  My hope is that by the end of the month, you’ll be salivating to read this book.  You’ll see it not just as a novel, but as a doorway into a world of fantastic adventure, deep thoughts, and cool characters.  Kind of like Narnia, but with more rayguns and giant robot fights.

Stay tuned, gang.  I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Keelah Se’lai

Fighting the good fight, Writing the good write,

Lee

“Don’t you make money off of your ideas thanks to copyright?” someone will inevitably ask.

Yes, I do.  And I think I should be able to.  I just don’t think copyright / trademark should be nearly as long as it is.  And I certainly think that after the original creator is long dead, it’s not unreasonable to allow intellectual property to hit the public domain.  In fact, I think it should be well before that point.  Twenty or thirty years after original publication, at most.  If an artist can’t create another successful idea / story / character in that space of time, I have a hard time being sympathetic.  Not because creativity is easy.  But because I don’t approve of the notion that someone can do something really well once (or get really lucky once) and then coast along for the rest of their life.

Anyway, it’s a false dilemma.  If J.K. Rowling lost the rights to Harry Potter right this moment, it’s not like she would go to the poor house.  She’s would still be obscenely wealthy.  Even if all her royalties stopped rolling in, she’d still be set for life.  As well as for the life of her children and grandchildren.

Granted, most creators are not as successful as Rowling.  But it’s my opinion that the artist should create, not just rest on their laurels.  If I were a file clerk, I couldn’t alphabetize all the information, reorganize it in a wonderful new system, and then just sit back and collect a paycheck for the rest of my life.  People might congratulate me on my great job and even give me a bonus if they were feeling especially generous.  But they wouldn’t sit around for the next thirty years telling me what a great job I did that one time and that I was a filing genius.

That said, I’m perfectly willing to accept lifetime copyright / trademark.  It might not be the best system, but no one can complain if someone profits from their creativity.  I’m even for copyright lasting a decade or two after the creator’s death, so that their family has a window to profit from it.  It seems a bit excessive to me, but not unreasonable.

But what I’m against is someone who is not the original creator, someone (or something) who owns a license, profiting from an idea that they had very little to do with.  Granted, this isn’t always clear cut.  Batman achieved part of his popularity in no small part to the efforts of DC Comics.  At the same time, the comic book company was mostly there as a distribution network, not as a creative element.  Comic book companies (and companies in general) are pretty lousy at creativity.  They tell stories that sell comics, not good stories.  They are beholden to their bottom line, and that’s nothing to be ashamed about, but it’s a lousy motivation for creativity.

But, and I really need to emphasis this again, copyright / trademark is important.  Done correctly, it rewards creativity and artistic expression and encourages more of it.  Done incorrectly, all it does is discourage those things.

If I can allow myself to be a pretentious artist for a bit (if I haven’t already been too much of one at this point), art should be about more than making money.  Most art anyway.  I have no problem with a bit of soulless art, a little attempt to cash in.  I don’t care if someone wants to earn a few bucks by “selling out”.  But when even your cultural touchstones have sold out, where is there left to go?

We see it already in our culture.  It seems like more than ever, we have sequels and series and licensed properties.  And some people bemoan this, but the fact of the matter is that these things make money.  There’s no reason for a corporation to take a chance as long as their is more profit to be had in sticking to the same old thing.  If J.K. Rowling kept writing Harry Potter books, people would still buy them.  At this stage, it wouldn’t even matter much about the quality because it’s a habit.  And I have little doubt that the publisher would be very happy with this.  It is Rowling herself who has decided there is a limit to the number of stories she can tell about Harry and his universe.

For me, the worst idea is the notion the “constant reader”, that fan who consumes without question, who willingly surrenders their own judgment.  Not that I expect my fans to turn their backs on me if they read a book they don’t like.  But three or four books they don’t like?  That’s different.  And I’d hate for someone to buy any books (mine included) out of a strange sense of obligation rather than because they think they’ll enjoy it.

