Super Heroes and Intermissions

I turned 33 years old yesterday. It’s weird to think that in the last year, I’ve gone from wondering if anyone ever was going to pick up Crimes Against Magic, to being a published author with a some-what successful first book published. It’s funny how fast things happen once the ball starts rolling.

I didn’t do much yesterday, it was far too hot to be outside for any length of time. So, I went to watch The Dark Knight Rises at the cinema. I don’t get to go very often, but I was never going to miss watching the last movie in the Batman trilogy. So how was it? Ummm, I’m undecided. It was a very good film. Let’s get out of the way first. I really enjoyed it. Everyone was excellent in it, especially the new members of the cast. Catwoman is a wonderful character and Anne Hathaway goes some way to show everyone else what comic book readers have known for years. Catwoman kicks ass.

The fact that she’s incredibly sexy is neither here nor there, obviously.

Bane was an interesting and pretty impressive villain and I loved the little nods to the comics as the movie continued.

So, why the ‘ummm’?

Well, first of all, it’s the weakest of the three movies. Easily the weakest. I don’t mean Godfather 3 territory, but more like Back to the Future 2. But while it may be the weakest movie of the trilogy, it’s still better than most films that get put out there. My main problem contains a small spoiler.

…

Mild Spoiler –

Batman looks like an idiot by the end of the movie. Over and over again things happen that as the ‘World’s Greatest Detective’, he should have seen them coming a mile off. In fact one of the ‘twists’ is so obvious that they may as well have just done it a few seconds into the movie, just to save time.

Also, while I’m doing Spoilers. Cillian Murphy’s cameo was fantastic.

Spoiler End

…

So it was good, but not Avengers good. Nothing I’ve seen this year has been that good. Over all it was a good end to the Nolan trilogy, but not necessary the best end it could have been.

It also lacked any Hulk smashing. An oversight on WB’s part, I feel.

…..

This is going to be my last post for a few weeks. What with the new baby imminent in a few days I felt it best not to write any more blogs until I’m actually able of coherent thought, which admittedly could be a while. But all is not lost. Because I’ve lined up some fantastic writers with interviews and guest blogs to take my place starting next week.

I’d like to leave you with one final thought. A picture of my eldest daughter, Keira on her dress up for school day. My daughter doesn’t do pink or girlie.

….

To save time, you should probably just start fearing her now.

Painful Art

When I was 21 years old I was dating a complete nutcase. We’ve all had one relationship with someone who, as it turned out, was an utter dick, and that was mine. And if you haven’t had one of those… well that could be because you’re that person for everyone else.

To celebrate the fact that I not only broke up with her crazy ass, but I also left my soul-sucking job, I decided to get my first tattoo.

This tattoo in fact

I wanted to get something special and something that was meaningful to me, so i picked something I loved (comics) and a character from it I enjoyed reading about (Daredevil). It wasn’t a terribly painful experience, although it wasn’t without it’s moments, but it was nice enough that I didn’t once think about stopping there.

You see there’s something no one really told me before I got the Daredevil tattoo. They’re really addictive. Now for the most part I’ve restrained myself from having too many done and only get one when I find something worthwhile having done. So over the years I got a tattoo of my daughter, Keira’s name wrapped around my arm in Japanese. A Samurai when Keira was born.

It looks a little like this, but not like this. Which I’m aware is a dreadful way of describing something.

And two anime wolves next to one another when my second daughter was born.

Imagine two of them, sleeping together with small amounts of colour on their head and without the leg irons.

So, when my wife and I discovered she was pregnant, I knew I was going to get another tattoo. It was just a question of what. After getting the wolves, I knew it had to be something just about the new baby. But it wasn’t until we settled on the name Harley that I knew with a hundred percent certainty what I wanted.

Ignore all the little bits around the outside.

So, next thursday I’m off to get a new tattoo on my forearm and I can’t wait.

Now there are a few things that people should know before they get a tattoo.

1. Yes, of course it bloody well hurts. How much depends on where you get it done and what you get done, along with who is doing the work.

2. If you get something done, try and make it personal to you. Just because everyone else has tribal tattoos on their arms, doesn’t mean you have to.

3. Don’t go with a tattooist just because it’s cheap. Cheap and tattoos are not good friends. Research the tattooist and find out how his/her work looks.

