Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Elementary, My Dear Watson

My wife and I finished watching series 2 of the BBC's Sherlock the other night. It was great. They had a lot of great visual tricks to show us how Sherlock's mind works. And the way episode's 1 and 3 were written, it felt as they had managed to cram 6 episodes of story into 1. Some very skillful writing there. I like their season structure of three hour and a half episodes. What they're really doing is making a standard movie trilogy, when you think about it. Only instead of waiting months or years between each installment, you only need to wait a week. I'd be interested in seeing this kind of production applied to other properties .

 I enjoy the Robert Downy Jr movies, but for my money, the BBC's modern take is a 1000 times more superior. Also, am I the only that thinks there might be a relation between The Big Bang Theory's Sheldon Cooper and the BBC's Sherlock Holmes? Hmmmm.....

Even more fascinating than the modern day take on Sherlock Holmes, I think is the use of Moriarty. In the show, Moriarty is a powerful and scary figure. But Sir Arthur Conan Doyle only used him once, maybe twice? Somehow, over the decades, we've transformed Moriarty from a tool Doyle used to kill Sherlock into Sherlock's very own arch nemesis. I wonder what Doyle would think of it...

It also blows my mind that there was a fandom so strong back in the late 1800's that Doyle was actually convinced to bring Sherlock Holmes back to life. I can imagine that happening today with the Internet and email. But back then? It just blows my mind.

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I suppose this next part could be considered NSFW. It really depends on how sensitive you are to it.

So, I had this thought:

Why is socially acceptable to call someone a:

bitch
bastard
whore
hoe'
asshole
asshead
fucker
shithead
dumbass
idiot
fucktard

But you can't call them a:

faggot
gay
retard
nigger

What makes the words in the second group any more offensive than the words in the first group? If we're going to insist on being more sensitive and less derogatory, than shouldn't we be against all forms of curse words and derogatory terms?

Some might say that the words in the second group are derogatory towards a specific group. But here's the thing, any of these words, in either category, are derogatory to whoever you're saying them to.

If I call my brother retarded for doing something stupid is that a commentary on people with mental disabilities or am I just calling out my brother for being stupid? Am I being derogatory towards people mental disabilities by calling my brother retarded? Well, since my brother doesn't have a mental disability (None that I know of...) I would say not.

But would anyone have a problem if I called my brother an "idiot assfucker"?

A strange double standard, no?

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And now that I've stirred the pot of controversy, let me tell you about my current free promotion.

For the next few days, I'm offering this for free:

Book 1

Steven Raines (you know, the man who made billions making an operating system that out-Microsoft-ed Microsoft?) has hired Alex Cheradon(private investigator) to look for his missing daughter. Good news: It's a million dollar payday. Bad news: she may be a Satanist hell bent on bringing the Devil to Earth.


The dead bodies are piling up. Vampires are crawling out of the woodwork. And there's something named Pookie that's lurking around the corner.

Breathtakingly paced, the jokes and wisecracks fly fast as Alex races against the clock to save the day.

Could you be a dear and tell your friends? Also, feel free to leave a review on Amazon if you liked it. I'd appreciate it. 

Monday, January 16, 2012

How I Can Fix the Economy

Hey, look, it's a blog post that has nothing to do with promotion! Okay, well that's not entirely true. There's some promotion, I just put it at the bottom.

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I think I'm going to start blogging again on a semi-regular basis, mostly for purely selfish reasons. I noticed that when going back through my blog entries for 2009-10, it was almost like a journal of my life. I've never been much of a journaler, but seeing as I have a horrible memory, I figured I should make more of an effort.

Plus, I was thinking it might be a nice way to ease into my writing for a day. Kind of a mental-priming-the-pump kind of thing. Does that make sense?

______

In case you were wondering, my work schedule for the rest of the month looks like this(unless, of course, I change it):

Blogging/work on novellas - 1 hour.
Reapers in Heels Book Three - 2 - 3 hours.
Rupert & Me - 1 hour
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I saw an article the other day in passing, I think it was on Yahoo, that was talking about a 21-hour work week and why that's a good idea.

I don't just think that a 21-hour work is a good idea. I think it's a great idea.

Think about it for a minute:

Pay full time salary for a part time work schedule.

Because of the part time work schedules, you need to hire more people, thus providing more jobs.

Because you're paying a full time salary on a part time schedule, people don't have to get a second job and therefore have more time on their hands.

Because people have more time on their hands, they're seeing more of their families. They're also probably taking the opportunity to eat our more, go shopping more, and go to the movies. Heck, they're all probably even reading more because they've got the time and money to enjoy that new Kindle they got for Christmas.

Stress levels are down because everyone's working less. Unemployment is down because there are more jobs. And the economy is up because people are out there spending money, because their stress is down and they've got time on their hands.

How is this not a great idea?

My name is Jason Krumbine and I just fixed the economy. You're welcome.