When I was a steady comic book purchaser, I used to see folks who would buy any comic with Character X on its cover or written by Writer Y.  There was nothing wrong with that, but often, I’d see a dissatisfied customer come back.  They might love Character X, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to love everything with him / her in it.  And even though you might love a writer most of the time, sometimes, they aren’t just going to do it for you.

Yes, even me.  I admit it.  It’s fine with me if you like some of my books more than others.  Heck, if you end up hating one, I can’t hold it against you.  And while I’d like to think one bad story wouldn’t put a reader off of my work, I would also like to hope that if you’ve read every book I’ve written and hated all of them that you would be smart enough to stop torturing yourself out of some misguided hope that I’m going to win you over.  (Although if you want to keep buying them and hating them, I can live with it.)

It’s easy to blame the corporation or the customer or anyone and everyone.  But it’s a complicated problem.  Consumers often like the same ol’ thing.  It’s okay to admit that.  Corporations like money.  It’s okay to admit that too.  And if these are only your concerns, then there’s nothing wrong with copyright / trademark as it stands.

But I like creativity.  I like encouraging it.  A world where everything is a sequel, where we re-release films in repackaged form because it’s easier and safer than trying something different, that world bothers me.  It’s a world without discovery, a place where finding something new and unexpected is harder and harder.

And that world is a sadder place.

Keelah Se’lai

Fighting the good fight, Writing the good write,

Lee

The paychecks.

Yes, getting paid to write is just fantastic.  I highly recommend it.

This is not to imply that I don’t love lots of other great things about writing.  I do love making up stories and characters and getting to be creative.  I love it when fans tell me they’ve enjoyed something I’ve written, that it’s enlightened their souls or merely made their day just a little brighter.  I like going to conventions, meeting fellow writers, and hanging out.  I love all these things and more.

But, above all, I love the paycheck.

This isn’t quite as mercennary as it might sound.  I love being an artist, being creative.  But getting paid to write . . . well . . .  there’s nothing quite like it.  This is probably my biggest strike against self-publishing.  Self-publishing can be a rich, rewarding experience.  It has a lot to offer.  But there’s no sense of satisfaction like depositing a check with your name on it that says, “You are a writer, and here’s a few bucks to say thanks.”

You just can’t beat it.

Fighting the good fight, Writing the good write,

Lee

I don’t know if my regular readers have noticed this or not, but I tend to spend an unusual amount of time bemoaning the quality of modern comic books.  A big part of this, I’ll admit, is simply coming from a different era.  Everybody tends to like things they grew up with more than is reasonable.  But it’s also because comics are kind of lame now.

Let’s be fair though.  When I complain about modern comics, I’m actually complaining about modern superhero comics because those are what I like.  Those are what I prefer to read.  There are some great non-superhero comics out there, but, honestly, I’m just not interested most of the time in these.  I hear the accolades for Fables, The Walking Dead, 100 Bullets, etc, and while I don’t dislike them, I find nothing particularly appealing about them.  Nope.  For better or worse, when I think of comics, I think of superheroes.

And when I think of superheroes, I think in broad terms.  Good versus evil.  Surreal.  Melodramatic.  Inventive.  (Things I prefer not to think of but tend to pop up:  zombies, morality plays, rape.  But I digress.)  While there’s no reason for a lack of subtlety, there’s also nothing wrong with remembering that these are stories about people in strange costumes fighting other people in strange costumes, usually employing bizarre powers and signature gimmicks.  And, yes, Batman fans.  This applies just as much to your vaunted “realistic” superhero as anyone.  Unless you happen to know of any clowns in purple tuxedos who have access to a gas that makes you laugh until you die with a permanent smile left on your face.

But enough of my redundant, overstated comic book criticism.  Let’s actually get to the review.

REVIEW BEGINS HERE:

Green Lantern: First Flight is a terrific animated film.  While it is indeed a bit bloodier and grittier than I generally prefer, it never panders and always entertains.  I am not a Green Lantern fan.  I like the idea, like his powers.  But in comics, I just haven’t read a Green Lantern story that thrilled me.  But First Flight makes me realize that he can be awesome.