4. Eat before you go. Seriously this is incredibly important unless you like the idea of passing out. At least drink something sugary.

5. Research. Not only the pic you want, but also where you want it and how big. If you go to a tattoo parlour with a copy of a picture you’ve already found, it’ll make everything much easier.

So if you’re thinking of getting a tattoo done, just try to be original and above all enjoy the experience, it really isn’t all that scary.

And now for a Born of Hatred update:

It’s still almost done. Seriously, I’ve got about 2 chapters to write.

As for Crimes Against Magic. Well, this week has been insane. In a good way. I sold 104 copies on Monday and averaged about 70ish books for the other days (so far only 57 today, but you can’t knock 57). I also now have 23, 5 star reviews, which is incredible.

At the moment this is where it sits.

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,562 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

• #8 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Magic & Wizards
• #30 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Contemporary
• #31 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Fantasy > Contemporary

Once again it’s been a superb week and I wouldn’t change it for anything. I’ll do a post about full sales when I’m back after my Aug break once Harley is born. So, until next week, have a great weekend.

The Old, The New and The Madness

March Madness is almost over, and although I probably didn’t get the exact number of words I wanted, I did okay. I certainly managed to get a lot of what needed to be done, finished.

And now for the next few weeks I’ll be concentrating on getting Crimes Against Magic ready. This year seems to have flown by so far, and it’s hard to imagine that I’m already at the point where I’m getting ready to publish my first book. In a few weeks, I’ll post the opening few chapters and let people know more details about when and where it’ll be available.

In other news: I finished The Hunger Games at the weekend and although I can think of a few things I wasn’t that impressed with, most of my problems wouldn’t be an issue for the age group the book was aimed at. Overall though, I really enjoyed it and will be picking up book 2 once things calm down a little around here.

I saw the new pictures for the 100^th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic this week, which were, quite frankly stunning. They’re going to be in the April issue of National Geographic.

No matter how many times I see pictures of the wreck, it never gets any less creepy. I feel the same way about hearing the song from the movie.

The Titanic has a special place in our family as my wife’s Great Grandfather was on-board when it sank. He was a fireman (not in the sense of a modern day fireman, but someone who keeps the fires burning for the fuel), and was very lucky to get off when so many others lost their lives. Apparently he was ordered onto one of the lifeboats so that he could row. My eldest daughter, Keira, went to her school for Titanic day dressed up as him. I was particularly proud of the fake moustache.

My own Great, Great Grandfather was meant to be on the Titanic too. But he got drunk in a pub and woke up after it had set sail. Yep, that kinda sums up that part of the family right there. To be fair, in hindsight it probably worked out well for him.

The big new this week, and clearly the most important, is that my wife and I discovered that our new little bundle of joy is another girl. I’m very happy about this news and even more that my wife has agreed to name her Harley.

I guess I know what my next tattoo will be.

That’s right I’m going to live in a house with three girls and my wife. When the teenage years come, I’m going to be in a state of permanent cat-like readiness.

That’s it for another week. Hope everyone has a good weekend.

A Very Special Announcement

I had a nice idea for my first solo post that included telling everyone about my book that will be coming out this year, Crimes Against Magic.  The best laid plans of mice and men, and all that.

I was going to wait for a few weeks to announce this. But seeing how a lot of people seem to already know, I figure I may as well make it official.

My wife and I are going to have our third child, due in early August.

Originally, I was going to wait until the first scan had gone, and then let people know. But, as per usual, that’s flown right out the window. So, to stop the haphazard way in which people find out, I figured telling everyone at once was probably a good idea. And what’s a blog for, if not to put all information in one place.

For those of you who don’t have children, you won’t know the mixture of joy and mortal terror at discovering you’re going to be a father. Well, that’s true of baby 1 anyway. By the time you get to the 3^rd, it’s mostly a case of figuring out when I might actually get some sleep again. Short answer. Never.

We don’t know what the sex is yet, but so long as it’s healthy and happy I’m not fussed. Besides my wife and I rock on the baby name front, so we’ve already got some cool names picked out for either eventuality. My eldest daughter wants to call it Harley Quinn if it’s a girl. My wife is not coming round to the idea as much as Keira would like.

So that’s the blog for this week, thanks to everyone who came and looked around or commented last week. You never know, next time I may actually get to talk about writing.