Soulless Publication

No, that title is not a subtle slur on the publisher. Havok magazine is wonderful and I love it.

Here's a wee bit of self-promotion: I just got a story published in the aforementioned Havok magazine, a flash-fiction magazine for speculative fiction. This happened to be a contest issue. The featured author was Patrick Carr (A Cast of Stones), and the winner was Tina Yeager for a chilling sci-fi ghost story, Time Echoes. [SHAMELESS ADVERTISING INCOMING:] You guys should really consider buying the issue and reading it for yourselves!

I wasn't runner up or anything, just one of the finalists who got printed in the issue, which I'm quite happy with!

So the reason I called this 'Soulless Publication' is because Soulless was the title of my story, about a rogue who transfers his soul into a coin. Hopefully I'll get around to eventually posting it on this blog, but for the moment there would be some copyright problems with that. Thanks for reading my tidbit of news!

-Luke

Comfortably-classy Gentlemen-spies: opinions on Craig as Bond

This is mostly because I haven't updated in a few days and I feel guilty, but don't have time for a proper post. So, here are some random thoughts:

Why does my Bond look more grumpy than classy? Well, his name is Craig. I suppose we should expect him to have a craggy face.

In his iteration of Bond, Daniel Craig has given us some good and some bad. Let's not forget Quantum of Solace, folks. Even if Skyfall and Casino Royale were both fantastic movies, my opinion is that Quantum is a smear on the enterprise's good name. The thing is, Craig isn't classy. He's Bond for a generation that likes her spies rugged and serious, and that just isn't supposed to be (entirely) Bond. What happened to Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan, suave and stylish and popping quips faster than the bad guys could pop bullets? And give me back my freaking invisible car!

One of the reasons I loved Skyfall so much was the references. As a dabbling fan of classic Bond, I cheered with every wink and head-nod to the roots of this fifty-year-old franchise. Skyfall had an outlandish villain, it had gadgets, it had a rocket-launching car, it reincarnated Q. and other mainstays! The themes of old-fashioned patriotism and golden old-age were very fitting for this classic tribute.

Don't get me wrong: I'm glad Daniel Craig gave us another spin on the world's most famous spy. But the writing for him almost feels like a Jason Bourne wannabe, and they clearly picked a rugged, tough-guy actor to go along with that, rather than a suave one. In my opinion, it's time we returned to the gentleman spy. After all, Craig wears Polos. I happen to like Polo shirts, but not on my Bond. Put him back in a tux, and let's find an actor who looks comfortable in one rather than stiff no matter what he is (or isn't) wearing.

Part of all this musing comes from my anticipation of the Spectre movie releasing in November in the U.S. Looks like it'll also acknowledge Bond's roots, but no time for an analysis here (although I've never felt good about Bond movies doing direct sequels -- remember what happened when Casino  became Quantum?) Another part of my musings come from recently watching Kingsman: The Secret Service. Again, no time for much of an analysis, although there were so many things I did and did not like. But most of the references were wonderful, to everything from Bond to Bourne to the old Get Smart show! And it really captured the over-the-top gentleman-spy, in all his pinstriped glory.

I think people are right to love Craig: he makes a legitimately awesome character. But the character he portrays is not the character of James Bond, or even a version of James Bond, in my opinion. Maybe I'm just grousing, but to reiterate, Craig isn't comfortably classy. I'm excited to see who's next, hopefully soon! Let's put the classy back in Bond!

(Just for clarification, Craig is the Bond actor in Spectre. I just hope they eventually move on).

There. That's better. True class.