Superhero stories should be defined by action.  Anyone who says otherwise has no truck with me.  Superheroes and supervillains are not about talking.  They’re about leaping into adventure and kicking butt.  First Flight soars on this level.  The action is fantastic, thrilling, inventive, and just plain cool.  Green Lantern is one of those characters that thrives with clever writing.  And when you watch Hal Jordan pound a giant orb of death with an even more giant glowling green baseball bat, you know you’re watching something incredible.

Of course, writing is important.  It’s not just about punching bad guys in the face.  The writing in First Flight is rock solid.  The story isn’t groundbreaking, but it doesn’t need to be.  Too often, “subtle” writing is just a code word for “overly complicated” and “dull”.  But First Flight manages to keep its story going while investing in its characters and world.  Sinestro is a bizarrely sympathetic, ruthless, and classic villain.  (He’s like Tai Lung from Kung Fu Panda in that way.)  You aren’t going to like Sinestro, but you are going to respect him.  And when he is finally defeated (hope that’s not giving anything away that the bad guy loses), you are glad to see him get his just desserts.

Can I also take a moment here to mention how fantastic the animation is in this movie?  It is unbelievable.  From the body language and character design to the thrilling action sequences and quiet moments.  This is quality from top to bottom.

Also, Kilowog is in this, and Kilowog will always be the best Green Lantern in my universe.  (P.S. If you’re ever looking for someone to write a Kilowog min-series, DC, you know where to find me.)

First Flight is a solid sci fi superhero adventure.  If you’re not familiar with Green Lantern, you don’t need to be.  And if you are a Lantern fan . . . well . . . hard to say there.  I’ve heard some fans complain about the film, and I’m not one myself (as previously noted) so that’s a toss up.

Listen, I think we can all agree that I’m a great writer and therefore, must have great taste.  So check out Green Lantern: First Flight.  Watch space cops with magic rings fight evil alien crime lords for the fate of the universe.  And if that doesn’t sound cool to you . . . I gotta say we live in very different worlds.

Fighting the good fight, Writing the good write,

Lee

Every time an animated movie like this comes out, I reflect on my own goals as a writer.  Because, when you get right down to it, this is the stuff that I love.  This is the stuff that I aspire to write.  I’ve admitted it before (and I’m sure I’ll admit it again in the future), but this is what I want to create with my own work.

While other writers might aspire to achieve the fame of Hemmingway, the skill of Steinbeck, the paycheck of Rowling, I want to write the next Kung Fu Panda.  In novel form, of course.

Perhaps the weirdest thing about my own pretentions is that I aspire to have fun.  But I don’t think fun is automatically mindless or that dull is automatically mature.  Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is an incredibly fun movie, full of life and joy, and it manages to be both absurd and touching at the same time.  Yes, I said it.  I cared about these characters and their personal struggles.  And, yes, these characters do indeed have a surprising amount of depth and personality.  Even the monkey.

So damn it, I am going to just accept this.  I am going to embrace it.  If this is the writer I am, then I see no shame in that.  Fun, thoughtful, absurd, fantastic adventure is my genre.  It’s who I am.

Your average comic book fan might go on and on about Watchmen or Killing Joke.  I’ll stick with Walt Simonson’s Mighty Thor and Red 5′s Atomic Robo.  Film scholars will discuss the subtleties of Chinatown and Schindler’s List, but I can pass half-an-hour easy explaining just how awesome The Incredibles and Monsters, Inc. are (although that should be obvious to anyone with a lick of sense).  And I’ll take the Godzilla saga over the Godfather saga anyday.

I’d feel awkward about it, but I’m making a pretty good living doing this.  So if these are my influences then they’ve done me good.  A humble novelelogist couldn’t ask for anything more.

Fighting the good fight, Writing the good write,

Lee