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Read Robert Kirkman's HAUNT run. Read it after watching CHUCK, so it kind of felt like a supernatural version of CHUCK. I enjoyed it, mostly. Haunt is, visually, an almost blatant rip-off of Spider-Man. But, nobody ever said Todd McFarlane was a design genius. Or did they? I don't know. I've never been a McFarlane.

It had a lot of a nice touches and I liked the set-up. But it felt all over the place towards the end. Like Kirkman wasn't quite ready to hand off the series.

Also, I know it's an ongoing series, but I would have thought Kirkman would have ended his run on a stronger note. More of an actual ending, clearing the deck, so to speak, so the next creative team could start fresh. I don't know. I'm gonna stockpile Joe Casey's issues for a while and then read them.

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Reading Daniel Wilson's Robopocalypse right now. I never read World War Z, so I don't know how much of a rip-off it is and I don't particularly care. So far I like, although it's a little slow. I think it could be tightened up a bit. I really like the format. I think I want to write a book like this, exploring one incident from different accounts. I've got a couple of ideas percolating. 


______

And now the promotion portion of today's post, I've put my Alex Cheradon books into the Kindle Lending Library. Which, of course, means that Amazon Prime members can borrow all three books for free!

Catch ya all later.


Book 1

Steven Raines (you know, the man who made billions making an operating system that out-Microsoft-ed Microsoft?) has hired Alex Cheradon(private investigator) to look for his missing daughter. Good news: It's a million dollar payday. Bad news: she may be a Satanist hell bent on bringing the Devil to Earth.



The dead bodies are piling up. Vampires are crawling out of the woodwork. And there's something named Pookie that's lurking around the corner.

Breathtakingly paced, the jokes and wisecracks fly fast as Alex races against the clock to save the day.



Book 2

In this action packed follow up to Fruitbasket from Hell, private investigator Alex Cheradon is faced with a nail biting case.


Reeling from the public relations nightmare that accompanied accidentally tackling a senator's daughter, Alex is approached by man with a lethal case of amnesia. He wants to hire Alex to find out who he is, and since he just happens to have a winning lotto ticket that's worth 10 million dollars, money's no object. But as Alex starts to look into the man's past he finds more questions then answers and a whole lot of people out to kill him. 



The clock is officially ticking. The crazies are coming out of the woodwork. And it's down to Alex to save the day.



Book 3

In his third book, Alex Cheradon, private investigator, wants nothing more to then lay low and ride out the repercussions from his previous time traveling mishaps. Unfortunately, his ex-girlfriend, Angie, has other ideas and drags him into his most bizarre case yet.


Giggles, the town’s most infamous midget, has run off with 10 million dollars. Vincent Jane, a nobody with nothing, is left holding the bill. If he doesn’t get that that 10 million back he’ll be paying for with his life.



Alex and Angie are caught in the middle and headed for a showdown with their toughest opponent yet: the malevolent, malicious Midget Mafia.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Who Doesn't Like Free?




There's nothing like a romantic picnic in a cemetery...

...after dark...

...on a Friday the 13th... 

What could *possibly* go wrong? 

It's Mike and Danielle's first date. Will true love blossom as they make the transition from Just Friends to Boyfriend & Girlfriend? Or will zombie uprising squelch their romance and force the young lovers to join the throngs of the undead?

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A GRAVEYARD ROMANCE IS A 21,000 word novella.

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Between now and Sunday midnight (PST) or 3am (EST) A GRAVEYARD ROMANCE is free for everyone with a Kindle.

Go get it and read it and tell all of your friends to do the same.


Thursday, January 12, 2012

Now With 100% More Prime!




If you've got an Amazon Prime account and you're looking to save a little money, DEATH WEARS STILETTOS and A GRAVEYARD ROMANCE are now free for you.

You're welcome.

Borrow DEATH WEARS STILETTOS from the Amazon Kindle Lending Library.

Borrow A GRAVEYARD ROMANCE from the Amazon Kindle Lending Library.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Death Wears Stilettos

So, it's here. Now available for your Kindle.



When a dead soul goes renegade you call a grim reaper. And when you’re in Century City, you call Avery and Brooke, the Graves sisters.

Jack and Cindy were a happily married couple. She was an elementary school teacher. He was an aspiring children’s book author. They had the perfect life together, until the day they decided to kill themselves. Their souls never arrived in the afterlife and now it’s up Avery and Brooke to find out where these deceased lovers have wandered off to.

Hunting down a pair of dead lovers isn’t the only thing on Brooke’s to-do list. Her love life is a mess with too many men, too many options and not enough time. And what starts out as a meaningless fling for her quickly moves to something more serious for him.

Love, death, relationships and sparkly shoes. It’s just another day for Century City’s prettiest grim reapers.

Kindle Germany
Kindle France
Kindle Spain
Kindle Italy

Not only that, but I'm discounting Book 1, ONE STILETTO IN THE GRAVE to $0.99 until Friday January 13th at Midnight.

So, to recap: New book now available, old book is on sale at an awesome price. What more could you possible ask for?

Tell your friends, get your copies and start reading!